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Social and emotional learning (SEL) enhances children's academic and life achievements when implemented well. While previous studies explored factors influencing teachers' implementation of SEL, limited attention has been given to the role of their social and emotional competence (SEC). To address this gap, this study analyzed surveys from 434 primary school teachers in Malawi using hierarchical linear modeling. The findings reveal a positive relationship between teachers' SEC, specifically in emotion regulation and relationship management, and their integration of SEL in daily classroom instruction. Notably, teachers serve as behavioral role models through socialization, communication, and emotional conduct. Strengthening teachers' SEC, in conjunction with SEL pedagogy training, could help foster SEL-rich school environments for learners in Malawi and similar contexts.

Guidelines for conducting surveys by mobile phone calls in low- and middle-income countries suggest keeping interviews short (<20 minutes). The evidence supporting this recommendation is scant, even though limiting interview duration might reduce the amount of data generated by such surveys. We recruited nearly 2,500 mobile phone users in Malawi and randomly allocated them to 10-, 20-, or 30-minute phone interviews, all ending with questions on parental survival. Cooperation was high in all groups, and differences in completion rates were minimal. The extent of item nonresponse, age heaping, and temporal displacement of deaths in data on parental survival generally did not vary between study groups, but reports of maternal age at death were more reliable in longer interviews. Recommendations about the duration of mobile phone interviews might be too restrictive. They should not preclude additional modules, including ones on mortality, in mobile phone surveys conducted in LMICs.

In 2017, Malawi's Ministry of Education revised the Initial Primary Teacher Education curriculum to enhance education quality, emphasizing critical thinking pedagogies. However, no research has been published on how teacher educators implement these pedagogies and the challenges they face. A qualitative study addressed this gap, involving fourteen Social Sciences teacher educators and Curriculum specialists from four teacher education colleges and the Malawi Institute of Education. Guided by Paulo Freire's Critical Pedagogy Theory and Shulman's Pedagogical Content Knowledge (PCK), data was gathered through document reviews, interviews, and observations. Findings revealed many educators lack understanding of critical thinking's aims and significance, facing challenges due to inadequate training. This results in difficulties incorporating critical thinking, especially in lesson development and conclusions. Assessments predominantly rely on recall questions, failing to promote critical thinking. Poor management of the curriculum's introduction led to ineffective implementation. The study recommends careful planning and adequate training for educators to effectively integrate critical thinking pedagogies.

There are too few teachers and schools to meet the need for quality universal basic education. Therefore, alternative approaches to education provision need to be explored, such as open and distance learning methods and development and provision of curriculum-based Open Educational Resources (OER). However, distribution of printed materials is increasingly costly, and distribution of digital resources remains a challenge in areas with little or no connectivity. This case study explores the potential of using offline strategies to share digital OER. It suggests it is possible to provide access to digital learning resources even in the most remote areas by using appropriate technology, like the Commonwealth of Learning's Aptus device.

Mobile devices in the primary school classroom may improve literacy and numeracy learning, though concerns about risk of bias and uncertainty about modes of effect limit conclusions. This review gathered evidence on how mobile devices (including tablets, mobile phones, and handheld digital games) are used in primary school classrooms to help children's literacy and numeracy skills. An Expert Advisory Group supported the process to help findings relate to everyday practice. The review aimed to assess the impact of mobile devices in primary school classrooms on children's literacy and numeracy achievement, and its methodological quality. The secondary objectives were to assess whether some devices or classroom activities were more effective than others in supporting literacy and numeracy; whether some children benefitted more from these devices (e.g., across age or gender); and whether effects lasted beyond the duration of the studies.

The initial primary teacher education (IPTE) curriculum policy was revised in 2016 and implemented in 2017 in Malawi (Ministry of Education, 2021). This study investigates teacher educators' (TE) understanding and experiences in two teacher training colleges. The study is informed by the cognitivist theory of Spillane et al. (2002). Following a qualitative research design, data were collected through face-to-face interviews with teacher educators and principals. Classroom lesson observations were used to triangulate interview data. Data analysis showed that teacher educators' superficial understanding of the espoused goals, content, and pedagogy of the IPTE impedes effective teacher education. The study found that the implementation of the revised IPTE curriculum is constrained by ineffective re-education and orientation of lecturers to the revised curriculum; unavailability of qualified lecturers; the duration and mode of training; the lack of teaching and learning resources; and TEs that are not being supported by the Ministry of Education officials. The study also shows that superficial understanding and ineffective implementation of the IPTE policy by educational stakeholders, such as lecturers, also comprises the quality of primary teacher education in Malawi. Based on the findings, several recommendations are made to improve the implementation of the IPTE in the country. These recommendations have implications both in Malawi and beyond.

Understanding genetics, an important topic in the study of biology, is critical for scientific literacy in agriculture, health, and forensic investigations. However, it has been observed that teachers find genetics difficult to teach and pupils do not perform well in it. Teachers can use expository teaching or active learning methods, but the secondary school curriculum in Malawi advocates the latter. The aim of this study was to find out how genetics is taught and how teachers justify their choice of method. This study used a multi-case design involving six teachers and observed their Mendelian genetics lessons and asked them to justify their choice of teaching method. The findings show that teachers mostly use expository methods utilizing lecture and question and answer teaching techniques. Contextual factors such as large classes, limited teaching time, and lack of resources were cited as reasons for their choice of expository techniques. In addition, they said that the topic was abstract and learners could not construct their own understanding. Furthermore, they indicated that they did not know what activities to arrange for the learners. The paper discusses the difficulties experienced in implementing active learning methods in teaching genetics and recommends possible avenues for teacher education and further research in Malawi.

Young people are often incarcerated in penitentiaries worldwide. Incarceration is not expected to hinder their access to quality education. This article, guided by Marxist theory, examines the practicality of educational rights at five young prisoners' facilities in Malawi. The study used a descriptive phenomenological qualitative research design to engage the voices of 52 incarcerated and released young people in semi-structured interviews to ascertain if prisoners' quality education was a reality or mere pipedream at young prisoners' facilities. The findings show a disparity between correctional education policies and the actual reality. Due to the inadequacy of resources and the negativity of the prison environment, the facilities failed to provide quality, appealing and motivating education to the already educationally disenchanted incarcerated young people, resulting in low enrolment rates. It was, therefore, concluded that education was still a pipe dream at young prisoners' centres in Malawi.

Education must be accessible to all citizens, including those incarcerated in penitentiaries, to contribute to the socio-economic development of the countries. In Malawi, to enhance incarcerated people's access to quality education in correctional facilities, the Malawi Prisons Service (MPS) included education as a strategic objective in its five-year strategic plan covering the period between 2016 and 2021. This article analysed and compared this strategic education objective against reality to ascertain its implementation and relevance during the implementation period. Guided by Bunning's model of strategic planning, the study employed a qualitative content analysis research method using the 'hybrid approach'. The study mainly used data from the semi-structured interviews involving purposively selected 25 educators and officials from five young offenders' rehabilitation centres in Malawi. Findings revealed a mismatch between the contents of the strategic education objective and the actual reality. The study identified characteristics of Bunning's ritual approach since it was revealed that the strategic plan was developed to please the government and development partners. From the education objective viewpoint, the strategic plan was hardly used during the five years since the educational activities remained the same (even worse) after the implementation period. The young offenders' facilities were still stuck in the punitive philosophy, as evidenced by limited resources in the education section and the management's priority on coerced farming instead of education. It was recommended that the correctional administrations needed to prioritise the provision of quality education for school-aged offenders in correctional policies.

Access arrangements are pre-exam arrangements that aim to remove any barriers that might prevent students with specific needs from accessing the assessment and demonstrating their knowledge and skills. Access arrangements are not intended to change the assessment demand or reduce its validity. Using a survey questionnaire, the present study reports on the views of 258 centres in eight countries around the world regarding teachers' and students' perceptions of access arrangements. The questionnaire included a mixture of closed and open-ended questions covering the following themes: awareness and provision of access arrangements; resources to provide access arrangements; views on access arrangements (including their usefulness, fairness, and perceived effectiveness of use); and overall views on access and inclusion.

The COVID-19 restrictions resulted in the most significant disruptions to education in this century. Universities responded differently to the restrictions. For example, some universities in Southern Africa closed and had no academic activities for months. These universities had little online teaching and learning, opting for a phased return to face-to-face teaching and learning. Other universities shifted to online teaching and learning after a short suspension of academic activities. This article reflects on the cases presented by two universities, considering evidence from the literature on the challenges of transition to online teaching and learning, and the affordances of the learner management systems they adopted. The reflections uncovered the fact that although the responses of the two universities were different, the challenges they faced were similar. There are challenges of access to data and devices needed for online teaching and learning, lecturers', and students' struggles to adapt to online teaching and learning, and issues related to the incompatibility of face-to-face pedagogical practices with online teaching and learning. Despite these challenges, the emergency online teaching and learning mastered during the COVID-19 pandemic offer future benefits of lesser workload for staff, increased enrolments, and preparation of students for the fourth industrial revolution. However, universities that quickly return to face-to-face teaching without retaining the good practices developed during the pandemic might not benefit from the lessons learnt and may be unprepared for future disruptions to education.

Early nutrition supplementation's effect on children's reading ability was assessed during the conduct of the study. The study methodology followed children who participated in an early nutrition supplementation intervention and conducted a reading test to measure how well the children read. The effect of school resource endowment on student reading ability was assessed. School resources as a lead effect on variations in reading performance through a fixed effect regression model was discounted and confirmed that early nutrition supplementation explains variations in reading performance. However, it was found that school resources accessibility on factors such as library availability and access to reading textbooks post classroom lessons to children complements the acquisition of reading skills in children. The policy implication from the findings calls for the domestication of reading curricula and leveraging the children's nutrition to sustain reading gains.

The purpose of this study was to compare experiences of teachers and learners in the implementation of the National Strategy on Inclusive Education between primary and secondary schools in Malawi using a qualitative methodology with a phenomenological approach. The findings show that there is no clear difference in the way the National Strategy on Inclusive Education is implemented at both educational levels. Both levels face challenges of not having a system to identify and assess students for inclusive education; teachers do not have adequate knowledge and skills for inclusive education; training institutions do not offer practical programs on inclusive education; teaching and learning resources for students with special needs are not available; school infrastructure is not disability friendly; and some learners discriminate their fellow learners with special needs. These findings imply that there is a need to have all teachers trained in inclusive education; teacher training colleges and universities must offer both theoretical and practical inclusive education programs; there must be a system in schools to identify and assess learners; teaching and learning resources for those with disabilities must be provided; and conducive environment in schools that is disability friendly must be created.

Children in sub-Saharan African countries face higher exposure to gender-based violence (GBV) compared to their counterparts in other world regions (United Nations Children's Fund [UNICEF], 2014). When GBV occurs in schools, it severely endangers access to education. Using the third round of data of the Southern and Eastern Africa Consortium for Monitoring Educational Quality (SACMEQ) from over 60,000 Grade 6 learners across 14 countries, we examined the relationship between GBV in primary schools and learners' absenteeism. Findings indicate that sexual harassment perpetrated by teachers significantly increases learners' absenteeism. In contrast, effects were less clear when the perpetrator was a fellow learner. Effects found are similar in magnitude for girls and boys. Violence prevention education programmes and stricter punishment for offenders are needed to establish a safer school environment and overcome harassment-related barriers to learning.

With the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals in place, the quality of teacher education is a global concern. With so much talent mobility and brain circulation, any migration of low-quality educators from one region will affect the quality of education in the destination part of the global village. The study examined how the interplay in the aftermath of the cyclones, COVID-19, supervisors' quality, and student characteristics impacted student-teachers' experiences during the scrambled teaching practice supervision model. Thematic and content analyses of data from document analysis and semi-structured interviews from purposefully sampled Southern Africa Development Community countries revealed that relying on physical teaching practice supervision negatively impacts assessment, especially when even non-specialists are involved in the supervision. Educators' inadequate pedagogical content knowledge, space effect, and multiple exposures to assessment compromise teacher education amidst pandemics and natural disasters. The study recommends migration to computer-based online supervision strategies as a mitigation strategy. Recommendations for an educational policy, practicum, and architectural adaption are discussed.

In the study reported on here, we analysed parents' involvement in their children's primary education in 4 primary schools in rural Malawi, focusing on the home and the school. Through interviews and focus-group discussions, information was obtained from 19 parents, 24 teachers (6 from each school), and 4 head teachers. Bronfenbrenner's ecological systems theory was used to design the study and to interpret the data, focusing mainly on the micro- and mesosystem elements. The home and school settings represent the autonomous microsystem, whereas parental involvement is part of the mesosystem. The microsystem appeared to be active both with learner-parent and learner-teacher actions; however, mesosystemic interactions were limited. We found that parents and teachers needed to develop stronger mutual relationships and interactions to support learners better. Schools also need to communicate positive aspects of children's learning to the parents. Enhancing positive reinforcement could enhance parental involvement.

The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2019 marked a turning point in the delivery of education globally. The exponential rise in positive cases left the majority of universities in the developing world overwhelmed as they had inadequate or no infrastructure to enable them to switch to emergency delivery modes. This paper applies the five-stage model to examine engagement and communication processes between taskforce members and academic staff during the implementation of emergency remote teaching and learning at a Malawian university. The study was largely qualitative and data collection involved a questionnaire survey and semi-structured interviews. Whilst staff members initially held negative perceptions, the situation gradually changed as positive sentiments became widespread. Apparent increase in academic autonomy, ostensibly arising from the urgent search for innovative methodologies, further influenced favourable dispositions among the staff. This study suggests the need to integrate both synchronous and asynchronous methods of delivery in the model.

This article identifies the challenges of developing active citizens based on the latest revised social studies curriculum in Malawi (2015) in the context of Malawi's secondary school classrooms. By using collected data from interviews with teachers and students and classroom observation, the paper examines the extent to which social studies empowers students to express their opinions. The analysis identifies three issues: 1. both teachers and students perceive social studies teaching as 'easy'; 2. teachers expect students to be active in classroom practices but to be obedient outside classes and 3. individualistic values in textbooks could conflict with the values of "Umunthu" in Malawi. The paper concludes that classroom practices might dissuade students to be critical thinkers, thereby fostering obedient citizens and limiting students' potential power to tackle social issues.

Previous studies have paid considerable attention to the impact on a child's primary education of attending pre-primary school. Researchers have asserted that early educational intervention can compensate for the effects of poverty and inadequate learning environments on child development and school success. This study analyzes the relationship between pre-primary education and student reading and mathematics achievement in the sixth grade, focusing on disadvantaged children, in countries that participated in the Southern and Eastern Africa Consortium for Monitoring Educational Quality (SACMEQ) III project. The results show that the achievement of children who attended pre-primary education is higher than that of those who did not. The achievement of children who have many home resources for learning is better than that of children who have a few such resources. In almost all countries, disadvantaged children's achievement is increased when they attend pre-primary education. However, the contribution of pre-primary education to ameliorating social inequalities is different in the various contexts of different countries. These findings contribute to the discussion on the importance of early childhood care and education, especially in sub-Saharan Africa.

Amid the 21st century, marked by unprecedented technological advancements and rapid societal transformations, the field of education stands at a crossroads. As the digital era unfolds, traditional teaching methods are being redefined to align with the evolving needs of learners. This study delves into diverse pedagogical approaches that extend beyond the conventional classroom model. The integration of technology, collaborative learning strategies, and project-based initiatives emerges as pivotal components of 21st-century education. By examining these approaches, this study aims to elucidate how they contribute to fostering a dynamic and engaging learning environment. Modern teaching methodologies emphasize interactive and participatory learning experiences, leveraging multimedia resources, virtual collaboration tools, and gamified elements. Through this lens, this study seeks to evaluate how such practices enhance student motivation, critical thinking skills, and overall academic performance. Moreover, the study delves into the development of skills deemed essential for success in the contemporary global landscape. Beyond traditional subject knowledge, the emphasis is placed on cultivating skills such as digital literacy, creativity, adaptability, and effective communication. This paper employs a qualitative approach, including a comprehensive literature review and analysis of existing studies, to explore the critical significance of contemporary teaching and learning methodologies. The study aims to unravel the profound impact of these methodologies on fostering student engagement, developing essential 21st-century skills, and enhancing overall preparedness to address future challenges in the rapidly evolving educational landscape.

Purpose: The study compares how work-integrated learning (WIL) placement positioning, duration, assessment strategies and environment at three Southern African universities influence engineering students' academic and employability outcomes. Design/methodology/approach: The study used a qualitative case study approach that drew on the principles of collaborative autoethnography (CAE). The researchers reflected on WIL placement practices, structure, assessment, environment and outcomes at their universities and then analysed the reflections using comparative descriptive techniques. Findings: The study reports no uniformity among the universities in positioning WIL placement in the curriculum. It is done during end-of-year vacations, between the penultimate and final year or in the last year. The study found WIL placement positioning does not influence academic outcomes; however, the influence on employability outcomes needs further investigation. Components of WIL placement assessment are similar, presentations, logbooks and reports. However, there are differences in the weightings of the various assessment components and the contribution of the industry supervisor. There is a growing trend towards placing students within universities to mitigate the challenges of limited opportunities of placements available in the industry. The impact of this also needs to be further investigated. Lastly, there are policy-related challenges in placing international students. Work restrictions on student visas limit international students' access to WIL placement. Southern African universities need to lobby the waivers to student visa restrictions that limit their participation in WIL programs if there are to succeed in their internationalisation efforts. Originality/value: The study highlights the gaps in understanding Southern African universities' WIL placement practices, particularly relating to the positioning of WIL placement in the curriculum, the assessment methods used and the theory to work integration and employability outcomes.

Although the use of the cluster randomized trial (CRT) design to evaluate vaccines, public health interventions or health systems is increasing, the ethical issues posed by the design are not adequately addressed, especially in low- and middle-income country settings (LMICs). To help reveal ethical challenges, qualitative interviews were conducted with key stakeholders experienced in designing and conducting two selected CRTs in Malawi. The 18 interviewed stakeholders included investigators, clinicians, nurses, data management personnel and community workers who were invited to share their experiences related to implementation of CRTs. Data analysis revealed five major themes with ethical implications: (1) The moral obligation for health care providers to participate in health research and its compensation; (2) Suboptimal care services compromising the integrity of CRT; (3) Ensuring scientific validity and withholding care service; (4) Obtaining valid consent and permission for waiver of consent; and (5) Inadequate risk assessment for trial participation. Understanding key ethical issues posed by CRTs in Malawi could improve ethical review and research oversight of this particular study design.

This article demonstrates how discursive constructions of pregnant schoolgirls produce social and material consequences for girls in Southern Africa. Critical feminist scholars have argued that diverse actors frame girls across the global South as either monolithic, sexualised victims and sites for intervention or as hyper-agents, uniquely capable of changing the world. In either case, pregnancy is pathologised and girls' education is put forth as the solution to untimely sexuality and poverty. Through an ethnographic study of student pregnancy in Malawi, I show how education actors leveraged stories of pregnant schoolgirls to inform curriculum, policy, and resource distribution; and how young women engaged with these stories in school. I focus in particular on three students. While my renderings of these girls' stories are inherently partial, they demonstrate how binary discourse can shape girls' educational access and retention, even as it misaligns with their lives.

Adolescent girls are more likely to experience early sexual debut than boys. However, the developmental context of their sexual behaviors is under-investigated. Using the socio-ecological model and Malawi Schooling and Adolescent Survey, we investigated factors crucial in determining the development of sexual behaviors of 416, 14-year-old girls in rural southern Malawi. We applied Bivariate Logistic Regression analysis to determine associations. Results showed that 353 (84.9%) experienced sexual intercourse, 60 (18.4%) had multiple sexual partners, and 32 (9.1%) used condoms or hormonal contraceptives. Participants' educational background, desire for higher education, reproductive health knowledge, and being monitored by teachers in school were positively associated with healthy sexual behaviors. Having a boyfriend, lack of schooling support, and being invited to teachers' homes were positively associated with risky sexual behaviors. Therefore, promoting adolescents' formal education, sexual health literacy, and safety in schools should be essential components of research and biobehavioral interventions targeting young adolescents in Malawi.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, a group of health program implementors and research analysts across seven low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) alongside Boston-based collaborators convened to implement data-driven approaches for public health response. An intensive statistics and data science training short course was developed to ensure that in-country researchers could implement the necessary statistical methods for COVID-19 surveillance. The main goal of the course was to enable interpretation of findings from time series analyses and flag potential data issues. This manuscript summarizes our experience teaching this course, including a detailed course overview, participant feedback, and thoughts on how targeted, online courses can be used to support statistical capacity building in LMICs.

Globalisation is increasingly affecting universities worldwide. In African contexts, language policies exhibit an inheritance situation in which countries continue to implement policies which favour colonial languages in education. This paper investigates the Malawian higher education context and the ways in which staff engage with multilingualism. It examines the implementation of language policies by staff in their classrooms and explores the attitudes of staff members towards the current monolingual language policy and practices in higher education in the country. The paper draws on a 4-month ethnography carried out in eight Malawian universities. Findings indicate that the language 'rules' imposed by staff are highly variable and that diverse language 'policies' are implemented and enforced by staff, some of whom operate strictly monolingual approaches while others adopt multilingual approaches. Staff display a range of attitudes towards multilingualism, influenced by competing pressures of ensuring students comprehend the subject matter while also seeking to improve their English skills against the broader backdrop of language practices and expectations in the country.

Discrete Choice Experiments (DCEs) are widely used in behavioral sciences to examine how humans value attributes of a technology, how those values drive decisions, and how they make trade-offs. The method has increasingly been used to inform technologies and interventions for addressing critical issues (e.g. disease and hunger). Different formats and symbols are used to deliver DCEs and represent attributes, respectively (e.g. questionnaire presenting two vaccines with different photos representing risks). When these formats or symbols are unfamiliar to respondents, they are unlikely to understand DCEs, raising questions about the validity of findings and their contribution to future technology and interventions. This research note offers a pathway to develop more robust DCEs with participants. In doing so, participant understanding of the experiment is increased and more accurate depictions of their choices are captured.

The purpose of this study was to investigate underlining cultural factors impeding girls' secondary education in Lilongwe Rural West Education Division (LRWED) of Malawi. Underperformance of girls in comparison to boys in their education persists. Hence the need to explore the underpinning social-cultural factors is there. The study employed a mixed methods research design. Using a multi-stage sampling approach, a sample of 295 respondents was selected from five cluster leader government secondary schools in LRWED comprising of headteachers, teachers, Form 4 female students, and parents. Data were generated through survey questionnaires, Key Informant Interviews and Focus Group Discussions (FGD). Findings indicated that key social-cultural factors affecting girls' education in LRWED include girls' initiation ceremonies, unplanned pregnancies, early marriages and poverty. Initiation ceremonies were found to contribute to early sex experimentation that undermined girls' continued interest and persistence in education through poor retention, repetition, and subsequent dropout. The findings further revealed that the absence of sex education in the schools' curriculum is the lead cause of parental dependence on local initiation ceremonies. This implies that the incorporation of cultural and sex education in schools' curricula or programs could help curb parental dependence on initiation ceremonies for girls' sex education and the challenges of early marriages and school dropout influenced by social-cultural factors.

In this this article we discuss findings from an investigation of whether female student teachers would choose to study mathematics if it were optional for primary teacher education in Malawi. A mixed methods research methodology was used to collect data through survey and focus group discussions (FGDs). Five hundred and twenty three female students from 6 public teacher education colleges completed a questionnaire, and 160 of them participated in FGDs. A descriptive statistical analysis was conducted on the quantitative data while a thematic analysis was conducted on the qualitative data. The findings show that 68% of female students would choose to study mathematics while 32% would not. This correlated with the students' mathematics scores at the end of their secondary school national examination. Those students with high score passes opted for mathematics and those with low score passes did not, suggesting that performance at secondary school influenced their confidence in studying mathematics. Female student teachers' reasons for choosing or not choosing mathematics were it optional are classified into 5 categories: the perceived usefulness of mathematics, inner motivation to study mathematics, the nature of the college mathematics content, how mathematics courses are taught at colleges, and gender stereotype in mathematics lessons. We discuss these in relation to the Malawian government's agenda of increasing participation of females in mathematics, science, technology, and engineering.

The learning gap between urban and rural areas is a persistent problem in many sub-Saharan African countries. Previous studies have found that the urban-rural learning gap is attributed to the fact that student characteristics and school resources are different in urban and rural areas. Our study updates this finding by using the latest dataset and further examines the changes in the attributed sources over time. Using 15 educational systems in sub-Saharan Africa, we examined 4 potential sources of the gap: student, family, teacher, and school characteristics. Our results reveal that the urban-rural learning gap in recent years is attributed mostly to differences in school and family characteristics. We also found that the attribution remains the same over time from 2004 to 2011 and that the attribution to family characteristics' differences became slightly greater than the one to school characteristics' differences.

This article is autoethnographic, based upon the authors' experiences and reflections upon encountered moments of ethical tension whilst conducting research in rural Malawi. Given that knowledge production, as a process, has been marred by colonial forms of power, the project was underpinned by efforts to achieve a decolonial approach to the research, including the research ethics. The authors share of their endeavours to counterbalance the challenges of power asymmetries whilst researching and working with an Indigenous community whose reality can be marginalised by the Western canon. The authors attempted to ensure that the values and customs of the researched community were respected and central to the research approach. When researchers are guided by local culture and customs, the participants are able to drive the research approach, incorporate their voice and share knowledge that is true to their context and reality. In this way, the research study is illustrative of how an ethics of care can help to facilitate decolonial research practice.

In this paper we discuss findings of a study that investigated the resources and language that teachers in Malawi use to teach the concept of zero. In Malawi primary schools, textual resources available to teachers are mainly the curriculum materials in the form of syllabus, teacher guides and learner textbooks. The syllabus and teacher guides are in English while the learner textbooks are in Chichewa as teaching is in Chichewa or other local language in the first 4 years of primary school. We used the Mediating Primary Mathematics framework (Venkat and Askew in Educ Stud Math 97:71-92, 2018) and a qualitative case study of two teachers to explore the resources used, how the teachers interacted with the resources and how they moved between the two languages. Our findings include that the language and resources that the teachers used provided affordances as well as constraints for learning the concept of zero. We identified two types of challenges for the teachers; that of naming and that of representing the concept of zero. We discuss what the Malawi context illuminates about teaching zero in post-colonial multilingual settings.

During the last decades, the study of how learners and teachers of mathematics use the resource of language has contributed to our understanding of mathematics teaching and learning in a variety of classrooms and cultures. Developmental work with mathematics teachers on the particular resource of mathematics teaching talk is more recent. In order to explore responses related to the importance of this talk, in this paper we consider three sites of practice in mathematics education--research, professional development and teaching--and illustrations of data from or about them, including studies from the literature, and work with secondary school mathematics teachers in Catalonia-Spain and Malawi around the teaching of angles. We argue that tensions permeate these sites of practice when a focus is placed on word use, specifically the practices of naming and explaining, in mathematics teaching talk. We conclude that the importance of mathematics teaching talk is construed through tensions with other resources in language and teaching. Tensions specifically appear in the realisation of mathematics teaching talk as mediational in the work with mathematics teachers on their classroom teaching.

The relevance of education in the effort towards alleviating poverty cannot be overemphasised. Malawi is one of the poorest countries in Africa, with over 80% of the population living in rural areas and reeling under deplorable conditions. With the effort towards practicing inclusive education, there is the need for policymakers to expedite attempts towards providing equitable access to education for children living in rural communities. Teachers are central in the effort towards practicing inclusive education. Thus, the aim of this study was to understand the attitudes of teachers towards inclusive education, job satisfaction, as well as their intention to remain in rural schools. A total of 305 primary school teachers were recruited from 44 rural schools in three regions in Malawi to complete three survey scales. The results show small but positive relationship between attitudes, job satisfaction, and teacher retention. Only job satisfaction was a significant predictor of teachers' attitudes. The need for policymakers to provide teachers with supports and improving conditions of service, has been discussed in detail.

This article chronicles a crisis of alignment regarding Critical Pedagogy due to the top-down power structures of White authority that is pervasive in the theory's North American academic environment. Contesting the often touted "radical" or "revolutionary" nature of Critical Pedagogy in higher education spaces, the author questions his relationship with Paulo Freire's work, "Pedagogy of the Oppressed," ultimately abandoning the content of writing over the way the theory/philosophy is lived in academia. Through the lived experience of engaging with community in the James Bay Cree territories and Malawi, the question is asked as to who owns Freire's rebellious call to action.

This paper explores the influence of Science Teaching Orientations (STOs) on Teacher Professional Knowledge (TPK) domains of five in-service Malawian secondary school science teachers. The study was grounded within Friedrichsten et al.'s (2011) definition of STOs and Gess-Newsome's (2015) conceptualization of TPK. We gathered data using semi-structured interviews on the two dimensions of STOs: goals and purposes of science teaching, and beliefs about science teaching and learning. We used a questionnaire to gather data on the third dimension--Nature of Science (NoS). To understand the influence of STOs on TPK domains, we used data that we collected through classroom observations. The classroom observations were analysed inductively then deductively against the STOs dimensions and TPK domains. Results show that the first two dimensions of STOs influenced some TPK domains. There was no influence of the NOS on TPK domains. Although the teachers had correct views about the NOS, the lack of influence between the NOS and TPK domains raises questions about their Pedagogical Content Knowledge (PCK) for the NOS. We discuss the implications of the findings on teacher education and in-service science teacher professional development.

The implementation of the National Special Needs Education Policy Guidelines in Malawi began in 2009. There is limited literature on how the guidelines are implemented in secondary schools, particularly in private secondary schools of Malawi. Therefore, the study aimed at exploring the implementation of the guidelines in private secondary schools. The study used a phenomenological design and qualitative methodology. Data were generated through a triangulation of methods including semi-structured interviews, observation and document analysis. The data generated were analysed thematically. The findings revealed that there was a lack of thorough knowledge of the guidelines, resources for implementing the guidelines in private secondary schools were not available, and support for learners with special education needs was not sufficient. The results of this study indicate that communication with key school stakeholders is key for the effective implementation of the National Special Needs Education Policy Guidelines.

Research indicates that teachers' beliefs about goals or purposes of science teaching, as one dimension of science teaching orientations, influence what happens in the classroom. The purpose of this research was to explore the self-reported and enacted goals or purposes of science teaching of four in-service Malawian science teachers using the curriculum emphases concept as a theoretical lens. This research used qualitative case study research design. Semi-structured interviews and classroom observations were used to explore teachers' self-reported and enacted goals or purpose of science teaching, respectively. A deductive analysis approach was used to analyze interview and classroom observation transcripts, to understand the teacher's goals or purposes. Results reveal that while teachers have multiple self-reported goals or purpose of science teaching, most of these are not enacted during teaching in the classrooms. This suggests the topic-specific nature of the goals or purposes. Results also show that all the teachers were not aware of the self-as-explainer goal or purpose of science teaching both during interviews and instruction. These findings are discussed, and implications are proposed for science in-service teacher professional development and pre-service teachers' training programs.

Student teachers' perspectives on how their teacher educators act as exemplars of using technology appropriately (or fail to do so) could create a basis for teacher educators' technology professional development (TPD). However, there is a dearth of research on student teachers' input into teacher educators' TPD, as research is dependent on self-reports of teacher educators' own competencies. This study explored teacher educators' TPD based on perspectives of student teachers. The study involved policy analysis, a survey, and interviews with student teachers in a university-based teacher education programme in Malawi. Findings indicate that student teachers have a stake in what it means to be a professional teacher educator in Malawi. The case study has also shown the contribution of student teachers' perspectives in strengthening teacher educators' TPD. The contribution includes clarifying the image of a technologically competent teacher educator and student teachers' co-learning with teacher educators. The paper discusses scholarly and practical implications of these findings. For instance, it is suggested that teacher educators should make the co-learning process more explicit to the student teachers.

The COVID-19 outbreak stimulated an outbreak of online learning in many institutions in Sub-Saharan Africa. Educational institutions went beyond fighting the COVID-19 through social distancing norms to tackling Sustainable Development Goal Four (SDG 4) with the adoption of online learning as the new modality for instruction. Online learning has the propensity to ensure learners from all geographical regions have access to education, thereby addressing the inequalities in education. However, the disparities in the access to digital infrastructure had a negative impact on the online instruction in Sub-Saharan Africa. The online learning experience is best described as a "challenge-ridden online learning" with many teachers suffering from burnout and students lamenting on limited ICT resources, inadequate access to affordable and reliable internet, power outages, and anxiety over academic outcomes. Despite the challenges, the COVID-19 has presented a silver lining to online learning in Sub-Saharan Africa. Aside the attempt to massify online learning, many institutions have come up with novel technological innovations and inventions to bridge the digital divide in the region. The review gives an overview of the challenges, prospects, and practical implications of online learning in Sub-Saharan Africa. Abstract-The COVID-19 outbreak stimulated an outbreak of online learning in many institutions in Sub-Saharan Africa. Educational institutions went beyond fighting the COVID-19 through social distancing norms to tackling Sustainable Development Goal Four (SDG 4) with the adoption of online learning as the new modality for instruction. Online learning has the propensity to ensure learners from all geographical regions have access to education, thereby addressing the inequalities in education. However, the disparities in the access to digital infrastructure had a negative impact on the online instruction in Sub-Saharan Africa. The online learning learning" with many teachers suffering from burnout and students lamenting on limited ICT resources, inadequate access to affordable and reliable internet, power outages, and anxiety over academic outcomes. Despite the challenges, the COVID-19 has presented a silver lining to online learning in Sub-Saharan Africa. Aside the attempt to massify online learning, many institutions have come up with novel technological innovations and inventions to bridge the digital divide in the region. The review gives an overview of the challenges, prospects, and practical implications of online learning in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Malawi struggles with youth access to higher education. Up to 60% of eligible university candidates may not be accepted, while less than 1% of Malawi's qualified cohort get enrolled in some form of tertiary education. This paper reveals youth's experiences in alternative higher education programs and show if the programs align with their aspirations, prepare them for lives that they have a reason to value and enhance their wellbeing. The broader Ph.D. study from which this paper stems used a qualitative case study based on the views of youth from a selected NGO. Limited explorations and knowledge on whether alternative higher education programs offered by NGOs for youth who fail to access university in Malawi meet the youth's aspirations; the paucity of such studies in Malawian higher education necessitated empirical research on this topic. The paper uses the capabilities approach as a conceptual framework to refine it within higher education.

Providing access to higher education for people in marginalized communities, in particular for refugees, requires to re-think the traditional ways of teaching and learning in higher education institutions. The challenges of these circumstances both in terms of access to learning materials and the opportunity to collaboratively learn with others require specific support via appropriate didactical settings. Blended learning arrangements, i.e., settings that bring together online learning activities with synchronous, co-located settings show potential for addressing these requirements. In the present study, we examine the success factors in the design of blended learning settings for supporting higher education in marginalized communities. Based on an established model of blended learning success, we explore the specific challenges of the target group via a survey which was distributed to students of different subject areas and of the higher education programs of Jesuit Worldwide Learning. The 80 survey participants analyzed in this paper live in refugee camps, or marginalized areas located in rural and remote areas in Afghanistan, Guyana, India, Iraq, Kenya, Malawi, Myanmar, Philippines, Sri Lanka and Thailand. While we could confirm the success factors that also apply for blended learning scenarios in traditional settings, we also found evidence for the crucial role of facilitation in both, online and co-located learning phases, and challenges regarding the access to suitable infrastructure. Both need to be considered during design of blended learning programs for this target group.

The study investigated the impact of PhET simulation-based learning on students' motivation and academic achievement in learning oscillations and waves among Malawian secondary students. The following research questions guided the study: (i) What were students' motivation and academic achievement levels at the beginning of the study in oscillation and waves? (ii) To what levels do PhET interactive simulation-based learning impact students' motivation and achievement in oscillations and waves? (iii) Is the change in post-test scores due to the students' characteristics in non-randomized settings or the PhET interactive simulation-based learning? A sample of 280 (44.6% females) form three secondary school students with a mean age of 17.5 (SD = 1.424) from four schools in Blantyre urban district in Malawi was used in a quasi-experimental design of non-equivalent groups. The experimental group was exposed to PhET simulation-based learning, while the conventional teaching methods were used in the control group. Pre- and post-tests were used to collect data on academic achievement, and questionnaires collected data on motivation. Independent samples t-test showed a statistical difference between the two groups on post-test of the academic achievement. Results from linear regression indicated that the differences between the two groups in the post-test were not due to students' characteristics but rather the intervention with p < 0.01. The ANCOVA test on motivation constructs showed a significant difference with a small effect size between the study groups on self-efficacy, active learning strategies, performance goals, achievement goals, learning environment stimulation, and attitudes towards learning with computer learning. The results from the study suggest that PhET simulation-based learning improved the learning of oscillations and waves. PhET simulation-based learning provides visualizations and teaching aids that help easily understand content knowledge, hence improving students' academic achievement and motivation levels.

In this paper, Indigenous and local understandings of the role of storytelling for children (nthanu) are contrasted with the didactic understandings of children's stories that permeate the formal education frameworks of Malawi; frameworks which are deeply entangled in a colonial and (post)colonial history. For Chitonga speakers, the majority of whom live in rural communities along the northern lakeshore of Malawi, nthanu form a crucial part of what might be considered 'education' -- as core components in the construction of the social-self, these oral stories play a critical role in the onto-epistemological formation of the young person. This storytelling is seen as marginalised by formal school systems. Through thick ethnographic material, the paper shows how people who are part of the ethno-linguistic group of the Tonga understand the role of story-telling for children as creating ontological notions of what it means to be human, to live in this world, and the sociality of being human that is seen as necessary for living a good life. In an examination of villagers' fears about the disappearance of their stories, the paper locates the tensions between the literacy-oriented use of stories in formal schooling and the socio-ontological importance ascribed to stories in local learning modalities.

Historically, knowledge about African gender reality has predominantly been through a Western canon of feminism. However, overtime, there have been alternative theorisations influenced by African feminisms and African gender scholars. This article draws from a study that aims to illustrate alternative and decolonial knowledge about Malawian gender reality with a specific focus on participants' expressions of agency. Africana Womanism is utilised in making sense of participant data as it is rooted in an emphasis of the unique socio-cultural and historical context of African women and men such as those participating in the study. The article extends knowledge on 'resisting dominant discourses' within gender education and research.

Purpose: The aim is the introduction of lesson study (LS) in geometry in Malawi secondary schools supported by a teaching framework that includes a focus on language responsive teaching. Design/methodology/approach: The study reports an LS on geometry for professional development (PD) of secondary teachers. Data analysed includes lesson plans, transcripts of lessons, reflective discussions. The analytical approach is qualitative content analysis. Findings: Teachers' lexicalisation of an exterior angle of a triangle evolved as a function of a teaching framework that guided their participation in planning, teaching and reflecting through LS cycle, and that was derived from networking between theories. Research limitations/implications: This is both a small-scale study, and a limited content focus in the lesson, a function of LS being a new practice, and teachers simultaneously learning ideas about geometry teaching, those embedded in the framework and doing LS. Practical implications: The paper includes a description of how LS might contribute to teachers' learning of language responsive teaching, and so is useful for others working on LS and language practices. Originality/value: This paper fulfils an identified need to learn more about how networking theories to inform and support LS can create learning opportunities for teachers, particularly about language responsive teaching, an interest and concern worldwide.

In this article, we consider what would happen if the resources and energy devoted to formal, school-based sex education were redirected into a syndemic sex education approach that centres the individual, social, and structural conditions that shape adolescents' sexual and reproductive health (SRH). Drawing on a case study of youth in Malawi, we argue that sex education in its current form fails to broadly prevent negative SRH outcomes and meaningfully improve wellbeing. Yet it, and the (female) sexuality it seeks to prevent, remain the subjects of considerable attention and moral anxiety. We call to move beyond sex as a focus for institutionalised teaching and learning, replacing it with holistic efforts to support the wellbeing of young people living in syndemic conditions.