Reconceptualising the Learning Crisis in Africa

Kwame Akyeampong is Professor of International Education and Development at the Open University’s Centre for the Study of Global Development (CSGD), UK.Sean Higgins is Lecturer in Education and International Development, Institute of Education, University College London.

• Preface: A Message from the AuthorsChapter 1 - The ‘Global Learning Crisis’: Analysis, Critique and Re-envisioningOur Critique of the ‘Learning Crisis’ NarrativeRe-envisioning the ‘Learning Crisis’ through Accelerated Learning Programmes (ALPs)Illuminating ALPs through Social TheoryRe-envisioning the ‘Learning Crisis’ through Diverse EvidenceThe Organisation of ChaptersPART I: RETHINKING THE LEARNING CHALLENGE IN SUB-SAHARAN AFRICAChapter 2 - The Production of the ‘Poor Child’ as DeficitMaking the Connection: Poverty Alleviation and Educational ProvisionHistoricising Deficit Framings of the ‘Poor Child’The Contemporary Pproduction of a Decontextualised ‘Poor Child’Redemptive Interventions and the Loss/Absence of Children’s AgencyThe Implications for Rethinking the ‘Learning Crisis’Chapter 3 - Language, Learning and Children’s IdentitiesThe Language of Instruction in the ‘Learning Crisis’Silences in Global Education PolicyLanguage of Instruction Policies and Teacher’s Pedagogical ChoicesChildren’s Negative Experiences of LearningLessons for the ‘Learning Crisis’Chapter 4 - The Deficit Characterisation of the African TeacherOral Culture and Learner-centred Instruction in the African ContextImperfect Measurements and Symbols of Teaching QualityDe-professionalisation through SLPsThe Limits of Accountability Regimes and PracticesDeficit Framings of Teachers and Restrictions on Teacher Education ReformsConclusionChapter 5 - Beyond Deficit Framings: A Multi-dimensional ApproachA Multi-dimensional Framing of Poverty and Children’s AgencyTeachers as Multi-dimensional AgentsReframing the ‘Learning Crisis’PART II: WHAT ACCELERATED LEARNING PROGRAMMES TEACH US Chapter 6 - Recognising Children’s Funds of Knowledge in Complementary Basic Education, Northern GhanaFunds of Knowledge and Funds of IdentityCBE in Northern GhanaData Gathering: A Funds of Knowledge ApproachThe Embedded Funds of Knowledge in CBEChildren’s Funds of IdentityLessons for the ‘Learning Crisis’Chapter 7 - Improving Learning Outcomes to Enable Transition: Speed Schools in EthiopiaA Post-humanist Approach to Children’s LearningSpeed Schools in EthiopiaUsing Post-humanism to Understand Children’s Experiences of Learning in Speed SchoolsLearning to Teach as a Speed School TeacherImproving Learning Outcomes and TransitionLessons for the ‘Learning Crisis’Chapter 8 - Engaging Parents, Extended Families and Communities: Second Chance Programmes in Conflict-affected LiberiaRethinking Community Engagement: Vulnerability and ResistanceConflict, Education and ‘Liberal Peace Building’ in LiberiaThe Second Chance Programme and Accelerated Learning in LiberiaData Gathering: Listening to the Experiences of PEGsVulnerability and Resistance in PEGsLessons for the ‘Learning Crisis’Chapter 9 - Accelerated Learning and the Power of African ValuesCentring Ubuntu in Education and DevelopmentUbuntu, Learning and the Dignity of the African ChildThe Implications for Pedagogical PracticesConclusions: ALPs and UbuntuChapter 10 - Beyond the ‘Learning Crisis’: The Implications for Policy to Improve Basic Education in Sub-Saharan AfricaTowards an Afrocentric Policy ResponseA Renewed Postcolonial Agenda for EFA

"Reconceptualising the Learning Crisis is essential reading for anyone involved in educational policy and basic education. It had me nodding in agreement from start to finish. Africa is suffering from a learning crisis and educational deficit, so argue many experts, not least the World Bank. This is where Kwame Akyeampong and Sean Higgins enter the stage in this insightful and provocative book that offers an alternative to the technocratic models that, quite frankly, have not worked. The authors challenge the discourse of crisis that undergirds the analyses of the failures in the provision of education, and the solutions offered to deal with them. Learning is truncated from cultural realities and treated as a problem requiring technical solutions. Using successful examples of Accelerated Learning Programmes (ALPs) in Ghana, Libera, and Ethiopia, countries where key barriers to education such as extreme poverty, conflict and inter-generational marginalization are pressing, they show how engaging with learning environments and including families and communities in learning strategies creates enjoyable learning experiences, builds confidence and leads to sustainable successful learning outcomes. This is not a work of fiction, yet I could not put it down as it engendered hope that there are tried and tested models that enhance learning for the marginalised not as a cliché, but a reality."Akosua Adomako Ampofo, Professor of African and Gender Studies, Institute of African Studies, University of Ghana and recent president of the African Studies Assciation, Africa"Reconceptualising the Learning Crisis offers a bold and timely reimagining of education on the continent. Moving beyond narrow metrics and deficit narratives, the authors advocate for approaches that center African values, community agency, and local knowledge. Through compelling case studies, this book demonstrates how culturally relevant education can unlock the potential of learners and reshape policies. An essential read for anyone committed to equitable and sustainable educational reform in Africa."George Kronnisanyon Werner, A highly experienced public sector leader, previously Minister for Education in Liberia who serves on the Expert Resource Group at the Harvard Ministerial Leadership Forum"This outstanding book offers a much-needed critique of the prevailing learning crisis discourse and its deficit framings of African learners and teachers. Akyeampong and Higgins show how pedagogical interventions driven by external agendas have ignored the lived realities and true capacities of teachers, and the centrality of issues such as language of instruction. In contrast, selected accelerated learning programmes, presented as contemporary case studies here, have drawn on some learner-centred traditions while generating more situated, contextualised and holistic practices. The book is rich in theory, including an in-depth account of Ubuntu as a framing for pedagogy. It thus celebrates children’s agentic roles not only in their own lives and learning but in their interdependent communities."Michele Schweisfurth, Professor of Comparative and International Education, University of Glasgow, UK"In their path-breaking work entitled Reconceptualising the Learning Crisis: Multi-dimensional Pedagogies of African Accelerated Learning Programmes, Kwame Akyeampong and Sean Higgins provide a window on the importance of learning and quality of education when these issues are at the top of the UN agenda. These are not only policy matters of governments and agencies, but also issues that affect nearly all people at the ground level in Africa. How are children going to succeed in life, in their dreams and over the generations to come? The authors initially set the stage with an overview of African education, and its problems and opportunities over recent decades since Independence. They build on the unique concept of Ubuntu, based on the notion of African interdependence. Further, based on many years of applied research, the authors describe lessons from multiple Accelerated Learning Programmes that are aimed at improving rural African children's learning through appropriate pedagogies, better teacher training and, especially, the infusing of cultural values into local educational systems. In this volume, we find a refreshing and promising perspective toward re-envisioning of African education policy that replaces older post-colonial images of schools that fail with innovative effective pedagogical approaches to children’s learning needs, and a much brighter future for all."Daniel A. Wagner, Professor of Education and UNESCO Chair in Learning and Literacy, University of Pennsylvania, USA"Kwame Akyeampong and Sean Higgins underscore the fundamental truth about the global learning crisis: Children everywhere are capable of learning remarkable amounts in a short period of time when they are met with rich, immersive, holistic learning pedagogies. Accelerated learning done right, unlocks their potential proving that the binding constraint is not the child but the quality of the education they receive. Such education programs are not merely a means to plug gaps left by mainstream systems. Done right, they can be so much more. These programs can serve as a true foundry for forging uniquely African pedagogical approaches, capable of delivering transformative learning not just to children at the margins, but also those in the mainstream. In this book, the authors do the vital work of centering accelerated learning programs as community-based crucibles of educational innovation."Caitlin Baron, CEO of the Luminos Fund, an international education non-profit organisation dedicated to providing a second chance education for out-of-school children.