Education In Mozambique Research Articles

At the nexus of vulnerability: Multilingualism in development

This document was written in the early years of this century, about 15 years ago. It emerged out of more than a decade’s engagement in matters of multilingualism, language, politics and education in Mozambique specifically, and Southern Africa more generally, that we had been involved in through the Centre for Research on Bilingualism at Stockholm University. The document itself was written at the request of SIDA, the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency, and its research wing, SAREC, that had funded the majority of projects in language and education up until that point. The idea was to craft the outlines in a working document of a more comprehensive and sustained policy, or action plan, on issues of language in developing contexts. This was at a time of a growing awareness in the organization that its key funding areas – democracy, poverty, education, youth – involved language in much more complex ways than hitherto envisaged, and that a specialist document written for the layman might enlighten and provide direction.

Addressing avoidable vision impairment in Mozambique and the Africa region

ABSTRACTThe Mozambique Eyecare Project was an international partnership to implement and research eye health education in Mozambique and the Africa region. An optometry degree was developed at Universidade Lúrio, Mozambique. In addition, existing eye health workers were upskilled with training. Researchers from various disciplines evaluated the project and its potential for impact on eye health in the region. The body of evidence generated from the research provides useful lessons for development programmes in general, as well as specific lessons for delivering eye health education and service delivery models for low-income settings.

The Context and Shape of Theological Education in Mozambique with Special Reference to Women

AbstractIn Mozambique, a marked increase in evangelical churches was recorded in the 1980s. This brought the need for pastoral training into sharp focus, and many new Bible schools were founded in the 1980s and 1990s. Yet, the shape and context of theological education remains rather different from other African countries, as Bible schools are mostly not accredited by the government and most schools train part‐time in the evening. As of 2017, religious studies cannot be found at universities, leaving theological training firmly in the hands of the churches and mission organizations. The training of women has become increasingly important, but they also face many challenges. To shed light on these challenges, I present the results of 52 interviews with female students at various Bible schools in Mozambique, ranging from lack of family support to the fact that theological training is perceived to be only for men and full‐time/ordained ministry.

Mathematics textbook development for primary grades and its teachers in Mozambique

This is an analysis of the author’s involvement since 1970 in textbook development for primary schools and adult education in Mozambique, focusing on integrating local cultural traditions, covering the period up to 2013. As main example, addition of the type 8 + 5 = 13 is used around the question of whether textbooks (and curricula) advocate counting strategies and/or computation strategies. Different visualisations of these strategies in textbooks and corresponding manipulatives are analysed. During the 1990s, local languages started to be used in adult education, apart from Portuguese, Mozambique’s official language. Unschooled adults showed the importance of verbal computation in Mozambican languages—Bantu languages—most of which use also the auxiliary base five, apart from the base-ten numerals. The 2003 curriculum for primary education introduced the possibility of using local languages, and NGO’s started translating textbooks into 16 Mozambican languages. The paper includes an analysis of some of these textbooks and concludes with the author’s ideas in his teacher’s guides on teaching mathematics in Mozambican languages, showing the opportunities of verbal computation, exploring base-five numerals supported by finger gestures, instead of finger counting.

The Medical Education Partnership Initiative Effect on Increasing Health Professions Education and Research Capacity in Mozambique.

Background:Mozambique is an emerging lower income country (LIC) on the southeast coast of Africa. There are significant workforce shortages in medical and health professions in the country. Mozambique was one of 12 countries in Africa that was awarded a grant through the Medical Education Partnership Initiative (MEPI) in 2010. The overarching goal of MEPI Mozambique was to enhance the capacity of medical schools to train the medical and scientific leadership corps that the country required to facilitate the training of doctors and other health professionals, and thus to strengthen the national health system.Objective:The aim of this article is to provide an overview of MEPI Mozambique activities, its outcomes and successes, lessons learned, and how these have sustainably strengthened the health sector in the country.What Was Done:The Eduardo Mondlane University (UEM) formed a partnership with the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) to implement MEPI Mozambique. A range of activities in medical education, research capacity development, electronic connectivity and information technology, and developing relationships among medical education stakeholders, were performed.Outcomes and Effects:The activities and innovations introduced under MEPI became part of the daily routine in medical education in Mozambique, dramatically influencing attitudes and perceptions. Joint research with partners leveraged research capabilities. The creation of a research support center offered a mechanism to sustainably build on MEPI achievements. Scientific knowledge generated through research has been translated into practice and policy, and has improved the working environment for health professionals. The use of interactive communication technologies enabled the scaling up of training and research in sustainable ways, and created communities of practice.Conclusion:MEPI Mozambique developed transformational long-term partnerships between UEM, UCSD and other partners. These are changing the trajectory of medical and health professions education in Mozambique and creating sustainable capacity for research.

Bilingual education in Mozambique: a case-study on educational policy, teacher beliefs, and implemented practices

ABSTRACT This qualitative study investigates the gap between curricular intentions, teacher perspectives, and practices in a primary school bilingual program in central Mozambique. It aims to provide new data regarding bilingual education program implementation in an understudied and underrepresented country in the literature. Drawing on original interview and participant-observation data, collected over nine months in central Mozambique, this study reports on how these teachers’ language perspectives impact practices, which in turn reaffirm/reject curricular mandates. Key findings indicate that despite awareness of bilingual benefits in student involvement, teachers transition early to Portuguese, preferring to teach classes in the official language to prepare students for the national exam. This preference also stems from limited mother-tongue resources, teacher training, and language proficiency. Study findings reveal a disconnect between policy and implemented practices – influenced by teachers’ beliefs towards Portuguese and local languages and by structural and classroom priorities.

ADULT EDUCATION IN MOZAMBIQUE: BETWEEN EXPECTATIONS AND POSSIBILITIES

Adult education has been and continues being an important area of education. In developing contexts, it is considered the way for social inclusion and poverty reduction and it is expected to provide knowledge, skills and values to youth and adults who did not get opportunity to education in their early age. Adult education also serves as a way to improve people’s competences throughout their life span. However, the concept of adult education in Mozambique has been used as literacy, referring only to the development of reading, writing and calculation skills. Using content analysis of documents, this research attempts to gain insight of adult education in the context of Mozambique. The findings reveal that adult education in the perspective of change and development as it is in Mozambique is linked to the objectives of poverty reduction and social inclusion. In this sense quality and relevance in adult education, as in other type of education, is needed to be able to develop functional knowledge and skills to youth and adults and allow them continuing learning in their life. Literacy and adult education have been considered an important field for social and economic development in the country, but contextual factors contribute to a narrow perspective of adult education, focusing mainly on literacy and numeracy as its final goal. Keywords: adult education, poverty reduction, social inclusion.

Situational Analysis of Primary Education in Mozambique

Situational Analysis of Primary Education in Mozambique

AS POLÍTICAS EDUCACIONAIS E O ENSINO EM QUESTÃO

O presente artigo intitulado, As políticas educacionais e o ensino em questão, analisa as políticas educativas; a relação entre o sistema de ensino e as escolas e o contributo das instituições internacionais na organização e gestão da educação em Moçambique. Para esta discussão, parte-se de pressusposto de que as políticas educativas reflectem as intenções e as acções do governo no âmbito da educação e as escolas são tomadas como centro de concretização das políticas educativas. As escolas tornam-se espaço de convergência entre o sistema educativo e as práticas pedagógicas. Um estudo sobre a relação entre a escola e o sistema educativo permite compreender o funcionamento das escolas enquanto instituições políticas e educadoras e o sistema nacional de educação que expressa politicamente as intenções do Estado. Entende-se que discutir sobre as políticas educativas significa falar de reforma educacional contida nos documentos legais que supõe uma reorganização dos diversos níveis de ensino, dos currículos, das políticas e das escolas, da melhoria da qualidade de ensino. O artigo analisa também o impacto das instituições internacionais como o Banco Mundial na definição e na implementação das políticas educativas e os seus financiamentos no sector educacional em Moçambique.

Purported use and self-awareness of cognitive and metacognitive foreign language reading strategies in tertiary education in Mozambique

This paper explores the results of a Survey of Reading Strategies (SORS)-based questionnaire administered to 28 university student participants. The study is carried out in a post-colonial multilingual context, Mozambique. The main aims of the paper are to assess the degree of purported use and awareness of participants own use of reading comprehension skills and strategies in a foreign language (English). The participants were tested for their reading text comprehension using an IELTS comprehension test (Cabinda, 2013). The results revealed low reading comprehension levels. Results contrast with results from the SORS-based questionnaire (Cabinda, 2013) which revealed claims of use of a wide range of cognitive, metacognitive and supply strategies – aspects of high level reading ability and text comprehension. Conclusions show that the participants used or claimed to chiefly use metacognitive and cognitive reading strategies equally, matching the behaviour of good readers, but they also reported a high degree of supply strategies to construe meaning from text, mainly code-switching, translation and cognates. The latter confirms results from studies by Jimenez et al. (1995, 1996) and Zhang & Wu (2009), yet do not conclusively show a correlation between the participants’ degree of text comprehension and their effective use of reading skills and strategies to construe meaning. Further conclusions show that the reported high use of these L1 (Portuguese or other) related supply strategies (not used by English L1 readers) does not aid their reading comprehension.

Purported use and self-awareness of cognitive and metacognitive foreign language reading strategies in tertiary education in Mozambique

This paper explores the results of a Survey of Reading Strategies (SORS)-based questionnaire administered to 28 university student participants. The study is carried out in a post-colonial multilingual context, Mozambique. The main aims of the paper are to assess the degree of purported use and awareness of participants own use of reading comprehension skills and strategies in a foreign language (English). The participants were tested for their reading text comprehension using an IELTS comprehension test (Cabinda, 2013). The results revealed low reading comprehension levels. Results contrast with results from the SORS-based questionnaire (Cabinda, 2013) which revealed claims of use of a wide range of cognitive, metacognitive and supply strategies – aspects of high level reading ability and text comprehension. Conclusions show that the participants used or claimed to chiefly use metacognitive and cognitive reading strategies equally, matching the behaviour of good readers, but they also reported a high degree of supply strate- gies to construe meaning from text, mainly code-switching, translation and cognates. The latter cofirms results from studies by Jimenez et al. (1995, 1996) and Zhang & Wu (2009), yet do not conclusively show a correlation between the participants’ degree of text comprehension and their effective use of reading skills and strategies to construe meaning. Further conclusions show that the reported high use of these L1 (Portuguese or other) related supply strategies (not used by English L1 readers) does not aid their reading comprehension. Key words : EFL, reading strategies, cognition, metacognition, awareness

Trends and Issues in Distance Education: International Perspectives

Foreword by the Editors. Part I: International Perspectives on and in Distance Education. A Survey of Progressive and Conservative in Education with Implications for Distance Education Practice. Brent G. Wilson. Quality, Accreditation and Recognition: in the Delivery of Transnational Education. Andrea Hope. The Long and Short of Distance Education: and from a Planetary Human Development Perspective. Jan Visser. Distance education Reappraised: Emerging in Traditional Universities and Corporate Training Institutions. Francois Marchessou. What the World Needs Now: International Research on Distance Education. Deborah LaPointe. Part II: Interviews with International Leaders in Distance Education. Defining Trends and Issues in Distance Education: An Interview with Don Ely. Lya Visser and Kristen Gagnon. A Career in International Distance Education: An Interview with Barbara Spronk Michael Simonson and Margaret Crawford. University-wide Distance Education Implementation: An Interview with Robert Morgan. Ray J. Amirault and Jeffery Sievert. Personal Perspectives on and in Distance Education: An Interview with Otto Peters. Lya Visser and Meira van der Spa. Part III: National and Regional Case Studies in Distance Education. Open and Distance Learning for Developing Countries: Is the Cup Half Full or is it Still Half Empty? Tony Dodds. The Promise of M-learning for Distance Education in South Africa and Other Developing Nations. Lya Visser and Paul West. British Distance Education: A Proud Tradition. Steve Wheeler. Distance Education in Turkey: Experiences and Issues. Ugur Demiray. Supporting Distance Learning in Brazil: Applications of a Multimedia Digital Library. Fredric Michael Litto. Open and Distance Learning Enhanced through ICTs: A Toy for Africa's Elite or an Essential Tool for Sustainable Development? Bob Day. The role of Distance Education in Turkish Women's Education. Emine Demiray and Sensu Curabay. Thank You for not Forgetting Us: A Reflection on the Trials, Tribulations, and Take-off of Distance Education in Mozambique. Muriel Visser-Valfrey, Jan Visser, and Miguel Buendia. Part IV: Design and Development for International Distance Education. Learning Management Systems (LMS') for Web-based Distance Education: An International Review. Wei-yuan Zhang and Lixun Wang. in Distance Education Technologies from an International Vantage Point. Michael Simonson. Dynamism and Evolution in Student Support and Instruction in Distance Education: Implications for International Distance Education. Yusra Laila Visser. Author Profiles.

Diferenciação pedagógica e a inclusão escolar em Moçambique. Um imperativo incontornável na sala de aula

Este artigo pretende apresentar as dinâmicas da diferenciação e a inclusão das crianças com necessidades educativas especiais (NEE) em Moçambique. Trata-se de uma pesquisa do tipo exploratório baseada em entrevistas aos professores de 5ª classe, formadores dos Institutos de Formação de Professores (IFP´s) e técnicos pedagógicos, onde se analisaram os discursos, as práticas pedagógicas e a relação professor/aluno. Assim, constatou-se que os constrangimentos na implementação do ensino inclusivo moçambicano prendem-se com a formação dos diferentes atores e a insipiência dos recursos financeiros, materiais e humanos para a sua materialização.

An Examination of Issues on the System of Teacher Education and Training for Quality Education in Mozambique

An Examination of Issues on the System of Teacher Education and Training for Quality Education in Mozambique

ENTREPRENEURSHIP EDUCATION IN THE CONTEXT OF DEVELOPING COUNTRIES: STUDY OF THE STATUS AND THE MAIN BARRIERS IN MOZAMBICAN HIGHER EDUCATION INSTITUTIONS

This study focuses on the issue of entrepreneurship education and the role of Higher Education Institutions (HEI) in the context of developing countries. More specifically it aims to understand how entrepreneurship education is being implemented in Mozambique and to identify the main barriers to the creation of companies promoted by/incubated in HEI with entrepreneurship education in their curricula. The paper includes theoretical discussion and the presentation of a case study. It begins with a literature review about the relationship between entrepreneurship and development followed by a discussion about entrepreneurship education in the context of developing countries and entrepreneurship education provided by HEI. The empirical study is focused in Mozambique. After a contextualization of entrepreneurship education in Mozambique, Mozambican HEI with entrepreneurship education are identified and their situation and difficulties concerning the implementation of entrepreneurship education are discussed. Data collection includes documental sources and interviews with HEI representatives of a sample of ten establishments of the universe of five public and private HEI with entrepreneurship education in Mozambique. Results indicate that lack of resources, trained/qualified teachers and cooperation networks with the business community and other relevant actors are the main barriers.

A complexidade do ensino em contexto multilíngue em Moçambique: políticas, problemas e soluções

O presente trabalho aborda a problematica de educacao em Mocambique onde o portugues concorre com linguas bantu faladas pelas criancas quando chegam na escola, principalmente nas zonas suburbanas e rurais. Questiona-se quais os problemas que enfermam o ensino em Mocambique? Avanca-se a hipotese de que o fracasso resulta da politica e do planejamento linguistico acrescido a fraca formacao dos professores. O trabalho discute questoes de ensino de portugues nas escolas primarias; debate-se a influencia da politica linguistica e; explica, sugere caminhos para a educacao bilingue. E uma pesquisa documental que analisa pesquisas, teorias e dados oficiais que tratam do assunto cruzando com experiencias praticas como professor em Mocambique. Da pesquisa se conclui que ha necessidade de incentivar a educacao bilingue, principalmente nas zonas rurais e suburbanas, mas deve-se apostar na elaboracao de materiais do tipo dicionarios, gramaticas e manuais escolares para que as criancas tenham a oportunidade de aprender na sua lingua materna, direito concedido pela UNESCO.Palavras-chave: educacao bilingue, politica linguistica, linguas Bantu.

“We reaffirm our Mozambican identity in the fight against HIV and AIDS”: Examining educational perspectives on women’s ‘proper’ place in the nation of Mozambique

There is increasing recognition of the importance of space in the study of education, resulting in a greatly diversified literature on the geographies of education. This article builds on this growing body of scholarly work to examine a number of critical spatial assumptions underpinning school-based HIV- and AIDS-related education in Maputo, Mozambique. It does so through an analysis of key governmental and ministerial documents and policy-makers’ and educators’ conceptions of the aims of such education. This article highlights how school-based HIV- and AIDS-related education in Mozambique was conceptualized in gendered and distinctly place-based terms. In addition, we elucidate how, despite the various discursive shifts since the struggle for independence from Portugal, young women continue to be construed as the symbolic anchor of the nation, their natural place defined in relation to the domestic, the intimate, and local ‘in-here.’

Mozambican Student-teachers’ Perceptions of Developing their Understanding of Teaching Spatially Dependent Geometry

This article presents student-teachers' perceptions of spatial 3D-descriptive geometry education in Mozambique. To interpret a 3D object through 2D projections and vice-versa requires spatial abilities that are deemed crucial for learning in any spatially dependent discipline such as 3D-descriptive geometry, engineering and technical-vocational disciplines. Such spatial abilities can be developed through training. In order to establish student-teachers' views on the main characteristics of spatial 3D-descriptive geometry education, an exploratory study was conducted employing a mixed-methods approach to elicit data from 120 participants at a higher education institution, through semi-structured focus group discussion. Data analysis was conducted using the technique of categorising themes from data, and using these themes developing a 40-item questionnaire. Exploratory factor analysis, multivariate regression and path analysis of the questionnaire responses were used to propose the study's model. The emerging theory shows a model for developing 3D geometry as consisting of four distinct factors: spatial visualisation and reasoning; evaluation and learning support; professional learning of geometry; and practice. The evidence shows that spatial visualisation and reasoning is seen as a main predictor of learning 3D-descriptive geometry. The data also show that further research is needed into 3D-descriptive geometry instructional material for its content validity. It would also be interesting if studies could be undertaken on students' perceptions of 3D-descriptive geometry education using more extended theoretical frameworks.

Spanish

The studies about the Catholic missionary education in Mozambique have highlighted how their role was subordinated to the colonial interests and their weak educational outcomes. Nevertheless, neither the evolution of church-state relations during the long period of the Salazar dictatorship nor the heterogeneity of views and actions of the Catholic hierarchy have been taken into account. The study of the educational reports of the Diocese of Beira (1950-1973) supports not only the overall weakness of the results but also the administrative authority’s derelictions of duty. The government only assumed their responsibilities to the imminence of war, against the interest and the almost exclusive role of religious education agents in expanding and improving the indigenous school network. The commitment of a significant part of the clergy of the central region of Mozambique to an unfair social reality which was contrary to the Gospel, led to educational and pastoral options whose result was the political awareness of indigenous elites who had been educated by the church. Received: 14/11/2013 / Accepted: 17/12/2013 How to reference this article Aguadero Miguel, R., Sanchidrián Blanco, C. (2014). Superando el modelo de balance general de la educación colonial en Mozambique. Una contextualización de la enseñanza misionera durante el Estado Novo a partir de las memorias educativas de la diócesis de Beira. Espacio, Tiempo y Educación , 1(2), pp. 39-63 . doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.14516/ete.2014.001.002.002

Community oriented interprofessional health education in Mozambique: One student/one family program

In the remote northern region of Mozambique the ratio of doctors to patients is 1:50,000. In 2007, Lúrio University initiated an innovative, "One Student/One Family" program of teaching and learning for health professions students, to complement their traditional core curriculum. All students of each of the school's six health degree programs complete a curriculum in "Family and Community Health" in each year of their training. Groups of six students from six different health professions training programs make weekly visits to communities, where each student is allocated to a family. Students learn from their families about community life and health issues, within a community where 80% of the population still lacks access to modern health care and rely on indigenous doctors and traditional remedies. In turn, students transmit information to families about modern health care and report to the faculty any major health problems they find. The educational/experiential approach is interprofessional and community-oriented. The main perceived advantages of the program are that it is applied and problem-based learning for students, while simultaneously providing needed healthcare services to the community. The major disadvantages include the complexity of coordinating multidisciplinary groups, the time and distance required of students in traveling to communities, and interpretation of multiple reports with variable data. This community-oriented education program involving students from six disciplines uses nontraditional teaching/learning methods is the basis of the ex libris of Lúrio University.