The systems of education in the world have adopted many philosophies of education that are either skewed toward change or committed to conservancy. African philosophy and African philosophy of education form an activity and a process which is context-sensitive, whereby the relativity factor defines the peculiarity of thinking about education.…

Transnational policy borrowing and lending of ideas is mostly from the global North to the global South. In sub-Saharan Africa, transnational policy borrowing and lending is complicated by western "dirty gossips" (distortions and stereotypes) about African societies. While works by Steiner-Khamsi, Quist and Kendall outline the…

Since recently, the Bologna Process has been extending into Africa through the European 'external dimension' and the African lure as a model of higher education reform. The Bologna Process tools and methods are travelling beyond Europe in the form of an 'à-la carte' or as a wholesale model or both. Two contradicting views are in motion about the…

Background: The colonial origins of schooling and the implications these origins have on leadership is missing from educational leadership literature. Indeed little has been published on decolonizing and indigenous ways of leading schools. Purpose: In this article, we synthesize the literature on indigenous, decolonizing education leadership…

The recent student unrest in South African public higher education institutions highlighted the call for the decolonisation of education across post-colonial countries. This research explored the construct of the "decolonisation of education" through the lens of students of different nationalities across Africa, their perspectives on…

This paper makes a case for a revalorization of all indigenous knowledges in general and African indigenous knowledges in particular. It invites African policy makers and intellectuals to do a little more to bring indigenous knowledges within African educational stream with the view to increasing the potentials of development in Africa. Since…

The choice of the language of instruction in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) is a fundamental educational issue with ramifications for educational access and effectiveness and ultimately national development. Indigenous SSA languages have suffered devaluation in colonial and post-colonial SSA education, and this devaluation alienates the majority of SSA…

This article examines the way in which some of the most discriminated against, disadvantaged and marginalised groups on the African continent, are re-defining education through strategies aimed at recognition of rights and social justice. It uses Fraser's analysis of social justice--distribution, recognition and participation--to examine the…

"The Dialectics of African Education and Western Discourses" addresses how continental Africans who have worked or are currently working in the Canadian academy address their dual legacy of African and Euro-American knowledge paradigms. Reflecting a range of approaches to hegemonic Euro-American paradigms that can be summarized as…

In the context of globalisation, European languages, especially English, continue to be the favoured medium of official communication and are valued and promoted as the dominant languages of commerce, international communication, education and scientific knowledge. In this paper, I argue that European educational language medium policies…

The article's focus is the relationship between culture, indigenous knowledge systems (IKS), sustainable development and education in Africa. It analyzes the concept of sustainability with particular reference to education and indigenous knowledge systems. In particular the article analyzes the documents from the World Summit in Johannesburg in…

Multilateral donors like the World Bank and bilateral agencies such as the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the British Department for International Development exert a great deal of influence in international educational development--particularly in sub-Saharan Africa--both in the programs they fund and the types of…

It is 40 years since Coombs (1967) first drew attention to the World Education Crisis, and specifically problems in the educational systems of countries in the developing world. Today, many of these problems remain, and are most visible in the educational systems of countries in sub-Saharan Africa. A large number of children remain out of school…

Containing both theoretical discussions of globalization and specific case analyses of individual African countries, this collection of essays examines the intersections of African education and globalization with multiple analytical and geographical emphases and intentions. The 11 essays critically analyze the issues from historical, cultural,…