Professor of International Education

‘Schooling and Cultural Values in Africa: using a culturally and community sensitive research method – research in progress.’[1]

David Stephens

Professor of International Education

Oslo University College

Introduction

This paper concerns an on-going funded research project, ‘Schooling and Cultural Values in Africa’. A particular feature of this project is the use of data collection methods that are culturally and community sensitive. In this paper we will focus on one such method, life history.

The paper is divided into three parts:

Part one briefly outlines the aims and nature of the project and achievements to date. Emerging findings from the data collected so far from the Black townships of Cape Town are also presented.

Part two focuses on one research method that we have used to date – the life history interview.

Part three critically problematises the use of these and similar methods arguing for a much greater understanding of the values implicit within the research process.

Part one: The Research project: Schooling and Cultural Values in Africa

The international environment at the Faculty of Education at Oslo University College has a special interest and expertise in pursuing research that serves two purposes. One is macro or policy-related, the other is concerned with generating insights into the nature of schooling and society as perceived and experienced by individuals and communities at grass-roots level.

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This research focuses on the relationships between education and values, especially the problems concerning value transmission in the school and the tensions existing between traditional societies based on family, clan and ethnicity and the social and educational values linked to the building up of a modern, multi-ethnic society. Our research requires in-depth knowledge of the two countries concerned as well as research competence within the inter-disciplinary fields of education and cultural studies in general.

Principal research objectives

The research project explores and analyses the relationships between cultural values and schooling in communities in two African countries and then examines the implications for improved policy-making. In so doing we therefore seek to:

1) investigate links between the values underpinning concepts of education, tradition and modernity, as articulated within school and local communities and schools, and search for ways in which identified indigenous values and identities can be nurtured and supported in the formal school sector.

2) consider the implications of the knowledge generated by this research activity for policy-makers and educationists.

The research area

The research is concerned, therefore, with two principal areas of enquiry:

1.Schooling and cultural values:

Since World War Two there have been two approaches towards schooling and Third World development:

The first has been that education, both formal and non-formal, should be concerned with the development of local languages and literacies, and with the preservation of cultural and spiritual values in communities. This has been the stance of UNESCO and many leading non-governmental organisations (Watson,K 1999).

This is in contrast to a second perspective which has dominated development discourse since 1945, namely the dominance of human capital and modernisation theories (Lauglo,J 1996). We are somewhat critical of this approach in that we believe that there is more to educational development than a faith in the market, a pre-occupation with economic growth, and the implementation of universal, imposed ‘solutions’ that take little if any account of cultural and contextual realities.

The first perspective is the point of departure for this research proposal. It has to be said, however, that though laudable, much of the pronouncements by UNESCO e.g. Learning: The Treasure Within, 1996 lack any clear focus or purpose and are often supported by vague generalities rather than solid evidence from the field.

Equally, the much heralded, Jomtien Conference on Education For All in 1990 offered much at the level of rhetoric, and though there is evidence that governments and donor agencies are according a higher priority to Basic education, there is little use being made of research evidence of what is happening on the ground to inform and bolster policy.

It is the intention of this research project to provide such evidence.

2.Policy implications

Our research will contribute to policy development in the following ways:

1. There is mounting evidence that research needs to broaden its analytical perspective and transcend the purely economic and adopt an approach that incorporates the socio-cultural, historic and ideological. Cultural values provide a useful theoretical concept for bringing together such strands in a holistic and purposeful manner.

1. Governments and donor agencies are increasingly concerned at the lack of ’fit’ between educational and developmental policies on such matters as poverty elimination and improving the education of girls at basic education level, at the level of implementation, namely the classroom.

1. The focus upon values also presents us with an opportunity to stand back and ask the ’big’ questions that should direct and influence policy-making. These questions will guide us in the formulation of our research questions.

Such research evidence is sorely needed to sharpen the debate about the kind of education needed for the new century and to bridge the gap between the rhetoric of the donor agency and the realities faced by teachers and learners in some of the poorest areas of the world.

The research process: emerging findings

Fundamental to the research process is allowing time for sharing emerging findings with respondents and collaborators in the field. Apart from the ethics involved we see this as an important part of the research process in that it provides an opportunity for us to gain a sense of where the research is going and some understanding of the major themes that are emerging.

We should stress however that, at this stage, these are preliminary and somewhat sketchy findings which will be elaborated further when more data is analysed. Equally the analysis will be enriched by reference to significant theoretical and contextual material.

During a recent visit to Cape Town we arranged a seminar with local teachers from the black townships to present these preliminary findings and to encourage informed discussion.

It should also be pointed out that these research findings can usefully be seen in relation to the 2001 document ‘Manifesto on Values, Education and Democracy’ published by the South African Ministry of Education

The following eight analytic themes have emerged so far from the data. We have analysed the findings in terms of positive and problematic aspects:

1) Democratic values:

Positive: the introduction of Outcomes Based Education (OBE) has led to increased pupil participation. There is evidence too of a shift away from traditional chalk n talk methods in the classroom and towards more learner-centred approaches.

Problem: There is evidence too of a clash between traditional values e.g. children should listen to and respect their elders and these more democratic values which are grounded on current human rights perspectives and modern, Western teaching methodologies.

2) Values concerning the rule of Law

Positive: Children now being educated about human rights, domestic violence and personal and social responsibility. Experience of multi-racial schooling and new authority patterns e.g. changing teacher-pupil relationship within school settings.

Problem: Corporal punishment still widespread in schools. Communal poverty and unemployment within the townships undermining the rule of law

3) Values concerning respect and reconciliation

Positive: Evidence of a general lack of bitterness towards past wrongs and the development of a plural society reflected in the schools

Problem: Traditional values e.g. respect for elders, the sharing of wealth, perceived of being undermined by Western-style schooling.

4) Social justice and values relating to equity-equality

Positive: Funding to poorer schools at the expense of richer schools.

Problem: Fees much higher in affluent schools meaning higher overall budget in these schools. There exists too a problem of gender equality being promoted in the school that is often at variance with traditional values.

5) Non-sexism and non-racism values

Positive: Mixing of races now occurring particularly in the richer ex-white model ‘C’ schools. Life skills are now being taught. Schools taking positive steps to counter gendered roles/gendered violence in the school and community

Problem: Only parents with means can send their children to these schools. Housing still segregated. Persistence of strongly held patriarchal values within the community and in some schools.

6) Ubuntu values in schools and communities

Positive: OBE closely related to ubuntu. Evidence schools are strengthening indigenous values and perspectives and countering the individualism of Western values

Problem: How to combine sense of ubuntu with individual assessment of pupils.

7)’ Open society’ values

Positive: Evidence of more democratic decision-making in the classroom and in the area of school governance.

Problem: More transparency required throughout the education system.

8) Accountability and responsibility values:

Positive: schools adopting a more children’s rights perspective

Problem: getting the appropriate balance between children’s rights and children’s responsibilities. There are also difficulties in promoting sense of agency in schools whilst communities encounter great problems in affecting change.

9) Other value issues to emerge: data on language of instruction issues (the carrier of values?); the issue of religion (ancestral versus Christianity); the issue of time (traditional Xhosa versus Western); the teaching of scientific values in schools; and questions around transitional values and the management of change.

Part Two: The research method: the life history interview

“The most admirable thinkers within the scholarly community ... do not split their work from their lives. They seem to take both too seriously to allow such disassociation, and they want to use each for the enrichment of others”.

C.Wright Mills The Sociological Imagination. 1995

We are using the interview, and particularly, the life history interview as our

major research method (along with focus group interview, observation, and the analysis of policy documents).

The importance and value of life history and biography as a research method is now well established in educational research, particularly in the Western, so-called developed world. Life history and biography have been used to good effect for example in an understanding of,

‘individual-collective praxis and socio-historical change’

(Bertaux, 1981),

in the organisation of individual life data ( Mandelbaum, 1973), and more specifically in the interplay between the teachers individual identities and the socio-historical context in which they work (Goodson, 1980; Ball & Goodson, 1985 Woods, 1981,1984,1987). Essentially life history research concerns the relationship between two inter-dependent worlds: that of the individual with their unique life story and that of the past, present and future contextual world through which the individual travels. Life story is ‘the story we tell about our life’ (Goodson, 1992) whilst life history is that life story ‘located within its historical context’ (ibid.). Given the emergence of these methods over the past decade or so it is surprising to discover how little impact they have had on educational research in the developing world. There seems, however, to be the stirrings of interest in, applying these approaches in Third World settings. Let us start by looking a little closer at the nature of life history as a method and then its potential application to Third World settings.

Nature of life history

What defines a life history has been a matter of some debate (see Hatch & Wisniewski, 1995) though it seems possible now to identify a broadly accepted set of characteristics:

- It is a qualitative research method similar to the closely allied

method, narrative enquiry, focuses on, ‘the individual, the

personal nature of the research process, a practical orientation

and an emphasis on subjectivity’ (Hatch & Wisniewski, 1995)

- it is a mix of 'life story' as told by individual to the researcher

and, what Goodson 1992, calls 'genealogies of context' which in

turn becomes a 'life history'

- it is essentially a personal type of research enquiry with

priority for success being given to the establishment of rapport

between researched and researcher. The dialogical, discoursive

nature of life history and narrative work raises a number of

questions, both ethical and ideological particularly when

involving outside researchers investigating problems in the

developing world.

- it is concerned with 'voice' and 'ownership'; emphasis given

throughout from design to publication to what the individual

researched has to say, how it is said, and the meaning made by

the speaker to what has been said. As such it has great potential

for imbuing the research process with a liberating, democratic

ethos.

Part Three: Problematising the research method

Using Life history as a method gives rise to two parallel sets of tensions:

- first in the balance that needs to be struck between the

individual and the contextually situated nature of the respondent’s

individual experience. Recognising that 'no man is an island'

means that a major task in carrying out life history research is

to present a view of larger, macro-issues through the lens of on

individual's life experiences. David Bertaux (1981) suggests

that ;

‘each individual does not totalize directly a

whole society, he totalizes it by way of the

mediation of his immediate social context, the

small groups of which he is a part’

If one, therefore, views individual life experience's as always in

relation to the immediate social environment (which is

particularly so in the developing world) and in relation to

comparative experiences of those in similar situations it is

possible to present an analysis which is both particular and

universal. The life histories of teachers and students in our case study, therefore, can be presented in two ways: the individual teacher's life

in relation to her immediate social environment and a composite analysis of

groups of teachers lives drawn from larger geographical areas.

A particular strength of life history is, therefore, its potential to

bestride the micro-macro interface than most other forms of

qualitative research.

- second in the balance the subjective and objective. In many

ways life history and narrative methods reveal both the

strengths and challenges of these forms of qualitative enquiry.

Those who use life history have no problems with extolling its

strengths

Ayers writing in Hatch & Wisniewski (1995) summarises the pro-views well:

‘Life history and narrative approaches are person- centred, unapologetically subjective. Far from a weakness, the voice of the person, the subject's own account represents a singular strength. Life history and narrative are ancient approaches to under standing human affairs - they are found in history, folklore, psychiatry, medicine, music, sociology, economics and of course, anthropology. Their relative newness to us is a reminder of how often we tail behind.

A particular problem with life history is the question of generalisability. This takes us back to Goodson's (1992) idea of developing 'genealogies of context' with the emphasis placed firmly upon the teacher or pupil in situ. There is an argument too for asking not 'how generalizable are there life histories?' but 'how useful are they?' in coming to an understanding of how broad macro issues affect the individual 'on the ground'. We need to ask questions of our data that goes beyond the standardized notions of reliability, validity and generalizability: how useful is this data? How authentic is it?, how persuasive is it? etc., (Hatch & Wisniewski, op cit.)

Thematic analysis has been suggested as a useful way to analyse life history data Mandelbaum (1973 in Hitchcock & Hughes) takes three aspects to focus upon:

- Dimensions of life that include the individual’s general social,

cultural, psychological experience organised in a chronological

fashion.

- Turnings that refer to moments of change, for example

departure from one level of schooling to another, promotion,

marriage

- Adaptions that involve experiences of coping with change,

accommodation and assimilation of new experiences and

circumstances.

Mandelbaum’s schemea - used in his life history of Gandhi - seems to have merit when considering the lives of teachers and pupils in circumstances of rapid change.

Life history has a potentially valuable role to play in the study of teachers’ lives.

Education is essentially concerned with what happens to people. Remembering this fact can guide us in making decisions about how to collect educational data and the purposes to which research should be put. There is a strong case to be made for research into policy and curriculum for example to take much greater cognisance of voices of teacher and pupils who daily experience the effects of decisions usually taken at a distance and by individuals at least once removed from the chalk-face.

These advantages take on greater weight when we consider the situation of many teachers and pupils in research contexts such as South Africa. As we shall see next when considering cultural issues and life history research, a noted feature of most, if not all, education systems in the Third (and increasingly) First World is their authoritarian nature. Despite calls for decentralisation and 'participatory planning' most decisions affecting teachers and pupils are taken by senior, usually male officials in ministries in the capitals of the world. The teacher, and more so the pupils, are expected to be obedient and implement policy decided elsewhere. With low teacher salaries, few resources, and poor means of communication, a tradition is easily established in which the teacher is disempowered and disinclined to take any part in the educational decision making process. What teachers and pupils do though is to develop strategies for coping with change, handling critical incidents, and develop support systems that mediate the demands of the above with the realities of classroom existence.