Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Education Commons

Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Articles 1 - 7 of 7

Full-Text Articles in Education

Reclaiming Our Indigenous Voices: The Problem With Postcolonial Sub-Saharan African School Curriculum, Edward Shizha Sep 2013

Reclaiming Our Indigenous Voices: The Problem With Postcolonial Sub-Saharan African School Curriculum, Edward Shizha

Edward Shizha

The school curriculum in postcolonial Sub-Saharan Africa experiences challenges that are a legacy of colonial education that remained in place decades after political decolonization. The case for African school curriculum is contentious in contemporary Africa because it negates the voices of African indigenous populations. Despite the advent of decolonization that started in the 1960s, African education systems mirror colonial education paradigms inherited from former colonial governments. Colonial education was hegemonic and disruptive to African cultural practices, indigenous knowledges (IKs) and ways of knowing. Prior to colonization, Africans were socialized and educated within African indigenous cultural contexts. With the advent of …


Reclaiming And Re-Visioning Indigenous Voices: The Case Of The Language, Edward Shizha Jan 2012

Reclaiming And Re-Visioning Indigenous Voices: The Case Of The Language, Edward Shizha

Edward Shizha

The purpose of this study was to explore the effect of teaching science to rural primary school students using a second language (English) in Zimbabwe. The study also investigated the opinions and attitudes of primary school teachers toward teaching science using an indigenous language (chiShona). Qualitative data was collected using twenty classroom observations and interviews with ten purposely selected primary school teachers. Data were analysed using a thematic analysis. The findings revealed institutional and attitudinal barriers to using chiShona as a language of instruction in science teaching and learning. The results also showed that some teachers frustrate and silence students’ …


Impacts Of A Social Support Intervention For Somali And Sudanese Refugees In Canada, Miriam Stewart, Laura Simich, Morton Beiser, Knox Makumbe, Edward Makwarimba, Edward Shizha Jan 2011

Impacts Of A Social Support Intervention For Somali And Sudanese Refugees In Canada, Miriam Stewart, Laura Simich, Morton Beiser, Knox Makumbe, Edward Makwarimba, Edward Shizha

Edward Shizha

The aim of this paper is to design and pilot test a culturally tailored intervention that meets the support needs and preferences of two refugee groups. The study employed a multi-method participatory research design and was conducted in two urban centres in western and central Canada. Support was delivered to Sudanese and Somali refugees (n = 58), by trained peer and professional helpers, in face-to-face groups matched by gender and ethnicity and in telephone dyads. Participants completed three quantitative measures before (pre-test) and following (post-test) the intervention. Group interviews with refugee participants and individual interviews with peer and professional helpers …


Challenges And Barriers To Services For Immigrant Seniors In Canada: "You Are Among Others But You Feel Alone", Miriam Stewart, Edward Shizha, Edward Makwarimba, Denise Spitzer, Ernest N. Khalema, Christina D. Nsaliwa Jan 2011

Challenges And Barriers To Services For Immigrant Seniors In Canada: "You Are Among Others But You Feel Alone", Miriam Stewart, Edward Shizha, Edward Makwarimba, Denise Spitzer, Ernest N. Khalema, Christina D. Nsaliwa

Edward Shizha

This paper seeks to explore varied interrelated challenges and barriers experienced by immigrant seniors. Senior immigrants representing diverse ethnicities (Chinese, Afro Caribbean, Former Yugoslavian, Spanish) described their challenges, support needs, and barriers to service access. Service providers and policy makers from organizations serving immigrant seniors were interviewed to elicit their views on barriers to access and appropriateness of services for immigrant seniors. Qualitative methods were employed to enhance understanding of meanings, perceptions, beliefs, values, and behaviors of immigrant seniors, and investigate sensitive issues experienced by vulnerable groups. The qualitative data were subjected to thematic content analysis. Findings indicate that seniors …


Health And Wellness In Southern Africa: Incorporating Indigenous And Western Healing Practices, Edward Shizha, John Charema Jan 2011

Health And Wellness In Southern Africa: Incorporating Indigenous And Western Healing Practices, Edward Shizha, John Charema

Edward Shizha

Current healing systems in Southern Africa focus on the holistic approach to the health and wellness of patients. Biomedical approaches and traditional healing systems that incorporate spiritual healing, mental healing, physical and social healing play a crucial and significant role in health delivery systems in Southern Africa. An integrative approach has been accepted as a vital component of holistic healing. Often, biomedicine has been criticized for overlooking the relationship of the social and spiritual being to the body and the effect the former has on the latter. Medicine and healing are cultural practices; hence the process of healing and the …


Book Review Of "Culture, Curriculum, And Identity In Education" By H. Richard Milner (Ed.) (2010), New York, Palgrave Mcmilla., Edward Shizha Jan 2011

Book Review Of "Culture, Curriculum, And Identity In Education" By H. Richard Milner (Ed.) (2010), New York, Palgrave Mcmilla., Edward Shizha

Edward Shizha

Identity involves different facets of human self-definition and is unequivocally a vital element of individuals’ lives, especially in diverse societies. Culture and identity are intertwined. In education, culture in the curriculum plays a vital component in students’ identity formations. Supportive school environments provide socially, culturally and linguistically appropriate curricula that legitimize identity formations. Teachers and the curricula they teach are sources of identity formation. Every classroom encounter is largely dictated by the teacher’s role and the perception the teacher has of the students.


The Interface Of Neoliberal Globalization, Science Education And Indigenous African Knowledges In Africa, Edward Shizha Jan 2010

The Interface Of Neoliberal Globalization, Science Education And Indigenous African Knowledges In Africa, Edward Shizha

Edward Shizha

In a globalized neo-colonial world, an insidious and often debilitating crisis of knowledge construction and legitimation does not only continue to undermine the local and indigenous knowledge systems, but it also perpetuates a neo-colonial and oppressive socio-cultural science educational system that debilitates the social and cultural identity of the indigenous African student. As Schissel and Wotherspoon (2003: vii) argue, "Educational relations are critical elements of our humanity and sociability." This paper explores the homogenizing effects of globalization and the oppressive forces of neo-colonialism that continue to work together to privilege "western-based scientific knowledge" at the expense of indigenous knowledge systems. …