Education page Occasional notes
on Namibian education |
|
Vision 2050? March 2008 |
A reflection on the curriculum reform programme required to meet the demands of Vision 2030. So far there is no evidence that the government has a firm grasp on the issues. The knee-jerk response to the issue of grade 10 stdents unable to proceed to grade 11 suggests that crisis management is still dominant in the ministry and SWAPO |
Here we go again. February 2008 |
Some personal reflectionson the ancestry of the Namibian curriculum Published in 'The Namibian' , February 2008 |
Why the numbers of illiterate and innumerate school leavers is increasing. June 2007 |
This is a short reflection based on recent discussions with a number of teachers and others in two regions. It suggests that a large number of learners, in some schools probably the majority, require, but are not receiving, attention for special needs, mainly related to language development. The paper suggests that many of these needs are not inborn in the learners but are generated by the way the system functions. It notes that there are schools that are on top of these issues but that addressing them requires a bending of the rules governing the way the system operates and this in turn requires a sympathetic inspector with a well trained blind eye and a benevolent region. The paper argues that addressing special needs by inclusion can be made to succeed and could be very cost effective and that, further, it is an essential pre-requisite for the successful implementation of ETSIP. But it cannot happen under the present curriculum or current implementation procedures. The paper asks whether the necessary administrative and political will currently exist to bring about the needed reforms. |
Creative Processes in Technology Education; Paper published in Tidskrift August 2007 |
Science and technology curriculum development worldwide over the last half century has taken the form of two broad waves of reform. The first was mainly associated with improving the quality of teaching by making it more learner-centred with much more practical work. It was directed at the curriculum appropriate for the academic minority. The second wave was associated with the expansion of secondary education to include the whole ability range and the focus shifted from mainly understanding of content to give a greater emphasis on mastery of skills. The second wave has not been very evident yet in Africa. The haste with which a new curriculum was introduced in Namibia following Independence introduced contradictions between the aims of the curriculum, particularly the aim that it should be learner-centred, and its detailed design. More recent reforms have not significantly addressed these contradictions and as a result, learner-centred education remains a rather elusive concept in many Namibian classrooms. It is suggested that, to address effectively, the wide prevocational needs dictated by the Namibian economy, the current proposal, a narrowly focused imported Design and Technology curriculum, will be inadequate. It argues that a specifically Namibian programme is needed that draws on the much wider variety of craft skills and creative traditions that are already embedded in the Namibian technological landscape. |
Should Education take the Loan? November 2005 |
The negotiations for a World Bank loan to boost spending on education are rolling fitfully uphill towards the watershed. Will it work? Based on an article published in 'Insight', November 2005 |