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This study investigated challenges faced by teachers when teaching by using a language unfamiliar to pupils in rural lower primary classes in Tanzania. The study employed a qualitative research approach and a case study design. Interview and observation methods were employed to obtain the data. The study involved 58 participants of which 8 were teachers (three heads of schools, two standard one teachers and three pre-primary teachers), and 50 were standard one pupils. We found out that pupils use their ethnic languages in daily communication while teachers do not have knowledge and skills to teach by using the ethnic language of the community, a language usually unfamiliar to them. The study revealed the massive use of local languages and few fluent speakers of Kiswahili in the local community. There were few games for children to play in which they could improve their skills in Kiswahili, the language of instruction in primary schools. There was a failure among the teachers to manage the time and to follow the syllabus. Pupils failed to express themselves in Kiswahili. They used only ethnic languages at home. Teachers who were teaching by using Kiswahili as a medium of instruction a language unfamiliar to pupils saw this as a great challenge. We concluded that using Kiswahili as medium of instructions in lower primary classes in rural areas leaves a lot to be desired. There is a need to standardize, promote and enhance the unveiled pedagogical strategies and challenges across rural schools.

This article has its basis in the author’s own growing annoyance at so-called “sandwich” programmes, where young academics from developing countries study and learn theories at universities in the Global North, then go to their own countries for fieldwork – only to return to the host country to fit their data into the theories of the Global North. The purpose of this article is twofold. The author’s first aim is to demonstrate that the thinking and concepts of some African educational thinkers such as, for example, Julius Nyerere, fit the educational reality in Africa better than those of Western thinkers, and that these concepts should therefore be used. Second, she argues that when it comes to building theories from the ground, the life experiences of Africans (in terms of everyday reality, indigenous knowledge, cultural transmission, community engagement etc.) should be taken into account. She explains why, through her own teaching at the University of Dar es Salaam in Tanzania, she became interested in the qualitative research method called autoethnography. She also draws on her experience of teaching qualitative research methods at a number of historically black universities in South Africa. She notes a recent positive development in the availability of a promising postgraduate programme with an authoethnographic approach. Entitled “The Narrative Study of Lives” and launched by the South African University of the Free State (UFS) Department of Sociology in 2012, this Master’s and PhD programme builds entirely on African experiences. In the last part of her article, the author applies an autoethnographic approach to the study of languages in Africa. She explains that some of her Tanzanian students grew up with several Tanzanian languages simultaneously, so that Western linguists’ terms like “mother tongue”, first and second language do not make sense to them. She also introduces the concept of ubuntu translanguaging, an effective practice of purposeful juxtaposition of languages observed in African empirical research.

The concept of underdevelopment has also to do with the distribution of power between actors, not on the micro, but at the macro levels. Of all the feminist perspectives used by feminist researchers to analyze social phenomena, the radical perspective is the most fundamental. The concept of patriarchy can be used to explain the domination of women by men almost everywhere. Used together with the concept of relative male dominance, it also adds to our understanding of how the oppression works and how women themselves cooperate in it. The relationship of dominance and subordination is kept through mutual agreement In a way, one can say that women collaborate with men in their own oppression. Underdevelopment has to do with a relationship of oppression, a relationship where the ruling elites have the power to decide who is underdeveloped and to decide on the criteria for underdevelopment.

This article discusses the concept “ubuntu”, an African worldview rooted in the communal character of African life. Some of the same thinking can, however, be found in various Eurasian and Latin-American philosophies. The concept “ubuntu” is also used in language planning: here, the question of language of instruction is discussed through an ubuntu paradigm. The article focuses on policies regarding language in education, both at the micro-level, where translanguaging and code-switching are central, and at the macro-level, where Prestige Planning is discussed. The assessment practices taking place in schools are also looked at through an ubuntu lens. How far is it possible for developing countries to adhere to an education policy based on their own values when they have to participate in tests like Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) and the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) for Development?

The author draws on his/her lived experiences as a cultural commuter in order to reflect on instances of linguistic inequality and injustice that she/he has seen both in partly forgotten yesteryears and in the current years of the 21st century. The author's mother was German. Father was Norwegian. The author's parents decided that their children should be brought up bilingually. When the author was 19, he/she got a one-year scholarship to Stanford University. They shared rooms with the American students, were exposed to their culture, their dating practices, their slang and table manners. The author attended both undergraduate and graduate classes and mostly got Bs in the undergraduate classes and As in several of the graduate classes. From 1988 to 1992, the author was a Professor of education at the University of Dar es Salaam in Tanzania. These years formed a steep learning curve and sent the author through several intellectual shocks.

From 1988 to 1992 I was a professor of education at the University of Dar es Salaam (UDSM) in Tanzania. These years formed a steep learning curve for me and caused me to experience several intellectual shocks. My first shock involved the language issue. I had read that there were 120 languages in Tanzania.

This article deals with the language of instruction, also called ‘the least appreciated of all the major educational problems’. It shows how little attention is paid to this issue in donor policies as well as in the recent ‘World Bank education strategy 2020’. Donors to education in Africa seem to focus on learning outcomes but they do not see that in order to improve learning outcomes, a key focus must be on support to the development and use of the most appropriate language of instruction and literacy from the learner’s perspective. The article discusses the ‘quality’ of education and the point is made that quality of education cannot be separated from the important question of which language should be used for education. Retaining the former colonial languages as languages of instruction may serve a small elite but works to the disadvantage of the majority of Africans. The language of instruction is a powerful mechanism for social stratification, increasing inequalities. Towards the end of the article the myth of the many languages in Africa is discussed.

Abstract This article looks into the unfounded belief in many so-called anglophone countries in Africa that mathematics and science are best taught in English and not in an African language, the language pupils and teachers normally speak and command much better than English. Examples are given from Tanzania, South Africa, Botswana, Lesotho and Ghana. The reintroduction of English from the 5th grade in primary school in maths and science in the Kiswahili speaking island of Zanzibar is discussed at some length. Examples from Africa are contrasted with examples from some Asian countries like Sri Lanka and Malaysia. The attitudes of parents which are built on a misconception are analysed. The article ends on a more optimistic note claiming that misconceptions can be altered.

In 2005 I was for several weeks sitting hour after hour in the back of a class-room in a secondary school in Tanzania (Brock-Utne, 2005, 2013a). I observed students who did not understand what the teacher was saying when he spoke English, and often would ask the teacher to express himself in Kiswahili, a language they all knew very well. My eyes fell especially on one gentle looking boy who was completely passive and obviously did not understand anything of what was going on.

This article is an abbreviated version of the BAICE Presidential Address held at the 11th UKFIET International Conference in Oxford on September 16, 2011. It discusses debates on the use of a foreign and ex-colonial language as a language of instruction (LOI) in African schools and argues that the quality of education cannot be seen as an issue separate from the LOI. Nevertheless, the World Bank 2020 strategy, ‘Learning for All’, does not mention the language in which learning is to take place. The article then discusses policy changes in Rwanda where English was made the LOI from the first grade in 2008, and examines the use of ‘Timms-like’ testing. Taking the example of text messaging and chat amongst students in Dakar and Dar es Salaam, it considers how new information and communication technologies seem to offer opportunities for change where linguistic policy has failed.

This article starts with a personal introduction from a peace researcher who has not only been inspired by the works of Elise Boulding but who over the years had developed a personal relationship to her. It describes how Elise Boulding made it her concern to raise up the voices of the powerless and also to show the importance of the accomplishments, writings, and thinking of women. In her work, Elise Boulding showed that women peace researchers often had other priorities in peace research than male peace researchers. The women wanted more research on nonviolence, on peaceful ways of settling conflicts, and found that there was too much mindless weapon counting in peace research. The author goes on to describe the ideas and work of Elise Boulding in the field of peace education. She seemed skeptical of western schooling and its possibility of promoting peace education. Elise Boulding was concerned with the peace education going on among groups seen as powerless by the patriarchal society.

Since 1995 I have been engaged in consultancies and since 2001 in research dealing with the language of instruction policies in Africa. To what extent are the policies being implemented? What is the role of research and consultancy when it comes to language policy? What happens when researchers or consultants come up with recommendations which do not please donors or the people of power? My paper builds on a consultancy on the language policy of Namibia from 1995, the stock-taking exercise of ADEA/GTZ/UIL of 2006, as well as on research results and experiences gathered within the LOITASA (Language of Instruction in Tanzania and South Africa) project. In the first part of the article I give two examples where the policy recommendations by the consultants/researchers have not been followed up. I give an example of a consultancy that has had some impact on the policy formulation in some African countries. Recommendations from only one of the four studies/consultancies looked at have been thoroughly followed up. These recommendations were in line with what the donors wanted, but did not logically follow from the research done. In the second part of the article I deal with the challenge of making policy research relevant for those most greatly affected by the policy. This means working for a paradigm shift in the research and consultancy on language policies in Africa. It also means looking at the power of misconceptions held by lay people. Towards the end of the article I discuss changing a belief system which has become common knowledge. I show examples of how Tanzanian colleagues in the LOITASA project are trying to do this.

In this article we illustrate how the piloting process has influenced two widely different studies within the educational sciences. These studies differ in design but have as a common denominator that they used piloting methods in their preparatory process. They are also similar in the intention of the main researchers of conducting research with a critical edge. In the first case study described, our solidarity lies with the disadvantaged school children of South Africa. In the second case study, our solidarity lies with a group of teachers who through an action research project wanted to question a school policy that they do not feel benefits all school children in the Norwegian lower secondary school. The two cases are presented separately and explore the change in conceptual and methodological emphasis in the research procedure. We emphasize how important the piloting and access processes are in order to learn from them and reduce mistakes in the main research design. We argue that both piloting and g...

This special issue of the International Review of Education (IRE) deals with Education for Reconciliation and Conflict Resolution not only in states in which peace (defined as the absence of war) exists, but also in states that are or have recently been experiencing violent conflicts on a macro level. While the first four articles deal with more general, fundamental and conceptual issues, the next two deal more specifically with education for reconciliation in situations of conflict. The seventh article analyses the role of the media in relation to violent and non-violent solutions to conflict. The fourth and final set of contributions deals with the teaching of peace and conflict resolution. One article describes the teaching of graduate peace studies in the US, followed by a note on the coordination of peace research and education in Australia. General and conceptual articles on education for reconciliation

This article offers a gender perspective on peace education and the work for peace. To what extent are girls and boys in our society being socialised equally or differently when it comes to learning how to care, empathise with others and engage in or endure violent behaviour? Why are women generally more likely than men to support conscientious objectors, and oppose war toys and war itself? Gender is a powerful legitimator of war and national security. As in other conflict situations around the world, gendered discourses were used in the US following 11 September 2001 in order to reinforce mutual hostilities. Our acceptance of a remasculinised society rises considerably during times of war and uncertainty. War as a masculine activity has been central to feminist investigations.

This article examines some of the problems concerning the language of instruction in higher education within Europe and relates them to the African context. The author argues that there is reason to be worried about the spread of the use of English as a language of instruction in higher education, to the detriment of the smaller European languages in particular. The article gives an insight into the Norwegian and Swedish debate on the issue of domain loss to English in higher education. Towards the end, the article examines the language situation within the European Union. Here politicians publicly stress the need to maintain all the languages of the EU as part of the community’s wealth, but the reality appears to be different, as the EU is marked by the ever greater predominance of just one language, English.

Norwegian official development assistance to education has been profoundly shaped by the political and ideological attitudes of successive national governments. Yet successive coalition governments of highly‐contrastive kinds can alike be seen to have been strongly influenced by the policy content, language and underlying assumptions of World Bank thinking about education and development, especially since the introduction of structural adjustment programmes and the more recent Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers. To an increasing extent, the traditional and much‐praised independence of thinking evident in Norwegian bilateral aid has been subsumed by uncritical adoption of World Bank policy stances, usually imposed uniformly irrespective of local conditions and preferences. Using the National Education Trust Fund as an example illustrating trends in several African countries, the article assesses the implications of this loss of critical independence in the delivery of Norwegian aid to education. There are e...

In 1991 Norwegian state institutions gained the option of introducing “performance salary” as part of local salary negotiations. One institute, in the humanities, began rewarding academic staff for their published books and articles. At the University of Oslo Institute of Philosophy in 1997, an author of a book published in Norwegian received a bonus of 7,000 NOK (ca. $1,100), while an author of a book published in English received a bonus of 15,000 NOK. An academic staff member who edited a scholarly book or professional journal in Norwegian received a bonus of 2,000 NOK. If the book or journal was published in the English language, the editor got a bonus of 5,000 NOK. The author of a doctoral thesis written in Norwegian received a bonus of 7,000 NOK, while an author of a doctoral thesis written in English received a bonus of 15,000 NOK. The author of an article in a professional, refereed journal received 1,000 NOK if the article was in Norwegian and 7,000 NOK if the article was in English. The presentation of this strategy before the Institute for Educational Research in 1997 produced protests among our academic staff. We saw the system as a danger both to our country's language and to a university's obligation to the rest of society. We saw it as a threat to democracy. Unfortunately, the case in point at the Institute of Philosophy began an ongoing policy trend.

The article by Kjorven (FDS 2-04) and the recent policy paper of the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, ‘Education—Job Number 1’, are criticised for the lack of a problem-oriented, critical approach to the difficult task of aiding the educational sector of developing countries. The policy paper also lacks a Norwegian imprint, the article maintains, when in fact the most important contribution Norway could offer might well be its history of an equality-oriented educational system built on the use of Norwegian as the language of instruction not only at primary and secondary level but also at tertiary level. The article discusses the issue of the language of instruction, especially in Africa, as well as the question of co-ordination of aid to the education sector.

The authors of the present article are engaged in a research project funded by the Norwegian Research Council. In this project the language policies of Tanzania and South Africa, as well as the practices of these policies in the classroom are analyzed. The article gives some preliminary results from the project. While the language policies of Tanzania are described as confusing, contradictory, and ambiguous, the language policies of South Africa seem clearer and more progressive. In Tanzania, Kiswahili is seen as the national language, while both Kiswahili and English are official languages. The issue of language has, however, disappeared from the constitution in Tanzania. In the constitution of South Africa, 11 languages are official and seen as equal. But when it comes to practice in the classroom in both countries, the majority of the learners struggle to learn academic content because of the foreign medium that is used as the language of instruction from secondary school onwards in Tanzania and already from the fourth grade in primary school in South Africa. The research reported here shows that whatever the official policies may be the teachers in the classrooms will use whatever language they and their students feel most comfortable with. Examples are given here of the coping strategies teachers and learners use in both countries like translations, code-mixing and code-switching. At the end of the day the learners have to write their exams in English however. The language in education policy in most African countries lead many African pupils to fall even further behind. What seems to be a learning problem or a matter of bad grade, drop out and repetition is really a language problem.

This article analyzes the higher educational policies made for Sub-Saharan Africa by the World Bank and portrays its hostile attitude towards higher education development on the sub continent. Though an organization such as UNESCO holds up the Universal Declaration of Human Rights that states “higher education shall be accessible to all, on the basis of merit,” the Bank insists on what it calls diversification of funding and “cost sharing”. The ramifications of these policies both at individual and institutional level are discussed. Some recent documents from the Bank now recognize the importance of the sector in Africa without, however, any apologies for decades of neglect. Despite increased emphasis on the sector, the basic tenets, such as more cost sharing and more privatisation largely remain. Furthermore, the article discusses language issues in African universities and calls for the need to nurture local knowledge development. The article underscores the great need for an education that is of Africa and for Africa.

The author focuses on capital-led globalization and its accompanying ideology of economic liberalism and discusses its effects on European higher education. She focuses first on the well-known tendencies to operate higher education institutions like profit-making corporations and to turn academics into intellectual workers. Then she examines the linguistic vehicle for this kind of globalization, the increasing predominance of English to the detriment of the academic use of so-called small languages. English language-dominated economic globalization, the author feels, decreases the ability of higher education to further the aims of cultural enrichment and the advancement of knowledge.

As part of her studies at Georgia State University in the US, Finnish PhD student Satu Riutta has written a thesis on the impact of civic education (CE), driven mostly by Western donors, on two rural areas in Tanzania and Zambia. In Tanzania she has chosen Mtwara urban district in Mtwara region and in Zambia Mansa district in Luapula Province. Her thesis has been published as a book. This book is divided into five chapters. The first chapter is entitled: ‘‘Why civic education matters’’. Chapter 2 describes in detail the types of contexts that Riutta has picked out in Tanzania and Zambia. This chapter shows that although at first glance these countries are as similar as any other two countries in Sub-Saharan Africa, important differences remain in variables crucial to participation. These have to do with

In the first part of this article the question of the language of instruction is seen in relation to questions of poverty, power and partnership. In the second part the fate of the African languages in some selected countries is given a closer look. Two distinct trends are noted, one strengthening the dominant languages which, in the context of Africa, means the former colonial languages and one focusing on a growing concern for a preservation and revival of African languages as languages of instruction in at least the primary schools in Africa. The battle between these two trends is discussed. The article builds partly on discussions the author has had with policy-makers in African countries.

This article discusses the danger of subtractive English in higher education in Norway. If the use of a mother tongue as the medium of communication at the highest academic levels ceases, is drastically reduced and replaced through the use of a foreign tongue, we may speak of subtractive learning. If the mother tongue is being replaced by a foreign tongue in academic writing, in research and university level teaching, the mother tongue will stagnate. The vocabulary needed has not been allowed to develop at the highest academic level. The author maintains that the Norwegian language is threatened as an academic language and here discusses the following five phenomena, all contributing to this threat

In 1995 Birgit Brock-Utne was asked by NIED (National Institute for Education and Development) in Namibia to make a study of the situation of the African languages after Independence in 1990. Five years later the study was followed up by Halla Holmarsdottir as her thesis for the degree of Master of Philosophy in Comparative and International Education. The study was supported by the Nordic Institute of African Studies. This article is built on both these studies, which shows that the enormous work that has gone into making English the official language of Namibia, has born fruits. However, Holmarsdottir in her 2000 study also found that teachers overestimate their knowledge of English and in fact recent teacher graduates are not significantly more proficient in English than those who have been teaching for some time. Both studies reveal that many people around the country have grave concerns that the Namibian languages are losing a battle against English. One notable example of this development is the drop in the number of students studying African languages at the University of Namibia. In 1995 there were 100 students taking Oshindonga, and in the academic year 1999–2000 there was one.