editors-in-chief dr. michael t. ndemanu educational studies, ball state university dr. serafin m. coronel molina literacy, culture and language education, indiana university managing editor dr. tom j. mcconnell science education, ball state university global journal of transformative education (2019) 1:1 open access published by the global insitutute of transformative education (http://www.gite.education) © gjte. 2019. open access this journal is distributed under the terms of the creative commons attribution noncommercial nonderivative 4.0 international license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction without revision in any non-commercial medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the creative commons license, editorial team global journal of transformative education dr. kennedy n. bota masinde muliro university of science & technology kakamega, kenya dr. judah m. ndiku masinde muliro university of science & technology kakamega, kenya dr. wilfridah m. mucherah ball state university muncie, indiana, usa daniel baron the bloomington project school bloomington, indiana, usa dr. bryce s. smedley usaid washington d.c., usa dr. teresia mbogori ball state university muncie, in, usa dr. james kigamwa literacy international tulsa, ok, usa editorial review board gjte invites you to apply to be a member of the editorial review panel. potential reviewers need to register for an account on the gjte website: register for gjte account after login, move your mouse over your user id in the upper right, and select “view profile.” then click the “roles” tab to select the role of reviewer. then enter “keywords” in the “reviwing interest” box to help editors select you for relevant articles. 69 https://scholarworks.iu.edu/journals/index.php/gjte/login editorial board. global journal of transformative education (2020), vol 2 open access global journal of transformative education open call for papers the global journal of transformative education (gjte). is an open-access journal that presents to learners, educators and researchers the optimal instructional strategies, transformative leadership, and inquiry methods that lead to better educational and research outcomes for their students and the society. gjte is published by the global institute for transformative education (gite). the editorial board of the gjte invites authors to submit manuscripts relating to research about transformative education, innovative teaching strategies or curricula, policy issues, the role schools have in transforming communities and society, and resources that can help educators and policy makers enact meaningful reforms that contribute to transformative education. gjte publishes at least one issue of the journal each year, and we offer an open call for manuscripts submitted by authors around the world. there are no submission deadlines for our regular issues, and authors may submit manuscripts at any time. special “themed” editions may be produced with guest editors. gjte will post calls for papers on the journal’s website to announce those issues. manuscripts should be limited to about 8000 words, and may include photos, diagrams, tables, graphs and figures. longer manuscripts may be accepted if the content warrants the length. authors should consider the specifications listed in the gjte author submissions page. in addition to images, authors may include hyperlinks to supplemental materials such as lesson plans, assessments, large data files, and video or other media. for more detailed formatting instructions, authors can download the gjte formatting guide and gjte manuscript checklist. gjte does not charge authors a publication fee. authors retain ownership of the content of the article that will be published under a creative commons 4.0 by-nc-nd license. submitted manuscripts undergo a double-blind review process, and authors may be asked to revise text or images before final publication. communications about submitted articles will be managed through gjte’s author submissions system. call for reviewers authors and other individuals are invited to apply to be reviewers. reviewers may be asked to read and assess submitted manuscripts as part of the peer review process, and will be listed as members of gjte’s editorial review panel. this panel is an important part of a rigorous publication process, and we invite a diverse group of reviewers from a variety of relevant areas of expertise. click here to register as a reviewer. please direct any questions about submissions to the editors: gjtemanager@gmail.com michael t. ndemanu, ph.d. educational studies ball state university muncie, indiana, usa managing editor tom j. mcconnell, ph.d. department of biology ball state university muncie, indiana, usa editors-in-chief serafín m. coronel-molina, ph.d. curriculum and instruction indiana university bloomington, indiana, usa 114 https://scholarworks.iu.edu/journals/index.php/gjte/index https://gite.education/ https://scholarworks.iu.edu/journals/index.php/gjte/about/submissions https://tjmcconnell.weebly.com/uploads/3/7/4/5/37455725/gjte_formatting_guide.pdf https://tjmcconnell.weebly.com/uploads/3/7/4/5/37455725/gjte_formatting_guide.pdf https://tjmcconnell.weebly.com/uploads/3/7/4/5/37455725/gjte_manuscript_checklist.pdf https://scholarworks.iu.edu/journals/index.php/gjte/about/submissions https://scholarworks.iu.edu/journals/index.php/gjte/about/submissions https://scholarworks.iu.edu/journals/index.php/gjte/user/register email:gite18@gmail.com global journal of transformative education (2020) vol 2 doi 10.14434/gjte.v2i1.31758 open access published by the global insitutute of transformative education (http://www.gite.education) © coronel-molina & ndemanu, 2020. open access this journal is distributed under the terms of the creative commons attribution noncommercial nonderivative 4.0 international license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction without revision in any non-commercial medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the creative commons license, transformative education from multiple perspectives: second volume of the global journal of transformative education serafín m. coronel-molina1 & michael t. ndemanu2, editors-in-chief full listing of authors and contacts can be found at the end of this article. the global journal of transformative education (gjte) is an open-source, peer-reviewed journal designed to share high impact educational research and practical applications germane to transformative education worldwide. gjte publishes academic articles on high impact practices in the area of pedagogy, curriculum, learning environment, educational policy, instructional materials, and reviews of educational resources that support transformative teaching and learning in pk-20 institutions and adult education programs. gjte is focused on sharing educational research and research-based practices with all stakeholders in the design and implementation of transformative education. articles are offered as resources for teacher educators, teachers, school leaders, policy makers, community groups, and academic researchers. content may include research articles, lesson plan ideas, assessment and management strategies, book reviews, and discussions about curriculum and connections between schools and communities that are geared toward maximizing educational outcomes for learners. it is becoming increasingly clear that traditional educational models are no longer sufficient to benefit vast sectors of the world’s population; hence the need for new, transformative education models. and it will take transformative research to light the way to these new educational paradigms. most of the articles published in this second volume of gjte were initially reviewed and accepted for presentation at the 2020 world conference on transformative education (wcte) in cape coast, ghana, under the theme, “the future of africa and the role of transformative education.” the conference was postponed to a later date due to covid-19. a call for papers was then sent out for to the would-be conference participants to submit their manuscripts to be considered for publication in the second volume of gjte. all the submissions underwent a rigorous double-blind peer-reviewed process prior to being accepted for publication. out of several manuscripts submitted, eight were found to meet the standards and rigors of transformative education ideals as enunciated on our website, www.gite. education this volume is composed of eight articles that delve into transformative education from multiple perspectives. they focus on diverse topics such as learning spaces, science curriculum and pedagogy, schooling and pedagogy, school and democracy, health education, geography of education, and education and development. the articles included in this volume cover four geographical locations which include kenya, ghana, nigeria, and cameroon. the contributions are relevant to scholars, educators, practitioners, educational policymakers, graduate students, governmental and nongovernmental organizations, academic institutions, and grassroots organizations interested in transformative education across the globe. the first article, titled “implications of outdoor environment on children’s learning experiences in public preschools in borabu sub-county, kenya” is authored by g. n. ayaga and e. k. okaya. their research was impelled by the evident failure of the current competency-based learning paradigm in kenya, particularly for early childhood learners. it is known that environmental quality is key to enhancing learning, so they set out to investigate the implications of an outdoor environment on children’s learning experiences in public preschools. they found that a rich outdoor environment proved beneficial to preschoolers’ learning experiences and development of locomotor and rhythmic movement abilities, as well as to their general academic achievement and development of various social, emotional and https://scholarworks.iu.edu/journals/index.php/gjte https://scholarworks.iu.edu/journals/index.php/gjte coronel-molina & ndemanu, transformative education from multiple perspectives 2 cognitive skills. based on the findings of their study, the authors make recommendations for the incorporation of outdoor play in the preschool curriculum. the second article, “effect of hands-on science activities on ghanaian student learning, attitudes, and career interest: a preliminary control study” by h. beem, focuses on junior high school-aged students in ghana and their participation in stem-focused classes. more specifically, it examines the effect of training the teachers of these students to employ hands-on activities using low-cost, locally available resources on student learning outcomes, attitudes towards learning science, and interest in stem majors or careers. although objective results (e.g., exam scores) were mixed across schools, more subjective measures, such as students’ engagement in class and enjoyment of science, improved significantly. these effects were disproportionately visible among females, who experienced decidedly greater learning gains, increases in engagement, and a shift in interest towards stem majors and careers than their male counterparts. t. j. mcconnell and b. giorgio-booher coauthored the third article, “collaborative teams for self-publishing: a model for creating locally relevant educational books.” realizing that the learning materials are still mostly eurocentric and not culturally responsive in many developing countries, these two authors share a model used to develop a series of books called conservation tales. they developed these books, which were designed to make education more relevant and accessible for children, in collaboration with university faculty, students, and scientists, and leveraged the skills of artists, writers, and content experts from among these groups to provide a rich learning experiences for readers while also offering affordable options for self-publishing. in the article, “classroom democracy and learning outcomes in primary schools in francophone africa,” a. m. njong offers a look at existing data on student performance and indicators of classroom democracy to evaluate the impact of democratic practices in the classroom on learning outcomes. the results show the importance of both teachers and parents in the process of children internalizing democracy in the classroom, and further highlight the importance of preserving and promoting indigenous cultural values, because they facilitate learning achievements. with respect to health education, e. n. nwagu authored “transformative learning potentials of trainee health workers in nsukka, enugu state, nigeria.” in this article, she focuses on health workers in training and the impact of transformative learning and demographic characteristics on their absorption of the material. this was a descriptive study based on self-reporting by the respondents (learners). participants indicated a high degree of transformative learning, with the most frequently selected learning components being field trips and presentations. students felt that such hands-on activities gave them a better understanding of health, illness, and health care. the study demonstrated the importance of discussion and debate in developing critical reflection among learners. in current educational research, the geography of education analyzes the disparity of educational outcomes based on the geographical location of the schools students attend. the urban and rural schools in ghana exhibit that disparity. m. k. nyatsikor, w. k. abroampa, k. esai-donkoh examine the difference between rural and urban environments in “the impact of school locale on pupils’ competencies in selected subjects: does it matter more for specific regions in ghana?” they were specifically interested in student competency on english and mathematics tests at the primary level. results showed statistically significant differences in achievement between rural and urban school pupils both nationally and regionally, with urban schoolchildren outperforming rural ones on both tests. rural school children in the eastern region were the most disadvantaged. the paradigm flipped in northern region, where rural schoolchildren achieved higher average scores than their urban peers. this would suggest that it makes a significant difference in which part of the country a child attends school, and leads to the conclusion that it is necessary for resources for schools and communities to be equitably distributed and effectively utilized in order to provide quality inclusive education for all pupils. in the next article, b. o. nyatuka discusses “education for sustainable development in kenya: rhetoric and reality in basic education.” the importance of sustainable development is becoming increasingly clear, and the role of education in forming responsible global citizens to believe in and engage in such practices cannot be overlooked. the ultimate goal of such education is to foster ideal policies and practices for enhancing the social, economic, and ecological viability of present and future generations. this article offers a review of research on the importance of education for sustainable development (esd), reflecting on its utility for realizing the objectives of kenya’s competencyglobal journal of transformative education (2020) vol 2 coronel-molina & ndemanu, transformative education from multiple perspectives 3 global journal of transformative education (2020) vol 2 based curriculum (cbc), particularly with regard to the acquisition of core competencies like creativity, problem-solving, and self-efficacy. the author presents some of the challenges that esd implementation faces, as well as some of the pertinent pedagogical theories and their implications, and relevant legal and policy frameworks. in the final article, “transformational leadership and wealth creation in educational organizations: the case of higher education in cameroon,” p. p. teneng explores the education industry and the influx of educational subsidiary enterprises created by graduates who have been unable to find jobs upon graduation. most of these enterprises end up failing within five years. this raises the question of what prevents these smalland medium-sized education businesses from thriving, which is the question teneng seeks to answer in this survey study of 210 small and medium-sized educational firms. the findings suggest that a lack of transformational leadership, due in large part to a lack of leadership or wealth creation education, is a major contributor to the failure of these businesses. the author makes recommendations for transformational and strategic leadership education to be a required part of higher education curricula, to introduce students to the business world through meaningful partnerships and quality entrepreneurship courses. invitation to prospective authors we invite authors keen on transformative education from all walks of life to consider gjte as an avenue for dissemination of their ideas germane to curriculum and teaching. gjte accepts submissions for its open call, with no deadlines for submissions, and no publishing fees for authors. the journal’s website includes author guidelines to help prospective authors with formatting specifications, and an online submissions system to help with the submission, review and editing process. new authors are invited to register in the system. gjte also invites readers to join our editorial board of reviewers by selecting the “reviewer” role and indicating content expertise. acknowledgments the global journal of transformative education (gjte) is a singular publication venue since its main objective is to share educational research and research-based practices on transformative education from local and global perspectives. despite the great amount of time and effort we have invested in the conceptualization, development, implementation, production, and publication of this second volume, we could not have done all this by ourselves. the publication of this volume is the result of the hard work and dedication of many people. first of all, our profound gratitude goes to the global institute for transformative education (gite) and its founding members for their sustained sponsorship to make this volume happen. we are deeply thankful to tom j. mcconnell, who provided us with invaluable assistance in his role as managing editor, taking care of the daily operations of gjte. we are also grateful to our colleagues who serve on the editorial board, as well as to institutions, friends, colleagues, and social media networks from around the world for their help in publicizing the gjte website and facebook page widely. we would also like to thank all the contributors to this second volume for choosing gjte to publish their work. many thanks to iuscholarworks for hosting gjte’s website. without the generous assistance and contribution of all these great people and institutions, gjte would never have become a reality. we are equally grateful to our colleagues worldwide who spent significant number of hours reviewing the papers. we thank them for their time and diligence in the review process. we also owe an immense debt of gratitude to fred bay for his continuous generous donations to gite for transformative education conferences, which have been the springboard of gjte. we wish him a long life. 1serafín m. coronel-molina (scoronel@indiana.edu) is an associate professor in the department of curriculum and instruction at indiana university, bloomington, indiana, usa. authors 2michael t. ndemanu (mtndemanu@bsu.edu) is an associate professor of education in the department of educational studies at ball state university, muncie, indiana, usa. gjte is published by the global insitutute of transformative education https://scholarworks.iu.edu/journals/index.php/gjte https://scholarworks.iu.edu/journals/index.php/gjte https://gite.education/ https://gite.education/ https://gite.education/ global journal of transformative education (2019) 1 doi 10.14434/gjte.v1i1.26970 open access published by the global insitutute of transformative education (http://www.gite.education) © ndemanu & coronel-molina. 2019 open access this journal is distributed under the terms of the creative commons attribution noncommercial nonderivative 4.0 international license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction without revision in any non-commercial medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the creative commons license, introduction: first volume of the global journal of transformative education michael t. ndemanu & serafín m. coronel-molina, editors in chief the global journal of transformative education (gjte) is a newly founded open-source, peerreviewed journal created to share research and practical applications related to transformative education in the entire spectrum of educational settings around the world. gjte publishes scholarly research manuscripts, articles on teaching strategies, transformative teaching strategies, curriculum frameworks, and reviews of educational resources that support transformative teaching and learning in pk-20 institutions as well as in adult education programs. the articles published in this inaugural issue of gjte were presented at the world conference on transformative education (wcte) in kakamega, kenya in july 2018 under the theme, “rethinking curriculum, pedagogy, and research in africa.” all the papers underwent a blind review process prior to be considered for publication. wcte was organized against the backdrop of outmoded education systems in africa; that the systems are far removed from its socioeconomic and political realities; that they are the legacies of european colonial rules, thus they are antiquated and are not designed to solve african contemporary problems. thus, there was a need for scholars, p-12 teachers and policymakers to meet and discuss ways to move away from educating children just for basic literacy and numeracy skills to providing them world-class education for competitive interconnected global economies. such a bold move required a quasi-volte-face shift in how educators rethink the content of the curriculum, school, teaching, learning, leadership, and research across africa. for readers to have an insightful grasp of the articles’ contents in this inaugural issue, the editors of gjte have chosen to provide succinct definitions and explanations of transformative education concept. transformative education within the framework of this conference is defined as the act of re-conceptualizing the knowledge gained in school and through lived experiences and applying it in both academic and non-academic real-life multifaceted contexts. it entails instilling critical and autonomous thinking in learners in ways that help them to interpret new information independently and collaboratively rather than being mere recipients of knowledge and worldviews of others. according to national science foundation, “transformative research involves ideas, discoveries, or tools that radically change our understanding of an important existing scientific or engineering concept or educational practice or leads to the creation of a new paradigm or field of science, engineering, or education. such research challenges current understanding or provides pathways to new frontiers” (2007, p. v). to transform africa into a place of great political stability, economic opportunities, harmonious social order, rich in innovative technology and enviable inventions, policy makers and educators must be ready to shun a victorian-age education system which is already antiquated, and instead embrace creative, critical, problem-solving, and project-based instructional strategies which are catalysts to groundbreaking ndemanu & coronel-molina, introduction 2 inventions, sound economic growth, and globally competitive workforce. to this end, we introduce readers to a variety of articles whose contents are designed to disrupt and upend readers’ thinking about education and share its potential for radical transformation of minds if the curriculum and pedagogy are methodically and effectively designed. the first article of this issue addresses the fundamental curriculum question, “what knowledge is worth knowing?” the rest addresses an overarching question dealing with the most effective instructional methods like, “what instructional methods of delivering the content to the content to learners is most effective in achieving transformative outcomes in learners? teresia mbogori and winnie mucherah in “nutrition transition in africa: consequences and opportunities” discuss the ramifications of nutrition transition in africa that is stemming from the westernization of their african diets. in this article, they offer educational solutions through which the phenomenon of nutrition transition can be disrupted and a return to the consumption of whole grain diets and traditional vegetables embraced. in a nutshell, their article offers readers to rethink a food and nutrition curriculum in africa. in their second article, “examining child development from an african cultural context,” winnie mucherah and teresia mbogori, delve in to the importance of considering child development and his/her culture in an effective learning environment. in their article, they explore issues like indigenous language development, childbirth practices, self-esteem, and self-concept and how they impact african child’s self-worth and identity development. all these factors are important in designing a curriculum and pedagogy that optimize learning outcomes. in connection with optimizing learning outcomes, tom mcconnell, joyce parker, and jan eberhardt in “problem-based learning for responsive and transformative teacher professional development,” discuss “a researchtested model of professional development (pd) that uses the analytic framework of problem-based learning (pbl) to support professional learning. evidence suggests that pbl is effective in changing content knowledge and pedagogical practice. to teach content, facilitators engage teachers in learning activities designed using common pbl structures.” still in line with pedagogy, brian david lozenski in “constructing a dual-subjectivity: understanding the intersection of ethnic studies and ypar” examines “the outcomes of using participatory action research with youth (ypar) as an entry point into africana studies. the author draws from empirical research and anecdotal narratives to document a program where youth of african descent in the us engage in ethnic studies through the lens of action research.” in the article, “anthropological methods in curriculum instruction for learners in informal education for abagusii of south western kenya,” gilbert nyakundi okebiro proposes indigenous instructional strategies for impacting knowledge to children in ways that lead to more transformative and effective education. antonette lorraine mccaster’s article, “adult education and dialogue: utilizing project-based education as a method to provide transformative change in both students and teachers” argues that both communication and motivation are primary drivers of transformational learning in adult education. she asserts that “combining projectbased education with adult dialogue education provides a transformative method of education that encourages student-driven, collaborative project-based learning as well as opportunities for teachers to reflect upon their epistemology and pedagogy.” in “inclusive practice and transformative leadership are entwined: lessons for professional development of school leaders in kenya,” rose opiyo discusses the concept of transformative leadership in inclusive education for learners with special needs as a broad approach to education that seeks to interrogate the inclusive leadership global journal of transformative education (2019) vol 1 3 global journal of transformative education (2019) vol 1 skills of school leaders as they seek to address human diversity issues in their schools. invitation to prospective authors we invite authors keen on transformative education from all walks of life to consider gjte as an avenue for dissemination of their ideas germane to curriculum and teaching. gjte accepts submissions for its open call, with no deadlines for submissions, and no publishing fees for authors. the journal’s website includes author guidelines to help prospective authors with formatting specifications, and an online submissions system to help with the submission, review and editing process. new authors are invited to register in the system. gjte also invites readers to join our editorial board of reviewers by selecting the “reviewer” role and indicating content expertise. acknowledgements the global journal for transformative education (gjte) is a singular publication venue. despite the great amount of time and effort we have invested for its conceptualization, development, implementation, production, and publication of this inaugural volume, we could not have done all this by ourselves. both the conference and this volume are the results of the hard work and dedication of many people. first of all, our profound gratitude goes to the global institute for transformative education (gite) and its founding members for their sustained sponsorship to make this volume happen. we are deeply thankful to tom j. mcconnell who provided us invaluable assistance in his role as managing editor taking care of the daily operation of gjte. we are also grateful to our colleagues who serve on the board of reviewers for their time and diligence in the review process. we also owe a debt of gratitude to professor eng. frederick otieno, vice chancellor of masinde muliro university of science and technology (mmust) not only for his early buy-in to this concept of transformative education but also for funding and hosting the conference. we also thank fred bay of the bay & paul foundation and ball state university for sponsoring our three keynote speakers and for sponsoring some schools to attend and showcase their transformative activities at the conference. our profound gratitude goes to all the participants in the world conference on transformative education (wcte), especially to the following: dr. kofi marfo, professor and foundation director, institute for human development, aga khan university (south-central asia, east africa, and united kingdom); nkem khumbah, lecturer and member of the stemafrica initiative at theuniversity of michigan; justo méndez arámburu, co-founder and former president of nuestra escuela in puerto rico; and the hon. wilson sossion, secretary general kenya national union of teachers. we also owe a special debt of gratitude to rev. professor achoka jsk, phd, mknas director of research and postgraduate support, mmust, kenya and to dr. judah ndiku, executive dean school of education at mmust for his leadership and commitment to the conference from day one of the conference initiative till the conclusion of the event. without him and his closed collaborator, prof. achoka, the conference would not have recorded a major success. the successful outcome of the conference was due, in great part, to the careful organization and planning that took place beforehand. therefore, we are also deeply grateful to the following wcte conveners: drs. michael takafor ndemanu, serafín m. coronel-molina, daniel baron, winnie mucherah, kennedy bota, bryce smedley, and teresia mbogori for playing key roles in the organization of the conference. our special thanks to all the mmust faculty, k-12 pupils and their teachers, drivers, custodians, mmust students, caterers, dance groups, golf hotel staff, etc who all served in different capacities as well as played considerable roles that went a long way to enhance the experiences of the conference participants. ndemanu & coronel-molina, introduction page 4 last but not least, we are profoundly grateful to all the contributors to this inaugural volume for choosing gjte to publish their work. many thanks to the indiana university library system and its iuscholarsworks system for hosting the gjte’s website and to sarah hare for helping us with all the details related to the online platform where gjte is located. without the generous assistance and contribution of all these fine people and institutions, gjte would never have become a reality, and this inaugural volume would never have seen the light of day. michael t. ndemanu & serafin m. colonel-molina editors in chief global journal of transformative education ndemanu & coronel-molina, introduction 1 michael t. ndemanu (mtndemanu@bsu.edu) is an assistant professor of education in the department of educatioanl studies at ball state university, muncie, indiana, usa. 2 serafín m. coronel-molina (scoronelmolina@gmail. com) is an associate professor in the dept. of literacy, culture, and language education at indiana university, bloomington, indiana, usa. authors gjte is published by the global insitutute of transformative education articles are distributed under the terms of the creative commons attribution noncommercial nonderivative 4.0 international license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction without revision in any non-commercial medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the creative commons license, http://www.gite.education editorial board. global journal of transformative education (2019), 1:1, open access global journal of transformative education open call for papers published by the global insitutute of transformative education (http://www.gite.education) © gjte. 2019 open access this journal is distributed under the terms of the creative commons attribution noncommercial nonderivative 4.0 international license, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction without revision in any non-commercial medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the creative commons license, the global journal of transformative education (gjte). is an open-access journal that presents to learners, educators and researchers the optimal instructional strategies, transformative leadership, and inquiry methods that lead to better educational and research outcomes for their students and the society. gjte is published by the global institute for transformative education (gite). the editorial board of the gjte invites authors to submit manuscripts relating to research about transformative education, innovative teaching strategies or curricula, policy issues, the role schools have in transforming communities and society, and resources that can help educators and policy makers enact meaningful reforms that contribute to transformative education. gjte publishes at least one issue of the journal each year, and we offer an open call for manuscripts submitted by authors around the world. there are no submission deadlines for our regular issues, and authors may submit manuscripts at any time. special “themed” editions may be produced with guest editors, and the gjte will post calls for papers on the journal’s website to announce those issues. manuscripts should be limited to about 8000 words, and may include photos, diagrams, tables, graphs and figures. longer manuscripts may be accepted if the content warrants the length. authors should consider the specifications listed in the gjte author submissions page. in addition to images, authors may include hyperlinks to supplemental materials such as lesson plans, assessments, large data files, and video or other media. for more detailed formatting instructions, authors can download the gjte formatting guide and gjte manuscript checklist. gjte does not charge authors a publication fee. authors retain ownership of the content of the article that will be published under a creative commons 4.0 by-nc-nd license. submitted manuscripts will undergo a double-blind review process, and authors may be asked to revise text or images before final publication. communications about submitted articles will be managed through gjte’s author submissions system. call for reviewers authors and other individuals are also invited to apply to be reviewers. reviewers may be asked to read and assess submitted manuscripts as part of the peer review process, and will be listed as members of gjte’s editorial review panel. this panel is an important part of any rigorous publication process, and we invite a diverse group of reviewers from a variety of relevant areas of expertise. click here to register as a reviewer. please direct any questions about submissions to the editors: gite18@gmail.com editors in chief michael ndemanu, ph.d. serafin m. coronell molina, ph.d educational studies literature, culture & language ed. ball state university indiana university muncie, indiana, usa bloomington, indiana, usa managing editor tom j. mcconnell, ph.d. dept. of biology ball state university muncie, indiana, usa 68 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ https://scholarworks.iu.edu/journals/index.php/gjte/index http://www.gite.education/ https://scholarworks.iu.edu/journals/index.php/gjte/about/submissions https://tjmcconnell.weebly.com/uploads/3/7/4/5/37455725/gjte_formatting_guide.pdf https://tjmcconnell.weebly.com/uploads/3/7/4/5/37455725/gjte_formatting_guide.pdf https://tjmcconnell.weebly.com/uploads/3/7/4/5/37455725/gjte_manuscript_checklist.pdf https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ https://scholarworks.iu.edu/journals/index.php/gjte/about/submissions https://scholarworks.iu.edu/journals/index.php/gjte/about/submissions https://scholarworks.iu.edu/journals/index.php/gjte/user/register email:gite18@gmail.com mccaster, a. l. global journal of transformative education (2019) 1:1, 46-51. doi 10.14434/gjte.v1i1.25920 open access published by the global insitutute of transformative education (http://www.gite.education) © mccaster, 2019 open access this journal is distributed under the terms of the creative commons attribution noncommercial nonderivative 4.0 international license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction without revision in any non-commercial medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the creative commons license, adult education and dialogue: utilizing project-based education as a method to provide transformative change in both students and teachers antonette l. mccaster abstract knowledge is built upon personal experiences and the information to which we have access. my area of research is in communicating the language of business (accounting) to non-business learners. i have found that both communication and motivation are primary factors in transformational learning. to this end, research has shown that project-based education improves student skills, and transforms the traditional classroom for both teachers and students. combining project-based education with adult dialogue education provides a transformative method of education that encourages student-driven, collaborative project-based learning as well as opportunities for teachers to reflect upon their epistemology and pedagogy. keywords: instructional technology, adult dialogue education, project-based education, stem, transformative instructional approaches full listing of authors and contacts can be found at the end of this article. introduction in order to have an understanding of my theory of learning, i must discuss my epistemology and beliefs about intelligence. i believe that knowledge is relative and it should be evaluated based upon personal experiences and the available information. i define intelligence as the ability to relate new knowledge to existing knowledge in a variety of situations. i believe that intelligence is not fixed and knowledge is not discrete or constant. consequently, i subscribe to the incremental theory that intelligence is changeable and can be improved. my philosophy of education is grounded in my personal beliefs about the nature of people and learning. i recognize that operant conditioning is beneficial for learning basic facts and principles. this is an area in which the use of various methods of instructional technology utilizing authentic activities can accomplish much. liberal education provides practice for our mind to explore connections, which satisfies the social, esteem, and self-actualization needs. learning is a personal experience and knowledge is based upon personal experiences and the information to which we have access. to this end, project-based education allows for authentic learning activities. a liberal education provides new areas from which we can draw valuable insight for problem solving. humanistic education places value in the whole person and underscores how relationships are critical to our development. radical theory wants us to question the existing constructs, dismantle the status quo, and reshape our perceptions of reality. the radical ideas about communication (adult dialogue education) is an area that i continuously analyze in my current practice and have utilized in face-to-face courses. this study looks at prior research on project-based education and its intersection with technology for providing a transformative change in both teachers and students. mccaster, adult education and dialogue 47 what is learning? according to kirschner et al. (2006), learning is defined as “a change in long-term memory” (p. 75). this is in contrast to hmelo-silver et al. (2007), where they indicate the goal of education is to learn content and soft skills; such as epistemic practices, self-directed learning, and collaboration. a broader definition can be gleaned from gagne’s events of instruction; where learning is the process of “getting the student from one state of mind to another” (p.178). the importance of collaboration is supported in merrill (2009) during the application principal. specifically, when learners “actively engage in interaction with one another rather than passively observing the demonstration” (p. 47). a broader definition is needed than what was proposed by kirschner et al. (2006). according to gagne’s events of instruction; learning is the process of “getting the student from one state of mind to another” (p.178). further, the importance of collaboration is supported in merrill (2009) during the application principal. specifically, when learners “actively engage in interaction with one another rather than passively observing the demonstration” (p. 47). this definition supported the hmelo-silver proposed definition for the purpose of education. i define a good learning experience as one in which any of the following activities occurred: • i obtained valuable information that helped me to understand a situation or experience i have encountered in the past either personally, academically, or professionally. • the experience provided tools to better resolve existing issues or presented alternatives of which i was not aware. • the experience created a springboard for learning growth. i define a bad learning experience as one in which: • i received no benefit (including knowledge acquisition of skill development) during the process or afterwards. • that i didn’t understand the purpose of the experience. • the experience did not meet the objectives stated for the experience. what is project-based learning? thomas (2000) conducted a review of the research on project based learning and outlined five components that he felt were necessary in a project for it to fit under the umbrella of project based learning. these elements included: centrality, diving question, constructive investigations, autonomy, and realism. further, brundiers and wiek (2013) reviewed several articles to posit key features of problem and project based learning. the intersection of these two strategies included six elements; engaging students in real-world tasks, student-centered/small group work, simulate professional situations, use of multiple sources of information, teachers as facilitators and a resource, formative and performance-based peer evaluations. taylor (2017) defined project-based learning in his abstract as “a teaching technique in which authentic, real-world projects are used as the primary vehicle to drive the student’s learning experience” (p.1). nilsson (2012) outlined a method for implementing project-based education called the “working seminar.” it is based on the assumption that groups with a common base of knowledge increase both the group results and the individual learning. the buck institute for education (2015) similarly provided seven design factors that should be utilized for a successful implementation of project based education (see fig.1). teacher transformation even now, the field of accounting and finance is dominated by white males over the age of fifty. as such, aspects of a liberal education such as collaboration, interpersonal skills, and the skill of discernment are integral. i have used the socratic method when students ask questions in the past. especially, when it involves an authentic issue and the group is more than capable of formulating a response and sharing it. a transformation i have made through the use liberal education and adult dialogue included the incorporation of the liberal education model by having several students who have briefly discussed an issue with peers (think, pair, and share) to pull pieces of their understanding and write them with bullets upon the board. then i will call on several other students to sum up what they heard their fellow students say, and add to what’s been bulleted or question further. in the end, i will call for a “vote” using clicker devices to poll all students based on the shared discussion. this represents liberal education in two ways. first, it allows the students to hear stories firsthand and draw their own conclusions about possible scenarios and their implications. second, it lets the learner know that not all knowledge is central but but dispersed throughout a group and can be understood differently. global journal of transformative education (2018) 1:1 mccaster, adult education and dialogue 48 global journal of transformative education (2018) 1:1 kirschner et al. (2006) take the position that epistemology or how an expert does something is not equivalent to pedagogy or how to learn the field. to support this, they offer degroot’s chess results where it is concluded that it is the extensive experience of professionals stored in long-term memory that enables them to be good at what they do. they conclude by indicating that the shortcoming is due to the differences between behaviors and methods knowns to experts as compared to novices with no foundation to draw from. in examining my assumptions on adult learning, i would like to highlight four that have been discussed extensively in the literature. the first is that adult learners have experiences from which to draw on to support their learning. the second is that adult learners need to understand how the information they acquire relates to what they already know. this allows them to see relevance and improves motivation. third, adult learners have positive and negative self-efficacy in various domains that affect how they approach learning. finally, a “readiness” to learn arises from an experience in which the individual realizes that they don’t have the skill, knowledge, or information to address it. theories that address these assumptions include malcolm knowles theory of androgyny (2012), which posits that there are particular characteristics of adult learners that differ from the way children learn. these assumptions included self-concept, experience, readiness/orientation to learning, motivation to learn and relevance. some critics point out that the perspective of andragogy supports “white middle-class values” and does not include the “relationship between self and society” (sandlin, 2005, p. 27). in contrast, hmelo-silver et al. (2007) indicate that the shift in importance stems from sweeping reforms in education based upon the idea that the purpose of education is to prepare students for the workplace. as such, “content and practice” should be central learning goals. furthermore, the relationship to long-term memory storage is emphasized because there is a direct correlation of the “influence of the learning context on the accessibility of the knowledge for future use” (p. 105). in forming my response to rather project based education should be supported, i considered the results of these issues. project based education should not be categorized like “discovery” and other “experiential” forms of instruction. additionally, the definition of learning used by kirschner et al. (2006) is too narrow and does not fully encompass learning as does the definition of the purpose of education put forward by hmelo-silver et al. (2007). this means i discount that minimally guided instruction is ineffective for student learning, figure 1. pbl design factors (buck institute 2015). mccaster, adult education and dialogue 49 global journal of transformative education (2018) 1:1 due to evidence presented that demonstrates the conditions that it is effective. the decision to use project based education in a course should be based upon the broader definition of learning. kirschner et al. (2006) present compelling evidence as to why the content and timing of the guidance in inquiry based instruction must be scaffolded to be successful. that is to say, in order to reducing working memory overload, scaffolding will keep learning with the proximal development zone. without scaffolding, i would not recommend the use of inquiry-based instruction under any circumstances. student transformation blumenfeld, soloway, marx, krajcik, guzdial and palinscsar (1991) published a study from the university of michigan with the intent of exploring projects and examining difficulties that students and teachers encounter, and describing how technology supports both teachers and students for projects. in summary blumenfeld et al. (1991) posit that projects allow for the integration of both thinking and motivation for students. historically, tasks utilized a programmed instruction approach which has resulted in some students having “poor attitudes toward learning and schooling.” (p. 371). an area of weakness for many students is group work and collaboration. in essence learning to work effectively in groups. bell (2010) discusses how projects provide intrinsic motivation because students can present their best selves through the use of individual learning styles and preferences. hmleo-silver et al. (2007) states that pbl “supports the development of reasoning skills, problem-solving skills and self-directed learning skills” (p. 103). this statement implies that these are skills that can be carried over to other areas. according to vygotsky (1978), article entitled “interaction between learning and development,” learning in one general area will not carry over to another. it referenced the study of adults whereby training on discovering the length of short lines did not improve the participants’ ability to determine the length of long lines. this points to the importance of learning in context. it concluded that “special training affects overall development only whenits elements, material, and processes are similar across specific domains” (p. 83). technology taylor (2017) completed a study to answer several questions regarding the use of technology with projectbased learning. their study used two web-based surveys to obtain data from participants at georgia tech. one survey was to teachers the other for students; the survey garnered 23 responses from teachers with prior pbl experience and 52 responses from students. although the response rate is low, there were some interesting findings that i used to triangulate with information from other research. of primary interest to this study, was the findings about pbl-specific teaching practices that technology provided the greatest support and overall how integral technology was to the delivery of project-based learning. “nearly 74% of teachers and 63% of students thought that technology tools were either very important or extremely important relative to their successful delivery of project-based learning” (taylor, 2017, p. 7). the results of taylor (2017) suggest that while technology can help support all pbl teaching practices, it is most impactful in three areas: (1) helping teachers to design and plan for the successful execution of their projects, (2) providing teachers with the ability remain in close contact with students throughout the project, as well as providing students the ability to collaborate with each other regardless of location. (3) giving students the creative freedom to explore the topics underlying their projects in ways that are meaningful to them, while simultaneously ensuring they are equipped with the core knowledge needed to stay focused. the need for minimal guidance is also supported by gagne’s events of instruction (as step 5; “providing learning guidance” (p. 162). the authors stated how too much guidance is considered “condescending to the quick learner” (p. 188). the importance of scaffolding is supported in merrill (2009) “first principals of instruction,” with the application principle where the author states that learning is improved when “coaching is gradually withdrawn for each subsequent task” (p. 47). this supported the need for scaffolding in minimally guided instruction. challenges kirschner et al. (2006) refer to pbl and il as having no guidance, they cited these teaching strategies as “unguided” when discussing “research comparing guided to unguided,” the “knowing less after instruction” and the “empirical evidence about science learning from unguided instruction” sections of the article. consequently, the authors use examples of “unguided” research as a basis for their knowledge claim that pbl and il are ineffective for learners. mccaster, adult education and dialogue 50 global journal of transformative education (2018) 1:1 in contrast, hmelo-silver et al (2007), demonstrate numerous examples that pbl is a guided form of instruction even if minimal; through the use of “scaffolding and guidance to facilitate student learning” (p. 99). the authors included the geier et al research to support this. this research was particularly strong due to the longevity of the study and “observed gains up to a year and a half after participation in inquiry-based instruction” (p. 104). the need for minimal guidance is also supported by gagne’s events of instruction (as step 5; “providing learning guidance” (p. 162). the authors, stated how too much guidance is considered “condescending to the quick learner” (p. 188). further, the importance of scaffolding is supported in merrill (2009), “first principals of instruction,” with the application principle where the author states that learning is improved when “coaching is gradually withdrawn for each subsequent task” (p. 47). discussion in forming my position as to rather or not inquiry based instructional strategies should be supported, i considered the results of the following issues: • how does project-based education improve learning? • how does the role and beliefs of the teacher change with project based education? • how are students’ roles changed as a result of project based education? • what role does technology play in project-based education? project based education improves intrinsic motivation by working with a variety of learning styles and student preferences. the level of autonomy provides a sense of ownership for the results. using project-based instructional strategies requires a transformation in teachers. they must rethink their role in the classroom from dictator to facilitator. the projects selected will not have a right or wrong answer. additionally, teachers must be willing to accept an element of unscripted learning. project based learning requires that students change their approach to the classroom. they must go from the “baby bird” method of receiving knowledge to assuming an active role. many students will need assistance in how to actively listen to others and engage in dialogue that requires negotiation. finally, the ability to synthesis multiple ideas of sources of information into a cohesive thought pattern must be achieved. technology supports learning through the variety of sources and means of gathering information, increased volume of information, and multiple means of delivering artifacts. in conclusion, teacher and student transformations benefit from readily available resources, such as technology, to support them through challenges. . mccaster, adult education and dialogue 51 references bell, s. (2010). project-based learning for the 21st century: skills for the future. the clearing house, 83(2), 39-43, doi: 10.1080/00098650903505415 blumenfeld, p. c., soloway, e., marx, r. w., krajcik, j. s., guzdial, m., & palincsar, a. (1991). motivating project-based learning: sustaining the doing, supporting the learning. educational psychologist, 26(3-4), 369-398. brundiers, k., & wiek, a. (2013). do we teach what we preach? an international comparison of problem-and project-based learning courses in sustainability. sustainability, 5(4), 1725-1746. buck institute for education. (2015). gold standard pbl: project based teaching practices. novato, ca: buck institute for education. gagne, r.m., briggs, l.j., & wager, w.w. (1988). the events of instruction. in (3rd ed.), principles of instructional design (pp. 176-197). fort worth, tx: harcourt brace jovanovich college publishers. hmelo-silver, c. e., duncan, r. g., & chinn, c. a. (2007). scaffolding and achievement in problem-based and inquiry learning: a response to kirschner, sweller, and. educational psychologist, 42(2), 99-107. kirschner, p. a., sweller, j., & clark, r. e. (2006). why minimal guidance during instruction does not work: an analysis of the failure of constructivist, discovery, problem-based, experiential, and inquiry-based teaching. educational psychologist, 41(2), 75-86. knowles, m. s., holton iii, e. f., & swanson, r. a. (2012). the adult learner. new york: routledge. merrill, m.d. (2009). first principles of instruction. in instructional theories and design models volume iii: building a common knowledge base (pp. 41-56). new york, ny: routledge taylor and francis group. nilsson, f. (2012). working seminar a method for proactive learning in project based education. paper presented at lths 7:e pedagogiska inspirationskonferens, 2012, lund, sweden. sandlin, j. a. (2005). andragogy and its discontents: an analysis of andragogy from three critical perspectives. paace journal of lifelong learning, 14(1), 25-42. taylor, j. (2017). study on the best uses of technology in support of project-based learning. arxiv preprint arxiv:1712.06034. thomas, j. w. (2000). a review of research on projectbased learning. buck institute for education. vygotsky, l. (1978). interaction between learning and development. mind and society (pp.79-91). cambridge, ma: harvard university press. antonette l. mccaster (mccaster@indiana.edu) is a senior lecturer in the school of public and environmental affairs at indiana university, bloomington, indiana, usa. author http://www.bie.org/object/document/gold_standard_pbl_project_based_teaching_practices1 http://www.bie.org/object/document/gold_standard_pbl_project_based_teaching_practices1 okebiro. global journal of transformative education (2019) 1:1, 38-45. doi 10.14434/gjte.v1i1.26125 open access published by the global insitutute of transformative education (http://www.gite.education) © okebiro. 2019. open access this journal is distributed under the terms of the creative commons attribution noncommercial nonderivative 4.0 international license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction without revision in any non-commercial medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the creative commons license, anthropological methods in curriculum instruction for learners in informal education for abagusii of south western kenya gilbert nyakundi okebiro abstract abagusii used methods known as anthropological for transformative education. anthropological methods refer to indigenous ways for impacting knowledge and skills to children in the society. the methods differed in content and technique, but transformative education was moral, progressive, gradual and practical. the problem learners are ignoring anthropological methods because are indigenous and suppress transformative education for instance in acquiring university education, cannot adjust in the society. the objective is to examine the best approach to integrate, anthropological methods in curriculum development in educational system. the research employed survey method and data collected through questionnaire technique. results indicates abagusii have discarded anthropological methods for transformative education. the research paper concludes anthropological methods were transformative, effective and efficient in education since content was retained for long period by the learners. it recommends curriculum developers to incorporate them in the teaching-learning process in schools. keywords: anthropological methods, curriculum development, transformative education full listing of authors and contacts can be found at the end of this article. introduction the success of any education system depends not only on the nature of its aims, but also on its content (sifuna & otiende 2009, p.151), therefore, the curriculum of the informal education among the abagusii grew out of the immediate environment, real and imaginary, through the use of anthropological methods, which lead to transformative education. in this sense, farrant (2009, p. 19) has defined informal education, as there is no attempt at structuring it and was transformative from one skill to another. much of the learning goes on is almost unconscious, as with those things the child learns from his/her family, friends, experience and environment (farrant 2009, p. 19).this is applicable in the modern educational system but the teachers and learners forget and do not apply them because the anthropological methods are transformative in nature which are not applied in curriculum instruction in modern educational systems. methods used in curriculum development instruction in gusiiland were varied and diversified in age sets or groups, which were practical and demonstrative in the curriculum. in the contemporary society, curriculum is a syllabus followed in educational system. in gusiiland, education was imparted to the young beginning from birth until the end of life (death).in the modern society there are two types of basic education such as formal and informal. the former refers to education which is systematically planned in schools, colleges and universities. the latter is hidden learning that students undergo consciously or unconsciously within a school setting, for example assimilation desirable habits like punctuality, cleanliness, fairness, courtesy and so on which are portrayed by the staff and students in educational institutions globally (farrant 2009, p. 19). this research refers to the latter where students were instructed informally using formal methods among the abagusii. the curriculum instruction in gusiiland was/ is done by dominated mountains (ebitunwa), valleys, plains, rivers, grasslands and forests which were used asvenues for instruction (bogonko 1994, p. 2). in the okebiro, antropological methods in instruction for learners in informal education. 39 modern schools, children should be introduced and made aware of natural features in the neighborhood such as rivers, hills, dams, mountains, lakes and water falls (ochieng 2015, p. 25). this features are seen and are within their experiences and children should learner about their uses for transformative education in kenya. therefore, according to bogonko (1994, p. 2), some specialty was needed in making musical instruments-drums,flutes,harps,horns,and trumpets-from the animal remains, reeds and other grasses. these were some of the areas where formal instruction and training were undertaken (bogonko 1994, p. 2). studies of transfer training, however, indicated that student was much more likely to apply his learning when he recognized the similarity between the situations encountered in life and situations in which the learning took place (tyler 2000, p. 18). in this aspect, the student was more likely to perceive the similarity between the life situations when two conditions were met: (1) the life situations and the learning situations were obviously alike in many respects, and (2) the students given practice in seeking illustrations in his life outside of school for the application of the things learned in school (tyler 2000, p. 18). abagusii developed different systems of education to transmit their particular knowledge and skills to the learners, which they used as methods known as anthropological. anthropological methods refer to the indigenous ways or devices for impacting knowledge and skills to the children in the society. the methods differed in content and technique, but the african indigenous education was moral, progressive, gradual and practical. the learners were taught how to cope with environment, how to farm, hunt or fish and prepare food or build a house and how to run a home. the methods were part of the culture among the abagusii and learners were taught orally by their parents and community members. the anthropological methods for curriculum instruction among the abagusii, were classified into: formal and informal. the informal methods included. first, learning to play-children engaged in many activities and the play activities were described as initiatory, imaginative and symbolic. children also enjoyed imitating their parents or other grownups through play. a popular form of play was wrestling (e’nyameni) through the age mates and fostered physical strength. other play activities includedswinging (oborundarundi), chasing one another aimlessly, striding and dancing aimlessly. the second method was use of oral literature which included myths-which were tales effectively, described or accounted for natural phenomenon. elderly people used to explain to the young children things they did not understand. also legends were applied as methods of instruction. legends were tales fabricated to account for real events that took place time immemorial. the abagusii children also were instructed through folk-tales. folk tales were used to teaching ethics and some of these had an exciting ending or sorrowful or frightening ending. children also learned through dance and folksongs because a style of dance and folk song signified a type of rites, ceremonies, feasts and festival were performed through accompanying of melodious music and dancing. ceremonies, feasts and festivals were important sources of teaching. proverbs were used widely in ordinary conversation. uses of proverbs (emebayeno) were seen as a sign of wit/intelligence by the user, proverbs were a condensed wisdom of the abagusii ancestors. the third anthropological method of instruction among the abagusii was traditional learning by use of deterrence or inculcating fear method. children were taught morals and good behavior as they were born into the clan as a sign of transformative education taught in the stages of child growth and development. according to sifuna et al, (2006, p. 64), verbal warnings were used and more often followed by punishment for the offenders. children who committed offences were rebuked, smacked or assigned some piece of work, which expected to be completed before being allowed to eat. serious offenses resulted into severe beating and leading to reformatory. deception was another deterrent method especially used with the young. the fourth method was involving children in productive work. (ogosoma/chisemi) learning through medium of work enabled children acquires right type of masculinity and feminist roles. children learnt by being useful, by doing and working hand-in-hand with adults-this prepared children to become capable future husbands and wives. training of the children was done according to age and sex.such that the work that a child did usually increased in amount and complexity as s/he grew up. also the physical ability of the child was taken into consideration; a child was not assigned a task beyond his/her physical fitness (sifuna et al 2006, p. 64). in the formal methods, it involved theoretical and practical inculcation of skills. learning through apprenticeship was formal and direct method. children were instructed and trained as craftsmen such as potters, blacksmiths and basket makers/weavers by teaching global journal of transformative education (2019) 1:1 40 global journal of transformative education (2019) 1:1 them formally. formal instructions were also given in constant corrections and warning to children, in domestic work, in herding, in cultivation and tending to certain crops, in fishing and so on. according to sifuna and otiende (2009, p. 154) formal education took the form of succeeding stages of initiation from status. the most prominent of initiation practices was the form of circumcisition.circumcision (okwaroka) was normally accompanied with formal lessons (sifuna & otiende 2009, p. 154), which were done through the anthropological methods of instruction and were transformative in nature. the instructors used to test whether or not the initiate understood the lessons, by use of songs. the questions were asked in a form of riddles (chimbachero) for the initiate to interpret their meaning. such questions dealt with issues pertaining to the protection of homestead (enka y’omugusii) against enemies committing adultery and many others (sifuna & otiende 2009, p. 154). the statement of the problem the problem nowadays children are ignoring the anthropological methods of instruction because they are indigenous and cannot adjust in the society after acquiring formal in university education girls for example are not able to prepare food and depend on maids and boys cannot run a home, as they depend on services from servants. the objective of the study the objective is to examine the best approach in integrating the anthropological methods in curriculum development in educational system in kenya. hypotheses h1there is no significant relationship between the anthropological methods to students in school for transformative education in kenya. h0 there is significant relationship between the anthropological methods to students in schools for transformative education in kenya. literature review the term curriculum is derived from a latin word “curere” which implies a racecourse or track followed by racing horses. as time went by, the racecourse came to be likened to course of study followed by learners in educational institutions. this thereafter, led to emergence of the term curriculum, which its initial meaning implies curriculum is a process or set of activities that has a beginning and an end. curriculum simply is the syllabus, but in much more complex terms “curriculum” is much more than the syllabus or course outline. this means the anthropological methods were infused in the informal curriculum of education among the abagusii leading transformative education. kerr (1969) defines curriculum as “all the learning which is planned or guided by the school whether it is carried out in groups or individuals inside or outside the school.” according to mbithi (2009, p. 54), curriculum refers to what is taught at any given level of the school system. it refers to all the learning experiences that a learner goes through within a specified period in order to attain certain set objectives. curriculum development is understood to include a repeating process of planning based on national policies, production of instructional material, and implementation of the programme through the allocation of resources and evaluation (peiris 1976, p. 1).in this aspect, a comprehensive meaning od curriculum development include all of the following aspects of the curriculum: (a) the content or subject matter of the instructional programme, in this case of the abagusii for example circumcision was done openly for transformative education in the society. (b)instructional materials for instance teaching/learning aids or resources such as horns,skins,and so on were used. (c) instructional methods or strategies to achieve stated objectives, in this sense abagusii used the anthropological methods for transformative education.(d) the methods of evaluating the degree to which the intended objectives have been achieved. children were highly valued in african communities, because they played a very important role in the family and the community (kabiru & njenga 2009, p. 14).according to kabiru and njenga (2009, p. 19), ancient romans began to educate children as soon as they could speak, probably they used the anthropological methods which are discussed in this paper. the tabula rasa view emerged during the 17th century from teaching of john locke. to him, children were born as “clean slates” ready to be moulded through experiences and he advised parents to spend a lot of time with their children and guide them through instructions, examples and rewards such as praise and approval. this was also done through the anthropological methods applied in classical gusiiland, but in the contemporary modern society they are no longer applicable. education grew out of the immediate environment, real and imaginary. from the physical environment, children had to learn okebiro, antropological methods in instruction for learners in informal education. 41 global journal of transformative education (2019) 1:1 about the weather, type of landscapes, animals and plants. above knowledge the children had to be acquainted with the problems and possibilities of the environment by being equipped with skills of overcoming and exploiting them-by use of axe, hoe, the spear and other tools of the past in the stone age period. children were taught how to cope with the environment, how to farm, how to hunt, how to fish or prepare food or build a house and how to run or manage a home. individual was to live and serve other people in accordance with accepted manners, laws, avoidance of taboos and a rigorous code of morality. every person in the homestead and its environment, parents and old relatives were responsible for the training in economic responsibilities. learning by imitation played a big role, for young boys and old men, were building, herding and hunting, for girls and women, sweeping, carrying wood from the forest, carrying water from the river/fetching water and cooking. indigenous education inculcated a religious attitude of life because religion was concerned morality and rules of conduct such as courtesy, generosity and honesty. methodology the research employed survey method and data collected through questionnaire technique. the study used a survey research design on the primary and secondary schools in kisii county. mugenda & mugenda (2003) noted that surveys are the excellent vehicles for the measurement of characteristics of large population. the design was appropriate because it helped the researcher to obtain information that describes phenomenon by asking individual students about their perceptions, attitudes, behavior or values related to the anthropological methods of curriculum instruction among the abagusii. data collection procedure a structured questionnaire was used as the main instrument of data collection from respondents/students. a total of 400 questions were distributed in ten schools in kisii through stratified random sampling and 380 were returned to the researcher having an aggregate of 95% of the total questionnaires distributed. the data collected were analyzed, summarized and interpreted using simple percentage and chi-square method to measure inconsistency between the observed and expected frequencies and to prove the significance in the stated hypothesis. the responses from the questionnaires were measured using likert scale fivepoint scale namely: strongly agree (5 points), disagree (4 points), undecided (3 points), disagree (2 points) and strongly disagree (1 point).this is used to register and know to what extent of agreement or disagreement with a particular statement of and attitude, belief or judgments in concept of anthropological methods in curriculum instruction for transformative education. results the following summary describes the data collected from the field survey (2018) applied in the test subject classrooms. (n=380). table 1 indicates that 220 or 57.8 percent of the respondents were males and 160 or 42.2 percent were females. this shows that most of the respondents were males. table 1. gender of respondents gender frequency percentages male 220 57.8 female 160 42.2 total 380 100 table 2 indicates that 180 or 47.4 percent were between the ages of 10-13 while 200 or 52.6 percent of the respondents were between the ages of 14-17 years. this means that the majority of the respondents were over 13 years of age and in secondary schools. table 2. age of respondents age frequency percentage 10-13 180 47.4 14-17 200 52.6 18 and above table 3 shows that 150 or 39.5 percent of the respondents were in primary schools while 239 or 60.5 were in the secondary level of education. this revealed that most of the respondents were in secondary schools. table 3. student level in education system level frequency percentage primary 150 39.5 secondary 230 60.5 okebiro, antropological methods in instruction for learners in informal education. 42 global journal of transformative education (2019) 1:1 table 4. the anthropological methods applied for corrections or warning scale frequency percentage strongly agree 280 73.7 agree 74 19.5 undecided 6 1.6 disagree 12 3.2 strongly disagree 8 2.1 table 4 shows that 280 or 73.7 percent of the respondents strongly agree that the anthropological methods are applied for corrections or warning students/children, while 74 or 19.5 percent of the respondents are the similar views and agree;6 or 1.6 percent were undecided;12 or 3.2 percent disagree and 9 or 2.1 strongly disagree. obviously, the majority of the respondents believed that anthropological methods in curriculum development have an impact on the student’s transformative education. table 5. learners acquire skills through apprenticeship scale frequency percentage strongly agree 280 73.7 agree 100 26.3 undecided disagree strongly disagree table 5 indicates learners attached to teacher to acquire skills through apprenticeship, thus 280 or 73.7 percent of the respondents strongly agree while 100 or 26.3 percent of the respondents agree. table 6. anthropological methods focused on socioeconomic and environmental locale scale frequency percentage strongly agree 280 73.7 agree 100 26.3 undecided disagree strongly disagree in table 6 anthropological methods were focused on socio-economic and environmental locale, 280 or 73.7 percent of the respondents strongly agree and 100 or 26.3 percent of the respondents agree. this depicts that the locale was the major area used for transformative education when applying anthropological methods in curriculum development in informal education. table 7. anthropological methods applied in natural and human resources for transformation scale frequency percentage strongly agree 230 60.53 agree 144 37.89 undecided 6 1.58 disagree strongly disagree table 7 shows the anthropological methods applied in natural and human resources for transformation and this aspect 230 or 60.53 percent strongly agree,144 or 37.89 percent agree and 6 or 1.58 undecided. this indicates that the environment was the field of study where natural and human resources were available. table 8 illustrates knowledge transfer and knowledge applicable in real life, therefore 280 or 73.7 percent respondents strongly agree;74 or 19.5 percent respondents agree;6 or 1.6 respondents undecided;12 or 3.2 percent respondents agree and 8 or 2.1 percent of the respondents strongly disagree. table 8. knowledge transfer and knowledge applicable in real life scale frequency percentage strongly agree 280 73.7 agree 74 19.5 undecided 6 1.6 disagree 12 3.2 strongly disagree 8 2.1 test of the hypothesis chi-square (x2) tool was used, with an alternative hypothesis stating that there is no significant relationship between the anthropological methods to students in school for transformative education in kenya. the test suggests that the alternative hypothesis should be accepted (p < 0.001, x2 = 411,342, df=16). discussion the study has an enduring transformative change in education system, because the anthropological methods were used in every child and existed for the purpose of strengthening the community and should be used in the modern school for transformative education. the formal instructions were given in the constant corrections and warning the children, in some aspects of domestic work such as herding animals and tending okebiro, antropological methods in instruction for learners in informal education. 43 global journal of transformative education (2019) 1:1 certain crops, which a transformative agriculture projects done in the formal education. the study challenged the status quo of the traditional ways of teaching and learning where anthropological methods are not applicable. the economic role of the children featured prominently in their training and parents saw their new born babies in economic terms. all this descriptions of early african life make this a close link between education and economics, because within the homesteads and its environments, the parents and older relatives were responsible for the training in economic responsibilities (kabiru & njenga 2009, p. 14). the paper elevates the youth and adult voice and democratic practices in schools and in the society, as sifuna and otiende (2009, p. 151) supports the idea that “a child was expected to learn largely by seeing (observation) and imitating”. in this sense a child was given a formal teaching usually after had made a mistake and when the outcome of the work was found unsatisfactory. the paper serves to create a more equitable and sustainable future because, technical skills were learned on the apprenticeship principle. the learners were attached to the teachers in order to acquire skills. even the teacher-student ratios were small and in some cases it was one teacher to one learner. this should be applicable in the modern schools for transformative education in kenya. the paper focuses on the natural and human resources that are available in the locale or area as the resource such as mountains (ebitunwa), valleys, plains, rivers, grasslands and forests which were used as venues for instruction for the student engagement, which are not applicable nowadays because students are confined in classrooms and go out on breakfast breaks and lunch breaks the paper elicits knowledge transfer and knowledge applicability in real-life contexts since traditional education (informal education) used well-tried anthropological methods for teaching such as games, riddles, legends and acting all related to culture and traditions of the abagusii ethnic group. also sifuna and otiende (2009, p. 151), argue that the informal methods of instruction included involving children in productive work. the learning trough medium of work enabled children to acquire the right type of their masculine and feminine roles in the real-life. the paper encourage student-driven, collaborative project-based learning as the anthropological methods had its structure of responsibility for who taught what was well defined, and the need for different teachers as the children matured were recognized. the children were taught how to cope the environment, how to farm, how to hunt and so on, which was part of focusing on social, environmental and economic problems in the locale or area. methods were used in communalism, collective activity, cooperation and social responsibility were valued and emphasized in traditional education among the abagusii. in this sense, the individuals were to live and serve other people in accordance with the accepted manners, customs, laws, avoidance of taboos and a rigorous code of morality. the paper nurture youth and parent/adult with partnership strategies for effective service learning as the family was recognized as the cornerstone of traditional life and a lot of learning took place at home under the guidance of parents and the extended family members. the paper promotes authentic indigenous knowledge systems and indigenous ways of knowing and doing as the anthropological methods were remarkably comprehensive and holistic, because its main aim was to integrate the child fully into the life of the community. results indicate abagusii have discarded the use of some of anthropological methods in instructing children in the family systems. the commonwealth secretariat of 1993 gives the meaning of the curriculum as a combination of the following perspectives and dimensions. the first perspective is official curriculum: this is a planned curriculum laid out in official documents such as syllabuses, catalogues, and prospectus and so on. official curriculum consists of numerous courses or subject and course or subject combinations. the second perspective is actual or real curriculum. this is the received curriculum or reality of the student experiences for example to say what is actually taught in the educational institutions. the actual curriculum can also be viewed in terms of what individual student study as shown in the transcripts or certificates. the third perspective is hidden curriculum. it is a powerful perspective of the curriculum in institutions of learning. it respects the unplanned experiences and un intended outcomes in the area which students go through and develop as a result of the process of specialization in the institution for example music, athletics, football, drama and so on. the fourth perspective is ideal curriculum. this is a okebiro, antropological methods in instruction for learners in informal education. 44 global journal of transformative education (2019) 1:1 curriculum that a society aspires to have for it to realize its cherished dreams and ambitions. this forms the basis and directions and provides the guiding framework for the design of the curriculum. the ideal curriculum states the standard by the society’s contexts or what the society would like to have. there are three dimensions on focus as follows: one formal dimension in or out activities that are part of the planned experiences for example syllabus contents, laboratory experiments, field work, agricultural projects, home science projects, computer science projects and so on.two, non-formal dimension planned and guided activities which may be outside the formal syllabuses. it also refers to as co-curricular activities or sometimes in the past it used to be called extra-curricular (not worthwhile planned) examples including games, music, drama and so on. the third dimension is informal. it refers to socialization process through which students acquire certain habits as a result of interacting to the total environmental and the culture of educational institution for the manner of self-dressing, style of speech, styles of movements, self-image, cleanliness, leadership styles and so on. the process of socialization affects students attitudes, growth and behavior, some of which may not be desired. conclusion it is concluded curriculum is viewed as an explicitly and implicitly intentional set of interactions or activities designed to facilitate learning and development and impose meaning on experience. in this sense, the anthropological methods have the explicit intention usually are expressed in written documents denoting (expressing) courses of study for instance syllabuses, course outlines the anthropological included for transformative education. the implicit intentions for anthropological methods are found in hidden curriculum which refer to unplanned learning which takes place as a result of interaction between students and fellow students, between students and the staff of the school and between students and subject matter and finally between students and school facilities. the research paper concludes anthropological methods of instruction were effective and efficient as they are both informal and formal and were practical in nature and the objectives; content is retained for long period in the lifetime of the learners. the anthropological methods were effective in transmissions and preservation of culture, skills, knowledge of the family, clan among the abagusii from one generation to another. the anthropological methods were adapting children into their physical and human environment where they were, in gusiiland. in this sense, the anthropological methods instilled the accepted standards, norms, beliefs and traditions governing the correct behaviors among the children and adults in the society. this created unity and cooperation in the omogusii society, the methods emphasized on collective responsibility, for instance children could be disciplined by any member not only parents particularly. through the anthropological methods, the children acquired practical skills and knowledge which would be useful to the individual child and the omogusii society. intellectual skills such as observation, problem and decision making are quite relevant in the transformative education in the world today. recommendation basing on the conclusion, the paper recommends curriculum developers in the education system, kenya institute of curriculum development (kicd) to incorporate anthropological methods in the curriculum for the teaching-learning process in schools. it recommends for transformative education to be effective and efficient, the integrated approach to curriculum development is required in primary, secondary, tertiary and university levels, therefore, the stakeholders should take action of implementation. it is recommended, in the modern schools, learners should be introduced and made aware of natural features in the neighborhood such as rivers, hills, dams, mountains, lakes and water falls, through the use of anthropological methods, because the features are seen and are within their experiences and learners should learner about their uses for transformative education in kenya. okebiro, antropological methods in instruction for learners in informal education. 45 references bogonko, s. n. (1994). a history of modern education in kenya (1875-1991). nairobi:evans brothers (kenya) ltd. farrant, j. s. (2009). principles and practice of education. malaysia: longman. kabiru, m. & njenga, a. (2009). foundations of early childhood development and education and curriculum development. nairobi: focus publishers ltd. kerr, j. f. (1969). changing the curriculum. london: university of london press. mbiti, d. m. (2009). foundations of school administration, oxford university press: nairobi. mugenda, o. m. and mugenda, a. g.(2003). research methods: quantitative and qualitative approaches. nairobi: acts press. ochieng, e. (2015). social environmental activities, nairobi: longhorn publishers. peiris, k. (1976). integrated approach to curriculum development in primary education in sri lanka. singapore: the unesco press. sifuna, d. n., chege, f. n., & oanda, i. o. (2006). themes in the study of the foundations of education. jomo kenyatta foundation: nairobi. sifuna, d. n., & otiende, j. e. (2009). an introductory history of education. nairobi: university of nairobi press. sifuna, d. n., chege, f. n., & oanda, i. o. (2006). themes in the study of the foundations of education. nairobi: the jomo kenyatta foundation. tyler, r. w. (2000). basic principles of curriculum development and instruction. chicago: the university of chicago press. gilbert nyakundi okebiro (okebirog@gmail.com) is an assistant lecturer in the school of education at turkana university college, turkana, kenya. authors okebiro, antropological methods in instruction for learners in informal education. page 46 of 9 global journal of transformative education (2019) 1:1 appendix 1 questionnaire anthropological methods in curriculum instruction for learners in informal education for abagusii of south western kenya kindly fill in the appropriate or correct answer to questions using: strongly agree(sa)=5points; agree(a)=4 points; undecided(u) 3 points; agree(a)=2 points; strongly disagree(1 point) 1. gender: male female 2. age of the respondents 10-13 14-17 18 and above 3. level of education/status primary secondary 4 .the relevance of anthropological methods in curriculum development for transformative education factor strongly agree undecided disagree strongly agree disagree the anthropological methods applied for corrections warning students/ children learners attached to teacher to acquire skills through apprenticeship anthropological methods applied in natural and human resources for transformative knowledge transfer and knowledge applicable in real life anthropological methods focused on socio-economic and environmental locale thank for your cooperation for filling the questionnare. god bless you okebiro, antropological methods in instruction for learners in informal education. mbogori & mucherah. global journal of transformative education (2019) 1:1, 5-10. doi 10.14434/gjte.v1i1.26141 open access published by the global insitutute of transformative education (http://www.gite.education) © mbogori & mucherah. 2019 open access this journal is distributed under the terms of the creative commons attribution noncommercial nonderivative 4.0 international license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction without revision in any non-commercial medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the creative commons license, nutrition transition in africa: consequences and opportunities teresia mbogori1 and winnie mucherah2 abstract nutrition transition, defined as a shift in dietary patterns and energy expenditure, is a major concern worldwide and especially in lowand middle-income countries. nutrition transition is linked to an increased prevalence of metabolic disorders and non-communicable diseases such as obesity, diabetes and cardiovascular diseases. in regions such as the sub-saharan africa, prevalence of overweight and obesity has steadily increased in the recent years despite the high prevalence of hunger and malnutrition. factors that have contributed to nutrition transition include urbanization, socio-economic developments and technological advancements. food consumption in some households has shifted to diets rich in fats and oils, calorie-based sweeteners, and animal-based products high in saturated fats (diets commonly referred to as “western diets”), from traditional african diets based on legumes, whole grain products and traditional vegetables. opportunities to slow down the effects of nutrition transition in africa may exist through education and policy changes that are culturally sensitive. keywords: nutrition transition, health and development, malnutrition, traditional african diet full listing of authors and contacts can be found at the end of this article. introduction malnutrition, a condition that refers to deficiencies, excesses or imbalances in a person’s intake of energy and/or nutrients, remains a major hindrance to the social and economic development of a country especially in sub-saharan africa (bain et al., 2013). macronutrient and micronutrient malnutrition in women and children increases their vulnerability to infections which increases the levels of childhood and maternal mortality (stein, 2010). stunting due to chronic hunger is associated with inadequate cognitive development which reduces the learning abilities and productivity of the child later in life and leads to the vicious cycle of poverty and malnutrition (vorster, 2010). similarly, overweight and obesity causes an economic and social burden to the country due to high costs of its management (allender & rayner, 2007). many sub-saharan african countries are struggling with both undernutrition and overweight, also known as the double burden of malnutrition. this has been attributed to the rapid nutrition transition being witnessed all over the world and especially in developing countries. nutrition transition, defined as a shift in dietary patterns and energy expenditure, is a major concern worldwide and especially in low and middle-income countries (popkin, 1994; popkin, adair, & ng, 2012). nutrition transition in the africa is linked to increased prevalence of metabolic disorders and non-communicable diseases such as obesity, diabetes and cardiovascular diseases (bosu, 2015). in sub-saharan africa, prevalence of overweight and obesity has steadily increased in the recent years despite the high prevalence of hunger and malnutrition (tzioumis, kay, bentley, & adair, 2016). consumption of high energy dense foods such as soft drinks and deep fried foods has replaced the traditionally consumed foods that were high in whole grain cereals and vegetables in most african homes. in addition, improvement in infrastructure and economic status has reduced the duration and intensity of physical activity among children and adults (steyn & mchiza, 2014). mbogori & mucherah, nutrition transition in africa 6 several studies have reported on the extent and consequences of nutrition transition and the double burden of malnutrition in africa (abrahams, mchiza, & steyn, 2011; steyn & mchiza, 2014; steyn, nel, parker, ayah, & mbithe, 2012). some of the main consequences include development of chronic diseases such as diabetes, high cholesterol levels and high blood pressure and cardiovascular diseases (albala, vio, kain, & uauy, 2002). these consequences are of great impact especially on the health care systems in african countries as these countries are still struggling with maternal and childhood undernutrition and micronutrient deficiencies. childhood is a very critical period in the development of an individual. while nutrition transition affects all stages of development, infancy and childhood stages are more likely to experience a greater impact. fortunately, it is easier to change or modify behaviors at young ages than it is to change behavior of adults. most studies done on nutrition status in children in african countries mainly focus on increasing food intake to prevent undernutrition and very few studies investigate the changes in dietary patterns of the children that could lead to overweight and obesity later in life. therefore, the purpose of this paper is to describe nutrition transition and highlight some of its consequences in children as well as to suggest some opportunities to mitigate the effects of nutrition transition within the african context. nutrition transition nutrition transition was first described by popkin (1994) as shifts in dietary patterns that are reflected through changes in body size and composition. popkin proposed five patterns of nutrition transition which represent the different stages of dietary changes in a population. first pattern is referred to as “hunter gatherer” and it describes the diets consumed in the hunter gatherer period if human evolution. these diets were high in carbohydrate, fiber and low in saturated fat. also, activity levels were high and obesity rates were very low. the second pattern is referred to as “famine” and it describes a period in time where there was food shortage that led to a decrease in dietary diversity and adequacy. also, towards the end of this period agricultural revolution occurred and societies that were more civilized were able to feed their population. although this stage mainly occurred in the 18th century in the developed countries, many places in sub-saharan africa are still dealing with famine today. “receding famine” is the third pattern and it is one where many countries made great progress in reducing chronic hunger and famine and the consumption of fruits, vegetables and animal products increased. however, at this stage, physical activity levels started to decrease which could have been attributed to technological development. the fourth pattern “overeating and obesity related diseases” is characterized by diets that are high in fat, cholesterol, refined sugars, accompanied by sedentary lifestyles. this pattern is currently being observed all over the world especially in developing countries. finally, is the behavior change pattern which describes behaviors similar to the first stage where there is increase in intake of fruits and vegetables and reduction in the consumption of refined carbohydrates. these changes are currently being observed mainly in developed countries as a response to increase in chronic diseases. most of the work in nutrition transition mainly focuses on the fourth and fifth patterns. for the african population, nutrition transition could be described following patterns three through five with most of the population quickly moving towards stage four (popkin, 2004). as undernutrition and micronutrient deficiencies persist, overweight and obesity rates in african countries have shown a steady increase that has exceeded the prevalence of underweight since 1980 (black et al., 2013). shifts in dietary patterns have been mostly observed within the adult population, however, there are concerns that changes in infant and children feeding practices might soon shift to the young population as has been observed in developed countries. traditionally, the main types of food introduced to infants across africa were plant based cereals made from mainly maize, sorghum, wheat or millet (gibson, ferguson, & lehrfeld, 1998). although intake of cereal based complementary foods is usually associated with insufficient intakes of iron, calcium and zinc (gibson et al., 1998), in some communities, amaranths, milk, soy, fish and edible termites are used to enrich cereal based foods (konyole et al., 2012). with changing diets and improvement of social economic status among african families, infants are now introduced to foods high in fats and sugars as part of complementary foods (popkin et al., 2012). these foods are energy dense instead of nutrient dense and research has shown that such foods may lead to adulthood diseases such as type 2 diabetes during childhood and later in adult life (steyn & mchiza, 2014). global journal of transformative education (2019) 1:1 mbogori & mucherah, nutrition transition in africa 7 global journal of transformative education (2019) 1:1 consequences of nutrition transition in general, nutrition transition affects everyone in the population regardless of age. the most common outcomes are chronic diseases such as diabetes and cardiovascular diseases (delisle, agueh, & fayomi, 2011). while the developed countries have the resources to deal with the rise in these conditions, african countries are still dealing with undernutrition especially in children which in itself exerts a lot of strain to the health care system in africa (salam et al., 2015). maternal malnutrition during pregnancy, inadequate breastfeeding and poor complementary feeding practices are associated with malnutrition in children. during pregnancy and lactation, nutrient needs increase making these periods nutritionally-vulnerable stages for women of child-bearing age (khayat, fanaei, & ghanbarzehi, 2017). undernutrition in mothers is a cause for concern due to the impact adequate maternal nutrition has during the critical 1,000-day period from pregnancy to the first two years of the child’s life (woo baidal et al., 2016). similarly, obesity during pregnancy has been associated with poor health outcomes of the pregnancy such as increased risk of caesarian delivery, childhood overweight and obesity, diabetes in later life for mothers and obesity in adolescence for the children (poston, harthoorn, & van der beek, 2011; valsamakis, kyriazi, mouslech, siristatidis, & mastorakos, 2015). the immediate effect of poor nutrition during the early years of a child is morbidity and mortality and, delayed cognitive, social-emotional and motor development (da cunha, leite, & de almeida, 2015), while the long-term effects include impairment in, intellectual ability, work capacity, reproductive outcomes and overall health during adolescence and adulthood (da cunha et al., 2015). infants born to undernourished mothers are likely to be undernourished as well at birth and if they experience rapid weight gain in childhood, they are much more likely to suffer from diabetes and cardiovascular diseases later in life than children who were not undernourished at birth (victora et al., 2008). this means that in developing countries such as sub-saharan africa, greater efforts should be directed towards minimizing rapid dietary shifts towards consumption of high energy dense foods by children to mitigate possible development of chronic diseases in future life. opportunities to slow nutrition transition in africa nutrition transition is inevitable as countries continue to expand their infrastructure and economic development. however, there are ways that the society can be more vigilant in order to slow down the progression. many countries globally are working towards behavior change so that people can move from consumption of highly processed energy dense foods to increased intake of fruits and vegetables. however, in africa there are communities, still experiencing famine, consuming diets high in fruits, vegetables and whole grains, and those that have adapted more westernized diets. this means that when planning interventions to slow down nutrition transition, these three levels should be considered. interventions are needed to improve food production for those experiencing famine, nutrition education on the importance of maintaining traditional african diets are needed for those who are still consuming diets high in fruits, vegetables and whole grains and behavior modification interventions are needed for those who have adopted a more westernized diet. education one avenue that nutrition and health related information is shared is through the formal schooling system. nutrition and health related programs that are offered through school platforms have been shown to improve the health and nutrition status of the poor and vulnerable children in low and middle income countries (sarr et al., 2016). for example, school meal programs common among many african countries encourage children to go to school because of the promise of a meal (alderman, hoddinott, & kinsey, 2006). for the most part, foods served in schools are sourced from local farmers and local markets and are therefore more likely than not to include traditional african diets rich in vegetables and whole grains. however, as nutrition transition progresses, there is a possibility that foods offered in schools might change into a more westernized diet that is more convenient and cheaper for the schools. in a school setting, nutrition education can benefit the children, teachers as well as staff by providing them with the tools for healthy eating. including nutrition education in the school curriculum is could help slow down the effects of nutrition transition, however, it has to be sensitive to the african context. nutrition education curricula need to be linked to locally grown foods, cultures and diversity as well as environmental sustainability. this means that examples used in instruction should be based on healthy foods that are locally available and accessible to the children instead of using examples of foods that are mbogori & mucherah, nutrition transition in africa 8 global journal of transformative education (2019) 1:1 foreign to the community. some studies that have evaluated the impact of nutrition education in schools especially and have shown positive outcomes in the nutrition and health status of the students. however, these studies focus more on undernutrition and not overweight and obesity (walsh, dannhauser, & joubert, 2002). it is noteworthy that prevalence of overweight and obesity in children is still low in sub saharan africa and therefore could be the reason behind lack of obesity-based interventions. however, this makes it the ideal time to introduce nutrition education in the school curricula to minimize adoption of unhealthy dietary patterns among school going children. research and policy researchers and policymakers have an opportunity to work with individuals and communities in african countries to try and slow down the negative effects of nutrition transition especially on children. from the documented literature, it is evident that there are a number of intervention activities that focus on mitigating the effects of acute food shortage. these interventions are mainly funded by international donor agencies. the main challenge with donor agency funded interventions is that they tend to focus on the agency’s key interests that might not entirely reflect the needs of the society. for instance, many un agencies work in the dry areas to provide food aid in form of ready to eat formulas for severely malnourished children and food rations for the moderately malnourished children. while this is a noble cause that has been done over the years, the real cause of severe malnutrition, which is poverty and low productivity has not been adequately addressed. therefore, a cycle develops whereby malnourished children are rehabilitated but when they are out of danger, they fall back into the malnourished state due to the conditions that initially made them malnourished. in addition, most of the international donor agencies are very unlikely to engage in behavior change interventions that are needed for slowing down the effects of nutrition transition. to effectively address nutrition transition, stakeholders need to work with communities to ensure that the magnitude and severity of adopting a western lifestyle are understood by the community members. to that end, there are a number of questions about people’s perception of the changing nutrition status and dietary intake that need to be evaluated. for example, 1) how do individuals in african settings perceive consumption of westernized diets high in refined sugar and fat as compared to consumption of traditional diets high in fruits and vegetables and whole grains? 2) how does the community view overweight and obesity either in a child or an adult? 3) are community members educated on the dangers of overweight and obesity that result from high calorie intake with sedentary behavior? 4) what are african governments doing to ensure that overweight and obesity do not reach alarming levels as those being witnessed in some of the developed countries? some of these questions have been explored to some extent. for example in south africa, a qualitative study among children found that some teenagers perceived being overweight and obese to be desirable especially by parents because it was an indication of happiness (puoane, tsolekile, & steyn, 2010). another study found that being underweight might be perceived as suffering from hiv or aids hence undesirable (okop, mukumbang, mathole, levitt, & puoane, 2016). such feedback indicates that before beginning a behavior modification intervention, education is needed to discount some of those beliefs and come up with mutually acceptable interventions. also, some countries have developed policy documents that are geared towards curbing the increase in overweight and obesity. however, evaluation of such policies needs to be done. conclusion there is sufficient documentation on nutrition transition in african countries. consequences of nutrition transition are more severe in african countries than in developed countries as they pose a double burden of undernutrition and obesity to the community, households and individuals. children in such households end up with developmental challenges and are more likely to develop adult diseases such as type 2 diabetes in childhood. very few studies investigate the understanding and perception of individuals and communities towards the components of nutrition transition such as increase in energy intakeor increase in adiposity. such studies are important because it is sometimes perceived that consumption of western diets and being overweight or obese are a sign of improved social economic status. this, therefore, may hinder government and other stakeholders’ efforts towards slowing down the effects of nutrition transition. there are opportunities to slow down the effects of nutrition transition through education, policy and research. food and nutrition topics that emphasize on consumption of traditional african diets and discourage the consumption of mbogori & mucherah, nutrition transition in africa 9 global journal of transformative education (2019) 1:1 western diets could be introduced into the schools’ curriculum. at policy level, national programs aimed at reducing hunger and malnutrition could focus more on ensuring intake of nutritious foods that are culturally appropriate and locally grown where possible. references abrahams, z., mchiza, z., & steyn, n. p. 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(2016). risk factors for childhood obesity in the first 1,000 days: a systematic review. american journal of preventive medicine, 50(6), 761-779. doi: 10.1016/j. amepre.2015.11.012 1 teresia mbogori (tnmbogori@bsu.edu) is an assistant professor in the department of nutrition and health sciences at ball state university, muncie, indiana, usa. 2 winnie mucherah (wmucherah@bsu.edu) is a professor in the department of educational psychology at ball state university, muncie, indiana, usa. authors mucherah & mbogori. global journal of transformative education (2019) 1:1, 11-17. doi 10.14434/gjte.v1i1.26140 open access published by the global insitutute of transformative education (http://www.gite.education) © mucherah & mbogori. 2019. open access this journal is distributed under the terms of the creative commons attribution noncommercial nonderivative 4.0 international license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction without revision in any non-commercial medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the creative commons license, examining child development from an african cultural context winnie mucherah1 and teresia mbogori2 abstract human development is multifaceted and characterized by physical, cognitive, social and emotional aspects. this development is strongly shaped by one’s socio-cultural context. it is impossible to separate one’s culture when explaining their development fully. the purpose of this paper is to critically examine key issues in child development through the lens of an african context. these key issues include language development, child birth practices, self-esteem, self-concept and identity development. language is a powerful tool of communication that consists of words used by a community. it enables us to pass down information from one generation to the next and creates a rich cultural heritage. for this reason, this paper examines the languages that are used in african schools and how they impact the development of an african child. another important issue that needs to be examined within the african context is the birth process. even though childbirth is considered a natural event, it takes place in different contexts and parents make important choices about conditions surrounding birth. the people who help a mother during birth vary across cultures and these childbirth settings and attendants impact the mother’s experience, particularly with regards to how she will interact with her child after birth, which consequently influences child development. finally, self-esteem, self-concept and identity development are strongly embedded in one’s cultural context. a healthy self-esteem and positive self-concept impacts a strong identity development. to gain a better understanding of these key concepts within the african cultural context, the framework of vygotsky’s social-cultural theory will be utilized. keywords: child development, african culture, self-esteem, self-concept, identity full listing of authors and contacts can be found at the end of this article. introduction the development of a child is multifaceted and characterized by several dimensions including the physical, cognitive, social and emotional aspects. this development is strongly shaped by one’s socio-cultural context. it is impossible to separate one’s culture and context in fully explaining their development. for example, constructs like motivation for academic achievement, self-concept, self-esteem, and identity development can only be adequately understood within one’s social-cultural contexts and values (mahn & john-steiner, 2013). what motivates a student in kenya to achieve academically may be totally different from what motivates a student in the united states to achieve (mucherah, 2008; mucherah & yoder, 2008). unfortunately, most frames of reference in explaining “optimal” development seem to be based on the western and european standards (schwartz et al, 2013). almost all examples given in textbooks are western and or european based, hardly any from an african perspective, unless it’s explaining “inadequate” development. in addition, research given in support of discussions used to explain development in africa or other developing countries tend to be conducted by westerners, with few african first authors. furthermore, majority of african scholars tend to interpret their research findings within the western and or european framework. clearly, there is a need to increase research productivity from africa and by african scholars. it is paramount that the african scholars interpret their research findings through the african lens. the world is becoming a global village and africa has to participate in this endeavor by mucherah & mbogori, african culture and child development 12 actively participating in empirical-based research and share with the world the unique aspects its culture contribute to understanding children’s development. clearly, there is a need for transformation in the education system on the continent of africa. the ideal place to start cultivating this transformation is through schools, starting from early childhood education. this paper will address five key aspects of child development that needs to be critically examined within the african context. they include language development, child birth approaches, self-esteem, self-concepts, and identity development. in addition, these conecpts will be examined within the framework of vygotsky’s socio-cultural theory. social cultural theory the sociocultural theory, developed by lev vygotsky, posits that social interaction and culture plays an important role in children’s construction of knowledge. according to this theory, culture and social interactions are indispensable to children’s interpretations and understanding of cultural expectations (bodrova & leong, 2007; vygotsky, 1962). in vygotsky’s view, knowledge is distributed among people and the environments in which they live. these environments are embedded in the cultural contexts of family, school, media, legal and religious institutions, and community organizations. according to vygotsky, children’s social interaction with more skilled adults and peers is inseparable from their knowledge development. through this interaction, they learn to use the tools that will help them adapt and be successful in their culture. for example, if you regularly interact with children in their native language, you not only advance their language skills but also communicate to them that their native language is an important aspect of their culture. therefore, this theoretical approach suggests that the knowledge, perceptions, attitudes and beliefs about language, childbirth practices, beauty, self-concept and identity development among african children is advanced through interaction with others within the sociocultural contexts. early childhood and language development there is a need to engage teachers, scholars and policy makers in discussions on the cultural contexts influencing children’s development. for example, an intentional examination of the early childhood curriculum is warranted. how are children introduced to formal education? what aspects in the curriculum promote the african culture? when teaching the alphabet, what examples are given to support each letter of the alphabet? for example, a is for… the colonial education used western and/or european based examples such as a for apple. most children, particularly those in the rural areas have never seen an apple! unfortunately, this is still being used in early childhood education in kenya despite gaining independence in the early 60s. what languages are used for instruction in schools? an examination of the school systems in most african countries, particularly in kenya, reveal foreign languages are the main languages of instruction. how many african languages are encouraged or simultaneously used with the foreign languages such as english or french? in some countries, children are punished for using their native language at school, and this can have a negative effect on children if they become ashamed of their native language (mucherah, 2008). furthermore, punishing children for using their native language sends the message that their language is not important. this is unfortunate because children should be encouraged to maintain their native language while learning a second language as research shows children can pick up many languages simultaneously (thomas & johnson, 2008). furthermore, compared to adolescents and adults, children have the ability to pronounce words with a native-like accent in a second language if it is introduced early (neville, 2006). therefore, instead of punishing children for speaking their heritage language at school, teachers should be trained so that they can effectively use both/all languages for instruction. there is a need for more resources to be invested in training teachers to be culturally responsive in their instructional practices, and also to abolish practices such as humiliating or beating students who speak their native language in school. this is a problem because in some cases, parents tend to be happy when these children can not speak their native language. according to ngugi wa thiong’o (1986) these parents may not realize it but they have been programed by the colonial mentality. africans have to decolonize their mind in order to embrace their native languages (thiong’o, 1986). ngugi goes on to say that historically, english came to be seen automatically as the language of intelligence and african languages as peripheral. this was a conscious program enacted by all colonial powers. however, the colonial period is long gone and it is time for african education systems to re-examine their educational mission and practices. african have access to many languages and this is a signifcant resource because global journal of transformative education (2019) 1:1 mucherah & mbogori, african culture and child development 13 global journal of transformative education (2018) 1:1 children who are fluent in two or more languages perform better than their single-language counterparts on tests of control of attention, concept formation, analytical reasoning , inhibition, cognitive flexibility, cognitive complexity, and cognitive monitoring (bialystok, 2001, 2007, 2011; bialystok & craik, 2010). ironically, in most cases children who speak more than one native language in africa feel inferior to those who speak only one foreign language such as english or french. it would be in the interest of the children and the african culture in general, to promote and combine both the native and foreign languages for instruction at school. there is some hope in kenya because the current curriculum is emphasizing the use of kiswahili, which is the national language. in addition, the ministry of education in kenya has reintroduced african languages which has promoted a publishing house like east african educational publishers to issue numerous books on how to learn different mother tongues in kenya such as dholuo, ekegusii and kiluhya (ministry of education, 2015). despite this glimpse of hope, most kenyans prefer their children to be fluent in english, even if it is at the expense of the national and heritage language (mucherah, 2008). kenji hakuta (2001, 2005) support the combined heritage and foreign language approach because children have difficulty learning a subject when it is taught in a language they do not understand. furthermore, when both languages are integrated in the classroom, children learn the foreign language more readily and participate more actively. of great significance, children recognize the value of their heritage language and embrace it with pride. childbirth within the african context childbirth commences the process of child development. for centuries, the process of childbirth occurred in the homes. in the kenyan culture, particularly the luhya culture, there are women who help a mother during childbirth, they are referred to as birth attendants. these women are experts in customary midwifery and are known and respected in the community. this practice minimizes the stress of a pregnant woman since the midwife is usually familiar with the women whom she assists in the childbirth. less stress during child birth promotes relaxation in the mother and enhances the childbirth experience. this positive experience enhances the parent-infant interaction after birth, which increases positive social and emotional development of both mother and infant (kennell, 2006). however, this trend is gradually changing and children are being delivered at the hospital by nurses and doctors. this is all good, if this is done for the sole purpose of hygiene, minimizing infections, and for the purpose of safety of the infant and the mother. unfortunately, home deliveries are now frowned upon while hospital births are viewed as progressive because in the western world like the united states, 99% of births take place in the hospital (martin et al, 2005). the problem is, not every family in africa can afford the hospital bill nor the means to get to the hospital in time for a safe delivery. it would therefore be helpful for the traditional mid-wives to work alongside a trained nurse and doctor so that emergences are taken care of if they happen, and the traditional mid-wifery expertise is preserved. not surprisingly, and fortunately, in most african cultures, midwives or women who help with child birth are very common and research shows for lowrisk women, midwife-led delivery is characterized by a reduction in procedures during labor and increased satisfaction with care (sutcliffe et al, 2012). this is not unique to africa because midwifery is practiced in most countries throughout the world (jesse & kilpatrick, 2013). this is important because mid-wives are usually community members who can eaily be sort for advice after the baby is born, unlike the hospital birth where the nurses and/or doctors are not easily accessable. in addition, the mid-wives speak the same language as the new mother, therefore, communication is easy and cultural expertise on how to care for the newborn is shared. this is important because this communication of what to do after the baby is born helps the mother to relax and bond with her baby. in some cases, hospital deliveries can be cold and distant especially for mothers from rural and low income families. sometimes, the language used by doctors is not understood by the mother, which can make the mother feel inept as a parent. feelings of incompetence can affect parent-infant interacrion after birth. physicians believe that during the period shortly after birth, the parents and newborn need to form an emotional attachment as a foundation for optimal development in the years to come (kennell, 2006). in some mother-infant-pairs, including preterm infants and mothers from disadvantaged circumstances, early bonding may establish a climate for improved interaction which promotes optimal child development (kennell, 2006). it would therefore be beneficial for the medical profession to tap into this expertise by working together with the midwives to reduce the stigma attached to home births and promote safe births for mucherah & mbogori, african culture and child development 14 low-income mothers. this will also preserve the natural and african cultural funds of knowledge. this expertise has been passed on from generation to generation and if the current hospital deliveries continue, africa will lose this valuable skill. according to the socio-cultural theory, knowledge is learned and shared through social interaction and engagement in culturally valued activities. therefore, trained medical professionals working alongside traditional mid-wives sends the message that this is a valued expertise in the african culture. self-esteem and self-concept another key concept in children’s development is self-understanding which includes self-esteem, self-concept and identity. children’s conceptions and understanding of self is their cognitive representation and is the central aspect of their personality and psychological well-being (harter, 2012; rochat, 2013). a child’s self-understanding is based, in part, on the various roles and membership categories that define who children are, and more importantly, it is deeply embedded in their social-cultural contexts (harter, 2006; 2012). the large question here is, how do african children define themselves? what attributes are central to their self-understanding? a healthy understanding of self promotes one’s self-esteem, which is associated with positive life outcomes (harter, 2012). self-esteem refers to a person’s self-worth or self-image, while selfconcept refers to a domain-specific evaluations of self (harter, 2012). having a high self-esteem and a positive self-concept are important aspects of children’s well-being (baumeister, 2013; campbell, 2012). for years, beauty has been defined based on the western and/or european standards. for example, long, straight hair and fair skin for women have been the criteria for judging women’s beauty (mucherah & frazier, 2013). rarely are african attributes embraced in the definition of beauty. in the 60’s there was a movement in the united states of america, championed by prominent african americans like james brown, to promote black beauty. this movement promoted wearing natural hair, afro, and encouraged black people to embrace darker skin tones. unfortunately, this movement faded in the 80’s and the 90’s, but emerged again in the twenty-first century. there is also hope because in the united states prominent people and celebrities in hollywood are now wearing natural hair and embracing african names. if self-esteem refers to a person’s self-worth or self-image, and if western or european standards are used to determine one’s perceptions of beauty, this is bound to be problematic for african children. since the era of clark and clark’s doll study which found that african american children preferred lighter skin tone dolls, scholars have grappled with the issue of beauty and skin tone (mucherah & frazier, 2013). mucherah and frazier’s study (2013) found that majority of women of african descent preferred lighter skin tone and this was significantly correlated with their self-esteem. findings like this present a challenge to africans who are trying to instill a sense of pride in african children with darker skin tones. research indicates that variations in self-esteem have been linked with many children’s development. for example, children with high self-esteem show greater initiative. they are also prone to prosocial behavior and exhibit more happiness (baumeister & others, 2003. on the contrary, studies show that individuals with low self-esteem report more feelings of depression and have lower levels of life satisfaction (birkeland et al, 2012). possible ways to raise children’s self-esteem within the african context the findings from reviewed studies affirm the importance of increasing children’s self-esteem within the african cultural context (baumeister, 2013; campbell, 2012; harter, 2012; mucherah & frazier, 2013; rochat, 2013). this process starts with the educators, guardians and any adult who serves as a role model, that they need to embrace and promote african attributes, values and norms with conviction. one way to raise children’s self-esteem is by providing emotional support and social approval (harter, 1999). emotional support and social approval can be powerful influences on children’s self-esteem. the support and approval can be from teachers, parents and peers through encouragement and praise when children embrace culturally relevant behaviors and activities. for example, wearing cultural dresses/outfits, natural hair/braids, eating and enjoying traditional african foods, and speaking their heritage languages. some of the current trends on the content are promising. for instance, it’s encouraging to see young women and men embrace african attributes such as natural hair/braids and dark skin tone, use of african names only, and use of native languages with pride. this is important because our efforts to understand ourselves and to develop an identity that reflects our cultural heritage is long overdue. however, there is more that can be done to promote children’s self-esteem in schools. for example, there is a need to re-examine the textbooks that are used in schools. who are global journal of transformative education (2019) 1:1 mucherah & mbogori, african culture and child development 15 the authors? having many books with african authors is a place to start. even better, having books that are written in african languages would greatly promote african languages and pride in the african culture. finally, having books with main characters who are african helps children to see “themselves” in these books and sends a message that african characters are important. identity development children start to grapple with identity in middle childhood. they start to have questions such as “who am i?” “what do i want to be when i grow up?” as they look for answers to these questions, they are paying close attention to their social contexts such as home, neighborhood, school, and community at large. the process of identity development helps children to navigate some of the challenging and awkward social issues as they interact with their peers. this is critical because identity is who a person is and represents a synthesis and integration of self-understanding (erikson, 1968). vygotsky would argue that a child’s identity development is significantly influenced by the social cultural contexts including the interactions with more knowledgeable members of society (vygotsky, 1962). according to erikson, identity is a self-portrait composed of many pieces including the career a person wants to pursue, country of origin and how intensely the person identifies with his or her cultural heritage, and the kind of things a person likes to do which include sports, music, hobbies and interests (erikson, 1968; moshman, 2011). africa is known for its immense wealth in music, folk songs and dances. these folk songs should not only be performed during special occasions like school and college competitions. rather, they should be woven into the daily lives of africans so that children grow-up embracing these african gems. the challenge is, how strongly do african children embrace their african identity with its attributes? the world is becoming small and africa needs to be represented in this “small” world. as vygotsky’s socio-cultural theory posits, the social contexts play significant roles in identity. for example, family, culture, and ethnicity are linked to identity development. unfortunately, most research on identity development has been based on data collected from adolescents and young adults in the united states and canada (schwartz et al, 2013). many of these individuals have grown up with a cultural identity that emphasizes the individual. however, in many countries around the world, adolescents and young adults have grown up influenced by a collectivist emphasis on fitting in with the group and connecting with others. the collectivist emphasis is especially prevalent in african countries such as kenya. research has found that african adolescents and young adults develop their identity through identification with and imitation of others in the cultural group (bosma & kunnen, 2001). this emphasis on interdependence in african cultures includes an expectation that adolescents and young adults will accept and embrace social and family roles (berman et al, 2011). ethnic identity is an enduring aspect of the self that includes a sense of membership in an ethnic group, along with the attitudes and feelings related to that membership (phinney, 2006). identity development becomes a central feature during adolescence. most young people start to grapple with issues such as “what is my purpose in life?” (erikson, 1968). helping african youth navigate the challenges of their ethnic identity by providing opportunities for them to experience strong african values and attributes with pride, is critical. this is because research shows that a positive ethnic identity is related to positive outcomes for ethnic minority adolescents (umana taylor et al, 2012). furthermore, adolescents’ positive ethnic identity is linked to higher self-esteem, school connectedness, and a healthy social functioning (jones & galliher, 2007). it is therefore safe to state that it’s imperative to ensure that african adolescents develop a positive ethnic identity as africans. conclusion a comprehensive understanding of factors that impact the major aspects of child development requires an awareness of the relevant cultural contexts. this understanding begins with institutions of education that promote the values and practices embedded in the african cultural heritage. educators and policy makers need to start re-examining their curriculum and teacher practices. in addition, scholars need to develop research instruments that are culturally relevant and to intentionally assess the construct validity of the research instruments in order to adapt the current western and european measures to the african context. one of the challenges facing transformative education is that there are not many writers in african languages on the continent. the continent appears to be captive to european languages and hostile towards african languages. according to ngugi, africa has to make an intentional effort to change because losing a language is losing one’s soul global journal of transformative education (2019) 1:1 mucherah & mbogori, african culture and child development 16 (thiong’o, 1986). there is clearly a need in africa to adopt a three-language policy where, in the case of kenya for example, every child will be grounded in their mother tongue, kiswahili and then english. the environments in which children in africa develop should exposure them to strengths and values of the continent. for example, schools should teach the egyptian civilization, before western and greek history. egyptian civilization is the missing link in most of the african education system, yet the 3,000 years of egyptian civilization showed that they did incredible things (thiong’o, 1986). these egyptian inventors were black africans who were leaders in art, sculpture, and astronomy. they also invented writing (hieroglyphs)! as children in africa develop, they need to have this knowledge. this goes back to the african native languages, authors, writers, and books because the lack of confidence in ourselves begins with hating our native languages. the history carried by those languages is erased, there is no memory of africa inventing things when we abandon our native languages (mucherah, 2008). this is supported by vygotsky’s theory of socio-cultural development. culture and social interactions guide children’s development. child development is inseparable from cultural and social activities. the education system in africa needs to provide relevant competencies for their children, embedded within the cultural contexts, so that they emerge from these institutions and stand on the world stage with pride for their african culture and without an excuse! references baumeister, r. f. 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(1962). thought and language. cambridge, ma: mit press. 1 winnie mucherah (wmucherah@bsu.edu) is professor in the department of educational psychology at ball state university, muncie, indiana, usa. 2 teresia mbogori (tnmbogori@bsu.edu) is an assistant professor in the department of nutrition and health physiology at ball state university, muncie, indiana, usa. authors global journal of transformative education (2020) vol 2 issn 2640-1533s open access editorial team gjte invites you to apply to be a member of the editorial board. potential reviewers can register for an account on the gjte website: register for gjte account i global journal of transformative education volume 2, december 2020 published by the global insitutute of transformative education (http://www.gite.education) © gjte. 2020. gjte is a peer-reviewed open access journal produced as part of the iu scholarworks system, indiana university, bloomington, indiana, usa. editors-in-chief michael t. ndemanu, ball state university, muncie, indiana, usa serafín m. coronel-molina, indiana university, bloomington, indiana, usa managing editor tom j. mcconnell, ball state university, muncie, indiana, usa editorial board kennedy n. bota masinde muliro university of science & technology, kakamega, kenya judah m. ndiku masinde muliro university of science & technology, kakamega, kenya wilfridah m. mucherah ball state university, muncie, indiana, usa daniel baron the bloomington project school, bloomington, indiana, usa ernest davis university of cape coast, ghana nuboonyin fokong university of bamenda, cameroon michael fonkem university of wisconsin oskhosh, usa patience fonkem appleton area school district, wisconsin, usa isaac galyuon university of cape coast, ghana carla gull inside outside michiana, elkhart, indiana, usa james hollenbeck indiana university southeast, new albany, indiana, usa seema lasi aga khan university, karachi, pakistan james kigamwa literacy international, newark, delaware, usa maxwell seyram kumah st. teresa's college of education, hohoe, ghana daniel mpolomoka zambian open university, lusaka, zambia maxwell nyatsikor university for developmental studies, tamale, ghana rose opiyo masinde muliro university of science & technology, kakamega, kenya stephanie oudghiri purdue university, west lafayette, indiana, usa jerry parker southeast louisiana university, hammond, louisiana, usa david roof ball state university, muncie, indiana, usa fai wiysahnyuy university of bamenda, cameroon https://scholarworks.iu.edu/journals/index.php/gjte/login global journal of transformative education (2020) vol 2 issn 2640-1533s open access ii published by the global insitutute of transformative education (http://www.gite.education) © gjte. 2020. gjte is a peer-reviewed open access journal produced as part of the iuscholarworks system, indiana university, bloomington, indiana, usa. multiple perspectives on tranformative education transformative education from multiple perspectives: second volume of the global journal of transformative education ............................. 1 serafín m. coronel-molina & michael t. ndemanu, editors-in-chief implications of outdoor environment on children’s learning experiences in public preschools in borabu sub-county, kenya ........................................................................ 4 godfrey nyaoga ayaga & edward khasakhala okaya effect of hands-on science activities on ghanaian student learning, attitudes and career interest: a preliminary control study ............................................... 18 heather beem collaborative teams for self-publishing a model for creating locally relevant educationial books ................................................................................................................. 33 tom j. mcconnell & barbara giorgio-booher classroom democracy and learning outcomes in primary schools in francophone africa ............................................................................................................................... 46 aloysius mom njong transformative learning potentials of trainee health workers in nsukka, enugu state, nigeria ........................................................................................................... 60 evelyn n. nwagu the impact of school locale on pupils’ competencies in selected subjects: does it matter more for specific regions in ghana? ................................................................ 72 maxwell kwesi nyatsikor, winston kwame abroampa, & kweku esia-donkoh education for sustainable development in kenya: rhetoric and reality in basic education ........................................................................................... 86 benard o. nyatuka transformational leadership and wealth creation in education organizations: the case of higher education in cameroon ................................................................................. 99 patience p. teneng open call for papers ................................................................................................................................... 114 gjte editors contents global journal of transformative education volume 2, december 2020 mcconnell, t. j., j. m. parker, & j. eberhardt. global journal of transformative education (2019) 1:1. pp 18-25. doi 10.14434/gjte.v1i1.25848 open access problem-based learning for responsive and transformative teacher professional development tom j. mcconnell,1 joyce m. parker2 and jan eberhardt3 abstract educational reform should include teacher professional development (pd) to help educators learn how to implement new programs. this article shares a research-tested model of pd that uses the analytic framework of problem-based learning (pbl) to support professional learning. evidence suggests that pbl is effective in changing content knowledge and pedagogical practice. to teach content, facilitators engage teachers in learning activities designed using common pbl structures. stories about authentic phenomena present problems associated with specific concepts. learners work in groups to analyze problems, seek additional information, and construct plausible solutions. this same approach can support professional learning communities (plcs) to help teachers examine and revise their own teaching. in this model, teachers collaborate to identify “problems of teaching.” the group uses pbl to analyze information and solutions. teachers research teaching strategies, test a proposed strategy, and analyze evidence to build new understandings of teaching. keywords: teacher pd, problem-based learning, professional learning community, action research published by the global insitutute of transformative education (http://www.gite.education) © mcconnell, eberhard, & parker. 2019 open access this article is distributed under the terms of the creative commons attribution noncommercial nonderivative 4.0 international license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction without revision in any non-commercial medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the creative commons license, full listing of authors and contacts can be found at the end of this article. as we think about the need to create models for transformative education, education leaders need to consider how teachers will be educated in whatever new programs we develop and implement. if we truly value transformative teaching strategies, we should also think about how to best provide professional development (pd) for teachers that is as transformative as we aim to create for students. this paper presents nsf-funded research about effective pd that employs problem-based learning as a pedagogical strategy. the model was developed and tested with k-12 teachers over a four-year project. professional development is an important element of any education system. any professional, including teachers, enters the workplace as a novice, so continued learning is necessary. changes in student needs, diversity, new technology, revised standards and new curriculum, and many other variables also create a need for continued learning for even the most experienced teachers. but especially as we explore ways to identify and adopt new strategies that create a more transformative education system, teacher pd needs to be an intentional and well-planned component of any reform. for the pd planner, this presents a challenge very similar to those facing the teachers we serve. teachers who participate in any professional development (pd) program are sure to be a diverse group of individuals. some enter the program with years of teaching experience while others are new teachers. participants may come together from different disciplines, grade levels, school cultures, and communities. they also have different educational backgrounds and probably very different personal experiences in their own lives. one of the key challenges in planning effective pd is ensuring that all participants benefit. but in any discussion of “transformative education,” we must also think about how to help this diverse array of teachers learn to implement educational strategies in a way that empowers them to address problems in their own particular settings. if we wish to develop a mcconnell, parker & eberhardt. pbl for transformative teacher pd 19 body of students that has the capacity to face new problems in a culturally relevant way as they develop critical thinking and problem-solving schools that lead to innovation and meaningful change, we should also apply the same goals to the ways we teach teachers. the design of the pd program also needs to be one that not only permits but encourages teachers’ leadership in identifying, investigating and implementing changes in curriculum, in classroom practices, and pedagogical strategies (yaron 2017). the pbl project for teachers the problem-based learning project for teachers was an nsf-funded research project that developed a comprehensive pd program for science teachers in grades k-12. participants enrolled in the program were asked to identify content standards for which they felt they needed to improve their teaching. planners designed content learning activities to be offered in the first part of a summer workshop. the content of the activities was based on teachers’ selection of content topics or strands. in the second part the summer workshop, teachers learned to apply pbl to teaching practice, and formed professional learning communities ((plcs; hord 1997) that would meet in the next school year. the plc groups then met monthly to facilitate a pbl-based inquiry into problems of teaching practice each participant had identified. this pbl inquiry process resulted in lasting and meaningful changes to the way participants presented content, assessed student learning, managed classroom behavior, or designed entire curricula. the information shared in this paper reflects the research conducted over four years of the project, as well as continued refinement of the model through continued practice and reflection by the author and other principles in the pbl project for teachers. while the reader will find mention of content learning, most of the discussion will focus on using pbl to examine pedagogy. problem-based learning problem-based learning was first developed in the field of medical education as a response to a need to improve students’ ability to diagnose illnesses in a clinical setting (barrows 1980). instructors had noticed that first-year medical students were very good at memorizing facts, but they were not very successful in translating that knowledge to the type of clinical practice they face in diagnosing the condition of real patients in authentic situations. this is largely because the patients do not often present as cases that neatly fit the textbook examples. patients sometimes presented information that was not directly relevant or failed to show symptoms that would help in the diagnosis. pbl model developed for medical schools has since been adopted in other content areas (hung, jonassen, and liu 2008) in which students need to learn critical thinking skills that resemble clinical practice in a medical setting. one of these areas is education. teachers may be thought of as clinicians. like a physician, a teacher must apply the critical thinking skills of diagnosing a problem and developing an action plan to address a need. each day, teachers assess students’ actions and ideas, make judgements about what ideas students are developing or have constructed, and devise strategies for helping students achieve the objectives not yet mastered. for nearly two decades initiatives to improve the quality of teaching have pointed to the clinical practice view of teaching as a structure for teacher education and professional development. the carnegie corporation of new york helped shape teacher education through a clinical practice model (ccny, 2001), and the latest caep standards for accreditation of teacher preparation programs (council for accreditation of education preparation 2013) call for clinical practice as a part of teacher education in the united states based on studies from the preceding accreditation organization (zimpher et al 2010). in both of these initiatives, teachers need to learn to think like master teachers, just as medical students need to learn to think like doctors. those skills require both content knowledge and an understanding of pedagogical approaches that meet the needs of diverse students. the model included in this paper is described in more detail in a book to be published in 2020, problem-based learning for responsive and transformative teacher professional development (mcconnell, parker, & eberhardt, in preparation) as part of the problem-based learning for the science classroom series (mcconnell, parker, & eberhardt, 2016-2018) of books from national science teachers association press. pbl problem structure problem-based learning features a real-world problem presented in the form of a story divided into two pages. the problem in the story is authentic in that it needs to be either a real event or a fictional one that reflects real phenomena. the problem story is also ill-defined – readers are not given all the facts needed global journal of transformative education (2019) 1:1 http://www.nsta.org/publications/press/pbl.aspx http://www.nsta.org/publications/press/pbl.aspx 20 global journal of transformative education (2019) 1:1 to solve the problem and may be given information that is not needed to solve the problem. this messy nature of the problem helps learners to think about what information is relevant and identify information they need to find from other sources. this feature of the problem more closely resembles the real world than traditional textbook story problems in which students need all the given information, and nothing more. learners in a pbl lesson then use an analytical framework to facilitate a collaborative discussion that helps learners identify known and unknown information, and begin proposing hypotheses, the possible solutions they think may help answer the challenge presented in the problem. a graphical representation of this process can be seen in figure 1. learners begin by reading page 1 of the story, then generate a list of three main types of information: • what do we know? • what do we need to know? • hypotheses. a facilitator (the teacher) helps monitor the discussion and record ideas on the whiteboard or papers posted where the class can see them. when the class has exhausted their analysis of page 1, the facilitator gives the learners page 2, and the process is repeated. after analyzing page 2, the class identifies the “what do we need to know?” items they feel are most relevant as “learning issues.” they then search for more information from the internet, library, textbooks, and other resources provided by the facilitator or through investigations. at the end of the discussion, students or groups present their findings and propose a solution to the problem. students are expected to use evidence to support their proposals. the discussion of alternative solutions may lead to selection of a final solution for the problem, or students may be asked to write about the solution they feel is best. in the pbl project for teachers, this structure was used to help participants learn about the science content standards they had identified when they enrolled in the program. the pbl problems created by project planners were the basis of problems included in the first three volumes of the pbl in the science classroom series. research on teachers’ learning with these content pbl problems revealed that about 83% of teachers gained significant amounts of content knowledge during the activity, including knowledge that persisted for at least 8 months (mcconnell, parker & eberhardt 2013). the data revealed that teachers with varying degrees of prior education and content knowledge were all able to gain new ideas about the science topics through the pbl lessons. our research also suggested several key elements in designing effective pbl-based professional development for content learning. in order to be most effective, teacher pd programs need to include… • teacher participation selection of content topic • a close link between content taught and standards (or curriculum) • a mix of text-based and hands-on activities to support learning • time for individual teachers to process ideas • multiple forms of assessment of teachers’ understanding, with an emphasis on open response items mcconnell, parker & eberhardt. pbl for transformative teacher pd mcconnell, parker & eberhardt. pbl for transformative teacher pd global journal of transformative education (2019) 1:1 21 applying the pbl structure to pedagogical learning designing pbl professional development activities for content learning is very similar to writing lesson plans for k-12 students. the structure of the lesson and the way it is facilitated are nearly the same. but if we apply the structure of pbl to professional learning about teaching practice, the structure needs to change in several ways. the following section describes the design of a “focus on practice” component of the pbl project for teachers. the structure of a pbl problem for the “focus on practice” (fop) is very different from a content problem. one key difference is that the central focus of the problem is identified by the participant, not the facilitator. each teacher developed a unique problem that was very specific to his or her personal teaching situation. the problems were also resolved over the course of at least two months during the formal presentation of the teacher’s research into the “problem of practice.” in some cases, teachers spend most of the school year examining their question and trying various solutions. the extended time frame is very different from most content pbl lessons. figure 2 provides a comparison of the two different structures for a pbl problem. another change was the source of information upon which the group builds a solution to each problem. when applied to pedagogy, teachers were encouraged to use text-based resources, but they were also asked to collect evidence from their own classroom. this evidence included samples of student work, the teachers’ reflective journal, and videotaped records of a lesson when possible. the roles of group members also shifted. each teacher had primary responsibility for collecting information (research and evidence from the classroom). an initial analysis of that data was done individually by the “owner” of the problem before the evidence was brought to the group to be shared. group members then helped analyze the evidence, but most of the responsibility for a final solution fell on the problem’s owner. the “focus on practice” (fop) was the final part of the summer workshop and focused on pedagogy. pd planners led sessions on how to use pbl as a way to structure teacher-led inquiry and reflective practice within the context of a professional learning community (hord 1997). the summer session included sample plc meetings to model the process we encouraged teachers to employ for the following school year. teachers also formed their new plcs and began developing a schedule for a meeting each month through the school year. those groups met to discuss potential teaching problems that would guide each participants’ inquiry. other workshops included practice in videotaping their own classroom and the process of analyzing videos of teaching practice. the plc groups were first created by facilitators to generate groups with similar grade bands (grades 6-8 or 3-6 for example), geographic location to help facilitate meetings, or common subject areas (earth science, physical science). the ideal group had some similarities, but we also found some value for including a more heterogeneous group. teachers sometimes negotiated different groupings, usually based on geographic location when a teacher lived closer to one group but taught closer to a different group. to help teachers focus on a problem of practice they could use as their pbl problem, teachers were asked to write a “day in the life” journal entry. this writing asks the teacher to write about a typical day in their classroom that reflects a problem they wish to resolve or improve. the problems could focus on a science concept they struggled to explain accurately, a classroom management issue, or a particular lesson that does not seem to be effective in achieving the learning goals. in a sense, the “day in the life” writing served as page 1 of that teachers’ problem. just as in a content problem, the next step was group analysis. teachers shared their “day in the life” writings mcconnell, parker & eberhardt. pbl for transformative teacher pd global journal of transformative education (2019) 1:1 22 with members of their plc and discussed what they knew or needed to know about the problem. groups used the same three-topic lists as in the earlier example: “what do we know?” “what do we need to know?” “hypotheses.” a “hypothesis” in this case was a possible strategy to test out in the classroom. in some cases, group members would send the problem’s owner a book or journal article that might support or explain the proposed solution. figure 3 lists some samples of the problems of practice generated by participating teachers, along with the hypotheses they developed to be tested during the academic year. this “page 1” analysis took place during the summer workshop. each member shared the ideas they generated for a problem and talked about possible solutions. teachers then planned when in the school year they would test their solutions and schedule meetings to be led by each member of the group. each teacher was expected to teach the at least one lesson in which they would test their proposed solution before the assigned meeting. some participants extended their research to span an entire unit or most of the school year. teachers selected a one-month period that would be the focus of the problems they presented to the fop group. teachers shared entries from a reflective journal written before and after the lesson, collected at least three samples of student work showing a range of achievement, and recorded a videotape of the lesson. that teacher was also expected to view the video and select a segment of about 10 minutes that represents the problem being examined. each meeting was monitored and led by a facilitator, usually one of the pd program planners. when each teacher’s assigned month to present arrived, the group would listen to a summary of the problem and a review of the lesson taught. they also viewed the videotape and samples of student work. during this discussion, the group commented only on observations they made during the video. teachers were reminded not to make inferences or judgements or to propose solutions as they watched. this is similar to helping learners in a content problem to focus on “what do we know.” their observations were recorded on the “what do we know?” list in accordance with the pbl process. this process parallels the page 2 analysis shown in figure 1. there are also elements of the research phase of the pbl structure in that teachers were “investigating” and collecting evidence from the lesson they observed. after viewing the video, the group shared questions they had about the video and student samples. the questions generated are part of the “what do we need to know?” list during the analysis process. some of the questions may be answered by the teacher presenting the video and might focus on questions about the context of the lesson such as previous lessons, plans for the next day, or the teacher’s directions for the students. when the questioning step is done, the group can begin generating a list of solutions. this may focus more on drawing conclusions about the strategy tested by the teacher presenting the problem, or it may lead to new suggested strategies. the conclusion of this presentation comes when the teacher has feedback from the group that can be useful in shaping pedagogical choices for future classes. if the meeting led to a list of topics the teacher wanted to by the teacher presenting the problem, or it may lead to new suggested strategies. the conclusion of this presentation comes when the teacher has feedback from the group that can be useful in shaping pedagogical choices for future classes. if the group created a list of topics for further research or classroom trials, the presenter would use then the next month as an opportunity for further research. in some cases, more questions arise, or the teacher may wish to test another solution, either alone or with help from the group. 23 the process is flexible enough to permit multiple iterations of the cycle of reflective practice represented in the plc’s process. this would be followed by another discussion in the next plc meeting to share what the teacher found. this presentation was usually more informal and briefer but gives a chance for the group to extend their learning beyond the initial month. teachers who participated in the plc groups to analyze their own problem of practice were invited to attend a year-end meeting to share their work and celebrate each other’s successes. before the year-end meeting was convened, participants were asked to communicate their inquiry in a formal written summary. the document included the original problem statement and hypothesis, a description of the lesson or unit in which the hypothesis was tested, and a review of the evidence shared with the teacher’s plc. the summary also included a final “solution” statement and a reflection on what the teacher learned in the process. some of the teachers chose to also write about a “next problem” they would investigate. the process led to changes not only in the way participants taught the lesson they identified, but the changes transferred into many other aspects of the teachers’ practice. many of the teachers reported sharing the process with other teachers in their buildings and adopting the model for their school’s improvement plan. teachers’ lesson plans developed during the workshops also reflected changing ideas that suggest meaningful learning. the researchers also reviewed evidence of effective pbl implementation in plc groups and developed recommendations for pd planners: • plcs function best when teachers feel a sense of belonging and ownership of the group. • plcs are most effective when teachers lead by identifying problems of importance to them. • analysis and discussion must focus on teaching practice, not the teacher. • shared leadership leads to a sense of accountability to peers – a strong motivator. discussion the recommendations above are based on research on variations in the design of the plc groups and the structure of the pbl problems. this section includesdiscussion of some of the key lessons learned and the variations that may make pbl an effective design for teacher pd in a variety of contexts. one of the most important findings is that the plc groups can be very effective in influencing teacher practice, but the changes are more likely if the members have a sense of belonging in the group. salinas (2005) refers to this as a sense of “presence,” the feeling that the group is sharing not a physical place but a common goal. to promote the sense of presence, planners worked with each group in the summer workshop to discuss goals and guidelines for discussion. making the guidelines explicit helps members focus on teaching practice rather than talking about the teacher as the cause of a problem. for groups in which members felt like equal members, they quickly internalized the guidelines and became nearly self-facilitating. an experiment with one group suggested that teachers with experience in the plc format and with the pbl framework are capable of functioning as a group without an external facilitator. other experiments found that plcs that met in a virtual environment could be just as effective as those who met face-to-face. the virtual plc groups (mcconnell, parker, eberhardt, koehler, & lundeberg 2013) met via webcams using a videoconference application that permits screen sharing, video, audio, and conference recording. the virtual groups were created to address the challenge of convening a group when teachers cannot easily meet face-to-face because of distance or difficulties in traveling to a meeting. teachers who had a natural connection because of subjects and grades taught were located at distances that made a faceto-face meeting each month impractical. the groups, consisting mostly of teachers with prior experience in a face-to-face plc, reported the same “sense of presence” as the in-person groups. the research also suggests that giving teachers the task of selecting the focus of the plc’s inquiry is extremely important. this is a feature not of pbl, but of collaborative teacher inquiry into practice. plcs are a very popular format for in-school pd right now in the united states. but administrators have chosen their own definition of a plc to mean any group of teachers who meet for “pd.” in many cases, the focus of the group’s research and discussion is assigned by teachers who meet for “pd.” in many cases, the focus of the group’s research and discussion is assigned by a building or district administrator. a popular use of so-called “plcs” is to create groups to identify trends and problems in standardized test scores or to review a problem identified by administrators as an area of need. while groups like these are necessary in some cases, they do not give teachers a sense of autonomy or professional respect (talbert 2010). we found that groups who are mcconnell, parker & eberhardt. pbl for transformative teacher pd global journal of transformative education (2019) 1:1 24 assigned a task devote less effort to their tasks between meetings. more importantly, the changes in their practice are far more superficial and short-lived when the topics are assigned by others. in order to make lasting changes in practice, pd planners need to honor the professionalism of participants by structuring the groups in ways that let teachers turn their attention to issues, problems and topics they find important and relevant. this recommendation can inform the make-up of groups to ensure that members of a group share a common goal. this finding aligns well with the goal of democratizing education – and in this case, teacher education – that is so prevalent in the research about transformative education. another important finding is the role of peer-topeer accountability in motivating teachers to persist in their pd efforts. data supporting this finding came from surveys and interviews with participants after the yearlong program. one of the themes that emerged in these sources of data is that teachers felt it was important to complete the tasks they were assigned by the group because of the shared leadership within the plc group. the shared leadership was created by avoiding having a “group leader” who ran meetings. the facilitator served as a resource person and an aide in recording ideas. while the facilitator helped monitor time and redirect the group if discussion veered off topic, the leadership of the meetings was given to whichever teacher was sharing his or her own problem and evidence – the one referred to above as the problem’s “owner.” a recurring comment from teachers each year was they felt “accountable to the group” each month. this was identified as a factor that helped encourage completion of tasks even when they considered avoiding the work they were doing for the plc. most teachers said this was true in a month when they presented their work, but that they also felt a sense of purpose when helping their colleague analyze their videos and review student work. one teacher wrote that she felt she “would be letting my group down” if she didn’t bring resources to help others with their pbl problems. conclusions problem-based learning has been shown to be an effective structure for teacher professional development. when teachers use a systematic analytical approach to problems of pedagogy, they can more easily base their clinical decisions on evidence. pbl offers a structure that draws evidence both from research literature and from teacher-led inquiry in the classroom. both of these are powerful sources of ideas that lead to long-term learning and changes in practice. pbl, when used as described above, is adaptable to nearly any context. teachers from different countries can use the pbl framework as a structure for plcs to conduct their work. the culture of the plc, because it is led by its members, will naturally fit the school community in which it is formed, and can focus on the specific needs of that group of teachers. the plcs can address whatever problems are prevalent in their own community or school, whether it be related to effective education, meeting the social needs of a diverse and changing group of students, or create a school that is more responsive to the needs of the students and community it serves. but for the purposes of our current discussion, pbl also represents a tool that is well adapted for creating a transformative learning environment. if we want teachers to make the kind of deep changes in consciousness, they need to be empowered to make the changes where and how they find them to be most appropriate. democratizing schools often means allowing learners to take leadership roles and make important choices. teacher professional development should be viewed through the same lens – teachers are the learners. if we hope to democratize their professional learning, we must move away from the one-size-fits-all pd programs selected and designed by administrators. pbl serves as a process for turning over the control of much of the professional learning to the professionals and focus on change that will be sustainable while meeting the real needs of the community. in order to bring about a shift toward this more teacher-centered approach to teacher professional development, we suggest a need to train teachers, administrators and pd leaders in the pbl process and the structure of effective professional learning communities. with adequate training, those stakeholders will be more likely to plan time for the plcs to meet, and more capable of creating and supporting effective and reflective teacher plcs. it is our hope that problem-based learning for responsive and transformative teacher professional development will serve as a resource that pd planners around the world can use to help them design, facilitate and implement such teacher centered professional learning experiences. mcconnell, parker & eberhardt. pbl for transformative teacher pd global journal of transformative education (2019) 1:1 25 references barrows, h. s. 1980. problem-based learning: an approach to medical education. new york: springer. carnegie corporation of new york (ccny). (2001). teachers for a new era: a national initiative to improve the quality of teaching. new york: carnegie corporation of new york. council for the accreditation of educator preparation. (2013). caep accreditation standards. hord, s. m. (1997). professional learning communities: communities of continuous inquiry and improvement. washington, d.c. office of education research and improvement. hung, w., d. h. jonassen, and r. liu. (2008). problembased learning. in handbook of research on educational communications and technology, 3rd ed., eds. j. m. spector, m. d. merrill, j. van merriënboer, and m. p. driscoll, 485–506. new york: routledge. mcconnell, t. j., parker, j. m., & eberhardt, j. (2013). problem-based learning as an effective strategy for science teacher professional development. the clearing house 86(6), 216-223. mcconnell, t. j., j. m. parker, j. eberhardt, m. j. koehler, and m. a. lundeberg. (2013). virtual professional learning communities: teachers’ perceptions of virtual versus face-to-face professional development. journal of science education and technology, 22 (3), 267-277. mcconnell, t. j., parker, j. m., & eberhardt, j. (2016). problem-based learning in the life science classroom, k-12. alexandria, va: nsta press. mcconnell, t. j., parker, j. m., & eberhardt, j. (2017). problem-based learning in the earth-space science classroom, k-12. alexandria, va: nsta press. mcconnell, t. j., parker, j. m., & eberhardt, j. (2018). problem-based learning in the physical science classroom, k-12. alexandria, va: nsta press. mcconnell, t. j., parker, j. m., & eberhardt, j. (in preparation). problem-based learning for responsive and transformative teacher professional development. alexandria, va: nsta press. salinas e. 2005. effects of communication mode on social presence, and performance in collaborative virtual environments. presence 14(4):434–449. talbert, j. e. (2010). professional learning communities at the crossroads: how systems hinder or engender change. in second international handbook of educational change (pp. 555-571). springer, dordrecht. yaron, l. (2017). the five ws of quality professional development. education week teacher, may 9, 2017. zimpher, n. l. et al. (2010). transforming teacher education through clinical practice: a national strategy to prepare effective teachers. washington, d.c: national council for accreditation of teacher education. mcconnell, parker & eberhardt. pbl for transformative teacher pd 1 tom j. mcconnell (tjmcconnell@bsu.edu) is an associate professor in the dept. of biology at ball state university, muncie, indiana, usa. 2 joyce m. parker (parker@cns.msu.edu) is an assistant professor in the dept. of earth & atmospheric sciences at michigan state university, east lansing, michigan, usa. 3 jan eberhardt (eberhar3@cns.msu.edu) is an assistant director (emerita) of the division of mathematics and science education at michigan state university, east lansing, michigan, usa. authors https://www.carnegie.org/media/filer_public/ff/26/ff263cd8-5a90-4cb5-9b53-881f1a68e03a/ccny_other_2001_tneprospectus.pdf https://www.carnegie.org/media/filer_public/ff/26/ff263cd8-5a90-4cb5-9b53-881f1a68e03a/ccny_other_2001_tneprospectus.pdf http://www.edweek.org/tm/articles/2017/05/09/the-five-ws-of-quality-professional-development.html?cmp=eml-contshr-shr http://www.edweek.org/tm/articles/2017/05/09/the-five-ws-of-quality-professional-development.html?cmp=eml-contshr-shr http://caepnet.org/knowledge-center http://caepnet.org/knowledge-center http://caepnet.org/knowledge-center lozenski. global journal of transformative education (2019) 1:1, 26-37. doi 10.14434/gjte.v1i1.26142 open access published by the global insitutute of transformative education (http://www.gite.education) © lozenski. 2019 open access this journal is distributed under the terms of the creative commons attribution noncommercial nonderivative 4.0 international license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction without revision in any non-commercial medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the creative commons license, constructing a dual-subjectivity: understanding the intersection of ethnic studies and ypar brian david lozenski1 abstract this article explores the outcomes of using youth participatory action research (ypar) as an entry point into africana studies. the author draws from empirical research and anecdotal narratives to document a program where youth of african descent in the united states engage in ethnic studies through the lens of action research. beginning with a tracing of the development of ethnic studies in the united states, the author shows how combining ethnic studies and ypar builds a dual-subjectivity within youth where they are subjects of their own curricular exploration and simultaneously developing a subjectivity as researchers and knowledge producers. the article highlights three major implications of this dual-subjectivity for the political agency of youth of african descent living in a midsized u.s. city. keywords: dual-subjectivity, ethnic studies, ypar full listing of authors and contacts can be found at the end of this article. philosophers have long conceded, however, that every man has two educations: ‘that which is given to him, and the other that which he gives himself. of the two kinds the latter is by far the more desirable. indeed all that is worthy in man he must work out and conquer for himself. it is that which constitutes our real and best nourishment. what we are merely taught seldom nourishes the mind like that which we teach ourselves.’ – carter g. woodson, the mis-education of the negro with his explanatory assertion, carter g. woodson, who many recognize as the founder of the field of african american studies (grant, brown & brown, 2016), refuses to allow for the conflation of education and schooling. through a woodsonian framing, education is about cultural sustenance, survivance, and human liberation. it is a vehicle that pumps the historical lifeblood of a people to their collective hearts and minds. any educational endeavor, whether taking place inside of a school or not, must foreground the self-determining capacities of the people who constitute it and participate in its function. as an ideal, educational self-determination is conceptually sound, yet, it becomes infinitely more complex in application. this task of educational self-determination is even more fraught for communities who have been historically marginalized and dispossessed of their educational rights (espinoza & vossoughi, 2014; lozenski, 2017a). in exploring the construct of dignity in relation to education and schooling, espinoza and vossoughi argue that despite systems of schooling that have come into existence through the denial of educational rights to negatively racialized groups, communities faced with an attack on their humanity have found ways to assert their human dignity through manifestations of self-education. for instance, the authors explore how despite anti-literacy legislation and state-sanctioned violence (williams, 2005), enslaved africans in the united states found ways to teach themselves to write their own humanity into existence for others to know through the genre of (en)slave(d)1 narratives. 1 i use the term “(en)slave(d)” rather than “slave” to assert that african people were never slaves in an ontological sense. the shift in terminology focuses on the action of the enslavement rather than constructing the people who were acted upon as less than human. lozenski, constructing a dual-subjectivity 27 cradled—sometimes buried—within these bodies of information (narratives) are brief, luminous first-person accounts of intellectual activity in the shadow of sanction, vigorous endeavors to learn that were suppressed, and fertile brushes with the acquisition of knowledge that, on occasion, resulted in harrowing forms of punishment. these reports are the remnants of learning—evidence of its cultivation, proof of its liquidation, and enduring witness regarding what participation in educational endeavors meant to the people involved (espinoza & vossoughi, 2014, p. 287). although no longer legally denied access to formal education, the african american descendants of these enslaved african authors continue to face forms of educational dispossession. the state has traded in its anti-literacy laws for a compulsory form of education designed to adhere the descendants of enslaved africans to its settler colonial logics based in white supremacy through a eurocentric curricular standard. while “multicultural education” is a common buzzword in contemporary k-12 education systems in the u.s., a myriad of scholars (casey, 2010; royal & gibson, 2017; spring, 2016) have documented how classrooms remain centered on the subjectivity of those who have been socially constructed as “white”. often, implementations of “multicultural education” continue to place all other communities of color in relation to the white settler subject. thus, african american history often begins with enslavement, native american history begins with european contact, etc. ethnic studies as a discipline constituted by subfields (e.g. africana studies, chicanx studies) seeks to decenter the non-ethnic white subject2 from the educational imagination. by constructing educational space and curriculum around the subjectivity of historically constructed ethnic groups, youth are able to come to understandings of themselves and their communities on their own terms, and not as background actors in a human history of those who have come to be called “white”. this article explores an instance of the praxis of ethnic studies with youth of african descent in a midsized city in the midwestern united states. the article describes an approach to ethnic studies that further seeks to build on the subjectivity of youth of african descent by positioning them not only as learners, but as researchers and community documentarians (kinloch, 2010; stovall & delgado, 2009). the youth described in this article worked to grapple with their own lived experiences by historicizing themselves (lozenski, 2017b) within an intellectual tradition, and by becoming producers of knowledge using participatory action research (cammarota & fine, 2008; caraballo, lozenski, lyiscott, & morrell, 2017). the article outlines the context and curriculum of a program called the uhuru youth scholars (lozenski, 2017b), and demonstrates outcomes of the intersection of ethnic studies and youth participatory action research (ypar). i argue this intersection constructs a dual-subjectivity where youth of african descent are simultaneously subjects of their own curricular explorations and of their own research practices. i suggest this dual-subjectivity constructs an agentive identity for engaging with ethnic studies. tracing the development of ethnic studies in the united states it is hard to know where to begin when trying to define the contours of ethnic studies as an academic field in the united states. here i am exploring ethnic studies as an umbrella term for multiple sub-fields that explore the histories and cultural practices of peoples, foregrounding ethnic heritage as the emphasis of study. ethnic studies are interdisciplinary and although they are typically focused on the social sciences and humanities, they can be applied to the fine arts, and natural sciences (cuauhtin, zavala, sleeter, & au, 2019). there has been plenty of recent scholarship about the application and role of ethnic studies in k-12 schools (de los ríos, lópez, & morrell, 2015; sleeter, 2011; tintiangco-cubales et al, 2015), and we know that ethnic studies in these institutions has had to be fought for in political battles and even court cases, such as the recent trials in the state of arizona3 (zehr, 2010; palos, 2011). in its current manifestation, ethnic studies stands as a direct challenge to the historical project of global journal of transformative education (2019) 1:1 2 i use the phrase “non-ethnic white” to underscore the notion that “white” does not refer to a specific ethnic heritage; rather, multiple ethnic groups, typically of european origin have become “white” in the united states (painter, 2010). there are myriad instances of european ethnic groups in the us creating educational environments around their own ethnic subjectivity. for instance, there is a long history of bilingual german, polish, and finnish schools (iyengar, 2014); hebrew schools; and irish/catholic parochial schools. 3 in 2010 the state legislature of arizona passed house bill 2281, effectively banning ethnic studies courses throughout the state. the bill targeted popular chicanx/latinx studies courses being taught in tucson, az. the bill was overturned in 2018 because it was found to have been “motivated by racial animus”. lozenski, constructing a dual-subjectivity 28 global journal of transformative education (2019) 1:1 u.s. schooling, which has been designed to culturally castrate youth of color, and inculcate their thinking with eurocentric ideation, and rationalizations for race, gender, and class hierarchy in order to subsume the potential for social unrest. as woodson asserted, “if you can control a man’s thinking you do not have to worry about his action” (woodson, 1990, p. 60). so it is no wonder why state-mandated education does not want ethnic studies to become a prevalent feature in its schools. conceptually, ethnic studies is bigger than schooling, and school has never been the primary location for this work. ethnic studies, perhaps, suffers from its own nomenclature. the difficulty in framing the field stems from the fact that ethnic studies has always been here. all peoples have found ways to educate generations and socialize them into a worldview that centers their own historical subjectivity. as simpson (2017) describes in as we have always done, referring to nishnaabeg tribal knowledge systems, “these stories relied upon a return to self-determination and change from within rather than recognition from the outside” (p. 22). in this way, even the idea that people should be contextualized in these “ethnic” categorizations can be problematic. however, in a vulgar attempt to trace the modern manifestation of the field in the united states, i look to african americans, who were at the forefront of broad-based movements to reaffirm their subjectivity through education. the descendants of enslaved africans in the u.s. have always had a precarious relationship to state-mandated, state-administered schooling, and thus, have been forced to deconstruct and reconstruct what notions of education mean. in the aftermath of legalized slavery and its adherence to educational dispossession through white terror and de jure anti-literacy laws, african americans fought intently for access to print literacy by any means. williams (2005) documents the attempts of the formerly enslaved to build schools, reading collectives, intergenerational knowledge sharing communities, and even militarized educational spaces. the desire for print literacy, that had been denied to so many, was palpable. an early connection made along with print literacy was the importance of the content of texts. for many, religious motivations to read the bible drove desires for literacy. yet, leaders like martin delaney and david walker argued that literacy should primarily be used to know the histories of african people. in other words, print literacy was only a tool for reclaiming educational subjectivity. literacy was not education in and of itself. these ideas continued to build as public schooling in the u.s. was developed. early proponents of educational self-determination in public education were people like anna julia cooper and w.e.b. dubois, who argued that black youth should not only be taught classical european history, which was the central focus of elite education in u.s. schools. still, much of the focus on the education of black youth was about print literacy, rote memorization, and vocational skills. ironically, this approach was not much different than what occurred for working class white communities as public education was still being formed to indoctrinate ethnically diverse european immigrants into a culturally homogenous “american” ideal, which included the notion of becoming “white” (painter, 2010; spring, 2016). yet, for people of color who had little to no access to whiteness, this technical approach to education was part of the process of cultural erasure, and relegation to the bottom of the social strata. it was not until the liberatory transnationalist movement led by marcus garvey (blaisdell, 2012; chapman, 2004) that educational subjectivity gained more traction within black communities. garvey’s organization, the universal negro improvement association , argued in its “declaration of rights” that the education of black people should center their history and fundamental humanity: “we demand that instructions given negro children in schools include the subject of ‘negro history’ to their benefit” (vincent, 1977, p. 261-265). absent the black nationalist fervor of garvey and the universal negro improvement association4, carter g. woodson was developing curriculum and a network for the dissemination of african american history across the country to black educators through his organization, the association for the study of negro life and history (grant, brown & brown, 2016). building his theory of “mis-education”, woodson argued that traditional education models were rendering “educated” black people useless to the liberation of their communities. in his classic text, the mis-education of the negro, woodson wrote, “from literature the african was excluded altogether. he was not supposed to have expressed any thought worth knowing. the philosophy in the african proverbs and in the rich folklore of that continent was ignored to give preference to that developed on the distant shores of the mediterranean (p. 18). 4 the universal negro improvement association (unia) came to prominence in the 1920s and was one of the largest pan-african, black nationalist organizations in history, spanning several countries in north america, south america, and the caribbean. lozenski, constructing a dual-subjectivity 29 like garvey, woodson’s hope was that black youth, largely, would become the subjects of their own educational thinking and learning. yet, this conception of education, which has come to be the core of africana studies, did not gain mainstream appeal. with the passing of the brown v. board of education supreme court decision5, a lackluster process of racial desegregation began, where black youth were slowly phased into formerly all white schools, often facing violent resistance and hostility. black teachers were fired en mass, further reducing the chances that black youth would be at the center of their own educational endeavors (bell, 2004; siddle walker, 2009). it was not until the movements on desegregated college campuses for ethnic studies departments toward the end of the civil rights movement, that these desires for subjectivity became popular again (kelley, 2016). campuses like san francisco state, berkeley, cornell6, and the university of minnesota, among numerous others, saw massive protests and occupations demanding africana studies, chicano studies, asian american studies, and indigenous studies departments. combined with postcolonial nationalist movements and calls for third world solidarity (olesen, 2004), a global movement to displace colonial rule paralleled a movement for decolonial education. on college campuses today, it is not unusual to see ethnic studies programs, concentrations, majors, departments, and even some academic centers. in the 1970s a number of community-based and independent schools (rickford, 2016) began, which focused on specific communities of color. freedom schools and political organizations like the black panthers and nation of islam modeled african-centered education (perlstein, 2011). still, as mentioned earlier, ethnic studies has not gained traction in the state-sanctioned elementary and secondary classrooms in across the us, despite perpetually growing numbers of youth of color in us schools (sleeter, 2011). a community context for ethnic studies community-based educational spaces have attempted to mitigate the resistance to ethnic studies in traditional schools. it is common to find community-based organizations that provide ethnic studies programming across communities. the context for this article comes from one such organization called the network for the development of children of african descent (ndcad) (lozenski & ford, 2014). ndcad is located three blocks from one of the city’s main thoroughfares, yet it is unassuming as it sits tucked away from heavily trafficked areas. upon entering the organization, visitors are immediately drawn to the shelves of books on the left and the couches on the right. african art adorns the walls, and most people seeing ndcad for the first time spend several minutes silently walking and looking at the art and posters filled with information about the global histories of peoples of african descent. in the main corridor, past the couches, is a meeting area with chairs seated around large tables pushed together. beyond the large main room is a hallway connected to smaller rooms. the family resource room, which is reminiscent of a combined living and dining room with a fireplace, sofas, and large china cabinet, is filled with african ceramics made by susan martin, the assistant director of ndcad. large portraits of influential elders in the local african american community sit directly over the dining table, giving the room a homey feel, as though pictures of relatives were hanging on the wall. down the hallway, around a corner, sits the sankofa reading room, with a small table, childsize chairs, and books with a rainbow of black faces on the covers. there is also the elder kwame mcdonald7 memorial library, which has several bookcases filled with the personal library of the distinguished activist, writer, and elder who left his accumulated lifetime collection to ndcad, after his passing in 2011. the collection contains volumes of rare materials from the past half-century, such as originals of local black newspapers, journals, and magazines collected during the civil rights era. ndcad itself is the manifestation of a community vision developed from a series of community conversations in the mid-1990s called “cultural beginnings.” the idea of cultural beginnings was to engage in a systematic inquiry of the assets that local people and communities of african descent could draw from to promote global journal of transformative education (2019) 1:1 5 the brown v. board of education of topeka kansas was a supreme court decision in 1954 making racial segregation in us schools illegal. the decision spurred a wave of policies outlawing racial segregation in all public accommodations. 6 in 1969 the willard straight hall takeover by african american students at cornell university was the impetus for the development of the first ever africana studies and research center. the protest gained notoriety as the first armed building takeover when students procured weapons after being attacked by a white fraternity. 7 elder kwame mcdonald was a local educator and journalist, influential in founding ndcad. lozenski, constructing a dual-subjectivity 30 social change. this asset-based framework of collective inquiry was already a departure from the deficit-based approaches that have become predictable in attempts to “fix” black communities, absent of any discussion of structural white supremacy. ndcad’s vision and mission statements are displayed prominently at the entrance of the organization. our vision we envision a place where the african spirit is nurtured and renewed we envision a place where african people come together to learn of and from ourselves we envision a place where we come to learn from our elders and our children we envision a place where we affirm our global family we envision a place where we take care of family business our mission we exist to strengthen the cultural connections within communities of african descent that promote, sustain, and enhance the healthy development of our children. ndcad uses several programmatic strategies to achieve this vision and mission within its community. among these strategies is the sankofa reading program, which is an 8-week reading intervention for children in grades k–8 that uses a sociocultural approach to learning connecting literacy with african identity. parent power is 4to 8-week series of workshops that recognizes that parents have the ultimate power to help their children become lifelong independent readers. parent power helps parents mobilize this power to work with their children to build literacy skills and become literacy advocates for their children when working with educators. through its think different, do different affiliate network, ndcad facilitates professional development for educators, helping teachers, youth workers, administrators, and others gain a deeper understanding of how culture is implicit in how children learn. the uhuru youth scholars program is the fourth programmatic strategy developed by ndcad. the uhuru youth scholars caraballo et al. (2017) describe youth participatory action research (ypar) in their comprehensive review as: a critical research methodology that carries specific epistemological commitments toward reframing who is “allowed” to conduct and disseminate education research with/about youth in actionable ways. its origins in critical pedagogy inform its role as a pedagogical approach based on a conception of teaching and learning through collaborative and transformative inquiry (p. 313). situated in critical theory, ypar positions youth as researchers and documentarians of their own lived contexts. caraballo et al suggest that there are four major entry points for youth into this work including, academic learning and literacy, youth development and leadership, youth organizing and civic engagement, and cultural and critical epistemologies. the uhuru youth scholars (uhuru) program emerges from the last of these entry points. uhuru was imagined, designed, and implemented by a collective of high school youth, parents, faculty from a local university, and staff from ndcad. uhuru is a year-long course where high schoolaged youth gain high school and college credit through an ethnic studies course. the hybrid course combines exploration of classical and contemporary africana studies with research methods in ypar. uhuru holds steadfast to its goals of positioning youth as researchers who use historical constructions of african thought to make sense of contemporary issues related to their lives. the constant features of uhuru are an initial scaffolding of critical educational theory connected to their schooling experiences, practice in traditional qualitative research methods, and exposure to community educators and elders (lozenski, 2017b). for instance, uhuru youth read excerpts from critical texts like pedagogy of the oppressed (freire, 1970), the mis-education of the negro (woodson, 1990), and the souls of black folk (dubois, 1986). they explore the educational lives of the youth from a macro level and ask them to interpret the purpose, curricular breadth (or lack thereof), teaching techniques, and learning outcomes of their time in school. this is often the first time these youth have had the opportunity to openly discuss the “why’s” and “how’s” of school. they make connections between disparate pedagogies. they describe specific teachers as culturally relevant, and specific types of pedagogy as global journal of transformative education (2019) 1:1 lozenski, constructing a dual-subjectivity 31 “banking” (freire, 1970). this allows the educators to situate the pedagogical philosophy of uhuru in “problem-posing” and collective inquiry (freire, 1970). uhuru’s work is metacognitive and transparent. the youth are informed by the political goals of black liberation and use african american scholars to construct themselves alongside black intellectual traditions, situating research as a form of literacy. another staple of the uhuru youth scholars program is to spend time connecting african knowledge systems to african language systems. pedagogically, language provides a unique avenue to make tangible connections between diasporic and continental african peoples. using the writings of raciolinguists like smith (1998) and smitherman and smitherman-donaldson (1986), the youth explore how language contains something like the dna of a people and can be helpful in tracing movement and transformation over time. typically, the short stint with african language systems is one of the more eye-opening periods for the youth researchers who have usually been told since they were of school age that their and their families’ black linguistic codes were deficient and “broken.” the youth often return with stories of how they showed the readings to their parents and grandparents who would respond with reserved interest, or their english teachers who would skeptically look at the readings and then commence with their narrow curriculum. as uhuru youth connect the pieces of their deep dive into the construction of their own belief systems, the educators help them organize their thinking by exploring how african knowledge systems are defined by interconnectedness rather than distinct disciplines of thought (lozenski & ford, 2014). through this framing black language is connected to spirituality, which is connected with aesthetics, which is connected with science and math, which is connected to photography, which is connected to history, and so on. as the youth circle a research topic, they develop what is known as an “issue tree”. the issue tree is made up of leaves (research questions about issues/ topics that interest the youth), branches (categories connecting each of the leaves by topic), limbs (underlying structures that connect multiple categories), and finally the trunk and roots (final research questions that explore the most pertinent limbs and go “below the surface”). not only is the tree a way to help excavate the underlying ideas that connect many of our interests, it is a teaching tool that helps them learn how to design researchable questions, provoke dialogue that requires depth of thought, and acts as a visual for presentations of the research design process. at this point the work of uhuru becomes largely unique from cohort to cohort as their research questions dictate their modes of inquiry, methods of data generation, and action-oriented activities. in the remainder of this article i highlight three important implications for pedagogy in ethnic studies work when mediated by ypar. a critical research methodology i have studied uhuru for several years as a participant ethnographer (madison, 2005), facilitator, and co-researcher with the youth in the program. each of these positions impacts my understandings of the pedagogical and methodological implications in nuanced ways, as does my social location and racial construction as an african american, cisgender, man. yet, as i explored in previous writing specifically focusing on methodology (lozenski, 2016), it is impossible for me to disaggregate these positionalities into distinct identities. i have described my role as being engaged in an “irreversible methodology”, which i liken to an irreversible chemical reaction, such as baking a cake. when baking a cake, the constituent parts (e.g. flour, eggs, sugar, milk) cannot be retrieved once the chemical reaction takes place. in similar ways, being an ethnographer, an educator, and a co-researcher cannot be easily disjoined. i explored how my research was impacted by my teaching, which was impacted by my collaborative relationship with the youth in uhuru. methodologically, i situate my work amidst previous critical ethnographers engaged with youth in par (morrell, 2004; kinloch,2010). drawing from this critical research tradition, i see my role as both critical pedagogue and critical researcher as an attempt to enact what kincheloe, mclaren, and steinberg (2011) have referred to as “bricolage”. kincheloe (2008) writes, “appreciating research as a power-driven act, the critical researcher-as-bricoleur abandons the quest for some naïve concept of realism, focusing instead on the clarification of his or her position in the web of reality and the social locations of other researchers and how they shape the production and interpretation of knowledge” (p. 131). bricolage refers to the hyper-awareness of social location amidst a field of power such that researchers are forced to imagine new ways of making interdisciplinary meaning about their social world. my theorization of my own “irreversible methodology” is an attempt to describe the complexity of educating and being educated within a context of inquiry. more global journal of transformative education (2019) 1:1 lozenski, constructing a dual-subjectivity 32 importantly, the uhuru youth, as described below, enacted this conceptualization of research more proficiently because they were unbounded by years of disciplinary limitations. the findings explored in this article come from both empirical and anecdotal evidence. uhuru has been in existence since 2012, and i completed an empirical study of the 2012-13 academic year. i then co-facilitated the program until 2017. some of my empirical findings have become more nuanced in the subsequent years of teaching and co-researching with uhuru youth. the methods that inform these findings are both formal and informal. my ethnographic study of the 2012-13 cohort consisted of six high school seniors of african descent (ages 17-20), including youth who had recently immigrated to the us from liberia, african american youth, and youth who identified as having mixed ethnic and racial heritage. all of the youth who participated in uhuru agreed to take part in the ethnography as research participants. empirically, i conducted multiple semi-structured interviews with participants, video-recorded class sessions, took ethnographic field notes, and collected cultural documents such as data from the youths’ research (lozenski, 2014; 2016; 2017b). these data consisted of the youths’ metacognitive research journals, semi-structured interviews and focus groups they conducted with community members, iterative concept maps of their findings, and video recordings of the youth disseminating their research in multiple forums. analytically, i engaged in mediated discourse analysis (lozenski, 2014) of the uhuru program, including iterative qualitative coding (strauss & corbin, 1998). informally, i have engaged in discussions with individuals and groups about their experience, analyzed video resulting from their community-based research, video-recorded disseminations of their research at local and national academic conferences, video-recorded artistic performances based on their research, and collected cultural documents from their work together (lozenski, 2016). the findings here come from years of contemplating this work from multiple perspectives and positions. the entirety of the uhuru program, including its implementation, operation, and the research described in this analysis are embedded in critical theory, which is inherently attuned to the flows of power. uhuru was constructed out of a space of resistance to the dominant educational power structures. this analysis assumes these asymmetrical power dynamics are always in place and seeks to serve as a disruptive force, refusing notions of objectivity and neutrality that uphold the status quo of educational research. findings black youth in the united states embody particular explanatory forms of contradiction. they stand as testaments of survivance—sheer and utter determination of generations to simply resist erasure. they inhabit a liminal space between rhetoric and practice, enslavement and emancipation, and colonial subjectivity and citizenship. their construction as youth situates them uniquely within their communities as well. they experience the world differently, inhabit underground spaces, and fight to maintain some semblance of innocence, though that often dissipates early in their lives. the precarious positionality of black youth situates them powerfully as community researchers and documentarians (payne, starks, & gibson, 2009; stovall & delgado, 2009). understanding this positionality has important implications for enacting critical forms of research, developing curriculum, and rethinking teaching practices and the functions of schooling. positioning black youth as community researchers builds a deweyan (dewey, 2011, 2013; kurth-schai, 2014) sense of educative meaning, and “psychologizes the curriculum” of their lived environment. in our current historical moment of videotaped police brutality and murder, the reification of colonial curricula in schools (calderon, 2014), mass media demonization of black youth, and the continuance of mass incarceration, positioning black youth as community documentarians is a radical act. yet, this is precisely the goal of the uhuru. through their use of ypar, i saw how uhuru’s constructions as both black and youth produced important researcher dispositions such as skepticism, cultural hybridity (gonzalez, 2005), and historicity. although dewey was, at best, passive and, at worst, complicit (fallace, 2015) with regard to racism and structural white supremacy in the united states, the youth in my study inadvertently buttressed his treatment of democracy as an ongoing practice, which is constantly threatened by the status quo. kurth-schai (2014) writes, “for dewey, democracy, as a radical process of living in dynamic relationship, is always vulnerable. among democracy’s greatest threats is complacency—an unreflective passivity that renders processes of communal decision-making and civic action irrelevant and ineffective” (p. 428). this re-envisioning of democratic practice that moves away from an adherence to state-governmentality, realized only global journal of transformative education (2019) 1:1 lozenski, constructing a dual-subjectivity 33 through participation in electoral politics and voting, prioritizes the agency of community-based processes of self-governance and active citizenship. in this framing, citizenship is less about membership to a nation-state and more about local efforts to draw from community cultural wealth (yosso, 2005) to impact the lived realities of families and close-knit communities. drawing on this notion of “democracy as a radical process of living”, black youth are situated as researchers in three important ways: 1. the precarious nature of citizenship for black youth provides a healthy skepticism of ubiquitous claims of the united states being an egalitarian, democratic society. the distance between rhetoric and reality can push black youth toward a deweyan construction of radical lived democracy. 2. due to the constant threat of state-enacted and state-sanctioned violence against black youth, often through schooling, they are more apt to resist the complacency that dewey suggests is a constant threat to lived democratic practice. thus, these youth should be positioned as holders of particularly insightful capacities (e.g. oppositional consciousness) (sandoval, 2000) for action-oriented research. 3. critical participatory action research with youth provides the conditions for radical democracy to be practiced and allows curriculum to be “psychologized”, or have intrinsic meaning within the lived experiences of youth. enacting democratic praxis typically, democratic participation in the us is narrowly conceived around electoral politics. voting stands as the epitome of what it means to be a participatory democratic citizen. historically, the right to vote has been denied to most subgroups in the united states at one time, including women, people who did not own property, people of color, felons, the disabled, and youth. today in most states, people convicted of a felony still face some form of disenfranchisement, even if they have served their sentence (fortin, 2018). youth under eighteen have always been disenfranchised, limiting their capacity to practice the perceived mechanisms of democratic practice. black youth are particularly vulnerable as pseudo citizens because they experience the historical accumulation of civic discrimination, and do not have access to the levers of power that many tell them are the only legitimate way to change their circumstance. as vaught (2017) writes, “children have no vested rights. they do not own property. they are not enfranchised. attached to white propertied guardians, youth are private citizens-in-the-making or citizens-in-waiting. if they are not, they are a threat… they are foremost a threat to the exclusivity and authority of… the state” (p. 113). faced with this limited notion of democratic practice, all youth, and particularly black youth must conceive of democracy in alternative ways. they must either completely depend on the adults in their life to be their vicarious democratic conduits, or they need to find ways to assemble this practice using the means available to them. in this way, similar to the methodological bricolage (kincheloe, mclaren, steinberg, 2011) described above, these youth become bricoleurs of democracy, thus enacting this deweyan approach. across each of the uhuru cohorts, they have found creative and critical ways of engaging in an active democratic process to influence the political contexts that impact their lives. this is due to a combination of the developing political agency that attracts youth to a program like uhuru, and the pedagogy mediated by ypar and its active approach to influencing the social worlds of the youth. from this perspective, the political realm need not be reduced to electoral politics. elected officials are not the only policymakers in the lives of these youth. often, uhuru youth are impacted by more intimate policies happening at the school level, or by contact with local law enforcement. for instance, uhuru youth in the 2015-16 cohort engaged in research exploring the role of “school resource officers” (sros) in their high school. sros are police officers designated to public schools based on a contract between the police department and the school district (boarini, 2017). the youth surveyed their peers about contact with sros, engaged in a discourse analysis of district policy regarding the presence and role of sros, presented their findings at school board meetings, and engaged in protest around the presence of sros, and the disproportionate contact they have with students of color in the district. uhuru’s interest in this issue came after one of their classmates was assaulted by an sro, which came on the heels of several similar incidents. interestingly, the youth organized themselves outside of the context of uhuru, but used many of the methodologies they adopted through the program to inform their activism. they recognized that in order to challenge the power structure of the district that they would need to employ global journal of transformative education (2019) 1:1 lozenski, constructing a dual-subjectivity 34 multiple methods beyond the franchise. understanding the practices of these youth as democratic broadens how we conceive of democracy in action. once youth see themselves as political agents, the methodological bricolage of democratic practice opens up to them, only being limited by their imagination. the praxis of ethnic studies in understanding state-violence the 2014-15 cohort of the uhuru youth scholars consisted of twelve high school youth from across st. paul. this particular year of uhuru was rife with emotion and frustration as the non-indictments of police in the slayings of michael brown (ferguson, missouri) and eric garner (staten island, new york) seemed to pile on top of each other each week. much of our early class time was spent giving the youth space to vent, yell, question, and voice desires for what justice could look like. our role as pedagogues was to help our youth develop the practice of historicity (lozenski, 2017b), by exploring how these seemingly modern instances of injustice were cyclical manifestations of white supremacy. we examined past accounts of police injustice and asked the youth to draw parallels between the relationship between police and black communities over time. we examined the role that research could play in documenting police brutality (eisen, 2014) and how, as researchers, we could develop a skill set to more effectively mobilize the resistance that was palpable in our community. some uhuru youth scholars became part of outside organized efforts to protest and resist through participation in the minnesota contingent of #blacklivesmatter and the local national association for the advancement of colored people’s (naacp) efforts to bring awareness to disparities in the criminal justice system. we were careful to make distinctions, however, between our roles as researchers and our participation in direct action, which allowed us to explore the multifaceted aspects of historical social movements that required the intellectual renderings of historical moments combined with the willingness to place bodies on the line in the face of oppression. martin luther king’s letter from a birmingham jail (1963/1992), enabled us to engage with dualism between thought and action, exploring how they constitute each other. still, our work was not only about being immersed in the current events of our time, although they provided us with usable evidence that we had much to learn and do as scholars and activists. thus we took a step back and began to explore media accounts of how current events were being covered using critical media studies (morrell, duenas, garcia, lopez, 2013). we investigated language, bias, media production, consumption, and ownership, asking “who benefits from this coverage and who suffers?” simultaneously, we explored methods of qualitative and mixed-methods data generation such as field observations, semi-structured interviewing, survey development, and photography. youth saw the process of research from multiple angles and perspectives, generating and deconstructing data simultaneously. they were exploring their own purposes for conducting research while contemplating why other researchers and journalists were not being transparent about their relationship to the issue. they were questioning why what they were observing was being defended as “objective” while they could see obvious bias in the study. all the while they were immersed in classical african epistemologies (martin, 2008; mcdougal, 2014), which stood in stark contrast to the ways in which they were used to thinking about social inquiry. the resulting framework of their own research illuminated how all of these elements came together to provide a powerful lens through which to begin their own inquiry. ypar as bricolage an undertheorized aspect of youth research is creativity and improvisation in the research process. like other collectives of youth researchers, the uhuru scholars were unafraid to explore alternative methods of data generation. for instance, one uhuru cohort was interested in researching perceptions of beauty among black youth. they hypothesized that black youths’ understandings of beauty were tied to anti-black marketing and exposure to demands for hyper-consumption from the beauty industry. on a larger level, they were also attempting to historicize their work within the context of european colonization and the psychological impacts of domination on black communities. after doing interviews at a local beauty salon, the team found out that a group of people got together each week to watch the popular tv show empire at the salon. the group called up members of a different cohort exploring media conditioning to join them for the gathering to interview attendees. after the show finished members of each team held an impromptu focus group with everyone in the salon, which they video recorded, to get their perspectives about how media impacted the ways in which they saw the world and also defined beauty. global journal of transformative education (2019) 1:1 lozenski, constructing a dual-subjectivity 35 whether it was due to the youths’ boldness, intuition, or naiveté, they generated some of the most rich, insightful data of their project. the focus group allowed for generative discussions about data analysis, coding, and alternative methods of collective meaning making. at the same time, it allowed us to discuss more abstract ideas like research ethics and the responsibility of collecting sacred stories from our community that we may not want to share with everyone. the notion of collecting sacred stories became an idea that the uhuru scholars continued to develop and presented at a national conference over the summer. it is experiences like these that give substance to the uhuru youth scholars program. the combination of the structured and the unscripted, the jazz-like flow of a solid foundation infused with improvisation provided a rhythmic heartbeat to our work, which allowed them to live out their heritage. conclusion as educators, researchers, and activists continue to demand ethnic studies in k-12 contexts, it becomes more imperative to be vigilant about how ethnic studies are implemented. just as important as the existence of spaces for the exploration of the ethnicized subject are the curricular, instructional, and monetary structures that constitute its capacity. in this article, i used a particular context for africana studies to illustrate how the capacity of black youth to engage in this work requires our expansive methodological and spatial imaginations. the intersection of ypar and ethnic studies positions youth to be subjects of their own analysis at the curricular level, and it positions them to be subjects of their own instructional practice at the research level. this dual subjectivity has important implications with regard to how the uhuru youth were able to understand the work of africana studies. ethnic studies are larger than the container of school. they require contexts that are not about technical approaches to teaching and learning. understanding the ethnic studies student-as-bricoleur enables educators to see that youth in these contexts are working to cobble together their freedom through self-determination. through this framing, the purpose of ethnic studies becomes entirely different. as kelley (2016) describes, referring to institutions of higher education. black studies was conceived not just outside the university but in opposition to a eurocentric university culture with ties to corporate and military power. having emerged from mass revolt, insurgent black studies scholars developed institutional models based in, but largely independent of, the academy. in later decades, these institutions were—with varying degrees of eagerness—incorporated into the university proper in response to pressure to embrace multiculturalism (p. 157). if we are true to the inception of these educational spaces, as kelley describes, then their purpose cannot purely be academic, or for some credential. rather, we should understand ethnic studies spaces as preparation for, and an attempt to engage in liberatory praxis. thus, kelley argues, we cannot separate our activist and intellectual capacities. ethnic studies is activism. the two cannot be disaggregated. as explored in the examples from the uhuru youth scholars program, if we see africana studies as an active space for liberation of the ethnicized subject, then there needs to be a concomitant pedagogy. ypar holds this capacity. ypar, as a pedagogical and methodological practice, provides the necessary fluidity for both the intellectual and action-based entities needed to engage in this work. i am not arguing that ethnic studies cannot be conceived of absent ypar. i am suggesting that the merging of the two creates a dynamic environment where the reciprocation of their ideals live in tact. ethnic studies cannot simply be taught using disconnected, technical, and mainstream methods in similar ways that ypar cannot take up issues absent of critical theory. the uhuru youth scholars demonstrate that liberatory democratic praxis needs a diverse theoretical and methodological environment. kincheloe (2008) writes, “the bricolage exists out of respect for the complexity of the lived world…. the task of the bricoleur is to attack this multicultural complexity, uncovering both the visible and invisible artifacts of multiple forms of power, and documenting the nature of its influence on not only their own but on scholarship and knowledge production in general” (p. 131-132). the ethnic subject is within this bricolage. the ethnic studies student must become bricoleur to describe the complexity of this experience in order to know the ethnicized 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(1998). basics of qualitative research: techniques and procedures for developing grounded theory. thousand oaks, ca: sage publications, inc. tintiangco-cubales, a., kohli, r., sacramento, j., henning, n., agarwal-rangnath, r., & sleeter, c. (2015). toward an ethnic studies pedagogy: implications for k-12 schools from the research. the urban review, 47(1), 104-125. vaught, s. e. (2017). compulsory: education and the dispossession of youth in a prison school. minneapolis, mn: university of minnesota press. vincent, t. g. (1977). black power and the garveyism movement. berkeley: ram walker, v. s. (2009). second-class integration: a historical perspective for a contemporary agenda. harvard educational review, 79(2), 269-284. williams, h. (2005). self-taught: african american education in slavery and freedom. chapel hill, nc: university of north carolina press. woodson, c. (1990). the mis-education of the negro. trenton, nj: africa world press. yosso, t. j. (2005). whose culture has capital? a critical race theory discussion of community cultural wealth. race ethnicity and education, 8(1), 69-91. zehr, m. a. (2010). tucson students aren’t deterred by ethnicstudies controversy. education week, 30(4), 1-16. 1 brian david lozenski (blozensk@macalester.edu) is an assistant professor of urban and multicultural education at macalester college, st. paul, minnesota, usa. author ndemanu, m. t., & coronel-molina, s. m. global journal of transformative education (2022) vol 3 doi 10.14434/gjte.v3i1.34349 open access published by the global insitutute of transformative education (http://www.gite.education) © ndemanu & coronel-molina. 2022. open access this journal is distributed under the terms of the creative commons attribution noncommercial nonderivative 4.0 international license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction without revision in any non-commercial medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the creative commons license, transformative education: from theory to practice michael t. ndemanu1 and serafín coronel-molina2 editors-in-chief, global journal of transformative education full listing of authors and contacts can be found at the end of this article. according to the transformative learning theory developed by jack mezirow (1991), connecting theory with practice is vital because transformative learning occurs during the connection process. a theory can be defined as a set of assumptions or hypotheses about a reality. in other words, it is a mental map representing the world (granick, 2005; knapper, 2000). meanwhile practice can be defined as something that one does. theory can inform practice because it provides a rationale for a decision or action to be taken. it is often modified based on the outcome of practice. theory, therefore, should inform practice and vice versa. it is within this theory to practice framework that articles for this issue were framed. for this volume, out of several manuscripts submitted, three were found to meet the standards and rigors of transformative education ideals as enunciated on our website, www.gite.education and were closely aligned with the current theme. the articles focus on diverse topics ranging from creative storytelling as a transformative education strategy, transformative syllabus development approaches to translanguaging in the k-12 classroom. the contributions are relevant to scholars, educators, practitioners, educational policymakers, graduate students, and grassroots organizations interested in transformative education across the globe. the first article, titled the little red hen and a corona giant: creative story-telling as a transformative strategy in an early childhood classroom, is authored by zhulamanova & raisor. these authors find storytelling to be instrumental not just in communication, but also as a way for kindergarteners to display a great depth of comprehension. the study details the use of a creative storytelling strategy implemented in an early childhood classroom which was interrupted by the covid-19 pandemic. the end result is a two-phase study which concluded with pre-kindergarten aged children using storytelling to discuss and display their perceptions of coronavirus in an academic setting. in the article on translanguaging, gentry, the author, shares the findings of a research on translanguaging, translating, and interpreting in k-12 classrooms. the second article is literary review of translanguaging, translating, and interpreting in education, by gentry. the author defines translanguaging as the act of using the two languages strategically to maximize communication during the learning process. it is used as an interactive tool among those who are not yet proficient in the dominant language. translanguaging is fast becoming a universal practice in k-12 school districts with high immigrant population in spite of the perennially lingering english-only policies. the need for translated documents and the importance of hiring interpreters to sustain translanguaging practice is emphasized in this article. in the third article, transformative syllabus design: maximizing learning outcomes in higher education, ndemanu discusses the contours of developing a 21st century course syllabus that empowers students in the learning process to become critical thinkers, problem-solvers, innovators, and collaborators. the author draws from transformative learning theory to provide detailed information on the characteristics of a syllabus, its universal components, interpreting course code, uses of a syllabus, accessibility, and backward design. he also draws from bloom’s taxonomy to offer a pragmatic guide to syllabus creation with concrete examples on how instructors can employ a backward design approach for syllabus development to effectively create a syllabus of a course they have never taught before. the author concludes by reiterating that the overarching emphasis of teaching with a syllabus is to promote ndemanu & coronel-molina vol 3 intro: theory to practice page 2 higher-order thinking and deeper learning in higher education because a syllabus that promotes such practices and knowledge transfer maximizes learning outcomes. this issue encompasses two book reviews of recent high-impact texts on transformative education. the first text is: caralyn zehnder, cynthia alby, karynne kleine, julia metzker. (2021). learning that matters: a field guide to course design for transformative education. in this text reviewed by zhaoyi zhang, the authors argue that in today’s 21st century, the traditional way of teaching has mostly given way to transformative education in which teachers should not only impart knowledge, but also facilitate the acquisition of skills by students (david, 2016). educators in transformative education play the role of helping students to understand and acknowledge “the dynamics between their inner and outer worlds” (boyd & myers, 1988, p.261). this book provides guidance to teachers in the higher education system to help them design courses that can create meaningful learning experiences for students and actively engage them in social issues. the second book is: osei-kofi, n., boovy, b., & furman, k. (eds.). (2022). transformative approaches to social justice education: equity and access in the college classroom. it was reviewed by michelle a. medved. the book documents the difference, power, and discrimination program at oregon state university which has been enlightening undergraduate students on social justice education for 30 years. born out of student advocacy and the faculty that supports them, the program is an established collection of diversity education courses and faculty training seminars. the program has survived budget cuts, critics, and other challenges throughout its 30 years. transformative approaches to social justice education describes the methods of the program pragmatically and unflinchingly so readers of the book can apply them to their classrooms. acknowledgments the global journal of transformative education (gjte) is a singular publication venue since its main objective is to share educational research and research-based practices on transformative education from local and global perspectives. despite the great amount of time and effort we have invested in the conceptualization, development, implementation, production, and publication of this third volume, we could not have done all this by ourselves. the publication of this volume is the result of the hard work and dedication of many people. first of all, our profound gratitude goes to the global institute for transformative education (gite) and its founding members for their sustained sponsorship to make this volume happen. we are deeply thankful to tom j. mcconnell, who provided us with invaluable assistance in his role as managing editor, taking care of the daily operations of gjte. we are also grateful to our colleagues who serve on the editorial board, as well as to institutions, friends, colleagues, and social media networks from around the world for their help in publicizing the gjte website and facebook page widely. we would also like to thank all the contributors to this second volume for choosing gjte to publish their work. many thanks to iuscholarworks for hosting gjte’s website. without the generous assistance and contribution of all these great people and institutions, gjte would never have become a reality. we are equally grateful to our colleagues worldwide who spent significant number of hours reviewing the papers. we thank them for their time and diligence in the review process. we also owe an immense debt of gratitude to fred bay for his continuous generous donations to gite for transformative education conferences, which have been the springboard of gjte. references bell, d. v.j. (2016). twenty-first century education: transformative education for sustainability and responsible citizenship. journal of teacher education for sustainability, 18(1), 48-56. robert d. boyd & j. gordon myers. (1988). transformativeeducation. international journal of lifelong education, 7(4), 261-284. granick, j. (2005). a deeper look at theory and practice. international association of sufism. knapper, c. k. (2000). lifelong learning in higher education (3rd ed.). london: kagan page. mezirow, j. (1991). transformative dimensions of adult learning. jossey-bass. authors1 michael t. ndemanu (mtndemanu@bsu.edu) is an associate professor of education in the department of educational studies at ball state university, muncie, indiana, usa. 2 serafín m. coronel-molina (scoronel@indiana.edu) is an associate professor in the department of curriculum and instruction at indiana university, bloomington, indiana, usa. authors global journal of transformative education (2022) vol 3 https://ias.org/departments/sufipsychology/spf-articles/a-deeper-look-at-theory-and-practice/ nwagu, e. n. global journal of transformative education (2020) vol 2 doi 10.14434/gjte.v1i2.27424 open access published by the global insitutute of transformative education (http://www.gite.education) © nwagu, 2020. open access this journal is distributed under the terms of the creative commons attribution noncommercial nonderivative 4.0 international license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction without revision in any non-commercial medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the creative commons license, transformative learning potentials of trainee health workers in nsukka, enugu state, nigeria evelyn n. nwagu abstract this study investigated transformative learning and the influence of learning experiences and demographic characteristics of the learners on transformative learning of trainee health workers in nsukka, enugu state, nigeria. descriptive survey design was used for the study. the instrument for data collection was a fixedchoice and open-ended questionnaire. frequencies and anova were computed. thematic content analyses for open-ended questions were done. participants indicated a high degree of transformative learning. programme type, gender, age and level of study had no significant influence on the transformative learning potentials of the students. the most frequently selected learning components were field trips and presentations. students’ responses to the open-ended questions covered themes such as better understanding of health, illness and health care. the study demonstrated the importance of discussion and debate in developing critical reflection among learners. keywords: transformative learning, critical reflection, change, health workers, health, illness, health care. full listing of authors and contacts can be found at the end of this article. introduction worldwide, the transformation and scaling up of health workers’ education and training are important issues of concern. a large proportion of health workers in nigeria and other sub-saharan african countries are trained in post-secondary health institutions and they form the major health workforce in health facilities in many communities in nigeria. while training institutions for health workers in developed nations of the world are undergoing reforms to increase the competencies of health workers trained in such institutions (stubbs, 2015; world bank, 2018), there is a scarcity of information and research about health workers training in sub-saharan africa, particularly nigeria. albeit, there is a need for all health professionals and health workers in all countries to be educated to mobilise knowledge, engage in critical reasoning, and practice ethical conduct so that they are competent to participate in patient and population-centred health systems as members of locally responsive and globally connected teams (frenk, chen, bhutta, cohen, crisp, evans, …zurayk, 2010). the training of health workers should, therefore, give rise to personal and social transformation which is one of the united nations educational, scientific, and cultural organization’s (unesco) five pillars of learning for sustainable development: learning to transform oneself and society (unesco, 2010). literature review transformation is an internal fundamental change in one’s beliefs for action (palinkas, 2013). it is quite different from mere change in behavior. while change uses external influences to modify actions, transformation modifies beliefs so actions become natural and thereby achieve the desired result. change amends the past while transformation creates the future. change and transformation could result from the learners’ experiences. experiential learning has been described as the type of education whereby knowledge and meaning are contextualized in actual experiences (perry, 2011). 61 health workers. communicative learning is born out of a need to understand others and make it easier for interlocutors to understand each other by navigating language, values, beliefs, and feelings (cranton& roy, 2003; mezirow, 1997). the learners, their teachers and the clients within such institutions have diverse values, beliefs, feelings and even languages. interacting with each other in these institutions could bring about reflective reasoning that can trigger transformative learning. experiential learning theory (elt) provides direction as to how we can develop the type of action-oriented experience that is likely to induce transformation. experiential learning involves concrete experience, reflective observation, abstract conceptualization, and active experimentation. concrete experience refers to an actual interaction a learner will have with the environment or a particular learning event. reflective observation provides learners the opportunity to reflect on their experiences from different perspectives. it propels the learners into the abstract conceptualization stage, where the learners integrate their reflections from their experiences into new concepts about their learning experience and make deductions about their experiences. the final stage is active experimentation where the learner takes their newly learned concepts and deductions from the abstract conceptualization phase and applies them in new learning settings. through touching all of these bases, knowledge is constructed and learning achieved (kolb & kolb, 2005). experiential learning associated with health worker training programmes can make a considerable impact on a student’s ability to understand globally complex problems (kiely, 2004). montrose (2002) explains that there is little understanding among providers and administrators of what exactly constitutes experiential learning and how it can be applied to improve programme structure. transformative learning for health workers in communities in lowand middleincome countries (lmic) has the potential of bridging the gap in the formal health services and communities (black et al.; who, 2016). the disparity in the health of individuals living in lmic particularly rural communities raises questions as to beliefs and practices relating to health, illness and the quality of health care in such communities. health workers training programmes have been accused of not producing competent professionals who are able to adequately positively impact the health of the people for whom they care. this lack of competence is largely a result of fragmented, outdated, and static curricula nwagu, learning potentials of trainee health workers meeting new and challenging experiences could lead to the uncomfortable situation described by mezirow (1991) and could lead to a learning outcome. mezirow stated that only through reflection, active learning, and placing ones selves in uncomfortable situations are individuals able to develop their understanding of the world and of themselves, allowing a potential change to their perspectives and frames of reference. strange & gibson (2017) noted that by applying the basis of experiential learning to the potential outcomes of transformative learning, it may be possible to further direct educational programming for the better. experiential and transformative learning are associated with the desired goals of health workers training programmes. it is apt to use them both as frameworks to assess the transformative learning potentials of trainee health workers. experiential learning can, thus, provide guidance in designing health worker training programmes such that they will include activities that are “more hands on.” transformative learning theory (tlt) focuses on the processes involved in changing an individu-al’s frames of reference (stange & gibson, 2017). the transformative learning theory was propounded by jack mezirow in 1978. mezirow asserted that adults make meaning of their experiences and that the specific social structures within which the experience takes place enable adult learners to read meaning into their experiences. where such meanings are found to be dys-functional they change their meaning of them (cranton, 2006; mezirow, 1991; taylor, 2007). the process of evaluating meaning structures starts with instrumental learning, passes through communicative learning and then transformative learning (mezirow, 1998, 2003). these three domains though distinct are interrelat-ed (mezirow, 1981) and they occur through critical reflection and rational discourse (moyer & sinclair, 2016). instrumental learning occurs when the learner manipulates and controls the environment, predicts observable physical and social events, and takes appro-priate actions (cranton & roy, 2003). the environment in training institution for health workers is a source of instrumental learning. students admitted into such institutions are capable of manipulating the environment to an extent that can bring about transformative learning. students can search out information from the internet, interact with other students, get themselves involve in discussions and debates and also interact with clients during the training programme. hence this study explored whether or not transformative learning occur in health workers in institutions of training for global journal of transformative education (2020) vol 2 nwagu, learning potentials of trainee health workers 62 global journal of transformative education (2020) vol 2 (frenk et al, 2010). there is a need for a serious shift in the mindsets of health workers for meaningful and sustainable change to occur (agyepong et al., 2017). this calls for a re-examination of the health care workers’ educational programme, to ensure that the curricula of health workers are able to provide the needed transformation that will help health workers assume and develop their personal, professional, and social roles. results from such studies are essential in planning effective training methodologies and materials to improve the efficacy of knowledge-sharing of health personnel (mbuya, menon, habicht, pelto, & ruel, 2013; mccalman, jongen, & bainbridge, 2017). health workers in training are adults and upon graduation, their health care job is often with adults. adult learning involves critical thinking and reflection on what is already known in order to change and adopt a new way of doing things (gibby, 2013). sharing of knowledge that will produce positive result requires that health workers should believe and be convinced of the right values and practices. there is a need for health workers to drop unhealthy values and socio-cultural norms that do not allow them to actively participate in effective and health-promoting practices. hence there is also a need for the training programme of health workers to give them adequate opportunity to reflect on their previous knowledge, values and practices with a view of transforming them positively. such transformative learning according to renigere (2014) will stimulate trainee health workers to learn to think independently in order to dispose of the knowledge that has at times been acquired as a result of life experience without ever thinking or asking questions. this study, therefore, examined how the students’ learning experiences have influenced their transformative learning. transformative learning is a possible outcome of instrumental and communicative learning when modification of premises, assumptions, and deep meaning structures result in a transformation of action and behaviour (cranton, 2006). therefore, presenting appropriate learning experiences to trainee health workers that will enable them to reflect on any value and meaning they may have had prior to the training may bring about transformative learning in health workers. transformative learning encompasses a life-enhancing change (mezirow, 2003). when learners experience transformative learning, they often become more inclusive, distinguishing, open, reflective and emotionally able to change, ultimately showing higher connectedness to the global environment (mezirow, 2003). educators engaged in teaching health workers should be able to identify ways of promoting students’ ability to find purpose and meaning from their experiences through a variety of learning components (bidabadi, isfahani, rouhollahi, & khalili, 2016). if health workers should develop their personal, professional and social roles, they need to develop their reasoning ability. such reasoning hopefully will give them the opportunity to better understand the lives of other people. for instance, being able to identify the emotional states of their clients and putting themselves in other’s shoes. these will help them to understand others’ beliefs, feelings, experiences and intentions. thus, they become able to think about things from others points of view (lieberman, 2007). nigeria, like many other countries in sub-saharan africa, faces infectious diseases, malnutrition, child and maternal mortality, emerging challenges from an increasing prevalence of chronic conditions, mental health disorders, injuries, and health problems related to climate change and environmental degradation (agyepong, et al., 2017). life expectancy and public health indicators remain low in nigeria compared to that of other middle-income countries in other parts of the world. there is need to find a viable and lasting solution to bridge this gap in health status between individuals of diverse socio-economic statuses in many communities in nigeria. many studies on health care services have looked at the type of services provided by health workers in low-resource communities and only a few have looked at the preparation of health workers for such service (o’rourke, howard-grabman, & seoane, 1998; laughlin, 2004; matare, et al., 2015; lamstein, et al, 2014). if efforts are made in the right directions, nigeria has the potential to improve the health status of its population if the nation will make effective use of its available human resources (adeloye et al., 2017). there is a need for health workers to have a change of approach in the way they view certain things and the way they act. health workers in most rural health facilities and in urban slums in nigeria comprise: community health extension workers (chew), junior community health extension workers (jchew), nurses, midwives and lab technologists. the world health organization (who) (2016) advocated that training of health workers should adopt an approach that is people-centred and inspired by progress and adapted to the country’s specific needs. the basic training of these cadres of health nwagu, learning potentials of trainee health workers 63 global journal of transformative education (2020) vol 2 workers is largely done at post-secondary training institutions, many of which are hospital based. the contributions of community health workers (chws) are globally recognized as capable of closing the gap between formal health services and communities (black et al., 2017; who, 2016). community health workers are among the who global strategy for human resources (maher & cometto, 2016) and they are considered an integral component to reach impact and equity goals (lewin et al., 2010). nurses and midwives have been identified to be actively involved in both hospital and community health practices (adib-hajbaghery, 2013). the basic laboratory services provided by laboratory technicians are very crucial for improving the potential of the primary health centres (phc) as centres providing primary health care. inadequate training of lab technicians has been blamed for the poor laboratory service in phc (george, 2011). the question then arises; are the training programmes in the various institutions of training of these cadres of health care workers capable of producing transformative learning among students trained in these training institutions? purpose of the study the purpose of the study was to investigate the transformative learning potentials of different cadres of trainee health personnel in nsukka, enugu state, nigeria. specifically, this study examined the influence of experiential learning and the influence demographic characteristics of participants on transformative learning outcomes. research questions 1. does transformative learning occur in trainee health workers in institutions of training of health workers? 2. how have learning experiences influenced transformative learning among students? 3. how do the demographic characteristics of age, gender, programme type and level of study influence the transformative learning of trainee health workers? methods design the descriptive survey design was used to measure the degree of transformative learning by trainee health workers. the questionnaire was used to elicit demographic information from the students, their transformative learning as well as the experiential components of their programmes. the primary analysis tools were frequencies, means, standard deviation, percentages, anova, and thematic content analyses of open-ended questions. data collection ethical approval for the study was granted by bishop shanahan hospital ethical review board. data were collected from students in four training institutions for health workers in the area of study. the researcher made contact with the principal of each school to obtain permission for the study. informed consents were obtained from the participants. the questionnaire was distributed and collected on the spot to avoid omission. participants the study population consisted of all trainee health workers in health training institutions in nsukka. the total size of the population was 647 students (students’ class registers for 2017 academic session). a sample of 245 students was drawn from the five health workers’ training institutions in nsukka using the stratified random sampling technique. the stratification was done based on gender, age, level of education and course of study. a random sample proportionate to a stratum’s size was taken from each stratum. the demographic characteristics of the respondents are shown in table 1. table 1. demographic characteristics of respondents variables frequency valid % gender male 18 7.3 female 227 92.7 total 245 100 level of education year 1 102 41.6 year 2 78 31.8 year 3 65 26.5 total 245 100 age in years less than 20 64 26.3 21-30 164 67.5 31-40 15 6.2 total 243 100 course of study nursing 19 7.8 midwifery 30 12.2 jchew 52 21.2 chew 72 29.4 lab technology 72 29.4 total 245 100 64nwagu, learning potentials of trainee health workers instrument the instrument used in this study consisted of a fixed-choice and open-ended response format questionnaire. the questionnaire contained three sections. section one was used to collect the respondents’ demographic information. section two consist of twelve items on transformative learning adapted from strange and gibson (2017) test of transformative learning as shown in table 2. in order to assess whether transformative learning has occurred, brock (2010) noted that it is important to question the learners about any change which they may have experienced in their beliefs or values. the response options for items in this section were dichotomous (yes = 1 or no = 0). section three measured program information and experien-tial learning (see table 3). the open-ended questions addressed the students’ transformative learning experiences and their experiential learning. the open-ended questions consist of the following questions: 1) during your study in this school did you experience a situation that changed your beliefs or values about patient care? please explain. 2) do you think your study in this institution changed your expectations of health care in life? please explain. 3) what was the most important thing you learned about health, illness and health care? 4) what did you learn about yourself? please explain. 5) in what ways do you feel the program impacted your life? please explain. 6) how long is your programme? 6) do you feel that the length of your program is adequate to meet your goals? please explain. 7) did the components in your program impact your learning? how? 8) are there any program components that were excluded that you feel would have been beneficial? the reliability of the instrument was established by pre-testing the instrument on 20 trainee health workers in enugu east senatorial zone who share the same characteristics with the population but are not part of the study. section two of the instrument yielded a relatively high cronbach’s alpha of α = .80. two instructors from each school served as research assistants. copies of the questionnaire were distributed to trainee health workers in the selected health training schools and the completed copies of the questionnaire were collected on the spot. data analysis data were analyzed using ibm spss (statistical package for the social sciences version 21.0). frequencies and percentages were generated for all the variables. homogeneity of variance was verified using the global journal of transformative education (2020) vol 2 levene’s test of homogeneity of variance. the significance of the levene’s test suggested equal variance for the four variables; gender, level of education, age, and course of study (see table 4). anova was therefore used to analyze differences in transformative learning experiences on all the four variables. items not responded to by some respondents were treated as missing data and were excluded from the analysis. thus, some analyses were conducted with smaller sample sizes open-ended questions. the open-ended responses were analyzed to provide an in-depth evaluation of the students’ experiences and transformative learning while in their training programme. thematic analyses of the responses were done. the responses were transferred into a word file and printed out. the printout responses were reviewed and coded to identify initial categories. the open-ended questions were used as a framework for categorizing codes related to each research question. the initial set of codes were expanded and refined to better reflect the common elements that existed across the full data set. patton (2002) asserted that this iterative style of analysis is a recognized characteristic of the qualitative research method. patterns were identified inductively by analyzing codes associated with research questions. further coding refinement occurred when all the codes associated with a particular open-ended question were examined for convergence. the qualitative content analysis was then used to identify themes across the codes. examination of the response patterns across the data sets ultimately led to the emergence and identi-fication of themes. the data for transformative learning (research question one) and experiential learning (research question two) were organized as separate data sets. response patterns were used to complement qualitative data on each research question. results the responses of the students to the transformative learning questions are contained in table 2. “i had an experience that caused me to question my ideas about health and illness behavior and health care received the highest positive responses,” 94.7% participants responded yes. students’ responses to the open-ended questions covered the following themes; better understanding of health, illness and health care; values and beliefs about patients’ health care and patient’s right; and expectations of healthcare roles. changes occur nwagu, learning potentials of trainee health workers 65 with respect to understanding health, illness and health care. some students (18 %) expressed that they now realize that health and illness is a continuum and as such health status is not static. a better understanding of disease causation and treatment were also expressed by 47 % of the students. thirty nine students (16 %) simply answered ‘yes’ to the question, “during your study in this school did you experience a situation that changed your beliefs or values about patient care?” but did not provide any explanation while seven students (3 %) of the students simply answered ‘no’ to the question without any explanation. myths about disease causation and treatment were dropped in 18 % of the students, for instance a second-year jchew student stated “before i came into the school, i use to think that stroke can only be caused by evil people not knowing that sickness like high blood pressure can cause it.” thirty-six percent of the students reported that changes occurred in their values and beliefs about patients’ health care and patient’s rights. for instance, global journal of transformative education (2020) vol 2 one student midwife said “i realized that drugs weren’t all that the patients needed most times but tender loving care.” with respect to patients’ rights, a third-year nursing student has this to say “initially i felt patients have no choice than to abide by the nurses’ opinion always but i have come to know that patients also have rights too.” again, a chew student stated “…i was thinking that a patient that is under your care should follow all your commands but it is not so.” changes in expectation of healthcare roles were reported by twelve percent of the students. one student midwife said “i think i expected so much from providers (health providers) but now i realize that they are just humans capable of doing what they can at a time.” the second research question asks how learning experiences influenced transformative learning among students. table 3 provides the data on the learning components that the students experienced in their programmes. table 2. students’ responses to transformative learning questions yes no f % f % while in this training, i have had an experience that 209 86.7 32 13.3 caused me to question the way i normally act. i had an experience that caused me to question my 232 94.7 13 5.3 ideas about health and illness behavior and health care. as i questioned my ideas, i realized i still agreed with 108 44.4 135 55.6 my previous beliefs or role expectations. as i questioned my ideas, i realized i no longer 130 53.7 112 46.3 agreed with my beliefs or role expectations. i realized that other students also questioned 204 84.0 39 16.0 their beliefs. i thought about acting in a different way from my 185 75.4 54 22.6 usual beliefs and roles. i felt uncomfortable with traditional social 175 72.0 68 28.0 expectations. i tried out new roles so that i would become more 217 88.9 27 11.1 comfortable or confident in them. i tried to figure out a way to adopt these new 217 88.6 28 11.4 ways of acting. i gathered the information i needed to adopt these 216 88.5 28 11.5 new ways of acting. i began to think about reactions and feedback 205 84.4 38 15.6 from my new behavior. i took action and adopted these new ways of acting. 200 82.4 43 17.6 nwagu, learning potentials of trainee health workers 66 global journal of transformative education (2020) vol 2 table 3. learning components experienced by students s/n learning component f % a. essays 164 66.9 b. formal quizzes 112 45.7 c. field quizzes 65 26.5 d. mutiple choice 126 51.4 e. short answer exams 72 29.4 f. essay exams 163 66.5 g. open-book exams 29 11.8 h. debates 69 28.2 i. group projects 157 64.1 j. student led discussions 202 82.4 k. field lectures 105 42.9 l. field trips 58 23.7 m. presentations 200 81.6 n. others (specify) 14 5 the students were asked to tick from a list of learning components the ones they experienced during their training programme. the component that received the highest identification was the student-led class discussion (82.4%), followed by the presentation (81.6%) and experiments (71%). only fewer than half of the students identified the open book exams (11.8%), field trips (23.7%), short answer tests (29.4%), debates (28.2%), field lectures (42.9%) and formal quizzes (45.7%) as learning components in their programme. fourteen students specified other components such as demonstrations, and ward/clinical postings. the students were also asked to comment on how the components available to their programmes impacted their learning. their responses to this question fall under the following themes: boldness in communication, increase in understanding, acquisition of practical skills. about half of the students (48%) commented that student-led discussions, presentations and practical experiences in the health centres impacted them the most. one final year nursing student stated “presentations have made me bold and confident to speak out.” a first-year community health extension worker has this to say “group discussion improve student ability … and make you remember all that the lecturer has taught.” a second-year junior community health extension worker believed field trip impacted her the most. she said “i learnt how to conduct delivery and give injections in my field trip.” a second-year male student lab technician said “they (presentations and student-led discussions) enabled me to conquer stage fright.” one midwifery student had a contrary view, she said “i don’t really like group things, discussions and presentations, but i discover that group discussions help to cover more (referring to class work).” in order to expand on the experiential aspects, students were also asked, “are there any program components that were excluded that you feel would have been beneficial?” ten students made suggestions that include: use of social media for students’ interaction on the topics taught, inclusion of debates to sharpen understanding, and on-the-job supervisions to enhance skill acquisition. there were no significant influence of gender, level of study, age and course of study on transformative learning at .05 level of significance (table 4). discussion the result of this study showed that transformative learning does occur in health professionals’ study programme (research question one). items one (while in this training, i have had an experience that caused me to question the way i normally act. 86.7%) and two (i had an experience that caused me to question my ideas about health and illness behavior and health care. 94.7%) were experienced by majority of trainee health workers. hence their training programmes were able to engender critical reflections in the students that made them aware of their wrong assumptions and beliefs about health and illness thereby producing what mezirow (1991) defined as perspective transformation. mezirow (1991) identified 10 phases of perspective transformation beginning with a “disorienting dilemma” and culminating in “a reintegration into one’s life on the basis of conditions directed by one’s new perspective”. eighty-two point four percent of the students in this study actually took actions and adopted new ways of acting. students’ responses to open-ended questions showed that much of the changes occurred in their understanding of the causation and treatment of diseases. students acquired new knowledge which made them drop myths and fallacies about disease causation and treatment. belief systems were also transformed. many of the students also expressed a change in their expectation of healthcare roles. this finding is consistent with results of similar studies among health workers that have shown different degrees of transformation among health workers with appropriate learning/teaching methods (altobelli, 2017; renigere, 2014). it is however important to note that true transformation takes place only when learners are able to actively take steps that acknowledge their new belief (mezirow, 1997). the study period of three years nwagu, learning potentials of trainee health workers 67 global journal of transformative education (2020) vol 2 may therefore not be enough for transformation to take place. worthy of note is the fact that some students have no evidence of having actually experienced a transformation of their worldview and habits. although the idea of transformation as a major, fundamental change, as opposed to minor, marginal, or incremental change, is widely agreed upon in both research and policy (kapoor 2007; o’brien, 2012), there is little consensus regarding the features that make change in human–environment systems “transformational,” and different from “non-transformational” shifts. in fact, as some have noted (berkhout 2013; issc and unesco, 2013; mustelin & handmer 2013), the wider conceptual bases of transformation, notions of its forms, and processes have been the subject of debate. a logical question for trainee health workers educators therefore should be, “what can i do to bring a student into the realm of transformation?” redefining the experience can make the educators to start thinking of starting the process of change and ramping it up to transformation. the greater the difference between what came before and what took its place, the closer the individual move toward transformation (burrus, 2017). moving from change to transformation may come from a simple question such as: “how can i offer my students the ability to do what they would want to do if only they knew it was possible?” in other words, rather than merely changing or even improving something, what utterly new service would health workers provide if they were aware of it and what it could do for their clients and the health system? rather than looking to change something burrus (2017), advocated that individuals should aim for transformation from the onset. it is, however, worrisome that health care workers’ training programmes are capable of producing transformation yet the quality of care rendered by practicing health care workers in nigeria has been described by many as very deplorable (ephraim-emmanuel, adigwe, oyeghe, &ogaji 2018). the reason for this may be found in the assertion made by mosadeghrad (2014) that factors such as the patient cooperation; leadership and table 4. the influence of the demographic characteristics of gender, level of study, age and course of study on transformative learning (anova) group statistics levene’s test anova variables n mean sd p f p gender .309 male 18 9.67 1.46 female 227 9.40 1.90 variance between groups .337 .562 level of study .341 first year 103 9.45 1.90 second year 78 9.38 2.05 third year 65 9.42 1.60 variance between groups .028 .972 age in years .907 less than 20 64 9.60 2.13 21 30 164 9.38 1.75 31 and above 15 9.33 1.88 40 and above 2 8.50 .71 variance between groups .330 .719 course of study .301 nursing 19 9.21 1.69 midwifery 30 9.73 1.39 jchew 52 9.57 2.42 chew 72 9.15 1.79 lab technology 72 9.50 1.70 variance between groups .762 .551 nwagu, learning potentials of trainee health workers 68 global journal of transformative education (2020) vol 2 management styles in health facilities; collaboration; available referral system; job satisfaction of the health care providers are also necessary for improved quality of health care. addressing the training programmes of health workers alone may not produce the needed result, but rather engaging in a comprehensive restructuring of health system as a whole to improve the health care delivery. practices such as, discriminatory behaviour and attitudes toward patients with certain forms of diseases by health workers (reis et al., 2005) should stop. the findings of this study have shown that trainee health workers learning experiences had influenced transformative learning in different ways (research question two). learning experiences such as student-led discussions, presentations and practical experiences influenced students the most leading to boldness in presenting their owns view and increases in understanding and acquisition of skills. white and nitkin (2014) observed that for transformative learning to occur, learners need to be actively engaged with experiential learning. therefore, using appropriate learning components such as student-led discussions and presentations in teaching such contents as food habits, cultural beliefs and practices, stigmatization and discrimination and other local conditions that have negatively influenced the health of individuals and communities in nigeria (ojua, ishor, &ndom, 2013; olalekan, akintunde, & olatunji, 2014) in teaching trainee health workers is capable of resulting in transformative learning. the trainee health workers will themselves become positively transform and will also be able to guide others to become equally transformed. there were no significant influences of gender, level of study, age and course of study on transformative learning. while some previous studies found significant association between some demographic characteristics and transformative learning, some did not find such associations. for instance, kumi-yeboah (2014) in a similar study found that there were no significant association between gender, age group and programme of study and transformative learning experiences. strange and gibson (2017) also found that there was no statistical difference among program type and the summated transformative learning score. brock, florescu, and teran (2012) however found only age and ethnicity to be the demographic variables to have significant relationship with transformative learning among class standing, semesters completed, age, prior education, gender, and ethnicity. future studies re-examining the influence of age, gender, programme type and level of study on transformative learning of trainee health workers is therefore necessary. the present study however shows that all health workers irrespective of profession, gender, age or level of study are capable of transformative learning. in order to expand on the experiential aspects the researcher also asked “are there any program components that were excluded that you feel would have been beneficial?” ten students made suggestions including: use of social media for students’ interaction on the topics taught, inclusion of debates to sharpen understanding, and on-the-job supervision to enhance skill acquisition. the students’ request for the use of social media as an instructional component to enable interaction on the topics to which they were exposed in the programme is not surprising. extending the instructional component to information technology is an innovation that has great promise of success even in the training programme of health workers. agyepong, et al. (2017) noted that information and communications technologies and social media have been and will continue to be important enablers of africa’s transformation. frenk et al. (2010) also noted that good professional education programmes mobilise all learning channels to their full potential noting that in many professional schools, students with handheld information technology devices are able to double-check in real time the accuracy of a lecturer’s presentation. conclusion this study has shown that transformative learning does occur in trainee health workers in institutions of training. the trainee health workers learning experiences have also been shown to influence their transformative learning in diverse ways. age, gender, programme type and level of study of trainee health workers had no significant influence on their transformative learning. therefore, needed reforms in health workers services can be achieved through appropriate learning experiences tailored to enhance critical reflection and necessary adjustment in the needed areas of their services. discussions and debates on issues pertaining to health should be encouraged in the training programme of health workers. professional educators are key players since they are the ones that will initiate and guide the students through the desired change. the training and education of health workers should focus less on memorising and transmitting facts and more on nwagu, learning potentials of trainee health workers 69 the promotion of the reasoning and communication skills that will enable the health worker to be an effective partner, facilitator, adviser, and advocate (frenk et al., 2010). however, future studies reexamining the influence of age, gender, programme type and level of study on transformative learning of trainee health workers is suggested. also, other factors such as patient cooperation; leadership and management styles in health facilities; collaboration; available referral system; job satisfaction of the health care providers should be investigated since these have be identified as capable of impacting the quality of health care (mosadeghrad, 2014). references adeloye, d., david, r. a., olaogun, a. a., auta, a., adesokan, a., gadanya, m., ... iseolorunkanmi, a.(2017). health workforce and governance: the crisis in nigeria. human resources for health, 15(32). adib-hajbaghery, m. 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(unpublished doctoral dissertation). university of canterbury, new zealand. evelyn n. nwagu (evelyn.nwagu@unn.edu.ng) is a senior lecturer in the department of human kinetics & health education at the university of nigeria nsukka, nsukka, enugu state, nigeria. author reis, c., heisler, m., amowitz, l. l., moreland, r. s., mafeni, j. o., anyamele, c., &iacopino, v. (2005). discriminatory attitudes and practices by health workers toward patients with hiv/aids in nigeria. plos medicine, 2(8). doi.org/10.1371/journal. pmed.0020246. renigere, r. (2014). transformative learning in the discipline of nursing. american journal of educational research, 2, 1207–1210. strange, h., & gibson, h. j. (2017). an investigation of experiential and transformative learning in study abroad programs. frontiers: the interdisciplinary journal of study abroad, 29(1), 85–100. stubbs, e. 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(2016). global strategy on human resources for health: workforce 2030. geneva, switzerland: world health organization. https://www.sv.uio.no/iss/english/research/news-and-events/events/conferences-and-seminars/transformations/proceedings-transformation-in-a-changing-climate_interactive.pdf https://www.sv.uio.no/iss/english/research/news-and-events/events/conferences-and-seminars/transformations/proceedings-transformation-in-a-changing-climate_interactive.pdf https://www.sv.uio.no/iss/english/research/news-and-events/events/conferences-and-seminars/transformations/proceedings-transformation-in-a-changing-climate_interactive.pdf http://irmbrjournal.com/papers/1367572222.pdf http://irmbrjournal.com/papers/1367572222.pdf http://irmbrjournal.com/papers/1367572222.pdf https://www.cioinsight.com/it-management/expert-voices/the-difference-between-change-and-transformation https://www.cioinsight.com/it-management/expert-voices/the-difference-between-change-and-transformation http://www.civitas.org.uk/pdf/trainingournhshealthworkers.pdf http://www.civitas.org.uk/pdf/trainingournhshealthworkers.pdf http://www.unesco.org/education/tlsf/docs/module_4.doc http://www.unesco.org/education/tlsf/docs/module_4.doc http://www.unesco.org/education/tlsf/docs/module_4.doc http://projects.worldbank.org/p131825/vn-health-professional-education-training-project?lang=en http://projects.worldbank.org/p131825/vn-health-professional-education-training-project?lang=en abstract inspired by the un charter on the rights of the child, educational policy makers in africa are requesting schools to implement democratic practices in the classroom. this study attempts to shed light on the effects of classroom democratic practices on cognitive and non-cognitive learning outcomes using cross-sectional data about student performance and indicators of classroom democracy from francophone african countries. to simultaneously account for the cause and effect of democratic practices on learning achievements and the nested nature of the data, use is made of the error components-two stage least squares estimator. the results confirm the endogenous nature of learning outcomes and indicate that teachers and parents are the most important stakeholders in the process of having children internalize democracy in the classroom. it is recommended that teachers develop skills to assign and supervise pupils’ work in small groups in the classroom. education stakeholders should take measures to preserve and promote indigenous cultural values because they facilitate learning achievements. keywords: classroom democracy, educational outcomes njong, a. m. global journal of transformative education (2020) vol 2 doi 10.14434/gjte.v2i1.31205 open access published by the global insitutute of transformative education (http://www.gite.education) © njong, a. m.,. 2020. open access this journal is distributed under the terms of the creative commons attribution noncommercial nonderivative 4.0 international license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction without revision in any non-commercial medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the creative commons license, classroom democracy and learning outcomes in primary schools in francophone africa aloysius mom njong full listing of authors and contacts can be found at the end of this article. introduction francophone africans are familiar with classrooms where the teacher is the principal actor with all attention focused on them. francophone africa includes countries where french is the official language even if not all residents speak french, a result of the influence of historical french colonization. like in many other countries, teachers transmit textbook knowledge to pupils who are encouraged to memorise the course material, perhaps only to reproduce it on demand, usually to pass an examination. in such traditional and authoritarian schools, textbooks and teachers are the main sources of knowledge, and children are hardly encouraged to participate. there is a growing awareness that such teacher-centred and text-book centred instructional approaches produce future passive citizens who fall short of critical thinking, decision-making and socialisation skills (barron & darling-hammond, 2008; nagaraju, madhavaiah, & peter, 2013). given this awareness and inspired by the un charter on the rights of the child, educational policy makers in africa are requesting the enhancement of democracy in the classroom which is more likely to promote children’s social, moral and academic development (un general assembly, 1989). despite this policy directive, very little attention has been paid to the practice of democratic principles in the classroom and the delivery of education in a transformative manner. perhaps research in this area has been hampered by the lack of readily available data, and difficulties in quantifying social education variables (borghans, duckworth, heckman, & ter weel, 2008). the traditional education production function has centred on conventional schooling input-output variables perhaps because these are more easily measurable. non-conventional inputs such as democratic practices have been neglected. as part of classroom democratic practices, i agree with serpell & marfo (2014), bodrova & leong (2007), and mucherah & mbogori (2019) who argue that learning outcomes are influenced by the cultural values and norms of the local setting where children go to school. african countries have cultural values which are specific and diverse and often different from those in developed countries. yet few attempts are made to explicitly 47 njong, classroom democracy and learning outcomes factor in african cultural values in the education production processes. thus, in this study an attempt is made to consider some aspect of african cultural identity as a special dimension of classroom democracy in the modelling, and to show how it contributes to the motivation of children’s educational achievements in francophone africa. in addition to issues of data availability, the focus of the study on francophone african countries is to capture the hangovers of french colonialism on the school curriculum of these countries. there may be some aspects of french colonialism and post-colonialism that interact with other factors to shape schooling realities in postcolonial francophone african countries. as concerns learning outcomes, focus in the literature has been on literacy and numeracy test scores (glewwe & jacoby, 1994; glewwe, 2002; glewwe & kremer, 2006; wamalwa & burns, 2018). non-cognitive outcomes have not been given the attention they deserve, perhaps because they are difficult to measure. the classroom should not only aim to produce individuals who can read and write, but must go beyond to prepare active, sociable, culturally viable and well-behaved citizens of the country. another motivation for this study is at the methodological level. from the foregoing, it is apparent that schooling produces several learning outcomes, such as formal cognitive skills and behavioural skills. these educational outcomes are jointly determined in the learning process and any single equation modelling may not capture the entire picture of interrelationships in the educational process. therefore, i attempt to take into account the simultaneity and interdependence between learning outcomes and inputs, leading to a more realistic formulation of the schooling production function. another important methodological issue is related to the nested nature of the data. ignoring clustering in analysing hierarchically structured data will underestimate standard errors due to the decrease in the effective sample size for explanatory variables defined at the cluster level (baltagi, 2011). it is against this backdrop that this study seeks to establish the causal relationships between democracy in the classroom and learning outcomes in primary schools in francophone african countries. specifically, the study attempts to: i. analyse democratic practices in schools as an approach to classroom management in francophone african countries. ii. determine the effects of classroom democracy on learning outcomes in primary schools across francophone african countries. the study is organised as follows: section 1 explains the context and motivation of the study. section 2 presents the conceptual framework wherein the concepts of classroom democracy and learning achievements are defined and operationalized. section 3 dwells on the methodology which describes the data used, model specification and estimation strategies. section 4 is reserved for results and discussions. section 5 concludes the study with a summary of the key findings, together with educational policy implications. conceptual framework in this section, i define the concepts of classroom democracy and learning outputs in the context of this study so as to establish the causal relations between them. classroom democracy a modern pedagogical approach to classroom democracy focuses on the promotion of self-learning (fearnley-sander, moss, & harbon, 2001). this means that pupils are actively engaged with their own learning. to be more explicit, i consider classroom democracy as a set of classroom practices that put the children at the centre of the instructional process. this requires that each pupil is accepted as a unique personality and shown respect. it also requires that pupils’ opinions be considered in education decision-making. as members of the society make decisions in a democracy, so the pupils who are actual elements in the democratic classroom should actively participate in decision making. for example, the curriculum to be taught and rules to be obeyed at school and in the classroom should be determined together with pupils. democracy comes along with freedom of thinking and expression. consequently, pupils should be given the opportunity to express what they feel and think. the democratic classroom as a way of life is reinforced by the un convention on the rights of the child (un general assembly, 1989) which proposes relationship changes between adults and young children. both parents and teachers are expected to be agents of change in the learning process of the child. in building a democratic classroom culture, the role of the teacher has to change from an authoritative personality to a facilitator. the teacher is no longer that person dictating a lesson as pupils copy and assimilate, but is expected global journal of transformative education (2020) vol 2 48 njong, classroom democracy and learning outcomes to help pupils to cultivate the habit of accessing information by themselves and learning it (maftoon & shakouri, 2012). the teacher is expected to guide the pupils in their learning process, and not force them to learn. the parent is expected to promote processes designed to enable and empower children to learn conveniently. such processes would involve providing children with basic needs such as adequate nutrition, health, and protection against abuse and violence. another dimension of classroom democracy is enshrined in the concept of discipline in schools. it is well recognized that if discipline is not taken into consideration, the classroom/school environment will be unsafe and may disrupt the learning process as well as the academic achievement of the children (mothata & squelch, 1997; levin & nalon, 1991). teachers and school administrators have a major role to play through guidance and counseling of children in order to instill in them a sense of responsibility and curb incidences of disruptive behaviour in schools. every school has a code of conduct which every child is supposed to respect. when the rules are broken, it is expected that disciplinary measures be applied according to the educational regulations in force. therefore, it is important to factor in child discipline as a transformative educational input that will lead to a healthy classroom environment in a democratic manner. another dimension of classroom democracy may be borrowed from social cultural theory which holds that culture and social interactions are essential factors in children’s acquisition of knowledge (okonji, 1971; bodrova & leong, 2007; marfo & biersteker, 2011; marfo, pence, levine, & levine, 2011; mucherah & mbogori, 2019). the african child grows up in a local context where the mother tongue is spoken, traditional music is listened and danced to with formidable dexterity, domestic chores are often distributed among family members, and telling of folk stories are common practices. furthermore, the extended family system which includes, in addition to nuclear family; uncles, aunties, cousins and grandparents is order of the day (degbey, 2012). democracy as a way of living and everyday experiences should not be indifferent to these local contextual factors in which african children are growing. therefore, african socio-cultural values need to be extended to the classroom setting in order to properly motivate children in the learning process in the context. global journal of transformative education (2020) vol 2 learning outcomes learning outcomes are multidimensional and complex. however, to facilitate understanding i divide learning outputs into cognitive and non-cognitive components. according to anderson et al (2001) the cognitive domain involves the acquisition of knowledge and the development of intellectual skills from the educational process. this way of learning encourages pupils to use their brains more effectively, and enables them to think and remember easily. this does not mean that memorisation or repetition is encouraged, it simply ensures that the concepts learnt in class are understood. outcomes from the cognitive learning process usually involve academic achievement tests in reading, language and mathematics. the non-cognitive component is made up of self-esteem and sociability outcomes. according to emler (2001), olsen, breckler, & wiggens (2008) and harter (2012), self-esteem is considered a child’s evaluation of self-worth and acceptance in the classroom. it is a judgment of the self. research results indicate that there is a correlation between self-esteem and children’s development (papadopoulos, metsiou, & agaliotis, 2011). for example, children with high self-esteem show greater motivation and take initiative. they are more prone to express sociable behavior and show more feelings of happiness (baumeister, campbell, krueger, & vohs, 2003). on the other hand, children who have low selfworth tend to treat themselves badly and are more likely to invite bad treatment from their peers (saigal, lambert, russ, & hoult, 2002). the consequences of low self-worth amongst pupils would include unhappiness, symptoms of depression, and difficulties in forming and sustaining friendly relationships with their peers (emler, 2001). the social outcome of the education process revolves around the social learning theory (bandura, 1977). the theory posits that people can acquire new behaviours by observing and imitating the behavioural patterns of other people. the theory further posits that learning would also occur through practices of rewards and punishments. in this way, a behaviour that is often rewarded would persist, while the one that is constantly punished would most likely not be imitated. the classroom is a social setting, and pupils through their interactions with peers and teachers would pick up new patterns of behaviour that are likely to uphold the spirit of team work, cooperation and love for one another. 49 only the items that pass the reliability or internal consistency test in analysis improves measurment of the latent constructs and facilitate the convergence of estimations (wooldridge, 2009). based on the retained items in each construct i built composite indicators using multiple correspondence analyses (njong & ningaye, 2008). in this sub-section i analyse the measured latent variables/constructs of interest in this study. indicators of classroom democracy the main explanatory variable in this study is classroom democracy. drawing from the conceptualisation of classroom democracy in section 2, i build and analyse four composite indicators of classroom democracy. the first is the indicator of group work. this composite indicator is captured based on primary items shown on table s1 (see appendix). table s1 indicates that about 38% of the teachers organised the children to work in small groups. about 67% of the teachers reported they lack the techniques to make pupils work as teams, while 56.3% of them complained that the classroom is inappropriate to organise children in smaller groups. the second construct of classroom democracy is an indicator of children’s rights. the primary items of children’s basic rights retained are displayed on table s2. it shows that about 26.4% of the children attended nursery school, while 64% of them slept under mosquito nets. as concerns health challenges, 17.7% of the children reported having hearing difficulties, and 23% had sight problems. children nutrition seems to be a serious problem because about 57.5% of the children reported always feeling hungry in class. the third construct of classroom democracy is an indicator of child discipline. child discipline was surveyed by getting responses to the statements captured on table s3. it is observed on table s3 that about 38% of the teachers punished or shouted at children in class. the method of punishment ranged from asking the pupils to copy exercises (32%), and /or do manual labour (49%). note that about 5.5% of the teachers did administer corporal punishment although it is prohibited by law in these countries. the fourth construct of classroom democracy is an indicator of cultural identity. the statements that captured cultural identity, and based on which the cultural identity indicator is built, are displayed on table s4. table s4 shows that 22.4% of the children did not speak their mother tongue at home, while 69% of them did so occasionally. only about 18.5% of the teachers used the native language spoken by the children of that global journal of transformative education (2020) vol 2 njong, classroom democracy and learning outcomes methodology in order to understand the causal relationship between democratic classroom practices and learning achievement, secondary cross-sectional data collected by reviewing pasec surveys were used. the pasec survey methodology was a stratified samplying design where schools were first randomly selected, and grade 6 kids were subsequently randomly interviewed from each school. given the stratified nature of the data collection process, multilevel analytical framework is adopted to better unravel the inter-relationships, but before addressing this, a discussion of the data generation procedure is necessary. data since 1960 the conference of ministers of education of francophone countries, better known in french acronym as confemen1, has been making enormous attempts to promote the delivery of educational services and professional training (pasec, 1998). to facilitate this, it pilots a survey called ‘programme d’analyse des systèmes éducatifs de la confemen’ (pasec) to collect data that are used to assess the efficiency of the educational systems of its member countries. the data i use in this study come from the pasec survey conducted across 10 francophone african countries in 2014 (pasec 2017). as part of the pasec survey design information was collected from pupils in grade 6 who are at the end of the primary school curriculum. the information collected from these pupils included reading and numeracy test scores and the pupils’ characteristics. information was also collected from the children’s parents, teachers and head teachers of the various schools relating to knowledge, welfare, pedagogic resources and governance issues. the 2014 pasec design surveyed 31213 pupils in grade 6 nested in 671 schools across 10 countries2. the unit of analysis is the pupil. measurement of constructs apart from the cognitive skills’ construct, the rest of the constructs in the survey data are captured using several items. i subjected the items in each construct to an internal consistency test and retained for analysis only those items with positive inter-items correlations and/or that loaded high on the construct in question. the cronbach’s alpha test was used for 3-4 points likert scales items, while the guttman’s split lambda coefficient was used for yes/no responses. retaining 1confemen is conférence des ministres de l’éducation des états et gouvernements de la francophonie. 2the ten countries are: benin; burkina faso; burundi; cameroon; congo; cote d’ivoire; niger; senegal; tchad; and togo 3in the case of items with mixed scales, i used the cronbach’s alpha test. njong, classroom democracy and learning outcomes 50 locality. above 70% of the teachers did not allow children talk or sing songs in their mother tongue in class. table s4 also indicates that 7784% of the schools did not have textbooks in the language of the majority of the children. dependent variables the dependent variables are learning outcomes which are cognitive and non-cognitive and are considered endogenous, because they are determined within the system4. the cognitive outcomes are standard scores in reading skills and mathematics skills. this is a simple scale of test scores that are continuous from grade 2 through grade 6. the standard scores reported for each of the grade levels ranges from 100 to 400. i compute the mean value of the test scores across the grades for reading and math. these scores indicate that the higher the score, the higher the academic achievement of the child. the non-cognitive outcomes are self-esteem and sociability. the items used to measure non-cognitive skills include measures of friendliness, happiness, self-worth, cooperation with one another, and feeling of security. each child was asked to respond to the descriptive statements measuring self-esteem and sociability captured on a 4-point likert scale as follows: 1) strongly agree, 2) agree, 3) disagree, and 4) strongly disagree. the number of items in the survey that are related to self-esteem and sociability are ten and six respectively. based on cronbach’s alpha analysis, i selected seven and four items that loaded high on self-esteem and sociability respectively (see tables s5 and s6). table s5 shows children’s responses to self-esteem items. it shows that over 83% of the children reported performing well in class. approximately 81% of the children reported hard work to account for their good achievement, while 74% of them attributed the good scores to the fact that class lessons are easy. children reported having low scores for various reasons, for example about 47% of them don’t study enough, and 36% of them consider they are not intelligent enough, while 25% said the teacher insults them. table s6 shows children’s responses to sociability items, where over 80% of them agreed having many friends in school. about 87% of the children were happy being in school because their peers like them. it is important to note that the learning outcome/ endogenous variables are measured in different units. the non-cognitive skills are measured using likert scales in the survey dataset while the cognitive skills are mean test scores. thus, in order to facilitate interpretation of changes on learning outcomes i transformed them into a common unit of measurement using standard z-scores. model specification to determine the effects of classroom democracy on learning outcomes an econometric model is specified. since the schooling inputs jointly produce the educational outcomes, a simultaneous equation modelling approach is deemed appropriate for this study. simultaneous-equation models specify relationships in a system of two or more equations where the dependent variables display an interdependent relationship (wooldridge, 2009; greene, 2011; baltagi, 2011). in a non-recursive model of this nature, the focus is on the relationship among the jointly determined dependent variables in the systems, which are considered endogenous. i argue that these endogenous variables are considered cause and effect in the schooling production process. there is simultaneity or reciprocal causation among the dependent variables. the modelling suggests that certain outcomes could be affected directly by other outcomes of the educational process. what this means is that all the dependent variables are explicitly taken to be endogenous to the system (baltagi, 2011). that is, the endogenous explanatory variables are dependent variables from other equations in the system. given the above, i can specify the following non-recursive system of simultaneous equations: global journal of transformative education (2020) vol 2 4this is explained in greater detail in methodology section. mtsijc=α0+α1icdijc+α2rtsijc+α3isoijc+α4iseijc γxijc+ε1,ijc (1) rtsijc=β0+β1icdijc+β2mtsijc+β3isoijc+β4iseijc+θwijc+ε2,ijc (2) isoijc=δ0+δ1icdijc+δ2mtsijc+δ3rtsijc+δ4iseijc+ gijc+ε3,ijc (3) iseijc=ω0+ω1icdijc+ω2mtsijc+ω3rtsijc+ω4isoijc+πzijc+ε4,ijc (4) where: mts = math test scores rts = reading test scores iso = indicator of sociability ise = indicator of self-esteem icd = indicators of classroom democracy x, w, g, z = vector of control (exogenous) variables α,β,γ,δ,θ,π, ,ω are structural parameters to be estimated ε1,…,ε4 are disturbance or error terms i, j, c represent the ith pupil, the jth school, and cth country respectively the explanatory endogenous variables are correlated with the error terms in the system of equations. all other explanatory variables are considered exogenous to the system and uncorrelated with the error terms. the exogenous variables are considered as instruments for the endogenous variables. njong, classroom democracy and learning outcomes 51 model estimation to estimate a system of simultaneous equations, instrumental variable methods for joint estimation are often proposed. to account for the nested structure of the data due to intra-school correlations that may arise because responses from children in the same school are likely to be similar while those from children in other schools are different, the solution in single equation model is to cluster the errors at the level of the school (fielding, 2010; wamalwa & burns, 2018). to achieve this within a simultaneous equation framework, baltagi & chang (2000) and hsiao (2003) proposed an error components-two stage least squares (ec2sls) estimator to account for the random error component of the system of equations. the ec2sls estimator is implemented on an equation by equation estimation basis (baltagi, 2008)5 to avoid having inconsistent equation estimates for all the equations in the event where any of the equations is mis-specified. pair-wise correlation results table 1 shows the weighted6 pair-wise correlations between the classroom democratic indicators and learning outcomes as defined in this study. table 1 shows some preliminary partial inter-relationships among learning outcomes and classroom democratic indicators. first observation on table 1 is that there is a high positive correlation between the cognitive educational outputs. the correlation coefficient between math skills and reading test scores is 0.845 indicating that pupils who read well report high performance in mathematics as well. second interesting observation is that correlation between non-cognitive outcomes is moderate and positive. for instance, the correlation coefficient between self-esteem and sociability is 0.59, indicating that that children who have high self-esteem are much likely to be sociable. third observation of interest is that the correlation between the cognitive and the non-cognitive indicators are positive but much lower. for example, correlation coefficient between self-esteem and reading is 0.201, while it is 0.155 with math. the correlations among the indicators of classroom democracy are very low. estimation results in this section the regression results of classroom democratic practices on learning outcomes are presented. for convenience, the results for cognitive skills are presented first. table 2 (see next page) displays the estimation results for cognitive skills. the results on table 2 show high positive and significant correlations between both test scores at the 1% level. this result suggests that a child who does well in reading generally will also achieve well in math, and vice versa. the other two endogenous variables; self-esteem and sociability also show significant positive, but much lower correlations with math and reading skills. as concerns the indicators of classroom democracy, the correlations are positive and insignificant, except for child discipline. the results are interpreted in terms of standard deviations (sds). the indicator of group work correlates positively with cognitive skills. this means that a one unit increase in the indicator of group work improves math and reading scores by .073 sds and .065 sds respectively, but the effects are insignificant. the results indicate that when children’s rights increase by one unit, math and reading test scores rise insignificantly by .068 and .052 sds respectively. the indicator of child discipline associates positively and significantly with cognitive skills (.052 sds for math and .083 sds for reading). the indicator of cultural identity indicates that when it increases by one unit, math scores improve by .061 sds; while reading scores increase by .071 sds. of the control variables, the following are positive and significant at least at the 5% level: household size, teacher experience, teacher’s training, community involvement in school management, classroom pedagogic resources, and school infrastructure. the models predict that higher test scores are associated with students who are male, though this finding is insignificant. global journal of transformative education (2020) vol 2 5baltagi's (2008) ec2sls can be obtained by specifying the ec2sls option, after xtivreg in stata. 6the pasec survey provides several types of sampling weights, notably child, teacher, or school weights depending on the level of analysis. since unit of analysis in this study is the child, i use child sampling weights. njong, classroom democracy and learning outcomes 52 teacher absenteeism has negative significant effects on academic achievements. the diagnostics statistics on table 2 show that the variables specified in the models accounted for approximately 27.4% of the total variance of the math scores, and 37.1% of reading test scores, respectively. the between variations (r-sq=56.8% for math; 59.3% for reading) accounted more than the within variations (r-sq=22.1% for math; 32.7% for reading) in explaining the overall variances of the models, respectively. the f-values are statistically significant at the 1% level. this indicates that the regression models fit the data structure. in other words, the estimates of each model taken together are significant. table 3 displays the estimation results for non-cognitive skills. the results on table 3 show a moderately positive and significant association between self-esteem and sociability. specifically, a unit increase in self-esteem improves sociability by .051 sds. this suggests that a child’s feeling of self-esteem is affected by their interest in other children and the reactions they receive in return. the other two endogenous variables; math and reading show much lower positive and significant correlations with self-esteem and sociability skills. as regards the indicators of classroom democracy, the associations are positive and insignificant, except for child discipline. the indicator of group work is shown to associate positively and insignificantly with self-esteem (0.011 sds) and sociability (.057 sds). as concerns the indicator of children’s rights, table 3 shows that a one unit increase in children’s rights improves self-esteem and sociability insignificantly by .013 and .035 sds respectively. the indicator of child discipline associates positively and significantly with non-cognitive skills (.022 sds for self-esteem and .024 sds for sociability). table 3 also indicates that when indicator of cultural identity increases by one unit, self-esteem improves by .026 sds; while sociability ameliorates by .006 sds, though these improvements are insignificant. as concerns the other exogenous correlates, the following relate positively and significantly with the non-cognitive outcomes: household size, socio-economic status, teacher experience-squared, community involvement in school management, and classroom pedagogic resources. the models predict school infrastructure, teacher’s professional training, and experience associate positively though insignificantly with non-cognitive skill. as expected, teacher absenteeism has negative, though insignificant effect on non-cognitive achievements. precisely, a unit increase in teacher absenteeism causes self-esteem to change by -.004 sds, while sociability changes by -.022 sds. the diagnostics tests on table 3 show that the variables specified in the models accounted for approximately 29.1% of the total variance for self-esteem, and global journal of transformative education (2020) vol 2 njong, classroom democracy and learning outcomes 53 discussion the estimation results of this study show positive and significant inter-relationships between the learning outcomes of math, reading, self-esteem and sociability. in an attempt to explain these positive correlations, i draw from the theory of self-determination (deci, vallerand, pelletier & ryan, 1991). according to this theory intrinsically motivated individuals will engage in actions or behaviours because they enjoy doing them. in this case the individual has an internal motivation and feels fully engaged to undertake the action. this contrasts with externally motivated behaviours that individuals may initiate because they expect a reward or want to avoid a punishment. thus, it is expected that pupils who are intrinsically motivated (have high self-esteem and sociability) exhibit higher conceptual understanding (deci, vallerand, pelletier & ryan, 1991). such children are more confident in their capacities and therefore have greater interest for learning. these results corroborate the study by noftle & robins (2007) who found positive association between the personality dimensions of students and their math gpa and verbal test scores. chamorro-premuzic & furnham (2003) have also reported positive significant correlation between personality traits and student academic performance. the estimation results of this study portray positive correlations between all the indicators of classroom democracy and learning outcomes in the context of francophone african countries. however, only the association between child discipline and the learning outcomes is significant, the correlations of the other indicators of classroom democracy with educational achievements are insignificant. the positive association between indicator of group work and educational outcomes means that when pupils are given the opportunity to work in small groups, they are more likely to have higher test scores. the positive association between indicator of group work and learning outcomes corroborates findings from some earlier studies such as feinberg & toress (2001) and lipton & oakes (2003) who found that when pupils participate actively in class and work as teams, their educational achievements are much higher. unfortunately, our positive correlation is insignificant. in the survey about 63.2% of the teachers reported not organising pupils to work in groups. furthermore, about 67.3% of the teachers lacked the techniques to do so (see table s1 in the appendix). children in the african family setting share responsibilities in carrying out household chores such as cooking, taking 29.9% of sociability, respectively. the between variations (r-sq=47.3% for self-esteem; 47.5% for sociability) accounted more than the within variations (r-sq=26.7% for self-esteem; 27.0% for sociability) in explaining the overall variances of the models, respectively. the f-statistics indicate that the regression models fit the data structure. global journal of transformative education (2020) vol 2 njong, classroom democracy and learning outcomes 54 care of babies, fetching firewood and water, and running errands for the elderly. thus at an early age african children are exposed to a ‘team-spirit way’ of living which unfortunately is disrupted in the classroom when the teacher fails to organise them to work in groups. children will learn better in a classroom atmosphere, where children work in smaller groups, feel safe to express their feelings and open discussions are encouraged. therefore, there is need in african countries to move away from the traditional mode of teaching and learning where children listen and teachers speak and dictate notes. the estimation results indicate positive but insignificant correlations between indicator of children’s rights and learning outcomes. as a follow up of the 1989 un convention on children’s right, a special session was held on 22 may 2002 on children during which countries committed to invest in children and adopt policies in the best interest of the child. francophone african countries have several developmental challenges such as low incomes, inadequate access to portable water and sanitation, food insecurity and hunger, and widespread disease that threaten children’s livelihoods (watkins, 2016). given these challenges it is no surprise that 57.5% of the pupils in the survey reported feeling hungry in class, more than 7783% reported having one health impairment or another and 73.6% did not attain nursery school. a further 36% of the children have never slept under a mosquito net (see table s2). these are basic rights of the child. the inability of the children’s families to respect these rights may account for the insignificant nature of the results. it would be a miracle to expect children to achieve significantly when such basic rights are not respected. in tandem with african culture children in poorer families may be required to carry out petty commercial activities, or join their parents in farming so as to help the family survive. in western culture this may be considered child labour or child abuse, but in the african context this is not only a livelihood survival strategy but is often considered a normal activity in line with the household chores distribution plan of the family. thus, i may further argue that differences of this nature in the conceptualisation of children’s rights may also account for the insignificance of the estimation result. the indicator of child discipline associates positively and significantly with learning outcomes. this result is in line with expectations and agrees with bodovski, nahum-shani, & walsh (2013), which showed that higher math scores were registered among us students in a disciplinary school environment. further, ning, van-damme, yang, & gielen, (2013) also obtain a positive and significant correlation between child discipline and reading achievements. furthermore, pasternak (2013) and zhao & kuo (2015) have reported positive and significant relationships between children’s self-discipline and non-cognitive achievements. some unique features of the african traditional society may account for the significance of the child discipline indicator in this study. the extended family system is a powerful tool in parenting and helps to develop a sense of social responsibility, cooperation, and respect for elders in the child’s early years (nsamenang, 2008). another feature in the african traditional society aspect is the telling of folktales. this is another form of parenting which inculcates good morals and discipline in children (degbey, 2012). given these indigenous cultural values, the african child at an early age is more likely to be disciplined and by extension more likely to respect classroom rules and regulations. the indicator of cultural identity indicates a positive but insignificant association with learning outcomes. this finding slightly differs from results of earlier studies, like okonji (1971); bodrova & leong (2007); marfo & biersteker (2011) which find that cultural values have positive and significant effects on children’s academic performance. a close look at the items in the 2014 pasec survey from which the indicator of cultural identity is constructed may provide some explanation for the insignificance of estimation result. only about 18.9% of the teachers expressed themselves in the native language of the pupils where the school is located; 70.7% of the teachers did not allow pupils to speak, and sing in class in their native language and worst still only 8.6% of the pupils speak exclusively the mother tongue at home (see table s4). these attitudes are not of a nature to facilitate learning and ameliorate academic achievements in the african context. mucherah & mbogori (2019) argue that african children will learn better if the native language and french/english are used simultaneously as languages of instructions in school. this will facilitate the use of local examples to introduce the alphabet and counting of objects. unfortunately, francophone african scholars are still caught in the empty pride of using examples from paris, france, during lessons in class. african children may not quickly figure out such examples in their local context. some parents are also still entangled in the web of colonisation, and feel more westernised if their children speak only french/english. african global journal of transformative education (2020) vol 2 njong, classroom democracy and learning outcomes 55 global journal of transformative education (2020) vol 2 educationists have to encourage a shift away from these colonial mental enslavement and practices. conclusion and policy implications conclusion this study attempts to shed light on the effects of classroom democratic practices on cognitive (math and reading) and non-cognitive (self-esteem and sociability) learning outcomes using cross-sectional data from francophone african countries. to capture the inter-relationships inherent in the education production process, a simultaneous equation modeling approach is proposed. in order to estimate the model parameters, an error componenttwo stage least squares-instrumental variable method is used to properly account for the multilevel nature of the data structure. the results confirm the endogenous nature of the learning outcome variables; specifically, they indicate positive and significant correlations among the learning outcomes. as regards classroom democratic practices, the results indicate positive and insignificant associations with the dimensions of group work, children’s rights, and cultural identity. only the indicator of child discipline has positive and significant effect on learning outcome skills in this study. the exogenous or control variables included in the model have significant expected signs, notably family size, socio-economic status, teacher experience, community involvement, and classroom pedagogic resources. policy implications from the findings of this study, it stands out that teachers and parents are some of the most important stakeholders in the process of having children internalize democracy in the classroom. in this regard, the following policy recommendations are made: teachers should initiate and encourage children to work in small groups in the classroom. teachers should develop the habit to invite pupils to always see themselves as capable and valuable. this action will bring out the positive traits and potentials that the children have and help to build their self-esteem which is a strong internal motivation to educational achievement. education stakeholders should take measures to preserve and promote indigenous cultural values because they tend to facilitate learning achievements. education policy makers should devote more resources to revise the curriculum of professional colleges in order to train teachers to: i) develop skills of assigning and supervision of pupils in team work; ii) be culturally responsive in their teaching practices and accommodate pupils who speak their native language, or display their cultural identity in class. therefore, the teacher would be acting like a classroom democratic model. educationists should develop parenting programmes to sensitise parents to speak their native languages with children at home, and how to better prepare children for schooling as regards nutrition, health, and other nurturing issues. the findings also showed that there are variations in achievements within schools and between schools. the implication of this result is that educationists must design multiple teaching strategies. a blind spot in the education system is an attempt to treat all children the same. this certainly is for reasons of equity and fairness, but in reality, children are all different given that they come from diverse backgrounds. njong, classroom democracy and learning outcomes 56 references anderson, l.w., krathwohl, d.r., airasian, p.w., cruikshank, k.a., mayer, r.e., pintrich, p.r., raths, j., & wittrock, m.c. 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(2015). the role of self-discipline in predicting achievement for 10th graders. international journal of intelligent technologies and applied statistics, 8(1), 61-70. doi: 10.6148/ijitas.2015.0801.05 aloysius mom njong (mom_aloys@yahoo.fr) is a professor of development economics at the university of bamenda, cameroon. author https://scholarworks.iu.edu/journals/index.php/gjte/article/download/26140/32308/ https://scholarworks.iu.edu/journals/index.php/gjte/article/download/26140/32308/ https://lirias.kuleuven.be/handle/123456789/428773 https://lirias.kuleuven.be/handle/123456789/428773 https://lirias.kuleuven.be/handle/123456789/428773 https://lirias.kuleuven.be/handle/123456789/428773 https://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:8d71f02f-9698-4453-8ffb-0b40361ac2fd/download_file?safe_filename=characterizing%2bweights%2bin%2bthe%2bmeasurement%2bof%2bmultidimensional%2bpoverty%2b21.pdf&file_format=application%2fpdf&type_of_work=working+paper https://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:8d71f02f-9698-4453-8ffb-0b40361ac2fd/download_file?safe_filename=characterizing%2bweights%2bin%2bthe%2bmeasurement%2bof%2bmultidimensional%2bpoverty%2b21.pdf&file_format=application%2fpdf&type_of_work=working+paper https://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:8d71f02f-9698-4453-8ffb-0b40361ac2fd/download_file?safe_filename=characterizing%2bweights%2bin%2bthe%2bmeasurement%2bof%2bmultidimensional%2bpoverty%2b21.pdf&file_format=application%2fpdf&type_of_work=working+paper https://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:8d71f02f-9698-4453-8ffb-0b40361ac2fd/download_file?safe_filename=characterizing%2bweights%2bin%2bthe%2bmeasurement%2bof%2bmultidimensional%2bpoverty%2b21.pdf&file_format=application%2fpdf&type_of_work=working+paper https://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:8d71f02f-9698-4453-8ffb-0b40361ac2fd/download_file?safe_filename=characterizing%2bweights%2bin%2bthe%2bmeasurement%2bof%2bmultidimensional%2bpoverty%2b21.pdf&file_format=application%2fpdf&type_of_work=working+paper https://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:8d71f02f-9698-4453-8ffb-0b40361ac2fd/download_file?safe_filename=characterizing%2bweights%2bin%2bthe%2bmeasurement%2bof%2bmultidimensional%2bpoverty%2b21.pdf&file_format=application%2fpdf&type_of_work=working+paper https://www.careperinatologia.it/lavori/l52.pdf https://www.careperinatologia.it/lavori/l52.pdf https://www.econrsa.org/system/files/publications/working_papers/working_paper_723.pdf https://www.econrsa.org/system/files/publications/working_papers/working_paper_723.pdf https://www.econrsa.org/system/files/publications/working_papers/working_paper_723.pdf njong, classroom democracy and learning outcomes 58 global journal of transformative education (2020) vol 2 table s1n table s2n table s3n njong, classroom democracy and learning outcomes 59 global journal of transformative education (2020) vol 2 table s4n table s5n table s6n caralyn zehnder, cynthia alby, karynne kleine, julia metzker. (2021). learning that matters: a field guide to course design for transformative education. myers education press. 225 pp. $ 111 (hardcover), isbn: 978-1975504502 in today’s 21st century, the traditional way of teaching has mostly given way to transformative education in which teachers should not only impart knowledge, but also facilitate the acquisition of skills by students (david, 2016). educators in transformative education play the role of helping students to understand and acknowledge “the dynamics between their inner and outer worlds” (boyd & myers, 1988, p.261). this book provides guidance to teachers in the higher education system to help them design courses that can create meaningful learning experiences for students and actively engage them in social issues. z. zhang. global journal of transformative education (2022) vol 3 doi 10.14434/gjte.v3i1.34176 open access published by the global insitutute of transformative education (http://www.gite.education) © zhang, 2022. open access this journal is distributed under the terms of the creative commons attribution noncommercial nonderivative 4.0 international license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction without revision in any non-commercial medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the creative commons license, book review zhaoyi zhang full listing of authors and contacts can be found at the end of this article. summary in this book, “learning” covers multiple layers of meaning, including learning theories, learning outcomes and assessments, course design, teaching strategies and techniques, etc. as educators who will pursue careers at universities or are already teaching in higher education, no matter whether you are novice or senior, this book provides scaffolding for you from three aspects: a). how to design transformative lessons, how to create successful transformative learning experiences for students, and how to shape the identity of the transformative teacher. this book consists of 10 chapters. and each chapter is completed by a team of four brilliant and professional educators who have specific disciplinary expertise. collaboration is constantly brought up in the book. whether it is the way the book is written or the various activities that are recommended throughout the book, readers will find traces of collaboration. this is the element that the authors are proud of. each chapter of the book covers ample content and inspiration. chapter one (“teaching matters”) begins with the challenges that american higher education is facing in the present era, which include unequal distribution of educational resources, teachers who are very productive in research but weak in pedagogical knowledge, unequal power relations between “black, indigenous, and people of color (bipoc) and their white counterparts” (p. 2), and the lack of capacity of higher education institutions to respond quickly to unexpected situations (e.g. covid-19). all these problems are calling for changes in course design. the authors mention that educators in higher education institutions should regard exposing all of their students to transformative learning experiences as their teaching goal. this chapter also contains the introduction for all four authors and their beliefs about course design and teachers’ professional development. at the end of this chapter, the authors provide a guide to using this book so that readers can get insights into how to get the most out of this book. zhang book review: learning that matters page 35 in chapter two (“from the foundation up”), the authors firstly mention that trying to turn the classroom into a base for transformative education requires fostering creativity, and that means a degree of “improvisation” (p.18). this chapter provides four important concepts and principles for supporting this improvisation. the first one is about equity. the authors extract decentering pedagogy from critical theory, starting from no longer viewing students “within a deficit framework” (p. 27) and cherishing all students’ funds of knowledge, the authors then propose pedagogical approaches that promote equity. the second concept is aimed at the constructivist approach. in this section, by explaining the crucial role of constructivism in acquiring knowledge, the authors remind readers that students in the classroom are not just passive recipients, and transformative education cannot be teacher-centered. the third concept emphasizes creativity in promoting students’ engagement. the authors point out that the course focusing on active learning could be helpful to students’ scores. it is vital for teachers to understand how motivation influences learning. the fourth concept, therefore, focuses on the role of motivation. in this part, the question of whether students are motivated by mastery or performance goals is discussed. in the end, the authors hope teachers who have already built their teaching foundations could think about how to connect these concepts and theories with students’ deep learning. in chapter three (“design matter”), the authors shift the center from concepts to practical issues, focusing on course design. the aim of this chapter is trying to convince teachers that using design to guide teaching can be a very beneficial thing for both teachers and students. additionally, the authors provide three complementary and connected designing approaches for teachers, which are design thinking, backward design, and universal design for learning (udl). in short, design thinking is human/student-centered. it firstly needs teachers to develop empathy and collect students’ information before class, then anticipates the kinds of problems they will encounter in their classes, lists the worst possible outcomes for their classes, and find out the solutions in advance. this approach offers a framework for planning courses that are closely tied to the student experience. backward design is a course design approach guided by learning objectives, which requires teachers to think about what students need most to be successful. for udl, it is an approach considering serving more students. it aims at establishing a learning environment to support students’ diversity. in the end, the authors mention that the strategies provided in this chapter are important and will be repeatedly mentioned in the following chapters. chapter four (“portable outcomes”) is about portable outcomes, which means that students can take what they learn in one class to subsequent classes, and even to later work and life, rather than outcomes that are forgotten once the test is completed. in this chapter, the authors begin by differentiating the definition of student learning outcomes (slos) and aspirational goals. compared with aspirational goals which could be longterm and ideal, slos are more specific and measurable, which refer to as knowledge, skills, and dispositions. before introducing how to design slos, the authors demonstrate the “alignment” between slos and “the coherence students experience” in the classroom. (p.83). then, the authors give suggestions for how to write substantive slos. they should be student-centered, measurable, interlude, and inclusive. specifically, students are able to know what they should anticipate from the course, and realize how they will perform in class to meet the outcomes. in addition, the authors mention that substantive slos should take affection into consideration, which means that teachers should present clearly what they want their students to care about after finishing the course. what is more, well-designed slos should also care about students’ diversity so as to avoid biases. in the end, the authors advocate that after encompassing the above four characteristics, a truly portable goal must be to help students achieve higher order thinking skills that include analyzing and evaluating. chapter five provides an approach, which is also a framework, called the dilemma, issue, or question approach (diq). the authors summarize it as an approach to connecting subject knowledge with social issues. teachers utilize this approach to guide students using the knowledge they have learnt in class to solve real social problems. the authors point out that by doing this, students can more easily understand the usefulness of the knowledge and the reason why they need to learn it. in this chapter, multiple resources including reference websites and books are given to help readers think about how to design their diq framework. the authors also focus on describing the four steps of designing diq from brainstorming to getting feedback. it is important to summarize from the authors that diq breaks the status quo that critical thinking skill is only limited to “elitist activity” (p. 114). global journal of transformative education (2022) vol 3 zhang book review: learning that matters page 36 global journal of transformative education (2022) vol 3 in chapter six (“connected assessment”), the authors spend a great deal of time explaining assessment-related knowledge. the significance of this chapter is evident in the way that it helps address teachers’ ongoing focus on what a few students cannot do, in suggesting that teachers need to think about how to support the progress of all students, and in the need to recognize the strengths that each individual brings to the classroom. the authors start by expressing their concerns about unequal issues brought about by today’s assessments. in the next part, instead of explaining “assessment jargon”, the authors present assessment along “two continuums”, which are from connected to unconnected assessment, and from summative to formative assessment. in terms of comparing unconnected and connected assessment, the authors interpret connected assessment as the one which underlines the growth and achievements of students. it is aligned with slos with a stepped increase in difficulty as a way to see students’ progress. the authors also compare formative and summative assessment and suggest that formative assessment is not done by scoring at the end, but by collecting and using the information obtained during the learning process to change and improve students’ learning process. it is a relatively fair way of assessing. the rest of the chapter is reserved for how to provide effective feedback to students, which also contains the forms, focuses, rubrics that teachers need to pay attention to when they give feedback. chapter seven (“the power of projects”) involves some of the practical skills that teachers use to design classroom activities that can effectively engage students and are simultaneously convenient for teachers to give formative feedback. the authors start this chapter by explaining the reason for the popularity of project-based learning. then, three characteristics that should be equipped by a good project are explained in detail by the authors, which are authentic, collaborative, and transparent. the authors give many examples of actual classroom activities to make these three characteristics more visual and tangible. chapter eight (“strategies that matters”) mentions teaching strategies which could lead to significant learning. the authors introduce a concept of high-quality strategies which should be “active and engaging, intrinsically motivating, sticky, and culturally affirming” (p.207). a good high-quality strategy does not have to meet all of these characteristics, but it does need to equip many of them. next, the authors mention the need for teachers to develop different strategies at different stages of learning. the authors also give different and respective suggestions and activities that teachers can do to prepare students for learning, engage students in learning, discuss in the classroom, and make learning visible so that teachers can choose and implement them according to their own conditions and classroom conditions. this chapter concludes with a guide for readers to reflect on their own strategies and a summary of high-quality strategies so that readers will have a deeper understanding of what strategies can cause deep and significant learning. in chapter nine (“supporting students”), how to provide targeted support to students to ensure their success, effectively address inequities in education, and ensure enduring learning is a core topic. the authors provide ideas from four perspectives. firstly, teachers should guide students to find value in learning, which means that if students can understand the purpose of the course and tap into the value of the course, they can be more engaged. secondly, the authors mention that by praising students for their efforts and scoring less, teachers should provide the support that allows students to be unafraid of challenges and setbacks, and allows students to develop a “growth mindset” (p.263). thirdly, teachers have the responsibility to make students find a sense of belonging in the classroom. lastly, the authors mention the negative stereotype that students develop when they experience setbacks, which is also called “stereotype threat” in the chapter. it is important to help students reflect on their self-values to counter this stereotype. as a summary and ending chapter, chapter ten (“your turn: selfand collective efficacy”) plays a crucial role in helping reshape a transformative teacher’s identity. as was mentioned in chapter two that innovation is vital for developing transformative education. the authors in this chapter introduce bandura’s “collective-efficacy” to underline the significance of collaboration for innovation (p.281). at the same time, it is also important to build a community of mutual trust and respect for students, in which students can obtain the necessary skills. the authors also recommend that teachers join or establish teacher learning communities, or “communities of change agents”. there they can monitor and help each other to become qualified transformative educators (p.287). zhang book review: learning that matters page 37 evaluation the authors have succeeded in achieving the goal of improving and expanding teachers’ skill sets described at the beginning of the book. especially when reading chapters 3-9, which encompass all the things educators should consider when designing a course. the whole book is highly readable and interactive. as i took notes while reading, i found that i could easily extract the key information from each chapter and understand it without much difficulty. another strength of the book is reflected in its writing structure. each chapter begins with a preflection in a box, which may be a thought-provoking question or a small survey, giving the reader a preliminary idea of the chapter’s content before they even start reading the text. next, the authors list the activities they set up in this chapter and what they hope the reader will ultimately gain from the chapter’s contents. by doing this, the authors make the outcomes of the chapter transparent to readers, which allows the scrutiny from readers when they finish this chapter. in writing each chapter, instead of explaining theories and concepts, the authors present numerous activities, their own experiences, and evidence-based strategies. after presenting a piece of content, the authors set up a “reflect to learn” session, asking one or two questions to give readers a short buffer and reflection time before moving on to the next module to better consolidate what they have just read. each chapter follows the same pattern, starting with preflection and ending with ensuring that the readers can make the design happen. with this step-by-step guidance, readers will become more and more confident and motivated. conclusion overall, facilitating students to find motivation and meaning in the university’s classroom, acquiring the competence needed for the 21st century, realizing and addressing social inequities are goals that teachers should be committed to designing their courses, and that is also what this book is trying to help teachers achieve. as a guide book, learning that matters: a field guide to course design for transformative education is suitable for both individual educators and a group, like a faculty study group, since collaboration is ceaselessly mentioned throughout the book. teachers can also practice the activities and evidence-based strategies in the book in a selective manner. references david v. j. bell. (2016). twenty-first century education: transformative education for sustainability and responsible citizenship. journal of teacher education for sustainability, 18(1), 48-56. robert d. boyd & j. gordon myers. (1988). transformative education. international journal of lifelong education, 7(4), 261-284. zhaoyi zhang (zhazhang@iu.edu) is ph.d. student in the literacy, culture, and language education program, department of curriculum and instruction, school of education at indiana university, bloomington, indiana, usa. author abstract this study examined the impact of rural and urban schools on pupils’ competencies in the english language and mathematics tests. the sample comprised 16,481 primary 3 and 14,495 primary 6 pupils from 448 and 426 schools respectively. the schools were selected using the stratified random sampling technique and the data analysed using a multilevel modelling technique. the study found statistically significant differences in achievement between rural and urban school pupils at both the national and regional levels. compared with urban school children, rural school children on average scored 2 and 4 marks less in primary 3 and 6 english language tests respectively. similarly, rural school children on average earned 1 mark less in primary 3 and 6 mathematics tests. rural school children in the eastern region were the most disadvantaged by scoring 6 and 8 marks less in the primary 3 and 6 english language tests respectively when compared with their urban peers. the only exception was the northern region where the average achievements of rural school children were higher than their urban peers. the findings suggest that it significantly mattered which part of the country a child attends school. this runs counter to the nation’s educational policies and the realisation of the united nation’s sustainable development goal 4. hence, to provide quality and inclusive education for all pupils, resources for schools and communities should be equitably distributed and effectively utilised. keywords: school locality, socioeconomic, competency, regions nyatsikor, m. w,, abroampa, w. k. & esia-donkoh, k. global journal of transformative education (2020) vol 2 doi 10.14434/gjte.v2i1.31174 open access published by the global insitutute of transformative education (http://www.gite.education) © nyatsikor, m. k.. abroampa, w. k., & esia-donkoh, k. 2020. open access this journal is distributed under the terms of the creative commons attribution noncommercial nonderivative 4.0 international license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/ by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction without revision in any non-commercial medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the creative commons license, the impact of school locale on pupils’ competencies in selected subjects: does it matter more for specific regions in ghana? maxwell kwesi nyatsikor,1 winston kwame abroampa,2 & kweku esia-donkoh3 full listing of authors and contacts can be found at the end of this article. introduction numerous studies on school and pupils’ achievement across different contexts have found significant differences between schools serving the more-advantaged urban and the less-advantaged rural localities (çiftçi & cin, 2018; bashir, lockheed, ninan & tan, 2018; ministry of education [moe], 2018; united nations educational, scientific and cultural organisation [unesco], 2018). between countries, evidence from international examinations such as trends in international mathematics and science study [timss] and programme for international student assessment [pisa] show significant differences in the achievement of children from lowto middle-income countries and high-income countries (mullis, martin & loveless, 2016; martin, mullis, foy & hooper, 2016; meyer & benavot, 2013). these achievement gaps are linked to the existing disparities in the social, economic, and educational resources in the nations and schools (bashir, et al., 2018; martin et al., 2016; meyer & benavot, 2013; moe, 2016b). many studies suggest that the effects of the rural-urban dichotomy on academic achievement are evident from the onset of formal schooling (moe, 2018; unesco, 2018; world development report, 2018; hanson et al., 2011). the sustained interest in the achievement outcomes at the primary level of education is reinforced by the fact that the quality of learning at this stage is crucial to later learning proficiencies and life’s opportunities (fredriksen & kagia, 2013; unesco, 2018; bashir et al., 2018; united nations [un], 2015). in the ghanaian context, evidence from the assessment of early and primary grade-levels in national assessments shows statistically significant differences in children from rural and urban schools (moe, 2014; moe, 2016a). consistently, preschool and primary-level children from rural schools underachieve in national examinations when compared with children from urban schools (moe, 2016b; moe, 2018). this study examines the unique impact of the location of schools in rural and urban areas on the achievement levels of ghanaian primary school children in the national nyatsikor, abroampa & esia-donkoh, impact of school locale on competencies 73 education assessment tests in mathematics and english language. school location and pupils’ academic achievement studies and reports across different contexts have, for the most part, concluded that pupils from urban schools achieved higher grades than those from rural schools (destin, hanselman, buontempo, tipton, yeager, 2019; moe, 2016a; bashir, et al., 2018; bofah & hannula, 2015). some studies have suggested the differences in the social-economic characteristics of children from rural and urban schools as the main driver of the existing achievement gaps (ryan, koczberski, curry & germis, 2017; broer, bai & fonseca, 2019). parents of rural school children are generally unable to provide the educational needs for their children because of poverty. this constraint negatively affects the academic potentials of the child as evidenced by prior studies (bofah & hannula, 2017; bofah & hannula, 2015). thus, children from economically disadvantaged households are typically educationally disadvantaged right from the onset of their formal education (bashir et al., 2018; kim, cho & kim, 2019; organization for economic co-operation and development [oecd], 2016). moreover, available data from ghana suggest that many of the rural dwelling parents are semi-literate, hence, unable to assist their children in school or academic-related tasks (ghana statistical service [gss], 2014). for instance, 33.1% of the population who had never attended school live in rural areas in contrast to 14.2% in the urban areas (gss, 2012). other studies have suggested that urban schools outperform their rural counterparts because they tend to have higher expectations and are more likely to have parents who participate in school activities (adeyemi, adediran & adewole, 2018; prasertcharoensuk & tapkhwa, 2016). the achievement gaps between rural and urban schools have also been linked to the differences in the professional characteristics of teachers serving in rural and urban schools (nyatsikor, sosu, mtika & robson, 2020; hill, charalambous & chin, 2019; bhai & horoi, 2019). urban schools are often staffed with teachers who are more experienced and possess higher academic and professional qualifications than teachers in rural schools (moe, 2018; bashir et al., 2018). even though there is a plethora of research showing significant differences in achievement between urban and rural schools, in some cases no significant differences were found. for instance, considine and zappala (2002) found that geographical location does not significantly predict outcomes in school performance in australia. this is because school children in rural australia have access to an adequate number of educational facilities. nonetheless, similar studies from equally developed nations, particularly the usa, reveal stark achievement differences between rural and urban communities (cochran-smith & zeichner, 2005; owens, 2018; reardon, 2011; reardon et al., 2019). though the focus on rural and urban school achievement has caught the attention of researchers and policymakers for decades, this current study extends prior studies by investigating the impact of school location on academic achievement in a methodologically different way. first, an estimation of the unique influence of school location on achievement was done, and secondly, the actual numbers of pupils who achieved or failed to achieve certain levels of competencies using the derived estimates attributed to school location were determined. to achieve this purpose, the following research questions were formulated to guide the study. research questions 1. to what extent do the inequalities in rural and urban schools account for pupils’ achievement in english language and mathematics? 2. how much of the variance in pupils’ achievement can be attributed to schools in different localities of a geographical region? context of the study this study relied on the 2013 wave of the ghana national education assessment [gnea] data. the gnea started in 2005 and it is held biennially by the rti international and the usaid in collaboration with the ghana education service. the purpose of the assessment is to assess primary 3 (in 2016 primary 4 pupils examined) and primary 6 pupils’ competence in mathematics and the english language subjects (moe, 2014; moe, 2016a). the primary 3 (p3) and 6 (p6) pupils were assessed and scored over a 30-item and 40-item test respectively. pupils’ achievement was assessed at three levels but different cut-off points for the two grade-levels. for the p3 mathematics and english language tests, pupils who answered a maximum of 10 items correctly (i.e. below 35%) performed “below minimum competency”. pupils who correctly answered a minimum of 11 and a maximum of 16 items (i.e. 35% 54%) attained “minimum competency” while those who correctly answered at least 17 items or better (i.e. ≥ 55%) were “competent”. in the case of the p6 sample, global journal of transformative education (2020) vol 2 nyatsikor, abroampa & esia-donkoh, impact of school locale on competencies 74 global journal of transformative education (2020) vol 2 pupils who correctly answered up to 13 items (i.e. below 35%) performed “below minimum competency”. pupils who had 14 up to 21 marks (i.e. 35% 54%) attained “minimum competency” while those who correctly answered at least 22 items or better (i.e. ≥ 55%) were “competent” in a subject (see table 1 for performance distribution by subject and grade-levels). the data in table 2 show considerable differences in the achievement of rural and urban pupils in both subjects at the two grade-levels. the percentage of children from urban schools who were competent in both subjects for the two grade-levels was higher than those from rural schools. on the other hand, the percentage distributions of the performances below minimum competency were higher for pupils from the rural schools for both subjects and grade-levels. the percentage distributions of performance levels show significant connections between school locality and achievement. however, it is impossible to determine the unique effect of school location on the performance of pupils. this is because the influence of the location of schools on achievement is confounded by other factors including the characteristics of the pupils (e.g. age and gender), schools (e.g. type and class size), and districts (e.g. resource levels). methodology design, sample, and sampling the study employed descriptive cross-sectional survey design. the study population comprised of primary school pupils from all the 10 regions in ghana (currently there are 16 regions following the re-demarcation of 4 regions). the target population was the p3 and p6 pupils. the p3 sample size was 16,481 pupils [equivalent weighted sample = 93,008] from 448 schools [equivalent weighted sample = 12,734]. the p6 sample comprised 14,495 pupils [equivalent weighted sample = 81,319] from 426 [equivalent weighted sample = 12,393]. the weighted school values are derived by dividing the total number of primary schools (which had a class size of at least ten pupils) in a region by the number of sampled schools from that region. for example, there were 1,821 primary 3 schools in the eastern region out of which 55 participated in the assessment. the sample weight for schools in the eastern region is therefore 33.11 (i.e. 1,821÷55 = 33.11). thus, each school that participated in the assessment from the table 2: performance levels of p3 and p6 pupils by school location nyatsikor, abroampa & esia-donkoh, impact of school locale on competencies 75 eastern region represented 33.11 schools. the weighted pupils’ sample is derived by multiplying the weighted school value for each region by the number of pupils sampled from that region. for instance, the weighted sample (57,312) for the p3 pupils from the eastern region is derived by multiplying 33.11 by the total number of pupils (1,731) sampled from the 55 schools in the region. schools were selected using stratified random sampling. schools were stratified by regions and sorted by district, locality (urban or rural), school type (public or private) and enrolment size within the regions (moe, 2014). schools with less than 10 pupils in the class were excluded. randomly, 55 schools were sampled with equal probability from each region except ashanti and northern regions where 54 schools each were selected because a school from each of these 2 regions was not in session at the time the test was administered. according to the moe (2014), the reliability of the test was determined using spss kuder-richardson-20 (kr20) tests. alpha values of 0.89 and 0.84 were achieved for the p6 mathematics and english language tests respectively. alpha values of 0.82 and 0.84 were achieved for the p3 mathematics and english language tests respectively. the test questions were developed based on the specified topics in the national curricula. the english language test questions covered listening; reading comprehension; and usage (grammatical structure) domains. the mathematics test covered four domains namely: basic operations; numbers and numerals; measurement, shape and space; and collection and handling of data. the return rate for the answered scripts was 100% (moe, 2014). variables independent variable the independent variable for the study is ‘school location’ and was designated rural (0) or urban (1). in ghana, urban localities are those with more than 60% of its residents engaged in non-agricultural activities in addition to having a minimum population size of 5,000. otherwise, it is not urban (gss, 2012). urban schools have relatively better educationally-relevant resources than rural schools in terms of quantity and quality. there are more qualified teachers and better teaching and learning resources in urban than rural schools (moe, 2014; moe, 2018). the availability and quality of social amenities like potable water, functional electricity, , accessible roads, medical care, and internet connectivity are relatively better in urban communities when compared with rural communities (blampied, et al, 2018; united nations international cultural educational fund [unicef] and centre for democratic development [cdd]-ghana, 2019). parents of rural school children are predominantly peasant farmers who live in poverty (gss, 2012; blampied et al., 2018). levels of education, incomes and employment opportunities in the rural areas are significantly low and limited compared with those living in urban areas. as a result, rurality in ghana connotes low socioeconomic status whereas urbanicity is associated with higher socioeconomic status (gss, 2012; moe, 2018; blampied et al., 2018). hence, in this study context, rural schools are used as a proxy for low ses while urban schools are used as a proxy for high ses. according to the gss (2012) approximately 37.0% of children from primary grade 1 to 6 live in rural areas compared with 22.2% in urban areas. in this study, 77.9% of the p3 schools were located in rural communities compared with 22.1% in urban communities while 77.7% and 22.3% of the p6 schools were in rural and urban communities respectively. covariates five variables were controlled to account for their influence on pupils’ achievement. these were pupils’ gender (coded; male = 0; female = 1) and age, class size, school type (coded; public = 0; private = 1) and district type (coded; deprived = 1; non-deprived = 0). dependent variables the two dependent variables are mathematics and english language achievement scores for the primary 3 and 6 pupils who participated in the 2013 wave of the ghana national education assessment test. data screening and management data were analysed using a multilevel modelling technique. two exclusion criteria were applied to arrive at the final sample size. the first criterion was the exclusion of all schools not labelled as either rural or urban. the second criterion, which is based on statistical and methodological considerations was the exclusion of all schools which had less than 10 pupils in a class (see hox, moerbeek, van de schoot, 2017; heck & thomas, 2015). applying these two criteria, data on 100 p3 schools (equivalent weighted sample = 2,843) comprising 2,977 pupils (equivalent weighted sample = 80,004) and 122 p6 schools (equivalent weighted sample = 3,468) comprising 2,952 pupils (equivalent weighted sample = 79,990) from the ten regions were excluded from the analysis. all the variable codes for the dichotomous variables were grand mean centred. global journal of transformative education (2020) vol 2 nyatsikor, abroampa & esia-donkoh, impact of school locale on competencies 76 likewise, the continuous and dependent variables were grand mean centred. the grand mean centred achievement score for each pupil is the difference between a pupil’s raw score and the grand mean achievement score derived from all pupils involved in the study. grand mean centering ensured that the variances of the intercept and the slopes in the regression have a clear interpretation when all explanatory variables are equal to zero (hox et al., 2017). data analysis procedure the first stage of the analysis was to partition pupils’ achievement as a null or intercept-only model to estimate the intra-class correlation coefficient (icc). the outcome of this partitioning helped to determine whether multilevel modelling was required to analyse the data (hox et al., 2017; heck & thomas, 2015). at stage two, the five covariates (pupils’ gender, age, class size, school, and district types) were introduced into the model to quantify their influence on pupils’ achievement. the third and final stage of the analysis was the introduction of the independent variable (school location) into the model to estimate its unique influence on pupils’ achievement. from the estimates derived, the numbers of pupils who attained specific levels of proficiencies in both subjects on merit or as a result of the inequalities between rural and urban schools are determined. the second part of the analysis examined the unique influence of the location of schools on the achievement of pupils in each of the ten regions. achievement for the p3 pupils from rural schools was 11.2 and 11.6 while that for urban schools was 14.0 and 15.9 for mathematics and english language. the mean mathematics and english language achievement for the p6 pupils from rural schools was 14.3 and 16.8 while that for urban schools was 17.1 and 24.0 for mathematics and english language. preliminary analysis of the data using the t-test showed statistically significant (p-value = 0.000) mean differences in achievement between rural and urban schools for both subjects. in supplemental table 1 [use link to view table], the fixed effects estimates show that the p3 pupils who attended rural schools on average, earned 2 marks (b = -2.085, χ2 = 16.8, -2ll = 21, df = 6, p = 0.000) and 1 mark less (b = -1.498, χ2 =16.8, -2ll =16, df = 6, p = 0.000) in the english language and mathematics respectively when compared with those who attended urban schools. the unconditional models for the p3 sample revealed that a greater proportion of the achievement variances in the english language (54.8%) and mathematics (63.5%) remained unexplained by the number of variables investigated. school-level inequalities accounted for 29.7% and 28.4% of achievement differences in english language and mathematics respectively. district level differences also influenced achievement variances in the english language (15.5%) and mathematics (8.9%). in supplemental table 2, the fixed effects estimates show that the p6 pupils who attended rural schools were predicted to have attained approximately 4 marks (b = -3.654, χ2 = 16.8, -2ll = 35, df = 6, p = 0.000) global journal of transformative education (2020) vol 2 results descriptive analysis the descriptive information about the school and pupil characteristics is presented in table 3. the samples from public schools for both grade-levels were at least 5 times more than those from private schools. similarly, the number of rural schools was more than thrice of urban schools. the mean class size for the p3 sample was bigger for urban schools (62.7) than the rural schools (47.2). the respective class sizes for the p6 urban and rural schools were 64.8 and 43.9. the average ages for the p3 pupils from the rural and urban schools were 10.9 and 10.4 respectively. as well, the average ages for the p6 pupils from the rural and urban schools were 13.8 and 13.3 respectively. the mean mathematics and english language nyatsikor, abroampa & esia-donkoh, impact of school locale on competencies 77 and 1 mark less (b = -1.401, χ2 = 16.8, 2ll = 17, df = 6, p = 0.000) in the english language and mathematics tests respectively. the unconditional models for the p6 sample indicated that respectively 54.2% and 70.1% of the variances in achievement for english language and mathematics remained unexplained given the number of variables investigated. school-level differences accounted for 29.1% and 20.5% of the achievement variances in english language and mathematics respectively while district-level differences accounted for 16.7% and 9.4% of achievement variances in english language and mathematics respectively. the next stage of the analysis was to determine the number of pupils who attained or failed to attain specific levels of competency after accounting for the existing inequalities between rural and urban schools. as an example, the estimate derived for p3 english language achievement is used to calculate the number of pupils who attained specific levels of proficiency. from the results, 2 marks are added to the initial scores obtained by each pupil. as a result, pupils who initially scored 0 to 8 mark(s) would now earn between 2 and 10 marks; a performance below minimum competence (see table 1). pupils who initially scored 9 and 10 marks (i.e. below minimum competence) would now earn between 11 and 12 marks to attain “minimum competency”. next, we add 2 marks to the minimum mark (i.e. 11) for attaining minimum competency level to get 13 marks. this means all pupils who initially scored 11 to 13 marks were influenced by the existing inequalities between rural and urban schools. those who scored 14 marks up to 16 marks attained minimum competency on merit. by the same analogy, all pupils who were competent but had between 17 up to 19 marks attained this level of achievement due to specific factors associated with the location of schools. consequently, pupils who correctly answered a minimum of 20 out of the total 30 items in the test were those who achieved competency on merit after accounting for the impact of school location. the same procedure is used to estimate the number of pupils who attained or failed to attain specific competencies in the remaining subjects across both grade-levels as presented in table 4. the existing inequalities in rural and urban schools had cascading effects on pupils’ achievement at all levels of expected competencies in both subjects. controlling for the inequalities in school localities, the results indicated that 2,873 (70.3%) out of the 4,089 and 2,256 (69.6%) out of the 3,243 pupils were meritoriously competent in p3 english language and mathematics respectively. the remaining 1,216 (29.7%) and 987 (30.4%) pupils were competent in p3 english language and mathematics respectively as gains derived from the location of the schools they attended. a total of 3,060 (63.3%) of the 4,837 and 2,424 (42.7%) of the 5,680 pupils attained minimum competency in p3 english language and mathematics respectively as a unique contribution from the location of the schools they global journal of transformative education (2020) vol 2 attended. respectively, 1,777 (36.7%) and 3,256 (57.3%) attained minimum competency in english language and mathematics on merit. a total of 4,869 (64.4%) out of the 7,555 and 6,219 (82.3%) out of the 7,558 pupils performed below minimum competency in p3 english language and mathematics tests on merit. the remaining 2,686 (35.6%) and 1,339 (17.7%) pupils performed below minimum competency in english language and mathematics tests respectively as a result of the deficiencies associated with the location of the schools they attended. in respect of the p6 sample, 3,339 (63.8%) out of the 5,232 and 878 (58.4%) out of the 1,504 pupils were competent in english language and mathematics respectively on nyatsikor, abroampa & esia-donkoh, impact of school locale on competencies 78 merit. the remaining 1,893 (36.2%) and 626 (41.6%) pupils achieved competency level in english language and mathematics respectively as a result of the advantages associated with the location of the schools they attended. similarly, 3,088 (70.5%) of the 4,378 and 2,417 (34.0%) of the 7,117 pupils attained minimum competency in english language and mathematics respectively as an influence from the location of the schools they attended. precisely, 1,290 (29.5%) and 4,700 (66.0%) pupils attained minimum competency in english language and mathematics on merit. likewise, 1,781 (36.5%) of the 4,885 and 4,671 (79.5%) of the 5,874 p6 pupils performed below minimum competency in english language and mathematics respectively on merit. the remaining 3,104(63.5%) and 1,203(20.5%) of the p6 pupils performed below minimum competency in english language and mathematics respectively as a result of the deficits associated with the location of the schools they attended. the second objective of the study was to determine the extent of the influence of school location on pupil’s achievement in each of the regions. the results for both subjects and grade-levels are presented in supplemental tables 3-6. in supplemental table 3, the fixed effects estimates show that the impact of the rural schools on the p3 english language achievement for the ashante (b = -1.004), upper west (b = -1.484), upper east (b = -1.968) and western (b = -.254) regions were less than the national average of 2 marks (b = -2.085). the impact for brong ahafo (b = -2.893), eastern (b = -6.477), greater accra (b = -3.846), northern (b = 3.038), central (b = -2.093), and volta (b = -2.355) regions were greater than the national average. with respect to the p3 mathematics achievement, the fixed effects estimates in supplemental table 4 show that the ashante (b = -.348), volta (b = -.968), upper east (b = 1.191) and western (b = -.481) regions had average values less than the national average of 1 mark (b = 1.498). the remaining regions including brong ahafo (b = -2.259), central (b = -1.838), eastern (b = -5.486), greater accra (b = -2.908), northern (b = 2.219), and upper east (b = -2.279) had greater average values than that of the nation. in respect of the p6 english language achievement the fixed effects estimates in supplemental table 5 show that the ashante (b = -1.376), greater accra (b = -2.769), northern (b = .963), upper east (b = -2.970) and western (b = -.989) regions recorded less average impact than the national average of 4 marks (b = 3.654). the central (b = -4.544), eastern (b = -8.038) and upper west (b = -5.952), brong ahafo (b = -4.474), and volta (b = -4.112) regions had greater mean values than the national average. in supplemental table 6, the fixed effects estimates show that the estimates for brong ahafo (b = -1.962), central (b = -2.321), eastern (b = -3.534), upper west (b = -2.335), volta (b = -2.623) were greater than the national average for p6 mathematics (b = 1.401). the ashante (b = -.243), greater accra (b = -.220), northern (b =.270) and western (b =.130) and upper east (b = -1.036) regions recorded lesser impact than the national average. consistently across grade-levels and subjects, rural schools contributed negatively to pupils’ achievement except for the northern and western (p6 mathematics achievement only) regions where the average achievement of rural schools was higher than urban schools. the eastern and western regions respectively came up as the regions with the most and least variances in achievement attributed to inequalities in rural and urban schools in ghana. the implications of the results are discussed in the next section. discussion of results the unconditional models for both grade-levels and subjects indicated significant differences between school and district-level achievements. for the p3 sample, three of the covariates (i.e. pupils’ age, district type, and school type) contributed significantly to achievement in both subjects (see supplemental table 1). the average achievement for relatively younger pupils was higher than older pupils while schools in deprived districts performed poorer compared with those in non-deprived districts. the types of schools pupils attend had the greatest impact on achievement. children from private schools significantly outperformed those from public schools. gender was significant only for mathematics achievement where boys did better than girls. there was no significant difference in achievement between genders with respect to the english language. the impact of class size on achievement in both subjects was not statistically significant. for the p6 sample, all the five variables that were controlled made statistically significant impacts on pupils’ achievement in both subjects. children from private schools outperformed their counterparts from public schools, boys performed better than girls while relatively younger children outperformed the relatively older peers. moreover, children from deprived schools performed poorer than those from non-deprived schools. relatively smaller class sizes were not global journal of transformative education (2020) vol 2 nyatsikor, abroampa & esia-donkoh, impact of school locale on competencies 79 associated with improvement in achievement. the specific degrees of impact for each of the covariates are presented in supplemental table 2. the advantages and disadvantages associated with the location of schools in specific communities produced corresponding gains and deficits in pupils’ achievement. the results suggested that if conditions and educational resources in rural schools were improved by 1 unit, 2,686, and 1,339 more pupils would have at least attained minimum competency in the p3 english language and mathematics tests respectively. in same vein, 3,104(63.5%) and 1,203(20.5%) more of the p6 pupils would have at least attained minimum competency in english language and mathematics respectively had they attended schools in urban localities. the advantage of attending schools in certain parts of the country is evidenced by the 1,216(29.7%) and 1,893(36.2%) pupils who were predicted to be competent in the p3 and p6 english language tests respectively solely by attending urban schools. likewise, 987(30.4%) and 626(41.6%) pupils were competent in p3 and p6 mathematics solely by attending urban schools. the results suggest that pupils from rural schools achieved less than their peers from urban schools as a result of certain unfavourable conditions associated with attending schools in rural localities. the advantages and disadvantages inherent with urban and rural schools have been explored in many contexts (moe, 2016a; bashir, et al. 2018; çiftçi & cin, 2018; cochran-smith et al., 2012). unanimously, these studies found that pupils from urban schools achieved higher grades than those from rural schools. rural and urban communities serve as different psychological environments for children who share different resources, hazards, and opportunity structures. they may also have different life course options, and patterns of social interactions unique to the school catchment area (bronfenbrenner, 2005; tudge, mokrova, hatfield & karnik, 2009). as aptly observed by rogošić and baranović (2016), the differences in educational success can be attributed to different levels of existing social capital, which is produced in networks and connections of families that the school serves. a significant number of the rural schools in ghana are disproportionately located in districts deprived of basic social amenities (e.g. electricity, internet), educational resources (e.g. less qualified teachers, teaching and learning materials), and economic opportunities to provide regular incomes for parents. parents of rural school pupils are primarily peasant farmers and are characterised by high levels of poverty and illiteracy (gss, 2015). these constraints significantly affect schools, parents and community-wide abilities to support the pro-academic activities of rural school children. the current covid-19 pandemic with its concomitant negative effects on education has further exacerbated the woes of the largely rural communities and schools in ghana. children in rural schools are unable to participate in the various remote digital learning initiatives rolled out by the ghana education service. for the most part, internet connectivity is poor in rural communities and, where connectivity is possible parents are unable to afford data for internet use. unlike urban communities, some rural communities do not have electricity to benefit from the government’s strategy of teaching children via national television stations. the differing opportunities for children living in different parts of the country contribute to the widening of the achievement gaps (nyatsikor et al., 2020; moe, 2016b). the second research question explored the impact of school location on the achievement of pupils within specific regions and the results reveal two important educational concerns. first, rural schools in the northern and western (for p6 mathematics achievement only) regions positively contributed to achievement in contrast with extant literature which suggests otherwise (bashir et al., 2018; moe, 2018). like the rural localities, many of the urban localities in the northern region are equally deprived of basic social, economic and educational amenities that support effective teaching and learning (blampied et al., 2018; moe, 2018; unicef and cdd-ghana, 2016). as a result, school locale becomes inconsequential since school children experience similar challenges and opportunities. though this deprivation is prevalent in many parts of the country, available data suggest it is acute in the northern region (moe, 2016a; moe, 2018, unicef and cdd-ghana, 2016). thus, the communities in which children attend schools serve as achievement opportunities and in the case of the northern region, these opportunities are significantly similar for all schools regardless of their status as rural or urban. in sharp contrast to the northern region, there was a strikingly wide gap in achievement by pupils from rural and urban schools in the eastern region, particularly for english language achievement. consistently, rural children from the eastern region were significantly disadvantaged. the persistent underachievement of rural schools (except for the northern region) suggests global journal of transformative education (2020) vol 2 nyatsikor, abroampa & esia-donkoh, impact of school locale on competencies 80 inherent handicapping conditions associated with rural schools which create a “deficit model” for children’s inability to receive superior education (fan & chen, 2001; hornby & lafaele, 2011). the significant gaps in pupils’ achievement linked to school location may confirm the existence of extreme differences in the characteristics of the factors (e.g. socio-economic and educational resources) affecting school attainment in this part of the country. from the study results, it can be concluded that a major part of the generally low academic achievement among primary school children in ghana is the uneven resources available to rural and urban schools as well as their socioeconomic backgrounds. conclusion the study investigated the impact of school location on primary grades 3 and 6 pupils’ academic achievement and found significant differences in achievement attributable to existing inequalities in rural and urban schools. rural schools are deficient in many resources needed to facilitate effective teaching and learning leading to improved outcomes. rural schoolchildren are characterised by high levels of poverty (low ses) relative to their urban counterparts (high ses). the cumulative impact of the disparities in social, economic and educational resources and opportunities for schools and communities is the achievement gaps between rural and urban school children. the results for the northern region call for a more comprehensive and robust investigation including the assessment of the threshold of indicators (e.g. economic, social, educational, and infrastructural resources) used to classify localities into rural and urban. the gaps in the achievement due to the location of schools in different parts of the country appear to suggest that children’s present and possibly future educational fortunes depend on which part of the country they live in. this may be a testament to suggest that ghana may not be achieving the goal of providing an equitable and inclusive education for all children as required by the country’s educational policy and international goals (united nations, 2015; moe, 2015). with approximately 37.0% of primary school level children living in rural areas compared with 22.2% in urban areas (gss, 2012), it presupposes that more children in rural communities may continue to record low achievements in selected school subjects if the disadvantages associated with attending rural schools are not addressed. ghana may therefore need to invest more resources per pupil to bridge the achievement gap between the rural and urban primary school children. it is imperative to suggest that any attempt aimed at closing the rural and urban achievement gaps must not gloss over the more fundamental preschool level. many studies have found statistically significant connections between the quality of preschools and primary school achievement (bakken, brown & downing, 2017; oecd, 2017). implications of the study the findings from the study have enduring implications for all stakeholders in education. some rural school children failed to be competent, attained minimum competency or performed below minimum competency in both subjects because of the inequalities between rural and urban schools. data from the ghana statistical service provides evidence of the significant differences between the socioeconomic and educational resources and opportunities for urban and rural dwellers. as developing country, majority of the population in the country are characterised by high levels of poverty. however, rural schools and children experience more disadvantages (e.g. educational and economic) and live in higher levels of poverty than their urban counterparts. it is incumbent on stakeholders, therefore, to ensure that the existing disparities between rural and urban parts of the country are bridged to close the achievement gaps between rural and urban school children. limitations of the study this study examined the influence of school location on primary level achievement in mathematics and english language subjects and found significant achievement gaps between rural and urban schools. however, the unavailability of certain data to account for (e.g. pupils’ prior achievement, teacher effect, school attendance history, household wealth, and parental support and community resources) may have overor under-estimated the effects attributed to school location. acknowledgment the lead author is grateful to the usaid and rti international (the primary owners of the dataset) for the permission to use the ghana 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(eds.). (2022). transformative approaches to social justice education: equity and access in the college classroom. routledge. 304 pp. $ 31.96 (paperback), isbn: 978-0367551032 while social justice has become an increasing priority in many public institutions in the country, the difference, power, and discrimination program at oregon state university has been enlightening undergraduates for 30 years. born out of student advocacy and the faculty that supports them, the program is an established collection of diversity education courses and faculty training seminars. the program has survived budget cuts, critics, and other challenges throughout its 30 years. transformative approaches to social justice education describes the methods of the program pragmatically and unflinchingly so readers of the book can apply them to their classrooms. m. a. medved. global journal of transformative education (2022) vol 3 doi 10.14434/gjte.v3i1.34260 open access published by the global insitutute of transformative education (http://www.gite.education) © zhaoyi, 2022. open access this journal is distributed under the terms of the creative commons attribution noncommercial nonderivative 4.0 international license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction without revision in any non-commercial medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the creative commons license, book review michelle a. medved full listing of authors and contacts can be found at the end of this article. introduction the book is comprised of four sections, all of which feature strategies and methods from dpd faculty that teach undergraduate students about different aspects of identity. accessibility needs, race, gender, sexuality, and economic class differences are all addressed in the book. additionally, a wide array of techniques is utilized throughout the book. everything from collaborating with archivists and farmworker unions to incorporating social justice into stem coursework is discussed. dpd is a requirement for undergraduates within their general education classes, but it does not add to the number of credits the students need to take (osei-kofi, et al., 2021, p. x-xi). it has the two-fold benefits of both broadening white students’ perspectives and helping students from historically marginalized groups feel more included. faculty have also benefited from this program, which features specific training programs to help faculty embody the spirit of dpd within their classes and pedagogy. the following review will cover the book’s four sections in order, touching on its fifteen chapters and their respective authors. the first section, “archives and power: engaging history collaboratively,” covers the history of the dpd program and how to incorporate diverse narratives through history. the second section, “frameworks for transformative pedagogies” discusses the challenges of making courses more accessible both in the classroom and online. “destabilizing dominant narratives,” the third section, addresses the triumphs and challenges of teaching difficult subjects such as race, economic class, and transgender rights. the final section, “rethinking approaches to disciplinary content” provides the reader with meaningful ways to incorporate social justice topics in both stem and humanities-based courses. medved transformative approaches to social justice education page 39 section 1: archives and power: engaging history collaboratively echoing the sentiments of the introduction, the first chapter by kali furman addresses the circumstances in which the dpd program was created. it starts by addressing the racist founding of the state of oregon. oregon’s state constitution is the only one created with a clause banning black people from residing there (p. 4). when oregon state university was founded, it too became an institution based on the interests of white americans, including being established on the stolen land of native americans (p. 5). over time, the demands of students and the student body’s diversity have grown. after incidences of racism on campus over the decades, student activists proposed creating a diversity education program to try to make the university more inclusive (p. 3). the fact that the dpd program has survived multiple budget cuts and other threats to its existence, is a testament to the power of osu student advocacy and the faculty that supports them. the creation of the program and its continued existence demonstrates the ongoing need for such a program at a primarily white institution. crucially, furman notes that white and students of color still have “divergent” experiences at osu (p. 5). consequently, the legacy of “student activism and institutional moves to create offices or programs” to undertake “issues around diversity and inequity continue today” (p. 5). the following two chapters, written by archivist natalia fernandez and ethnic scholar natchee blu barnd, feature methods for teaching social justice through history. fernandez shares the powerful possibilities for archival texts to promote social justice both within osu and in the larger community. she shares her collaboration with professors to create eye-opening document analysis activities for students. when voices were absent from the osu archives, fernandez sought to find representation for them. fernandez and boovy co-founded the osu queer archives in 2014 and have expanded it with the help of student interviewers (pp. 22-25). barnd’s chapter details his students’ creation of social justice tours of the college town in which osu is located. he describes how walking tours “remind us to pay attention to our relationships to the land (and its people) wherever we find ourselves,” something that he attributes to his upbringing as an indigenous man (p. 43). from the beginning of each course, “the students directly practice techniques for collecting, analyzing, and incorporating community histories and highlighting contested productions of geography, especially in relation to race and racism” (p. 44). after taking a tour, the shared stories come to him every time he walks by that location. both fernandez and barnd provide practical ways to implement these activities and events. universities’ archival resources provide transformative tools for sharing new perspectives on history with students. section 2: frameworks for transformative pedagogies chapters four and five carry important reminders of equity and accessibility for anyone in the education field. written by jenkins and smith, chapter four covers instructional design and their efforts to improve the accessibility of courses for students with disabilities through the principles of universal design. jenkins also shares her experiences with having disabilities while in academia. their chapter discusses the ubiquity of ableism in academia and how universal design principles can help fight ableism (pp. 68-69). the chapter features recommendations for implementation, including a tool for identifying the perceived challenges of an assignment and encouraging consideration for what consequences an academic requirement might have (pp. 76-78). they suggest providing options that best fit the needs of students including flexible attendance and multiple modalities to demonstrate learning (pp. 80-83). in chapter five, myers expounds on many of the same concerns as jenkins and smith but for online academic settings. she argues, “design principles for accessibility should be a baseline” for online course design and suggests going further by including cultural responsiveness (p. 99). because online courses can exasperate inequities and accessibility issues, myers explains some of the steps that instructors can take to allow flexibility, alleviate some of the instructor-student power imbalances, and enlighten students to institutional discrimination through course tasks (pp. 90-96). myers successfully brings awareness to considerable injustices and guides online instructors on how to promote greater equity and accessibility in their courses. chapters six and seven share many commonalities in the internal, empathetic work that they suggest instructors and students take part in to bring greater awareness to injustices. though the chapters cover different frameworks, they are both highly internalized and potentially emotionally difficult. clough warns in chapter six that teaching peace literacy requires a deep personal understanding of one’s biases and it can be global journal of transformative education (2022) vol 3 page 40 global journal of transformative education (2022) vol 3 draining (p.106). pitcher and martinez note in chapter seven that the sentipensante work, largely done through reflective activities, is not something that everyone is ready for, especially in a public setting (p.136). if one is ready to take on this work, then clough suggests peace literacy to build empathic soft skills and promote consciousness to both personal and structural biases and the systems that perpetuate them (pp. 106-107). pitcher and martinez describe sentipensante as more of a belief system to promote one’s sense of belonging and restore their sense of being able to live their life wholly (pp. 127-129). although powerful philosophies, both chapters hint at the challenges of tackling emotional issues correctly in the classroom. there needs to be extensive training and personal reflection on the instructor’s part to lead these types of activities (p. 129). these chapters should serve as a primer to these frameworks and further exploration should be done before attempting to use them in the classroom. however, when well done, students can “gain confidence, find strength, and resilience through their narratives combined with history and social issues” (p. 135). section 3: destabilizing dominant narratives containing some of the most engaging chapters of the book, section three aims directly at how to teach difficult topics of social justice and the impact a professor’s positionality can have on student interpretations of the content. though positionality is prominent in transformative approaches, it is particularly addressed in how this section and section four’s ronald mize approach their respective social justice issues. chapters eight and nine prioritize bringing greater positionality to their respective fields. in chapter eight, rakes and driskill write about the specific inclusion of trans studies as part of its queer studies program. within the field of queer studies, white voices have been dominant, and osu’s qs courses work to disrupt that focus. instead, by giving privilege to voices from people of color, various levels of (dis)abilities, and income levels, osu’s program promotes intersectionality (pp. 146, 149). in doing this, white students must consider the spectrum of experiences and identities among the lgbtq+ community and who is impacted by systems of oppression. they then teach how to grapple with anger at systemic oppression and put it towards “the fruit of collective liberation” instead of using anger to be destructive (p. 144). in chapter nine, maldonado focuses on the ways that she incorporates intersectionality into her latinx studies classes by including race and ethnicity, gender, and labor rights. she also reflects on how her own identity as a latina impact how she is perceived by students. many of her students have never had a latinx educator before and they sometimes respond in different ways. students of color may be validated by her presence and some, primarily white students seem to think she brings a “latinx agenda” (pp. 160-161). these reactions from students bring a lot of assumptions to what can already be a difficult topic to teach. additionally, maldonado explains how she handles students who do not believe in her course’s relevance. she offers strategies to help students make personal connections and classroom exercises to discuss inequalities, workers’ rights, and unions (pp. 167-168). her inclusion of student reactions underlines both the work that educators of color can achieve, but also the biases they may encounter from others. growing up working-class herself, hurst references back to her own identity in chapter ten. there seems to be a blind spot for the role economic class plays in a person’s identity, privilege, and understanding of the world. hurst explains that while directly addressing economic class in the classroom is forceful, equally important is maintaining the privacy of those less privileged. sharing personal experiences can be uncomfortable or even humiliating, especially for those that are less privileged. instead, she suggests personal reflective exercises on privilege should be done privately or anonymously (pp. 181-182). however uncomfortable, we must keep tackling economic class and privilege. in talking about class, she explains, it helps “us build those necessary alliances between black, brown, and white people” to stop the “racists” from winning (p. 175). boovy and osei-kofi finish the section by describing their individual experiences teaching about race at a predominantly white institution. they argue that osu’s history, culture, and legacy all carry white dominance, which is why teaching about race is so crucial (p. 192). the teaching method that they share is “teacher as text” which started as a way for teachers to demonstrate their authentic selves and help students learn complexity around social issues like race, poverty, and police brutality (p. 193). both writers share their own experiences of how their identities impacted how students respond to them for better or worse (pp. 196-201). they agree that misunderstandings will happen when teaching about race, which is why race must continue to be addressed (pp. 200-202). medved transformative approaches to social justice education page 41 section 4: rethinking approaches to disciplinary content koehlinger and freehling-burton begin the section by delineating the importance of challenging the christian-based norms of mainstream american culture, for the country is far more religiously diverse than it may appear (p. 207). they share how their faiths impact their teachings and students’ interpretations of their teachings (pp. 208-210). the chapter moves on to historical and contemporary anti-semitism and islamophobia in the u.s. (pp. 216-223). the reader will come away from the chapter reflecting on the perpetration of christian dominance and on how harmful stereotyping of non-christians is damaging to religious tolerance in the u.s. (p. 212). mize is the first generation of his family to have not spent time in the fields. in chapter thirteen, he discusses the intentional design of his course, which focuses on farmworker justice movements throughout american history (p. 237). to tie in the dpd program requirements, there is a particular emphasis placed on “the social construction of difference, the historical and contemporary relevance of racism and other forms of institutional discrimination, and how these social categories shape the lived experiences of farmworkers residing in the united states” (p. 238). he frequently collaborates with a union leader for this course and is quick to explain how service-learning can be done poorly (p. 237). aims to help farmworkers should not be an act of voyeurism (pp. 240-241). mize’s thoughtful analysis of service-learning and consideration for the farmworkers make it one of the more impactful and meaningful chapters of the book. in chapter fourteen, borradaile challenges the perception that social justice education has no place in stem courses. she meaningfully embeds intersections of stem and human rights together, such as how the american government uses surveillance against political and racial groups (p. 257). borradaile provides specifics on navigating these issues and what methods to use. one is using “affinity groups” where students work to come to a consensus on incidents of discrimination that have occurred at their university and how they should respond. students discuss the pros and cons of different actions, recognizing that there often is not a perfect response (253-254). additionally, she shares the unfamiliarity of teaching and learning about emotionally difficult topics for stem instructors and students. borradaile herself had to adjust and she has found that students understand best from first-person narratives. it adds a voice to sometimes complex and difficult topics (255). though challenging, borradaile demonstrates that bridging stem and social justice is possible. chapter fifteen rounds out the book by alluding back to the power of teaching history in a reflective way. richards describes her work to “disrupt students’ notions of objective research” and demonstrates that historical work is “intimate, value-laden, and rich with struggles and questions of self” (p. 268). chappell and richards remind us of the power of primary documents for helping students “see the multiple dimensions of systemic and pervasive mechanisms of oppression in operation on multiple scales (p. 266). by taking classic history teaching methods and layering them with critical analysis, chappell and richards add to what many history educators already do. evaluation as an educator, the themes of social justice and anti-racism have been recently reverberating throughout both the k-12 and postsecondary institutions that i am a part of. it would be easy to write this book off as one following the current trends. however, this compilation sets itself apart because of its thoughtfulness, variety, and experience. few other universities, and institutions for that matter, have a diversity and inclusivity program that is thirty years old. oregon state university was not just following a trend, but in response to student advocacy and demands three decades ago. what better source to learn about teaching social justice than a pioneer in the field? this level of experience is reflected in the various methodologies described in transformative approaches. the best chapters describe thoughtful consideration and planning, drawing from learned experiences and student reactions. they also featured underrepresented topics, such as transgender and disability rights. notably insightful chapters include mize’s “sí, se puede! teaching farmworker justice” and hurst’s “talking about class” for their insight and consideration of both the topics they teach and the students they work with. mize co-planned with a local union leader, deciding that “this could not be yet another class where students learn about farmworkers and to repeat the surface representations of them” (p. 239). mize’s community partnership with a local union, as well as archivist natalia fernandez’s collaborations with faculty, and barnd’s local history tours are all examples of the ways the dpd program extends beyond the osu campus. medved transformative approaches to social justice education global journal of transformative education (2022) vol 3 michelle a. medved (michmedv@iu.edu) is a ph.d. student and associate instructor in the literacy, culture, and language education program in the department of curriculum and instruction, school of education at indiana university bloomington. author many chapters were helpful with specific strategies that could be somewhat simply implemented in busy educators’ lives. myers’ “critical pedagogy online” and jenkins and smith’s chapter covering universal design both provide thoughtful tools for making courses more accessible and flexible –especially pertinent in the time of a pandemic. for a handbook on social justice education, the chapters that featured pragmatic, simple suggestions were often the most valuable. the most difficult chapters often featured pedagogies or frameworks that were out of reach for the average reader. they contained warnings about needing extensive training and not being for everyone. while the chapters served as primers on sentipensante and peace literacy, they also described deeply philosophical (perhaps even spiritual) cognitive work. the chapters provided exercises to utilize but were also tinged with the implication that the pedagogies were extremely difficult to conduct correctly. they seem to be more intimidating than easily accessible. page 42medved transformative approaches to social justice education conclusion transformative approaches incorporates positionality, personal narratives, and experience-tested teaching methods to thoughtfully create a social justice handbook that educators from many fields will find valuable. its personal sentiments and a wide variety of topics set it apart from other resources with a narrower focus. of its highlights are highly implementable strategies that have been time-tested and advocacy for underrepresented topics in diversity education. its few downfalls are simply a few chapters that require much further education or lack realistic recommendations for classroom usage. educators are busy and want practical takeaways. as smith and jenkins describe their approach to increasing course accessibility, it “is a pedagogical practice that requires ongoing commitment and negotiation” (p. 80). achieving greater equity and promoting social justice in educational institutions must also take this long-haul, step by step approach, hence the importance of manageable frameworks and methods like this book provides. ayaga, g. n, & okaya, e. k.. global journal of transformative education (2020) vol 2 doi 10.14434/gjte.v2i1.31198 open access published by the global insitutute of transformative education (http://www.gite.education) © ayaga, g. n., & okaya, e. k. 2020. open access this journal is distributed under the terms of the creative commons attribution noncommercial nonderivative 4.0 international license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction without revision in any non-commercial medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the creative commons license, implications of outdoor environment on children’s learning experiences in public preschools in borabu sub-county, kenya godfrey nyaoga ayaga1 & edward khasakhala okaya2 abstract this paper presents results from a study conducted in borabu sub-county in kenya to determine the implications of outdoor environment on children’s learning experiences in public preschools. the major findings suggest that the general state of outdoor environment component was unsatisfactory. it found a positive relationship between the outdoor environment and pre-schoolers learning experiences and ability to perform loco-motor activities and rhythmic movement activities and general academic achievement. the results further indicated that all the four states of outdoor environments (the site, availability, adequacy and effectiveness) combined to explain 35.2% of the variance in the preschool overall learning experiences. the results indicated that a rich outdoor environment has a positive influence on preschool children‘s development of various social, emotional and cognitive skills. the study recommends that teachers and pupils should participate in outdoor play, and governments should enact policy guidelines to increase the availability, adequacy and effectiveness of outdoor activities. keywords: competency-based curriculum; outdoor environment; learning experiences full listing of authors and contacts can be found at the end of this article. introduction the government of kenya recognizes early childhood development and education as an important pillar for accelerating the attainment of education for all (efa, unesco, 2010) and the sustainable development goals (republic of kenya, 2006). to ensure quality education and learning environment during a child’s formative years, efa’s first goal stipulates that it is the responsibility of every government to expand and enhance comprehensive early childhood education where young boys and girls fully develop their competencies which facilitate smooth learning in other advanced levels. according to a 2002 report by the world fit for children conference, it is important for every child to have a good start to life whereby a child receives quality nurturing, care and safe environment (githinji & kanga, 2011). in this regard, many developing and developed nations have been developing and implementing policies that are perceived to improve the state of early childhood education in various countries (kang’ethe, wakahiu & karanja, 2015), this has galvanized many countries, especially in sub-saharan africa (ssa), into confronting their historically low access to quality early childhood education (murunga, 2015). this has brought a remarkable success in attracting many children into schools (unesco, 2010). however, filling the classrooms is not enough in the process of ensuring access to basic education and education for all. the goal is geared towards having positive social and economic returns in which improving the quality of education is the key emphasis. unfortunately, the 2010 unesco report indicate that the quality in terms of pre-schoolers’ acquisition of early year competencies is not satisfactory in many countries and many preschool learning centres have poorly established learning environment in most sub-saharan africa countries kenya inclusive. ideas of early childhood development and education (ecde) can be traced back to 400bc in plato’s book, “the republic”. plato advocated that early childhood education should be made interesting, and attractive through music, plays, number work and geometrical exercises which are implemented better in a rich ayaga & okaya, outdoor environment & children’s learning 5 a rich outdoor environment (njoroge, 2011). similarly, githinji, & kanga (2011) notes that philosophers like jean jacques, rousseau and jean heinrich pestalozzi emphasizes on the significance rich outdoor environment to help children acquire the necessary skills, knowledge and attitudes necessary for holistic development. in particular, a child’s psycho-social development is a long process that requires a critical mass of organized individuals involved in a variety of participatory educational processes and actions to produce cumulative results (lyabwene, 2010). therefore, the children’s interactions with a rich outdoor environment is necessary for the children’s holistic development and acquisition of early year’s competencies. it has consistently been observed by many scholars that for effective learning to take place, children need mental stimulation and plenty of opportunities to exercise and develop their talents through the use of both fixed and movable equipment (lyabwene, 2010). thus, for preschool centres to foster social competencies, prepare children for future interactions and acquiring of early literacy and numeracy skills, the use of adequate, safe and effective outdoor environment is usually regarded. in the last three decades, the use of rich outdoor environments has held a prominent place in the field of early childhood education since its beginning with german educator friedrich froebel’s kindergarten and nursery school movement in the early 1800s (gray & macblain, 2015). the founders of early childhood education emphasized the importance of learning within a well-established outdoor environment. this was in stark contrast to the predominant theory of the day which held that learning was done within classroom (gray & macblain, 2015). these early educators were viewed as radicals as they promoted the theory that children learn through their interaction with the environment. in the usa, children’s playtime has steadily decreased due to limited access to play spaces, changes in the way children are expected to spend their time, parent concerns for safety, and digital media use among young children (bishop, 2013). social changes and new technologies in the country have also impacted negatively on the way children play and the amount of free time they are given because children between the ages 3-11 use most of their free time at school completing homework and shopping with parents (ginsburg, lee, & boyd, 2008). in addition, lovell (2009) observes that children’s playtime continues to decrease in th usa as a result of an emphasis on academic preparation at an early age, 30% of american kindergarteners no longer have recess, 71% of children and teenagers have a tv in their bedroom, and parental perceived risk of play environments and limited access to outdoor play spaces. a study done by nairn and mori (2011), evaluating the lives of children in united kingdom, spain and sweden, pointed out that children in the united kingdom had less chances for pleasurable outdoor activities compared with spain and sweden and that this was a contributor towards reduced well-being and learning in united kingdom. the study further found that the decisions to reduce funding for outdooor play and spaces was disadvantageous for children, particularly those from poor groups of children whose families struggle to find reasonable play provisions. in singapore, early childhood education remains a self-regulated programme as preschools in the country vary in terms of their programme content and overall teaching and learning approaches, catering to different social strata and cultural groups (wentzuo, 2010). despite of the fact that play should be an integral part of the preschool teaching in the country, it remains unclear whether preschool centres incorporate play-based methods of teaching into their practice as recommended under the kindergarten curriculum framework (peng, 2011). in some instances, preschool supervisors in singapore are not advocating or adopting play-based teaching into their curriculum because of parental expectations and the demands of a meritocratic and economically-driven society that perceives education as a commodity to be obtained for financial success and social mobility (wentzuo, 2010). despite the relevance of early childhood education, tanzania is among african countries that has given early childhood development (ecd) program minimal attention in the past three decades (tarimo, 2013). however, in 2001, the government of tanzania adopted an inter-sectoral ecd service delivery initiative resulting in the inclusion of ecd in the national strategy for growth and reduction of poverty (nsgrp). since then, emphasis has been put on use of child-centered teaching methods (cctms) like the use of play as a teaching approach in both indoor and outdoor teaching (united republic of tanzania, 2008). despite the government’s effort, a report by unicef (2007) indicates that more than 95% of young children in the country lack access to early childhood stimulation characterized by rich outdoor environment. global journal of transformative education (2020) vol 2 ayaga & okaya, outdoor environment & children’s learning 6 global journal of transformative education (2020) vol 2 despite the challenges facing early childhood education in many parts of the world, the early years of a child’s life are globally accepted as the most critical years for the lifelong development of a child (kang’ethe, wakahiu & michael, 2015). in this regard, there is evidence of a positive correlation between the child’s quality of early childhood nurturing, health, environment, learning and future holistic development and academic achievement in subsequent grades in primary, secondary schools and colleges (bradbury, 2007). this fact has been emphasized by most founders of early childhood development and education (ecde), especially johann froebel, heinrich pestalozzi and john dewey, among others who consistently indicated that early childhood is a crucial stage of life in terms of a child’s physical, intellectual, emotional and social development. growth of mental and physical abilities progress at an astounding rate and a very high proportion of learning take place from birth to age six (murunga, 2015). to address the problems inherent in early childhood education in kenya, the constitution of kenya (republic of kenya, 2010) establishes government at two levels, national and county governments. therefore, kenya transited from a centralized government to devolved system of government. with the advent of the implementation of the constitution of kenya (rok, 2010), the devolution process heralded the devolution of pre-school among other devolved functions of the county governments. in this regard, article 43 of the constitution says that every person has a right to education including preschool children. further, the education sector is governed by the basic education act, 2013 and the sessional paper no.14 of 2012 on reforming education and training sectors in kenya. the basic education act, 2013, aims at giving effect to article 53 of the constitution, and to promote and regulate free and compulsory basic education. however, this has not been the case because there is no county government in kenya which provides free preschool education. a major landmark in education in early years learning has been a shift from 8-4-4 system of education to competency based curriculum. the 8-4-4 system of education was introduced in 1985 following the recommendations of the 1981 presidential working party on the establishment of the second university in kenya (republic of kenya, 1981). the guiding philosophy of the system was education for self-reliance. several task force reports as well as summative and formative evaluation reports led to curriculum reviews in 1992, 1995 and 2002. however, these reviews only addressed issues of curriculum content, unnecessary overlaps and emerging issues. the reviews have not adequately addressed fundamental issues that would transform society by enhancing the productivity of every kenyan citizen and accelerate economic growth. the summative evaluation of the curriculum (rok, 2006) indicated that the curriculum content and its implementation was academic and examination-oriented. in addition to curriculum overload, most schools were not adequately provided with equipped workshops to facilitate the learning of practical skills and teachers were not sufficiently trained. furthermore the 8-4-4 system of education did not provide flexible education pathways for identifying and nurturing the talents and interests of learners early enough to prepare them for the world of work, career progression and sustainable development. in the same vein, the 2010 report of the task force on the re-alignment of the education sector to the kenya vision 2030 and constitution of kenya 2010 was formed which led to the sessional paper no. 2 of 2015 on “reforming education and training in kenya” (rok, 2015). the sessional paper states that the education sector is guided by the national philosophy, which places education at the centre stage of the country’s human and economic development. the sessional paper recommends reforming the education and training sector to provide for the development of the individual learner’s potential in a holistic and integrated manner, while producing intellectually, emotionally and physically balanced citizens. it recommended a competency-based curriculum; establishment of a national learning assessment system; early identification and nurturing of talents; the introduction of national values and national cohesion and their integration into the curriculum; and the introduction of three learning pathways at senior secondary school level among others. the competency based curriculum framework vision and mission (rok, 2006) are supported by three important pillars: values, theoretical approaches and guiding principles. currently, in many counties, early childhood education programs operate on the basis of partnership, collaboration and networking. however, in 2003, free primary education was introduction in kenyan primary schools. ecde was not included in this setup despite the fact that most components that make a rich outdoor environment are expensive. with the current poverty index in most rural kenyan setting, most preschool centres operate under poor conditions which are perceived to hinder their full participation and full development ayaga & okaya, outdoor environment & children’s learning 7 global journal of transformative education (2020) vol 2 (ngaruiya, 2006). worse still, parents do not understand why primary education should be free and not early childhood education [ece]; they have therefore begun resisting paying ece fees, choking off a vital source of funding. many county governments have devolved early childhood education to bring efficiency in the management of these units of education. there is, however, a small but convincing body of research knowledge which indicates that there are still many challenges in implementation of early years education in most counties (mahindu, 2011) currently there are disparities in the 47 counties on their priorities in the implementation of early childhood education where some counties have set some reasonable funds to support preschool education, while to other counties, ecde is not a priority in their budgetary allocations. this has resulted in diversity of practices by various county government and stakeholders, compromising the quality of service offered at preschool centres. in kenya, mahindu (2011) conducted a study in nairobi and found that many pre-schools had many children learning indoors without outdoor play experiences because some of the pre-schools were located in residential plots with rooms turned into classrooms. hence children stay indoors most hours of school day. mahindu (2011) also found that many pre-schools did not have play items for their pupils and in most cases where pupils were found playing or learning outside, they were left to play and learn on their own without teachers’ supervision and guidance. the researchers are of the opinion that if the issue of outdoor environment and play is not addressed well with the seriousness it deserves, the quality of preschool education will be hampered leading to negative implications in schooling. there was therefore a necessity to undertake a study to assess the implication of outdoor environment on pre-schoolers’ learning experience. statement of the problem the government of kenya initiated competency-based curriculum in the view to enhance skills of learners. a competency-based approach focuses on the skills and talents needed to be able to perform a particular task to a certain standard. early childhood care and education offers a holistic development of a child’s social, emotional, cognitive and physical needs in order to build a solid and broad foundation for lifelong learning and well-being. this eventually shapes young learners’ minds, attitudes and often behaviours. if it is not well managed its likely to compromise holistic development of these pre-schoolers, leading to maladjustment. this calls for proper structuring of pre-school learning environment to foster creativity of learners through play. it is however becoming clear from emerging research that children spend limited time doing outdoor activities. this is against the findings of current literature and theories of child development that advocate for providing appropriate outdoor learning environment that offers a sense of freedom for children to play freely with peers, expand their imagination beyond the restraints of indoor activities, release energy, and explore their senses of touch, smell, taste and motion. an attempt has been made by the government of kenya, to cater to the well-being of young children, by developing service standard guidelines to ensure that quality services are delivered efficiently and effectively at all times in ecde centres. this was envisaged to ensure the provision of adequate, safe and effective outdoor learning environments. despite the kenyan government’s effort to ensure quality and rich outdoor environments, the strategies and efforts have not been effective due to the current condition of the outdoor environment and equipment in most pre-school learning centres, characterized by inadequacy and unsafe fixed and movable equipment. it is against this setting that the proposed study sought to investigate into the influence of outdoor environment on pre-schoolers’ learning experience. research questions the following specific questions guided the study: i. what is the state of outdoor environment in ecde centres in borabu sub-county? ii. how does the outdoor environment affect children’s learning experiences and physical development in borabu sub-county? ayaga & okaya, outdoor environment & children’s learning 8 global journal of transformative education (2020) vol 2 theoretical framework this study was guided by socio-cultural theory. the theory arises from the works of vygotsky (1978) who emphases on the role socio-cultural factors on children’s development and learning. vygotsky (1978) believed that planned learning should be learner-centred and oriented towards activities through which they can construct their knowledge as a result of recognition of one’s experience. vygotsky’s theory supports that learning must not just based on classroom theories of teaching, but with learning to learn, developing skills and utilization of indoor and outdoor learning strategies which make learning experiences relevant and meaningful for the benefit of holistic development. vygotsky argues that enhanced environment, social interactions, and shared outdoor activities assist children attain skills and master various activities, moreover to reason in a meaningful manner. vygotsky proposes that the nature of development and learning in young children takes place in a social environment. vygotsky (1978) believed that young children don’t develop in isolation, but in a social matrix. vygotsky´s socio-cultural theory (1978) has an imperative contribution for studying the environments essential for physical activity and learning. vygotsky´s advancement advocates for modification of varied children’s contexts. in this case, the outdoor environment should offer children with opportunities to experience phenomena that contribute to their meaning making and skill development. the child’s experiences in the outdoor environment give rise to describing things that cannot be experienced indoors (norling & sandberg, 2015). during outdoor activities children use their experiences to perform meaning making in social relationships with peers, grown-ups and their immediate environment. constantly changing outdoor environment expands children’s range of experiences and stimulates their activity level and learning. proponents of the constructivist theory have pointed out that human beings construct all knowledge while participating in different mental and physical experiences. in constructivism, the learner builds a personal interpretation of the world based on experiences and interactions (pierucci, o’brien, mcinnis, gilpin, & barber, 2014). on the other hand , social constructivism suggests that the curriculum should ultimately produce learners who would be able to deal effectively with the modern world. therefore, curricula should not be presented as finished abstractions, but should include the child’s preconceptions and should incorporate how the child views his or her own world (pellis & pellis, 2007). the other learning theory that has shaped and influenced the provision of competency based curriculum (cbc) is the visible learning theory as advanced by john hattie (2012). this theory postulates that fundamental changes in education systems have important implications for curriculum reform. learners need to be able to think about and solve problems, work in teams, communicate through discussions, take initiatives and bring diverse perspectives to their learning. learners also need to demonstrate the impact of the achievement of national goals of education. visible learning means an enhanced role for teachers as they become evaluators of their own teaching. hattie asserts that visible learning and teaching occurs when teachers see learning through the eyes of students and help them become their own teachers (wilson & myers, 2000). literature review historical dimensions of child play there is a considerable body of research which is indicative, relating children’s play and aspects of their learning and development. this evidence includes work in evolutionary and developmental psychology, anthropology, neuroscience and educational studies. however, while researchers in these fields have hypothesized about how play might enhance child outcomes, much of this evidence merely establishes associations rather than firm, causal relationships. in fact, there is little or no conclusive evidence regarding possible explanatory mechanisms. from evolutionary psychology, bruner (1978) argued that as more and more complex animals evolved, the length of immaturity increased facilitating an increased level in learning. (whitebread, 2017). in the same vain, pellegrini & bohn, (2005) in a review of evolutionary play concluded that play contexts allow human beings to engage in exploratory activities. much of research on play in developmental psychology has been advanced by vygotsky (1978). he states that during spontaneous play, learners exercise control over their own activity and set for themselves challenges which lead to their holistic development. a close follower of vygotsky, karpov (2005) carried out an analysis of neo-vygotskian practices and concluded that play allows children to regulate their own behaviour making it a significant factor in their self-regulation. ayaga & okaya, outdoor environment & children’s learning 9 global journal of transformative education (2020) vol 2 importance of play to children much of a child’s early years are spent playing, exploring and testing their environment and own personal boundaries. all of this play has significant and proven benefits for a child’s early development (whitebread, 2017). research has shown that children who regularly engage in play-based learning have better cognitive flexibility, working memory and self-regulation ability (karpov, 2005). school administrators need to build playgrounds, train teachers in how to guide play-based learning and make their own play materials using natural materials. he recommends the involvement parents in the production of play materials there is a steadily growing body of research knowledge on the importance of play (karpov, 2005; pelligrini & bohn, 2005; whitebread, 2017). children behave better in the classroom when they have had the chance to blow off steam and release energy on the playground during the day. playing is a known method of stress release that can help with a child’s emotional welfare. play can help young children become more aware of other people’s feelings and develop empathy. during play, whether it is inside or outside, children must interact and cooperate with each other, as well as share play equipment which requires good communication skills. children can build relationships, learn to resolve conflicts, negotiate and regulate their emotions. play can nurture qualities like self-discipline and attention control, which can be just as vital for school readiness as content knowledge. children with longer attention spans and self-control can focus more on tasks in the classroom (wilson & myers, 2000). this is because when children engage in make-believe play that involves role playing, there are generally rules that they must follow which involves regulating their natural self and behavior (vygotsky, 1978). by practicing this in a safe, fun environment, their self-control is enhanced, which can then be transferred to a classroom setting. there is a growing body of research that shows a link between play and the development of cognitive and social skills that are prerequisites for learning more complex concepts as children get older (oren, 2008). for example, play is linked to growth in memory, self-regulation, oral language, and recognizing symbols (wilson & myers, 2000). it has been linked to higher levels of school adjustment and increased social development. play has also been linked to increased literacy skills and other areas of academic learning (a view held by piagetian and vygotskian theories of child development). children create a pretend scenario by negotiating and talking to peers and usinge props in a symbolic way. children create specific roles and rules for pretend behaviour and adopt multiple themes and multiple roles. when children engage in this kind of play for most of their early years, they learn to delay gratification and to prioritize their goals and actions. they also learn to consider the perspectives and needs of other people. they learn to represent things symbolically and to regulate their behaviours and act in a deliberate, intentional way. today, many children do not have enough play opportunities at home because of tv, videos, and the computer (bodrova & leong, 2015). they interact with toys that are not conducive to building imagination and interesting dramatic play themes. in many instances, pretend play with siblings and neighbourhood children is not available. there are more adult-organized and directed activities than in the past. they tend to be in groups of children of the same age rather than in mixed-age groups, which would include older children who could act as “play mentors.” early childhood classrooms provide a unique setting to foster the kind of dramatic play that will lead to cognitive and social maturity. there are other children to play with, a setting that can be organized to accommodate imaginative play, and adults who can encourage the play, guiding children to play effectively with each other. location of the study the study was carried out in borabu sub-county of nyamira county. borabu sub-county is the largest sub-county in nyamira with an area of 248.3 kilometres square. the population density of borabu sub-county is 296 people per square kilometre. according to monda (2012), borabu sub-county has a poverty index of 48.6. this is an indication that many people are poor. in fact, borabu region is a former white settlement region and even though it is said to be economically stable, pockets of poverty are evident especially among the causal labourers providing labour in the tea plantations and well-to-do homes. although early years of education is devolved, financing is still low, therefore most financing of ecde has been has been left in the hands of communities or parents. studies also indicate that dropout and repetition rates, especially in lower primary, are high in nyamira county which influenced the selection of the location. since the majority of young children spend a significant part of their day at early childhood development and education ayaga & okaya, outdoor environment & children’s learning 10 global journal of transformative education (2020) vol 2 centres, it is therefore imperative to find out whether outdoor experiences provided are positive and supportive enough to enhance physical activity and learning. methods the study employed a mixed method approach (creswell, 2009). this involved the collection, analysis and integration of both quantitative and qualitative research methods within a single research study in order to answer research questions (creswell & plano, 2011). the combination of qualitative and quantitative methods occurred at different phases of the research process, such as formulation of research hypothesis and questions, data collection and analysis (bryman, 2006). mixed methods approach was suitable because it allowed the researcher to validate or corroborate the results obtained from various sources (questionnaires, interview schedules and document analysis) (creswell, 2009). this allowed for a wider understanding of a research problem from different angles, therefore clarifying and comparing quantitative and qualitative data so as to uncover and understand the unexpected findings and potential contradictions from various sources. the approach further fostered scholarly interaction and provided methodological flexibility that were adaptable to a variety of data collection, analysis, and interpretation strategies and procedures that elucidated more information than was not possible to obtain through quantitative or quantitative approach alone, therefore offsetting the weaknesses of quantitative and qualitative approaches when used alone (creswell, 2009). within the mixed method approach, the embedded research design was employed. the purpose of the design was to collect both quantitative and qualitative data concurrently, but to have one form of data play a supportive role to the other form of data. the reason for collecting the second form of data was to support the primary form of data. in regard to this study, the qualitative data were collected to support the quantitative data (creswell, 2009). this approach was appropriate because it enabled the study to gather adequate data that provides a better understanding of the research problem and adequately answers the entire research questions (creswell & plano, 2011). this increases the overall strength of a study by enhancing the validity and trustworthiness of data collected (denscombe, 2010). the design also had the capacity of collecting data concerning the existing position of the problem in which the researcher had no direct control of the independent variables because the manifestation had already taken place during the time of data collection (denscombe, 2008). the design was also more appropriate because it allowed the researcher to gather information from a large number of cases through questionnaires, interviews and document analyses. the study was carried out in borabu sub-county of nyamira county. borabu. the study targeted 50 public pre-schools, 50 primary head teachers, and 50 preschool lead teachers and 1603 final pre-school class pupils. to obtain the required sample the study employed cluster, purposive and simple random sampling design were used to recruit participants. the final sample for the study included 44 primary head teachers, and 44 preschool lead teachers and 309 final pre-school class pupils. the research instruments that were used to collect data consisted of questionnaire, interview schedules and document analysis. validity for various research instruments was also determined. validity is the extent to which the research instrument measures what it purports or intends to measure (cohen, manion & morrison, 2007). the main purpose of ensuring the validity of various research instruments in the current study was to enhance the accuracy and usefulness of the findings by controlling the confounding or intervening variables (creswell & miller, 2000). to ensure validity of research instruments in the present study, face, construct and content validities of the questionnaires, interview schedules and document analysis was determined by presenting and discussing the various items in research instruments with two experts in the area of early childhood education. the experts’ suggestions, together with the findings from the pilot study were used to modify the items in the research instruments. this ensured that the test items were clear, relevant and well organized. the study further adopted the triangulation approach so as to ensure the validity of the research instruments. in other words, the study used multiple methods of data collection: interviews, questionnaires as well as document analysis. by so doing, an area that was overlooked by one method was strengthened and checked by the other method of data collection. the study gathered both quantitative and qualitative data. quantitative data were gathered through questionnaires and document analysis while qualitative data were obtained through the use of interview schedule and document analysis. both descriptive and inferential statistics were used in analysing quantitative data. descriptive statistics such as measures of central ayaga & okaya, outdoor environment & children’s learning 11 global journal of transformative education (2020) vol 2 tendency and percentages were used to describe data. the descriptive statistics allowed the researcher to meaningfully explain the distribution of scores or measurements using a few indices (mugenda & mugenda, 2003). this involved the researcher transforming large groups of data into a more manageable form that was easy to understand and interpret (mbwesa, 2006). inferential statistics, including the pearson’s product moment correlation coefficient, simple and multiple regression analysis were used to test hypotheses. all hypothesis testing was done at α=.05. all these analyses were done with qualitative data, the principles of thematic analysis as proposed by braun & clarke (2006). results and discussion the results were obtained from 42 primary head teacher, 42 preschool lead teachers and 381 final preschool class pupils. availability of components of outdoor environment the results on the availability of various outdoor components in ecde centres are represented in table 1. the results show that several outdoor environmental components were of interest to the current study. the study establishes in general that in almost half (46.44%) of the ecde centres, the components of a rich outdoor environment were not available at all while less than a quarter (22.61%) of the ecde centres had few elements in existence. with a lot of concern, the results further indicated that only 4.19% of the ecde centres in which all the elements required for a rich outdoor environment were available. although the children’s outdoor environment should be equipped with standardized structured such as swings, slides, and climbing structures often installed over asphalt. outdoor environments should be equipped with standardized structured such as swings, slides, and climbing structures often installed over asphalt (frost, wortham, & reifel, 2001). the current findings indicated that the school outdoor environment was typically a part of schools’ playground which had few structures. contemporary playgrounds lacked structures that provided various means for children to explore and develop various skills. this seems not to be in line with the recommendations of the competency based curriculum which aims at nurturing every learner’s potential so that they are fully engaged and empowered in order to develop as ethical citizens. this calls for a paradigm shift in schools to provide play materials that would lead to holistic development of learners. during the interview with the primary school head teachers and pre-school lead teachers on the availability of various outdoor components, majority (76%) of preschool lead teachers in general expressed their concern about the acute shortage of various outdoor components that makes an ideal outdoor environment that facilitate the children’s physical development and ayaga & okaya, outdoor environment & children’s learning 12 global journal of transformative education (2020) vol 2 physical skills. for example, one teacher stated, “in my school, there are no equipment needed for preschool children’s physical development like climbers, slides and swings. this makes it difficult for me to conduct outdoor activities, however there is a large playground with space where kids can run and develop their own ideas (t-12).” effectiveness of outdoor components the study established that on average, 64.97% of preschool centres had effective components that made the outdoor environment. this implies that the remaining 35.03% of centres did not provide effective enabling outdoor environment for preschool children to participate in various outdoor activities. on the other hand, 69.1% of centres had effective physically developed equipment that were adaptable to users’ needs and catered for children’s interests, 66.7% of centres had school gardens that provided an enabling environment for a wide range of stimulating activities, 61.9% had construction areas that were large enough and allowed for a wide variety of activities, and 69.0% had sand pits that enabled children to engage in a variety of stimulating and imaginative activities. this positive finding needs to be emphasized in our kenyan schools because psychomotor and creative activities at pre-primary level enable learners to develop both fine and gross motor skills which are necessary for the control and co-ordination of different parts of the body. these activities also allow children to explore and develop social skills and personal talents and skills as well as appreciate their cultural heritage. the results further revealed that 61.9% of the centres did have loose materials (tyres, bean bags, ropes, balls) that were appropriate for the different age level learners, but 73.8% of the centres did not have water play areas that accommodated a variety of learning styles among learners, and 86.2% did not have a play house that provided opportunities for social interactions among children. this finding is not consistent with the literature reviewed that called upon schools to develop play areas to lead to holistic development of learners (pelligrini & bohn, 2005; whitebread, 2017). this calls for transformative education whereby schools should take initiative and involve all the stakeholders in education to provide basic materials to be used by learners in early years. teachers need to transform their approaches in engagement with parents and community members so that they are actively involved in sourcing materials for learners in pre-school centres. assessing the state of outdoor environment the results affect the state of outdoor environment in terms of the condition, adequacy, utilisation, adaptability, design and appropriateness of various outdoor components in various ecde centres. in this regard, the study established that the conditions of the outdoor components that make a rich outdoor environment were unsatisfactory in 40.48% of the ecde centres. the data establish that the condition, adequacy, utilisation, adaptability, design and appropriateness of various outdoor components in various ecde centres is below average. on considering whether the outdoor facilities in various ecde centres were in good condition, it was found that in majority (47.8%) of the ecde centres the condition of the outdoor facilities were unsatisfactory. it was further established that in 40.1% of the centre the storage facilities for outdoor equipment were insufficient, 47.8 % of the ecde centres the equipment in the outdoor environment were not logically well-designed in a manner that accommodated for integrated activity based systems of learning. in more than half (52.5%) of the schools, the appropriate equipment for various age level activities were inadequate. in almost half (48.2%) of the preschool centres the science activities were not provided with sufficient space and equipment with science materials, and in almost half (47.9%) of the preschool centres the overall design of the outdoor environment was not aesthetically pleasing and appropriate for the different age level pupils. in about two thirds (67.0%) of the ecde centres the outdoor working environment was not sheltered from sun and inclement weather. 54.9% of the ecde centres the outdoor equipment did not provide an attractive colour and texture, 43.1% of the ecde centre the location of outdoor facilities did not enhance the learning climate of the pre-school and in 55.2% of the ecde centre the exterior noise and surrounding environment frequently disrupt outdoor learning. it will be important for teachers and other community members to change their approaches in order to transform the outdoor environment. this may require paradigm shift in contextualising the value of outdoor environment as a precursor to classroom learning. the findings of the study indicates positive correlation (p=0.00) between the overall outdoor environment (availability, adequacy, effectiveness and state outdoor components)and all the three aspects of pre-schoolers’ learning experience (children’s ability to performing various rhythmic movement activities, children’s ability to perform various locomotor ayaga & okaya, outdoor environment & children’s learning 13 global journal of transformative education (2020) vol 2 activities, children’s general performance in various learned activity areas) and the overall learning experience. table 2 further indicates that although a positive correlation was established, the magnitude of the correlation was different between various aspects of pre-schoolers’ learning experiences and the outdoor environment. for example, preschool children’s general performance in various learned activity areas had the highest correlation (r=.687), while children’s ability to performing various loco-motor activities had the least correlations (r=.357) to the outdoor environment. it is also evident that there was a strong positive correlation between pre-schoolers’ general performance in various learned activity areas and general outdoor environment. the correlation was moderate between children’s ability to perform various rhythmic movement activities and general outdoor environment while there was a weak relationship between preschool children’s ability to perform various loco-motor activities and the general outdoor environment in which the children learned. regression of overall outdoor environment and pre-schoolers’ learning in order to estimate the level of influence of the overall outdoor environment (availability, adequacy, effectivenwss and outdoor components) and preschoolers’ learning experience, a coefficient of determination was computed using a regression analysis whose results were as shown in table 3. the model shows that pre-schoolers’ outdoor environment accounted for 35.2% of the variation in the overall pre-schoolers’ positive learning experience, as signified by coefficient r2 of .352. in addition, a linear regression was generated to estimate the actual influence of the overall outdoor environment and pre-schooler’s learning experiences, as shown in table 4. it is evident from table 4 that if the overall outdoor environment (availability, adequacy, effectiveness and stateoutdoor components) was improved by one standard deviation, then perceived scores in the level of preschoolers’ overall learning experience (preschool children’s ability to performing various rhythmic movement activities, preschool children’s ability to performing various loco-motor activities, pre-school children’s general performance in various learned activity areas is likely to improve standard deviation units. on the same note, if the overall children’s ability to performing various rhythmic movement activities, preschool children’s ability to performing various loco-motor activities, pre-schoolchildren’s general performance in various learned activity areas is likely to improve standard deviation units. on the same note, if the overall outdoor ayaga & okaya, outdoor environment & children’s learning 14 global journal of transformative education (2020) vol 2 environment increases by one unit, then the level of the pre-schoolers’ overall learning experience would improve by 3.034 units; this is a substantial effect from one independent variable. in addition, the p-value was 0.000, confirming a statistically significant influence of the overall outdoor environment on the overall preschoolers’ learning experience. during the interview schedules with the primary school head teachers, the study further established that outdoor environment usually facilitated pre-school children‘s physical, social, emotional, and mental development in their various ecde centres. on this note, some of the respondents had this to say: “play gives the child with the opportunities to explore with his/her own world where he or she was free of adult values and external realities.’”(ht-03) “as the preschool children were interacting through play, they developed the feelings of belonging in peer groups, positive feelings for children like enjoyment, happiness, freedom, relaxation, excitement, and entertainment.” (ht-13) on the development of various skills, 39 (92.86%) of the preschool lead teachers noted that rich outdoor environments enabled children to learn about cooperation and collaboration. it was also observed that children from pre-school centres which had adequate and rich outdoor environment generally worked together sharing space and materials amicably, worked toward the same goal and talked with one another as they played, unlike those centres which did not have adequate rich outdoor environment. like in sch19, the preschool children were observed sharing experience that required them to listen to others in order to understand how to work together to achieve mutual goals. as children interacted in the school, they communicated their needs, ideas, feelings, desires, and knowledge to each other, and to their preschool teacher. in sch15, a girl was observed assigning tasks and roles to others, or assumed roles and volunteered for certain tasks which involved inviting other children into their play. in school sch11 children were observed engaging in collaborative problem-solving and at various times, assuming leader and follower roles. as they shared space, materials and plans, they learned to take turns, negotiate, and compromise. when there was conflict, they had the opportunity to practice conflict resolution skills. during the interviews, it was established that a rich outdoor environment facilitated pre-schoolers’ development of early mathematics and problem-solving skills. for instance, in sch06, some boys were observed exploring patterns, the attributes of objects, and shapes. in sch01, some girls were counting as a way to identify and describe their play using a song. children also used counting to convey information to others and to solve problems when there was a disagreement among four girls in sch07. on the development of science skills, children in sch24 were observed exploring nature by trying to discover various parts of the flowers and chancing butterflies. this often involved telling others what they knew about flowers and butterflies. during the researcher’s visit to various preschool centres, it was reported by ht18 that the space and nature of the materials in a rich outdoor environment provided many opportunities for children to purposefully move and use their bodies. it was also observed that preschool who were in school that had rich outdoor environment had better balance and confidence abilities as they manipulated various outdoor equipment than those schools which did not have rich outdoor components. during the observation schedules, it was observed that the space and materials within the outdoor environment were provided multiple opportunities for children to develop construction skills as they engaged in a variety building experiences (evident in more than half 69.05% of the preschool centres). some of the specific skills that were identified during the observations ayaga & okaya, outdoor environment & children’s learning 15 global journal of transformative education (2020) vol 2 included: learning the concept of construction through experimentation; creating enclosures, walls and bridges; emptying and filling, balancing and bracing objects as they experimented with weight and stability. during the interview schedules, a statement was put to the preschool lead teacher with a view to solicit their views regarding the importance of play in learners’ cognitive development. the majority of preschool teachers observed that a rich outdoor environment with adequate and safe playground was important for learners’ cognitive development. in elaborating their answers, the teachers had the following to say: “play develops the children’s sense of reasoning and imagination which also stimulates creativity.”(t-02) “learners enhance their cognitive skills by thinking while enjoying themselves within the outdoor environment.” (t-7) “play develops the child’s brain to think for themselves and find solutions to the challenges they face as they play.” (t-13) “the ability to think critically and solveproblems help in their growth.” (t-22) “play allows children to think critical and coherent.” (t-37) “play develops children’s fine motor skills, reasoning and thinking.” (t-40) implications the findings of the present study are important for the kenyan education system because improving the outdoor environment and pre-school learning experiences will have a positive impact on the long-persisting challenges facing the pre-school education sector in kenya. in addition, the results could serve as a basis for developing a hypothetical model for studying the direct and indirect effects of the fore-mentioned factors on improving the education standards in kenya. in general, these findings could serve as a guideline for teachers, educational practitioners and curriculum developers in developing and utilizing educational policies, methodologies and activities that could help in improving ecde programmes. the study findings finally fill the existing gap in other research carried out to identify the factors contributing to the existing low enrollment and high rates of grade retention in pre-primary schools in kenya. this paves way for more comprehensive national and international research. conclusion the study sought to establish the links between utilization of the outdoor environment and pre-school children’s learning experiences. it has shown that there is general agreement about a positive relationship between use of rich outdoor environment and preschool children’s positive learning experiences associated with development of various skills and competencies. from the study it can be concluded that the ability of pre-school children to perform various loco-motor and rhythmic movement activities is associated to the adequacy, availability, site and effectiveness outdoor components. based on the results of this study, it can be concluded that, despite the many challenges that constrain having a rich outdoor environment, children continue to use the playgrounds as a major component of the outdoor environment. this study undoubtedly exemplifies the significance of children spending time in a well-designed, nature-filled outdoor environment under the support of peers and preschool lead teachers. this outdoor environment is crucial in supporting children’s success and skill development. as educators take charge of outdoor activities, they need to be flexible in their expectations of children in nature-based outdoor classrooms. it is through this expanded freedom that children more fully experience the space, materials and environment, adding to their skill development and to the depth of their understanding of the world around them. lastly, the overarching philosophy of outdoor environments should embrace the value of unstructured play for children, the role of child-initiated activities in learning, and the importance of children spending time outdoors, connecting with nature. all children deserve the rich learning that can occur through opportunities to experience the beauty of nature that spending time in an intentionally designed outdoor classroom can provide. recommendations it is the aim of all educational systems and, indeed, all parents, teachers and all stakeholders in education at all levels, to improve the foundation of their children’s education. based on the findings of this study, the following recommendations are made with the view of improving the state of outdoor environments and pre-school children’s learning experiences while within the pre-schools’ outdoor environment. ayaga & okaya, outdoor environment & children’s learning 16 global journal of transformative education (2020) vol 2 recommendations for policy makers for the head teachers in the field, regular in-service may be necessary so that they are updated with current trends relevant to pre-school education. this will make them aware of the children’s rapidly changing world from which their learning experiences emanate. the government of kenya should have in place policy guidelines to all pre-schools with regard to the availability, adequacy site and effectiveness of outdoor environment. recommendations for head teachers the head teachers should have schools’ policies for monitoring outdoor activities. they should regularly assess and monitor children’s learning and development. recommendations for the ecde teachers the ecde teachers should participate in outdoor play as well as involving all children in outdoor play. they should 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(1978). mind in society. cambridge, ma: harvard university press. 1 godfrey nyaoga ayaga (gayaga@mmust.ac.ke) is a lecturer in the department of educational psychology at masinde muliro university of science and technology, kakamega, kenya. 2 edward khasakhala okaya (eokaya@mmust.ac.ke) is a lecturer in the department of educational psychology at masinde muliro university of science & technology, kakamega, kenya. authors http://erepository.uonbi.ac.ke/bitstream/handle/11295/6684/monda%20thomas%20m_influence%20of%20teaching%20and%20learning%20materials%20on%20children%20performance%20in%20pre-schools%20in%20borabu%20district,%20nyamira%20county,%20kenya.pdf?sequence=1&isallowed=y http://erepository.uonbi.ac.ke/bitstream/handle/11295/6684/monda%20thomas%20m_influence%20of%20teaching%20and%20learning%20materials%20on%20children%20performance%20in%20pre-schools%20in%20borabu%20district,%20nyamira%20county,%20kenya.pdf?sequence=1&isallowed=y 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https://www.researchgate.net/profile/jillian_pierucci/publication/274868645_fantasy_orientation_constructs_and_related_executive_function_development_in_preschool_developmental_benefits_to_executive_functions_by_being_a_fantasy-oriented_child/links/57053fdd08aef745f7173909/fantasy-orientation-constructs-and-related-executive-function-development-in-preschool-developmental-benefits-to-executive-functions-by-being-a-fantasy-oriented-child.pdf http://www.unesco.org/education/edurights/media/docs/7792a855016f6be13bfac564acf338efc6088d10.pdf http://www.unesco.org/education/edurights/media/docs/7792a855016f6be13bfac564acf338efc6088d10.pdf https://www.unicef.org/publications/files/annual_report_2007.pdf https://www.unicef.org/publications/files/annual_report_2007.pdf https://www.researchgate.net/publication/239062816 https://www.researchgate.net/publication/239062816 global journal of transformative education (2022) vol 3 open access published by the global insitutute of transformative education (http://www.gite.education) © gjte. 2022. open access this journal is distributed under the terms of the creative commons attribution noncommercial nonderivative 4.0 international license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction without revision in any non-commercial medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the creative commons license, in memoriam: patience teneg bame gjte editors the editors of the global journal of transformative education wish to express our sorrow at the news of the death of one of our contributors. dr. patience teneng bame was a senior lecturer of educational administration at the university of yaounde1 in cameroon. she passed away unexpected on ... (insert date) her passion for education and her commitment to sharing her work with a global community will be missed. 43 abstract transforming education may mean creating new instructional materials that are culturally relevant to local schools. producing new high-quality materials may seem out of reach to educators who lack experience in illustration and publishing or have little access to commercial publishers. we share a model used to develop a series of books called conservation tales in collaboration with university faculty, students, and scientists. the model presents a way for local educators to create books to make education more relevant and accessible for children. the model leverages skills of artists, writers, and content experts to provide a rich learning experience for readers and an affordable option for self-publishing. using this model, a science educator developed books for grades 3-5 with illustrations and photographs. university students developed images, created page layouts and co-authored the stories to suit the target audience. scientists collaborated in the development and review of content for accuracy and education students created learning activities. this article describes the collaborative model with examples and shares the processes for self-publishing of print and digital books via online on-demand print services. we discuss sites that allow authors to create books with almost no overhead budget and share information about the quality of graphics, software for creating files, and distribution of books. keywords: self-publishing, culturally relevant books, collaborative writing mcconnell, t. j., & giorgio-booher, b.. global journal of transformative education (2020) vol 2 doi 10.14434/gjte.v2i1.31233 open access published by the global insitutute of transformative education (http://www.gite.education) © mcconnell, t. j. & giorgio-booher, b. 2020. open access this journal is distributed under the terms of the creative commons attribution noncommercial nonderivative 4.0 international license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/bync-nd/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction without revision in any non-commercial medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the creative commons license, collaborative teams for self publishing a model for creating locally relevant educational books tom j. mcconnell1 and barbara giorgio-booher2 full listing of authors and contacts can be found at the end of this article. introduction “there is no technological reason why all the educational course books, and indeed most of the supplementary ones, at both primary and secondary level, should not be written, edited, designed, printed, and published in africa rather than in london, malta, paris or hong kong.” (nottingham, 1969) at the first world conference on transformative education (wcte) in 2018, discussion touched on ways to help nations in africa and other parts of the world to “decolonialize” their education systems. literature on the topic has described the role of education in the colonialization of africa as one of “killing of other knowledge systems” (hall & tandon, 2017, p. 6), and the role it can play in rebuilding and reclaiming an indigenous culture to support the decolonization of social and government institutions (akena, 2012; mazrui, 2002; mbure, 1997). the literature makes it clear that by controlling educational content, colonial powers molded perceptions among african children about their role in society, the hierarchy of social structure, and even their own intellectual capacity, creativity, and language (asante-darko, 2002). printed materials used in schools present stereotypical characters that portray men and women or people of color with specific roles in communities (khorana, 1998). they reinforce rules about what languages are acceptable, and relative values placed on cultures from africa versus those from europe and north america. one way in which african schools reflect a colonial mindset was described by wilfridah mucherah in the opening plenary session of the 2018 wcte. she questioned why african schools continue to teach reading using primers written from a european perspective – for example, “a is for apple.” she learned to read using this common approach, yet never saw an apple until she attended graduate school in the united states as an mcconnell & giorgio-booher, collaborative self-publishing 34 adult. she proposed that african schools should use resources that reflect african contexts, languages and culture (mucherah & mbogori, 2019). for instance, in communities where avocados are so common, she suggested that reading books for young children could show that “a is for avocado,” using an example that is tangible and relevant to the children’s experiences. pandy and moorad (2003) refer to the same goal when they emphasize that knowledge gained by pupils is dependent on their experiences, culture and language. reformers suggest that if educational materials are developed with this assumption in mind, changes to pedagogies and educational structures may follow (pandy & moorad, 2003; wooman, 2001). throughout the rest of the wcte, participants in concurrent sessions mentioned mucherah’s “a is for apple” example as evidence that african schools need more control over the content of textbooks and supplemental materials (readers) used in the classroom. these discussions made clear the need for new and different educational materials for african schools, developed by african authors and educators for an african audience to reflect african culture, language and historical context. in this article, we present a structural framework for independent publishing that might offer a model for educators, illustrators, graphic designers and scholars in any region of the world. we present the model with the goal of encouraging collaborative teams to pursue the goals articulated by mucherah & mbogori (2019), akena (2012) and many other academicians who share our goal of transforming education around the globe. educational publishing for the african continent the idea of african authors publishing books for an african audience is certainly not new. the quote from nottingham’s 1969 article about “establishing an african publishing industry” makes it clear that scholars and businessmen alike were considering ways to overcome obstacles to publishing in africa half a century ago. there is a significant body of literature about efforts to create just such an industry. these efforts take the form of university-based presses (darko-ampen, 2004), indigenous and multinational publishing houses (edwards & ngwaru, 2012; rosetti, 2013) and non-profit publishing consortia like the african book collective (shercliff, 2016; zell, 2016). early initiatives to establish an african publishing industry were less successful than nottingham had hoped. scholarly journals were usually owned by american or european interests, and maintained the same “traditions” of content and process as their american and european counterparts (darko-ampen, 2004; zell, 2016), including selecting european-language manuscripts based on profitability and their relevance to large industrialized nations (darko-ampen, 2004;dilevko & dali, 2006). it seems clear that an industry that continues to operate using the traditional model has stifled transformation by continuing the status quo of the industry. even so, there may be advantages to publishing books in africa. the list of titles offered by the non-profit african book collective features many titles by and for africans, including a growing list of titles for children that reflect indigenous culture, language and art. frustration with educational publishing controlled by external businesses from non-african countries is not new. the publishing industry in africa has not entirely erased all of the barriers that make it hard for african authors to publish books, but it continues to evolve. nottingham said in 1969 that “indigenous publishing in africa is at the crossroads” (p. 141). indigenous publishing in africa, and around the world, is being transformed by business models that leverage technologies not available in 1969. the doors are open if only a handful of individuals with a vision for indigenous books are willing to step out of the traditional box to take advantage of the opportunities at hand. new opportunities in self-publishing the new opportunities of which we speak involve a model of self-publishing that reduces overhead costs of publication to such a degree that small groups of partners can produce and distribute books with minimal initial investments. for authors writing for relatively small audiences, this is a major advantage. in the traditional model, publishing a book required time, expertise, and significant financial backing. the most cost-effective model for publishing a book required “runs” of 500 or 1000 books, or more. the initial expense of a large run drove publishing houses to avoid ventures that might only reach a small group of readers. independent authors were pushed out of the publishing process altogether unless they could risk spending thousands of dollars for the first (and maybe only) run of a book. self-publishers now have the option of working with “on-demand” print services that eliminate this barrier to the industry. some traditional academics have viewed self-publishing as a less-than-desirable process designed to global journal of transformative education (2020) vol 2 mcconnell & giorgio-booher, collaborative self-publishing 35 global journal of transformative education (2020) vol 2 by-pass the rigorous scholarly process of editorial review. however, self-publishing has grown because of financial considerations and the desire to control copyrights (odendaal, 2008). as digital printing technology made it possible for companies to print and bind small runs of books at low costs, on-demand services have emerged as a growing part of the industry (laquintano, 2016). today’s technology not only allows publishing from anywhere in the world, but also greater collaboration of individuals in different locations. authors can now easily work with illustrators, editors, graphic designers and photographers from around the world. technology also offers new opportunities to create digital books offered as downloadable files for computers, tablets or smartphones. these “ebooks” promise even lower overhead costs, and allow authors to reach a global audience in an instant. with these opportunities in mind, we share our experiences and offer recommendations for creating collaborative teams to publish high-quality culturally relevant books for learning. the model we present is the result of four years of development for the conservation tales project, an immersive learning program at ball state university in indiana, usa. a framework for collaborative book development the conservation tales project began as an idea for a children’s book about wildlife conservation, a niche that was largely unfilled. the initial idea emerged when dr. mcconnell researched books about wildlife for young children. he noticed that the books did not mention conservation issues or teach children how their actions impact the environment. readers can find out more about the book series at the conservation tales website. to date, the project has published eleven unique titles, two “junior” versions revised for younger children, and an education game that teaches skills used by manatee researchers. as the author began outlining the first story of a series of books, he recognized a need for other partners to help produce the book. he inquired about illustration students at his university’s school of art, and a partnership emerged that became a comprehensive team effort. the first partnership included barbara giorgio-booher, a teaching professor in the school of art, and an animation student, sami pfaff, who helped illustrate the first book. bringing an illustrator into the project was an essential step in creating quality reading material for children. graphic design is another key element of a book requiring specialized expertise in graphic design and communications that most authors lack. “both graphic design and graphic communication incorporate words and images to convey data, concepts, and emotions” (shake it up creative, 2018). graphic designers are trained to design work that is effective in projecting ideas and experiences with visual and textual content. graphic designers understand typography, the selection of fonts, and work with images, such as drawings and photographs; they help maintain consistency throughout a story and book series. this includes both digital and printed promotional materials and educational resources. they help in designing a visual identity system to define graphic design standards; including fonts, logos, the relative size, proportion, and position of individual elements, and the selection of a color palette. typography, the selection of fonts, is more important and more complex than most people realize. when writing for young readers, font size and the choice serif versus sans serif font is extremely important, especially when writing for a specific language (nottingham, 1969). including a graphic design specialist will ensure continuity, a high standard of quality, and a clear, consistent identity that appears across all media. potential authors and publishers should keep in mind that this framework is a flexible model. collaborations will be most successful if they base their teams on the availability of participants with skill sets that enhance the quality of the book. the current conservation tales team consists of the following roles: • lead author – author, director, editor of the project. • art director – visual artist to supervise and critique illustrations, photographs, and graphic design to meet certain performance expectations. • graphic designer – team manager who coordinates the team’s progress and sets appropriate deadlines. responsible for cover design and layout of text and images in the final product. • co-author – content or education specialist to assist in researching and writing the story. • two or three illustrators – specialists in illustrating characters, animals, backgrounds and natural environments. • photographer – expert who documents team site visits, contributes and edits photographs, searches for public domain images, and document permissions for third party images. https://conservationtales.com https://conservationtales.com https://www.shakeitupcreative.com/2018/10/22/why-graphic-communication-is-important-for-your-business/ mcconnell & giorgio-booher, collaborative self-publishing 36 recruiting team members the team leaders are ultimately responsible for the creative concept of the book. the project goals are set by these leaders, with input from other team members. the directors must work to create a cohesive team. any group planning a self-published book should identify a small group of two or three directors. for the conservation tales project, a key feature of the pair of directors is a shared vision for the project’s goals. without this, the project may not be sustainable. recruiting other team members is a critical factor in the project’s success. for the conservation tales, these books are created by undergraduate students at the directors’ university. the choice to recruit students dictates the scope of available team members. other projects may choose to include other types of professionals. students were recruited from the major disciplines of visual communication (graphic design), animation, drawing, photography, elementary education, special education, biology and environmental management. this choice affects overhead costs, but the “right team” for your project may include people with extensive experience. the directors implemented a selective recruiting and application process. they advertised for team members with a request for letters of interest, resumés, and portfolios of the applicants’ work. the directors reviewed applications and scheduled interviews. applicants were asked to explain their interest in the project to reveal each person’s motivation to contribute to a children’s book about wildlife conservation. most of the selected team members had strong personal commitments to conservation, animal welfare or education. it is important to first empathize, understand and desire to learn about wildlife conservation. this deep personal connection to project goals influenced the team’s commitment to completing a high-quality final product. it was important to be inclusive and incorporate different perspectives when interviewing team members. we found it valuable to incorporate their perspectives when developing the characters and narratives to better connect with a diverse audience. conservation tales works to depict women, individuals with disabilities, cultural diversity and underrepresented groups as the scientists and children who learn about science. promoting inclusivity with team members can bring together unlikely allies and support transformative change (opportunity agenda, 2017). interviews also revealed areas of overlapping expertise. co-authors on tigers and orangutans were science majors who had some art experience. their contributions extended beyond writing stories. two graphic designers who worked on eight different books also contributed photography for the project. the illustrator for elephants and tigers used her minor in screen writing to help with proofreading and editing of four different books. project directors should consider team members with multiple skills as a way to ensure quality content. this cross-skill connection also improves the team’s communication. collaborations that allow individuals to work across disciplines lead to innovative outcomes with an improved understanding of the issues being discussed (salmons, 2019). individuals selected for the project were asked to sign a formal agreement giving “non-exclusive rights” to the project for materials they contributed. team members in the first year were paid a stipend. later participants earned course credits for their work instead of receiving a stipend. the agreement reflected these policies. the contract gave the project permission to use photos, illustrations, graphic design (logos and visual identity), and text for promotional and online products as well as books. the students retain full ownership of their creative products, giving artists rights to sell original illustrations and photographs. the agreement stipulated the number of books received by each team member and a policy to purchase copies at cost. any project creating a similar collaborative team should consider the terms of “employment” for all team members. if possible, legal council should be consulted for such an agreement. roles of team members the development of teams for the conservation tales project taught us that the team’s success depends on clear definitions of the roles of each member. the current framework includes a set of job descriptions and project expectations. the directors discussed the roles with an experienced graphic designer who served as a “project manager.” their experience on other books helped them understand potential pitfalls in the production process. we recommend that a graphic designer perform a similar role in other collaborations. the designer is likely the last person to handle the assets created by writers, illustrators and photographers before submitting the manuscript for printing. this important role makes it sensible to include the designer in setting a schedule of deadlines. the designer and directors set a final deadline and worked backwards to identify tentative deadlines for global journal of transformative education (2020) vol 2 mcconnell & giorgio-booher, collaborative self-publishing 37 finished illustrations, drafts of text, blackline versions of artwork, storyboards, cover art, and content research. as the leadership team created the schedule, roles of each team member became more apparent. table 1 contains a summary of the key activities performed under each role to complete the books. the project’s goals determined the skills needed to accomplish them and guided the selection of team members. conservation tales teams include three illustrators, with one dedicated to drawing the animals featured in the story to ensure that animals are drawn with scientific accuracy. the other illustrators focus on human characters and settings for the story based on the research the team conducted. this model fits well for our project because most of the illustrators are animation students who learn to collaborate and work in a similar manner. for publication projects with a different audience or a different type of artist design, a single illustrator may be a better choice. some projects may have no need for a photographer, while others might need translators to write multiple versions of a manuscript in different languages. directors need to clearly identify the project’s goals and the strategies needed to accomplish those goals before creating a plan for building a team. directors also need to consider where to find team goals of the project – elementary education, biology and environmental management students. project leaders can contact university instructors and department chairs to see if they can offer course credits for an internship. students in the disciplines we have described are likely to have the skills needed by a publishing project and the desire to gain valuable experience. since students are expected to meet performance expectations at a high level, we suggest working primarily with upperclassmen – juniors and seniors who have enough coursework to have advanced skills in art, design, and technology such as publication software. if the students can use their work with a publication as course assignments or credit hours in their major programs, the project planners and students all benefit from the relationship. team leaders need to beware of creating too large a team. a team with too many people, especially authors and illustrators, will make project management more difficult than with a small team. we recommend that planners streamline the process and select contributors who have skills the team truly needs. work flow for book development the work on the publication begins as team mem global journal of transformative education (2020) vol 2 members. projects to create educational books are likely to be initiated by educators or content experts such as scientists, community health leaders, or historians. finding artists and designers may begin with an internet search for freelance illustrators and graphics experts who advertise their services online. projects that cannot afford to pay professionals may find that universities are a great resource. students in visual communication (graphic design) and the visual arts are often expected to connect with community partners through internships, course projects, and collaborative assignments. these students might be able to participate for course credit or a small stipend, and will likely be eager to gain professional experience and use the books in portfolios to help with job searches. if the project can provide art supplies, this is an appealing incentive to entice student artists. the co-authors we selected were also students in disciplines that matched the mcconnell & giorgio-booher, collaborative self-publishing 38 bers are being selected. the process we suggest is based on a review of the successes and challenges we faced in the early iterations of the conservation tales project. figure 1 offers a general workflow that emerged from our efforts. team leaders usually begin with an initial concept or topic for the book. the authors can then construct a story outline – a general direction that identifies the types of research needed, characters to be developed, and a general plot for the story. our team researched the content by shadowing and interviewing scientists, reading articles and websites about the featured species, and learning about diversity issues relevant to the accurate depiction of children in the stories. research was a key focus in the first weeks of the project, and continued throughout the development process. team members observed and interviewed the consulting scientists depicted in the story to ensure the authenticity of the books. the team communicated with the consultants via email to gather additional information. drafts of the story were shared with the consultants for a review of content accuracy. after returning to campus, the team used on-site sketches, photographs and interviews to create all of the elements of the books. the team’s discussions expanded upon their initial ideas and helped to direct the story development. the entire team used the story outline and research to create storyboards to assist in the design, layout and placement of photographs and illustrations. storyboarding is the creation of a pictorial sketch of the story that creates a more detailed roadmap for the team. storyboards should be revisited regularly to update the plan with details and revised story elements. the storyboard guides authors, illustrators, designers and photographers in their respective roles. one of the first important tasks for illustrators and designers was the creation of a cover for the book. our experience suggests that developing the cover creates a sense of direction and a visual theme that drives the rest of the design process. illustrators used this step to create the first character illustrations and animals as the graphic designer selected fonts and color schemes to establish a theme that was carried throughout the book. illustrators created rough sketches of characters, animals, and scenery that they eventually developed as black-line drawings and full color drawings and paintings through a continual review and critique process by the entire team. at the same time, authors wrote more detailed story elements, incorporating the information collected during research, and creating a story that conveys the concepts that address the book’s goals. the writers worked closely with illustrators and photographers in the storyboarding process to ensure the story and images complemented each other. graphic designers created initial layout examples to test placement of text with initial drawings and photographs. the designers combine the illustrations, photographs and text based on the team’s planning for the story. the graphic designers were responsible for ensuring that the book files were ready for print production. reiterative cycles of review, critique and revision eventually led teams to a full draft of the book. the team then sent the draft to an on-demand print service to produce a proof copy a first rough copy that allowed the team to examine layout design, colors, illustrations and photographs. at the same time, the team shared digital drafts with external experts for review. this external review was extremely important to the quality of the final products. the team shared the drafts with the content consultants who served as the models for the scientists in the stories. we also asked practicing teachers to review books and offer suggestions to ensure that the stories were useful for children and teachers. the addition of elements like captions and author notes was guided by early reviews by educators. team members and external experts also contributed to a detailed proofreading and editing process for the text of the story. global journal of transformative education (2020) vol 2 mcconnell & giorgio-booher, collaborative self-publishing 39 after a thorough review of the proofs, revisions were made to the books. the final step was to submit final versions of the book for printing, followed by the official “release” for public purchase. this process varies depending on the print service used, but the most common processes include online forms to enter titles, authors and illustrators, isbn numbers, pricing information, and other technical details for the book. the team then uploads separate pdf versions of the cover and book interior. most print shops then complete a review to ensure that files meet their technical specifications. once the book is approved by both the printer and the “authors,” the book is almost immediately available for purchase through an online store. the next section describes some key decisions team leaders need to consider in planning a publishing project. some of the decisions focus on business plans and legal issues. others are about artistic style or are more technical in nature. all of these issues are important if the team hopes to create a marketable publication. key decisions for publication projects the workflow (figure 1) gives a simplified description of the process of a book project. however, there are important decisions the team leaders need to consider before and during the process. as professionals in education and the arts, the decisions were new to our team, so this section is offered to help other authors and self-publishers prepare for the challenges we encountered. our team chose solutions based on our goals for the project and the resources available to us. other collaborations may need to choose a different path, but many of the questions that planners will face are the same. business plan when the team has identified the goal and topic for the project, the next step is to think about a business plan. even if the project is a not-for-profit endeavor, we recommend that the project establish certain parameters for the project. the choices described here will influence the process and decisions to be made later in the project. one of the first provisos we offer is that self-publishing is not a path to enormous wealth. a self-published book may earn a modest income, but do not expect to get rich with this project. project goals should address a specific need in schools or in the target communities. even so, the choices described here can help reduce legal liabilities and unexpected expenses that could prevent a publication project from reaching its goal. print vs. digital – an early decision to make is whether the book will be sold as a print version, as an electronic book, or both. today’s technology makes it very easy to create e-books that can be accessed through applications for computers, tablets and smart phones. if the books will be digital, the layout and design need to take into consideration the size of the screen and how a reader advances through the pages. if a print book is the goal, the team will select from a range of book sizes, cover types, color or black-andwhite options, and paper quality. final decisions about these matters are based on the audience, costs of the options and project goals. hard cover books are ideal for libraries, especially for children, but the cost of binding is about three times higher than a paper back cover. color printing is better for young children, but slightly more expensive than black-and-white printing. any on-demand or self-publishing service will allow planners to explore options and adjust settings as the project moves forward. copyright ownership – published materials are the intellectual property of the author and publisher, so protecting the rights to a book is an important initial step. there are many copyright options available to a self-published author. one of the early decisions should be about who will hold the copyrights to the book. first, planners should ensure that no other author owns the copyrights to the title you are considering. it is important to do some homework, and devote time to a thorough search for books of the same title. the conservation tales project considered a few titles that were eliminated because other publishers had copyright or trademark protections that made those titles legally impossible. project leaders who wish to retain copyrights need to find out how to file or establish copyrights in the country in which the book will be published since laws and required forms vary by country. in some places, forms need to be filed and approvals obtained before the publication is copyrighted. in others, a printed work is copyrighted simply by transmitting the work via mail or electronic communication, but a registered copyright may offer more protections for authors. another option is to allow the company that prints, binds and distributes the book to hold the copyright. on-demand and self-publishing services usually offer this option early in the planning stages. the service is most often free or very inexpensive, but the revenue global journal of transformative education (2020) vol 2 mcconnell & giorgio-booher, collaborative self-publishing 40 authors earn will be lower. in this option, the print service assumes the responsibility for marketing the book, but they also retain a larger percentage of the profits and can transfer the copyright without the author’s permission. one way to help establish copyrights is to register an international standard book number (isbn). this is a unique number registered with government agencies, usually through companies that help you submit the formal registration for a fee. the cost of an individual isbn number is about $20 usd. if a project plans to produce multiple books, a more cost-effective option is to create an “imprint” of your own and purchase a “block” of ten isbn numbers at a reduced cost. an imprint is the name of a publishing company or service to which the copyright is assigned. for conservation tales, the author had already established his own unincorporated publishing company under a name selected after the same type of search as for the title. this imprint name is used as the “publisher” for the conservation tales series, and has since incorporated. self-publishing and on-demand services offer authors the option to assign one of their registered isbn numbers to the book they wish to publish. this is a cheaper option than registering one’s own isbn number, but it usually means the authors have assigned copyright ownership to the publishing service. as stated previously, this means a smaller percentage of revenue forwarded to your project. the print service may also offer options for the creation of a barcode on the cover of the book. the print shop may add this, or the author/publisher can insert their own barcodes. barcodes can be created when the isbn is registered for a small additional fee. the decisions about how to handle copyright, isbn registration and barcodes needs to be made with consideration to cost, convenience, and the relative importance of maintaining control of copyrights. authorship – planners need to establish a policy for listing author and co-authors. this may seem like a simple issue, but the order of authors is sometimes important to the parties involved. putting a policy on paper for how authors are listed helps to avoid personal or legal disputes after publication. similarly, illustrators should be listed on the cover and on the title page of a book, so a clear policy for this should be included in the plan. if the project team includes other contributors, we strongly recommend each member of the team should be acknowledged, both on the title page of the book and in a later section. conservation tales books include a “meet the team” page to acknowledge all contributors. while this policy is not a legal requirement for publishing, it is most ethical, and helps to create a strong sense of teamwork and ownership that enhances the quality of the product. distribution plan – project leaders should also develop a plan for how they will distribute the books. most on-demand and self-publication services offer online sales. however, for projects that retain copyrights, marketing of the books may fall on the author or publisher. the print service markets the books if they hold the copyrights, but the amount royalties paid to authors is reduced. authors should anticipate the need to advertise, promote and distribute the books on their own. the developer of a book can usually purchase copies of the title at an “author price,” usually the cost of printing and binding plus a small fee for the printer. shipping and taxes are not included. this offers a way for project planners to purchase copies and sell them directly to customers. purchasing copies requires an expenditure and a financial risk if the team cannot sell enough books to realize a profit. conservation tales keeps a minimal number of copies “in stock,” but keeps enough to sell books at public outreach events, conferences, and festivals. we also have the ability to provide small orders directly to schools and teachers. all other sales take place online either through the on-demand print service, or via a project website with an electronic store. this reduces the effort by our team to handle sales and shipping. when determining the price of a book, planners may want to sell copies at a wholesale price for book stores. booksellers usually double the wholesale price when they sell to retail customers. the retail price should be set high enough to still earn a small profit when selling to retailers at half price. on-demand print services will set the price according to the authors’ instructions, and forward the royalties to the author from online sales. planners need to consider taxes that will be charged for books. in some african countries, tax rates for books may be as high as 14%. tax rates may influence the willingness of customers to buy the books. if the books will be sold in more than one country, this decision might be more complicated. for some projects, this may not be an issue if they plan to use funds from grants or government agencies to purchase copies and distribute to schools for free. global journal of transformative education (2020) vol 2 mcconnell & giorgio-booher, collaborative self-publishing 41 selecting a printing service all of the decisions described in the business plan section should be made early in any project, in part because the answers will shape the choice of a printer/publisher for the book. there are several different services available. companies that offer these services in africa include printivo, 48hrbooks.com and new voices publishing services. some services are only available in specific regions, like digitalprintondemand in south africa. kindle direct publishing, the printer for conservation tales, may be best suited for digital books produced in africa because they currently do not have a print facility in africa and do not offer affordable shipping to the continent. planners should explore these companies and others to find a vendor that provides the right combination of cost, profitability, convenience, technical support and access to customers for the needs of the project. since one goal of self-publishing is to put more control in the hands of local individuals, planners may wish to look for other local companies that can offer services to suit those needs better than the large corporate printing services. project management project management should be flexible, holistic and team-based. an agile approach to project management, like the “scrum” framework (sliger, 2011), allows for shorts bursts of activity as team members continually shape the direction of the project. team leaders begin by articulating goals and outcomes, setting expectations, and providing a means for project evaluation. they introduce teams to important dates and when interactions with scientists will occur. the processes that team leaders need to direct are described in the following sections. artistic style – one of the early discussions with team members should address the artistic vision of the project. team leaders will likely have an idea what type of appearance and artwork they want to include in the book. choices about artistic style depend on the target audience and the goals of the project, but the aesthetic vision of the team members will also impact the final results. questions to address should include the following: • will illustrations be realistic or stylized? • will illustrations reflect a specific art genre? • will text be in blocks or arranged to flow with the artwork? • what color palettes will be used and what kind of medium will be used to create the illustrations? all these choices are important, and ensuring that the team is aware of the themes to guide their work helps to avoid conflicts of style later in the process. target audience – planners should determine who the readers will be. is the book intended for young children just learning to read? does the project target older children in intermediate grades, secondary students, or even adult learners in the community? this is an extremely important decision because the writing style will vary dramatically for different readers. for authors who are accustomed to writing scholarly research papers, this adjustment is difficult. the sentence structure, vocabulary, and length of text on each page need to be appropriate for the target audience. small issues, such as changing passive sentences to active, affect the readability of the text. conservation tales uses tools in microsoft word that provide readability statistics when it checks spelling and grammar. there are many other ways to assess reading level. if the development team does not include age-specific educators, we recommend consulting with a reading specialist for help in assessing and adjusting the reading level of the text to suit the target audience. book developers also have opportunities to publish books in different languages. this issue echoes questions we posed in the opening sections of the books about making books culturally relevant. if the goal of a publishing project is to create educational materials for a specific country or region, the world of self-publication gives authors expanded opportunities to write in the language of their choice. books that teach reading or history in akan, kiswahili, yoruba, iszulu or any of the many tribal languages are much easier to produce through self-publishing than through large international publishing houses. accelere!1 (chemionics, 2020) is an example of a project that produces books for school children in three indigenous languages in the democratic republic of congo. if publishing in an indigenous language is one of the goals of the project, it is important to make sure at least one team member is fluent in both the written and spoken language. the graphic designer should also consult with readers of that language when selecting the best font for the book (nottingham, 1969). external reviewers and editors – the need for external review process may seem like a decision that can wait until late in the project. however, we encourage planners to think about this step early in the process global journal of transformative education (2020) vol 2 mcconnell & giorgio-booher, collaborative self-publishing 42 team leaders should not wait until the story text is finished to begin your search for external reviewers. they should allow plenty of time to communicate with reviewers and editors because these external partners may not be bound to project deadlines. conservation tales sends drafts to external reviews to assess content accuracy, authentic depiction of diversity issues, and the fit for our target audience. we also ask for help from others in reviewing the cultural context of the book’s story and illustrations. it is not uncommon for reviewer feedback to be the last bit of information we receive for the final revisions, so we try to start the process as early as possible to avoid delays in meeting deadlines. requests to reviewers should include target dates that leave the time for the team to finish the book before the final deadline. technical considerations once the team begins work on a book, all members of the team need to be mindful of technical requirements for producing high quality printed material. some of the requirements are dictated by the printing service selected to produce the books. these specifications are based on either the process of printing and binding a book or on the business plan choices described earlier. printing specifications – when a printing service is selected, the company provides a set of specifications for file formats, color standards, and image quality. most companies will offer templates to help plan page layouts and margins. one of the reasons to include a graphic designer on the team is to ensure that files meet these specifications. from the beginning of the project, team members need to have a clear understanding of the images needed for printing. printers require a minimum of 300 dots per inch (dpi) for all images and finished pages. some printers will require even higher resolutions for black-line graphs and diagrams. illustrators on the team need to begin their sketches with this standard in mind. they should plan to create drawings and paintings that are larger than the finished images that will appear in the book. all images will need to be transformed into a digital format, even if created using traditional art media like paints, pastels or colored pencils. if an original illustration is too small, and the designer needs to enlarge it, the result is a grainy image that does not reproduce well in print. color palettes used for illustrations also need to meet certain specifications. if the book will be in print format, all colors needs to be saved in cmyk format. this format is based on the cyan, magenta, yellow and black inks used in the printing process. if the book will be digital, rgb colors will be needed. these work with the red, green and blue pixels that create color images on a computer monitor. if the correct color palette is not used, the colors on the final product may not match what the artists and designers created. printers also set requirements for file types. most of them require pdf files for the cover and the interior. others may ask for images as tiff or eps files. some companies ask for single page layouts, while others ask for a side-by-side book page layout. templates provided by the printer will show margins, gutters, trim, and bleed lines. all text needs to fall within the margins. the gutter describes the area where pages meet, creating a wider margin on the “inner” edge of the page. illustrators and designers need to keep in mind that content falling in the gutter may not be visible in the bound book. trim and bleed lines are features defined by the process of printing, trimming and binding the books. the trim lines show where the pages are expected to be cut. if illustrations and backgrounds will go all the way to the edge, a “bleed” line will be seen outside the trim lines. images meant to be printed all the way to the edge of the page should extend beyond the trim lines to the bleed lines. once the book is printed, pages are cut to size, and a small part of the image will be trimmed off in the process. illustrators and designers need to be aware of this to avoid putting critical information at the edge of the page. this process makes it very important to work with a graphic designer who has been trained to work with these parameters. third-party materials – another requirement is a policy on the use of third-party materials. the most likely example of a third-party resource is an image such as a photograph, illustration, clipart design, a graph or a map. in every case, images from third-parties – any image not created by the team – requires the publisher to get express permission and to properly attribute the image to the source. incorporating copyrighted images usually involves paying the owner for permission. in some cases, the fee is nominal. however, some sources, especially photographs and images from corporations like movie studios, may charge fees that can be hundreds of dollars (usd). fortunately, there are other options. websites that offer public domain or “creative commons” materials are excellent resources for authors and designers. global journal of transformative education (2020) vol 2 mcconnell & giorgio-booher, collaborative self-publishing 43 there are several sources of public domain and creative commons images. links to some of these sites have been provided in the “resources” list at the end of this article. public domain images, often from government agencies, are free for use. legal guidelines do not require attribution of the author (listing the owner and year), but ethical practice suggests including a small caption showing the source on or near the image. creative commons status offers a variety of licensing options, usually labeled as “cc.2.0” or some other numbered license. some materials are free for use with attribution, including a link to the original source. others prohibit use for commercial products like books. owners may also stipulate a small fee to use an image. project planners need to pay close attention the terms and limitations of each type of creative commons license. as educators, it is important to practice ethical use of intellectual process, and it is the “publisher’s” legal responsibility to abide by the terms of the licenses. technical process for team – other technical considerations should address how the development team works on the book. this involves identifying the tools the team will use to produce the text and images in the book. illustrators may wish to paint or draw using traditional media. if the illustrators are paid a stipend, they will often be expected to purchase their own materials. conservation tales used project funds to provide these materials as one of the benefits of being on the team. the team needs to agree on the software for producing text, images and layouts, including the format of the files they save. the industry standard in publishing is the adobe suite of software, creative cloud. this can be expensive, but many graphic designers and artists already use it. the most essential applications in this suite are photoshop, illustrator and indesign. photoshop is one of the leading tools for digital artists, and can help photographers edit images. illustrator and indesign are layout and publishing programs used in the graphic design field. there are other less expensive programs that can be used to carry out the same tasks, so the team should pick tools that are accessible to members. it is important to ensure that the software can export or save files in the formats required by printers, so the team should refer to the technical specifications provided by the print service selected for the final product. the team also needs to select a method for sharing files. each team member will create files for their respective contribution to the book. the graphic designer will eventuall need to access these files to place them in page layouts. cloud storage is an easy option, but it is important to make sure the project has enough storage space for files. images and page layouts will use large amounts of storage space. if the team runs out of storage space, backing up files becomes an issue. the choice of a cloud service should be guided by local availability and ease of access for all team members. conservation tales required team members to save all files in box, with shared folders for each book. managing the many files created by the team was a challenge, so the team created a guide for naming files and locations for storing them. the graphic designers should be involved in guiding the decisions about file names because the designer will be the last person who needs to find the files. in an age of technology, project teams might also collaborate from different geographic locations. if the specialists you need live far away, videoconferencing tools like whatsapp, skype, zoom, and other videoconference applications permit collaborations that can be productive. the conservation tales team was required to complete two books in the spring of 2020 in a virtual environment when the covid-19 pandemic forced the university to close campus. the conservation tales team demonstrated that completing a publishing project from a distance is possible, even when team members use laptops, desktop computers, tablets and even smart phones to connect. for similar needs, a project team should select a common videoconferencing tool that allows team members to “share screens” so they can view samples of artwork and layouts as they review and critique the work. implications for potential authors the process of creating a book as we have described appears to be very complicated, but with the right membership on the team to help with the different tasks, self-publishing is within reach. as nottingham (1969) wrote, “there is no technological reason why” educational books for african learners cannot be written, edited, designed and published in africa. odendaal (2008) described the importance of the publisher: “the academic publisher is a gatekeeper of knowledge and thus controls what appears in print” (p. 52). self-publishing opportunities afforded by current technology and business models have made it easier for indigenous authors to become the “gatekeepers” as they shape the knowledge that appears in print to meet local and regional educational needs. educators who hope to help decolonialize schools and social global journal of transformative education (2020) vol 2 mcconnell & giorgio-booher, collaborative self-publishing 44 institutions in africa – or any other part of the world – have the tools and support systems at their fingertips needed to create materials that can help achieve their goals. authors no longer need to rely on the vision of large publishing companies who are driven by large profit goals and may not share the author’s objectives. the availability of these tools makes it easier than ever for local experts to develop books in indigenous languages, with illustrations and photos that are relevant to indigenous learners, and reflect authentic historical and cultural contexts. a leading publishing professional in south africa, brian wafawarowa, describes the need to facilitate such participation in the publishing industry: “… an ideal publishing sector is one in which people of all races and cultural persuasion have the space to participate in the various aspects of the book sector, a sector where the knowledge pool is enriched by the diversity of the literature that is available and where the population indulges in reading beyond reading for instruction purposes in institutions of learning” (wafawarowa, 2004) the primary barrier to producing locally relevant materials, then, may be a perception by interested individuals that publishing is too difficult or too complex. the leadership team of the conservation tales project faced these same concerns. we discovered that we needed specialists with specialized skills and the willingness to collaborate. we also found that support and interested partners were not hard to find, especially if we were willing to work with university students. their technical skills and openness to try new ideas led to a level of quality that would have been impossible without these key team members. more importantly, their creativity drove the rapid growth of our project and the addition of valuable ideas for developing marketing materials, educational activities, and key features of our books that appeal to our target audience. conclusion as educators consider the need to improve curriculum and educational materials for children in africa, or any other country for that matter, the barriers presented by the control of publishing companies on the available resources is growing less important. we present the example of the conservation tales series as a model for the development of locally-produced, culturally relevant educational materials. the time is right for independent authors, educators, illustrators and others to use their expertise to make the materials they know are needed for schools and communities. we present this goal not only as an educational strategy, but also as a tool for decolonialization. self-publishing authors can take a lead role in transforming schools and society by becoming creators, not just consumers, of the information that presents images intended to shape young and malleable minds. it is clear that building a collaborative team of individual who bring specific skills are helpful to a successful publishing project: authors, illustrators, graphic designers, editors, and educators. such a team can then use the current on-demand, digital and self-publishing resources to produce quality and relevant educational materials available with very little overhead expense. our hope is that the framework for a collaborative team described above can serve as a model that others can adopt, adapt and remold to suit their needs. perhaps more importantly, we hope to inspire the innovation and entrepreneurial spirit that can help our fellow educators become “knowledge creators” (zegeye & vambe, 2006) who produce high-quality, cultural relevant educational resources for schools. as we explained earlier, the doors truly are open if a handful of individuals with a vision for indigenous books are willing to step out of the traditional box to take advantage of the opportunities at hand. resources for self-publishing isbn registration services bowker isbn-us isbn services companies offering on-demand printing in africa printivo 48hrbooks.com digitalprintondemand new voices publishing services kindle direct publishing creative commons & public domain image sources flickr unsplash pexels pixabay creative commons search wikimedia commons global journal of transformative education (2020) vol 2 http://www.bowker.com/products/isbn-us.html https://www.isbnservices.com https://printivo.com/ https://www.48hrbooks.com/ https://www.printondemand.co.za/ https://www.newvoices.co.za/ https://kdp.amazon.com https://flickr.com https://unsplash.com/ https://www.pexels.com/ https://pixabay.tumblr.com/ https://search.creativecommons.org/ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/category:photographs mcconnell & giorgio-booher, collaborative self-publishing 45 references akena, f. a. 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(2006). knowledge production and publishing in africa. development southern africa, 23(3), 333-349. zell, h. m. (2016). african publishing coming of age. logos, 27(3), 52-60. 1 tom j. mcconnell (tjmcconnell@bsu.edu) is a professor in the department of biology at ball state university, muncie, in, usa. 2 barbara giorgio-booher (bgiorgio@bsu.edu) is a teaching professor in the school of art at ball state university, muncie, in, usa. authors https://www.chemonics.com/projects/accelerating-access-learning-democratic-republic-congo/ https://www.chemonics.com/projects/accelerating-access-learning-democratic-republic-congo/ http://www.storre.stir.ac.uk/bitstream/1893/71/18/darko-ampem-thesis-2004.pdf http://www.storre.stir.ac.uk/bitstream/1893/71/18/darko-ampem-thesis-2004.pdf http://www.storre.stir.ac.uk/bitstream/1893/71/18/darko-ampem-thesis-2004.pdf https://www.opportunityagenda.org/explore/resources-publications/ten-tips-putting-intersectionality-practice https://www.opportunityagenda.org/explore/resources-publications/ten-tips-putting-intersectionality-practice https://www.shakeitupcreative.com/2018/10/22/why-graphic-communication-is-important-for-your-business https://www.shakeitupcreative.com/2018/10/22/why-graphic-communication-is-important-for-your-business https://www.pmi.org/learning/library/agile-project-management-scrum-6269 opiyo, r. global journal of transformative education (2019) 1:1, 52-67. doi 10.14434/gjte.v1i1.25981 open access published by the global insitutute of transformative education (http://www.gite.education) © opiyo, r. 2019 open access this journal is distributed under the terms of the creative commons attribution noncommercial nonderivative 4.0 international license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction without revision in any non-commercial medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the creative commons license, inclusive practice and transformative leadership are entwined: lessons for professional development of school leaders in kenya rose atieno opiyo1 abstract inclusive education (ie) is arguably a popular discourse in education systems as, not merely a concept that addresses concerns of learners with special needs (lsns) but rather a relatively broad approach looking into how to transform learning environments to respond to diversity.at the heart of human rights movement, education for all (efa) and social equity agenda, ie has lots of educational, social and economic premiums attached to it. increasingly, what slows down the progress towards ie in kenya is documented, but still, less is known about leadership acumen of school leaders yet, the art and science of transformation of the school into an effective inclusive environment squarely lies in the province of school leaders. anchored on the social model of disability , this paper presents results based on an extensive secondary data review . it provides evidence that ie and transformative leadership are closely knit. it urges that all initiatives geared towards supporting effective implementation of ie must interrogate leadership ability of school leaders and develop them as critical ingredients in turning around schools into effective inclusive learning environments. keywords: inclusive education, school leaders, transformative leadership, professional development full listing of authors and contacts can be found at the end of this article. introduction and background international commitment to human rights has not only changed our views about individual’s “disability” but it has also reduced emphasis on deficits in any social context. according to ouane (2008), inclusive education moves beyond understanding, overcoming or tolerating disability but rather, accepting, valuing and demonstrating a broad concern on gender, ethnicity, social class conditions, health and human rights, to encompass universal involvement, access, participation and achievement. arnesen, mietola & lahelma, (2009), pinpoint that ie is not just adding on to existing structures, but perhaps a broad outlook that entailes transformation of societies, communities and institutions such as schools to become diversity-sensitive. ie represents a belief that all students belong and are valued members of their classroom and school communities (council of ministers of education in canada {cmec}, 2008); specht & young, 2010). specifically, blackhawkins, florian and rouse (2007,p. 15) look at it as a process of increasing numbers of students attending mainstream schools, who in the past would have been prevented from doing so because of identified special educational needs.in their recommendations , black and colleagues expressed that promotion of inclusion in regular schools must begin with designing buildings and facilities suitable for lsn. this stance is supported by jill black more (2006) who argues that diversity among learners, whether in linguistic, cultural or disability, is a positive force in educational work. with the above difinitions in mind, inclusion means different things to different groups in different contexts. in disability conversations, inclusive educational practice (iep) addresses the current discourses and dilemma between special education and integration. broadly, the concept suggests a practice where (a) enrolment practice do not discriminate between learners with or without disability (b) school services and facilities are equally accessible to students with or without disability (c) curriculum programs are designed in such a way that learning needs are catered for (d) assessment and opiyo, inclusive education and transformative leadership 53 certification procedures are responsive to the learning targets, goals, and outcomes (e) special services and equipment are supplied for learners to experience success in learning and, (f) school environment is friendly to both teachers and learners. generally, there is convergence of thought that ie is either, a process, an approach or a programme. as an ongoing process, ainscow et al (2006) describes ie as that which has not reached a perfect state but rather is on the move. as a program and an approach, odom (2000) looks at it as setting in which disabled and non-disabled peers benefit from common support services, an approach that entails addressing and responding to the diversity of needs of all learners through increasing participation in learning, cultures and communities, and reducing exclusion within and from education. odom (2000) also adds that as an approach, it looks at teaching strategies or approaches that address the needs of students with a variety of backgrounds, learning styles, and abilities.to the aforementioned authors, ie is such a multiplex concept , basically, all that can contribute to an overall inclusive learning environment, in which students feel equally valued. timmons and wagner (2008) looks beyond the education environments by seeing it as a foundation to an inclusive society since it provides opportunity for all students to be part of school communities to learn and grow alongside their peers. for these two authors, ie encompasses both academic and social life of a school. corbett and slee, (2000) supports inclusion as a philosophy of acceptance: it is about providing a framework within which all childrenregardless of ability, gender, language, ethnic or cultural origincan be valued equally, treated with respect and provided with equal opportunities at school…. is an unabashed announcement, a public and political declaration and celebration of difference which requires continual proactive responsiveness to foster an inclusive educational culture? (p. 134) features and benefits of inclusive education ie is not a marginal issue on how some learners can be integrated in mainstream education, but rather an approach that looks into how to transform education systems and other learning environments in order to respond to the diversity and improving quality of education for all learners. it addresses and responds to diversity by providing appropriate responses to the broad spectrum of learning needs, welcomes diversity reforms not only for special education but rather, reform of both the formal and non-formal education system benefiting all learners (kalambouka, farrell, dyson, & kaplan, (2007). authors holding this view advance the debate on additional support to students within the regular school system, equal access to education or making certain provisions for certain categories of children. suffice to say, it is a never-ending search to find better ways of responding to diversity, living with difference and learning from difference. this way it fits as a more positive stimulus for fostering learning, amongst children and adults (kalambouka, et al (2007). despite potential barriers to inclusion (such as teacher workload issues, a shortage of adequate supports, incomplete training for teachers and principals or legal questions) inclusive classrooms have been shown to benefit all students both socially and academically (canadian council on learning, 2009; cole, waldron, & majd, 2004; crisman, 2008; katz & mirenda, 2002). convincing evidence exists affirming that it provides positive experience for all students .for instance, timmons and wagner (2008) identifies ie as a foundation to an inclusive society as it provides opportunity for all students to be part of school communities to learn and grow alongside their peers. in lieu of the above premiums, authors have continued to express that it should be further broadened to encompass both academic and social life of a school. specifically, timmons and wagner’s study (2008) noted that children who are educated in inclusive settings are healthier, do better in school, enjoy going there more, and interact more positively with peers compared to students taught in less inclusive settings. significant of all, lsns from the study were more exposed to real environment situations with regards to diversity, and their non -disabled peers adopted to positive attitudes and actions towards them as a result of studying together in an inclusive classroom. in determining whether education systems are inclusive three concepts emerge: presence, participation and achievement of all students. “presence” is concerned with whether children are being educated and how reliably and punctually they attend. “participation” relates to the quality of their experiences whilst they are inschool. to determine this, views of the learners must be incorporated. finally, “achievement” is about the outcomes of learning across the curriculum, not merely test or examination results. definitely, this gives global journal of transformative education (2019) 1:1 opiyo, inclusive education and transformative leadership 54 it the most broad view which urges modifications in content, approaches, structures and strategies, with a common vision to cover all children of the appropriate age range remain a critical responsibility of the regular system as they seek to realization efa goals (kalambouka, et al.2007) in an effort to determine presence, participation and achievement, identification and removal of barriers is critical. this encompasses collecting, collating and evaluating information from a wide variety of sources in order to plan for improvement in policy and practice or using such evidence to stimulate creativity and problem-solving (leithwood & jantzi, 2006). understanding of these barriers enables teachers and school leaders to be alert and to consider the impact the differences can cause. this is because it recognizes and serves many different categories of children who may be excluded from the education for instance : lsn, children of immigrants, child domestic workers, poverty stricken children, children of ethnic, language minorities, street children, children in conflict zones, child soldiers, children of prisoners or imprisoned, and children affected or infected with hiv/aids (department for education and skills {dfes}, 2004) in the ensuing definitions we also appreciate that ie shifts away from integration. while the former views learners as the root cause of difficulties in the school, the latter shares in tenets highlighted in the social model of disability which continues to challenge systems to examine the barriers within the educational system and look for ways in which to promote participation and positive learning outcomes of all learner. terzi points out this in her writing: special needs are not needs that arise in a child with disabilities with regard to a system that is fixed. rather they are needs that arise between the child and the educational system as a whole when the system fails to adopt itself to the characteristics of the child. (terzi 2005, p. 448) primarily, ie aims to (a) bring out the best in the child, without alienating him/her, (b) provide the child with a warm and enriched environment, (c) assist the child in developing basic skills to cope with day to day challenges, (d) enable a child develop life skills for self-reliance, (e) help a child develop a desirable attitude towards society. for effective assimilation of ie, three key aspects – policies, practices and culture – are important. full presence, participation and achievement of children with disabilitie as well as, respect to childrens social, civil and education rights can be realized by exploring some factors that are always left unexplored in less inclusive setting such as transformative leadership. inclusion and education for all by welcoming every child, inclusion is an essential element of the whole education for all (efa) movement. it is framed within the context of wider international discussions around the united nations organizations’ agenda ,stimulated by the 1990 jomtien declaration. the salamanca statement on principles, policy and practice guiding education of lsns (unesco 1994) not only provides a framework for leveraging policy and practice forward, but is arguably the most significant international document that has ever appeared in ie conversations. in principle, this concept aligns with efa goals as it seeks to provide universal access to basic education of good quality and compels states to create environments in schools or basic education programs in which children are both able and enabled to learn. such an environment must be inclusive of children, effective with children, friendly and welcoming to children, healthy and protective for children and gender sensitive. the development of such child-friendly learning environments has increasingly been an essential part of the overall efforts by countries around the world to increase access to, and improve the quality of, their schools. sharing at a meeting , held in june 2009 at oslo on the results of the work of the oecd on equity in education, a norwegian minister of education (bård vegar solhjell) in an opening speech described ie as a new compelling law on quality and equity for all by stating: inclusion and equity in education is the best long term instrument we have in order to secure economic progress, as well as democracy and social stability…regular schools with an inclusive orientation are the most effective means of combating discriminatory attitudes, building an inclusive society and achieving education for all. ie development movement is anchored on human rights, equity and diversity (riehl, 2000; winzer and mazurek, 2012) and around the right of every individual to education, as stated in the 1948 universal declaration of human rights. in article 26 , ie is not simply taken as a technical or organizational change but as movement with a clear philosophy that speaks to human right to education. it is a dynamic approach that looks at diversity and individual differences not as global journal of transformative education (2019) 1:1 opiyo, inclusive education and transformative leadership 55 problems, but as opportunities for enriching learning. at the core of this conversation is the pronouncement of udhr, 1948 , article 26 which states: everyone has the right to education... education shall be free, at least in the elementary and fundamental stages and shall be directed to the full development of human personality, strengthening of respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms. it shall promote understanding, tolerance and friendship among all nations, racial or religious groups, and shall further the activities for the maintenance of peace. equally, article 2 and article 23 of united nations convention on the rights of the child (uncrc, 1989) support this stance. in part, article 23 stipulates: children with disabilities should have effective access to and receive education, training, health care services, rehabilitation services, preparation for employment and recreation opportunities in a manner conducive to the child’s and to enable him /her achieve the fullest possible social integration and individual development, including his or her cultural and spiritual development. in the same document (uncrc, 1989) article 29, articulates central aims of education in the development and nurturing all children to reach their fullest potential in terms of cognitive, emotional and creative capacities. addressing this also is the unesco convention against discrimination in education (1960) and the convention on the elimination of all forms of discrimination against women (1979) as the other key international human rights treaties that not only emphasize the prohibition but also the active elimination of discrimination. a logical consequence of these rights is that all children have the right to receive the kind of education that does not discriminate on any grounds such as caste, ethnicity, religion, economic status, refugee status, language, gender, disability etc. these conventions not only provide measures be taken by the state to implement these rights in all learning environments but demands a rights-based approach to education which is founded upon three principles (a) access to free and compulsory education, (b) equality inclusion and non-discrimination, and (c) the right to quality education, content and processes. guided by the above conventions, united nations members at the world conference on special needs education adopted a guiding principle that schools should accommodate all children regardless of their diverse physical, intellectual, social, emotional and linguistic needs (unesco, 1994). the resulting salamanca statement recognized the necessity and urgency of providing education for children, youth and adults with special educational needs within the regular education systems (unesco, 1994). ie puts emphasis on all groups of learners who may be at risk of marginalization, exclusion or underachievement and gives a moral responsibility to families communities and states to ensure that those groups that are statistically most “at risk” are carefully monitored and that, where necessary, steps are taken to ensure their presence, participation and achievement in the education system. based on the above declarations countries of the world inclusing kenya are on the path towards addressing diversity in education environments and realization of inclusive schools. inclusive education in the kenyan context kenya places education as top agenda in both policy and investment by regarding education as one of the inputs to ensure the quality of life of its citizens. every child has the right to education irrespective of age, gender, background, socio-economic status, race, caste, creed, religion and ability. the constitution of kenya (republic of kenya, 2010), section 43 (1), affirms the right of every person to education. further, section 53 (1) (b) states that every child has the right to free and compulsory basic education. the sessional paper no. 1 (republic of kenya, 2005a) provides a policy framework for the education sector in kenya, including the requisite legal context, within which to design, develop and implement inclusive education programs. the constitution outlines policy recommendations for enhancing education access, quality, relevance, equity and efficiency, which are important factors in the overall success of inclusive education. specifically, two special needs education policy frameworks (republic of kenya, 2009; 2012) address a wide range of critical issues impacting on special needs education and provides a comprehensive policy framework that seeks to harmonize education service delivery for lsns and diverse needs in all education subsectors. the polices recognize that our classrooms have children with different experiences, skills, knowledge, values and abilities which are all invaluable ingredients in classroom and takes due consideration in the wake of increasing diversity in the society, success can only be guaranteed to those children who will live global journal of transformative education (2019) 1:1 opiyo, inclusive education and transformative leadership 56 global journal of transformative education (2019) 1:1 cooperatively with others. all these frameworks advocate for including all children with diverse background and abilities and all those usually excluded from school and classroom participation and learning for instance children of remote or nomadic population, children from linguistic, ethnic or cultural minorities, girl child, street and working children, children with disabilities, children affected by hiv/aids. the aim is geared towards (a) providing an understanding of the conditions for success for children with diverse needs, (b) achieving equalization of educational opportunity, (c) removing barriers, and (d) attending to the specific needs of those who had been denied so far. in order to ensure that this happens, the kenyan government believes that all learners are entitled to an excellent education that provide them with a genuine opportunity to succeed in inclusive classrooms in inclusive schools. in responding to this vison, mainstream schools and special schools in kenya are adopting policies and practices that are driven by the desire to be providers of high quality education services to all learners regard less of their learning needs. the above framework outlines an explicit ie policy and the role of key stakeholders such as school-heads and general education teachers in the realization of this policy in creating of inclusive and child-friendly schools, while simultaneously focusing on a requisite legal framework to ensure that schools respect diversity and ensure equality of learning for all children.this is because schools leaders are recognized as important ingredients in supporting and setting a higher standard for inclusive practice in schools and in communities. they can do this through strategic resourcing ensuring an orderly and supportive environment promoting and participating in teacher learning and development planning, and coordinating teaching and evaluating curriculum. who supports inclusive education in kenya? it is the responsibility of the ministry of education to ensure that school-accessible and child-centered programs are elaborated, implemented and evaluated. however, teachers, parents, communities, school authorities, curriculum planners, training institutes and entrepreneurs in the business of education are among education actors that serve as valuable resources in support of inclusion in kenya . however, some stakeholders are more than just a valuable resource. they are not only key to supporting all aspects of the inclusion process but they can also provide the right atmosphere for effective implementation of ie both in school and in society at large. according to fullan (2004), progress towards an effective inclusive school culture depends on the willingness and attitude of a number of educational stakeholders in accepting to promote diversity and to take an active role in the lives of students, both in and out of school. acceptance promotes optimal learning environment for ie and depends largely upon the relationship among teachers, parents, other students and society and more specifically the role of school leaders likewise, lindqvist & nilholm (2011) affirms that school leaders’ belief about inclusion, its process and their view about children’s capacity to change and be changed can be reflected in: (a) the way they encourage teacher learning through collaboration, (b) philosophy, inclusive beliefs and practices, (c) the extent to which they collaborate with staff to develop an inclusive philosophy relevant to the schools needs, and (d) the manner in which they actively and personally get involved in developing intervention strategies for atrisk students as they dialogue with parents. as put by clark, (2010) constant collaboration and training has a possibility of changing ideologies and perceptions of school leaders on inclusion and can simultaneous lead to reconstruction of beliefs tow diversity. sergiovanni (2009) believes that school leader’s attitude change influences how we organize school to accommodate diverse needs and acknowledge that all children, irrespective of their race, socio-economic status, gender or disability, deserve quality education. manisfestly, this can be detected in a shift in their value system and support for school based inclusion policy and procedures that ensure sustainability (ainscow & sandill, 2010). conversely, negative attitudes towards inclusion is likely to result into exclusivity .it is associated with lack of planning, lack of resources, lack of knowledge of better practices and limited experiences with special needs students (bobb & early, 2009; sergiovanni, 2009). fortunately, negative attitudes can be minimized when school leaders learn and acquire the knowledge they need to build inclusive schools, more so, in facilitating teacher learning that will produce inclusive classrooms. adequate knowledge will enable school leaders transform school into effective inclusive environment (leithwood & jantzi 2006). this then calls for preparation of school leaders who can (a) stimulate change in the follower’s attitudes and behavior through opiyo, inclusive education and transformative leadership 57 empowerment, (b) those who can create a global vision (bobb & early, 2009) and (c) reshape corporate culture and works along with the vision towards ie. for this reason, this paper believes that there are complex and interrelated factors undergird the success of schools with effective inclusive education models and that moving towards more inclusive schools and education systems involves a series of leadership conditions both at the macro and the school level, as well as at the level of pedagogical practices (instructional leadership). although the ministry of education in kenya , holds the key responsibility of ensuring inclusion in school, school leaders who are ministry representations and infact ‘the eyes’ of ministry have a huge responsibility in causing this change based on their transformative leadership acumen. transformative leadership that promotes inclusion transformational leadership model is used to meet the current demand for innovation in education systems . indeed current trend in the literature (cristina and ann, 2010) supports the idea that (a) school innovations, such as inclusion, do not occur on their own (b) works when it is thoughtfully developed and (c) can only take place when the school leader who is a transformational leader, in consort with the community and faculty uses collaborative decision-making to develop a full inclusion program. according to precey, (2008), transformational leaders strive (a) build a compelling vision of a better future with others underpinned by high moral confidence (b) inspire others to follow them and offers individualized support (c) articulate a vision and passion can achieve great things and gets things done by injecting enthusiasm and energy(d) establish shared organizational goals and models best practices and important organizational values (e) display high levels of interpersonal engagement with a deep understanding of personal, team and organizational learning (f) demonstrate expectations of high performance (g) provide intellectual stimulation for others and seek best practices (h) create a productive culture with a commitment to community (i) develop structures to foster participation in decision-making and distribute leadership throughout the organization and do have great personal resilience. they are leaders who are motivated by the importance of individualized support that promotes student learning., intellectual stimulation, and personal vision. they support others through competence building to create inclusive classrooms , encourage collaboration to stimulate thinking and are grounded in understanding the needs of individual teachers rather than controlling them to meet desired outcomes (halliger, 2005). as they seek to influence people by building from the bottom-up rather than from the top down , they become overly concerned with modeling best practices and important organizational values, continuous professional development of teachers, shared decision making and leadership, experimentation, teacher reflection and building relationships with the school community. these are key ingredients for inclusivity. transformative school leaders are also known to hold firmly to key values of democracy, equity, justice, emphasize social justice and equity and are able to live with tension as they display moral courage and activism. based on the above arguments transformative leadership is therefore more likely where schools take on the role of making profound social change where there is great inequality for example in relation to sexism, racism or other forms of profound exclusion. as christiansen, heggen and karseth (2004) share, the job of leaders is to maximize the collective talent and efforts of all those involved in the education enterprise to promote and sustain inclusive cultures, meaning that for sustainability of ie transformative leadership should be our focus. school leaders are the key to the success or failure of educational reform. they have to develop leadership style that meets the demands of educational change which is seen in the manner in which they (a) provide moral direction which gives meaning and significance to the goals of the school, (b) raise awareness, heighten interest of followers and provide support for the group to carry out the full inclusion project, (c) develop projects and assist in overcoming challenges; provides vision and resources necessary to help teachers accomplish change, and (d) provide encouragement and energy to help make the innovation successful and the implementation of full inclusion. significantly, four themes emerge in relation to transformative leadership in effective schools: fostering shared vision, planning and decision-making processes, creating collaborative structures and processes using data to make decisions about curriculum and instruction, and understanding and utilizing policy to create comprehensive school and district wide systems. these themes mirror those identified by waldron, mcleskey, and redd (2014) in their case study of a highly effective, inclusive school. for this research, the themes are crucial because each point to potential areas of global journal of transformative education (2019) 1:1 opiyo, inclusive education and transformative leadership 58 implications not only for practice but also for focus of and approaches to school leadership development. salisbury and mcgregor (2002) assert that inclusive education has emerged as a school wide improvement approach sharing characteristics of innovativeness, commitment to diversity, and a strong emphasis on school improvement. so school leaders must share common personal attributes such as sharing decision-making power with their staff, leading their school by example, extending the core values around inclusiveness and quality initiatives throughout the school, and actively promoting learning communities. waldron, mcleskey, and redd (2011) acknowledge that strong school leadership is pivotal to effective implementation of inclusive education. their description of the characteristics of effective inclusive schools and the personal attributes of school leader of such schools are consistent with those articulated by corbett and slee (2000). hehir and kartzman (2012) affirm that inclusive schools are dynamic, problem solving organizations. strong school leaders to them is one who creates both a sense of common purpose and internal accountability as well as conditions for high-quality teaching and learning to take place. their stance is that complex and interrelated factors undergird the success of schools with effective inclusive education models. successful inclusive schools embrace comprehensive school-wide approaches, including a clear vision of high expectations and universally designed instructional practices that address both academic and behavioral components of schooling. in order to develop effective inclusive schools, there is need for school leaders to establish collaborative frameworks, collegiality, and a commitment to support diversity among students (kugelmass, 2004). though not explicit to inclusive education implementation,fullan (2014) articulates what he terms the three keys that maximizing a leader’s impact. he suggests that a leader can achieve this by (a) ensuring intense instructional focus and continuous learning are the core work at the school. (b) working with district and system player in order to access the wide range of resources within the system to leverage leadership and inclusion success, and (c) be a change agent to foster school effectiveness and improved student learning and achievement. the conceptualization of the school leaders as a change agent is critical to inclusive implementation and its sustainability. based on seven critical competencies suggested by kirtman (2013), fullan (2014) asserts that as the change agent, the school leaders requires these competencies to facilitate the building of personal and organizational capacity for greater leadership success. with these competencies, school leaders are able to (a) challenge the status quo by interrogating common practices, takes risks, and explores innovations with the aim of improving the learning of all students, (b) build trust through clear communication and expectation to ensure improved performance and organizational effectiveness, (c) creates commonly owned plan for success by working to ensure ownership of the plan, monitoring implementation, and making adjustments as appropriate, (d) focus on the team over self by supporting the professional growth of all staff and seeking critical feedback, (e) create a sense of urgency for sustainable by mobilizing people to tackle core issues while matching passion and urgency with requisite skills, (f) commits to continuous improvement for self by seeking learning opportunities and innovative ideas to ensure sustained improvements, and (g) build external networks and partnerships to adequate and sustainable support that makes a positive difference to the organization (fullan, 2014). this paper believes in the sentiments of fullan (2014) who expressed that efficient leadership remains an important indicator of successful inclusive education implementation. he established that most of the leadership issues effecting inclusive education implementation are known but not sufficiently addressed in practice. school leadership and inclusive education school leaders play a critical role in improving learning through four sets of leadership practices. first, they are expected to : set directions by building a shared vision, foster acceptance of group goals, create high performance expectations, and communicate direction. second, they shoud develop staff by: providing individualized support and consideration, offering intellectual stimulation, and modelling appropriate values and practices. thirdly, effective leaders must always seek to: refine and align their organizations when they build collaborative cultures, restructure the organization to support collaboration, build productive relationships with families and connect the school to the wider community.finally, they are expected to improve the instructional program through practices that influence the nature and quality of instruction in classrooms (leithwood & jantzi, 2006). leithwood and colleague global journal of transformative education (2019) 1:1 opiyo, inclusive education and transformative leadership 59 stress that school leaders can no longer function simply as school managers but also double up as instructional leaders (ainscow & sandill, 2010) to be successful, they are also expected to distribute leadership effectively for sustainable educational change and improvement that translates into improved learning outcomes (harris, 2014). this can be achieved through what dufour and marzano (2011) advocate; a shift in focus to efforts aimed at building the collective capacity of educators. the functions of the school leaders discussed above, do not directly address inclusive education but it can be assumed that leadership skills in the critical areas are helpful in leading inclusive schools. according guzman (1997) the core mandate of every school leader is to diagnose his or her particular school’s needs and to meet these needs by utilizing the resources and talents available. purpose of the study the special needs education policy frameworks (republic of kenya, 2009; 2012) embraces inclusive education as the viable option in enhancing education access, equity, quality, and relevance for all children in kenya. the policy documents provide a comprehensive approach, including ways of providing an inclusive education of quality to all children, highlighting the need for teachers to be sensitive to each child’s unique requirements, provide child-centred, socially relevant and equitable teaching/learning and understand the diversity in their social and cultural contexts. based on these frameworks, huge resources (republic of kenya 2005a, 2005c, 2009, 2010, 2012) are channeled in enhancing capacities and developing training of school leaders and teachers. nonetheless, there seems to be insufficient specifics and less clarity on service delivery models. and the roles of stakeholders, including those of school leaders within the inclusive education framework .policies acknowledge monumental challenges in the provision of inclusive education including; high pupil-teacher ratios, overcrowded classrooms, absenteeism, high drop-out rates, high repetition rates, increased number of orphans due to hiv and aids, inadequate infrastructural development, weak governance and financial management, inequitable deployment and weak management of teachers, and gender and regional disparities. however, concerns raised by stakeholders on what shouldbe the unique competencies of school leaders in creating change within inclusive environment has not been given due attention. global journal of transformative education (2019) 1:1 therefore, this theoretically review presents perspectives of different authors on the potential of transformative leadership ability of school leaders in offering a more inclusive, equitable, and deeply democratic conception of education. specifically, the paper highlights transformative leadership practices of school leaders that are crucial for the implementation of this inclusive practice. theoretical framework this theoretical review is underpinned in the social model of disability which is a way of viewing the world, based on perspectives of disabled people. this approach sees disability as a concept that provides us with an opportunity for raising serious questions about the nature of the existing society we live in and the kind of society we desire or hope for.this is where the critical analysis has to focus and the changes have to take place.it recognizes the centrality of institutional, ideological, structural and material disabling barriers within society that is , systemic barriers, negative attitudes and exclusion by society (purposely or inadvertently) as the main contributory factor in disabling people. the model says that people are disabled by barriers in society, not by their impairment or difference. they believe that unadaptive, unfriendly and hostile set of material conditions and social relations cumulatively contribute to the marginalisation, disempowerment and exclusion of disabled people .barriers can be physical, like buildings not having accessible toilets or they can be caused by people’s attitudes to difference, like assuming disabled people can’t do certain things. the social model helps us recognize barriers that make life harder for disabled people and urges removal of these barriers to create equality and offer disabled people more independence, choice and control such an inclusive outlook permits stakeholders, especially school leaders change makers , to give a holistic view of the education system by embracing inclusive philosophies and ideals of inclusion.this when they are likely to enable teachers and learners to feel comfortable with diversity, see it as a challenge and enrichment of the learning environment, rather than a problem , and significant of all, to take into consideration the concepts of least restrictive environment, home school, and education with peers as important aspects of special education. figure 1 illustrates the social model of disability. figure 1. social model of disability (oliver, 2013). opiyo, inclusive education and transformative leadership 60 methodology a search of the published literature for this review included several steps. first, personal inquiries and consultations were made with professionals with relevant research and practice interests that is transformative leadership and inclusive education. second, articles, journals and government policy documents and scholarly research reports were reviewed, focusing transformative leadership and inclusive education. third, relevant texts were searched for applicable information. finally, a site search was conducted on the world wide web of organizations, databases, references, and on-line publications. data was collected and synthesized from these secondary sources pertaining to transformative leadership and inclusive education. discussion of issues was bound within the social model of disability which sees an inclusive approach as one that permits a holistic review of the education system having a broader view of diversity as a challenge and enrichment of the learning environment, rather than a problem and takes into consideration the concepts of least restrictive environment, home school, and education with peers as important aspects of special education. the presentation was done thematically focusing on the key transformative leadership indicators that promotes inclusive education as dicussed in subsequent chapters. discussions inclusion is a principle that is increasingly gaining attention in conversations about transformative education systems as one that cater for the diversity of students’ learning needs and their individual characteristics such as learning motivations, abilities, styles and rhythm. the key element of inclusion is not individualization but the diversification of the educational provision and the personalization of common learning experiences in order to achieve the highest degree of participation of all students, taking into account their individual needs. this implies advancing towards universal design, where the teaching-learning process and the curriculum consider from the very beginning the diversity of needs of all students, instead of planning on the basis of an “average” student and then carry out individualized actions to respond to the needs of specific students or groups who were not taken into consideration by an education proposal based on a logic of homogeneity instead of diversity. the response to diversity , an essential condition to achieve high quality education , is probably the main challenge currently faced by schools and teachers, as it involves substantive changes in the existing conceptions, attitudes, curricula, pedagogical practices, teacher training, evaluation systems and school organization. the role of the school leader is becoming critical in promoting the delivery of equitable education by teachers in an inclusive school classroom setting . first and foremost, it is imperative that the school leader: believes that outcomes can be equitable, whatever the individual starting points of their students, enthuses the staff and students to raise achievement in all students and measures the success of students by more than their academic achievement, school leaders should also be aware of the united nations charter on the rights of the child (1989), a significant driver for embracing diversity that legislates for every member state to provide education for all its children. it is the responsibility of a school leader to lead , promote and nurture inclusive attitudes and behaviours in your school community.this is possible by the school leaders with specific transformative skills. global journal of transformative education (2019) 1:1 opiyo, inclusive education and transformative leadership 61 school leaders’ transformative leadership skills regardless of school type, schools need leadership in seven critical areas. one of these is in the area of instructional leadership, which entails assuring quality of instruction, modelling teaching practice, supervising curriculum, and assuring quality of teaching resources .the second area entails cultural leadership which is about tending to the symbolic resources of the school, for example, its traditions, climate, and history . the third area is managerial leadership encompassing tending to the operations of the school such as, its budget, schedule, facilities, safety and security. the other area is human resource leadership which is concerned with recruiting, hiring, firing, inducting, mentoring teachers and administrators; developing leadership capacity and professional development opportunities. the fourth one is strategic leadership which deals with promoting a vision, mission, goals, and developing a means to reach them external development is the fifth domain of representing the school in the community, developing capital, public relations, recruiting students, buffering and mediating external interests, and advocating for the school’s interests and the last area is micro-political –leadership which entails suffering and mediating internal interests; maximizing financial and human resources (leithwood, harris & hopkins, 2008). it is therefore, encouraging that a review of leadership literature indicates that the issue of inclusion is increasingly seen as a key challenge (west, ainscow & notman, 2003). it is argued, for example, that with increasingly diverse populations schools need to thrive on uncertainty, have a greater capacity for collective problem-solving, and be able to respond to a wider range of learners.this is only possible with school leaders with transformation outlook. the most helpful theoretical and empirical leads, however, are provided by riehl (2000) who concludes that school leaders need to attend to three broad types of task of fostering new meanings about diversity, promoting inclusive practices within schools and building connections between schools and communities . riehl (2000) goes on to consider how these tasks can be accomplished, exploring how the concept of practice, especially discursive practice, can contribute to a fuller understanding of the work of school leaders . in her analysis she offers a positive view of the potential for leaders to engage in inclusive, transformative developments. she concludes: when wedded to a relentless commitment to equity, voice, and social justice, administrators’ efforts in the tasks of sensemaking, promoting inclusive cultures and practices in schools, and building positive relationships outside of the school may indeed foster a new form of practice. (riehl, 2000, p. 71). in support, copland (2003) suggests, that enquiry can be the engine to enable the determination of leadership that is needed in order to foster participation in learning, and the glue that can bind a community together around a common purpose. from literature sources such as leithwood, harris and hopkins (2008), the ensuing discussion identifies special abilities of school leaders that are associated with the success of schools in fostering the achievement of all their students, that is ability to : create inclusive cultures and ethos, develop strong desire for change, strive to build instructional teams and inclusive communities, appeciate active mentorship, embrace a clear philosophy and positive beliefs about inclusive education, nurture better instructional leadership and transformed school leaders and promote teachers learning and staff development as discussed below. create inclusive cultures and ethos school leaders set the ethos that either welcomes or sidelines disabled children and children with sen; and they create a culture where parents are either confident to engage with the school or feel they are a nuisance (lamb inquiry, 2009). suffice to say, transformed school leaders who foster a sense of common purpose and are driven by a strong personal commitment to equal opportunities, seem to be remarkably successful in leading the whole school community – staff, students and parents – in ways that lead to a wholehearted commitment to the principle of educational inclusion. the strong sense of common purpose that provides the basis for the development of practices that take account of the learning of every student and manifested in visible efforts in establishing culture and ethos that emphasises the importance of respecting and responding positively to diversity in all senses. effective school leaders also go ahead to improve student learning by focusing on getting relationships right between themselves, their teachers, students and parents. they are culture builders (halliger, 2010) who global journal of transformative education (2019) 1:1 opiyo, inclusive education and transformative leadership 62 influence the school community in embracing inclusive attitudes and mindsets. precey (2008) assert that real and sustained change is achieved by changing the culture of the school, rather than by simply changing the structures of the way the school operates. this means school leaders must seek an understanding of schools’ culture before leading. they have to instructional leaders are viewed as culture builders who foster high expectations and standards for students, as well as for teachers (precey,2008). they must also directly get involved in the teaching culture of the school, work directly with children and classroom teachers and base decisions on educational principles and values . develop strong desire for change implementation of inclusive practices demand school leaders to take critical roles in providing a vision, leadership and administrative authority (sergiovanni, 2009; day & leithwood, 2007) and challenge the norm of traditional approach to teaching, inspire a clear mutual vision of what the school should and could be and simultaneously, empower staff through cooperative team work (ainscow & sandill, 2010). this means the school leaders will first and foremost need to buy in to the philosophy of inclusion, followed by influencing the formation of a school vision that will direct the school towards embracing inclusive goals. they must also seek to reconstruct the school system and commit to the implementation of inclusive processes. build and support instructional or inclusive communities school leaders can no longer function simply as school managers or as instructional leaders .to be successful in this front, they are expected to distribute leadership effectively for sustainable educational change and improvement that translates into improved learning outcomes (rice, 2006). this can be achieved through what dufour and marzano (2011) advocate; a shift in focus to efforts aimed at building the collective capacity of educators. transformational leadership demands social skills of team building and inspiration without dominion. this can be evident in the way he/ she places lots of responsibilities on teams and team leaders. as for halliger (2005) transformational leaders must not provide leadership alone but shares it with teachers. this model is grounded in understanding the needs of individual staff rather than coordinating and controlling them towards the organizations desired ends. as summarized by kugelmass (2004), effective inclusive schools are characterized by coherent school cultures in which teachers and school leaders demonstrate high levels of personal responsibility and collective commitments that place students at the center of educational decision making. as a result, school leaders need to be committed to inclusive values and to a leadership style which encourages individuals to participate in leadership functions (dyson, polat, hutcheson & gallannaugh, 2004). practice active mentorship sugai, o’keeffe, horner & lewis (2012), defines a mentor as a single person, whose basic function is to help a new leaders or subordinates. on one hand, moir (2005), stresses that in promoting new innovation like inclusive, education mentors are important in decreasing the isolation of new teachers. when they guide them through their first year of teaching they can quickly get acquainted with their new environment. they do this by providing practical answers, ‘posing important questions to prompt reflection, modelling teaching techniques, observing and offering feedback. have a clear philosophy and positive beliefs about inclusive education one of the foundations for building an inclusive school is to believe that all children, regardless of their social, economic, emotional, physical or cognitive background have the ability to learn. in addition, adequate knowledge of inclusion and its processes can influence school leader’s attitude and will determine the extent of the school’s inclusive practices, regardless of the school context, the emphasis they place on teachers learning and the emphasis they place on the importance of a flexible curriculum. the way a school leader constructs and employs certain leadership characteristics will depend on the changes that are taking place at the school at a given time, the school leaders knowledge regarding the change that needs to be implemented compared to his/ her teachers, and the school leader’s ability to co-operate with others and build teaching teams. moreover, strategies that can effectively facilitate teachers learning include school based collaboration, in-service training and mentorship. however, the strategies that school leaders will use to promote teachers learning will depend on the school’s vision and its inclusive education context. global journal of transformative education (2019) 1:1 opiyo, inclusive education and transformative leadership 63 global journal of transformative education (2019) 1:1 demonstrate strong instructional leadership as instructional leaders, schools where leaders are expected to bring change (webb, 2005). for this reason, instructional leadership would be appropriate in schools that need to accommodate inclusive changes as they promote instructional time, promote professional development; provide incentives for teachers as well as for learning (halliger, 2000). at the same time, instructional leaders are considered to be ‘strong directive leaders’ (halliger 2005) who act as the day to day manager of the school building, are responsible for timetabling teachers and evaluating them accordingly . this implies that when promoting inclusive practices, changes will be based on school and teacher evaluation. they must be well versed with curriculum and instruction, role models and who are not only familiar with the curriculum but also one who practice inclusion for lsn. halliger, 2000) refers to instructional shool leadership as an ability to be hands on, well versed with the curriculum instructions and standards set in the national curricular, knowledgeable about what is happening at the school, and one that evaluates teachers accordingly by providing feedback during meetings. it means that instructional leaders must work with their staff in formulating clear and measurable goals that are focused on the academic progress of students work to transform other school leaders the transformational leadership model enables meeting the current demand for innovation by empowering others through a distribution of leadership (sergiovanni, 2009). they do not provide leadership alone (halliger, 2010), instead they share their leadership responsibility with other teacher, providing leadership for inclusive change, uses the transformational leadership model to share leadership responsibilities with other teachers through delegation of responsibilities to team leaders. they must be grounded in understanding the needs of individual teachers rather than controlling them to meet desired outcomes (halliger, 2010) as they seek to influence people by building from the bottom-up rather than from the top down in addition, they are motivated by the importance of individualized support, intellectual stimulation, and personal vision by supporting teachers through competence building that will enable them to create inclusive classrooms. they are keen in encouraging collaboration to stimulate thinking and promote student learning, demands social skills of team building and inspiration without dominion, concerned with modeling best practices and important organizational values, continuous professional development of teachers, shared decision making and leadership, experimentation, teacher reflection and building relationships with the school community .this is apparent as part of the responsibility to ensure that teaches are doing ‘a good job’ that will promote teaching and learning. her managerial role is also reflected in the way she is involved in different teacher meetings to ensure that she is aware of what is happening in the school (halliger, 2000). promote teacher learning and staff development promotion of teacher learning is important to the inclusion process as it will equip teachers in facilitating inclusive classrooms . deppler (2010) reinforcded the importance of teachers learning when he argued that improvement of schools will depend on the quality of teachers to meet inclusive challenges. it means then that transformative leaders must put more effort and resources to promote teachers learning.a numbers of strategies that can be used to motivate teachers may range from school based collaboration, working with the school community, training and mentorship. bubb & early (2009) affirm that staff development which involves discussing, coaching, mentoring, observing and developing others is highly effective on matters inclusion. therefore transformational leaders must always value teachers learning, but they show it in different ways. for instance, by making suggestions, giving feedback, providing modeling, using inquiry and solicit advice and opinions, and giving praise. a similar study noted other six teacher development strategies that is, emphasizing the study of teaching and learning, supporting collaboration efforts among educators, developing coaching relationships among educators; encouraging and supporting redesign of programs; applying the principles of adult learning, growth and development to all phases of staff development; and implementing action research to inform instructional decision making. significant of all is that, is the development of intellectual, academic and professional capital (sergiovanni, 2006) while empowering and supporting teachers as partners in decision making (leithwood & jantzi, 2006) because there is a thin line between what happens to teachers and what happens to students is direct (sergiovanni, 2006). for example, little collaboration among teachers will result in little collaboration among students. leithwood (2005) states that transformational opiyo, inclusive education and transformative leadership 64 global journal of transformative education (2019) 1:1 leaders help staff development by maintaining a collaborative professional school culture and involving staff in collaborative goal setting (sergiovanni, 2009) conclusions inclusive education is a process of addressing and responding to the diversity of needs of all learners through increasing participation in learning, cultures, and communities, and reducing exclusion within and from education. in spite of the dilemmas that are currently faced in inclusive schools, in many countries like kenya, school leaders have a responsibility in ensuring that that they provide a school for all children. school leaders will need to have inclusive attitudes which will entail an inclusive school vision. part of providing a school for all will also require school leaders to provide school leadership that will bring about inclusive changes; which will in turn affect the practices of classroom teachers. school leaders play an important role in motivating teachers to build inclusive classrooms and will need to influence and challenge teachers thinking by promoting inclusive cultures, in-service training, and enquiry and evidence based collaboration that will go beyond a mere transfer of knowledge to the acquisition of skills that will encourage, nurture and facilitate learning for alltransformative leadership skills of school leadership is critical aspect to the successful implementation of inclusive education. this is particularly imperative considering that the overarching principle of inclusive education is that every child counts. recommendations inclusive education demands new skills and knowledge, not only for an individual teacher, but for the whole staff, as the whole school will need to be competent in order to make inclusion work. as a result, continuous staff development of teachers and all school leaders is crucial. a. a coordinated and multi-pronged action plan to spur requisite policy reforms, system alignments, and funding strategies in order reframe school leadership development. b. specifically, the teachers’ service commission and ministry of education, science and technology should collaboratively develop leadership standards for school leaders in order to spur improvements in leadership programmes’ quality and effectiveness in inclusive setting’s. c. the county education committees should develop inclusive education indicators to be utilized when designing and implementing school development plans. d. moreover, in order to model effective inclusive programmes and practices at least five model inclusive schools should be established in each subcounty through a well-resourced programme implemented by respective subcounty education commmittees. this may act as centers of excellence and models for what leadership models works for inclusive education. opiyo, inclusive education and transformative leadership 65 global journal of transformative education (2019) 1:1 references ainscow, m., farrell, p. & tweddle, d. 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(2005). leading teaching and learning in the primary school: from educative leadership to pedagogical leadership. educational management administration & leadership, 33(69), 129-147. 1 rose atieno opiyo (ropiyo@mmust.ac.ke) is a lecturer in the department of educational psychology at masinde muliro university of science and technology, kakamega, kenya. author abstract education for sustainable development (esd) is increasingly being recognized as a critical element of education systems and facilitator of sustainable development. this is because its ultimate goal is to foster ideal teaching, learning, policies and practices needed to enhance social, economic, ecological viability and well-being for the present and future generations. embracing esd could therefore, facilitate realization of objectives of the competency-based curriculum (cbc) that kenya has rolled out. particularly, the cbc is expected to foster acquisition of core competencies like creativity, problem-solving, and self-efficacy. but, limited understanding, inappropriate pedagogical approaches, and weak collaboration among key stakeholders are some of the challenges that face application of esd. this research review focuses on the pertinent esd aspects to successful implementation of the cbc in basic education in kenya. specifically illuminated are the underpinning pedagogical theories and their implications, relevant legal and policy frameworks, some success stories, challenges and proposed solutions. keywords: basic education, competency-based curriculum, constructivism, education for sustainable development, pedagogy nyatuka, b. o. global journal of transformative education (2020) vol 2 doi 10.14434/gjte.v2i1.31212 open access published by the global insitutute of transformative education (http://www.gite.education) © nyatuka, b. o. 2020. open access this journal is distributed under the terms of the creative commons attribution noncommercial nonderivative 4.0 international license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction without revision in any non-commercial medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the creative commons license, education for sustainable development in kenya: rhetoric and reality in basic education benard o. nyatuka full listing of authors and contacts can be found at the end of this article. introduction given that the world today is experiencing a great level of uncertainty, complexity and rapid change, embracing more sustainable intervention measures, including appropriate education about sustainable development is imperative. according to sterling (2014) and unesco (2011), such global issues as economic instability, climate change, social inequity, loss of biodiversity and migration as well as non-renewable energy sources need to be addressed urgently. it is important to note, however, that sustainability is a highly demanding concept as it calls for changes at the political, social, economic, environmental, educational and decision-making levels, among others. kondur, ridei, mykhailyshyn and katsero (2020) argue that since education for sustainability is evolving on a geospheric, geopolitical and transboundary scale, it can be defined economically, socially, environmentally and educationally. on their part, lampa, greculescu and todorescu (2013) consider sustainable development to be a continuous search for improving our daily lives, while minimizing the negative impact brought about by humans on the environment. this requires active, creative and cooperative citizens who are able to successfully prevent and solve problems, and be ready to combine theoretical knowledge with innovations and practical ideas. as a prerequisite for realizing sustainable development, education systems should be restructured to focus on enhancing the development of creative thinking among the population, promoting tolerance and democratic ideals, making informed decisions and participating in the implementation of relevant cross-cutting plans and issues (kondur, et al, 2020; unesco, 2005a). in the european union, for example, sustainable development is regarded to be the basic principle upon which all policies are anchored. particularly, education service providers should develop programmes for sustainable education that balance future knowledge with traditional lifestyles. however, it should be borne in mind that such education is not aimed at changing nyatuka, education for sustainable development in kenya 87 people’s lifestyles, but empowering and encouraging them to participate in sustainable development, including reflecting on their actions in this field. unesco (2019) stipulates that by 2030, all learners should acquire the knowledge and skills needed to promote sustainable development. and, this is supposed to be achieved through, among others, education for sustainable development, sustainable lifestyles, human rights and gender equality. other means are promotion of a culture of peace and nonviolence, global citizenship and appreciation of cultural diversity. indeed, lampa, greculescu and todorescu (2013) note that education for sustainable development is a broad movement concerned with identifying and advancing the kinds of education, teaching and learning policy and practice to ensure social, economic and ecological viability and welfare, now and into the long-term future. the authors hold that education for sustainable development aims at enhancing consciousness, ensure a coherent way of life with the principles of sustainable development, that is, being more informed, moral and responsible about the ability of future generations to meet their needs. according to ganira and odundo (2018), the overriding theme of education for sustainable development is integration of values inherent in sustainable development into all aspects of curricula to encourage change in behaviour that alloys a just society for all. in addition to moral and ethical values, education for sustainable development has various dimensions, such as peace education, medical education, consumer education, among others (fosnot, 2013; armstrong, 2011). the main task of education for sustainable development therefore, is formation of a value-oriented personality directed towards socially, economically and environmentally significant values. ganira and odundo (2018) observe that integrating sustainable development strategies such as problem-based, inquiry-based, and reflective learning in teaching and learning should motivate learners to become responsible individuals who will solve challenges, respect cultural diversity and contribute to creating a sustainable society. armstrong (2011) contends that skills associated with education for sustainable development are expansive and include collaboration and cooperation, conflict resolution, creativity, imagination, future mindedness, knowledge transfer, meaningful communication and civic engagement. others include interdisciplinary research skills, adaptive learning, contextualization of issues, personal introspection visioning, systems thinking as well as values focused teaching. to achieve these, all those involved in the delivery of education for sustainable development must practice what they preach (fosnot, 2013). thus, education for sustainable development requires approaches that reflect a paradigm shift from manual training of discipline-specific content to a focus on enhancing quality of life that is rich with intellectual and social capital. indeed, the education for sustainable development pedagogy initiated by unesco (2004) highlights a shift towards active participation and experiential learning that engages the learner in thinking and accords them the ability to act responsibly. lampa, greculescu and todorescu (2013) note that education for sustainable development is central to preparing learners for lifelong learning, an adaptive quality that makes the learner more malleable in a time when most societies are experiencing dramatic social, environmental and economic transformation. in armstrong (2011), concepts like deep learning, transformational learning, active learning, service learning and critical emancipatory pedagogy have all been included in pedagogical discussions about education for sustainable development. with respect to kenya, opanda (2013) observes that four main ideas related to education for sustainable development have so far received heightened attention. these are improving access to basic quality education; restructuring of the present educational system; development of public understanding and awareness; and enhancing the quality of the teacher training programmes. in particular, teachers are extremely important drivers of change in the education for sustainable development. ganira and odundo (2018) assert that adoption of education for sustainable development pedagogies into the basic education curriculum requires appropriate teaching and learning methods that motivate and empower learners to modify behaviour and take actions for sustainable development. given that education for sustainable development pedagogies facilitate learning of knowledge, skills, perspectives and values that sustainable societies entail, the researchers emphasize that appropriate pedagogies for sustainable development be used. through sustainable development goal 4 (sdg 4), education for sustainable development provides a cross-cutting mechanism for the achievement of all the sdgs in kenya (ministry of education, 2017). this is in line with agenda 2063 of the african union which calls for action on catalyzing education and skills revolution to build knowledge, human capital, capabilities and global journal of transformative education (2020) vol. 2 nyatuka, education for sustainable development in kenya 88 global journal of transformative education (2020) vol. 2 skills to drive innovations on the african continent. addressing sustainable development challenges requires provision of quality education that offers competencies, values, knowledge and skills for sustainable living and prosperity. as an integral part of life-long learning, education for sustainable development is central to the delivery of quality education and necessary for capacity building of the kenyan society for a green economy. according to wandabi (2019a), the competency-based curriculum (cbc) provides an opportunity to nurture every learner’s potential through quality education. this happens to be the ultimate goal of education for sustainable development. just like education for sustainable development, the cbc seeks to empower learners to take informed decisions and responsible actions for environmental integrity, economic viability and just society for present and future generations, while respecting cultural diversity. republic of kenya (2017) holds that the teaching of values, especially at the basic education level, is expected to facilitate achievement of the curriculum reforms’ vision, particularly with respect to developing ethical citizens. specifically, basic education seeks to build capacities in learners that will enable them to be stewards of the earth, and minimize negative environmental impacts, while learning outcomes are linked to meaningful human, safety, educational, and environmental needs. the cbc endeavours to make learners work on real problems that make academic learning relevant while simultaneously enhancing their social skills, analytical ability, civic and ethical responsibility, self-efficacy, and career development (wandabi, 2019a) the cbc incorporates the pertinent and contemporary issues in society, including the related support materials. education for sustainable development is one of such issues and focuses on environmental education, disaster risk reduction, safety and security education, financial literacy, poverty education, countering terrorism, extreme violence and radicalization, gender issues and animal welfare (republic of kenya, 2017). accordingly, education should include values that support sustainable development such as care, respect, charity, social and economic justice, commitment, cooperation, compassion, self-determination and self reliance. in the college student educators international (2008), change agents should possess such attributes as resilience, optimism, tenacity, commitment, passion, patience and emotional intelligence. others are assertiveness, persuasiveness, empathy, authenticity, ethical self-awareness, competence and curiosity. the cbc emphasizes these attributes as well, as they are known to boost students’ self-esteem (republic of kenya, 2017; lampa, greculescu & todorescu, 2013). in the spirit of finding solutions to the challenges of sustainability of the biosphere and society in the country, the ministry of education has prioritized to focus on emerging gaps in the education sector (ministry of education, 2017). these include developing a relevant policy; transforming teaching, learning and training environments; building capacities of educators and trainers; and accelerating youth empowerment. this is in tandem with aspirations of kenya’s vision 2030 development plan, the global action programme on education for sustainable development and sdgs. through the implementation of the education for sustainable development policy, the ministry seeks to integrate such education into sustainable development policies and strategies of learning environments in training and learning institutions. this includes infusion of education for sustainable development into basic education, teacher training programmes and establishment of relevant youth-led initiatives. despite the efforts being made by the government, there appears to be a vague understanding of the concept of education for sustainable development among many citizens , use of inappropriate pedagogical methods and materials, and low level of collaboration among key stakeholders. on this basis, this research review examines the major aspects of education for sustainable development with intent to enhance their application. these aspects include the relevant pedagogical theories and their implications, legal and policy provisions and some success cases. also, discussed are critical challenges and possible remedies. theoretical framework according to fosnot (2013) and armstrong (2011), education for sustainable development may be better understood by exploring constructivism theories which are characterized by high levels of learner engagement, including active, applied, service and experiential learning. such theories also lay emphasis on social interaction that involves problem-based, inquiry-based, as well as participatory learning. . constructivism theories hold that human beings construct all knowledge while participating in different mental and physical experiences (kalsoom, 2019; republic of kenya, 2017;). thus, constructivism is a supposition about the nature of knowledge and how individuals acquire it. in constructivism, the learner builds a personal nyatuka, education for sustainable development in kenya 89 interpretation of the world on the basis of experiences and interactions. among the proponents of constructivism are dewey’s social constructivism, vygotsky’s social-cultural development theory and gardner’s multiple intelligence theory. others are piaget’s cognitive development theory, bruner’s cognitive development theory and erikson’s theory of psychosocial development (republic of kenya, 2017). tobias (2009) observes that other than extending both behavioural and cognitive theories about learning, constructivism includes contextual issues, like previous knowledge and experience, in the construction of knowledge. in this light, knowledge does not reside only in the mind but is situated in the context of an individual’s past experience, beliefs and values, their cognitive process, and their environment (schunk, 2008). the core assumptions of constructivism are that learner activities lead to the creation of their own knowledge rather than mere acquisition of the same, and that truth is an evolving premise (schunk, 2008; simpson, 2002). schwartz, lindgren and lewis (2009) and tobias (2009) hold that active engagement leads to a higher understanding that may be applied to new and different situations. armstrong (2011) asserts that three primary perspectives underpin constructivism, that is, endogenous, exogenous, and dialectical. endogenous constructivism emphasizes internal cognitive processes, new knowledge being dependent on previously developed mental structures. this perspective connotes a highly active learning environment in which learners are able to explore and experiment through a variety of activities that motivate them to assimilate and accommodate what is learnt. the classroom is active with problem-solving engagements, rather than direct instruction. teachers are discouraged from interjecting outcomes for the learners before they are able to invent on their own, taking a peripheral role until fundamental discoveries are concretized (fosnot, 2013; armstrong, 2011). thus, the teacher’s role is to create an environment suitable for such discovery. likewise, peer interaction is an important means of discouraging egocentrism among the learners (piaget, 1970; tuckman, 1992; wadsworth, 1978). on its part, exogenous constructivism emphasizes the influence of the external world on the construction of knowledge, such as instruction, experience and use of models in the learning environment (kalsoom, 2019; armstrong, 2011; shunk, 2008). it seeks to explain behaviour and the learning environment, including emphasizing the use of impressionistic models. the learner continuously adapts to, as opposed to copying, the structure in the environment and is responsive to contextual issues. the assumptions of the exogenous perspective are that interactions between the learner’s cognition and other personal factors like biology, self-efficacy, and self-regulation, their environment as well as behaviour are reciprocal. also, learning may occur by observing models, live or static, rather than as a result of feedback or behaviour. bandura (1989) advocated for highly knowledgeable and effectual teachers who are able to motivate while also developing important cognitive abilities among learners. dialectical constructivism is positioned centrally between the endogenous and exogenous perspectives, emphasizing the contextual nature of the construction of knowledge. armstrong (2011) and simpson (2002) assert that dialectical constructivism is particularly useful in informing the pedagogical implementation of education for sustainable development. this perspective is especially responsive to the complex, uncertain and values-laden nature of sustainability. both a dialectical perspective of constructivism and education for sustainable development champion for iterative reflection, supporting vygotskys’s (1978) contention that social interaction precedes internal reflective processes, thereby reinforcing cognitive development and learning that happens post-interaction (bonnett, 2003). armstrong (2011) advises that implementing education for sustainable development will remain impossible without the commitment by educators to the new paradigm. wals (2010) notes that learning strategies that emphasize dialogue and cooperative experiences are quite useful in the delivery of education for sustainable development as they promote pluralism and incorporation of prior perceptions with new meaning. in the provision of education for sustainable development, a teacher or educator is a facilitator, collaborator and fellow learner on the journey towards sustainability. such a teacher allows the learner to direct their own learning and guide course content, although this does not necessarily indicate relinquished control or authority. implications of the constructivism theories on esd pedagogy. apparently, the pedagogical approaches used in education for sustainable development are considerably oriented to a constructivist epistemology. among others, it is important to design experiences that match the developmental level of the learner, especially those that encourage learning activities that go just beyond global journal of transformative education (2020) vol 2 nyatuka, education for sustainable development in kenya 90 their capacities (fosnot, 2013; armstrong, 2011). the lived experiences, community, active engagement and collaboration in education for sustainable development strategies assert the belief that there is magic in social interaction with peers, teachers and industry partners. accordingly, some of the common strategies for the development of relevant skills are collaborative activities, systems instruction, multigenerational analysis, problem-based assignments, inquiry and action research (fosnot, 2013). others are stakeholder analysis, role play, offering multiple perspectives in topics, back-casting and scenario building. the approach to education for sustainable development, especially with respect to teaching and learning should focus on students, encouraging them to form and develop their own ideas and values. teachers should consider pupils as being an important and active factor in learning. lampa, greculescu and todorescu (2013) assert that active listening, assuming of responsibilities and solidarity are considered prerequisites to successful relationships based on social cooperation and interaction among pupils and people in general. hence, it is necessary for teachers to develop these competencies during their didactic activity. likewise, educational experiences need to be made interdisciplinary or multidisciplinary with a view to exposing the learner to different social configurations. it should be appreciated that pedagogies like service, participatory and experiential learning are characterized by collective inquiry and problem-solving that require learners to dialogue with others around them, thereby facilitating the discovery of new meanings collectively (fosnot, 2013; armstrong, 2011). capacity building, values development and cooperative relationships are fostered in such an educational environment. learners should be encouraged to be interdependent upon one another to continuously amend the truth with higher degree of precision, inviting emergent outcomes. pedagogical competence should be understood as a synthesis of cognitive, visual, practical and personal experience (kondur, et al, 2020). it is therefore, important to involve teachers in the relevant management processes in order to constantly improve the organization of decentralization of education. future educators need to develop general knowledge of the content of sustainable development, ability to combine content of different disciplines in terms of social and cultural context and learn to overcome uncertainty. on their part, students need to think critically; respond to different situations appropriately; resolve conflicts; work as a team; and, develop responsibility and autonomy. these are all considered to be tools of strategic thinking. since education for sustainable development issues are controversial and complex, learners should be able to manage them as well as the disagreements among themselves and relevant participants. sustainable education encourages both teachers and students to use creative thinking, share ideas, cooperate and make decisions. hence such a school is dynamic, no longer dictated by traditional hierarchical structures. the educational process should be such that even the weakest students are educated in a manner that their actions, present or future, pose no danger to society or even themselves (lampa, greculescu & todorescu, 2013). there is need to rethink educational policies for sustainable development that aim at developing social, economic and environmental knowledge that will ultimately assist students in tackling challenges of modern life. also, there is need for partnerships among institutions to provide teachers with efficient training programmes; ensure multicultural contexts to help them understand diversity and practice tolerance towards others, work closely with parents, colleagues and the community; reflect and improve upon their didactic activity as far as education for sustainable development is concerned (lampa, greculescu & todorescu, 2013; armstrong, 2011). and, to ensure the quality of didactic activity in sustainable development, teachers should acquire and develop competences and abilities based on not only formal, but also informal and non-formal dimensions, and have them officially recognized. this includes identifying each pupil’s specific needs and working towards meeting them by use of a wide range of teaching strategies. it also involves helping pupils to develop professional and cross competences (lampa, greculescu & todorescu, 2013). venkataraman (2009) as well as rode and michelsen (2008) note that the development of assessment methods in education for sustainable development is a substantial area of opportunity. unesco (2005b) makes audible the need for assessments that not only pay attention to knowledge competency, but skills, perceptions, behaviours and values as well. specifically, standardized testing is dissuaded, while methods that speak to a holistic view of the overall quality of education are encouraged. this is in line with the cbc which among others, advocates for assessment that determines the capability to apply a set of related knowledge, skills, values and abilities required to global journal of transformative education (2020) vol 2 nyatuka, education for sustainable development in kenya 91 successfully perform critical work functions or tasks in a defined setting (republic of kenya, 2017). in addition to the above theoretical implications on esd pedagogy, the way forward is highlighted later in this piece of work. legal and policy provisions on esd in kenya key un conferences, acts of parliament and related policy documents have played an important part in mobilizing both the international and local communities towards sustainable development (sterling, 2014; opanda, 2013; unesco, 2011; unesco, 2010; unesco, 2009a). in particular, the united nations conference on environment and development (unced, 1992) called for all countries to develop education for sustainable development strategies and frameworks to reorient education systems and programmes. the major thrusts to foster such education included improving basic education; and to develop public understanding, awareness and training (opanda, 2013). in 2002, the united nations decade of education for sustainable development (desd) was mooted to facilitate implementation of such education (unesco, 2002; unesco, 2003). in 2014, unesco launched a roadmap for implementing the global action plan (gap) on education for sustainable development. based on this, kenya’s ministry of education has made commitment on this initiative through developing an education for sustainable development implementation strategy across all sectors. the strategy is to be guided by three broad objectives, that is, enhance the role of education and learning for equitable, efficient and sustainable utilization of the country’s resources; promote quality education through diverse learning and public awareness for improved quality of life and productive livelihood; and promote teaching and learning that inculcates appropriate values, behaviour and lifestyles for good governance and sustainability. the 2013-2018 national education sector plan presents a strategy for education and training to promote education for sustainable development with reference to the un gap programme. this led to the development of education for sustainable development policy for the education sector in 2017 (wandabi, 2019b). the policy focuses on providing, promoting and coordinating quality lifelong education, training, research and innovation for kenya’s sustainable development. albeit various hurdles, partnerships, collaborations and networks have been formed to enhance education for sustainable development implementation (unesco, 2009b). in tandem with the cbc, the education sector policy on education for sustainable development promotes competencies such as critical thinking, creativity and making decisions in a collaborative way. it is indicated that this is to be realized through integrating sustainable development into education and vice versa (ministry of education, 2017). its implementation is particularly to be done in the different education levels that include basic education; higher education; teacher and technical and vocational training institutions and workplace; lifelong learning and non-formal education. kenya’s vision 2030 development blueprint proposes policy formulation and curricula reviews to address education for sustainable development (republic of kenya, 2007). the national agencies are expected to play a key role in leading as well as supporting learning opportunities for change towards sustainable development across sectors. in kenya, the education for sustainable development national implementation strategy uses capacity-building, advocacy, vision-building, partnerships and co-ordination as key approaches to achieve this (unesco, 2011). the medium-term plan (2008-2012) for vision 2030 requires that all training institutions’ curricula are re-oriented to address sustainable development issues. already, the development of a life skills curricula has been done by the ministry of education while teachers and education officers have been trained and involved in delivering the same syllabus across the country (wandabi, 2019a). among other notable initiatives, the education sector has increased financial support for capacity development activities and strengthened the kenya education management institute, the agency for building capacities for education managers. similarly, the centre for mathematics, science and technology education in africa (cemastea) has been offering pedagogical leadership training to support teachers in implementing effective and innovative classroom practices concerning education for sustainable development (wandabi, 2019b). particularly, it has been sensitizing education and quality assurance officers and other stakeholders on effective management of sustainable and institutionalized in-service education and training of teachers. the environmental management and coordination act (1999), cap 387 provides for effective coordination and regulation of all actions that have a direct influence on the environment in kenya (wandabi, 2019b). similarly, section 69 (2) of the constitution of kenya stipulates that every person has a duty to cooperate with the global journal of transformative education (2020) vol. 2 nyatuka, education for sustainable development in kenya 92 relevant national organizations and other stakeholders to protect and conserve the environment (republic of kenya, 2010). this involves ensuring that an ecologically sustainable development and use of natural resources is promoted. in the national environment management authority (nema, 2008), the kenyan strategy provides status, communication, facilitative and result indicators to monitor the implementation of education for sustainable development at all levels. as a result, awareness on this venture has steadily increased over the years. on its part, section 42(4) of the basic education act focuses on the promotion of environmental protection, especially education for sustainable development (republic of kenya, 2013). sessional paper no.4 of 2012 on reforming education and training in kenya envisaged a curriculum that is competence-based to foster quality education and enhance the integration of education for sustainable development at all levels of education in the country (republic of kenya, 2017). indeed, kenya has already rolled out a new competency -based curriculum for primary and secondary schools. the curriculum has sections that deliberately show how education for sustainable development can be integrated into the curriculum as a pertinent and contemporary issue (wandabi, 2019b). furthermore, the government has developed a green economy strategy and implementation plan (gesip, 2016) to address sustainable development challenges to achieve its long-term development goals as defined in vision 2030 (ministry of education, 2017). this policy is to enhance the implementation of education for sustainable development across sectors to enhance the attainment of the sdgs by improving quality of education, building capacity at all levels and enhancing public understanding and awareness of the sustainable development agenda. accordingly, the 17 sdgs provide the wider context for further up-scaling and mainstreaming education for sustainable development in the country. as a guide to the implementation of the cbc, the government developed the basic education curriculum framework (republic of kenya, 2017). the framework is anchored on values and provides a comprehensive conceptualization of reforms in basic education, including pre-primary education, primary, secondary and inclusive education. this is important since values influence how we feel, act and make choices in life. this thrust is meant to nurture learners who do the right thing at any given time. in spite of the various documents focusing on education for sustainable development, its level of implementation is wanting, especially at the basic education level in kenya. among others, this research review has made a deliberate attempt to consolidate such works for easy reference and application. some success cases of esd in kenya a number of measures have been undertaken by various stakeholders to enhance education for sustainable development, especially in the basic education institutions in kenya. one such initiative is the ecoschools, an international programme founded in 1994 and run by the foundation for environmental education (kenya organization for environmental education, 2020). among others, it sponsors an environmental action-based learning in primary and secondary schools as a tool for development. learning is project-based and promotes creativity, critical thinking and problem-solving. the eco-schools and the foundation are lead partners in unesco’s global plan for education for sustainable development (andreou, 2016). implemented in 60 countries worldwide (kenya organization for environmental education, 2020), its mission is to empower students to be the change a sustainable world needs through fun and action-oriented activities. according to andreou (2016), the programme aims at achieving educational goals as well as sustainable development through schools as entry points to communities. this has been implemented in kenya since 2003, growing from a pilot of 12 schools, to over 1,000 primary and secondary schools across the country as at 2020. the pilot phase was based on five key components of environmental action learning, namely environmental policy; cross-curriculum teaching and learning; micro-projects; school-community partnerships; and networks. funded by the danish international development agency and implemented in partnership with the danish outdoor council, the main focus themes were water, sanitation and hygiene, energy, healthy eating, sustainable agriculture, climate change, biodiversity and waste management. the cross-cutting themes included hiv/aids, global citizenship, entrepreneurship, and disaster preparedness and management (wandabi, 2019b). the kenya organization for environmental education (koee) has produced relevant theme packs for teachers and learners, developed teacher guides, a teacher training manual and a handbook (wandabi, 2019b) ). in unesco (2011), the eco-schools global journal of transformative education (2020) vol. 2 nyatuka, education for sustainable development in kenya 93 programme in kenya seeks to empower the youth, women and the poor; raising public understanding and awareness of sustainability; and training in education for sustainable development. the relevant projects take place through participation of multiple stakeholders, including government, civil society and private sector. in particular, strategies used by schools to boost sustainable development include advocacy, campaigns and vision building, capacity building, teacher training, monitoring and evaluation, and creation of school-community partnerships for purposes of ownership of such activities. andreou (2016) observes that the eco-schools programme provides a framework and standards to help educators integrate sustainability principles throughout their schools. these principles are to ensure that participants are: engaged in the learningteaching process; empowered to take informed decisions and actions on real life sustainability issues; encouraged to work together actively and involve their communities in collaborative solutions; supported to examine their assumptions, knowledge and experiences in order to develop critical thinking; and to be open to change. other principles are to encourage participants to be aware of cultural practices as an integral part of sustainability issues; encourage sharing inspirational stories of their achievements, failures and values to learn from them, and to support each other; continuously explore, test and share innovative approaches, methodologies and techniques; and ensure continuous improvement through monitoring and evaluation of the programmes. the programmes offer methodological tools for schools and communities to evaluate their own challenges; assess risks and develop the solutions. most importantly, the schools are guided to re-orient existing curricula around sustainable development themes, and work collaboratively with their local communities to develop practical projects. the indian ocean programme is a regional framework to integrate themes of sustainable development, climate change and risk reduction into national education systems, and strengthen cooperation to address the unique vulnerabilities of the region (andreou, 2016). it involves 72 eco-schools, with a population of at least 25,000 students. activities at school include food production, rainwater harvesting, soil stabilization, sanitation and waste management. it is reported that the most successful schools are those that have built strong partnerships between governmental institutions, ngos, and the private sector. among others, this is particularly important in addressing the damaging day-to-day effects of climate change that include rise in sea level, soil erosion, flooding, water shortages and high frequency of natural disasters. the eco-schools programme in kenya particularly responds to the green economy agenda through promotion of green enterprise development in schools and community (wandabi, 2019b). initiated by the kenya organization for environmental education and other partners, the project seeks to transform schools into models of sustainability for communities. its main objective is to inculcate a greening culture to youth in schools by mentoring and engaging them in hands-on green growth initiatives for sustainability of communities. the project has been implemented in a dozen primary schools from kwale, makueni, embu, kirinyaga, bomet and kisumu counties. a teacher’s guidebook on green enterprise development for schools in kenya was developed in consultation with teachers from schools participating in the schools green challenge project, the ministry of education and the royal danish embassy in kenya. similarly, the kenya organization for environmental education has implemented a sustainable water, sanitation and hygiene (wash) project under the eco-schools programme in vihiga county. the goal is to improve access and reliable safe water in schools and community (kenya organization for environmental education, 2020). the project entails sinking simple wells to enhance provision of water to ensure accessible safe water in schools; installing water harvesting tanks in the schools to have a water harvesting system; building the capacity of school communities by installing a hand wash point in each of the participating schools; and building capacity of communities to practice sustainable water management, sanitation and hygiene through training. the eco-schools litter less campaign project aims at reducing waste and foster long-term positive behaviour change among the youth (kenya organization for environmental education, 2020). over 45 schools, 3,000 students and 200 teachers have so far been involved in the campaign in kenya. the main objective is to raise awareness of the effect of litter on the local environment and wider community, increase student knowledge and practical skills in preventing and managing litter. it also seeks to enhance collaboration with other schools to promote education for sustainable development and influence others by communicating with them through multimedia platforms and other global journal of transformative education (2020) vol. 2 nyatuka, education for sustainable development in kenya 94 channels. the relevant campaign activities include waste management within and around the schools involved; community action days for schools to showcase their work to the surrounding community; and joint communication campaigns by schools through social media platforms to create awareness on issues of waste management. more recently, the kenya organization for environmental education has teamed up with other partners to promote plastic recycling through ecoschools (wandabi, 2019b). also, the eco-schools programme introduced a value-based approach to promoting education for sustainable development, and as a measure to enhance sustainability as a whole (kenya organization for environmental education, 2020). among others, it aims at delivering quality education that imparts knowledge, skills, attitudes and values from religious teachings. these are considered as instruments for entrenching faith-based values into education for sustainable development in schools, while promoting action for the environment with faith as the motivation. to date, a total of 50 schools have been involved in the initiative. the project produced a faith-based education for sustainable development teachers’ toolkit for schools that illustrated an approach of solving a society’s development issues using faith. according to the republic of kenya (2017), the country has been putting emphasis on approaches that promote whole institution development of education for sustainable development. the eco-school programme is considered to be an effective whole institution approach in mainstreaming sustainability into all aspects of the learning environment. in conjunction with mashav, a hebrew acronym for israel’s agency for international development cooperation, kenya’s ministry of education and the kenya secondary schools heads association established a joint project directed towards the promotion and implementation of education for sustainable development, to become an integral element in curricula of learning institutions (mashav, 2013). the ultimate goal of the joint project is to establish a national network of education for sustainable development in the country, including setting up demonstration centres which will serve as a source of training for the remaining school. one of the principles is ‘think global, act local’, meaning that awareness of the global crisis is important but action should be taken at the local level. the model provides schools and the community with the necessary tools for assessing their actual needs and existing resources. this model was launched in august 2013 at the joel omino secondary school in kisumu county. it includes teaching as well as learning technology, science, history and democracy, among others. this has successfully been applied in water purification; organic agriculture; economics and entrepreneurship, including establishment of an organic bakery; knowledge of building traditional houses; and utilizing recycled materials for art work. the wwf-kenya organization has made effort to integrate sustainable development into teaching and learning in basic education institutions by inculcating participatory pedagogical methods (wwf-kenya, 2020). in particular, the organization’s marine programme works with schools in the country’s coastal region to promote education for sustainable development. interactions are through discussions, lectures, presentations and mentorship. the successful projects implemented by schools include establishment of school gardens, tree planting and engagement in community service, for example, beach clean-up exercise on both the world environment day and international coastal clean-up celebrations. in addition, the organization continues to offer scholarships for girls from poor backgrounds within the islands surrounding lamu county and its environs. furthermore, the wildlife clubs of kenya have published an environmental education resource book for teachers and learners of primary and secondary schools, while nature kenya has produced an education for sustainable development resource book for both students and teachers called ‘learning for sustainable living in kenya’ (wandabi, 2019b). apart from these organizations, many ngos are involved in offering skills-focused training for community-based innovations involving marketing, product sales and sustainability. the african fund for endangered wildlife in kenya provides training to school children, teachers and community groups on environmental conservation. but, given that only a few primary and secondary schools have made laudable efforts with respect to embracing education for sustainable development means that much more requires to be done by the various stakeholders to bring the rest of the institutions on board. indeed, making such a move is quite crucial in order to achieve the objectives of this pedagogical paradigm shift as well as the competency-based curriculum, especially at the basic cycle of learning in kenya. in the following section, an elaborate discussion on challenges facing education for sustainable implementation in kenya, as well as possible solutions is made. global journal of transformative education (2020) vol. 2 nyatuka, education for sustainable development in kenya 95 challenges facing esd and proposed solutions. although sound education for sustainable development serves as a panacea for most of the pedagogical, environmental and socio-economic issues we contend with today, there are many challenges that require to be addressed so as to realize the desired outcomes. armstrong (2011) opines that education for sustainable development offers a renewed vision for educational policy and practice fully in tune with the needs and issues of the 21st century. unfortunately, the concept of education for sustainable development is yet to be fully understood by many stakeholders in kenya (wandabi, 2019a), leave alone the few experts in this area to facilitate the appropriate processes of teaching, learning, creating awareness and understanding education for sustainability (unesco, 2019). due to this, the development of adequate and relevant materials still remain a challenge. this calls for the various networks of experts as well as interested groups to enhance and strengthen the capacity-building processes. according to sterling (2014), the key role in realizing sustainable development is often ignored, downplayed or under-estimated. often, it is viewed in isolation from the other instruments of change. in the sustainable development debate therefore, embracing appropriate education should always be emphasized. despite the success of the international initiatives in this front, there are instances where much sustainable development discourse and policy underplay the role of education, and vice versa.. essentially, sustainable development should be embedded in basic education such that there is both mutual benefit and accelerated positive effect, sufficient to win breakthrough towards an economically secure, ecologically stable and socially just society. opanda (2013) asserts that the limited progress in the provision of education for sustainable development is partly due to lack of vision, awareness, policy framework and funding. notably, there is little effort that has been strategically made to mainstream sustainable development in teacher education programmes, especially at the basic education level. hence, there is a gap in both the body of knowledge and actual practices of many teacher educators in this area. yet, the contribution of teacher trainers is key in the delivery of the same. according to armstrong (2011), pedagogical innovation has been slower to develop. this calls for appropriate intervention measures. wandabi (2019b) notes that there is little evidence of attention or investment in the capacity-building of educators, facilitators or curriculum developers with regard to education for sustainable development. armstrong (2011) observes that this scenario is worsened by the nature of integration of education for sustainable development that is often complex, while the curricula is examination-oriented and overloaded with content as well as learning outcomes. thus, the weak integration of education for sustainable development, especially in basic education needs well designed pre-service and in-service teacher training programmes. ganira and odundo (2018) observe that emphasis is often given to the cognitive domain rather than the affective and psychomotor ones, thereby undermining the purpose of education for sustainable development. additionally, unesco (2011) holds that whereas sustainable development has been partially embedded in the formal education institutions, there is little attention being paid to the non-formal and informal curricula. also, the pedagogical approaches used in the different educational settings are often inappropriate. the lack of synergy between education for sustainable development activities sometimes leads to duplication of certain initiatives like teacher training and inefficient use and development of relevant resources (unesco, 2011). again, innovations from the community-based organizations and other small groups in society do not always get adequate support for their projects. partially, this is a result of government bureaucracy and lack of resources in implementing this kind of education. furthermore, unesco (2011) reports that most community-based organizations have not been able to influence policy in the country due to lack of education for sustainable development awareness and commitment. other challenges are to do with bridging the gap between what happens at home and what is taught in schools; pressure on teachers within the workplace; linking infrastructural change to the mindset change and strengthening community engagement (milne, 2019). in particular, kenya’s competency-based curriculum, which considers education for sustainable development as a critical contemporary issue, has experienced challenges to do with its implementation. these range from inadequate teacher training through poor infrastructure to huge budgetary implications. worth noting is that some of these challenges revolve around poor governance, corporate irresponsibility, lack of accountability, inefficient and wasteful production systems. such challenges usually lead to unsustainable utilization of the natural resources, resulting into their global journal of transformative education (2020) vol. 2 nyatuka, education for sustainable development in kenya 96 degradation (wandabi, 2019b). milne (2019) argues that there is need to have ethos in schools that openly and enthusiastically support education for sustainable development. clearly, this partly goes down to the curriculum that schools follow, and the interest and effort shown by the senior management in promoting such integration. milne (2019) concludes that to attain education for sustainable development, there should be both the physical as well as mindset changes. the physical change involves examining how schools, households and businesses can reduce, say, their waste, conserve water and energy and focus on more sustainable responses in general. on the other hand, the mindset change involves raising environmental understanding, awareness and action programmes through workshops and cross-curricular activities meant to give employees and learners a voice. indeed, taking such relevant steps will go a long way towards strengthening the provision of esd in basic education. the way forward to create a world that is more just, peaceful and sustainable, all individuals and societies must be equipped and empowered by knowledge, skills and values as well as heightened awareness to drive such change. this includes learning to respect others and appreciating the environment, as well as giving back to society. this could be achieved through relevant seminars, workshops, resources and activities, whether at home, school or community. to enhance the success of such initiatives, preparation of carefully designed action plans to facilitate application of esd, particularly in basic education is paramount. since teacher education is a critical aspect to be considered, there is need to bolster inclusion of sustainable development in the teacher education programmes. such training should include appropriate content, pedagogy as well as development and acquisition of the necessary resources. milne (2019) emphasizes that with trained and motivated teachers, it is far easier to inspire and motivate learners. critical thinking, imagination, learning to learn, communication and collaboration, are among the core competencies emphasized in the basic education curriculum in kenya. although the cbc is designed to achieve these, there is need for strong partnerships and more participatory evaluation mechanisms to enhance the quality of education for sustainable development programmes. conclusion like the rest of the countries in the globe, sustainable development issues in kenya are complex, dynamic and interlinked. embracing sustainable development and global citizenship education are considered to be the main solutions to these challenges. the latter entails peace and human rights education, intercultural education and education for international understanding. in particular, these should include the aspects of shaping the quality of training of specialists and humankind, using formal, non-formal, inclusive and democratically oriented models of education and science (kondur, et al, 2020). accordingly, countries should promote the availability of educational tools, teaching aids and textbooks for sustainable development to all who need them. but to achieve this, synergy among the initiatives taken as well as greater support from the various stakeholders is paramount. indeed, sterling (2014) advises that unless the various stakeholders, including policy-makers, legislators, businesses, the media and civil society are involved in learning processes, the sdgs cannot be achieved. education can enhance the effectiveness of each of these instruments through developing informed engagement, agency and empowerment among all the affected stakeholders. it can also build lasting change, because it is owned by the learner and touches both the heart and mind. although kenya has made some milestones in rolling out a competency-based curriculum in the basic education institutions, there are still many challenges that need to be addressed in order to successfully implement it. these include producing the relevant education for sustainable development pedagogical materials, enhancing professional capacities, promotion of research, strengthening cooperation, communication and partnerships and the establishment of monitoring and evaluation processes. going forward, formulation of action plans for implementation and appropriately training both present and future professionals in all sectors should be based on the basic ideas of education for sustainable development. global journal of transformative education (2020) vol. 2 nyatuka, education for sustainable development in kenya 97 references andreou, n. 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gjte invites you to apply to be a member of the editorial board. potential reviewers can register for an account on the gjte website: register for gjte account i global journal of transformative education volume 3, april 2022 published by the global insitutute of transformative education (http://www.gite.education) © gjte. 2022. gjte is a peer-reviewed open access journal produced as part of the iu scholarworks system, indiana university, bloomington, indiana, usa. editors-in-chief michael t. ndemanu, ball state university, muncie, indiana, usa serafín m. coronel-molina, indiana university, bloomington, indiana, usa managing editor tom j. mcconnell, ball state university, muncie, indiana, usa editorial board kennedy n. bota masinde muliro university of science & technology, kakamega, kenya judah m. ndiku masinde muliro university of science & technology, kakamega, kenya wilfridah m. mucherah ball state university, muncie, indiana, usa daniel baron the bloomington project school, bloomington, indiana, usa teresia mbogori ball state university, muncie, indiana, usa james kigamwa literacy international, neward, delaware, usa alissa mwenelupembe national assoc. for the education of young children, washington, dc, usa sarah haisley ivy tech community college, muncie, indiana, usa seema lasi aga khan university, karachi, pakistan david roof ball state university, muncie, indiana, usa lynne stallings ball state university, muncie, indiana, usa hugo yuhsiu lee united nations, new york, new york, usa sherilynn jordan indiana university, bloomington, indiana, usa https://scholarworks.iu.edu/journals/index.php/gjte/login global journal of transformative education (2022) vol 3 issn 2640-1533s open access ii published by the global insitutute of transformative education (http://www.gite.education) © gjte. 2022. gjte is a peer-reviewed open access journal produced as part of the iuscholarworks system, indiana university, bloomington, indiana, usa. multiple perspectives on tranformative education articles transforming education from theory to practice: daring to re-imagine and re-innovate third volume of the global journal of transformative education ............................................................................................................... 1 michael t. ndemanu & serafín m. coronel-molina, editors-in-chief the little red hed and a corona giant: creative storytelling as a transformative strategy in an early childhood classroom .................................................. 3 ilfa zhulamanova & jill m. raisor literary review of translanguaging, translating, and interpreting in education ........................................................................................................................ 15 corinne gentry transforming syllabus design: maximizing learning outcomes in higher education .............................................................................................................. 25 michael ndemanu book reviews caralyn zehnder, cynthia alby, karynne kleine, julia metzker. (2021). learning that matters: a field guide to course design for transformative education .............................................................................................................. 34 zhaoyi zhang nana osei-kofi, bradley boovy, & kali furman. (2022). transformative approaches to social justice education: equity and access in the college classroom ...................... 38 michelle a. medved in memoriam ..................................................................................................................................... 43 open call for papers ...................................................................................................................................... 44 gjte editors contents global journal of transformative education volume 3, april 2022 abstract education is a trillion-dollar industry, with a growing population thirsty for knowledge. there has been tremendous influx of graduates in this industry, seeking self-reliance because obtaining a decent job upon graduation remains a nightmare in developing countries. consequently, the surroundings of state and private universities in cameroon are overcrowded with educational subsidiary enterprises created by graduates. most of these enterprises intend to metamorphose into giant self-reliant enterprises while mitigating the problem of graduate unemployment. this rarely happens as most of the enterprises end at ground level, while others close down in less than 5 years. a question arises: what prevents these small and medium-sized education businesses from thriving? this study surveyed 210 small and medium-sized educational firms selected through clustering technique. the swot analysis technique was used to determine the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats to these firms. results revealed little or no leadership or wealth creation education as a major weakness, that threatens these businesses from thriving. the multiple regression further confirms the absence of transformational leadership education as a statistical predictor to setbacks in these firms. key recommendations call for mainstreaming pragmatic transformational and strategic leadership education in higher education courses, using the case of the faculty of education of the university of yaoundé i. learners should be introduced to the world of business through meaningful partnership with the world of work and quality entrepreneurship courses. keywords: strategic leadership, transformational leadership, wealth creation, educational enterprises teneng, p. p. global journal of transformative education (2020) vol 2 doi 10.14434/gjte.v2i1.31229 open access published by the global insitutute of transformative education (http://www.gite.education) © teneng, p. p. 2020. open access this journal is distributed under the terms of the creative commons attribution noncommercial nonderivative 4.0 international license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction without revision in any non-commercial medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the creative commons license, transformational leadership and wealth creation in educational organizations: the case of higher education in cameroon patience p. teneng full listing of authors and contacts can be found at the end of this article. introduction education is more than a trillion-dollar industry which is booming, maybe because of a growing global population with a keen thirst for knowledge. but the question of how well today’s universities prepare students for an uncertain future of work constitutes the prime concern for this industry. the nature of the education industry is extremely specific as compared to other tangible and non-tangible commodity markets. this is so because human beings are at the center of every action, constituting the major input, being at the center of the processing, and as end products as well. thus, a school cannot be managed like a super market. individuals intending to, or already into the supply of education and training are required to possess relevant entrepreneurial skills in educational leadership. the european commission (2013) views this type of leadership as educational experts with the ability to concieve, design, plan and operate an educational project with significant impacts on participants. these experts should be skilled to significantly link education and the economic development of the nation as well. they should hold profiles of teachers, planners, inspectors in education, school curriculum designers, school administrators, managers, educational leaders, to name a few. the success of every business, including educational enterprises, requires the possession of entrepreneurial skills. among these skills are wealth creation skills which are crucial for a well-grounded and sustained growth of enterprises. in this connection, the rapid rise and fall of small and medium-size enterprises in most countries around the world has been blamed on leadership lapses. this was confirmed in a study by the canadian government in 2001 cited in rowe (2001), which revealed that two important reasons why small and medium size firms become bankrupt and close down are poor overall management skills and imperfect capital structures. the poor management skills include lack of teneng, transformational leadership and weath creation 100 knowledge, lack of vision, and poor use of outside advisers. the imperfect capital structures result from either institutional constraints or lack of experience in management. the same study concluded that the way forward is effective leadership skill courses comprising of wealth creation skills, financial training and strategic leadership skills. a study carried out by the national institute of statistics (2019) between 2009 and 2016 showed that the problem is compounded in cameroon, revealing shocking figures on the premature sinking of small and medium-sized enterprises. according to this report published in march 2019, 96% of sinking enterprises are small and medium-sized as against 04% of huge firms, with a total of 2, 316 enterprises that disappeared in this period. however, the report did not extend its reach to capture statistics on specific domains which could perhaps provide information on the state of education enterprises. an important note by this report was that only enterprises formally registered were sampled amidst an explosion of unregistered firms, particularly around the urban cities. alternatively, this paper investigates private (non-government) formal and non-formal enterprises alike which are specifically involved in education and training activities (general teaching, technical and vocational training, writing, consulting enterprises, those in charge of preparing individuals for competitive entrance exams into public service jobs, study abroad issues, and language proficiency tests). the study by the national institute of statistics (2009) also highlighted aspects of human capital (education and training, experience, age and sex), which are of prime interest in this paper. field statistics in this paper demonstrate high lapses in leadership skills (entrepreneurship, management, wealth creation skills) by those running these small and medium-sized education businesses in yaoundé. simply put, a considerable number of ceos, administrators, and personnel running these small education enterprises confirmed to have acquired university education with no relevant entrepreneurship programs embedded. graduates with certificates in education revealed that their involvement in educational business does not tie with their initial career objectives to occupy positions in public service, because of the prevailing unemployment situation in the country. according to ngu & teneng (2020), 4.2% of the active labor force is currently unemployed. the underemployment situation is estimated at 7 on 10 individuals (71.75%). this is more acute in rural areas with 78.8% and 57.4% in urban centers (cameroon, 2010, 44). these authors also held that even though the public service has been able to absorb over 500,000 cameroonians in the past years, the problem of graduate unemployment continues to be a call for concern because of the overwhelming number of unemployed graduate youths. the billion and one-dollar question is: what will become of these ready-to-work graduate youths in the face of limited job opportunities in the country? most of them resort to the creation of educational enterprises for subsistence with the hope of growing them to bigger firms. yet their efforts are short lived because their enterprises cannot stand the test of time. as these enterprises close down, their owners complain that their university education did not equip them with graduate skills for wealth creation or finding work in the private sector. the consequences are glaring as these entrepreneurs affirmed that their businesses are limited to the provision of daily bread, and nothing more. others only operate seasonally when competitive entrance exams into public service jobs are launched. this is a peak period for such businesses when many candidates come seeking for preparatory classes in order to succeed in these exams. during interviews with the owners of these businesses, they revealed that majority of their businesses die off within a year. based on such a morose situation, non-educational business men with very little or no mastery of the dynamics of the education sector have hijacked the educational enterprise for their capitalist gains. this demonstrates the failure of education faculty in higher education to impart the right skills for their learners to become strategic/transformational leaders in the educational enterprise. this is happening at a time when the future of education seems to be undergoing a paradigm shift into the fourth industrial revolution where technology is transforming how we live, work, play and think, making the problem of lack of skills more serious. according to (world bank, 2019), a wide range of occupations will require a high degree of cognitive abilities, such as creativity, logical reasoning and problem sensitivity as part of their core skill set. more than half of these do not yet do so today or only to a much smaller extent. today’s education systems should equip youths with quality skills to thrive in tomorrow’s world. any continuous failure by today’s educational systems to arrest this disastrous situation wil permanently allow education into the hands of these capitalists whose global journal of transformative education (2020) vol 2 101 global journal of transformative education (2020) vol 2 teneng, transformational leadership and weath creation main objective is monetary gains, there by returning the status of human beings to machines as was the case at the heart of the 18th century industrial revolution. in cameroon for example, most schools in the private sector are owned by non-educational businessmen, who sometimes employ teachers with tertiary certificates in education to teach in the classrooms, and sometimes serve as administrators for minimal wages. this raises the question of why educators are not leading in the educational enterprise? why have they simply remained employees and not employers in the educational enterprise? the small and medium sized educational businesses created by some educators such as capacity building training centers, rural education networks, evening schools, multi-education services and consulting firms have remained at ground levels. as a result, the economic condition of this category of persons has remained wanting. this work set out to investigate the extent to which education and training at the faculty of education in the university of yaoundé i equips graduates with strategic/transformational leadership skills that can lead to wealth creation and sustainably enhance the growth of the education industry. to do this, the following research questions have been formulated to guide the study: research questions: 1. to what extent does a university teaching(policy) influence the existence of a well-grounded wealth creation plan in educational enterprises in cameroon? 2. to what extent does university curriculum content influence strategic/transformational leadership of graduates (wealth creation skills) in educational enterprises? 3. what is the relationship between teaching-learning models and graduates’ strategic/transformational leadership skills (wealth creation) in educational firms? 4. what is the impact of mainstreaming modes of entrepreneurial education model in the faculty of education on leadership in educational firms? conceptual literature leadership the concept of leadership has been a crossroad of intellectual and pragmatic flexing among ceos, researchers, writers, politicians, civil society activists, and the list is inexhaustable. some experts believe leadership means making a difference and transforming situations that seemed impossible, (rowe, 2001). to others like fonkeng and tamanjong (2009), it is the ability of a manager to influence subordinates to voluntarily make efforts towards achieving organizational goals. these authors insist on the fact that personal skills and social attributes are crucial for leaders to succeed in an organization. according to farant (1980), the use of the concept ‘leadership’ without tying it to a specific domain or activity seems more confusing. this author explains that leadership skills are quite specific to context, though some common variables can be observed relating to the overall success of the organization. in this light, we can make mention of a religious leader, political leaders, ceo of a car manufacturing industry, the leader of a development and cultural association, the school principal, and the list is long. in relation to the leadership type that concerns this study (strategic/ transformational leadership in education or educational leadership), bush and glover (2012) define it as: “… a process of influence, leading to the achievement of desired purposes. it involves inspiring and supporting others towards the achievement of a vision for the school which is based in clear personal and professional values”. however, the concept of leadership has evolved based on the functions, actions, risk taking, scope of interactions, and the targets they are expected to meet with specified time limits. based on this, various conceptualizations like strategic leadership, managerial leadership, visionary leadership, transformational leadership, and transactional leadership have taken center stage in this debate. a clearer explanation of these concepts is presented below. managerial leadership these are leaders concerned with the day-to-day running of the organization. to fonkeng and tamanjong (2009), managerial leadership simply means getting things satisfactorily done with a tactful use of available resources. this means that managers are more concerned with the manipulation of existing resources (human, material, and financial) so as to meet organizational goals. in the same light, rowe (2001) asserts that managerial leaders may influence just the actions and decisions of those with whom they work. to him, they possess expertise in the operational and functional areas of the enterprise. however, they may make decisions that are not value-based. this does not mean that they are not 102 with a tactful use of available resources. this means that managers are more concerned with the manipulation of existing resources (human, material, and financial) so as to meet organizational goals. in the same light, rowe (2001) asserts that managerial leaders may influence just the actions and decisions of those with whom they work. to him, they possess expertise in the operational and functional areas of the enterprise. however, they may make decisions that are not value-based. this does not mean that they are not ethical and professional, but that they are rather under pressure to meet performance standards, thus limiting their scope of action. the observation in the past years is that managerial leadership has failed woefully in their tasks, as poor management decisions have rather destroyed organizational resources. this is true for the educational industry in cameroon as small and medium sized educational firms have hardly survived a five years’ infancy span, (national institutes of statistics, 2019). this discourse does not imply that this type of leadership is not needed in an enterprise. it is to rather inform readers that competent managerial leaders can only maintain existing wealth in a firm, but can hardly create any. visionary leadership in recent years, visionary leadership has been touted to be a preferred leadership option for most firms, including educational institutions. it is concerned with future orientations and risk-taking of the firm. in this direction, rowe (2001) contends that this type of leadership maintains organizational control via socialization and fixed set of norms. it follows that visionary leadership deals with the inspirational component of transformational leadership. this confirms the fact that visionary leadership, though considered by some as mare dreaming for the future, is required for the future viability of the firm. however, an enterprise under such leaderships without strong managerial leadership accompanying it is liable to a down to earth failure. in this light, some experts posit that education leaders are not visionary, for they may be unable to provide even a fiveyear plan for their schools. this means they are limited to managerial leaders. thus, they may need to consult the expertise of visionary leaders in order to better position themselves for future trends and threats amidst the absence of a grounded strategy to arrive at longterm or future targets. to say that visionary leaders may forecasts the future correctly, but lack a pragmatic realization strategy to meet these future challenges. teneng, transformational leadership and weath creation ethical and professional, but that they are rather under pressure to meet performance standards, thus limiting their scope of action. the observation in the past years is that managerial leadership has failed woefully in their tasks, as poor management decisions have rather destroyed organizational resources. this is true for the educational industry in cameroon as small and medium sized educational firms have hardly survived a five years’ infancy span, (national institutes of statistics, 2019). this discourse does not imply that this type of leadership is not needed in an enterprise. it is to rather inform readers that competent managerial leaders can only maintain existing wealth in a firm, but can hardly create any. visionary leadership in recent years, visionary leadership has been touted to be a preferred leadership option for most firms, including educational institutions. it is concerned with future orientations and risk-taking of the firm. in this direction, rowe (2001) contends that this type of leadership maintains organizational control via socialization and fixed set of norms. it follows that visionary leadership deals with the inspirational component of transformational leadership. this confirms the fact that visionary leadership, though considered by some as mare dreaming for the future, is required for the future viability of the firm. however, an enterprise under such leaderships without strong managerial leadership accompanying it is liable to a down-to-earth failure. in this light, some experts posit that education leaders are not visionary, for they may be unable to provide even a five-year plan for their schools. this means they are limited to managerial leaders. thus, they may need to consult the expertise of visionary leaders in order to better po-sition themselves for future trends and threats amidst the absence of a grounded strategy to arrive at long-term or future targets. to say that visionary leaders may forecasts the future correctly, but lack a pragmatic realization strategy to meet these future challenges. but a major lapse with these leaders is that they are more disordered in maintaining present financial stability of the firm. strategic and transformational leadership managerial leadership these are leaders concerned with the day-to-day running of the organization. to fonkeng and tamanjong (2009), managerial leadership simply means getting things satisfactorily done global journal of transformative education (2020) vol 2 teneng, transformational leadership and weath creation 103 but a major lapse with these leaders is that they are more disordered in maintaining present financial stability of the firm. strategic leadership comes from the greek word strategos, meaning a general in command in the army, which later evolved by 450 bc to include managerial skills, leadership, oratory and power. by 350 bc, it evolved to mean the ability to employ forces to defeat opposing forces, and to develop a unified system for global governance, (rowe,2001). this concept is used in this study to have the same meaning as transformational leadership. this author further explains that strategic leadership is the most preferred type by most organizations today, as it has repeatedly resolved the lapses contained in other forms of leaderships including transactional leadership, managerial and visionary leaderships alike. strategic leadership maintains shortterm operations and financial stability, while devising a grounded strategy for success in future bargains. this means that the strategic leader understands the emergent strategy process considered very important in organizational performance as compared to planning. it is also referred to as entrepreneurial leadership in education in this study and is used to describe individuals who have been equipped with relevant skills in the domain of education to be able to initiate, create, and run education businesses with commendable success. according to burns (1978), cited in odumeru & ifanyi (2013), transformational leadership has been recently introduced. these authors further maintained that: “transformational leadership enhances the motivation, morale, and performance of followers through a variety of mechanisms. these includes connecting the followers’ sense of identity, and self to the project, and collective identity to the organization; being a role model for followers that inspires them, and makes them interested; challenging followers to take greater ownership for their work, and understanding the strengths and weaknesses of followers, so the leader can align followers with task that enhance their performance”. (odumeru & ifanyi, 2013, p. 356). to robins and coulter as cited by odumeru & ifanyi (2013), a transformative leader is someone who creates positive change in followers, and in the organization. they pay attention to developmental issues of the organization, stimulate and inspire followers to approach old problems in a new way. they have the continuous appetite to take the organization to another level, and giving it a better look as before(transform). strategic leadership and transformational leadership have the same goals to meet, to take the organization to another level, and prepare it to overcome future challenges. it is for this reason that both leadership styles aim to perform above expected standards, maintain the present state of the firm, while working for heavy future achievements. however, transformational leadership slides a bit from strategic style in that it is strongly tied to totally changing both the inner and outer look of the organization, whereas strategic leadership may be satisfied with an internal sustainable growth of the firm. transformational leadership works more with followers transformed by the leaders themselves to hit defined targets, while strategic leaders better manage existing human resources to hit defined targets. however, the domain of education needs more of transformational leadership, since the inputs, machines, and outputs are human beings. therefore, significant transformation is required, so to prepare key, and support staff to meet organizational goals more than expected. transformational leadership and wealth creation the concept of wealth creation in enterprises simply means securing sustainable financial resources, quality human and innovative infrastructural resources that will keep the enterprise growing in an upward trend for the present and for the future. linking this to leadership can better be understood via the paradox of leading and managing per se. rowe (2001) contends that wealth creation is at its best in enterprises with transformational leadership because these leaders make appropriate investments for viable future bargains, while maintaining the present financial state appropriately. these leaders have the skills to influence a critical mass of managers and personnel to make essential decisions that enhance stability in the daily operations of the enterprises, and for future viability as well. on the side of pure visionary leadership, the creation of wealth is faced with much difficulty as there is lack of an emergent strategy, or what is known as a pragmatic plan towards future viability of the firm. this type of leadership is poised with significant disorder in maintaining present stability of the firm. it falls squarely with the logic that “a vision without transformative strategy makes no sense, unlike a strategy without action is worse than zero.” some schools of thought confirm the above, maintaining that enterprises can still flourish global journal of transformative education (2020) vol 2 teneng, transformational leadership and weath creation 104 with managerial leadership given they are well trained with transactional and transformational skills. authors like bass & bass bernard, (1985) and yuki, (1994), think that transactional leaders manage, while transformational leaders lead. thus, transaction and transformation are two sides of the same coin: to manage and to lead. in this light, transactional leadership means ensuring the day-to-day running of the enterprise through the motivation, reward and punishment of workers, whereas transformational leadership prepares strong grounds for the enterprise to face future challenges. however, transformational leadership has evolved a lot in relation to wealth creation since all other forms of leadership or leadership characterizations are inherent. transformational leadership is thus a contingency model as it encompasses all other forms of leadership as seen above. in the educational domain, as in this study, most of the graduates who own businesses are the ones running their institutions. the sluggish growth, stagnation and probable closure of these enterprises demonstrates lapses in their higher education training, which surely failed to equip them with transformational leadership skills. related literature transformational leadership in higher education educational institutions have always craved for adaptive changes in order to respond to the demands of the job market. this phenomenon dates back from the industrial revolution, when industries dictated and controlled education and training dynamics to their benefit. it was in this light, davies & davies (2004) insisted on the urgent need for transformational educational leaders as they explained in a 9-point memorandum which encompasses organizational abilities and individual abilities as seen below: 1. strategic leaders have the following abilities: be strategically oriented translate strategy into action align people and organizations determine strategic intervention points develop strategic competencies 2. strategic leaders have the following personal characteristics: dissatisfaction, restlessness for the present absorptive capacity adaptive capacity wisdom this author concludes that any other leadership components are incorporated in the scope of strategic leadership, hence making it the ideal type needed by schools to survive and sustain the turbulence of today’s environment. also, davies & ellison (1997) explained that the dynamic of the 21st century knowledge economy poses great fears for an uncertain future, as the world is moving into the fourth industrial revolution. school leaders must anticipate this uncertainty and device strategic action plans to train graduates to face the future volatile labor market. in relation to this study, starters and administrators of small education businesses need such skills so as to think and act big for a sustained growth of their enterprises. this will significantly step up livelihoods, employment, and the economy. theoretical considerations a multitude of leadership theories have animated the discourse about which is the best to be used in what type of organization? also, the debate of how to train in higher education for graduates to be equipped with specific leadership skills has been central as well. theories like bureaucracy, administrative management, the concept of team spirit, systems and structural views, behavioral approach, motivational approach and management by objectives have been center stage in the debate. henry fayol (1951); frederick taylor (1911); macgregor (1960); elton mayo (1946); bernard and simon (1940); kreitner, (1995); as cited by fonkeng and tamajong (2009), believe that educational leaders are required to be cultured on various theoretical foundations of leadership to be able to influence leaders to graduate with the same skills. in addition to the above theoretical foundations of leadership, burn’s theory of transformational leadership has been considered as an overhaul of traditional approaches to current trends. this theory states that the leadership process is based on the mutual help of the leader and the subordinates for motivation and to increase their morale. his theory is believed to be consistent with present democratic norms, and most essentially as it emphasizes on the moral and educative nature of relationships between the leaders and the followers. burn described transforming leaders as those who work to positively change followers to become leaders for the growth of the organization. to him, transforming leaders strive for cultural change in an organization, which is not the case with transactional leaders. thus, transforming leaders are exemplary models who work for the team/group, global journal of transformative education (2020) vol 2 teneng, transformational leadership and weath creation 105 organization and for the community (burns, 1978). burn’s transformational leadership is based on three themes, which are: power and motive: this calls for the control of power since they are dealing with humans. to burns, the purpose of power should be to uplift subordinates and customers, and not crushing them. leadership as mutual purpose: transformational leaders are required: power should be used for a clear human purpose, and not for an individual purpose or to resolve self-interest. transformational leadership as a moral attempt: these leaders are required to demonstrate the following qualities: humbleness, morality, excellent communication skills, positive attitude, forgiveness, peace-oriented, powerful presence, clear vision, focus, determination, patience, hopeful, inspirational… (egli, 2019). burns also contends that transformational leaders are of various types which are: reformists: transforming a huge number of subordinates for high moral values. intellectualists: using intellectual values to transform people. revolutionists: leaders who sacrifice, and transform the whole aspect of a society. charismatic or charming: role models. the work of burns was extended by bernard m. bass (1995), who explained the psychological mechanisms that underlie transformational and transactional leaderships. to him, transformational leadership could be measured based on the influence on and motivation of followers to perform in attaining organizational goals. he asserts that when followers feel trust, admiration, loyalty and respect for such leaders, they work harder than expected. bass (1995) presents the qualities of a transformational leader as follows: individualized considerations: responding to followers’ personal needs via coaching, motivation, mentoring, empathy, support, and push for self-development and intrinsic motivation for task realization. intellectual stimulation: considering follower’s ideas in decision-making. this encourages creativity, learning and some degree of self-confidence by followers. it is however a high-level risk for the leader. inspirational motivation: the extent to which the leaders communicate the vision and mission of the organization to followers determines their engagement. transformational leaders communicate missions, and tasks with absolute optimism, and offers something more than just conventional gains to followers. idealized influence: works as a role model, instills pride, high ethical behavior, respect and trust. however, this theory was criticized for being more an idea than pragmatic. some schools of taught slammed the theory for not being well suited for complex and emergency situations. (bass & avolio, 1994a & 1994b). implications of the theory leaders of small and medium sized educational enterprises are required to subscribe to this trend of action. this is justified by the fact that wealth creation can be a success only if transforming skills are possessed and demonstrated. such leaders must have a sense of power and purpose, leadership and morals values which give high credibility and reputation to an enterprise, there by attracting wealth in other forms such as finances, more clients, partnership with big organizations, and individual donors, and experts. leaders of these businesses are required to use their power with human purpose: skilled development, education and training of leaders. using this power to intimidate others will yield no fruits. nelson mandela is a perfect example as he used his power for the growth of the south african society. and finally, these leaders are required to harnesses humility, patience, hopefulness, positive attitudes, so as attract responsible partners, more clients, and subsequently wealth creation in terms of reputation, values, finances, human relations, and logistics. but if these leadership skills are not demonstrated by higher education leaders in terms of administrative and teaching staff, graduates will not be able to have and use these skills for self-reliance in their private start-ups for wealth creation when employment with the government cannot be found. methodology study design and instruments the study used a survey design which permitted the perfect management of a heavy population (210 respondents), and the use of an exhaustive 15-item global journal of transformative education (2020) vol 2 106teneng, transformational leadership and weath creation carefully designed swot work sheet to collect data on the strength, weaknesses, opportunities and threats to these firms. this data also permitted us to ascertain the link between transformational leadership skills and wealth creation, using the case of the faculty of education (the university of yaoundé i). secondary data was obtained through documentary reviews, with most documents accessed online. population: the population under study constitutes cohort graduates of between 2014-2019, of the faculty of education, the university of yaoundé i, who own and run, or are former owners of small and medium-sized educational firms in and around university campuses in the city of yaoundé. sampling methodology: these graduates were traced through the snowball technique, then grouped into clusters for easy data collection. data analysis technique: the data was analyzed with swot analysis and multiple regression analysis techniques. results the swot analysis was used to analyze data collected and is written in full as: swot: s = strength, w = weaknesses, o = opportunities, t = threats. the objectives for using swot analysis in this study was firstly to verify the swot of the enterprises and secondly to find out if leadership is conscious, and has the capacity of carrying out a swot for their firms, so as to prepare a strategic plan of action for the growth of their firms. the swot matrix (table 1)presents a report on some 10 small and medium sized educational firms. the swot matrix in table 1 summarizes the responses provided by some enterprises in relation to leadership and wealth creation. looking at this table, we realized that these enterprises possess very little strengths with regards to wealth creation and sustainable growth. these firms demonstrate heavy weaknesses, which are strongly tied to leadership issues, organization, and management. however, the enterprises are surrounded by golden opportunities, which strong leadership can transform to wealth. added to these weaknesses are threats which can cause the firms to short down if leadership is not improved. global journal of transformative education (2020) vol 2 teneng, transformational leadership and weath creation 107 descriptive statistics table 2 shows the codes and gradients as to the likert scale used on the questionnaires. the number 1 represents strong denial to the statement, whereas the number 2 represents normal denial. the number 3 represents normal acceptance, whereas the number 4 represents strongest acceptance. item 1 on table 3 reveals more respondents’ strong denial for the fact that higher education policy reforms established significant orientations towards entrepreneurship education and wealth creation, rated at 61.0%. this adds to 22.4% who agreed as well, thus amounting total disagreement to 83.4% as against 16.6% who adhered. item 2 equally scores strong denial for the statement that higher education policy has specific targets on the educational industry, rated 66.2%, and supported by 21.9% simply agree, amounting to 88.1%, as against 11.9% agreeing. the same is true for for item 3, as the denials have 71.9% and 13.8% strongly, and simply agreeing respectively. all three items demonstrate statistical weakness of higher education reforms to hone relevant skills towards wealth creation. item 1 of table 4 indicates that a larger percentage of respondents making 96.2% strongly disagree on the fact that content conception guarantees prospects for transformational leadership skills. the rest 3.8% disagreed as well, whereas no respondent simply agreed or strongly agreed to this item as shown in columns a and sa. on its part, item 2 scored 88.6% and 11.4% strongly and simply disagreeing on the statement that content specialty is tailored to develop wealth creation skills. however, no respondent agreed or disagreed on this item as shown in columns a and sa. in item 3 of the same table, 85.7% of respondents and 10.5% strongly disagreed and agreed respectively on the statement that the content is rooted in leadership theories and practice, whereas only 3.8% simply agreed on. the tendency illustrated by these statistics explains the predicted pattern that content dynamics in higher education are weak regarding transformational leadership and wealth creation. global journal of transformative education (2020) vol 2 teneng, transformational leadership and weath creation 108 ted via hands-on approaches to familiarizelearners with real world circumstances. item 1 on table 6 shows that all respondents strongly disagree with the fact that entrepreneurship courses are transversal in all departments. unlike in item 1, item 2 indicates a high percentage (91.9) of respondents who disagree with the statement that the dose of entrepreneurship courses is significant in terms of start-ups, organizational leadership, wealth creation, and business management. the remaining 8.1% simply disagreed as well, whereas, no respondent agreed or strongly agreed as indicated by the “0” in the two columns in the right. for item 3 all respondents disagree that volunteerism education is being mainstreamed in the curriculum. however, the observation from these statistics explains the inference that entrepreneurship education is offered the least important place in the education and training of higher education graduates. this may explain why they lack skills to successfully run their businesses. item 1 of table 5 indicates that the teaching models used in higher education are not apprenticeship-based as strongly disagreed by 88.6% of the respondents. 10% equally disagreed, whereas only 1.4% agreed. 94.8% of respondents strongly disagreed with the statement that industrial stakeholders significantly participate in career orientation workshops, and leadership motivational discourses during the degree program. the survey revlealed that 5.2% disagreed as well, while no respondents agreed or strongly agreed. looking at item 3, we noted that 53.3% and 8.6% of the respondents strongly agreed and agreed respectively on the university–industry partnership in teaching. however, 25.2% agreed, while only 12.9% strongly agreed. judging from the observation, we infer that the bulk of the respondents have underscored that teaching methods are not geared towards developing skills for transformational leadership and wealth creation.this has a strong link with the problem under investigation as entrepreneurship skills are required to be transmit global journal of transformative education (2020) vol 2 teneng, transformational leadership and weath creation 109 item 1 on table 7 probes into the availability of strategic business plan which permits businesses to obtain significant funding from donors. field statistics show that 59.9% and 22.4% of respondents strongly disagree and disagree respectively. however, 9.5% agreed, whereas 9.0% strongly agreed. looking at statistics from item 2, we noted that 83.3% of the respondents strongly disagreed that their firm has entered into meaningful partnerships that allows essential interactions involving financial exchange, training exchange, scholarships, policy issues, leadership expertise and growth tactics. the data also show that 15.2% adhered to this statement, while only 1.4% agreed. data in item 3 indicates that 82.9% of the sample strongly disagreed that their firms were growing sustainably, while 12.4% disagreed. on the other hand, an extremely small portion 4.8% simple agreed, whereas no respondent strongly disagreed. the meaning that can be made out of these data may explain the struggling circumstance which these firms experience. they struggle to thrive, as most even closed down before 5 years. inferential statistics to test the hypotheses, the data were analyzed using a multiple regression anlaysis to confirm a correlaction between several variables captured in the survey data. the data were then analyzed using anova methods to identify the relationship between the variables. multiple regression analysis. table 8 suggests that there is an extremely high correlation r (0,996) between transformational leadership and wealth creation in educational enterprises by graduates. this high correlation coefficient signify that transformational leadership skill is highly significant for any good performance in educational firms. otherwise, the mal-performances observed in educational enterprises around the city of yaoundé is strongly linked to poor leadership skills by it owners. this finding is reinforced by another key statistics on the same table 8, r-square or r2 (0,992) shows indicating that 99,2% of poor wealth creation in educational firms can be explained by lapses in transformational leadership skills, whereas, the remaining 0.8% is explained by factors out of the model. on a more specific level, table 8 equally suggests that r-adjusted (.992) indicates a very good variable-fit of all sub variables. hence, higher education policy, transformational leadership curriculum, wealth cre-ation teaching-learning models, modes of mainstream-ing entrepreneurship education in faculty teaching significantly fit and strongly predicts wealth creation in educational firms by graduates. this mean that worry-ing lapses exist at specific variable levels of university training (see tables 3, 4, 5, and 6). global journal of transformative education (2020) vol 2 teneng, transformational leadership and weath creation 110 table 9 shows that the overall regression model is a good fit for the data. this table indicates that transformational leadership skills statistically significantly predicts wealth creation in educational firms by graduates. (f(4,205)= 6,273.073, p<0.0005). this means that the poor wealth creation situation in educational firms by graduates is highly explained by the lapses in transformational leadership skills embed by faculty teachings. the scatter-plot graph (figure 1) demonstrates a significant concentration points around the straight line. this indicates a significant relationship between transformational leadership skills and wealth creation. the correlation coefficient is 0.957, approaches 1, therefore strongly supports the hypothesis. discussion of results graduate unemployment has reached preoccupying levels in cameroon, thus appealing for every bit of reflection on measures to tackle the problem. it is for this reason that the surroundings of educational milieus are filled with graduates operating small and medium sized enterprises. this study initially set out to investigate the extent to which graduates of the faculty of education are equipped with transformational leaderships skills, for them to thrive in these enterprises. in this light, 210 firms were sampled for questioning, whereas some went through a swot analysis. this permitted the researcher to bring out the strengths and weaknesses of these enterprises, and to determine the degree of prediction on wealth creation by transformational leadership lapses in the enterprises. this was demonstrated by the results obtained after running the multiple regression test (f(4,205)= 6,273.073, p<0.0005, r2 = 0.992). this test permitted us to confirm all four predictors: higher education policy model towards wealth creation plans, transformational leadership curriculum, wealth creation teaching-learning models, modes of mainstreaming entrepreneurship education in faculty teaching as statistically significant towards wealth creation. this is justified by descriptive statistics, where respondents strongly disagreed with the fact that higher education policy reforms in cameroon have established strong orientations towards entrepreneurships education and wealth creation in enterprises. as a matter of fact, 61% strongly disagree, while 22.4% also disagreed, thus aligning to this thesis. the 2016 report by the national institute of statistics held that a key strategy to fight the premature collapsing of small and medium sized enterprises is establishing strong human capital training policies. to rowe (ibid), the leadership of enterprises must receive essential skills for the task at hand. global journal of transformative education (2020) vol 2 111 82.9% of respondents strongly disagree their enter-prises are growing sustainably in terms of reputation and credibility, candidates, human resources, logistics, and financial capital. this falls squarely with the re-formist and idealized qualities of a transformational leader by bass (1995), who thinks that wealth creation means transforming every aspect of the organization. however, when we look at the unexploited opportunities which could help sustain these firms, we conclude that there is need for strong transformational leadership skill for these owners of the businesses. some opportunities include: existence of multiple funding opportunities by non-governmental organizations, and some government initiatives such as the recent presidential funding for graduates’ start-ups, leadership workshops organized by the british council, and business organizations, strategic location of the businesses around the university campus, a heavy population thirsty for knowledge, and existence of trained teaching staff. this means that the need for transformational leadership is imperative so as to transform these opportunities into strength towards wealth creation in these firms. conclusion this study set out to investigate the bearing of transformational leadership education in universities on graduates’ wealth creation. the wealth creation skills acquired by graduates will be a signal as to whether their business start-ups succeed or fail. possession and use of these skills in small and medium sized enterprises opened by graduates of the university of yaoundé i are therefore determinants of the lifespan, growth and profitability of these businesses. based on swot and regression tests, findings revealed lapses in programs, government policy and teachings methods. given the grim picture of employment in the country, it will be high time transformational leadership skills are embedded in higher education curricula as a whole to equip graduates with skills that can enable them have a smooth transition to the volatile labor market and to keep afloat in the tense competition therein. another concluding note in this paper is in this paraphrase by victor hugo in axford (1969), that nothing is truer than the power of an idea when its time has come. but that idea must be borne by people with vision, leadership and moral fortitude to recognize the validity of the idea andinstitutionalize it. it is therefore time transformational leadership education teneng, transformational leadership and weath creation moreover, 66.2% and 21.9% strongly disagreed and disagreed to the statement that education reforms targets are quite specific with regards to various domains. this has specifically taken care of the realities of the educational industry. the observation in the faculty of education indicates the absence of transformational leadership courses as obligatory teaching units, as well as the absence of a specific entrepreneurship content. statistics indicates a 100% of respondents strongly disagreeing to the presence of domain specialization in leadership courses, and the presence and an obligatory leadership and entrepreneurship education. this position is supported by the european document on entrepreneurship leadership in education recommends high level mainstreaming of this type of education in educational policy, curriculum and teaching approaches. the world document for 2019 on leadership which makes mention of the need for intellectual skills as critical to the success of educational leaders. in this light, bass & bass (2009) talk of intellectual stimulation as a key quality of transformational leaders. these authors explained that transforming leaders is a great deal of having the intellectual capacity to get followers into creativity and innovation. however, this cannot be done without having acquired relevant leadership skills. things become more serious as 91.9% of respondents strongly disagreed that the dose of entrepreneurship courses are significant in terms of start-ups, organizational leadership, wealth creation, and business management. this is followed by 100% of respondents disagreeing that voluntarism is being encouraged during training. the european entrepreneurship leadership in education posits that strong educational leaders cannot be produced when field acquaintances are excluded during training. the document upholds key modes like meaningful partnerships between faculty and industry in curriculum design and delivery, and a significant mainstreaming of volunteerism culture in our system. the degree of weaknesses presented by these enterprises is a vivid indicator of the absence of transformational leadership skills in these firms. these weaknesses range from limited infrastructure to no partnerships, lack of a strategic plan, but to name a few. in addition to this, a close look at the at the threats such as lack of operation license, illegal location, an increase in e-marketing, increase in ict integration in the teaching-learning process, poor organization, no strategic business plan, weak leadership strongly justify the premature shoot-down of these businesses. these weakesses are visible in wealth creation statistics as global journal of transformative education (2020) vol 2 112 suggestions for further research the following suggestions for further research are made based on the believe that no research work can be all encompassing and that research is continuous. it will therefore be proper to open up and cast a glance into future research interests which could emanate from this one or build on it. the same research topic could be carried out with a larger population and sample, covering more african countries selected for comparability and best practice. other research interest could focus on the comparability of private and public universities in terms of graduate employability in cameroon. another study could also focus on the demand and supply of entrepreneurship education and the effects on economic growth. finally, these suggested areas of research could be carried out for longer peri-ods of experimentation and with larger sample sizes to enhance the degree of reliability. teneng, transformational leadership and weath creation gained its place among the professions, especially within the profession of education in cameroon. it has too long been peripheral and marginal. government and other education stakeholders must start thinking of how this can be woven into the educational fabric of our country, so that it can play its own role; that of providing sustainable self-employment to graduates when government fails to. recommendations the following recommendations could greatly lead to improvements in the quality of education and catalyze wealth creation for graduates. there should be reinforcement of policy implementation in higher education through commensurate quality control measures by putting in place a higher education planning team who should seek to understand the needs of all stakeholders in the higher education domain. this team will be in charge of carrying out a need analyses of all stakeholders in higher education periodically in order to inform curriculum designers. the team will advise the minister of higher education on issues of curriculum reforms by producing periodic reports on evolving global trends in the higher education arena, so as to address quality and respond to the demands of the 21th century knowledge economy. this will partly solve cameroon’s pressing need of producing more market ready graduates who will not fall into the unemployment trap. secondly, promotion of entrepreneurship education should be one of the topmost education reforms in the country so as to encourage the creation of enterprises which can absorb the growing number of unemployed graduates. final year students should be placed in enterprises for internships or volunteerism to develop work experience as required prerequisites for finding first graduate employment or creating one. finally, with regards to government policy, there is need for an in-crease in public spending on higher education in terms of updating dilapidated infrastructure such as labo-ratories, and installing modern technological and ict gadgets in order to professionalize teaching and evalua-tion in a bid to enhance practical knowledge acquisition which is indispensable in wealth creation. global journal of transformative 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(1994). leadership in organizations (3rd ed.). toronto: prentice hall. patience p. teneng (patience.bame@yahoo.com) is a lecturer in the department of curriculum & evaluation at university of yaoundé, yaoundé, cameroon. author https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/1048984395900217 https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/01900699408524907 https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/01900699408524907 https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/13632434.2011.642354 https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/13632434.2011.642354 https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/13632434.2011.642354 https://www.worldcat.org/title/gesp-growth-and-employment-strategy-paper-reference-framework-for-government-action-over-the-period-2010-2020-august-2009/oclc/838061147 https://www.worldcat.org/title/gesp-growth-and-employment-strategy-paper-reference-framework-for-government-action-over-the-period-2010-2020-august-2009/oclc/838061147 https://www.worldcat.org/title/gesp-growth-and-employment-strategy-paper-reference-framework-for-government-action-over-the-period-2010-2020-august-2009/oclc/838061147 https://www.researchgate.net/profile/brent_davies/publication/226463098_developing_a_strategic_leadership_perspective/links/5417fe820cf203f155ad7b45/developing-a-strategic-leadership-perspective.pdf https://pefnet.mendelu.cz/wcd/w-rek-pefnet/pefnet19-extended_abstracts_web.pdf#page=39 https://pefnet.mendelu.cz/wcd/w-rek-pefnet/pefnet19-extended_abstracts_web.pdf#page=39 https://www.diariodellaformazione.it/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/k2_attachments_entredu-manual-fv_en.pdf https://www.diariodellaformazione.it/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/k2_attachments_entredu-manual-fv_en.pdf http://article.scieducationalresearch.com/pdf/education-8-9-13.pdf http://article.scieducationalresearch.com/pdf/education-8-9-13.pdf http://article.scieducationalresearch.com/pdf/education-8-9-13.pdf http://article.scieducationalresearch.com/pdf/education-8-9-13.pdf http://www.academia.edu/download/37688994/1371451049.pdf http://www.academia.edu/download/37688994/1371451049.pdf http://www.academia.edu/download/37688994/1371451049.pdf https://www.academia.edu/download/57236598/creating_wealth_in_organizations.pdf https://www.academia.edu/download/57236598/creating_wealth_in_organizations.pdf https://reports.weforum.org/future-of-jobs-2016/skills-stability/ editorial board. global journal of transformative education (2022), vol 3 open access global journal of transformative education open call for papers the global journal of transformative education (gjte). is an open-access journal that presents to learners, educators and researchers the optimal instructional strategies, transformative leadership, and inquiry methods that lead to better educational and research outcomes for their students and the society. gjte is published by the global institute for transformative education (gite). the editorial board of the gjte invites authors to submit manuscripts relating to research about transformative education, innovative teaching strategies or curricula, policy issues, the role schools have in transforming communities and society, and resources that can help educators and policy makers enact meaningful reforms that contribute to transformative education. gjte publishes at least one issue of the journal each year, and we offer an open call for manuscripts submitted by authors around the world. there are no submission deadlines for our regular issues, and authors may submit manuscripts at any time. special “themed” editions may be produced with guest editors. gjte will post calls for papers on the journal’s website to announce those issues. manuscripts should be limited to about 8000 words, and may include photos, diagrams, tables, graphs and figures. longer manuscripts may be accepted if the content warrants the length. authors should consider the specifications listed in the gjte author submissions page. in addition to images, authors may include hyperlinks to supplemental materials such as lesson plans, assessments, large data files, and video or other media. for more detailed formatting instructions, authors can download the gjte formatting guide and gjte manuscript checklist. gjte does not charge authors a publication fee. authors retain ownership of the content of the article that will be published under a creative commons 4.0 by-nc-nd license. submitted manuscripts undergo a double-blind review process, and authors may be asked to revise text or images before final publication. communications about submitted articles will be managed through gjte’s author submissions system. call for reviewers authors and other individuals are invited to apply to be reviewers. reviewers may be asked to read and assess submitted manuscripts as part of the peer review process, and will be listed as members of gjte’s editorial review panel. this panel is an important part of a rigorous publication process, and we invite a diverse group of reviewers from a variety of relevant areas of expertise. click here to register as a reviewer. please direct any questions about submissions to the editors: gjtemanager@gmail.com michael t. ndemanu, ph.d. educational studies ball state university muncie, indiana, usa managing editor tom j. mcconnell, ph.d. department of biology ball state university muncie, indiana, usa editors-in-chief serafín m. coronel-molina, ph.d. curriculum and instruction indiana university bloomington, indiana, usa 44 https://scholarworks.iu.edu/journals/index.php/gjte/index https://gite.education/ https://scholarworks.iu.edu/journals/index.php/gjte/about/submissions https://tjmcconnell.weebly.com/uploads/3/7/4/5/37455725/gjte_formatting_guide.pdf https://tjmcconnell.weebly.com/uploads/3/7/4/5/37455725/gjte_formatting_guide.pdf https://tjmcconnell.weebly.com/uploads/3/7/4/5/37455725/gjte_manuscript_checklist.pdf https://scholarworks.iu.edu/journals/index.php/gjte/about/submissions https://scholarworks.iu.edu/journals/index.php/gjte/about/submissions https://scholarworks.iu.edu/journals/index.php/gjte/user/register email:gite18@gmail.com abstract storytelling is a natural means of communication between generations and is deeply rooted in culture. in today’s classrooms, the act of storytelling is often overshadowed by a narrow focus on academics. however, storytelling could be viewed as a means of transformative education by creating autonomous, independent thinkers as demonstrated in this manuscript. children can use storytelling as a way to demonstrate depth of understanding, apply critical thinking skills, and to be active learners in their own education. this study details the use of a creative storytelling strategy implemented in an early childhood classroom which was interrupted by the covid-19 pandemic. the end result is a two-phase study which concluded with pre-kindergarten aged children using storytelling to discuss and display their perceptions of coronavirus in an academic setting. keywords: storytelling, early childhood education, covid pandemic zhulamanova, i., & raisor, j. m. global journal of transformative education (2022) vol 3 doi 10.14434/gjte.v3i1.32098 open access published by the global insitutute of transformative education (http://www.gite.education) © zhulamanova & raisor, 2022. open access this journal is distributed under the terms of the creative commons attribution noncommercial nonderivative 4.0 international license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction without revision in any non-commercial medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the creative commons license, the little red hen and a corona giant: creative storytelling as a transformative strategy in an early childhood classroom ilfa zhulamanova and jill m. raisor full listing of authors and contacts can be found at the end of this article. introduction storytelling is deeply rooted in the belief that children learn through stories verbally shared across generations and often involving an interesting mixture of folklore and history. in today’s classrooms, the act of storytelling is often overshadowed by a narrow focus on academics in classrooms. however, children can use storytelling as a way to demonstrate depth of their understanding, thinking, lived experiences and needs. for example, compare the following two teaching strategies. first, a book is read to children which might be disconnected from their lives and prior experiences while encouraging passive listening skills (global institute for transformative education, 2021). second, the same story is shared through a storytelling strategy where the children are given the opportunity to actively engage, take ownership, and construct their own meanings from the content. the second example clearly demonstrates the type of transformative education we hope to encourage in classrooms. the overarching goal of this study was to use a storytelling as a creative strategy in an early childhood classroom to open space for children for “dialoging” (bakhtin, 1984) with the world to express themselves, their emotions and feelings, and lived experiences in a creative way. the following manuscript details the use of a creative storytelling strategy implemented in an early childhood classroom which was interrupted by the covid-19 pandemic. the end result is a two-phase study which concluded with pre-kindergarten aged children using storytelling to discuss and display their perceptions of coronavirus. literature review oral storytelling is an ancient and may be the earliest form of teaching. it serves a dual purpose of entertaining and transmitting cultural beliefs and values from one generation to the next in many cultures including latinx (melzi, schick & scarola, 2018) and african american (champion, 2003). under-studied in zhulamanova & raisor, creative story telling as a transformative strategy page 4 education (hibbin, 2016a), it continues to maintain cultural practices and traditions over time, socialize children into their cultures, and aid their overall development (barton & barton, 2017; landrum, brakke, & mccarthy, 2019; strekalova-hughes & wang, 2019). storytelling attracts children to books (ritchie, james-szanton, & howes, 2003) and excite the imagination, involve the listeners, and motivate children to try storytelling themselves and create their own techniques (morrow, 2020). storytelling is a form of transformational education that helps children to understand dynamics between their inner and outer worlds and the expansion of consciousness and the working toward a meaningful integrated life as evidenced in authentic relationships with self and others” (boyd & myers, 1988, p. 261). what is storytelling? the national council of teachers of english (ncte) has provided a definition of oral storytelling as “relating a tale to one or more listeners through voice and gesture” (teaching storytelling, 1992). this simple definition considers the inherently social nature of storytelling that requires a listening audience to fulfil its definitional requirements. it also tacitly invokes the oral nature of storytelling whereby the tale is ‘related’ and not ‘read,’ and the emphasis upon ‘voice and gesture’ implicitly denies the use of a script. bromley (2019) defines an oral story as any text that is imaginative, a retelling of a story or a recount of an experience. traditional storytelling in an early childhood classroom is a product of students interacting socially with the elements in a book (lisenbee & ford, 2018). an example of a traditional storytelling activity comes from research conducted on early childhood students experiencing the story the very hungry caterpillar (carle, 1987; ford, 2009). these early childhood students enjoyed performing the book in addition to exploring the life cycle of a caterpillar through literacy centers. in the profession of early childhood, storytelling was promoted by teacher researcher vivian paley (copper, 2019). in paley’s classroom, children dictate and dramatize their stories. research findings suggest that paley’s storytelling approach to teaching and learning positively affect young children’s vocabulary and language skills and can serve as a feasible alternative to the skills-dominant and teacher-neutral early literacy curricula increasingly prevalent in pre-school classrooms around the country (nicolopoulou, 2019; ripstein, 2018). moreover, as da costa, davim, barbosa, & da silva (2016) state storytelling has the power to improve a child’s oral language skills, writing, and increase their vocabularies. more recent research (gardner-neblett & sideris, 2017) conducted with children who are african american has found that the ability to tell a clear and coherent story is important for the development of reading skills. storytelling significantly increases children’s literacy skills along with self-regulation of emotions, communication and negotiation with peers, imagination, fantasy, humor, and creativity (maureen, van der meji & de jong, 2018). dyson (2009) highlights how as young writers tell stories they appropriate others’ voices (from home, school, community and media), thus expanding their knowledge about social practices, symbolic systems and their social world. there is difference in cognitive requirement between the experience of picture-book reading and that of storytelling, according to neuroscience research (ten, van der putten, penne, maes, vlaskamp, 2016; miyuki, sachie, satochi, masato, kazuto, hirooki & sinichi, 2018). the experience of storytelling requires more demanding level of active imagination from listeners. when the brain is active, concentration and attention are at work which contributes to information retention and comprehension. thus, the difference in the prefrontal activation between the picture-book reading and the storytelling may reflect the difference in the cognitive demands for the act of imagining. while storytelling is a practice common to all cultures and most children enter school with a basic understanding of narrative form (meek, 1988), it is not widely accepted practice as compared to story reading. speaking and listening is implicitly devalued as a result of the elevation of instrumental literacy-based practice in the primary curriculum (hibbin, 2016b). typically, schools place importance on the development of narrative skills in writing but provide few opportunities for children to create and tell stories orally, once children become writers (dawkins & oneill, 2011). in a busy curriculum-focused environment, the strategy of storytelling allows space and time to stop and listen to students in meaningful and purposeful way, while facilitating their learning (bromley, 2019; cooper, capo, karen, mathes, & gray, 2007). it is a transformative approach as it challenges students to be active rather than passive learners. storytelling approach encourages students and teachers to think critically and requires communities to rethink curricula to create space for students to analyze the universe (global institute for transformative education, 2021). global journal of transformative education (2022) vol 3 page 5 global journal of transformative education (2022) vol 3 free-ranging, teacher-scaffolded activities, storytelling activities and curriculum in the early childhood classroom validate who the children are, what they know, and what they care about. thus, “the need for early childhood teachers to retain their historical focus on oral language-based curricula that are directed at fair and equitable goals for young children—like the storytelling curriculum—has never been greater” (cooper, capo, karen, mathes, & gray, 2007, p. 273). ironically, the study itself mirrors the unpredictability of researching during the 2019 coronavirus pandemic. our research quest was to learn how children respond to stories presented through storytelling strategies involving two-step method: 1) presenting a story to children using puppet show and 2) inviting children to respond, orally or in drawings, by re-telling the presented story or by creating their own stories. the working definition of storytelling in this study is oral re-telling of traditional tales, modelled by a storyteller, and taught to children. the study detailed in this manuscript emphasizes the importance of storytelling. theoretical framework in this study, we draw upon mikhail bakhtin’s (1895-1975), literary and cultural theorist and philosopher’s work that emphasizes plurality of voices. in essence, bakhtin’s work is concerned with the oppressive character of monologue, the monopolization of meaning, and the ruling out and suppressing of all competing voices. to counteract a “monologue” of prescribed preschool curricula driven by developmental norms and academic standards and standardized practices like book reading, we aimed to build upon the voices and stories of young children to allow them to learn and transform through creative literacy, play and performance. like bakhtin, we believe that life is an ongoing, finalizable dialogue taking place at every moment of human existence. “to live means to participate in dialogue: to ask questions, to heed, to respond, to agree, and so forth. in this dialogue a person participates wholly and throughout his whole life: with his eyes, lips, hands, souls, spirit, and with his whole body and deeds… he invests his entire self in discourse, and this discourse enters into the dialogic fabric of human life, into the world symposium” (baktin, 1984, pp. 292-293). such a view imposes difference, uncertainty, playfulness, surprise, and open-endedness as necessary, positive, and productive aspects of human condition (sterritt, 1998). however, what crucial to bakhtinian dialogue is a finely tuned sense of listening. bakhtin believed that by not listening we reject, disrespect, and disempower the speaker and the message. when we listen to children, we empower them. we learn about their inner thoughts, emotions, fears, anxiety, and joys through the act of storytelling. transformative education such as this displays a dramatic shift in views of teaching and learning, a shared ownership in education, a true sense of what it means to have student-teacher partnerships within the classroom (global institute for transformative education, 2021). as the profession of early childhood education takes a deep interest in a more culturally sensitive, collaborative, strength-oriented, and empowering approach practices, bakhtin’s ideas seem ever more prominent. in current times of uncertainty and unrest, there is a robust need for dialoging with and listening to the children we serve. inviting children to engage in creating and telling their own stories is about opening a space for plurality of voices, innovation, wonder, potentiality, freedom, and creativity that transcend monologic thinking and inform and expand traditional mundane classroom approaches of teaching and learning. storytelling procedures this study was conducted in two phases precovid-19 and during covid-19. beginning in the spring 2020, three researchers visited the setting to begin to establish a comfortable rapport with the children, classroom, and school. after obtaining families consent, around february 2020, the researchers introduced the idea of traditional storytelling to the teacher. during this time, once a week for five weeks, the researchers started the project by presenting a folk story using a puppet show as the main storytelling method. the storytelling technique implemented in our study complemented that of bromley (2019). the teacher told stories and children use teacher’s story as a springboard to develop their own stories. the plan was to visit each week to engage in storytelling activities during the circle time. after presenting the same story a few times, we planned to invite children to create their own stories using the presented story as a springboard. the first story presented to children was a simple version of the little red hen story, an american folk tale meant to teach children the zhulamanova & raisor, creative story telling as a transformative strategy page 6 importance of hard work and personal initiative. the main characters used in this puppet show – the hen, cat and mouse – were hand-made by team members. both the cat and mouse were made from wool and the hen was knitted using a wool thread (see figure 1). the story characters were available to the children afterwards to imitate and play with the puppets. figure 1. the little red hen characters due to the covid-19 pandemic the research came to an abrupt halt in spring 2020 after seven visits to the site. the study was able to resume in fall 2020 during covid-19; however, many barriers existed. the participants were all new to the classroom and non-essential visitors were not allowed in the classroom due to covid-19 precautions. therefore, research continued in an online synchronous mode through the use of zoom. the children were gathered around a swivl which held an ipad. swivl is a robot which can hold an ipad and rotates automatically to the marker. the marker is similar in shape to a remote control and allows for virtually interactions to feel more in sync. minimal issues occurred when utilizing the technology; however, one concern was that the ipad screen size was limited for the children to view. study context and participants the school was intentionally chosen because of its proximity to the researchers, openness to research, and a shared history with the researchers. the school consists of 464 students, preschool through eighth grade (see table 1). the classroom is nestled within the preschool wing with approximately 110 children. the participants in phase one included 15 preschool children. ages three and four (see table 2). the participation rate for the class was 94%. the participants in phase two included 11 preschool children ages three and four (see table 3). the participation rate for the class was 85%. additionally, one lead teacher and one assistant, consistent in both phases of the study, contributed greatly to arranging the technology and reporting information back to the researchers. table 1. demographics of school by ethnicity table 2. demographics of participants in phase 1 table 3. demographics of participants in phase 2 storytelling technique phase 2 due to covid-19 precautions, all storytelling times in phase two of the study, were completed virtually through the use of zoom. during phase two, the research team virtually presented a corona giant therapeutic story to help children to deal with anxiety and stress they experience with all the changes and adaptations they deal on a daily basis. the children were presented this story three times within a week for approximately two weeks. the children were given the opportunity to contribute their own stories using the corona giant as a springboard. they could share their stories right after the presentation or later to their teachers orally or in drawings. during phase two, the research team virtually presented a therapeutic story to help children to deal with anxiety and stress they experience with all the changes global journal of transformative education (2022) vol 3 zhulamanova & raisor, creative story telling as a transformative strategy page 7 and adaptations they deal on a daily basis. this story, inserted below, was originally created by susan perrow (2012) and was slightly modified by the researchers to adapt to the current pandemic situation. corona giant once upon a time, not so long ago, there lived a giant who was the strongest, largest, and most destructive creature ever to have lived on earth. the strange thing was that no one had never seen the giant, but many had experienced its dark shadow as it traveled around the earth, leaving destructions everywhere. people called it the corona giant. the corona giant was continually busy every day and night, moving around the world, stamping its dark presence on the earth, in every city,s every village, and every home making children and their families stay. away from each other and making them feel lonely and fearful. no one knew where the corona giant lived and how to conquer it. no one was safe from it– not the adults or children. the giant, who lived high up in the silver castle above the clouds, heard news of these terrible events from the birds. she was very worried about the corona giant and the evil work it was doing on the earth below. she decided to call a meeting and sent out an invitation to all the birds of the air everywhere in the world. on the day of the meeting, the giant was seated on her silver throne, beautiful in her flowing gown. all around here were gathered many birds: birds from every part of the world, birds of all colors and shapes and sizes, birds o the land and birds of the sea, birds of the day and birds of the night. patiently and carefully, the giant listened to each and every bird. when all the stories had been told, the giant spoke to the gathering: “there must be a way to overcome this dark force that is taking over the earth. every enemy has a weakness! fly back where you have come from and try to find where the corona giant lives. then you can observe what weakness it may have. report back to me as soon as you can…there is not a moment to lose!” so, the birds flew back to their homes around the world and kept a careful watch where the giant lives. days passed, weeks passed, months passed. when it was almost a year, an old owl finally found the giant. he was flying high around mountains searching for something to eat and flew into a deep dark cave. inside this cave was a huge, dark, mumbling, rumbling. figure. it was of no definite shape. in fact, its shape seemed to change sizes and form with every sound it made. sometimes, it looked like a giant red squid with many tentacles, other times, it turned into a scary, bearlike figure and stomped angrily. as he stomped, he the repeatedly chanted these mumblings and rumblings: all for me and me for all, eating all things big and small. greed is my game and power is my name the owl hid in a far corner of the cave and watched and listened, as owls can do very well. finally, the ugly, dark creature fell asleep. the owl quickly and quietly flew out of the deep mountain cave. then, he began the long journey across the sky, all the way to the castle of the giant. as he flew higher and higher, he kept saying the awful mumblings and rumblings so he would not forget them. all for me and me for all, eating all things big and small. greed is my game and power is my name when the giant heard the story from the owl, she immediately recognized giant’s weakness: the corona giant only cares for itself it only wants power for itself. then the giant called for her helpers, the birds and she said: “fly out around the world and sing this message to people. if they work together and care for each other, then they can slowly, but surely win this dark shadow that is harming the children and families”. global journal of transformative education (2022) vol 3 zhulamanova & raisor, creative story telling as a transformative strategy page 8 strength in caring, strength in togetherness, can overcome the giant’s selfishness. the birds flew out to all parts of the world and as they flew, they sang the message from the giant for all people on earth to hear. and to this day, the birds are signing their song. sometimes they even drop feather messages which flatter softly to the ground. when people find these feathers lying on the ground (in the garden, on the street, or in the forest they know that this message has been sent directly to them. they pick up the feathers and they remember the message that has been send to them by the giant: strength in caring, strength in togetherness! and slowly but surely, the wisdom of the song of the birds is helping the children and adults of the world to overcome the dark power of the corona giant. data collection and analysis data in this two-phase basic qualitative study (merriam, 2002) came from children’s drawings, audio recordings of children’s stories, photographs of children’s work, and recordings of all virtual storytelling visits with the children. data collection and analysis were not separate processes but were interconnected and simultaneous (hesse-biber & leavy, 2006) to gain insight into the main themes that emerged from children’s responses to the storytelling intervention. the recordings, images of storytelling episodes were reviewed and analyzed using thematic coding and inductive analysis (hatch, 2002), that promotes proceeding from specific to general. the two faculty researchers analyzed the data separately and then compared findings to validate thematic findings. findings the overarching goal of this study was to use storytelling as a creative strategy in an early childhood classroom to open space for plurality of voices that transcend monologic thinking driven by adults’ agenda and inform and expand traditional mundane classroom approaches of teaching and learning. as pushor explains, “when they come to school, they come with this multiplicity and contextuality, not independent of it” (2010, p. 7). therefore, it is important to create a space for helping children to express themselves and their lived experiences in a creative way. storytelling is about innovation, wonder, potentiality, freedom, and creativity that arise through plurality of voices, ideas and perspectives. having such space in a classroom challenges, expands, and transcends traditional routine of teaching and learning practices. the following two themes emerged from the data analysis: 1) storytelling makes children story makers, story tellers, and story actors and 2) corona and children. storytelling makes children story makers, story tellers and story actors. children in this classroom always engaged in various pretend play activities using prompts in dramatic play area. it was observed, however, that storytelling intervention provokes children to play with the story prompts and imitate the observed presentation. having a shared play idea, stemmed from the story plot, provides a topic for conservation motivating children to socialize, engage, construct scenarios elevating their play to mature level that results in learning (bodrova & leong, 2008). it became visible that storytelling intervention provokes children to play with the story prompts and imitate the observed presentation. the concrete prompts and story table setting provide some direction inexplicitly making the children storytellers. these items were intentionally left in the setting during phase 1 to encourage interaction and retelling of stories. engaged in dialoguing with each other (see figure 2) they either repeated the same plot or come up with their own remarks for the characters. children carry their ideas on into their dramatic play and the story continues to evolve and change including new toys, materials, and players. the conversation enhanced social interaction and communication among children. figure 2. children presenting the little red hen global journal of transformative education (2022) vol 3 zhulamanova & raisor, creative story telling as a transformative strategy page 9 analysis of data also illustrates that children use the presented story characters and some elements of it as a springboard for making stories. for instance, see figure 3 below. the child created his own version of the corona giant story by twisting the plot in his own way. in this picture, the corona giant is imprisoned, and the queen and birds are celebrating their victory. it is important to notice here, that the illustrations are solely a product of child’s imagination since the story was presented orally without the text. the child “translated” the auditory information onto the paper giving a shape and form to story characters he envisioned in his mind while he listened to the story. these mental representations derived from his previous knowledge and experiences. figure 3. a child’s story during the storytelling time, children immersed in the spirit of presented stories. the children became not only story makers, but story tellers and story actors as well. consider the four-year old’s child’s dictated story below: it is actually like the queen and the prince live is a mountain on a castle with bears. and the princess was actually abandoned because she stealed [sic] all the joy and then they found the real princess at the witch castle. and then the birds pecked her and then she heard it so much, and then they fall to the ground, and then they go back to the castle and then the end. this simultaneously simple and complex creation indicates the author’s expressive and receptive vocabulary, awareness of words in sentences, phonemic awareness, and understanding of the meaning of the words. it has a beginning, some drama in the middle, and the end and represents a child’s world of thinking and living. children take the story ideas and words into their dialogues, exchanges, and act them out in their dramatic play by intentional storytelling. for instance, consider this children’s dialogue that was observed on 01/31/20. three girls are playing in dramatic play area: child 1: pretends to be a hen from the little red hen story and ask her two playmates: who wants to sweep the floor? child 2: (standing on her knees, pretending to be a cat) not i! child 3: (sitting and presenting to be a mouse) not i! child 1: who wants to help me to eat breakfast? child 2 & child 3: i do, i do! child 1: promise me you help me, and i will share the breakfast with you. child 2 & child 3: nod their heads. the presented little red hen story plot was used here by these three children to organize their play, communicate, socialize and learn. stories enhance the child’s inner world and result in imaginative play. thus, the provided stories have a power to stimulate and foster dramatic play in early childhood classrooms. corona and children. this theme emerged in most of the children’s stories, drawings and dialogues in the forms of a germ, princesses, and giants. analysis of 10 children’s drawings collected resulted in one about a germ, four on princesses, and five on giants. the drawing featuring the word “germ” was of a child keeping the germ from entering the child’s house (see figure 4). of interest, was the fact that the child felt confident in preventing the germ from entering the home; thereby, able to protect the family. additional analysis would have been beneficial to explore how the child planned to keep the germ from entering the home. would it have been health measures emphasized in the classroom, school, and community such as washing hands, staying at least six feet apart, etc.? or would the child have created an imaginary world in which superpowers would have served as a protective force? global journal of transformative education (2022) vol 3 zhulamanova & raisor, creative story telling as a transformative strategy page 10 figure 4. child’s drawing germ four of the drawings collected featured princesses. all princesses were smiling in the drawings. ideas emerged such as a princess being saved by a knight, the princess getting to see her family (see figure 5), the princess and her friends, and the princess enjoying the sun. of interest to our study, was the drawing of a princess getting to see her family. additional analysis would have been beneficial to determine why the princess was unable to see her family. was the princess in quarantine which would have mimicked reality or was the princess, as often pictured in fairytales, captured and waiting to be rescued? figure 5. child’s drawing – princess a giant was the most featured object in the children’s drawings. consistently, the giant was angry or mad as evidenced by the children’s wording of “the giant is mad! something is in his way!”; “the giant is mad! he didn’t like the people!”; “the giant stomped all over the world!”; “the giant is walking to the city.”; “the giant is being watched by the birds!”. the last quotation was the only giant pictured as smiling. all other giants had straight lines for a v shaped mouth, a horizontal line (see figure 6), or a sad face. a likely correlation to the corona giant story was that the birds were helpful to the giant; therefore, the giant was pictured as smiling. figure 6. child’s drawing giant this topic is also captured in one of the dialogues between the researcher and the children: researcher: so, what happened when corona giant came to your city? what did you do? children: wear a mask! researcher: mask. oh, yes. that’s how we changed. children: and be safe. teacher: and where can’t you go now? child: i can’t go to chuck e. cheese now until corona’s gone. global journal of transformative education (2022) vol 3 zhulamanova & raisor, creative story telling as a transformative strategy page 11 child: i can’t go to mcdonald’s playground. child: i wanted to go to the movie and they said no, it’s closed. researcher: yes, so the corona giant is making us do and not to do so many things. this is what i would like you to do children. since i cannot see you guys, i mean i cannot come to your school. can you draw your story for me? child: yes! child: i already made a book. i can make another book about corona the giant. discussion the limited amount of collected data due to covid-19 pandemic suggests that a storytelling approach to teaching and learning can positively affect young children’s learning and development by making them story makers, story tellers, and story actors. to become a story maker, one needs to listen to absorb the language and ideas of others. a well-crafted and intentionally chosen narrative helps children to make sense of the world, imagine and “give birth” to their own stories to express, communicate and ‘dialogue’ (bakhtin, 1984). as it was observed in data, for a child as young as three or four, a simple dot on a paper or drawing is a story. when there is a story, there is a point to communicate, idea to express, and reason to participate in the “carnival” (bakhtin, 1984) of the social world. creative storytelling strategies promote active engagement in the learning process which can become transformative in nature. this way, telling stories promotes children’s language skills that stimulates overall development (nicolopoulou, 2019; ripstein, 2018). practicing and mastering listening and oral language skills establishes profound foundation for children to become confident readers and writers at later stages (hibbin, 2016b). it was also found that young children who heard the stories told demonstrated improved story comprehension in their retelling, while children in the story reading group improved their language complexity (isbell, sobol, lindauer, & lawrence, 2004). moreover, the creative storytelling intervention provokes young children to engage in dramatic play by imitating the observed practice. normally, preschool children participate in physical play, object play, pretend (or socio-dramatic) play, and guided play. together, they comprise four broad categories, each of which is based on the developmental purpose it serves and the relationship of each type to children’s learning. this is important for today’s world where not all children know how to play (bodrova, 2001, karpov, 2005) and their play does not elevate to level when it results in learning (gudareva, 2005). only mature, sophisticated level of play triggers cognition and promotes self-regulation (bodrova & leong, 2008; bodrova & leong, 2003). storytelling is different than reading and it requires more active work of the brain. when the brain is active, concentration and attention are at work which contributes to information retention and comprehension (ten, van der putten, penne, maes, vlaskamp, 2016; miyuki, sachie, satoshi, masato, kazuto, hirooki & sinichi, 2018). children need to use their imaginative powers to illustrate the story scenes in their mind to project it on paper or play later. however, the child’s response/creation does not directly mirror the adults ‘story but rather intertwined with his own inner worries, concerns, thinking and understating of the world. this became visible in children’s illustrations of corona giant narrative as they work was ‘painted’ by their fears of germs, separation of families, concerns about safety and overall underling anxiety about the pandemic situation. telling and expressing their inner needs and emotions has a power to foster positive identity, empathic understanding of self and others and bi-directional communication (hibbin, 2016a). therefore, it can be concluded that storytelling invites children to become story makers, story tellers and story actors to think creatively and engage in dialogue with others and the world. the intentional organization of storytelling activity can be used as a tool to promote language, literacy, vocabulary, socio-emotional development, self-expression, identification with story characters, empathic understanding of self and others, culture and identity. it stimulates intrinsic motivation for play. the concrete prompts and story table setting provide some direction inexplicitly inviting the children to play. the classroom with storytelling and play can serve as a feasible alternative to the skills-dominant and teacher-neutral early literacy curricula increasingly prevalent in pre-kindergarten classrooms around the country. the oral re-telling of traditional tales, modelled by a storyteller and taught to children in school, can be understood as ‘non-instrumental’ practice in speaking and listening that emphasizes oral language over the reading and writing of stories. hibbin (2016a) suggests that psychosocial development of young people in school can be encouraged and actively pursued with global journal of transformative education (2022) vol 3 zhulamanova & raisor, creative story telling as a transformative strategy page 12 global journal of transformative education (2022) vol 3 opportunities afforded by oral storytelling for self-expression, identification with story characters, empathic understanding of self and others and bi-directional communication. in a busy curriculum-focused environment, the strategy of storytelling allows space and time to stop and listen to students in meaningful and purposeful way, while facilitating their learning (bromley, 2019; cooper, capo, karen, mathes, & gray, 2007). free-ranging, teacher-scaffolded activities storytelling activities and curriculum in the early childhood classroom validate who the children are, what they know, and what they care about. thus, “the need for early childhood teachers to retain their historical focus on oral language-based curricula that are directed at fair and equitable goals for young children—like the storytelling curriculum—has never been greater” (cooper, capo, karen, mathes, & gray, 2007, p. 273). conclusion storytelling is deeply rooted in the belief that children learn through stories verbally shared across generations. it is about innovation, wonder, potentiality, freedom, and creativity that arise through plurality of voices, ideas and perspectives. having such space in a classroom challenges, expands, and transcends traditional routine of teaching and learning practices. however, in today’s classrooms, the act of storytelling is often overshadowed by a narrow focus on academics in classrooms. therefore, it is important to create a space for helping children to express themselves and their lived experiences in a creative way. children can use storytelling as a way to demonstrate the depth of their understanding as well as express emotions such as fear, worry, etc. in closure, the following poem was shared with the researchers by an older child. quarantine nothing to do. quarantine is it something for you? quarantine nothing to do. quarantine is a boring thing for me and you. watch out for germs, they are as hairy as worms. take some turns and you will find those germs! children have stories to share with us and it is our responsibility as educators to listen. whether it is through stories, drawings, or poetry children are creatively expressing themselves. this manuscript details the use of a creative storytelling strategy implemented in an early childhood classroom in two distinct phases due to the interruption of the covid-19 pandemic. the result documents a beautiful display of children’s creative storytelling ability and its connectedness to real world events. work such as this lays the path for transformation in education. it demonstrates the importance of providing young children with the opportunity for an education better suited for global interconnectedness (global institute for transformative education, 2021). references bakhtin, m. 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(2019). perspectives of children from refugee backgrounds on their family storytelling as a culturally sustaining practice. journal of in childhood education, 33(1), 6-21. doi: 10.1080/02568543.2018.1531452 ten brug a., van der putten, a. a, penne, a., maes, b., and vlaskamp, c. (2016). making a difference? a comparison between multi-sensory and regular storytelling for persons with profound intellectual and multiple disabilities. journal of intellectual disability research, 60(11), 1043-1053. doi: 10.1111/jir.12260 acknowledgments we would like to express our sincere gratitude to the school, teachers, children, and families who participated in this study. we would also like to thank the contributions of norah baehl who assisted with this research. ilfa zhulamanova (izhulamano@usi.edu) is an assistant professor in the department at teacher education, early childhood, university of southern indiana, evansville, indiana, usa. orcid id #0000-0002-3167-3289 authors jill m. raisor (jmraisor@usi.edu) is an associate professor in the department at teacher education, early childhood, university of southern indiana, evansville, indiana, usa. orcid id #0000-0003-3333-4237 zhulamanova & raisor, creative story telling as a transformative strategy 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https://scholarworks.iu.edu/journals/index.php/gjte/user/register email:gite18@gmail.com abstract this paper discusses the contours of developing a 21st century course syllabus that empowers students in the learning process to become critical thinkers, problem-solvers, innovators, and collaborators. the author draws from transformative learning theory to provide detailed information on the characteristics of a syllabus, its universal components, interpreting course code, uses of a syllabus, accessibility, and backward design. he also draws from bloom’s taxonomy to offer a pragmatic guide to syllabus creation with concrete examples on how instructors can employ a backward design approach for syllabus development to effectively create a syllabus of a course they have never taught before. the author concludes by reiterating that the overarching emphasis of teaching with a syllabus is to promote higher-order thinking and deeper learning in higher education because a syllabus that promotes such practices and knowledge transfer maximizes learning outcomes. keywords: syllabus, learner-centered, learning outcomes, 21st century skills, higher education ndemanu, m. t. global journal of transformative education (2022) vol 3 doi 10.14434/gjte.v3i1.33616 open access published by the global insitutute of transformative education (http://www.gite.education) © ndemanu, m. t., 2022. open access this journal is distributed under the terms of the creative commons attribution noncommercial nonderivative 4.0 international license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction without revision in any non-commercial medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the creative commons license, transformative syllabus design: maximizing learning outcomes in higher education michael t. ndemanu full listing of authors and contacts can be found at the end of this article. introduction wilhelm von humboldt, a german philosopher, is the founder of today’s modern university system that transformed universities from training-oriented professional institutions couched in transmissive pedagogy to the present-day higher education institutions that are committed to the discovery of, pursuit of, search for, knowledge (mueller, 1991). the goal of using a syllabus to teach college courses is to ensure that modern higher education institutions meet the goals for which they were founded. this paper is aimed at strengthening professional development skills of higher education instructors in syllabus development. it is a truism that higher education in any country is a citadel of knowledge production and consumption. while one would expect a fair balance between research and teaching in a university, many organizations concerned with the quality of programs only tend to use research output as a yardstick of an institutional value, thereby undermining teaching (oecd) which is one of the most crucial aspects of college education. this may explain why there is no teacher preparation program for university instructors as it is the case for k-12 teachers. although professors are content experts in their various fields, most of them did not take formal coursework on pedagogy. nonetheless, many would claim that they master college teaching and do not need professional development in pedagogy on grounds of their extended apprenticeship of observation (lortie, 1975). apprenticeship of observation is predicated on the notion that by the time a student has completed their k-12 education, they had amassed more than13000 hours of teaching observations as they observe their own teachers and professors teach them. whether a professor has received formal preparation in college teaching or not, there is a general consensus that they should all know how to conceptualize and develop a syllabus for each of the courses that they teach so as to improve the quality of college education. this essay offers a pragmatic guide to syllabus development ndemanu, designing university syllabi for 21st century skills page 26 using transformative education theoret-ical framework. a syllabus can be defined as a course roadmap that that provides the various makeups of a course such that prospective and current students in the course are abreast with the course objectives and expectations. as parkes et al. (2002) posit, a syllabus serves as a contract between the instructor and the students given that it contains vital information regarding course description, course readings, assignments and their deadlines, attendance policy, roles and duties of students as well as the responsibilities of instructors. while research on syllabus is very limited, most of it has focused on its purpose and its required components. calhoon et al. (2008) went outside the norm to study how students use syllabi. they contended that students access syllabi on a regular basis when the syllabi contain information about assignments, due dates, and rubrics. it is worth noting that syllabus embodies a lot of intricacies owing to educators’ varying philosophical orientations and dispositions. paradoxically, such orientations are not as diametrically different among educators in developing countries owing to the fact that they all studied through a very traditional and transmission-oriented pedagogy. thus, a plurality of educators still strongly believes in the banking concept (freire, 2000) in which the instructor is the sole owner of knowledge and the reading material and only share them with students during lectures. such an entrenched belief in the sole proprietorship of knowledge in a specific domain influences instructors’ choice of tone, content, delivery methods, expectations, objectives, instructional activities, and course policy during the syllabus design process. while it is unheard of in higher education in the united states that college professors could teach a course without a predesigned syllabus, it is still a ubiquitous practice in some countries around the world. many students are still graduating from college without ever having had any exposure to the syllabi of the courses they took. it was within this backdrop that the author of this essay decided to write an article on strategies of developing a learner-centered course syllabus so that it could benefit all the faculty members who are interested in maximizing their students’ learning outcomes through active learning, but who do not know how to go about it. in the subsequent sections of this essay, a conceptual framework will be discussed, followed by characteristics of a syllabus, procedure of syllabus design, and conclusion. conceptual framework for this article, a transformative learning theory is used to discuss the merits of designing a learner-centered syllabus. transformative learning theory, coined by mezirow et al. (2000) in the 1970s, was initially used in the field of adult education before becoming mainstreamed in the education field as a whole. it is a relatively new terminology that was first used to describe a new teaching and learning process that involves meaning making out of new information to ensure that knowledge is transferred and applied in real-life contexts beyond the classroom. it encompasses reviewing, manipulating, and interpretating current and past experiences to make meaning. it also embodies critical thinking and critical literacylearning to question. learning to deconstruct and reconstruct concepts, theories, ideologies, and worldviews. in other words, learning is preceded by disorienting dilemmas because a previous experience has been disrupted. thus, transformative education could engender psychological trauma since it problematizes a perennial practice that has been normalized over the years (todd, 2003). education is supposed to lead to the transformation of the learner and consequently the society. many teachers in developed countries already employ transformative education theory in designing and teaching their courses given that transformative education cultivates critical thinking skills in learners. it also places strong emphases on creativity and problem-solving skills which are essential skills for the 21st century problems. the contemporary notion of transformative education transcends the adult education field into broader view of education as an art of transforming learners and not just informing them. as yacek (2019) argued, transformative education requires psychological restructuring for effective learning to take place because it requires an in-depth critical reflection about previously held beliefs to determine whether those previously held ideas should be upheld or discarded. it requires perspicacious determination of what to reject and what to substitute previous knowledge with. thus, syllabi should be designed in such a way that educational goals will be formed around addressing the fundamental question of educating more for transformation and minimally for information (rosebrough et al., 2011). not all education acquired is considered transformative. for yacek (2019), it is only transformative when an educational experience is identified as an extraordinary monumental change in a learner’s personal development, shattering previous beliefs and worldviews while global journal of transformative education (2022) vol 3 ndemanu, designing university syllabi for 21st century skills page 27 global journal of transformative education (2022) vol 3 ushering it fresher perspective on prior concepts. the word transformative ought not to be viewed as a buzzword given that almost every learner at all ages experiences some sort of transformative experience in formal and informal contexts. there are christians who become atheists and vice versa. there are homophobes and transphobes who become pro-lgbtq. there are climate change deniers who become major advocates of environmental education. it is vital to harness the facts that contributed to such transformation so that educators can draw from those narratives to enhance transformative pedagogies. in transformative education, there is a major shift in students’ habits of thought and action (english, 2014). it does not, therefore, suffice to create a syllabus for a creation’s sake. it has to be purposefully transformative, learner-centered, and laser-focused on building students’ 21st century competency skills. incorporating multifaceted pedagogies ensures that learners are metacognitively reached so that they can become proficient in addressing 21st century problems. characteristics of a syllabus the overall tone of a syllabus is undergirded by the university’s mission and vision statements as well as the teaching philosophy of the course instructor. where there is no mission statement foregrounding the kind of education that the university values, there is likely going to be less uniformity in the curricular and pedagogic approaches across syllabi. thus, it is of utmost importance to review and incorporate the mission and/ or vision statements of the university and departmental college into the syllabus because they serve as overarching guiding tone and direction in the development of the curriculum as well as the instruction. here are a few examples of university mission and vision statements and how they can shape the development of syllabi in these institutions: mission statement of the university of michigan (um) “the mission of the university of michigan is to serve the people of michigan and the world through preeminence in creating, communicating, preserving and applying knowledge, art, and academic values, and in developing leaders and citizens who will challenge the present and enrich the future” (umich.edu). it is evident from this mission statement that um values critical thinking skills, leadership skills, civic education, knowledge creation and knowledge application. it is up to the instructors to infuse theses values in their syllabi. mission statement of the ball state university (bsu) “we engage students in educational, research, and creative endeavors that empower our graduates to have fulfilling careers and meaningful lives enriched by lifelong learning and service, while we enhance the economic, environmental, and social vitality of our community, our state, and our world” (bsu.edu). bsu’s mission statement iterates research, creativity, preparing students for fulfilling careers, social, environmental, and economic sustainability. this mission statement gives a bigger picture of the university’s overarching goal that instructors in that institution use or ought to use as a starting point when designing a syllabus. vision statement of indiana university (iu) “our mission is to provide broad access to undergraduate and graduate education for students throughout indiana, the united states, and the world, as well as outstanding academic and cultural programs and student services. we seek to create dynamic partnerships with our communities in economic, social, and cultural development and to offer leadership in creative solutions for 21st-century problems, and we strive to achieve full diversity and maintain friendly, collegial, and humane environments, with a strong commitment to academic freedom. to achieve our vision as one of the great research universities of the 21st century, we will: • provide an excellent, relevant, and responsive education across a wide range of disciplines in baccalaureate, graduate, and professional education, to students from all backgrounds • pursue excellent world-class research, scholarship, and creative activity • engage in the economic, social, civic, and cultural development of indiana, the nation, and the world by building on the base of excellence in research and education” (iub.edu). iu has a comprehensive vision statement that covers almost all the various mission iterations of um and bsu. some of the major highlights of its vision statement include: access to higher education, research, leadership skills in creativity, academic freedom, inclusion, diversity, social, economic, and civic vitality of the community. ndemanu, designing university syllabi for 21st century skills page 28 each university is established to address the societal needs and the labor shortage of the state or region in which it is located. national and international needs are often secondary at the creation of the institution, but could subsequently occupy frontline positions in the institution’s curriculum. a well-crafted syllabus in mu, bsu, and iu will explicitly and implicitly address most of the major themes of the university’s mission statement. the syllabi may foreground specific content knowledge, ways of knowing, communication, research, experiential learning, environmental sustainability, collaboration, creativity, problem-solving skills, and community service. a university’s mission/vision statement sets the tone of an educational culture on the entire campus. such a tone is then replicated in the various syllabi throughout the campus. a course syllabus needs to adhere to institutional framework in order to fulfil the objectives of that institution. most of the current university’s missions are designed to cultivate in students the 21st century competency skills. interpreting course code another notable and indispensable characteristic of a syllabus is the course code. course codes are identity markers that differentiate one course from another in terms of discipline and level of study. on designing a syllabus, instructors need to be aware of the meanings of the subject code and the catalog number in order to provide content and assessments that are appropriate for students’ developmental and academic readiness. undergraduate courses typically have the subject code and the catalog number ranging from 100 to 499. for example, the course psyc 101 has psyc as the subject code that represents the psychology discipline while the catalog number, 101, shows the level of study. the first digit indicates specific level of study while the rest of the digits are defined by the different levels of course strength. therefore, a course that starts with 1 as in psyc 101 shows that it is a foundational course while level 2 courses start with 2 such as in psyc 201, indicating that it is an expansive foundational course. levels 3 and 4 courses typically require prerequisites because they require more advanced thinking skills and demonstration of in-depth knowledge. universal components of a syllabus although there is seldom a standardized syllabus format, there are, however, some major characteristics of a learner-centered syllabus. the characteristics which can be grouped into four broad categories include: contact information, institutional statements, objective information, and course policies. category one: contact information in this category, the first page of the syllabus starts with a boldly marked name of the institution, followed by the course title (e.g., xxx 100), course sections, semester in which the course is offered, meeting dates and time, room number, instructor’s name, e-mail address, phone number of the instructor, office address, and office hours. if there is a graduate assistant assigned to the instructor, their name and e-mail address should also be included. the information on this category should not cover more than ¼ of a standard a4 size page. the contact information is particularly helpful to first-generation college students because provides them information about the location of their classes and ways to contact their professors at any given moment. this helps reduce stress and anxiety that students tend to experience in their first year in college. category two: institutional statements at the end of contact information on an a4 size page, there are mandatory institutional statements that are cut and pasted into the syllabus. the content encompasses university’s mission statement, institutional statements about diversity and inclusion, disability services, writing center, and technology help desk. some institutions also include statements forewarning students against plagiarism, tobacco use and alcoholism on campus. all these statements are invaluable to the entire student body because they contain policies that reiterate institutional expectations and provide information about the various services that are offered by the university to accommodate students’ needs in the areas of technology, disabilities, library services, learning, and writing centers. universities want these statements to be included in all syllabi to ensure a wider dissemination and digestion of their message. not all institutions have all the statements. instructors are not advised to borrow and use statements from another university. they should design their syllabi with the institutional information that has been made available to them by the hierarchy. in many universities in the united states, professors receive emails weeks before the beginning of each semester on institutional statements that must be part of the syllabus. global journal of transformative education (2022) vol 3 ndemanu, designing university syllabi for 21st century skills page 29 category three: objective information objective information encompasses narrative about the course, the purpose and the rationale of the course, prerequisites and/or co-requisites courses that must be taken before or along the current course, course objectives or competencies, course materials and texts, assignments, final exam or final project, rubric, grade criteria, course calendar, and supplemental reading sources. under objective information, the instructors explain clearly what the course is all about, why it is important for the students, why it is necessary for their chosen program, and why they should sign up for the course. one of the best ways to retain students’ interests in the course from the outset is to give them a palpable rationale as to why the course is being offered, stating persuasively how it would fulfil their program requirements and how it would contribute to their career growth and/or to the better of the society. if there is a prerequisite course, it has to be stated in the syllabus as a prerequisite requirement. sometimes, some courses are taken alongside one other course. if it is the case with the course that is being designed, the co-requisite should be stated in the front page. in transformative education, there is a paradigm shift from course objectives to course competencies. historically, syllabi that are developed from the perspective of lesson objectives focus more on what students should know by the end of the course, whereas competency-based approach to course design focuses on what students should be able to do by the end of the course. in order to effectively state and subsequently assess learning competencies and critical thinking skills, action verbs are employed to state course competencies as advocated in the bloom’s taxonomy graphicshown in figure 1. “remember” and “understand” are at the bottom of the pyramid of bloom’s taxonomy because they represent static verbs and require the least amount of learning effort. instructors should take this graph into serious consideration when developing learning competencies and assessments of a course. in selecting the course reading material, instructors should ensure that the reading material are void of sexism, racism, ethnocentrism, colorism, ableism, ageism, xenophobia, homophobia and all other isms and phobias that affect people negatively. this is an opportunity for champions of decolonization to decolonize their curriculum making by choosing reading material that are devoid of dehumanizing and colonizing language and history. it is also an opportunity to empower students in the learning process by offering them choice readings (sleeter, 2008), mirror and window curriculum (style, 1988), and place-based curriculum (preston, 2015). one of the essential information that students look for in a syllabus is the text because they want to buy it or order it online in time. furthermore, the syllabus contains detailed information about the course assessment process. it includes assignment descriptions, grading rubrics, submission modes, deadlines, and cut-off time after which submissions may or may not be accepted with or without a penalty. each assignment should also include instructor’s preference for total word count, stipulated margin, font, and font size. a rubric is a scoring sheet that shows students how their work will be graded. it provides more clarity to students as to what is expected global journal of transformative education (2022) vol 3 fig. 1. courtesy of vanderbilt university center for teaching (armstrong, 2010) ndemanu, designing university syllabi for 21st century skills page 30 of them while saving time to instructors because they do not have to give detailed written feedback since it is already included in the rubric. in the syllabus, students are also given the range of scores and their equivalent grades in the rubric, known as grade criteria. for example, the grade criteria have to show in the syllabus that 94% upward in an exam is an a grade and that 59% downward is f. varying assignments or exam formats is also important because it allows students who are not good test-takers in a proctored room to excel in other assignments done in stress-free settings. another vital aspect of the objective information in a syllabus is the reading calendar. there must be a reading or video/audio linked to each class meeting date. for instance, if a class meets on monday and wednesday each week, the syllabus should indicate the reading tasks assigned for each day. students have to be informed on the first day of class that the readings are meant for them to read before coming to class. each digital reading title should indicate in parenthesis where and how it could be accessed. if it is a book chapter, reference should be made about the specific book and the specific chapter including the page range. category four: miscellaneous course policies course policies in this category embody clarification of behavioral and attitudinal expectations, information about class attendance, late and missing assignments/exams, nature of participation in activities, and general ethics. some degree programs assess students on professional dispositions which can include general behavior and attitude, dress code, and punctuality. in the absence of an institutional statement on plagiarism and copyright issues, an instructor may insert their own personally worded statement into the syllabus to minimize plagiarism. if the course includes field experience or fieldwork component, the information should be incorporated into the syllabus so that students can plan accordingly. students need to be aware of how long it would take their instructor to respond to e-mails. most instructors respond within 24 hours on weekdays. it is necessary to defer to the institutional policy with respect to instructor’s promptitude in e-mail responses. it is worth noting that the structure of syllabus and the sequencing of the content should be given due consideration. the foregoing categories define a general logical order that a typical learner-centered syllabus should follow. sequencing of course content in a way that promotes scaffolding from the simplest concept to the most complex one in the learning process is very prior to the first class of the semester. ideally, a syllabus should be made available to students a week before important. however, owing to the limited scope of this paper, content sequencing techniques will be a separate paper. syllabus accessibility once the syllabus is fully designed and meticulously edited to ensure clarity, the instructor should make it available to the students at least twenty-four hours classes begin so that they will have ample time to purchase and ship the course texts and other learning tools before the start of the semester. according to a survey conducted by campusbooks.com (2016), 67% of the students surveyed said they purchase used textbooks while 55% said they rent textbooks for their courses each semester. other research institutions have conducted similar research. according to kelly (2019), 58% of students who responded to a survey on students’ habits toward purchasing textbooks said they buy at least one textbook on amazon. only 51% said they buy books at their campus bookstore. in the survey, one student said, “school bookstore typically charges 3x as much as ordering from amazon or another site.” therefore, it is imperative to share the syllabus days or weeks before the start of the semester or at the very least, provide information about the text weeks earlier. learning management systems (lms) are the platforms that instructors in developed countries use to share a lot of information with students. many developing countries cannot afford the cost of these learning management systems (lms) like blackboard and canvas which are designed for schools, colleges, and universities. lms are used for e-learning as well as to post all relevant information about a course including syllabi, assignments, rubrics, assignment submission portal, attendance tracking, and grade postings. in countries where universities cannot afford these learning management systems, there are other options that faculty members can use to communicate with students for free. there are moodle.com, google classroom, whatsapp, telegram, etc. a hard copy of a syllabus should be made available to students who do not have access to the internet. the first day of class should also be used to read through the syllabus with the students. considering that the instructor’s role in the classroom is to help students maximize learning outcomes, going over the syllabus thoroughly helps clarify nebulous global journal of transformative education (2022) vol 3 ndemanu, designing university syllabi for 21st century skills page 31 areas in the syllabus and set the students up for success right from the beginning of the semester. while what a student discovers in the course of learning is more important than what they cover in class, it is crucial for students to have full access to what is being covered so as to plan ahead of each class session. uses of a syllabus a well-designed syllabus facilitates teaching and learning. it shows a clear pattern of teaching and learning activities built into the course (slattery & carlson, 2016). considering the importance of a syllabus and its ubiquity in higher education in developed countries, it is rather ironic that there is limited research about it. according to littlefield (1999) a syllabus has several functions: it facilitates teaching because it enables teachers to plan better in advance. it serves as a binding document between the students and the instructor. it sets the tone of the course for the entire semester. it helps students plan their learning carefully. it ensures smooth and effective continuity of the course content from the originator of the course to subsequent instructors given that there is always a master syllabus that is safely kept by the department chair. instructors teaching an old course for the first time use the master syllabus as a starting point in developing their own syllabus. they have to build from the previous instructor’s syllabus otherwise the original goal of the course could very easily be misconstrued and bastardized overtime. it serves as an artifact for promotion, tenure, and for job applications for instructors. it can also be argued that a syllabus minimizes students’ unnecessary outreach to the instructor since effective syllabi pre-emptively answer students’ questions. course expectations set forth in the syllabus and explained by the instructor on the first day of class can affect students’ interest in the course on the first day of the class. transformative educators do not scare students away from their course; they attract them to their course and work with them to address any individual concern about the course. in addition, using the syllabus as a contractual document between the student and the instructor is very important because students have the propensity to feel cheated in their grades when they did not do well in a test. to avoid any possible lawsuit from students, some universities even require students to read and sign the syllabus on the first day of the course so that students cannot successfully challenge in a court of law any aspect of the signed syllabus in due course. the syllabus can serve as an artifact in a job application portfolio. it is common for faculty applying for a college/university teaching position to carry along to interviews their portfolio which, among many other things, includes syllabi of the different courses they have taught. it is also a standard practice for faculty seeking tenure and promotion to include copies of syllabi of all the courses they have designed and/or taught. when evaluating professors’ teaching skills, evaluators (who most often are peers) are expected to review the faculty’s syllabi and observe them teach. thus, an instructor’s teaching philosophy can be easily gauged through a review of the syllabus than through a one-session teaching observation. backward design of a syllabus according to wiggins and mctighe (2005) backward design entails developing a syllabus beginning with course goals and working backward to lay bare what learners need to know in order to meet them as opposed to the traditional method which focuses on the coverage of topics and contents recommended by the government or accreditation bodies. while instructors may erroneously want to begin a syllabus design with content and technical details, a syllabus creation should begin with the goals, objectives and competencies, stating the skills students should be able to demonstrate by the end of the course. in the backward design process, instructors ensure that attention is paid not only to content coverage, but also to the purpose, usefulness, and the impact of the course on students. the following preliminary questions are crucial in the syllabus creation process: 1. what is important for students to learn? 2. how will the instructor and their students see learning happening? 3. what will the instructor and the students need to do for learning to take place? with a backward design, instructors are able to align their course goals and learning objectives with teaching activities as well as with course assessments. in this regard, students are consistently familiar with the course content and its goals. there are three stages global journal of transformative education (2022) vol 3 ndemanu, designing university syllabi for 21st century skills page 32 of backward design: stage one: desired outcomes: at this stage, the instructor starts the syllabus design with a deep reflection on the goals, objectives/competencies of the course by pondering over questions such as: what is important for learners to know and do by the end of the course? what knowledge or skills are students expected to acquire by the end of the course? what standards are supposed to be met? what are the transfer competencies that are expected? when the course competencies have been conceptualized and stated in active verbs, the instructor then reflects profoundly on the different measurable evidence which is in stage two of this process. stage two: acceptable evidence for instructors and students: this stage is about assessments and evaluations. how does an instructor assess students understanding and progress to determine whether or not learning occurred? what will an instructor consider as acceptable proficiency of the learning outcomes? the instructor comes up with different assessment tools that effectively measure the learning outcomes of stage one. stage three: learning activities: what sorts of learning material and activities are put in place that will result in the evidence of desired outcomes being met? as shown in these three stages, instead of starting a course curriculum with dense content of what students should learn, the instructor commences with what they envision as desired outcomes and walk backward to the content which embodies the learning activities. in planning the course, some of the critical questions that guide an instructor in the choice of learning material and activities are: what learning material is suitable for achieving the course objectives/competencies? how will this material be sequenced to maximize knowledge acquisition? what pedagogic activities will accelerate knowledge gain, knowledge transfer and knowledge application in real-world contexts? careful responses to the foregoing questions would ensure an effective planning and development of the syllabus. conclusion using a backward design to develop an effective syllabus that employs different pedagogic approaches to impart knowledge in students should be the priority instead of focusing on exposing them to large quantity of contents through the traditional lecture method that they can barely retain (cooper et al., 2016). miller (1927) defined lecture method as “… that mysterious process by means of which the contents of the notebook of the professor are transferred through the instrument of the fountain pen to the note-book of the student without passing through the mind of either.” in employing transformative learning theories to design a syllabus and teach 21st century skills, the instructional focus shifts from teaching objective facts to teaching core competencies of the course, critical thinking skills, problem-solving skills, information and computer literacy, collaboration, and creativity. a syllabus should promote heuristic pedagogy so that students can develop more confidence in their abilities to handle complex problems. effective teaching is preceded by constructive learner-centered course planning that revolves around syllabus design. a 21st century syllabus that is aimed at maximizing learning outcomes should carry an overtone of learner-centered pedagogy throughout the syllabus. reading materials, assignments, and instructional strategies laid out in any syllabus should highlight twenty-first century skills as presented earlier. some of these skills may not be woven into the core content of the course, rather they may occur mostly during the content delivery process, that is during the teaching of the course. a course may emphasize critical thinking and collaboration skills in their syllabus development by showing what sorts of learning, teaching, and assessment activities may help accomplish the two skills. the physics instructor who is conscious of the 21st century skills that are being reiterated in the university may redesign the syllabus to ensure that the said skills are being covered through the curriculum or through the instruction. education is designed to educate; to teach what is worth knowing, but that is not known. it is worth imagining what is worth knowing in community health today that is not known by citizens and the possible impact it has on their health, in particular, and their lives, in general. a carefully crafted learner-centered syllabus that demonstrates the transformative potentials of education is what all college instructors should strive for in the courses they teach. education is about transformation and that transformation entails changing frames of reference such as habits of minds, perspectives, and mindsets during an educational process to be more inclusive, reflective so as to transfer knowledge and apply it in other real-life contexts. a syllabus that promotes deeper learning and knowledge transfer maximizes learning outcomes. global journal of transformative education (2022) vol 3 ndemanu, designing university syllabi for 21st century skills page 33 references armstrong, p. 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(mtndemanu@bsu.edu) is an associate professor in the department of educational studies at ball state university, muncie, indiana, usa. author https://cft.vanderbilt.edu/guides-sub-pages/blooms-taxonomy https://www.bsu.edu/about/strategic-plan#:~:text=our%20mission,our%20state%2c%20and%20our%20world. https://www.bsu.edu/about/strategic-plan#:~:text=our%20mission,our%20state%2c%20and%20our%20world. https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/campusbookscoms-new-survey-reveals-college-students-highly-concerned-about-education-loan-repayment-300299544.html https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/campusbookscoms-new-survey-reveals-college-students-highly-concerned-about-education-loan-repayment-300299544.html https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/campusbookscoms-new-survey-reveals-college-students-highly-concerned-about-education-loan-repayment-300299544.html https://www.oecd.org/education/imhe/44058352.pdf https://www.oecd.org/education/imhe/44058352.pdf https://www.iu.edu/about/index.html https://www.iu.edu/about/index.html https://www.avnetwork.com/news/survey-most-students-shop-on-amazon-to-save-money-on-textbooks-campus-technology#:~:text=survey%3a%20most%20students%20shop%20on%20amazon%20to%20save,websites%20as%20well%20as%20the%20brick-and-mortar%20college%20bookstore. https://www.avnetwork.com/news/survey-most-students-shop-on-amazon-to-save-money-on-textbooks-campus-technology#:~:text=survey%3a%20most%20students%20shop%20on%20amazon%20to%20save,websites%20as%20well%20as%20the%20brick-and-mortar%20college%20bookstore. https://nationalseedproject.org/key-seed-texts/curriculum-as-window-and-mirror https://president.umich.edu/about/mission/ abstract this paper covers literature on translanguaging, translating, and interpreting in education, primarily k-12 institutions. translanguaging is defined by dr. josh prada and its strengths are demonstrated in different contexts, including its use in the english as a new language classroom. this study is elucidates the value of translanguaging in the classroom since it offers opportunities for scaffolding and building confidence in english while encouraging english language learners (ells) to actively participate in the learning process and to feel more comfortable around peers and staff. multilingualism is reviewed in the context of language choice in different social contexts to better understand the usefulness of translanguaging. spanish and english literacy and their impact on native spanish-speaking children is also explored in this paper which allows understanding of personal experience from ells. english-only policies are discussed and cautioned against due to the environment that is created by monolingualism. the importance of interpreters in schools is stressed because it has been determined to provide better educational outcomes for english language learners. the importance of translated written documents was covered in this study to better understand family involvement in education. findings from this research include opportunities provided by translanguaging, the necessity of overcoming internalized biases, the harm of english-only policies, the importance of interpreters in schools, and the importance of translated documents/communications to strengthen family involvement. keywords: translation, interpretation, translanguaging, bilingualism, monolingualism gentry, c. global journal of transformative education (2022) vol 3 doi 10.14434/gjte.v3i1.32233 open access published by the global insitutute of transformative education (http://www.gite.education) © gentry, c. 2022. open access this journal is distributed under the terms of the creative commons attribution noncommercial nonderivative 4.0 international license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction without revision in any non-commercial medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the creative commons license, literary review of translanguaging, translating, and interpreting in education corinne gentry full listing of authors and contacts can be found at the end of this article. introduction in this paper, i will review literature on translanguaging, interpreting, and translating in an educational context. i chose this topic because of my career in a large midwestern urban school district. i am the school’s parent liaison, and it is my goal to involve the parents and families of students in their education and in the school community. i am the only staff member in the school who speaks spanish. the secretary calls me to the front office several times a day when a spanish speaker is present or on the phone. normally, it is a simple question or message, such as the student is ill and will not be in class that day. my coworkers are unable to communicate with spanish speakers, and sometimes i think they do not want to learn how. however, their unwillingness to learn is likely rooted in a lack of time and energy to dedicate to language learning. how do these families feel at school? they can only communicate in their home language with one person in the entire building. when a teacher needs to communicate with a spanish-speaking parent, they ask me to translate a document or letter, or they ask me to call a parent. one could argue that the language barrier reduces communication with these families, whether the communication is negative or positive. in my research, i am going to explore the state of translanguaging and interpreting in schools. translanguaging is defined as “using the two languages strategically to maximize communication to express a message” (prada, 2019). while communication with families is very important in education, communication with students is important as well. i will explore methods of translanguaging in the classroom and in communigentry, translanguaging, translating & interpreting page 16 nication with families. the majority of examples are based on native spanish speakers who are learning english as a new language. it is clear that transformative changes are necessary in the school system for english language learners (ell). some teachers use english-only policies that are destructive to the child’s self-worth. these policies make the child feel unvalued and less-than, which is detrimental to the teacher-student relationship and will result in poor educational outcomes. educators must welcome and celebrate different languages and cultures rather than pushing them aside. while some english as a new language teachers use english-only policies because they themselves only speak english, these policies are incredibly alienating. we must allow our students to learn by translanguaging and providing scaffolding to build their confidence in english, which will result in the student feeling welcomed and valued. transformative teaching methods for english language learners include multilingual books, using the native language in writing, visual displays, notes in the native language, and bilingual dictionaries. these practices break away from the status quo of enforcing english-only policies. these practices will result in better educational outcomes, providing more equity between native english speakers and native speakers of other languages. the practices are easily applied to real-life educational settings. native spanish speakers and translanguaging translanguaging means using the two languages strategically to maximize communication to express a message, meaning the two languages are an integrated system instead of two separate languages, as defined by dr. josh prada in his article “exploring the role of translanguaging in linguistic ideological and attitudinal reconfigurations in the spanish classroom for heritage speakers.” another definition of translanguaging is “the multiple discursive practices in which bilinguals engage in order to make sense of their bilingual worlds” (garcia, 2009). the first language can be utilized to its full potential to adopt a fluid instead of a fixed notion of language (kabir, 2019). the speaker uses characteristics of the two languages for the highest communication potential. this is also where we experience loan words between languages, such as siesta and paella. english learners use translanguaging as a bridge between english and their native language. translanguaging builds confidence when the speaker can use simple words and phrases in the new language; the speaker can build the foundation of the new language when using the native language if they do not know the phrases or words in the new language (prada, 2018). the practices of translanguaging in pedagogy will be discussed in this paper later on. people also use translanguaging when a concept exists in one language and does not exist in the other. for example, there is an american woman who has visited spain and wanted to explain characteristics of spanish culture. she would not say that “my classmate is having a big party for her 15th birthday”, she would say “my classmate is having a quinceanera.” on the contrary, people use translanguaging to explain concepts in english as well. a girl in high school wouldn’t say that “the boy asked me to the big dance for the 12th graders”; she would say ¨a boy asked me to the prom¨. it is important to consider many perspectives when a native spanish speaker is translanguaging. one must consider the population of spanish speakers in the community. does the speaker live in miami, which has a majority hispanic population, or in a small, white town in ohio? also, it is important to consider the context (casual or formal) and life experiences, such as level of education or socioeconomic status, as the social context and socioeconomic status may change the vernacular used in the exchange. native speakers use translanguaging to give more meaning to interactions with language flexibility. translanguaging allows the speaker to offer, obtain, process, and understand information. the definition of translanguaging introduces the concepts of heteroglossia and diglossia “heteroglossia means using the two languages in a flexible way; the barriers of which words and phrases are from one language, and which are from the other language do not exist” (prada, 2018). heteroglossia also transcends barriers of geography. the use of each language has no restrictions because the two languages are so integrated. diglossia means that the two languages are separate and are not used together (prada, 2018). they are separate in the mind, and they are not integrated. sadly, the idea of diglossia introduces a hierarchy of language. in the united states, many people believe that english is the superior language and spanish is inferior. this belief stems from racism, white supremacy, and xenophobia. some people think that native spanish the method that people speak casually, such as with family is inferior because it is not in line with the standard. but, it is important to remember that this idea originates from raciolingusitics people want them to “sound white” global journal of transformative education (2022) vol 3 gentry, translanguaging, translating & interpreting page 17 global journal of transformative education (2022) vol 3 when they speak english. while spanish as the heritage language works perfectly in most situations, it is difficult for its speakers to enter the academic spheres. people who translanguage can learn to speak and write more “academically” to enter these academic spheres; in this case, translanguaging is a skill. translanguaging has a great influence on the language classroom. when the language is separate and an abstract entity, translanguaging cannot happen. the second language needs to be integrated into the classroom. for the sake of simplicity, i will discuss translanguaging in pedagogy in the context of native spanish speakers learning english. the first point to consider is that the teacher needs to differentiate instruction for small groups or individual students; the “one size fits all” strategy is not effective in the english language classroom. it is important to ensure that students have prior knowledge and context to do class work. for example, a teacher at a higher-income magnet school could assign students to do research and write about college and career prospects that interest them. a staff member or classmate could explain that students at this particular school are expected to go to college, so they should research a career path that requires a college degree. many authors encourage the idea of flexible language use in the classroom to ensure that students feel comfortable in class and with their peers. the use of flexible language can allow students to connect with the material in a more personal way. also, translanguaging can strengthen relationships between classmates because they have the native language in common, and with language comes life experiences and culture. it is recommended to pair students who know more english with students who speak less english, and this practice is common in many academic contexts and subjects. one other point to consider is if local language factors, such as accents and vocabulary, should be used in the classroom. some argue that local vernaculars are not up to standard; however, many academics argue against the idea of a language standard as it creates an unfair deficit framework (harris & schroeder, 2013). awareness of regional accents and vocabulary increases language fluency. in conclusion, it is important to have a definition of translanguaging and how to give context to this phenomenon. the author gives information on translanguaging in the context of pedagogy in the language classroom. we are reminded that raciolinguistics are present and create a hierarchy between the two languages, and it is important to view this phenomenon without judgment and internalized racism (prada, 2018). translanguaging is a great method to build a bridge between the native language and the second language. multilingual translanguaging in different social contexts speakers use translanguaging differently in each social context. my research on this phenomenon is based on a study of a trilingual couple from china, as outlined in translanguaging and translation: the construction of social difference across city spaces. (blackledge, creese, and hu, 2018). the husband is from china and the wife is from malaysia, and they usually speak mandarin. they speak cantonese and english as well. the couple met when working together at a restaurant, and now they have three children. the couple owns a meat business in birmingham, which is a “superdiverse” city. the couple uses translanguaging and translation in different areas in the city. this is a strategic use of the three languages that depends on the context and the participants in the interaction (blackledge, creese, and hu). the authors analyze three recordings a conversation at their business, a social conversation, and a conversation at home between husband and wife. in this study, we see that interpreters are “social agents” who reflect and transfer information (blackledge, creese, and hu, 2018). this couple can find common ground with whom they would have not otherwise communicated. more people can connect with translanguaging because they can use their entire repertoire of communication (blackledge, creese, and hu, 2018). speakers of different walks of life, ethnicities, genders, and more can connect when they translanguage. translanguaging fills in the gaps in each language to communicate the entire message all three languages are integrated into one large language repertoire for successful interaction (blackledge, creese, and hu, 2018). the methodology of this study consists of recordings at work (the meat stand), among friends, and at home. the authors explain the wife’s parents were visiting from malaysia, and the couple spoke cantonese with the parents. when the couple was at work, they usually spoke mandarin, and they usually spoke cantonese, mandarin, or english to communicate with customers (blackledge, creese, & hu, 2018). the first recording was at the meat stand in town square. the husband and another cashier were at the booth, and the recording is an interaction between the gentry, translanguaging, translating & interpreting page 18 husband, the other cashier, and the customer. in the context of the stall or a store, people cross social lines to make the transaction. the two men made a judgment to decide which language to use, or would test all three languages to see which language succeeds in conversation. the customer asked the husband to translate the question to the other cashier, but the cashier understood the dialect of chinese that the customer spoke. in the recording, the husband was more concerned about expressing the main idea of the message rather than the details (blackledge, creese, and hu). in the next recording, we listen to a conversation between the husband, the wife, and the other cashier. the conversation is about a birthday celebration for a friend. the other cashier expresses that while he wants to go to the party, he does not want to spend money on beers and a taxi. the group discusses the cultural differences between england and china with respect to the etiquette of celebrations. in this conversation, the other teller speaks in english. the wife speaks to the husband in mandarin a few times to confirm that she understands english, which shows that she thinks the husband understands more english than she does. the husband uses colloquial phrases, and the couple uses english and mandarin as an integrated system (blackledge, creese, and hu, 2018). the final recording takes place in the home. during the study, the wife’s parents were visiting, and the couple spoke in cantonese with the parents. the parents do not participate in this conversation, but are present during the interaction. the couple discuss the business and that they think some workers are lazy. the couple uses offensive words about white workers. while the words are racist, the couple does not feel bad about using these words because there are no white people in the vicinity. the couple speaks informally and they use sarcasm. there are no social lines in the house because the husband and wife are of the same social class as the in-laws, and they do not need to cross these lines (blackledge, creese, and hu, 2018). it is also important to consider how young people use translanguaging, as seen in “translanguaging as a boundary-crossing mechanism: a turkish-american youngster and her linguistic negotiation of three discursive spaces” (de jong & yilmaz, 2020). this study reviews a young girl around age six and her experiences in translanguaging at home, her turkish-language heritage school, and her mainstream school. the authors state that her family valued the girl’s multilingualism and wanted to preserve her knowledge of the turkish language, so they spoke turkish at home and sent her to a turkish heritage school on sunday afternoons. the child was born in hong kong and had hong kong citizenship, so they also valued her knowledge of cantonese. her mainstream school was fairly diverse, but the teacher had little knowledge of the turkish language and culture, based on a teacher interview. the teachers at the heritage school spoke both english and turkish (de jong & yilmaz, 2020). one of the findings the authors found was the difference in language use by the adults in her life. her parents only used turkish at home, aside from using english to help the girl with homework (de jong & yilmaz, 2020). her teacher at school used english most of the time, aside from occasional spanish with some spanish-speaking students (de jong & yilmaz, 2020). the teachers at the heritage school spoke both english and turkish in order to facilitate understanding between students of varying language proficiencies (de jong & yilmaz, 2020). based on these findings, we can conclude that her teachers at the turkish heritage school were using translanguaging to allow for a broader repertoire of communication. another finding from the study was the difference in language use by her peers in these three different placeshome, the heritage school, and her mainstream school. her peers at home were the children of family friends who also spoke turkish, so these interactions were almost entirely in turkish (de jong & yilmaz, 2020). her peers at her mainstream school spoke almost entirely english, aside from occasional spanish conversations with spanish-speaking peers. in an interview, the girl noted two experiences of speaking turkish at schoolonce when she met another turkish-speaking student, and once when she was teaching a peer a few words in turkish (de jong & yilmaz, 2020). her peers used translanguaging frequently at the heritage school in order to accurately convey messages between students of varying language proficiencies (de jong & yilmaz, 2020). the teachers at the heritage school supported translanguaging so they could embrace both parts of their identity and widen their community (de jong & yilmaz, 2020). another finding to consider is the boundaries between these three locations. the girl could easily transition between home and the heritage school because turkish could be spoken at both places, but the transition from home to her mainstream school was incredibly difficult (de jong & yilmaz, 2020). the transition from the heritage school to the mainstream school was global journal of transformative education (2022) vol 3 gentry, translanguaging, translating & interpreting page 19 not as difficult because english was spoken in both places, but the girl was able to translanguage at the heritage school, which was not an option at her mainstream school (de jong & yilmaz, 2020). in conclusion, the couple uses translanguaging as a very important resource in the business and with the family (blackledge, creese, & hu, 2018) and in the young turkish girl’s experience in navigating home, her mainstream school, and her heritage school (de jong & yilmaz, 2020). the husband and the other cashier use translanguaging with customers at the meat stand, and they use translanguaging in social situations as well. they decide which language to use strategically depending on the context, and they can mix the three languages to get the message across, along with using the same strategy with the wife’s parents (blackledge, creese, and hu, 2018). the young turkish girl decides which language to use with different people in her life (parents vs. teachers, peers at the heritage school vs. peers at her mainstream school, etc.). this study shows that people communicate more effectively when they use their entire repertoire to communicate with different people in different situations strategically. latinx childrens’ use of translanguaging many latinx students have an internal conflict between english and spanish, and have compartmentalized english for use during the school day and spanish for use at home (bussert-webb, masso, & lewis, 2018). the authors of latinx children’s push and pull of spanish literacy and translanguaging explain that schools have “english-only” policies because state tests are only in english, and funding for schools depends on state test scores. the pedagogy only focuses on phonics and grammar, which does not allow analysis, synthesis, and higher order thinking (bussert-webb, masso, & lewis, 2018). unfortunately, these children often do not learn to read and write in spanish, and sometimes they lose their spanish. when students lose their spanish, they lose a rich culture and family connections. sadly, schools see spanish as a problem rather than a magnificent resource. many schools force latinx students to take very basic classes (possibly because students do not earn high scores on state tests, because the test is in english), and students are not prepared for higher education (bussert-webb, masso, & lewis, 2018). another hypothesis is that schools see spanish as a language of the lower social class, and they think that spanish speakers are not intelligent, so they have a deficit. many of these students do not feel comfortable in class and rarely participate (bussert-webb, masso, & lewis, 2018). we can investigate latinx childrens’ use of translanguaging by reading a study that takes place in a private tutoring program during may and june 2017, as outlined in latinx children’s push and pull of spanish literacy and translanguaging (bussert-webb, masso, & lewis, 2018). the students in this program were there because they were struggling in school, particularly in reading and writing. fifteen student teachers worked with 19 children for an hour and a half in the afternoons, and then the college students had a literacy class in the evenings. college students would help children write in english, in spanish, and in translanguaging. all of the students were in grades kindergarten through eight, and did not learn spanish literacy in school. the data from the study was based on interviews with the children. the study authors would ask questions about experiences with the tutoring program and experiences with spanish at school. the students liked the opportunity to write in spanish because they never had the opportunity to write in spanish at school (bussert-webb, masso, & lewis, 2018). in the interviews, many children talked about state tests, and they were not permitted to answer the questions in spanish (bussert-webb, masso, & lewis, 2018). some children said that writing in spanish was too difficult and they could not do it, because they had not had formal instruction to write in spanish (bussert-webb, masso, & lewis, 2018). some children were confused by translanguaging because of “bracketing”the separation between english and spanish (bussert-webb, masso, & lewis, 2018). the children understood that spanish was at home, and english was at school. however, the students did not realize that they had been translanguaging for a lifetime with their families and in the community. for example, many of the children had been translating for their parents for many years. one student felt that translanguaging was like “spanglish” with a pouting face my thought is that she has an internalized dislike of spanish, which is based on racism and the hierarchy between english and spanish. however, the faculty at the tutoring center worked very hard to create positive associations with spanish and translanguaging. for example, the center had a mother’s day card making activity in may, and the messages within the cards were in spanish. the children enjoyed this activity because their language and culture were respected and celeglobal journal of transformative education (2022) vol 3 gentry, translanguaging, translating & interpreting page 20 brated. college students switched between english and spanish to show that the two languages are important. the center acted as a “third place” between home and school, a place to experience and learn. in conclusion, the study shows that bilingual children have internalized racism because schools only value english, schools only value english because state tests are often only in english, and school funding is based on state test scores. if there were not any government pressure and testing, schools could teach spanish literacy to support english literacy. perhaps states like texas and california need to consider different policies to preserve spanish instead of its erasure. translanguaging in practice and its shifts in ideologies unfortunately, there are some educators who do not allow native language in the classroom. we learn more about the benefits of linguistic diversity in the classroom from a study on eight schools that choose to introduce the project “city university new york state initiative on emergent bilinguals” [cunysieb] (menken & sanchez, 2019). the cunysieb faculty introduced the concept of translanguaging to the faculty of the eight schools during professional development meetings, and asked them to allow students to use the entire linguistic repertoire in class flexibly and strategically within translanguaging pedagogy. this request caused a change of mind and changed monolingual practices in schools (menken & sanchez, 2019). to give context, some teachers spoke spanish, but some native languages of the students were not spoken by the teachers. the teachers slowly introduced new practices of translanguaging pedagogy. for example, a practice of translanguaging in the classroom is to put students in pairs and small groups. translanguaging offered opportunities for scaffolding in partner/small group conversations. the multilingual practices included multilingual books, using the native language in writing, visual displays, notes in the native language, and bilingual dictionaries. the schools had many changes of ideology about the language. teachers no longer acted like the “english police,” which developed a schoolwide belief in translanguaging. the schools no longer see the native language as a deficit, but as an advantage (menken & sanchez, 2019). translanguaging is a very useful resource even when the teacher does not speak the native language of the student. the study shows that it is important to see the bilingual student holistically. in the past, educators in the school district did not consider the native language’s grammar and sentence structure (menken & sanchez, 2019). with translanguaging, teachers can view the language, culture, and history of students more favorably and with context. according to the study, translanguaging eliminates language hierarchies, because languages are woven together and are not separated. the students participated more in class and felt like a part of the school community. the students understood the class topics more thoroughly and had more control over their learning. as a result of this project (cunysieb), the districts enacted new education policies. five of the eight schools created bilingual programs, and three schools created transitional bilingual programs. some schools created classes that are entirely in spanish. the study authors pointed out that developing the native language supports the development of english. one problem with bilingual education is that it is difficult to staff bilingual teachers. another problem with bilingual education is that it can separate the two languages, but the study schools are using translanguaging to prevent the separation (menken & sanchez, 2019). in my research, i found it important to include findings from “(re)imagining the future of translanguaging in pedagogies in tesol through teacher-researcher collaboration” from shepard-carey and tian, 2020. this article highlights teacher and researcher collaboration to mobilize and sustain translanguaging pedagogies in teaching english to speakers of other languages, or tesol. the two researchers paired up with a local english instructor to build a collaborative partnership to create effective translanguaging strategies to ensure higher educational outcomes. researcher tian built a partnership with a former classmate who taught an intensive english course at a university (pseudonym ms. davidson). when outlining their goals, ms. davidson explained that translanguaging had been a “hidden” practice in her classroom via online bilingual dictionaries and students resorting to their native language in small group discussions (shepard-carey & tian, 2020). ms. davidson wanted to learn ways to leverage those multilingual resources in her teaching (shepard-carey & tian, 2020). tian and davidson created translanguaging activities in their classroom based on course goals and learner backgrounds, “such as comparing and contrasting semantic and cultural use of language in context (e.g., idioms and language in mass media) and culturally relevant figures’ global journal of transformative education (2022) vol 3 gentry, translanguaging, translating & interpreting page 21 role play” (shepard-carey & tian, 2020). one challenge they faced was student resistance to use the native language due to the hidden curriculum of immersion being the only way to learn a language, so tian and davidson held open discussions about native languages and their relation to english (shepard-carey & tian, 2020). tian and davidson found that translanguaging pedagogies significantly increased learner comprehension, metalinguistic awareness, and comfort level with using english (shepard-carey & tian, 2020). researcher shepard-carey worked with her former co-teacher, pseudonym ms. hassan. while shepard-carey had a stronger background in pedagogy, ms. hassan identified as an immigrant and spoke somali, the native language of many of her students; her background provided knowledge and experience that was beneficial to the classroom (shepard-carey & tian, 2020). they both had to confront some internalized biases; both teachers had been taught to use english-only policies in the classroom, but their collaboration allowed for more opportunities for students to use translanguaging in the classroom (shepard-carey & tian, 2020). for example, the co-teachers used a multilingual morning meeting routine that lasted all year (shepard-carey & tian, 2020). since the students were translanguaging, they were able to create deeper connections between their native language and english for better understanding (shepard-carey & tian, 2020). in conclusion, the cunysieb project created a more positive view of bilingual students and their cultures and histories. this project led to more researchers and educators to use translanguaging in the classroom, as seen in shepard-carey and tian’s work. the project went beyond pedagogy practices and created a change in ideology. it is important to remember that teachers need to believe in translanguaging to teach with these practices, and it is a reminder that english is no better than any other language (menken & sanchez, 2019). some students may meet translanguaging with resistance, but with open communication and encouragement, students can benefit greatly from translanguaging. small changes can create a change in ideology, and it can make a big change in the school and community. the importance of interpreters in schools we must also consider the importance of interpreters in schools for families who speak languages other than english. “bridging the latino achievement gap: the importance of interpreters in schools” by rachel r. williams of university of kentucky offers perspective based on real experiences in public schools. the author begins with the notion that schools generally fail to understand and accommodate languages and cultures other than english and american. sometimes there are conflicts between students and adults in school due to a lack of understanding of their culture and language (willams, 2016). but, there is a large communication barrier between the families that only speak spanish and the schools that only communicate in english (williams, 2016). studies show that there is a correlation between family involvement in education and student success. what are the advantages of family participation in education? according to the author, students are much more successful when their families are involved in the school versus not being involved in the school. the first advantage is that students are more engaged in the classroom. the second advantage is that students are more motivated. the third advantage is that students have higher levels of control and competence, and more effective self-control and goal orientation. all of these advantages lead to higher outcomes of student success (williams, 2016). why are these students more successful? the author writes that students feel more comfortable in school. these students are often “high-achieving” due to intellect or “high-achieving” because they have help and support in education. these students often take advanced classes and feel happy and confident (williams, 2016). parents who are spanish speakers have many disadvantages in education, primarily in regards to communication. it is difficult for these parents to help with homework because they do not understand directions and content. it is important to consider that some parents have not had much education, and many did not graduate from high school. the largest barrier is that parents cannot communicate with school personnel. children are often “language brokers”, or interpreters for their parents (rossato, 2010). these situations when the child needs to interpret give children a lot of stress; also, there is a limit to the complexity and potential of the communication because the child does not understand the subject, or the vocabulary is too advanced (rossato, 2010). when children are interpreting for parents, it is not possible to determine the accuracy of communication, which could lead to misunderstandings. williams (2016) coordinated a study on parent and family involvement in education. a bilingual and latino global journal of transformative education (2022) vol 3 gentry, translanguaging, translating & interpreting page 22 interviewer asked the children about their attitude about education, such as “how do you feel about math?” and “what subjects do you like?” the interviewer asked parents about their experiences and attitudes about school. 58% of parents said they were confident in their ability to communicate with their child’s teacher, and 42% said they were not confident in communicating with their child’s teacher. 78% of the 42% said they had access to an interpreter, and 22% did not have access to an interpreter. another aspect of this study was about conversations between school staff and parents. the researcher concluded that it is very necessary to have an interpreter during these conversations to maximize communication. the presence of an interpreter increases the pace of communication, the level of communication, and the levels of trust between the two parties. it is imperative that the interpreter and staff work together to maximize communication with parents. communication flow between parents and school staff has a positive correlation with monitoring student achievement, such as looking at grades in powerschool (williams, 2016). parents with adequate communication can help with homework and support students when they need it. there is more frequent contact between parents and the school, and these conversations are of a higher caliber. however, communication is not a factor in how much the family values education. all families want their students to be successful academically, but sometimes they are unsure of how to help. it is very difficult to help with homework and communicate with the school when they do not speak the same language and there is no interpreter. it is unlikely that a child can understand complicated documents like these, especially in their second language. documents need to be in spanish, or the office needs to provide an interpreter. it is not the child’s responsibility to translate documents or for other adults. the content of such documents is often too complicated for the child to understand. sometimes the subject matter is not appropriate, such as details of a divorce or medical forms regarding reproductive health. in conclusion, all families want to support their children, and they want children to be successful in their education. but, it is very difficult to help the child with homework when the parent does not speak the same language. it is important that interpreters work together with school staff to ensure that parents who are spanish speakers have the same quality of service and communication as parents who are english speakers. families and schools are a team, and the goal is the child’s success. translations in school communication it is also imperative to discuss the responsibility of schools to communicate with all families. stephanie fordice, former communications coordinator for cook county schools in illinois, offers strategies to ensure effective communications for all families. fordice’s article “at the corner of diversity and communication” gives many suggestions for schools and school districts. the first suggestion is to ensure that the translations are accurate and readily available and it is also recommended to have an interpreter at all school events so all families can communicate and feel comfortable (fordice, 2014). all schools and the district office need an interpreter in the building to answer questions in a timely manner, and all documents and publications (newsletters, calendars, etc.) need a translation; of course, these translations need to go to the correct students. one simple strategy is to make bilingual copies with english on one side and the second language on the other side. the author compares the translations to differentiated instruction because all families need different supports. it is important to consider the format of the documents as well, as some languages read right to left instead of left to right (fordice, 2014). it is also important to ensure that these documents and publications are on paper and online, since some families do not have the technology or access to the internet (fordice, 2014). when furthering my research in school communication, i came across the article “the roles of the online environment in school-family communication ‘’ by otilia clipa, faculty member of stefan cel mare university of suceava. in clipa’s findings, we discover that 80% of parents feel that online communication would strengthen the relationship between the school and the family, along with 76% of teachers. if the school decides to have information on the website or social media, the platform needs to have a function that translates the content into other languages, and it is important that the translation is correct (fordice, 2014). some schools and districts post videos, so they need captions available in the needed language (fordice, 2014). in personal experience, many schools use blackboard connect, a service that broadcasts phone messages, text messages, and emails to families. these communications are fairly easy to translate into the needed language. global journal of transformative education (2022) vol 3 gentry, translanguaging, translating & interpreting page 23 another important idea is to have a school liaison who is bilingual so the parents and families can communicate with at least one staff member at the school (fordice, 2014). the liaison focuses on communication with families and community partners. the liaison considers all factors that prevent parent and family involvement, such as transportation and language barriers. the author’s research was based on a school in chicago that has two family liaisons (one bilingual) because family involvement has a positive correlation with student success. it is also important that these liaisons and other school staff members are competent in internet and social media usage (clipa, 2019). conclusion students learning english as a new language could have more success if school staff members change their ideologies and confront their internalized biases. translanguaging allows students to access their entire repertoire of communication to fully communicate a message, along with allowing students to scaffold as they build confidence in english. it is imperative to celebrate progress instead of showing disappointment when a child’s attempt in english is not quite correct; many children would shut down and feel very embarrassed in that instance. when teachers enforce “english-only” policies, this destroys the student-teacher relationship, which is detrimental to student success. students need to know they are safe and valued at school for authentic learning to take place and have positive educational outcomes. staff members could show a genuine interest in the child’s culture and learn more by speaking with the child and doing research. in order to improve communication with families, one of the simplest strategies is to print school documents in english on one side and spanish on the other. that way, it is ensured that families who need the the document in spanish will have it. another strategy is to hire an interpreter whose sole duty is to communicate with families during meetings or other school events. the interpreter could also make phone calls and write correspondence in the needed language to improve communication and remove any barriers. it is imperative to value diversity instead of viewing it as a burden. as educators, we are doing ourselves a disservice when we do not value a child’s background and language. it is our job to ensure each child has what they need to be successful, and a child whose first language is not english should have the same opportunities as a child who is a native english speaker. these barriers need to be removed to ensure equity in school and beyond. global journal of transformative education (2022) vol 3 gentry, translanguaging, translating & interpreting page 24 references bussert-webb, k., masso, h., & lewis, k. (2018). latinx children’s push and pull of spanish literacy and translanguaging. the qualitative report. clipa, o., stefan cel mare university, r., juravle, v., & stefan cel mare university, r. (2019). the roles of the online environment in school–family communication. innovations, technologies and research in education. creese, a., blackledge, a., & hu, r. (2017). translanguaging and translation: the construction of social difference across city spaces. international journal of bilingual education and bilingualism, 21(7), 841-852. fordice, s. (2014). at the corner of diversity and communication. education digest, 79(6), 22. garcía, o. (2009). bilingual education in the 21st century: a global perspective. chichester (uk): wiley-blackwell. harris, y. r., & schroeder, v. m. (2013). language deficits or differences: what we know about african american vernacular english in the 21st century. international education studies, 6(4). kabir, d. m. 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(2020). translanguaging as a boundary crossing mechanism: a turkish-american youngster and her linguistic negotiation of three discursive spaces. australian journal of applied linguistics, 3(1), 11–25. corinne gentry (csgentry@gmail.com) is a graduate certificate student in the department of world languages & cultures at indiana university-purdue university indianapolis, indianapolis, indiana, usa. author https://www.academia.edu/65333062/latinx_children_s_push_and_pull_of_spanish_literacy_and_translanguaging https://www.academia.edu/65333062/latinx_children_s_push_and_pull_of_spanish_literacy_and_translanguaging https://www.academia.edu/65333062/latinx_children_s_push_and_pull_of_spanish_literacy_and_translanguaging https://www.academia.edu/73400648/the_roles_of_the_online_environment_in_school_family_communication https://www.academia.edu/73400648/the_roles_of_the_online_environment_in_school_family_communication https://www.academia.edu/73400648/the_roles_of_the_online_environment_in_school_family_communication https://www.stir.ac.uk/research/hub/publication/995678 https://www.stir.ac.uk/research/hub/publication/995678 https://www.stir.ac.uk/research/hub/publication/995678 https://www.stir.ac.uk/research/hub/publication/995678 https://www.academia.edu/61952540/language_deficits_or_differences_what_we_know_about_african_american_vernacular_english_in_the_21st_century https://www.academia.edu/61952540/language_deficits_or_differences_what_we_know_about_african_american_vernacular_english_in_the_21st_century https://www.academia.edu/61952540/language_deficits_or_differences_what_we_know_about_african_american_vernacular_english_in_the_21st_century https://www.academia.edu/43789020/reviewing_translation_and_l1_in_language_pedagogy_from_translanguaging_lenses https://www.academia.edu/43789020/reviewing_translation_and_l1_in_language_pedagogy_from_translanguaging_lenses https://www.academia.edu/70061978/translanguaging_in_english_only_schools_from_pedagogy_to_stance_in_the_disruption_of_monolingual_policies_and_practices https://www.academia.edu/70061978/translanguaging_in_english_only_schools_from_pedagogy_to_stance_in_the_disruption_of_monolingual_policies_and_practices https://www.academia.edu/70061978/translanguaging_in_english_only_schools_from_pedagogy_to_stance_in_the_disruption_of_monolingual_policies_and_practices https://www.academia.edu/70061978/translanguaging_in_english_only_schools_from_pedagogy_to_stance_in_the_disruption_of_monolingual_policies_and_practices https://www.researchgate.net/publication/336170680_exploring_the_role_of_translanguaging_in_linguistic_ideological_and_attitudinal_reconfigurations_in_the_spanish_classroom_for_heritage_speakers https://www.researchgate.net/publication/336170680_exploring_the_role_of_translanguaging_in_linguistic_ideological_and_attitudinal_reconfigurations_in_the_spanish_classroom_for_heritage_speakers https://www.researchgate.net/publication/336170680_exploring_the_role_of_translanguaging_in_linguistic_ideological_and_attitudinal_reconfigurations_in_the_spanish_classroom_for_heritage_speakers https://www.researchgate.net/publication/336170680_exploring_the_role_of_translanguaging_in_linguistic_ideological_and_attitudinal_reconfigurations_in_the_spanish_classroom_for_heritage_speakers https://www.academia.edu/72456995/former_child_language_brokers_preliminary_observations_on_practice_attitudes_and_relational_aspects https://www.academia.edu/72456995/former_child_language_brokers_preliminary_observations_on_practice_attitudes_and_relational_aspects https://www.academia.edu/72456995/former_child_language_brokers_preliminary_observations_on_practice_attitudes_and_relational_aspects https://uknowledge.uky.edu/honprog/24 https://uknowledge.uky.edu/honprog/24 https://www.academia.edu/73759542/translanguaging_as_a_boundary_crossing_mechanism_a_turkish_american_youngster_and_her_linguistic_negotiation_of_three_discursive_spaces https://www.academia.edu/73759542/translanguaging_as_a_boundary_crossing_mechanism_a_turkish_american_youngster_and_her_linguistic_negotiation_of_three_discursive_spaces https://www.academia.edu/73759542/translanguaging_as_a_boundary_crossing_mechanism_a_turkish_american_youngster_and_her_linguistic_negotiation_of_three_discursive_spaces https://www.academia.edu/73759542/translanguaging_as_a_boundary_crossing_mechanism_a_turkish_american_youngster_and_her_linguistic_negotiation_of_three_discursive_spaces beem, h. global journal of transformative education (2020) vol 2 doi 10.14434/gjte.v2i1.31224 open access published by the global insitutute of transformative education (http://www.gite.education) © beem. 2020. open access this journal is distributed under the terms of the creative commons attribution noncommercial nonderivative 4.0 international license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction without revision in any non-commercial medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the creative commons license, effect of hands-on science activities on ghanaian student learning, attitudes, and career interest: a preliminary control study heather beem abstract a quasi-experimental study was carried out with 309 form 3 students across 9 public junior high schools in the greater accra region of ghana. the effect of practical education network (pen)’s approach of training stem teachers to employ hands-on activities using low-cost, locally-available resources was studied in terms of student learning outcomes, attitudes towards learning science, and interest in stem majors/ careers. over a 2.5-month period, the science teacher at each experimental school received a weekly training on a hands-on activity and lesson observation by the respective pen trainer. a survey on attitudes towards science and a previous edition of the national exam (bece) were administered to all students before and after the intervention. the mean pre-post differences were compared between the experimental and control schools. the intervention caused an average of 10.9% increase in exam scores (difference-in-differences), but the results were mixed at the school-level. unpaired t-tests and hedge’s g tests were used to determine statistical significance between the two groups. student engagement increased significantly (p = 3 x 10-7, g = 0.85), and student enjoyment of science increased 22% more, on average. the intervention disproportionately affected the females positively, enabling greater learning gains (14.5% vs. 5.3% for the males), greater increase in engagement, and a significant shift in interest towards stem majors and careers, which their male counterparts did not experience. results from this study should inform the design of future studies with longer duration and which account for factors such as school infrastructure quality. keywords: stem, ghana, hands-on activities, attitudes full listing of authors and contacts can be found at the end of this article. introduction in ghana, students use the phrase “chew and pour, pass and forget” to describe their experience of learning in school. this phrase expressively captures how students are asked to “chew” information, repeating facts over and over again, “pour” (vomit) them out on the exams, attempt to pass the exams, and then promptly move on with their lives (blench & dendo, 2006, quansah & asamoah, 2019). the dominance of this phrase in the ghanaian vernacular points to the wide recognition that a shift in pedagogical practice is needed. ghanaian educationists have pointed out the detrimental effects that “chew and pour” has on students’ creativity (haffar, 2016) and ability to translate theory to useful outcomes (adomako-ampofo & kaufmann, 2018). the future world of work in africa is technologybased (world economic forum, 2017). for the growing youth population in africa to rise to these demands, the education system needs to be able to engage students, drive deep learning, and build their interest in stem. ghanaian education stakeholders clearly express that a shift in teaching practice is key to achieving this. the new national curriculum states “ghana believes that an effective science education needed for sustainable development should be inquiry-based” (ministry of education ghana, 2019). interventions that can create enduring, transformative change in stem teaching in ghana should be developed and tested. practical education network (pen) is an ngo seeking to shift the dominant pedagogical mode in west african stem classrooms from rote to experiential. survey data collected from a few hundred ghanaian public junior high school (jhs) teachers reveals that virtually all teachers see the benefit of using hands-on activities, but 80% cite the lack of resources as the main challenge beem, effect of hands-on science activities 19 they face in teaching more experientially. furthermore, less than 5% reported having attended any relevant training towards this challenge within the last year (practical education network, 2016). with minimal resources and training available, most ghanaian teachers feel there are no realistic alternatives to the “chew and pour” approach. pen is tackling this challenge by training science and mathematics teachers to employ low-cost, locally-available materials for the development and deployment of hands-on activities, which are aligned to the national curricula. the aim of this study is to determine the impact of pen’s approach on students in the ghanaian classroom. we hypothesize that regular use of these low-cost, hands-on techniques in the science classroom will improve ghanaian students’ exam scores, attitudes towards learning science, and their interest in pursuing stem in the future. literature review research in science education has established strong positive effects when students are taught using experiential pedagogies. these approaches have been shown to enhance student attitudes (gormally, brickman, hallar, & armstrong, 2009), improve exam scores (abdi, 2014), increase scientific process skills (ergul et al., 2011), and potentially encourage more students to pursue stem-related careers (van den hurk, meelissen, & van langen, 2019). the body of literature has largely been developed in the global north, but a recent study (bando et al., 2019) compiled the results of randomized controlled trials deployed across four latin american countries, assessing the efficacy of the inquiry-based approach across a total of 17k students. their results showed a 0.16 standard deviation increase in science test scores after 7 months of practical science learning. there is a pressing need to understand how to contextualize international best practices for african education, given the low learning outcomes presently being recorded here. in the early 2000’s, ghana began participating in the trends in international mathematics and science study (timms). ghana has continually ranked near or at the bottom of the participating countries (buabeng, owusu, & ntow, 2014). despite ghanaian education stakeholders’ recognition that improvements in learning outcomes are needed, only a few studies have been conducted to determine the efficacy of experiential pedagogies in the local science education context. one study at the senior high school level (aboagye, 2009) compared the effectiveness of a particular constructivist approach (the three-phase learning cycle) with the traditional approach used in ghanaian science classrooms. it was used in the context of teaching one specific topic (direct current electricity). in south africa, kibirige, rebecca & mavhunga (2014) studied 60 high school students, half of which were undergoing three weeks of experimental work (using standard laboratory equipment) and the other half which were undergoing traditional lecture methods. in both cases, they measured improvement on exam scores as a result of the practical sessions. these studies indicate that experiential pedagogies can improve learning outcomes in the african science classroom. more such studies should be done to understand details of implementation, and they should also be carried out at earlier levels of schooling. in ghana, students in senior high school have already chosen a major of study. in order to understand and impact students’ career prospects, interventions and studies are needed at the primary and junior high school levels. even if the efficacy of such pedagogies is established in the african context, the question of how to implement such approaches still remains. in ghana, less than 10% of public junior high schools contain any laboratory equipment (s. mohammed, personal communication, march 2015). for hands-on, experiential lessons to be widely deployed, teaching and learning materials must be low-cost. (davis & chaiklin, 2015) studied the use of classroom objects, such as tables and chairs, as teaching and learning resources for ghanaian students to learn measurement. with over 500 hands-on activities made from materials available locally in ghana (practical education network, 2020), pen’s content is one of the most extensive and relevant resources currently available to the ghanaian science teacher. its alignment with the ghanaian national curriculum also warranted its infusion into the latest revision of the primary school science curriculum (ministry of education ghana, 2019) and the accompanying teacher resource pack’s list of “practical science lesson resources” (national council for curriculum & assessment, 2019). in addition to the content itself, teacher training is a key component in enabling a shift from rote to experiential pedagogies. in ghana, where teachercentered approaches tend to dominate science teaching (buabeng, ossei-anto, & ampiah, 2014), teacher training has been pointed out as a key factor to improving student outcomes (buabeng, owusu, & ntow, 2014). the details of how a teacher implements global journal of transformative education (2020) vol 2 beem, effect of hands-on science activities 20 global journal of transformative education (2020) vol 2 practical content also affects the efficacy of the approach (abrahams & millar, 2008). various teacher training interventions have been successfully carried out in ghana, but they have mostly been focused on literacy and numeracy (aizenman & warner, 2018; johnston & ksoll, 2017). the role of gender as it relates to science education in ghana has been subject to some investigation. (donkor & justice, 2016) sought to uncover the reasons behind the gender gap in students pursuing science in the upper west region of ghana. further research is needed to elicit key mechanisms that can close the gap. the study in south africa mentioned above (kibirige et al., 2014) found no difference in results across gender lines. this study seeks to understand the efficacy of practical education network’s approach, which aims to tackle the aforementioned challenges through its stem teacher training program that equips ghanaian teachers to leverage local materials and carry out hands-on, experiential pedagogies in their classrooms. the research questions are as follows: 1. what effect does pen’s approach have on learning outcomes? 2. what effect does pen’s approach have on student attitudes to learning science? 3. what effect does pen’s approach have on student interest in stem majors and careers? finally, any difference in results across gender and geographical (rural vs. urban) lines are to be elicited. methodology overview a quasi-experimental, quasi-controlled method was employed to measure the effect of training ghanaian science teachers to use practical, hands-on activities in their junior high school classrooms. three pen trainers were selected to lead the intervention. all three are public jhs science teachers who had attended pen’s introduction to hands-on science training program in the past and performed well enough to be invited for a second round of training, the completion of which promoted them to pen trainer status. each pen trainer was enlisted to train 1-2 science teachers in their respective circuitsthe next geographic division below a district and usually composed of 5-20 schools. those teachers were, in turn, prepared to deliver at least one hands-on activity per week in their classroom over a 2.5-month period. the study took place during the 3rd (final) term of the 2016/7 academic year at 9 public schools in various locations within the greater accra region. in total, n = 309 students were involved in the study: 135 from the experimental schools and 174 from the control schools. the trainers solicited and received permission from each participating school to include information on their teachers and students in this study, all school, teacher and student names have been kept anonymous, but select pictures are shown to aid in depicting the intervention. school selection the trainers were asked to select their own participating schoolsboth experimental schools and control schools. they were allowed to choose any schools so long as they were located within their circuit. in all cases, the selection ended up being driven by 1) those which were most easily accessible for the trainers, in terms of distance to travel, and 2) those at which they were positively received by the headteachers. the author’s assumption was that all schools within the same circuit would be similar socioeconomically and in terms of exam performance. the trainers were briefed on the goals of the study, including the intention that both experimental and control schools be similar. they were asked to use their knowledge of the schools to select those they deemed to be comparable. all of the schools are located in the greater accra region of ghana. two of the circuits are located in rural areas (kofi kwei and ashalaja both within the ga south district) and one circuit is in an urban area (kwabenya within the ga east district). the total number of experimental schools is five and that of control schools is four. table 1 provides the code table 1. list of participating schools beem, effect of hands-on science activities 21 global journal of transformative education (2020) vol 2 used to refer to each school in the course of this study, their type (experimental: “exp” or control: “ctrl”), the location of the school (urban or rural), and the total number of students engaged in each school. in each case, all of the students in the final year (form 3) class were engaged in the study. this form was chosen, as their students would be taking the terminal exam for jhs, basic education certificate examination (bece), shortly after the end of the study. tools administered after permission was solicited from the ghana education service (ges) district offices and the schools were selected, a pre-test was administered to the students at all 9 schools (experimental and control). this pre-test was used to determine a baseline for the three main outcomes of interest in this study: student exam scores in science, student attitudes towards learning science, and student interest in stem majors and careers. one tool was used to measure the first outcome and a second tool was used to measure the other two outcomes. the first tool, which was used to assess the first research question, was the full integrated science portion of a previous basic education certification examination (bece). nearly all students write this exam in june, but a second version of the exam is offered in the following february for a small minority of students who require writing it then. the february 2017 version of the bece is the tool which was administered to the students participating in this study. this was at the suggestion of a former examiner for the west african examinations council (waec), the body overseeing the national exams, as he believed that few to none of the students in this study would have seen that particular exam. that person also created the marking scheme used for assessment in this study. the second tool administered was a paper survey, which included the following survey questions (sq): sq1. which of the following subjects do you intend to study in senior high school (shs)? sq2. what job are you most interested in working after you leave school? sq3. how frequently does your science class include hands-on activities? sq4. how engaged are you in the hands-on activities? sq5. how easy is it to learn science? sq6. do you enjoy learning science? sq7. if you do, why? if not, why not? the second research question (students’ attitudes towards learning science) was measured via sq4-7. the third research question (students’ interest in pursuing stem majors and careers) was measured via sq1-2. finally, sq3 was simply used as a check for whether the experimental schools were indeed receiving the intervention. for sq1, all potential subjects that students have as options for their shs “major” were listed. sq2 and sq7 were open-ended responses. options for sq3 included ”never”, “once per month”, “once per week”, and “more than once per week”. sq4 and sq5 were answered on a likert scale from 1 to 7. sq6 was a yes/no question. both the survey and the exam were administered in paper form to the students. pen staff administered the surveys so as to best enable students to provide honest feedback in the absence of their teacher. the trainers administered the exams. at the end of this period, similar tools were administered to the students to serve as the endline. the survey was the exact same as that administered at the beginning of the intervention. the exam administered at the end was, however, a different version. the post-test exam was shorter, composing only part 1 of the two parts composing the bece. it was created by compiling questions from different years’ versions of part 1 of the integrated science portion of the bece. given the short duration of the intervention, only a portion of the syllabus was covered. the selection of past questions ensured that the syllabus topics covered by both sets of teachers would appear on this exam. the selection was done by the research team and checked for fairness by the waec examiner mentioned above. both experimental and control schools completed this endline exam. one intern completed the marking of all exam scripts so as to ensure uniformity. intervention (training + lesson observation) once the pre-test (survey and exam) had been administered at all 9 participating schools, a 2.5-month period of the intervention commenced at the 5 experimental schools. the intervention consisted of the following steps, was repeated on a weekly basis, and is also depicted schematically in figure 1. 1. the experimental school teacher notified pen’s logistics officer of the science curriculum topic they would be treating in the next week. 2. pen’s logistics officer procured locally-available materials for a pen hands-on science activity beem, effect of hands-on science activities 22 corresponding to that topic, and he delivered the materials to the pen trainer. 3. the pen trainer trained the experimental school teacher on pen’s hands-on science activity for that syllabus topic. 4. the teacher delivered the practical lesson to their form 3 students, while the pen trainer observed. 5. the pen trainer provided feedback to the teacher on their lesson delivery. the pen trainer visited the experimental school(s) in their circuit twice a weekonce to train the teacher and once to observe the deployment of the practical lesson. this cycle continued every week in the experimental schools, while the control schools were exempted. figure 2 shows a picture of one of the teacher training sessions and trainer observation of the lesson on heat energy. figure 3 shows the pen activity used to teach the digestive system, as carried out by students at one of the experimental schools after their teacher had been trained on the lesson. data analysis research question 1 – student exam scores: in order to determine the level of effect that the intervention had on the exam scores, a difference-indifferences analysis was carried out between the means of the experimental and control groups. pre-test and post-test exam scores are first presented independently. global journal of transformative education (2020) vol 2 figure 1. the process flow completed weekly over the course of the intervention. figure 2. teacher training and lesson monitoring of a pen activity on heat energy transfer through painting of milo tins. beem, effect of hands-on science activities 23 whose responses were captured in both the pre and post surveys were considered in this analysis. before carrying out the t-test, an f-test was carried out to determine whether each dataset was of equal or unequal variance. the final method was included as an additional measure of the magnitude of difference between the two groups due to its utility in working with smaller sample sizes. the effect size is considered small if g ≥ 0.2, medium if g ≥ 0.5, and large if g ≥ 0.8. for research question 3, the potential responses to the corresponding survey questions (sq1 shs major and sq2 future job interest) were first categorized into stem or non/stem responses. for sq1 (shs major), stem responses were considered to be “general science”, “agric science” or “other” if the response included something in the line of “technical” or “electricals”. for sq2 (future job interest), stem responses were ones such as “engineer”, “doctor”, “nurse”, “technician”, “accountant”, “pharmacist”, “architect”, etc. the survey results were digitized and analyzed in excel. for q6 which has a binary choice of answers, the number of respondents in each category was counted before and after the intervention. the pre-post difference in number of respondents in each category was compared between the experimental and control schools. for the questions which were answered on a scale (q3-5), statistical analysis was done to determine the significance of any difference in the means over time. both the means between the pairs of schools and the means between the experimental and control schools were compared. the schools in the ashalaja circuit (es2, es3, cs2) were excluded from this analysis due to the logistical challenges of the trainer falling ill and not being able to administer the post-survey at all of his schools. the same statistical analyses were carried out with the data disaggregated across gender and geography, with the goal of elucidating any effects that may have been felt more strongly within either the female or male subsets and within either the rural or urban subsets. confirmation of activity implementation in addition to information received from the pen trainers regarding details of the intervention implementation, the results from survey question 3 (“how frequently does your science class include hands-on activities?”) were used to determine whether the hands-on science activities had indeed been delivered regularly at the experimental schools. using the same statistical analyses described for the above (t-test, hedge’s g), the difference in results over the course of the intervention was compared across the combined experimental schools and combined control schools. follow-up school visits after this analysis was done, follow-up visits to the schools were carried out. the results to the study’s research questions were presented to the teachers and trainers involved, and their interpretation of the findings were elicited. quotes were collected and key ones are reported here. logistical challenges the trainer for the ashalaja circuit fell severely ill partway through the study. he was therefore unable to carry out the full intervention at his set of experimental schools. he was also unable to be reached after the study, so the exact number of trainings he ran remains unknown. for this reason, the only results included for the ashalaja circuit schools (es2, es3, cs2) are the pretest (exam and survey). those schools were excluded from all analyses involving a comparison over time. global journal of transformative education (2020) vol 2 figure 3. the pen model of the digestive system, utilizing locally-available resources, constructed by students at es2. the difference in the means over time is presented last, and only includes students who completed both pretest and post-test exams. research questions 2&3 – student attitudes to learning science; student interest in stem majors/ careers: three main methods were used to answer these research questions through comparison of the experimental and control groups: 1) comparison of yes/no responses over time, 2) two-tailed, unpaired t-test to determine the p-value using a 5% significance level, 3) test for effect size using the hedges’ g statistic. only those students beem, effect of hands-on science activities activities 24 results confirmation of activity implementation results from sq3 “how frequently does your science class include hands-on activities?” (scale of 1 to 4) are shown in table 2, with sample size (n) included. overall, the experimental schools reported significantly higher increase (δ) in frequency of including handson activities compared to that of the control schools over the course of the intervention (p = 0.007). a small effect size (g = 0.47) was also measured. this serves as a confirmation that, on average, the trainings were successfully being translated to classroom implementation in the two circuits that this analysis was done on. disaggregation of respondents whose gender was reported shows that both males and females at the experimental schools reported significant increase in frequency of hands-on activities compared to their counterparts at the control schools. the males reported an even higher increase than the females. research question 1 (exam scores) the results of the student scores on the old (february 2017) bece exam administered before the intervention (pre-test) are shown in figure 4 (left). the scores are presented in the form of box-and-whisker plots to capture the average (marked with an “x”), the range of the 1st to 3rd quartile (the box edges), and the overall range (the whiskers). one box-andwhisker plot is shown for each school, and the results are grouped into the three circuits. the experimental schools are marked in red and the control schools are marked in blue. before the intervention, all schools scored between 20 to 39%, on average. on average, the urban schools (kwabenya circuit: es1, cs1) performed slightly higher than the rural schools before the intervention (35% vs. 27%). on average, there was minimal difference in the pre-test results between the experimental schools and their counterparts within their own circuit. in each circuit, the experimental schools scored slightly higher on average (circuit 1 by 8%, circuit 2 by 1%, circuit 3 by 2%). figure 4 (right) shows the student exam scores after the intervention. all schools improved on the exam, with post-test averages at each school ranging from 45 to 72%. the overall range of results increased for most of the schools, indicating a widening of the gap between the higherand lower-performing students. the ashalaja circuit schools (es2, es3, cs2) were excluded from here on. global journal of transformative education (2020) vol 2 table 2. significance of change in sq3 (frequency of handson activities) results. figure 4. school-level pre-test and post-test exam scores. beem, effect of hands-on science activities 25 in order to determine the effect of the intervention beyond any learning that occurred in the normal mode of teaching (as observed in the control schools), the difference between the preand post-tests was calculated for each school. these results are shown in figure 5. each experimental school(s) is best compared to the control school(s) within its own circuit. in the kwabenya circuit, the experimental school (es1) showed a larger improvement in learning than its control school (cs1): 33% vs. 20%. in the kofi kwei circuit, one experimental school (es4) showed a smaller improvement than the control schools (cs3, cs4) (9% vs. 25% average) while the second experimental school (es5) showed a much bigger improvement (48%) than those control schools. the overall difference-in-differences of exam scores was +10.9%, with the experimental schools improving more than their counterparts over the course of the year. the difference-in-difference within circuit 1 alone was +12.8%. circuit 3 had mixed results across the different schools, resulting in an aver age difference-in-differences +4.1% in that circuit. results from the surveys and follow-up visits reveal reasons for the difference in results with in circuit 3. table 3 presents these results, disaggregated across gender. note that gender information was missing for one student, so there is a discrepancy in sample size (n) between the overall value and the disaggregated ones. the female students improved 14.5% more than their counterparts, which is a greater change than the male students experienced (5.3% more than their counterparts). research question 2 (attitudes to learning science) enjoyment of learning science (sq 6-7) the results of the survey question that elicited student enjoyment of science (sq6) are shown in figures 6 and 7 (before and after the intervention, respectively). on average, students in both sets of schools reported similar attitudes before the intervention: 89% of experimental school students responded that they ”enjoy science” as did 84% of the control school students. in the schools that did not receive pen’s intervention, student interest decreased over the course of the 2.5 months. the opposite trend was recorded in the experimental schools. those who reported enjoying science in the experimental schools increased by 7% and their counterparts in the control schools decreased by 15%. therefore, on average, the students who received the intervention experienced a 22% greater increase in enjoyment of science. the open-ended responses to sq7 reveal some reasons why students enjoyed learning science. examples include “the teachers make it interesting,” “the practicals make it more fun,” “helps me to define things in my own words,” “helps me to picture,” “helps global journal of transformative education (2020) vol 2 figure 5. school-level change in exam scores over the course of the intervention. table 3. difference-in-differences of exam scores at experimental schools (es) and control schools (cs). figure 6. pre-test student survey responses on enjoyment of science at the experimental and control schools beem, effect of hands-on science activities 26 give me an idea about the topic,” “helps in making learning easier,” “helps me remember well,” engagement level,ease of learning science (sq 4-5) a summary of the results of changes in student engagement level and ease of learning science are captured in table 4. both questions were answered on a scale of 1 to 7. the mean of the change in values (∆) between all the control schools and experimental schools is shown for each question. the significance of the difference between the two sets is captured through the t-test and hedge’s g test. the sample size (n) of respondents (those from the 2 eligible circuits and who answered both the pre and post surveys) is listed. for sq4 “how engaged are you in the hands-on activities?”, a significant difference and large effect size were measured (p = 3x10-7, g = 0.85). this reveals that the intervention had a significant impact on the level of engagement that the experimental school students felt, compared to their counterparts. there was, however, no significant difference or effect size in the pre-post change between the control and experimental schools for sq5 “how easy is it to learn science?” (p = 0.672, g = 0.07). disaggregation of this data across gender and geography is captured in table 5. both genders experienced a change with large effect size for sq4 (engagement), but the effect size on the females was even higher, nearly reaching a value of 1 (gfemale = 0.92, gmale = 0.77). disaggregation of this data across urban schools (kwabenya circuit) and rural schools (kofi kwei circuit) also reveals two differences of note. for sq4 (engagement), there was a large effect size for the urban schools (g = 0.981) compared global journal of transformative education (2020) vol 2 figure 7. post-test student survey responses on enjoyment of science at the experimental and control schools table 4. significance of change in sq4-5 (level of engagement, ease of learning science) results table 5. significance of change in sq4-sq5 results, disaggregated across gender and geography to a medium effect size for the rural schools (g = 0.528). one of the experimental schools in the rural circuit (es4) only reported a change of 1.33 points out of 7, on average, on this survey questions. the other experimental schools (es5 and es1) had changes of 2.143 and 2.204 points out of 7, respectively. note that es4 is the same school whose students experienced less improvement on their exam scores than its counterparts (figure 5), suggesting that this school may not have implemented the intervention as effectively as the other two experimental schools. for sq5 (ease), the urban schools experienced no effect size (gurban = 0.059) but the rural schools did experience a small effect size (grural = 0.284). beem, effect of hands-on science activities 27 research question 3 (interest in stem majors and careers) results from the final two survey questions are shown in table 6 and are disaggregated across gender. when asked of the shs major they intended to study and the career they were interested to pursue, the males at the experimental schools did not shift their response between non-stem and stem options with statistical significance or effect size (g = 0.07), compared to their counterparts at the control schools. the females at the experimental schools, however, did significantly shift towards both. they shifted towards stem majors with small effect size (g = 0.22) and towards stem careers with medium effect size (g = 0.48), compared to their counterparts at the control schools. follow-up visits to the schools remarks by the trainers and teachers were captured during follow-up visits to each of the sites, except for the schools in ashalaja circuit, due to an inability to establish communication with the trainer. they cited factors that influence the state of the learning environment in each respective school. these are captured in table 7 along with observations made by the data collection assistant, which are categorized as that of the researcher. from these remarks and observations, it is seen that the pair of schools in the kwabenya circuit had comparable key factors in terms of their learning environment. the infrastructure in both schools was similar and both teachers had similar levels of teaching experience. they also did not experience any major attendance issues. hence, in this pair of schools, the intervention was able to be conducted as intended, and with an accurate comparison. for the kofi kwei circuit, the trainer observed that learning gains in his circuit, which is a rural one, would be harder to come by than those achieved in the urban schools. visits to the two experimental schools in his circuit revealed key differences between them. es4 struggled to get regular attendance, due to the school’s poor infrastructure. the infrastructure was of such low quality that the school would not operate during any day in which it rained. also, the students there were global journal of transformative education (2020) vol 2 table 6. significance of change in sq1-2 (desired shs major, career) results, disaggregated across gender table 7. remarks and observations captured during follow-up visits to the schools found to have poor english reading ability. finally, the teacher being trained through the intervention had been placed at the school through ghana’s mandatory national service program, meaning that he was a fresh university graduate, with no prior teaching experience. for these reasons, the es4 students did receive the intended dosage of the intervention. evidence collected in the follow-up visit to es5 revealed that the intervention’s implementation had not only been consistent, but eagerly adopted by the school’s teacher. he appeared to have fallen in love with the science content, as he had gone the extra mile to create science-based beem, effect of hands-on science activities 28 posters to hang around the class. this was not an explicit suggestion in the training provided. the school infrastructure was also of sufficient quality to allow constant attendance during poor weather conditions. the trainers and teachers also made suggestions for improving the intervention next time, and these remarks have been captured in table 8. all agreed that this intervention was helping their students, but they suggested that if further learning gains are desired, then the approach should be intensified. they suggested commencing the intervention with students in earlier year groups, increasing the frequency of the intervention, and increasing the number of resources used, so as to enable smaller group sizes. discussion over the course of a short (2.5 month) period, this intervention enabled significant improvements in ghanaian students’ science education experience, as a result of the introduction of hands-on activities into the classroom. key quantitative results mentioned in the previous section are combined with the qualitative perspectives elicited in the follow-up visits for discussion here. research question 1 (exam scores) overall, the intervention improved the exam scores for students at the experimental schools 10.9% more than the control schools over the 2.5-month period. the comparison between schools was the cleanest at the kwabenya circuit, where both schools are situated in the same cluster and have similar teacher quality. the difference-in-difference of exam scores there was 12.8%. one experimental school (es4) did not improve as much as its counterparts, but this can be attributed to their inconsistent implementation of the intervention. the experimental school who recorded the greatest improvement overall (es5) found the program to be such a significant benefit that their headteacher made a visit to the district education office specifically to thank them for supporting this intervention. directly after this study was completed, they also announced that they had achieved the highest score ever documented in the school’s history on the science portion of the bece that year. the female students across all schools improved their exam scores more than their male counterparts (14.5% vs. 5.3%), revealing the significant finding that this hands-on teaching approach can disproportionately enable learning gains for females. given the widespread theme of males scoring higher than females in science/stem subjects, this result merits further investigation. few approaches in sub-saharan africa have been measured to enable significant improvement in exam scores in stem fields, much less to disproportionately favor learning gains for females. it is also worth noting that the females reported less increase in frequency of hands-on activities experienced in their classrooms than their male colleagues. nonetheless, the females managed to improve their learning outcomes more than the males. the reported lower frequency could be a result of teachers engaging the males more than females in the execution of the activities and/or the male students dominating the activities. these phenomena have been documented in western literature (jovanovic & king, 1998; tobin & garnett, 1987). further studies in ghana should include a specific gender lens in the lesson observation to determine the gender dynamics at play in hands-on activity execution. research question 2 (attitudes to learning science) another substantial result is that while student enjoyment of science decreased (−15%) in the control schools over the course of the intervention, there was an increase (+7%) in enjoyment of science in the global journal of transformative education (2020) vol 2 table 8. remarks captured during follow-up visits to the schools: suggestions for improving the intervention’s efficacy beem, effect of hands-on science activities 29 experimental schools. the inclusion of hands-on activities in the classroom countered the natural loss of enjoyment in science that students experienced in standard classrooms. gains in interest in science/stem likely play a role in enabling gains in the aforementioned exam scores. the level of engagement that the experimental school students reported had a significant increase with large effect size compared to their counterparts. the females reported an even larger increase than the males. this indicates once again that the female students in this study were even more positively affected by this intervention than the males. if the previous explanation for the females’ response to “frequency of activities” is accurate, then female students could stand to benefit from even higher engagement level increases if teachers are guided to involve female students more in the activities. there was no significant improvement in the ease of learning science, either for males or females. longer interventions should be conducted to determine if the gains in enjoyment and engagement captured here can translate into deeper learning of and comfort with science concepts. research question 3 (interest in stem majors and careers) interestingly, although student enjoyment of science improved at the experimental schools, a universally equivalent shift towards selecting a science-based program to study in shs was not measured. the female students did positively shift with a small effect size (gfemale = 0.22), but their male counterparts did not (gmale = 0.07). one teacher in the study offered an interpretation of this: “[the students] think they might not get the required grades to get admission for the science... they have the zeal, but academically they are not good enough to be taken for science...the system tries to inhibit them.” these comments suggest that the ghanaian educational system is not structured to support all students with a growing interest in science. the admission requirements to gain entry into a science program are high, so a student may shut his or her mind to that as a viable option to pursue. it is also interesting to note that females did significantly shift to selecting stembased careers over the course of the intervention (p = 0.04, g = 0.48). the intervention again affected female students disproportionately, this time by opening up their mind to different aspirations for their long-term careers. limitations implementation levels a few inconsistencies in levels of the intervention’s implementation across the experimental schools have been identified. these are summarized in table 9. at the kwabenya school (es1), the trainer and teacher implemented the intervention thoroughly, as evidenced by the high level of change reported by students in their level of engagement in the lessons (table 5, sq4, urban). follow-up visit observations confirm that the students regularly attended and therefore had the intended dosage of exposure to the intervention. the implementation at the ashalaja schools (es2, es3) had begun, but was incomplete, due to the trainer falling ill partway through. finally, the kofi kwei schools (es4, es5) had different levels of implementation. the es4 teacher did not completely implement the intervention, as it was revealed during the follow up visit that students had not regularly attended school during the intervention period. es5, on the other hand, had no attendance issues. their teacher not only implemented the intended intervention, but he appeared to amplify his craft as a result. these levels of implementation quality have been kept in focus for interpretation and discussion of the results. future studies must put stronger measures in place to ensure thorough implementation in all experimental schools. school selection process the school selection process employed did not compare exam results explicitly, but the trainers were tasked to carry out the school selection based on their knowledge of the schools’ general performance. future studies should include a more thorough list of criteria for school selection. this will help both to ensure the schools’ ability to implement the intervention and it will also enable a clearer comparison between the pair of experimental and control schools. global journal of transformative education (2020) vol 2 table 9. assessment of implementation level at each experimental school beem, effect of hands-on science activities 30 programmatic & policy implications a few potential implications for pen’s programming and other african teacher training organizations arise from these results. given the strong correlation between implementation level and learning gains achieved in this study, pen should develop systems to ensure that the methodologies their teachers are trained on get implemented in the classroom. this will involve working even more closely with key stakeholders, such as district education officers, headteachers, and national education bodies to ensure that monitoring activities reinforce the use of hands-on activities and that curriculum standards also encourage teachers to use hands-on activities. given the example of the e5 school achieving its historically highest national exam score in science after going through this intervention, and thanks to the teacher there being enthusiastic enough to take up the new approach, pen should consider identifying motivated teachers and focusing their interventions on them. a focus on intrinsically motivated teachers will likely result in higher learning gains than would be achieved through its current approach of offering training to all available participants. this must, of course, be balanced with the organization’s goal of seeing widescale adoption of hands-on pedagogies. pen and other african stem organizations should consider pursuing a specific gender focus to their programming, since the gains achieved among the female students are strong in both attitudes and learning outcomes . furthermore, pen and other teacher training organizations should consider including a component of its training that guides teachers to reduce any bias they may have in involving male students more than females in the activities. ghana’s government has a goal of seeing 60% of its university students pursuing stem majors. a strong stem pipeline will be achieved by having students first gaining interest in the subject, then electing to study stem subjects, and then pursuing stem careers. this short intervention achieved strong gains in building interest and small gains in shifting future career pursuits. future studies should be carried out to determine the length and type of intervention needed to achieve large gains in shifting career pursuits towards stem disciplines. policymakers should consider the admission requirements and societal perceptions around pursuing science majors/disciplines as they formulate plans to achieve their goal. conclusion a quasi-controlled experimental study was conducted in 2017 with 9 schools in greater accra region to preliminarily assess the impact on ghanaian students when their teachers are trained to carry out hands-on activities with locally-available materials. on average, students undergoing the intervention improved their exam scores by 10.9% more than their counterparts over the course of the 2.5-month period, but discrepancies existed at the school level. these discrepancies are attributable to challenges that impeded a complete implementation of the intervention at select schools. in spite of implementation challenges, the students in the experimental schools still experienced significant shifts in their attitudes and interests over the course of the study. students undergoing the intervention increased in their enjoyment of science 22% more than their counterparts, and their levels of engagement increased significantly (p = 3 x 10-7, g = 0.85). female students experienced greater gains than their male counterparts in terms of exam scores, engagement levels, and interest in pursuing stem majors and careers. and despite the commonly held belief that learning gains are slower in rural schools than urban ones, the school with the highest exam score gains in this study was in a rural area. they even broke their own school record for national exam scores immediately following this intervention. a longer intervention is likely needed to achieve significant gains in student response to the ease of learning science. preliminary evidence for multiple lines of questioning around the role of hands-on activities in the ghanaian context have been brought to the fore in this study. the findings add to a nascent body of knowledge of the effect of hands-on pedagogies in the west african context. the effect of experiential stem pedagogies on student attitudes, career interest, and societal barriers have been uncovered, call for deeper investigation, and merit attention from policymakers. a multitude of factors influence the efficacy of interventions such as this one. in order to accurately assess the role of practical teaching methodologies in the ghanaian classroom, a greater number of these factors should be considered in the school selection process. in particular, the level of infrastructure should meet a certain level in order for the school to be selected. if poor infrastructure prevents the students from coming to school, it does not matter whether their teacher is equipped to teach with practical activities global journal of transformative education (2020) vol 2 beem, effect of hands-on science activities 31 global journal of transformative education (2020) vol 2 that week or not. a refined version of this study was undertaken in the 2017/8 academic year (babb & stockero, 2020) to better control for some of these variables. geographic proximity is no longer being considered as sufficient evidence of school similarity. school infrastructure, teacher background, and students’ prior years exam performance are also now being considered. successful findings must be scaled up nationwide to shift the status quo for stem teaching and learning in ghana. acknowledgements the author would like to thank evans sackitey, peace sampson, and fredrick ohene atta opoku for their contributions to the logistics of this study. thanks to jacob babb for his input in ideating some of the initial designs of this study. dr. anne marshall of mit’s teaching and learning lab was a key resource in the design of the study as well. finally, thanks to the pen trainers, teachers, headteachers, ghana education service officials, and students who enabled this study to be completed. references abdi, a. 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journal of transformative education (2024) vol 4 doi 10.14434/gjte.v4i1.38829 open access published by the global insitutute of transformative education (http://www.gite.education) © ndemanu & coronel-molina. 2024. open access this journal is distributed under the terms of the creative commons attribution noncommercial nonderivative 4.0 international license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction without revision in any non-commercial medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the creative commons license, transformative education for innovative educational practices: fourth volume of the global journal of transformative education michael ndemanu1 and serafín coronel-molina2 full listing of authors and contacts can be found at the end of this article. the global journal of transformative education (gjte) is an open-source, peer-reviewed journal designed to share educational research and practical classroom applications germane to transformative education worldwide. gjte publishes academic articles on high-impact practices in the broad areas of pedagogy, curriculum, educational management and leadership, learning environment, educational policy, instructional materials, and reviews of educational resources that support transformative teaching and learning in pk-20 institutions and in adult education programs. gjte is focused on sharing educational research and research-based practices with all stakeholders in the design and implementation of transformative education. articles are offered as resources for teacher educators, teachers, school leaders, policymakers, civil society, students, and researchers. content may include research articles, lesson plan ideas, assessments and management strategies, book reviews, and discussions about curriculum and connections between schools and communities that are geared toward maximizing educational outcomes for learners. it is becoming increasingly clear that traditional educational models are no longer sufficient to benefit vast sectors of the world’s population, hence the need for new transformative education models. it will take transformative research to light the way to these new educational paradigms. a good number of the articles published in this fourth volume of gjte were initially reviewed and accepted for presentation at the 2023 world conference on transformative education (wcte) at the university of cape coast, in cape coast, ghana, under the theme, “the future of africa and the role of transformative education.” a call for papers was sent to conference participants to submit their manuscripts to be considered for publication in the fourth volume of gjte. all the submissions underwent a rigorous double-blind peer-reviewed process prior to being accepted for publication. out of several manuscripts submitted, eight were found to meet the standards and rigors of transformative education ideals as enunciated on our website, www.gite.education. this volume is composed of nine articles that delve into transformative education from multiple perspectives. they focus on diverse topics such as professionalization of higher education programs, decolonization, communication competency, stem teaching, and e-learning. the articles included in this volume cover the following five geographical locations: cameroon, ghana, nigeria, south africa, and the united states. the contributions are relevant to scholars, educators, practitioners, educational policymakers, graduate students, governmental and nongovernmental organizations, academic institutions, and grassroots organizations interested in transformative education across the globe. the first article, titled “the role of ethics education in the fight against corruption,” is authored by ndiku et al. their paper examines the place of ethics education in secondary school education to curb corruption in africa. guided by the deontological theory, the authors utilized secondary sources through document analysis where review of related literature on ethics education and corruption was done. the study argues that corruption is a major problem in society and concludes that there is need to fight corruption through ethics education at grassroot levels beginning with schools. it recommends that educators enhance the teaching of life skill education that fosters ethics. the second article, 1 ndemanu & coronel-molina, transformative education for innovative educational practices 2 “market orientation for a contextualized professionalization of higher education in africa: state of art” by kamdjo et al. focuses on the concept of market orientation in higher education and how it can be used to achieve goals of contextualized professionalization of university programs. they argue that the implementation of a market-oriented culture can pave a way for higher education to offer a response adapted to the expectations of society through five points summarized as: orientation toward policymakers, enterprises orientation, competition orientation, teachers and students’ orientation, and inter-functional coordination. contreras and bedford co-authored the third article, titled “the transformative nature of graduate education.” this is a reflective paper on the transformative experience of a doctoral education. it explores transformational learning theory in the real world, providing helpful strategies to apply the theory to the doctoral education experience to help doctoral students embrace their own transformation. in the third article, kouam, in his contribution, titled “english as foreign language (efl) teaching and learning in cameroon: decolonizing francophone teachers’ minds,” argues that francophone efl (english as foreign language) teachers’ mindset needs to be decolonized so that they can teach the mainstream cameroonian english to cameroonian students without trying to sound british or american. his findings and recommendations also constitute a good material for innovation in efl teacher education and classroom practice. considering most african students learn in a language that is not their mother tongue, mcghie & reis, in “translations as a transformative form of language support to english additional language speaking students at a south african university,” conducted a pilot study on an innovative translation intervention to students in a historically black university in south africa. their findings show that the translations in the students’ home languages assisted the students in comprehending the instructions and course content. in so doing, it levelled the playing field and enabled the students to perform optimally, resulting in an increased pass rate in the subject. strong and amodei, in their article, “the impact of story: one preschool’s experience using story cubes as a culturally relevant oral language strategy,” posit that storytelling is a universal practice which can be traced back to the beginning of human existence. their article describes a study conducted at a trilingual preschool. four preschool teachers and 60 prek students ages 3-5 years participated in the study designed to explore the use of story cubes in their classrooms as a culturally responsive and reflective strategy. in “the transformative development potential of higher education in the 4th industrial revolution,” bafon, et al. discuss the sustainability of socio-economic development of cameroon which requires a robust national and regional innovation ecosystem in which higher education plays an important role in value and wealth creation. they assert that the transformative potential of higher education is evident through development of technological knowledge networks, innovation/knowledge clusters, and transformative digital governance in enhancing transformative learning. they recommend that higher education institutional leadership should consider these transformative development indicators as institutional benchmarks for higher education quality assurance, responsiveness assessments, and governance practices. amadiok et al. in their article, “students’ use behaviors of e-learning management systems in ghanaian public universities: what do the demographics say?,” advocate for an intense training for students who underutilize e-learning management systems. in their study, they found that social science majors and female students in ghana’s public universities showed low use behavior of e-lms. they recommended that female students, in particular, and social science students, in general, should undergo enhanced training on using the e-lms platform. in “transitioning hands-on stem teacher training in ghana from an in-person to online modality,” hanson and beem discuss how, during covid-19, in-person training content was converted into videos and powerpoint presentations accessed asynchronously together with synchronous zoom sessions for discussions. their findings show that teacher confidence and views about the feasibility of implementing hands-on activities increased with statistical significance and large effect size for both in-person and online training offerings. hence, even with minimal technology, teachers across africa could be trained online and experience meaningful learning. global journal of transformative education (2024) vol 4 3 invitation to prospective authors we invite authors keen on transformative education from all walks of life to consider gjte as an avenue for disseminating their ideas germane to curriculum and teaching. gjte accepts submissions for its open call, with no deadlines for submissions and no publishing fees for authors. the journal’s website includes author guidelines to help prospective authors with formatting specifications, and an online submissions system to help with the submission, review and editing process. new authors are invited to register in the system. gjte also invites readers to join our editorial board of reviewers by selecting the “reviewer” role and indicating content expertise in their user profiles. acknowledgments the global journal of transformative education (gjte) is a singular publication venue. despite the time and effort invested in the conceptualization, development, implementation, production, and publication of this fourth volume, we could not have done all this by ourselves. the publication of this volume is the result of the hard work and dedication of many people. first of all, our profound gratitude goes to the global institute for transformative education (gite) and its founding members for their sustained sponsorship to make this volume happen. we are deeply thankful to tom j. mcconnell, managing editor; luis eduardo orozco, assistant managing editor; and isaac galyon, assistant editor, who provided us with invaluable assistance in their respective roles, taking care of the daily operations of gjte. our heartfelt thanks also go to the assistant editors, christina cooper and emma bonham for copy-editing the revised submissions. we are also grateful to our colleagues who serve on the editorial board of reviewers, as well as to institutions, friends, colleagues, and social media networks from around the world for their help in publicizing the gjte website and facebook page widely. last but not least, we would like to thank all the contributors to this fourth volume for choosing gjte to publish their work. many thanks to iuscholarswork for hosting gjte’s website. without the generous assistance and contribution of all these great people and institutions, gjte would never have become a reality. 1 michael ndemanu (mtndemanu@bsu.edu) is an associate professor in the department of educational studies at ball state university, muncie, indiana, usa. 2 serafín coronel-molina (scoronel@indiana.edu) is the director of the center for latin american and caribbean studies and a professor in the school of education at indiana university, bloomington, indiana, usa. authors ndemanu & coronel-molina, transformative education for innovative educational practices global journal of transformative education (2024) vol 4 issn 2640-1533s open access editorial team gjte invites you to apply to be a member of the editorial board. potential reviewers can register for an account on the gjte website: register for gjte account i global journal of transformative education volume 4, june 2024 published by the global insitutute of transformative education (http://www.gite.education) © gjte. 2024. gjte is a peer-reviewed open access journal produced as part of the iu scholarworks system, indiana university, bloomington, indiana, usa. editors-in-chief michael t. ndemanu, ball state university, muncie, indiana, usa serafín m. coronel-molina, indiana university, bloomington, indiana, usa managing editor tom j. mcconnell, ball state university, muncie, indiana, usa assistant managing editor luis eduardo orozco, ball state university, muncie, indiana, usa assistant editors isaac k. a. galyuon, university of cape coast, ghana regina j. giraldo-garcía, ball state university, muncie, indiana, usa christina l. romero, indiana university kokomo, kokomo, indiana, usa emma clare bonham, indiana university, bloomington, indiana, usa editorial review board daniel baron the bloomington project school, bloomington, indiana, usa kennedy n. bota masinde muliro university of science & technology, kakamega, kenya teresia mbogori ball state university, muncie, indiana, usa wilfridah m. mucherah ball state university, muncie, indiana, usa judah m. ndiku masinde muliro university of science & technology, kakamega, kenya edward ansah university of cape coast, ghana godfrey nyaoga ayaga masinde muliro university of science & technology, kakamega, kenya sarah haisley ivy tech community college, muncie, indiana, usa james kigamwa literacy international, tulsa, oklahoma, usa shuning liu ball state university, muncie, indiana, usa issac nuokyaa-ire mwinlaaru university of cape coast, ghana george areba ngwacho kisii university, west mugirango, nyamira, kenya mathieu nongni université de ngaoundéré, cameroon maxwell kwesi nyatsikor university of developmental studies, tamale, ghana benard omenge nyatuka kisii university, kisii, kenya david roof ball state university, muncie, indiana, usa william shu university of buea, cameroon osundwa f. wanjera pratt institute, brooklyn, ny, usa cover image prof. rofela combey, university of cape coast (2024), by permission. https://scholarworks.iu.edu/journals/index.php/gjte/login global journal of transformative education (2024) vol 4 issn 2640-1533s open access ii published by the global insitutute of transformative education (http://www.gite.education) © gjte. 2024. gjte is a peer-reviewed open access journal produced as part of the iuscholarworks system, indiana university, bloomington, indiana, usa. transformative education for innovative educational practices articles transformative education for innovative educational practices: fourth volume of the global journal of transformative education .............................. 1 michael t. ndemanu & serafín m. coronel-molina, editors-in-chief the role of ethics education in the fight against corruption ............................................. 4 judah m. ndiku, joseph w. nasongo, & monicah a. odero market orientation for a contextual professionalization of higher education in africa: state of art ........................................................................................................... 14 carole v. kamdjo, & henri rodrigue njengoue ngamaleu the transformative nature of graduate education .................................................................. 24 elizabeth contreras, laurie bedford english as foriegn language (efl) teaching and learning in cameroon: decolonizing francophone teachers’ minds ............................................................................... 32 clement kouam translations as a transformative form of language support to english additional language speaking students at a south african university ......................... 44 venicia mcghie, karen dos reis the impact of story: one preschool’s experience using story cubes as a culturally relevant oral language strategy ............................................................................... 57 laura strong, michelle amodei the transformative development potential of higher education in the 4th industrial revolution: a strategic innovation ecosystem approach for technological development and knowledge transfer in the 21st century. ............... 65 joel n. bafon, adolphe m. tanyi, carole v. kamdjo, marcelline t. djeumeni students’ use behaviors of e-learning management systems in ghanaian public universities: what do thedemographics say? ............................................................... 77 daniel amadiok, winston kwame abroampa, eric opoku osei transitioning hands-on stem teacher training in ghana from an in-person to online modality .................................................................................................................. 88 mawuena a. hanson, heather beem open call for papers .................................................................................................................................. 105 gjte editors contents global journal of transformative education volume 4, month 2024 contreras, e. & bedford, l. global journal of transformative education (2024) vol 4 pp 23-30 doi 10.14434/gjte.v4i1.34388 open access published by the global insitutute of transformative education (http://www.gite.education) © contreras & bedford. 2024. open access this journal is distributed under the terms of the creative commons attribution noncommercial nonderivative 4.0 international license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction without revision in any non-commercial medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the creative commons license, the transformative nature of graduate education elizabeth contreras1 and laurie bedford2 abstract doctoral education is a complex and sometimes intimidating process. however, it is also transformative. transformational learning theory, developed by mezirow in 1991, helps to explain how graduate education is transformative through embracing education in a cognizant and reflective way. transformational learning theory states that learners change the perception of their experiences and interpret it differently as they progress in their learning. by helping students connect with the school community, their professors, and their own metacognitive process, transformational learning theory helps explain the evolution students go through as they progress through doctoral programs. written as a personal reflection on the transformative experience of doctoral education, this article explores transformational learning theory in a real-world, practical manner, providing helpful strategies to apply the transformational learning theory to the doctoral education experience, helping doctoral students embrace their own transformation. keywords: transformational learning, graduate education, doctoral students, growth mindset, discoursereflection cycle. full listing of authors and contacts can be found at the end of this article. what does it mean to earn a doctorate? does it mean to develop expertise in one specific, narrow area of a dissertation study? does it mean to grow as an academic and evolve in one’s academic acumen? does it mean to contribute to the scholarly community and join the discourse of researchers in the world of academia through unique research that fills gaps in the overall intellectual knowledge base? does it mean to acquire more qualifications that enable the progression to university professor or academic? put simply, the doctoral experience and the process of earning a terminal degree is a combination of the answers to each of these questions and because of this is naturally transformational. i knew as a child that i wanted to earn a ph.d., but it was not until thirteen years into my career as an educator that i finally achieved this ambition. what i discovered is that at its core, the doctoral journey is one of transformation. i began my journey with one interpretation of what it meant to be earn a doctorate and when i finished, i realized it was a much deeper experience than i had expected. my intention in this article is thus to examine and evaluate my experience in the doctoral journey and true growth that came once i embraced the transformational nature of the doctoral journey. in this article, i will relate my own experiences and reflection as a doctoral candidate. i will examine the discourse-reflection cycle, the need for community, and the best practices that assisted me in transforming from an educator with a master’s degree to a doctor with a ph.d. by juxtaposing my experience with the transformational learning cycle, i will endeavor to help the novice doctoral candidate understand that the doctoral and dissertation process is transformational in nature and how to best embrace this philosophy. transformative learning theoretical framework transformative learning developed by mezirow (1991, 1998) is the process of evolving assumptions and interpretations of a student towards their learning and is based on the experiences the learner goes through. transformational learning according to 23 contreras & bedford, transformative nature of graduate education 24 mezirow (1998), evolves as a series of frames of reference that change based on the experiences of the student. the theory is based on the idea that students interact with their professors and fellow students in a discourse reflection cycle that helps inform the student’s understanding of their learning. this is encapsulated in the transformational learning process (mezirow, 2000). according to mezirow (2000) in the beginning of the process, students experience a disorientation phase in which they may feel confused or overwhelmed. when the student becomes self-aware, they progress to self-examination, assessment, recognition, and exploration. once these stages are complete, the student’s interpretation of their experience changes and they enter into a more proactive stage of planning a course of action. once complete, the student begins to actively, and consciously acquire knowledge and begin to try out different roles. this leads to the stage of developing self-confidence. finally, the student reintegrates into the process as they start a new stage in their development and the process begins all over again. this process helps the student to grow and transform as they progress from a stage of disorientation to self-confidence. this process, according to mezirow (2000) is best facilitated when students engage in a discourse-reflection cycle. this involves interacting with professors and classmates productively and using their feedback to reflect on the learning experience. such community connections help to form the basis of an inquiry process in which the student actively participates in meaningful research and reflection. through the community connections, discoursereflection cycle and inquiry process, students develop a growth mindset. this mindset helps them to become conscious of how their interpretations of their experiences have changed and the transformative process is complete. transformational learning cycle to begin, i will review my path to the doctoral program to establish a foundation for how the doctoral process was transformative.. i earned my master’s degree in history in 2004 at the age of 22. i decided to start working as a teacher instead of continuing my education. ten years later, i determined that it was time to go back for my doctorate. however, the ten-year furlough in my education was long enough that when i went back, the systems had changed. instead of a faceto-face program, i determined an online program worked best for my needs and i had to adjust to the unique nature of online learning. between finishing my masters and starting my doctorate, the nature of education had changed, and i had changed as well. my interpretation of what i needed in a program had transformed from wanting a face-to-face program as in my masters to deciding on an online program for my doctorate. so too, i found the writing and citation format of apa instead of chicago, the nature of research, and even the generally acceptable sentence structures were vastly different from what i was accustomed to coming from the world of history. i entered my doctoral program with a master’s in history, and as an accomplished educator but realized that i was very much a novice researcher. my interpretation of where i was, as mezirow’s (1998) theory illustrates, had altered. i quickly recognized i would need to grow, evolve, adapt, and change. in simple terms, to be successful, i would have to transform. when i realized this, my progress in the doctoral program increased and i found it highly rewarding. it was clear that the feedback from professors on papers, the assignments i completed, and every interaction was part of the transformational process, taking me from accomplished educator and master historian to scholar and academic. through their feedback, i was able to grow and my interpretation of what i needed changed to one of seeing every interaction as a constructive one and part of my process of growth. transformative learning, according to mezirow (1998), is based on the evolving interpretations and assumptions of the student as they progress through the program. it is for this reason that the transformational learning theory is so important for doctoral candidates to understand. transformational learning theory, developed by mezirow (1991) is based on the idea that learners’ interpretations of their learning experiences evolves and changes as they progress through their educational journey. it helps to explain the nature of doctoral education as a process of evolution and metamorphosis. thus, before examining how it relates to the doctoral process and my own journey, it is essential to understand what transformational learning theory is and how it helps to shape the doctoral process. transformational learning theory was developed by mezirow in 1991. based on a constructivist paradigm, transformational learning theory provides insight into the process that doctoral candidates go through in that it helps explain how developing expertise, growing as an academic, and global journal of transformative education (2024) vol 4 contreras & bedford, transformative nature of graduate education 25 global journal of transformative education (2024) vol 4 taking the important step of entering the world of university research are evolutionary processes (craig et al., 2001; king, 2002). in this lens, doctoral education is viewed as the process of gaining professional knowledge and skills that the individual can use to enhance their practice and the discipline. in other words, the doctoral candidate transforms from a master in their respective field to a scholar-practitioner by absorbing new ideas, information and experiences. their interpretation of what they need and how they view themselves in the process grows and changes. the transformational nature of the doctoral program, is therefore, inherent in the doctoral journey. however, beyond the cognitive experiences, doctoral education should also result in a personal transformation that includes shifts towards expanded consciousness and professional emotions (stevenslong, et al., 2012). this means that as the student progresses in the doctoral process, their interpretation of what they need and how they see their journey changes. while there are many macrostructures that define the doctoral and dissertation process (anderson, alexander, & saunders, 2020), such as enrollment and writing proficiency requirements, a primary consideration is that while doctoral candidates may conduct and publish a formal study in their dissertation, the process is what facilitates transformation. the doctoral candidate is in a state of evolution or transformation, learning the processes necessary to become a contributing member of the academic community and in this process interpreting and reinterpreting how they view their experience. the doctoral candidate, upon entering the doctoral program, or even when defending their dissertation is not expected to be perfect. what is essential is not the flawlessness of the journey but how the process of working conducting research that culminates in a completed dissertation helps the doctoral candidate build the skills necessary to practice at a higher academic level. the dissertation process, like doctoral course work and the experience as a whole, is a training process meant to assess how adept the doctoral candidate adapts to circumstances, meets challenges, and solves complex problems. it is the ability to adapt, evolve, and respond that is both evaluated and at the center of the transformative process because it helps students to grow (steven-long et al., 2020). when doctoral candidates understand this, they can reflect on the learning process and become conscious of how their interpretations of their growth has changed (mezirow, 1997), ultimately making the transition from apprentice researcher to advanced scholar (garcia & yao, 2019). discourse reflection cycle when i began to consciously evaluate how my interpretation of my experience was changing, and was thus able to see the doctoral process as one of transformation, i was able to make real gains in my own knowledge base and develop a perspective that enabled me to grow. when i was younger, getting my master’s degree, i was wedded to the words of my thesis and each time my chair gave me advice and constructive criticism, i was offended and felt that he was judging the merits of my paper and my worth as a scholar and writer. however, when working through the doctoral program, it was clear, after ten years as an educator, that my professors, in providing me feedback were not judging my academic merit or criticizing my worth as a scholar but were instead attempting to guide me through constructive criticism to hone my understanding. this epiphany helped me to understand this as transformative experience. my interpretation of the writing process transformed as per the transformational learning theory. i realized that if i were to reflect upon the feedback and discourse with professors, i could grow and develop competence in my ability to conduct rigorous academic research. this discourse-reflection cycle, when viewed through the lens of transformative learning as described by mezirow (1991), assisted me in making the most of the discourse with my professors and assisted me in gaining the skill set and foundation necessary to embark upon my dissertation research. without this frame of mind, my outlook would have stayed fixed and while i may have successfully completed my dissertation, i would not have made the gains necessary to join the academic community. but, by becoming conscious of my the transformative nature of my experience and by embracing feedback and using it to grow, my mind was open to change, and evolution was inevitable. not only did i complete my dissertation, but i absorbed a wide variety of ideas, techniques, and methods from my various professors and developed a strong knowledge base from which to start my life as a professional at the doctoral level. therefore, what is the discourse-reflection cycle and how it is informative to the doctoral candidate and fit into transformative learning theory? as candidates begin in the doctoral program, they are often unfamiliar 26 with academic processes. to help them become conscious of how their experiences inform their interpretation and reinterpretation of their learning and transform into scholars capable of conducing strong research, support from faculty is essential. discourse and guidance from professors help doctoral candidates to successfully learn the research procedures and processes as well as write and present their findings in the way deemed acceptable by the academic community. the discourse-reflection cycle can happen when doctoral candidates converse through email, virtually or in-person with professors. it can also take place with other members in the university community. the key is that the initial interaction is followed by reflection about those conversations. the intent is for the doctoral candidate to take the advice and critiques provided and use them to reflect on where they are and where they need to go in their doctoral journey. through communication and reflection, doctoral candidates draw on previous experiences to make meaning of new practices through constructivist discourse and reflection. during this process, doctoral candidates learn from the guidance of professors as well as their peers. by interacting with other doctoral candidates with shared needs and common goals, the doctoral candidate finds support, guidance, and inspiration. this can act as a catalysis for doctoral candidates to engage within the discourse reflection cycle and to internalize the meaning of each new experience and by doing so the student’s interpretation of their learning process and their experiences as a student transforms (swaggerty & broemmel, 2016). the key, however, is that communication is a purposeful and conscious reflection embedded in the process (swaggerty & broemmel, 2016). if the doctoral candidate does not value the feedback of professors and reflect upon it, the discourse reflection cycle may not occur, and transformation may be stymied. reflection must focus on what is gained and how it helps the student to grow and change. thus, emphasis on purposeful communication and thoughtful-conscious reflection are key to doctoral candidates being able to successfully complete the discourse reflection cycle and use it as part of their transformational process. as related previously, embracing the discourse reflection cycle helped me embrace the transformational process. when i realized that the feedback was constructive in nature and that conversations with tutors, members of the irb, and professors could help me to better understand not only the expectations but also the mechanisms at my disposal to complete my program, i was able to make great gains in my doctoral journey. by viewing each conversation as an opportunity to grow and useful to my development, my reflection was purposeful and deliberate. i took notes on feedback suggestions and used those notes early in the program for my next assignment and later in my dissertation as my guide for what i needed to do and include in my research. by using the discourse reflection cycle in this way, i was aware of how my interpretation of my learning and growth. this made the transformation from competent educator with a master’s degree in history to a doctor of education. however, beyond the credential, i learned the process of researching and writing on the doctoral level, something that is and will continue to be a benefit in my journey as it continues into the world of academia. the need for community connections as intimated above, an integral part of the transformational process and an imperative aspect of the discourse reflection cycle is the need for community connections. whether in a face-to-face or online program, doctoral candidates must become part of the university community. according to cranton (2016) humans are by nature communal and developing strong communicative knowledge helps people within a community to understand the social norms, values, and code of beliefs within the community. once graduated, doctors join a much larger academic community of fellow doctors and researchers, and this understanding of the importance and value of this community is essential to a successful doctoral program and dissertation process (dowling & wilson, 2017). having a community helps doctoral candidates and new doctors to make purposeful connections. these connections help the individual to grow and change, this transformation, especially when deliberate and thoughtful changes the interpretation of the individual towards their experience. many doctoral candidates, like myself, are enrolled in online doctoral programs (garcia & yao, 2019). in my experience, the connections made through the university community were not only integral but an essential aspect to my success in the program. however, the unique nature of online learning can create barriers to participation in this community and can lead some doctoral candidates to not realize that a community exists. because of the barrier of time and distance, online doctoral candidates can feel a disconnect between themselves and their professors global journal of transformative education (2024) vol 4 contreras & bedford, transformative nature of graduate education 27 and other classmates (sekulich, 2020). the ability to engage with professors and other doctoral candidates may be limited. this then disrupts the discoursereflection cycle since the doctoral candidate is not as easily able to engage in dialogue with others in the academic community. this lack of connection can undercut the efficacy of the reflection process. the doctoral candidate may begin to garner a negative self-perception of themselves as a student and their transformation can progress in a negative manner. while the doctoral candidate may still be able to reflect on their journey, without the ability to see how fellow doctoral candidates are experiencing the doctoral program, online doctoral candidates can lose the social connections and the perspectives those provide that are a natural part of the traditional brick and mortar university. as cranton (2016) explained, when students and professors communicate regularly, students feel more empowered and are better able to make use of the skills, knowledge, and information they need in order to be successful. however, professors often expect online doctoral candidates to initiate contact, while doctoral candidates feel a greater need for support (sekulich, 2020). this discrepancy can leave doctoral candidates feeling unsupported in their efforts (ray, et al, 2019). such feelings of social isolation, while often more pronounced for international doctoral candidates, can impact all doctoral candidates, resulting in negative academic and personal learning outcomes (ray et al., 2019). subsequently, these experiences may interfere with a doctoral candidate’s ability to successfully experience a positive transformational process and result in stagnation as a beginning scholar (swaggerty & broemmel, 2016). therefore, in the online environment, allowing time for both synchronous and asynchronous collaboration is helpful in bridging this gap and helping the doctoral candidate to feel the support needed (swaggerty & broemmel, 2016). when virtual interactions take place, doctoral candidates are better able to engage in critical reflection since they can broaden their perspective and help them become aware of their changing interpretations. they also learn from other doctoral candidates and benefit from the knowledge of their peers and professors. the discourse, although virtual is key to a successful online program. according to swaggerty and broemmel (2016), when doctoral candidates work closely with professors, whether in an online or traditional program, they are better able to understand the process and their sense of self-efficacy increases. they also can better engage in reflection, deepening their own connection with their learning and broadening their perspective. cranton (2016) also explained that students in an asynchronous online discussion setting often are able to engage with peers in a more meaningful and personal manner in an online setting, allowing them to be more forthcoming with their struggles or feelings since they are not talking to people face-to face. cranton (2016) referred to this as the “stranger on the train” phenomena and explained that because students in an online setting do not know their classmates and cannot see their face, they may be more likely to share information that they would otherwise keep private. this freedom to explore topics and feelings in a more open manner leads to greater reflection and can help students embrace the transformative process. through interaction their interpretation and reinterpretation of their learning grows, leading them through the process of change inherent to the transformational learning theory. doctoral candidates additionally benefit from opportunities to engage with other doctoral candidates and professors in synchronous face-to-face meetings and asynchronously through community forums, emails, or discussions boards, (alexander et al, 2013). this ability to connect with and find mentors in professors can help the doctoral candidate in the discourse reflection cycle as well as the transformative process. ultimately, when doctoral candidates work with professors in a mentoring relationship, they are more likely to experience holistic success since they can share ideas, discuss and evaluate their dissertation journey as a transformative process (sekulich, 2020). by proactively seeking opportunities for community engagement, doctoral candidates can better develop a sense of meaning in their research and develop a strong sense of self-efficacy. this enables them to reflect in a meaningful manner and embrace the transformational nature of the program. as their interpretation of the process becomes reflective, they are better able to make meaningful gains in their academic progress. reflecting on my own experience, it took some time for me to realize that a virtual community existed at my university. i found, as sekulich (2020) intimated, that my professors, while sending an automated welcome email and providing a welcome video on the homepage of the course, waited for me to reach out and establish contact. in the earlier courses, i did not engage with my professors or other doctoral candidates in any real meaningful way and my connection to the experience global journal of transformative education (2024) vol 4 contreras & bedford, transformative nature of graduate education 28 was limited. however, by my second semester, i had realized that a community forum existed in the form of online discussion boards. i also discovered that professors and other school personnel held regular webinars and the tutoring center was available to assist with most any question from statistical analysis to writing help. when i started taking advantage of these outlets, my growth as a budding doctoral candidate became more substantial and i was able to better reach out to professors, engage with them, ask questions, and then use those interactions to help strengthen my own knowledge base. i became part of the virtual community and especially when writing my dissertation, this community was an integral part of my success since it enabled meaningful discourse and reflection which enabled true transformation. by becoming part of the community, i changed from simply going through the motions to being aware of how my interpretation of my experience was changing as part of the transformational learning theory. strategies for success in order to help facilitate the transformational process and find success in a doctoral program, in addition to what has already been discussed, doctoral candidates need to be aware of certain strategies or best practices to help facilitate their learning. the first of these are research skills. dowling and wilson (2017) explained that when research skills are the focal point of a doctoral program, doctoral candidates are better able to hone their researching skills and develop the skill set necessary for successful completion of the dissertation. it is helpful when the program focuses on helping doctoral candidates understand how to write research questions, develop strong hypotheses, write up findings, and craft a strong literature review. arsianari, et al. (2017) explained that doctoral candidates are more successful when research skills are the focus early in the doctoral program and carried throughout until the dissertation. this enables the student to grow and their understanding of the writing and research process changes. this change is an inherent element of the transformational learning theory. therefore, when choosing a doctoral program, doctoral candidates should find programs that emphasize the research skills necessary to help them develop the skill set needed to complete their dissertation. however, if already committed to a doctoral program that may or may not focus on such skills, doctoral candidates can use each research assignment and project as an opportunity to develop their research abilities. by engaging with every assignment as if it were the dissertation, putting the same level of care and detail into it, doctoral candidates can, as the adage goes, practice as they play and thus when they arrive at the dissertation are better able to understand the task before them and can progress through it easier and more successfully. to enable research to be effective, time management is also an essential tool. time management is, in my opinion, the single most important aspect of a successful doctoral program. as alexander, et al. (2013) asserted, developing a worklife balance can be difficult for doctoral candidates. the doctoral program is rigorous, demanding and can consume a great deal of time. oftentimes, doctoral candidates can become overwhelmed by the process and devote too much time to it, neglecting self-care and burning out early, or they procrastinate the important tasks needed to complete a successful program and draw it out indefinitely. to alleviate either extreme, developing a work-life balance and good time management skills are necessary. in my case, i completed my doctoral program while still employed full time. i could not, therefore, devote the entire workday to my doctoral studies. as such, i set aside the first two hours of everyday to my doctoral studies. upon waking each morning, i spent two hours working either on my course work or my dissertation. while during the execution of my study for my dissertation i spent more time in the field conducting surveys, i kept very strictly to this two-hour time frame. when the two hours ended each day, i saved my work and closed it. key to this, however, was that during those two hours, i did not focus on anything else. i closed off email, silenced my phone, and concentrated only on my doctoral studies. this hyper-focus allowed me to work efficiently while internalizing the information needed to grow and transform as a doctoral candidate. i did not deviate from this strict routine and because of it, i finished my doctoral program in three and a half years. by making a conscious routine, i was aware of how the routine impacted my progress and changed it accordingly. effective time management can, therefore, relieve stress and change the interpretation of the doctoral process from one of stress to one of growth. this is a key element to the mezirow’s (1991) ideas. within both strategies introduced here, key to both was support from professors and reflection. mentoring, according to dowling and wilson (2017) and alexander global journal of transformative education (2024) vol 4 contreras & bedford, transformative nature of graduate education 29 et al. (2013) is key to helping doctoral candidates develop strong research skills and time-management skills. when professors share with doctoral candidates their strategies in both areas, doctoral candidates are better able to reflect on their own needs, strengths and areas of growth and can make the necessary adjustments to become successful researchers who can manage their time effectively. added to this, reflection is key. when doctoral candidates engage in the discoursereflection cycle to facilitate their development of an effective study schedule and research regimen, they are better able to see where they are successful and where they still need to grow. honing one’s skills as a researcher and paying attention to time management are inherent parts of the mezirow’s (1991) transformative process and help budding doctoral candidates to be successful. conclusion circling back to the opening questions, what does it mean to earn a doctorate? does it mean to develop expertise in one specific, narrow area of a dissertation study? does it mean to grow as an academic and evolve in one’s academic acumen? does it mean to contribute to the scholarly community and join the discourse of researchers in the world of academia through unique research that fills gaps in the overall intellectual knowledge base? does it mean to acquire more qualifications that enable the progression to university professor or academic? when considering what it means to become a doctor and what it means to traverse through a doctoral program, transformation is inherent. in my experience, the transformative process was propelled by seeking out connections within the university community and engaging in active, conscious, and critical discourse and reflection. this was assisted by developing strong time-management skills and balancing the demands of the doctoral process in a way that maximized my time spent studying and enabled me to make the critical steps necessary to transform from an educator with a master’s degree to a doctor. what is key, however is that this process of transformation, once discovered is evident in every step forward as an academic. to answer the opening questions progressing through the doctoral process should be done through open and conscious reflection. the candidate should be aware of how their interpretation of their progress is evolving and changing. if they do this, they can better reflect on the process and grow as a professional. once entering the post-doctoral world, the new doctor continues to transform. i have found the transformational learning theory especially helpful in describing this. transformation does not end with graduation but defines every new development and evolution that one undergoes as one grows as a doctor. by embracing the doctoral experience as one of transformation, i have been able to continue to consciously evolve and transform in my post-university life and will continue to do so. by examining the doctoral journey as one of transformation born through community engagement, discourse and reflection and strong research and time management strategies, one can become successful not only within the confines of the university and its program but afterwards as well. global journal of transformative education (2024) vol 4 contreras & bedford, transformative nature of graduate education 30 references alexander, p., harris-huemmert, s., & mcalpine, l. 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(2017). authenticity, relevance, and connectedness: graduate students’ learning preferences and experiences in an online reading education course. the internet and higher education, 32, 80-86. doi:10.1016/j. iheduc.2016.10.002 1 elizabeth contreras (econtreras@dccd.edu) is a professor in the school of law and public service at dallas county college, dallis, texas, usa. 2 laurie bedford (lbedford@ncu.edu) is a professor in the department of education at northcentral university, denver, colorado, usa. authors contreras & bedford, transformative nature of graduate education https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/1360144x.2013.817333 https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/1360144x.2013.817333 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/s1475158519303509 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/s1475158519303509 https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/s11528-018-0308-3.pdf https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/s11528-018-0308-3.pdf https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/s11528-018-0308-3.pdf https://www.researchgate.net/profile/maureen-coady/publication/307893770_editor's_notes/links/5f919cfc299bf1b53e3d46b3/editors-notes.pdf#page=45 https://www.researchgate.net/profile/maureen-coady/publication/307893770_editor's_notes/links/5f919cfc299bf1b53e3d46b3/editors-notes.pdf#page=45 https://journals.healio.com/doi/full/10.3928/0148-4834-20011001-06 https://journals.healio.com/doi/full/10.3928/0148-4834-20011001-06 https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/14703297.2015.1058720 https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/14703297.2015.1058720 https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/14703297.2015.1058720 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/s1096751618300903 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/s1096751618300903 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/s1096751618300903 https://www.researchgate.net/profile/kathleen-king-4/publication/222545395_educational_technology_professional_development_as_transformative_learning_opportunities/links/5accd1a80f7e9b1896542da1/educational-technology-professional-development-as-transformative-learning-opportunities.pdf https://www.researchgate.net/profile/kathleen-king-4/publication/222545395_educational_technology_professional_development_as_transformative_learning_opportunities/links/5accd1a80f7e9b1896542da1/educational-technology-professional-development-as-transformative-learning-opportunities.pdf https://www.researchgate.net/profile/kathleen-king-4/publication/222545395_educational_technology_professional_development_as_transformative_learning_opportunities/links/5accd1a80f7e9b1896542da1/educational-technology-professional-development-as-transformative-learning-opportunities.pdf https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/074171369804800305 https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/0158037x.2018.1532405 https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/0158037x.2018.1532405 https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/0158037x.2018.1532405 https://www.dkgnj.org/uploads/2/2/3/1/22313516/2020_jour_86-5_theevolvingnatureofschooling.pdf#page=17 https://www.dkgnj.org/uploads/2/2/3/1/22313516/2020_jour_86-5_theevolvingnatureofschooling.pdf#page=17 https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/0741713611402046 https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/0741713611402046 https://d1wqtxts1xzle7.cloudfront.net/53926494/authenticity_relevance_online_swaggerty_broemmel-with-cover-page-v2.pdf?expires=1663780362&signature=t9v0rargznkfl3fwmf4jba5wj0sqvvejdadj3ar-twxzdd4gkz0qfl8pmxqsmal~zhnhnp6f6yjacuwenghwzdsjvkcok5m774-p9q0djqzdl2n6enrvwnwdlhd4vfw0avbeb87ybchvuk30ti9yvwxvee7yi5wk1yswcdidumixwuv8pgx5ap9piqdxs3k4hamc1n10bvz4-ubdnurub-8sb-awstwh9uqcy89mlqmnno44d1jixp1gtdx~wwd5fnutdlzova67se68gpf1ezk2t6ywsswr2egguler0qw0qzdkhgqfkaiuummvam7q4uqh4sjxpylhgpqi8taqxq__&key-pair-id=apkajlohf5ggslrbv4za https://d1wqtxts1xzle7.cloudfront.net/53926494/authenticity_relevance_online_swaggerty_broemmel-with-cover-page-v2.pdf?expires=1663780362&signature=t9v0rargznkfl3fwmf4jba5wj0sqvvejdadj3ar-twxzdd4gkz0qfl8pmxqsmal~zhnhnp6f6yjacuwenghwzdsjvkcok5m774-p9q0djqzdl2n6enrvwnwdlhd4vfw0avbeb87ybchvuk30ti9yvwxvee7yi5wk1yswcdidumixwuv8pgx5ap9piqdxs3k4hamc1n10bvz4-ubdnurub-8sb-awstwh9uqcy89mlqmnno44d1jixp1gtdx~wwd5fnutdlzova67se68gpf1ezk2t6ywsswr2egguler0qw0qzdkhgqfkaiuummvam7q4uqh4sjxpylhgpqi8taqxq__&key-pair-id=apkajlohf5ggslrbv4za https://d1wqtxts1xzle7.cloudfront.net/53926494/authenticity_relevance_online_swaggerty_broemmel-with-cover-page-v2.pdf?expires=1663780362&signature=t9v0rargznkfl3fwmf4jba5wj0sqvvejdadj3ar-twxzdd4gkz0qfl8pmxqsmal~zhnhnp6f6yjacuwenghwzdsjvkcok5m774-p9q0djqzdl2n6enrvwnwdlhd4vfw0avbeb87ybchvuk30ti9yvwxvee7yi5wk1yswcdidumixwuv8pgx5ap9piqdxs3k4hamc1n10bvz4-ubdnurub-8sb-awstwh9uqcy89mlqmnno44d1jixp1gtdx~wwd5fnutdlzova67se68gpf1ezk2t6ywsswr2egguler0qw0qzdkhgqfkaiuummvam7q4uqh4sjxpylhgpqi8taqxq__&key-pair-id=apkajlohf5ggslrbv4za https://d1wqtxts1xzle7.cloudfront.net/53926494/authenticity_relevance_online_swaggerty_broemmel-with-cover-page-v2.pdf?expires=1663780362&signature=t9v0rargznkfl3fwmf4jba5wj0sqvvejdadj3ar-twxzdd4gkz0qfl8pmxqsmal~zhnhnp6f6yjacuwenghwzdsjvkcok5m774-p9q0djqzdl2n6enrvwnwdlhd4vfw0avbeb87ybchvuk30ti9yvwxvee7yi5wk1yswcdidumixwuv8pgx5ap9piqdxs3k4hamc1n10bvz4-ubdnurub-8sb-awstwh9uqcy89mlqmnno44d1jixp1gtdx~wwd5fnutdlzova67se68gpf1ezk2t6ywsswr2egguler0qw0qzdkhgqfkaiuummvam7q4uqh4sjxpylhgpqi8taqxq__&key-pair-id=apkajlohf5ggslrbv4za abstract storytelling is a universal practice which can be traced back to the beginning of human existence. research on language development indicates that storytelling strategies are beneficial for supporting oral language development in young students (kennedy, 2016). story cubes, used as a reflective, culturally relevant instructional strategy, is highly motivating because they encourage students’ personal, relevant contributions while addressing the language needs of dual language learners. when acquiring a second language, these students face unique challenges in overall acquisition of literacy skills (amodei & strong, 2019). this article describes a study conducted at a trilingual preschool. four preschool teachers and 60 prek students ages 3-5 years participated in the study designed to explore the use of story cubes in their classrooms as a culturally responsive and reflective strategy. accomplished through small and large group engagement with story cubes, researchers collected qualitative and quantitative data using observational field notes, likert scale questionnaire responses and narrative interview transcript responses. keywords: storytelling, early childhood, oral language, culturally relevant strategies, ell/dll, story cubes strong, l. & amodei, m. global journal of transformative education (2024) vol 4 pp 56-63 doi 10.14434/gjte.v4i1.36882 open access published by the global insitutute of transformative education (http://www.gite.education) © strong & amodei. 2024. open access this journal is distributed under the terms of the creative commons attribution noncommercial nonderivative 4.0 international license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction without revision in any non-commercial medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the creative commons license, the impact of story: one preschool’s experience using story cubes as a culturally relevant oral language strategy laura strong1 and michelle amodei2 full listing of authors and contacts can be found at the end of this article. miss ana takes a colorful object out of the basket and rolls it on the carpet in front of the thirteen preschoolers in her trilingual classroom. they lean forward expectantly, waiting for the cube to stop tumbling so they can see which side faces upward. “love”, miss ana whispers softly, crossing her hands over her heart. the children wiggle around and scoot closer to inspect the brightly colored hearts on the top of the cube. “how can you show someone you love them?” miss ana asks, observing the thoughtful gazes and raised hands. “give them a million presents!” emilio shouts. “tell them ‘i love you,’” nedra adds. after a few more children volunteer to share their experiences, miss ana rolls the cube again. this time, the upward facing facet depicts a different emotion: “scared”. “what is another word for scared? was there a time when you felt scared? can you tell us a story about that?” miss ana prompts. amir states anxiously, “when i thinked there was a monster in my closet, i said to my dad to come and get it out...”. one by one, students share stories describing their emotions, including “excitement” and “happiness”. the teacher ends their sharing time by promising to use the cubes again later, after snack time. oral stories, like the ones in the vignette above, have been shared universally across cultures for centuries, regardless of social class, languages spoken, or knowledge and skills of the people. sharing stories has been essential to the development of humankind as far back as can be traced by historians (del negro & kimball, 2021; zipes, 2012). storytelling encourages both receptive language learning (listening and understanding) and expressive language learning (gesture and talk). it provides an opportunity for language learners to develop listening skills prior to production of expressive language, and then offers a low-stress environment in which to practice oral language (bateman, et al, 56 strong & amodei, the impact of story 57 2017). it is well-established that oral language skills in a person’s first language (l1) are a significant contributor to the development of second language (l2) knowledge and skills (tabors, 2009). young dual language learners (dll), therefore, face specific challenges when learning a second language because their home language is not yet fully developed. teachers of young dll students must possess and implement a variety of instructional tools that are meaningful, engaging, culturally responsive, tactile, and have the capacity to allow students to make personal connections. theoretical framework two theories the theoretical lenses through which this study is framed include culturally responsive pedagogy (ladson-billings, 1994) and transformative learning theory (mezirow, 2003). according to the literature (lynch, 2016), culturally responsive pedagogy is a student-centered approach to teaching and learning. this theory aligns with pedagogical approaches which seek to empower students through strategies which include “concepts that are related to the personal interests and experiences of students” (howard, 2010, p.4). as outlined in the culturally responsive elements of teaching (howard, 2010), the first principle states that “students are affirmed in their cultural connections” (p. 4). teachers serve as the “cultural liaison” between students’ cultures and the school’s culture. teachers are tasked with building a “communication bridge” by which equitable opportunities are made available to students and fosters development of bicultural citizenship (howard, 2010). fusing both the elements and strategies described as culturally responsive pedagogy, the participants (teachers) in this study were able to use storytelling and story cubing strategies to support building that communication and cultural bridge for dual language learners. teachers and students mutually benefitted from the implementation of these studentcentered strategies. the second theoretical framework’s central construct includes reflection, a critical component of transformative learning theory (mezirow, 1990). though his original work focuses more on adult learning, mezirow (1990) posits “the most significant learning experiences…involve critical [reflection]— reassessing our own orientation to perceiving, knowing, believing, feeling, and acting” (p. 13, as cited in taylor, 2017, p. 77). in this study, teachers implemented storytelling and story cubing strategies which targeted these specific opportunities for students. the practical activity of reflecting on their own individual orientations to their cultures, their worlds, their beliefs, and feelings provided outlets of expression, oral communication practice, and connections to their peers and the classroom community. young dual language learners who faced challenges due to language barriers improved oral language skills embedded in the reflective storytelling and story cubing approaches. oral traditions oral traditions exist in every culture around the globe. in many african countries, elders pass along the stories of their ancestors through weekly tribal meetings. youngsters eagerly anticipate their role in the stories they have become familiar with hearing and look forward to the chance to be included in the performances (tuwe, 2016). in several latino communities, students are taught very early the importance of remembering and maintaining the heritage of their people. through storytelling, families share the rich culture and traditions of historically significant events and triumphs they have faced. these stories are woven into the fabric of their lives (mccabe, 1997). these cultural practices are significant components to the modern, developmentally appropriate, early childhood classroom because they are a natural motivator, and complement a culturally responsive pedagogy. mcadams (1996), explains that “stories create a shared history, linking people in time and event as actors, tellers, and audience” (p. 28). young dll students benefit from opportunities to practice oral language, and engaging in storytelling activities is one meaningful way to provide this practice. second language learning young students who are learning a language in addition to their native one will develop needed language and literacy skills differently from their peers who are not learning an additional language. most often, students who are three years of age and older learn a second or additional language through the process of sequential acquisition (tabors, 2009). sequential acquisition of a language occurs when a person already has a dominant home language. the process of learning that new language will be different than exposure to a native language from a young age, particularly in the area of vocabulary skills and interpersonal communication (hammer et al., 2014). the use of storytelling strategies global journal of transformative education (2024) vol 4 58 global journal of transformative education (2024) vol 4 can be highly effective for learning new vocabulary, understanding new contexts, and according to isik (2016), help students to feel connected to their social environment. the ability to create stories or narratives plays a significant role in a dll’s language acquisition because they enable those social connections students need in classroom settings (demir & goldin meadow, 2015). sorting through the complexity of second language acquisition in the early childhood classroom can be made easier when there is an intentional focus on encouraging young students to practice speaking and listening in both l1 and l2 (limlingan et al., 2020). when students have opportunities to practice oral language in both their home and emerging languages, they are at a distinct advantage as they progress into elementary school where the cognitive demand is higher as they are expected to read and write with fluency in their acquired language (tabors, 2009). research indicates that when young students can create and articulate narratives competently, they are more likely to experience future academic success (kennedy, 2016). to this end, teachers of young students need strategies that are engaging, meaningful, and flexible to support students in creating and sharing their narratives about a variety of topics and themes. story cubes as an instructional strategy story cubes offer teachers and students multiple ways to engage in language development that is interactive and meaningful. storytelling using cubes is highly motivating because the student’s contributions are personal and relevant. in the seminal educational work by montessori with young learners at the turn of the twentieth century (as cited in stapleton, 2014), the use of hand-held objects allowed them to excel and learn language. educators who provide their students with such manipulatives and hands-on learning experiences are really helping to reinforce concepts and instruction that is delivered visually and auditorily (copple & bredekamp, 2009). the benefits of story cubes as a storytelling tool are wide-ranging. they are an effective, creative tool used by educators to serve a variety of students and purposes, especially by educators who subscribe to constructivist learning approaches in early childhood classrooms. from all linguistic and cultural backgrounds, students benefit from the broad possibilities story cubes offer. al-hazza and bucher (2008) believe that story cubes, which are based upon arab students’ literature, can help bridge the gap between cultures. according to golsteijn and den hoven (2013), communication can be strengthened by photo cubes, which is a variation of story cubes. townsend (2011) wrote that rory’s story cubes has become one of the most popular games purchased on amazon. other products, such as: roll-a-story, foam story starter cubes, wooden blocks, and wipe-off marker/foam blocks are available from multiple sources. simply searching a few key words online will yield several sources where these items can be accessed or purchased. research questions two questions guided the research study: 1. in what ways can story cubes enrich the oral language development of dual language learners (dlls), ages 3-5 years? 2. how can teachers implement story cube strategies to mediate the relationship between dlls’ social engagement and experiential story telling practice to increase oral language production? methodology participants because the study required a linguistically diverse population, demographic location was a primary consideration for choosing this population to sample. located in a diverse, urban area, each of the 4 classrooms consisted of approximately 85% dual language learners. four female teachers, one of whom was bilingual in spanish and english were the respondents to the study. four pre-k classrooms in a trilingual urban preschool were the sites of the study, within which 42 students, ages 3-5 years, engaged with story cubes. research design this triangulated mixed-methods study was designed by equally weighting both quantitative and qualitative data concurrently (gay et al., 2006) to determine how preschool teachers at a trilingual early childhood program use story cubes as a language development tool with their dll students, and to assess the effectiveness of these practices. the quantitative tool used was a five-question survey using a 5-point likert scale (appendix a). additionally, qualitative data were collected using three open-ended questions (appendix b), and a template for observational field notes (appendix c) collected by two principal investigators. teachers received resources on strategies for using story cubes with their students, and the researchers spent time in their classrooms observing activities that strong & amodei, the impact of story 59 included using them. teachers were supplied with materials including cube templates on card stock and booklets with suggested activities and instructions for use of the cubes. procedures co-investigators conducted a preliminary overview and training with a group of six preschool teachers and the director of the school, four weeks prior to data collection. the training booklet consisted of eight suggested strategies designed by the co-investigators and grounded in research for developmentally appropriate practice with young language learners. teachers were encouraged to choose a few strategies or feel free to implement their own creative ideas using the story cubes. site approval for collecting data was obtained prior to visiting and observing the four preschool classrooms. of the six, four preschool teachers agreed to include the use of story cubes as part of their small and large group activities. permission was granted in writing by the participating program for the principal investigators to observe and collect photographs and field notes while students engaged in the activities. on two separate occasions occurring four weeks apart, co-investigators visited the classrooms to observe teachers implementing strategies and preschoolers engaging with the story cubes. co-investigators collected observational data through field notes as preschool teachers and students interacted with the story cubes and engaged in various storytelling activities. teachers were given a list of suggested activities for engaging with students in story cubes; however, teachers were also encouraged to be creative and implement original uses. a standardized template served as an observational protocol tool; this was used by each investigator to increase inter-rater reliability. following each field observation of data collection, principal investigators conducted in person interviews with preschool teachers. the interviews consisted of 5 likert scale questions which measured the degree of satisfaction for increasing oral language production using the story cubes. additionally, three open-ended questions were asked which prompted teachers to provide narrative descriptions of their experiences. measures, data collection, & analysis familiarization of the data from field notes and narrative interview transcript responses enabled the researchers to code the qualitative data and identify emerging themes to conduct thematic analysis of the data. quantitative results obtained from the likert-scale questionnaire were also used to reinforce the relevance of identified themes. co-investigators tested the hypothesized model in which storytelling cube implementation mediates the relationship between engagement with social and experiential hands-on storytelling practice and oral language production. data analysis principal investigators combed through multiple data sources. familiarization of the data from field notes, and narrative interview transcript responses enabled the researchers to code the qualitative data and identify emerging themes to conduct thematic analysis of the data. qualtrics was utilized to summarize qualitative data from interviews; additionally, this software was useful in synthesizing quantitative results. quantitative results obtained from the likert-scale questionnaire were also used to reinforce the relevance of identified themes. findings the likert scale results indicated teachers’ high regard for the use of the cubes with a range of 3 to 5 on individual statements with 1 being ineffective and 5 being highly effective. in addition, analysis of open-ended questions resulted in preliminary thematic threads: 1. increased engagement of students. 2. more complex use of oral language. 3. heightened social connections among students and teachers. 4. intentional use of open-ended prompting that enhanced oral language production. open-ended interview questions yielded insightful responses from the preschool teachers’ experiences. t1 indicated that intentional teacher prompting seemed to encourage an increased amount of oral language production. specifically, she mentioned that dual language learners who were usually more reluctant to speak had global journal of transformative education (2024) vol 4 strong & amodei, the impact of story 60 an increase in production when using the emoji cubes strategy. also, more complex use of oral language was linked to teacher prompting with story cubes. t2 described students’ resulting oral language use as, “… using more background knowledge when describing”, and that they moved beyond “yes or no” answers when viewing pictures on the cubes. overall, all teachers indicated an increase in the engagement level of the preschoolers, noting that some strategies using the cubes were more “popular” than others. in addition to the strategy highlighting emotions, students told stories about “community helpers” such as firefighters, police officers, doctors, etc. and demonstrated an increase in social connections as a result. conclusions and discussion overall, principal investigators observed multiple positive outcomes. students were engaging in oral language with increased frequency. students interacted with peers and teachers to share creative stories, built communication bridges, and reflected on the world through their own unique cultural lens. as teachers reflected on the implementation of the culturally responsive strategies, they indicated they enjoyed using the story cubes, and students were highly engaged. consistent results across data collection methods indicated that students benefited socially from engagement with others as they participated in the story cube activities, and that oral language production was increased as they participated in the reflective storytelling and story cube activities. while data analysis revealed emerging themes of increased engagement, complex use of oral language, increased social connections and intentional teacher-prompting which resulted in increased oral language production, the researchers believe further investigation is needed that considers language learners of varying ages from infancy through elementary school-aged students, and additionally, utilizes larger sample sizes. due to limitations of the study, such as small sample size and individual location which contributes to lower generalizability of results, the researchers are confident that a larger sample size at multiple locations could improve validity and reliability of study results. possible implications for future study include increasing the number of participants, selecting both rural and urban locations for comparison of implementation and outcomes, and developing an observation protocol which measures preand postoral language production as part of the quantitative measurement. the goals of this study were to learn how the use of story cubes could benefit young dual language learners and how their teachers could implement those culturally responsive strategies. throughout this project, researchers not only documented benefits of oral language usage, but also gained new insights to the multifaceted ways in which young students in the observed classrooms were able to make enhanced social connections with their peers and teachers. story cubing strategies show potential for impacts on young students’ language development, but also for their social/emotional growth. based upon the study results, researchers believe that providing young students and their teachers with a variety of story cubing strategies will increase oral language usage and provide opportunities to explore culturally relevant, meaningful, creative, and reflective ways of self-expressive communication. references al-hazza, t., & bucher, k. t. 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(2016). the african oral tradition paradigm of storytelling as a methodological framework: employment experiences for african communities in new zealand. in african studies association of australasia and the pacific (afsaap) proceedings of the 38th afsaap conference: 21st century tensions and transformation in africa. deakin university. zipes, j. (2012). the irresistible fairy tale: the cultural and social history of a genre. princeton university press. 1 laura strong (laura.strong@sru.edu) is an instructor in the department of curriculum, instruction & educational leadership at slippery rock university, slippery rock, pennsylvania, usa. 2 michelle amodei (michelle.amodei@sru.edu) is an associate professor in the department of curriculum, instruction & educational leadership at slippery rock university, slippery rock, pennsylvania, usa. authors strong & amodei, the impact of story https://www.ghequityinstitute.com/keynotes/keynote_main.htm https://www.theedadvocate.org/what-is-culturally-responsive-pedagogy/ https://www.theedadvocate.org/what-is-culturally-responsive-pedagogy/ 62 appendix a global journal of transformative education (2024) vol 4 strong & amodei, the impact of story 63 global journal of transformative education (2024) vol 4 strong & amodei, the impact of story appendix b ndiku, j.m., nasongo, j.w., & odero, m a.. global journal of transformative education (2024) vol 4 pp 4-13. doi 10.14434/gjte.v4i1.36656 open access published by the global insitutute of transformative education (http://www.gite.education) © ndiku, nasongo, & odero. 2024. open access this journal is distributed under the terms of the creative commons attribution noncommercial nonderivative 4.0 international license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction without revision in any non-commercial medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the creative commons license, the role of ethics education in the fight against corruption judah m. ndiku,1 joseph w. nasongo,2 & monicah a odero3 abstract education has an integral role in inculcating morality in learners, producing responsible persons who can be trusted to promote the well-being of society. according to julius nyerere, an educated individual is one ready to serve the masses and recognize themselves as part of the society. unless corruption is eliminated within and through the education system, society will continue to be captive of corruption, since it has overlooked the prime duty of imparting knowledge of morals to its citizens, thus resulting in the growth of citizens whose morals are in question. corruption can be dealt with when people come into agreement and understanding of their place, the place of others, and the need to address the common good; that is, public resources. this position paper examined the place of ethics education in secondary school education in curbing corruption in africa. guided by the deontological theory, the authors utilized secondary sources through document analysis where review of related literature on ethics education and corruption was done. the study argues that corruption is a major problem in society and concludes that there is need to fight corruption through ethics education at grassroot levels in schools. it recommended that educators enhance teaching of life skill education that fosters ethical education. keywords: education, ethics, morality, corruption full listing of authors and contacts can be found at the end of this article. ethics and ethics education ethics is a branch of philosophy that involves systematizing, defending, and recommending concepts of right and wrong conduct, often addressing disputes of moral diversity. the term comes from the greek word ethos, which means “character.” the cambridge dictionary of philosophy (1995) states that the word ethics is “commonly used interchangeably with ‘morality’ and sometimes it is used more narrowly to mean the moral principles of a particular tradition group or individual.” ethics is more important than morality in creating a functioning society. according to varkey (2021), ethics is a broad terminology that entails the morals and the effect of moral choices. ethics influences the way we make decisions and the way we perceive things. ethics entails normative ethics which tend to answer the question of moral ethical principles which are just for society. the norms and the ethical variations may occur due to the differences in culture, ethics, and society. the ethical norms are applicable in the areas of specialization and protection of the interest of one in their profession. ethics entails various fundamental principles such as autonomy, justice, beneficence, and no maleficence. the principle of benefice and no maleficence are traceable back to the ancient times of hippocrates. the beneficence branch advocates that the physician has an obligation to act right in the conduct of supporting the patient’s rules of morality and preventing harm to others while no maleficence is the obligation of the physician not to carry any harm to the patient. ethics education entails all educational dimensions and processes directly or indirectly interconnected to the ethical extent of an individual’s life that can otherwise be planned, designed, guided, or monitored with the right educational methods and tools that remain unconscious, unexamined, or unintentional. ethical education’s main focus is on value and ethics promotion in terms of justice, equality, dignity, inclusiveness, and human rights among others as an entity of education to nurture individuals who are respectful in attitudes towards fellow human beings and the society. it is also a form of education that will inculcate its member’s positive character, and reflective and informed moral 4 ndiku, nasongo, & odero, ethics education in fight against corruption 5 judgment that puts individual’s beliefs and values into practice. this is because education is not only an inherently value-laden process but it also enhances its consequences in terms of educational outcomes and relationships formed in the context of education (strahovnik, 2016). ethical education also plays a fundamental role in nurturing individuals who are autonomous, caring, and resilient and who can contribute globally and locally. ethical education strives for the following goals: • to aid ethical thinking, accommodation, autonomy, and responsibility in children and the community at large established in a given educational setting; • to help children examine and understand important ethical principles, ideals, values, and virtues, and to furnish them with intellectual and moral abilities relevant for responsible moral judgment and decision making; • to direct children to examine diverse values, moral justifications that they can merge into guiding unity; • to give direction to children on commitment in values that are recognized and regarded as key aspects of life; • to enable children to overcome any prejudices that may come in their lives at various stages of life, to promote ethical behaviors, for character development among children that will facilitate the ancient ideal of eudemonia and finally for persons to situate themselves into a local and global society (globokar 2018, strahovnik, 2016). the above inclinations of what ethics education was coined in the heart of john dewey that serves as the goal of education in general that sums to form a cultivated and effectively functional valuable judgment or trial to respect with admirable aesthetics, accepted intellectually and approved morally (dewey, 1980). ethical education helps people to formulate values that are relevant to, for, and in their own lives socially. it is also pegged on the deontological theory of ethics which according to immanuel kant states that nothing is good without qualification except a good will, and a good will is one that wills to act in accord with the moral law and out of respect for that law rather than out of natural inclinations. to act ethically therefore should be according to the moral law which is against any acts of corruption. autonomy and justice are the widely used principles of ethics. autonomy is traceable to the philosopher immanuel kant as an acceptable ethical principle (taylor, 2005). the principle advocates that each person has a unique value and purpose and should be given a chance to make rational decisions. autonomy can be applicable in advocating for the moral issues in the society. however, the principle is limiting since it doesn’t give a chance to persons of unsound mind in decision-making. this shows that persons have no right obligation to the decision on their behalf. lack of a person’s decisions on an issue due to the mental or physical disability has a consequence on the practices of the legal determination of the patient. the principle of autonomy can limit decision-making and deny people the right to making their own informed consent decisions. people have a right to be told the truth and their issues are guarded with confidentiality as evident with the health professionals. on the other hand, the justice principle is interpreted as the equity, fairness, and treatment of people in an appropriate manner. in a societal setting, governance is the basis of economic growth. this applies to the family setting, community, institutions, or even the country. if human rights are violated, justice is not served. the main infringe of justice in today’s society especially the developing countries is corruption that is taking away the rights of individuals. in the health sector, for example, justice is applicable in the fair distribution of healthcare resources and equitably in justifiable norms. the ethical principles have contradicting obligations. appropriate application of the principles can help curb the problems faced in today’s society especially corruption. education is a basic human right. ethics education is considered as part of the human right. the purpose of ethics education is not only its study but also mobilizing the knowledge body to develop cognitive ability. the cognitive ability helps individuals apply ethical principles in fields such as economics, medicine, and policy in decision making. ethics education also helps one to develop the critical thinking that helps them to guide their actions in the influence of others. ethics education revolves around one’s moral actions and the ability of one to respond to moral reason. in essence, ethics education plays significant role in the process of becoming human by inculcating cardinal values that strenghthens responsible actions and interactions. corruption and its manifestations in society the word corruption originated from the latin word rumpere, meaning to break or to rupture. the latin word corruptus means consequence of of dishonest conduct or behavior, described as perveted, morally global journal of transformative education (2024) vol 4 6 global journal of transformative education (2024) vol 4 corrupt, and broken. it thus means to break someone or force him or her to change the attitude of a certain principle or former opinion. from latin, corruption is definable in two terms: issues of bribery or damage. corruption is attracting a lot of attention around the world. several attempts have been made to define corruption by different scholars differently. even though it may be difficult to define, it is generally not difficult to recognize when observed. corruption is popularly defined, by the world bank as the abuse of public office for private gain (langseth & stapenhurst, 1997). this, however, is not an indicator that corruption cannot exist in the private sector. applied to large private enterprises, it manifests itself through procurement or even hiring. the abuse of public power is not necessarily for one’s private benefit but it can benefit one’s party, class, tribe friends, and family, among other beneficiaries (kaufmann & siegelbaum, 1996). corruption can be defined neutrally as intentional non-compliance with an arm’s length relationship aimed at deriving some advantage from the behavior for oneself or related for individuals (tanzi, 1995). rendtorff (2009) defines corruption as a controversial, illegal, and unethical because it is an act that goes against or challenges established and well-defined conceptions and laws of justice. it is the use of the government office for personal or private gains (hallak & poisson, 2007). from the definitions, corruption is not a new phenomenon globally. what is new are the ever-mutating forms it is taking and the harm it is wrecking to the prosperity, security, reputation, and integral well-being and survival of our nations. secondly, institutions have been set up and allocated resources to fight corruption, but corruption is getting worse and more widespread indeed, it is endemic. corruption is an outcome of the society (svensson, 2005). it reflects the nature and quality of a country’s legal, economic, cultural, and political institutions. it also indicates the general moral quality of a people and their dominant values and priorities. corruption has diverse effects on economic development and is very dangerous. it leads to a loss of resources. according to the world economic forum, the global cost of corruption is at least $2.6 trillion, or 5% of the global gross domestic product (guteres, 2018). it leads to political instability, poverty and unemployment, high crime rate and insecurity, increased cost of goods and services, increased poverty, injustice, and negative international image. all over the globe, corruption is evident in all sectors of the economy and society even among professionals, for instance doctors, police, and even traders (akdemir & yeşilyurt, 2023). in the institutions of learning, corruption is also evident. teachers take bribes from their students to facilitate the passing of examinations. in the institutions, the issuance of fake certificates and degrees as a result of corruption is also evident. selling educational skills illegally destroys the market and the skilled labour force. many countries exhibit corrupt acts. corruption can be administrative, political, and bureaucratic. administrative corruption is manifested when the politicians are forced to sell their votes to the political parties. administrative corruption occurs when those in administration accept bribes to facilitate tax evasion (hallak & poisson, 2007). for bureaucracy corruption, hiding files or slowing down the investigations is an act of corruption. corruption entails a variety of issues such as funds embezzlement, bribe issuance, and nepotism, among other issues. the acts can be legal or illegal depending on the context. in asia, corruption is defined as unjust and unlawful acts. the acts may include soliciting funds from the public for unjust practices. a boundary can be drawn between the level of corruption ranging from minor issues to more complex issues. major corruption can include ghost workers, wrong tender issuance for the school constructions, supply, and the manufacture of books (hallak & poisson, 2007). parents bribing the school heads to secure their children’s admissions and get promotions to the next grades is a minor form of corruption. corruption is an injustice and classification as a minor or major issue should never be a matter of concern. teacher’s appointments through corruption can delay administration and promote misbehavior. the determination of corruption varies from one state to another. in some countries, the issue of gifts to students in schools or public officers is unethical. they consider it as an act of bribery and punishable by the rule of the law. some societies however accept the act of issuance of gifts for students and bets personal agents. they define corruption as western belief that is in contradiction with reality. they see that a gift of low monetary value does not attract anything in return while that of high monetary value attracts something in return (hallak & poisson, 2007). research indicates that persons share direct variations on what is ethical and what is unethical depending on the environment. the issuance of the gift can be narrowed to the education centers of learning, some argue that a teacher offering private tuition is unethical while some can ndiku, nasongo, & odero, ethics education in fight against corruption 7 argue that it is ethical. the quantification of the claim is justifiable by the ultimate end of the quality of education. therefore, for higher education institutions, private tutoring can be considered a legal act. if students who fail to meet the required grades are offered private tuition by the higher education institutions through their funding then the case is ethical. omar (2005) avers that the trend of the corruption rate is more prevalent in african countries than the western countries, with asia having the highest rate of corruption. as years progress the rate of poverty in asia declines while that in africa increases rapidly. the increase in corruption rate in africa is to blame for the high rate of poverty. in a report by transparency international (2015), growth for the rich is seen to be increasing while that of the poor declining. corruption makes citizens lose the trust of the political parties and even leaders. lack of trust raveges learning institutions. if children are permitted to cheat in their exams, the higher institutions of education will lack trust in the credibility of the grades the students attain. research shows that kenya is one of the countries where bribery is likely to be issued. kenya is ranked as one of the most corrupt countries in the world. in 2022, it was ranked at position 123 out of 180 countries of the world (annan, 2022). the level of bribery is shown to have risen as the years progress. the level of bribery increase shows that those who cannot afford to bribe cannot attain services and the basic amenities in life. according to odinga (2004), the level of bribery in parliament requires a commission for the disposal. if the mps are corrupt and they are the key holders of the budgetary determination mandate, then the cost of living is likely to rise and children from poor families will not get the chance to have funding from the government for their studies. adverse examples of corruption cases in kenya have been categorized into five by mohamed noor (2018). the goldenberg scandal which he states to be a long-lasting saga between 1991 and 1993 where goldenberg international company owned by a kenyan tycoon businessman kamlesh pattni, would export jewelry and then get compensation from the central bank of kenya for foreign exchange earnings. from the look of things, this scandal cost kenyan taxpayers money around us dollars 600 (bbc news, 2004, cited by noor, 2018). the anglo-leasing scandal came second involving a public procurement deal, a two-decade scandal with a series of corruption sagas in it. this scandal involved a series of dubious international financial transfers that related to government security contracts among other corruption cases. the third was the national youth service scandal that suffaced between 2015-2017. here, officials discharged various contracts of procurement to companies but never delivered even though full payments were disbursed to each company. the fourth was the rio games scandal in 2016 when the spirit of kenyan athletes for the rio olympic games was shattered when money that was meant for their catering and comfort was stolen. there was also overpricing of return air tickets for the players. lastly, kenya experienced a national cereal and produce board scandal that was affiliated with no genuine transaction records or receipts . with this and to blind kenyans, the government of kenya tried to react to these cases in court battles but the perpetrators were left free. the cases are still ongoing with no desirable fruits. this has resulted in mistrust of the government by the public. these are some of the cases of high-level corruption cases reported in kenya. from the above assertions, corruption has adverse effects not only on the government and institutions but also on the society at large. it has led to unfavourable economic conditions, political instability, poverty and unemployment. among the citizens, according to mohamed noor (2018), corruption has led to crime and insecurity, increased cost of goods and services, increased poverty, injustice and negative international image. role of ethics education in the fight against corruption the purpose of ethics education in general, is to build values and develop the knowledge, skills, and attitudes necessary to shape students’ civic stance against corruption (cam, 2016). the key to successfully fighting corruption is to change the culture among the young generation. globally, corruption is an area of interest that has persisted to exist despite several attempts to stop it. the united nations office on drugs and crime (unodc) is trying to lead the anti-corruption academic initiative (acad), which is a collaborative project that seeks to encourage teaching and research of anti-corruption issues by institutions of higher learning. the initiative acts as a central hub for anti-corruption education worldwide. its role is to bring together professors globally and regionally offering free online resources on possible mitigation online. the unodc has also fought for “education for justice” that seeks to control crime and promote a culture of legitimacy through education activities at all global journal of transformative education (2024) vol 4 ndiku, nasongo, & odero, ethics education in fight against corruption 8 levels of education. it is therefore believed that this will help the next generation better understand vices of illegality and how best to overcome them. this however has not put forth or clearly shown the need and role of ethics education in curbing corruption. the world economic forum estimates the global cost of corruption is at least $2.6 trillion, or 5 percent of the global gross domestic product (guteres, 2018). the un convention, for example, emphasizes the need for being transparent and accountable for the actions that we undertake. the call for the eradication of the bribe issuance and receiving gives individuals equal opportunities to acquire education. education being the social equalizer helps society to understand appropriate acts and thus enables them to have a clear understanding that corruption is an act of injustice to human rights. if children are denied the rights to acquire education since they cannot bribe, the whole cause of humanity is triggered. in rwanda, the government has a mandate to promote accountability and transparency. the advocacy for transparency is an act of human rights (sikhosana & nzewi, 2019). it helps bridge the gap of corruption and the possible loopholes that can be incurable in society. analysis of the cash flow and the fiscal budget helps eliminate the issuance of bribes since no money is left to be looted withoutbeing traced. enforcement of transparency and accountability will release the much needed resources to the targeted development projects and help limit the poverty levels in the society. a corrupt free society gives all children equal opportunities in the educational centers of learning and eradicating poverty. the effect of corruption ranges from the individual, society, and country up to the global perspective. in nigeria for example, the effect of corruption is deeply rooted in the society affecting its individual (okunlola & obadare, 2016). the effect of corruption manifests from the economic perspective to the educational systems. corruption being a global problem affects the citizens of various nations leading to the reduction in the moral fabric with the inclusion of academia. however, corruption is common in the underdeveloped or the developing nations. according to okunlola and obadare (2016), the world bank report showed that the economies of the developing countries are more prevalent with corruption cases. nigeria as an example shows high levels of poverty among the citizens with only a few individuals meeting their basic needs. the employers not being able to meet the employees needs such as salary payments and students’ ability to access education due to the poor facilities is a manifestation of the corruption depth. generally, corruption has adverse effects in any society. some scholars have discussed various aspects and effects of corruption in various fields such as the economy and education. they however assert that even a small incidence of corruption can become dangerous to the normal functioning of the society and any institution of learning (dreher & herzfeld, 2005). indeed a corrupt education system is the beginning of all problems to the society. for example, if students cheat in exams, the outcome is production of poor skilled personnel who cannot deliver in the economy as well as making the job market flooded with mediocrity and underperformance. the lack of qualified personnel makes it difficult to enhance economic productivity. in a more corrupt society or institutions of learning, there exists a moral dilemma. individuals in such environments tend to collaborate in matters of corruption and as such, nobody can stand still in promoting ethics education (hallak & poisson, 2007). ethics education plays a vital role in non-materialistic costs of corruption which is dangerous in the erosion of democratic values, human rights, and freedom which in turn may lead to the loss of human lives. ethics education should hence be enhanced in all centers of learning ranging from the basic educational institutions to tertiary instituitions to generate a morally upright society. though this might be a tall order, it is the way to go in the process of training the mind of all children from their formative stages in life. like many other countries, kenya is one of the countries immensely affected by corruption. in the fight against this vise the country has developed institutions that are responsible for its eradication. there exists an approach of a legal and institutional framework through the enactment of laws and the establishment of institutions to fight this menace. for example, the ethics and anti-corruption commission (eacc) has yielded some positive breakthrough towards the fight against corruption. there has been also an attempt by transparency international kenya (ti-k) to initiate integrity clubs for students in ethical and integrity learning in schools (2015). this has been made possible by supporting and strengthening the activities of 80 integrity clubs across the country. however, only three counties were taken care of; 30 in trans-nzoia county, 29 in kisumu county, and 21 in kwale county to improve discipline and responsibility among students. all global journal of transformative education (2024) vol 4 ndiku, nasongo, & odero, ethics education in fight against corruption 9 this however hasn’t brought much positive change and the emphasis on ethics education as a criterion to curb corruption is imperative. the initiatives being made through the educational reforms as the country embraces competency based education and introduction of life skills and fanning of moral education of values will impact the lives of the future generations. however, as it is now the little or no effort in the reduction of corruption cases can be attributed to the fact that some people who should serve as examples in society are the perpetrators of the vice. kadida (2016) in his study ascertained that the chief justice and the president of the supreme court of kenya was reported to have confessed that corruption networks in kenya have penetrated even oversight institutions that are tasked with the role of fighting corruption. this in itself is an indication that there exists little moral leadership in kenya at the top most the hierarchy which is expected by the public to be independent of such vices. this has pushed the need for a paradigm shift in the implimetation of life skills, values and moral education espoused in the competency based education from the norm which is the ethics education perspective to addressing ethics through the multiple learning dimesions: formal, informal, and non-formal processes to bring about ethical reasoning and virtue formation. the educational reforms instituted through the competency based education in kenya have made progress in a number of ways. there is the mainstreaming of pertinent contemporary issues (pcis) to train the young ones on the evils of corruption in learning areas around global citizenship, life skills and values where life skills, values and moral education are articulated (kicd, 2017). this form of education is an all-round system that requires contribution from all dimensions. the school being a formal institution that acts as a foundation where teaching and learning of all kinds can easily be executed remains the most ideal place for ethical values to be incurlcated now and in the future. the several constructive activities that take place during teaching and learning in a formal setup creates a fertile ground for the transmission of ethical education in all aspects of life during and after childhood. this includes learning through association, imitation, and interaction. if utilized well at this stage of life to its learners, there is a likelihood to produce citizens who are sound and responsible for their various actions in life, the workplace, and in society at large. it is hoped the initiatives through implimetation of competency based education will impact the student soft skills to navigate daily issues of life with ease. ethically grounded persons from school will shun and condemn acts of corruption regardless of the influence they may encounter in the line of duty. the continuous education or creation of awareness on corruption helps to mitigate the possible ways for its elimination. understanding that corruption is a form of injustice is the first ethical way for its eradication. ethics education in itself is an enemy of corruption since corruption requires individuals to perhaps take bribes for them to be served in any organization or institution. this form of education requires the same individuals to practice what is right and shun away from wrongdoing by all means regardless of the good things that come with it. the application of educational ethics will demand more transparency from the organizations be it vertical or horizontal. ethics underscores doing what is right and instils the the will to speak against the vices in society, corruption included. the determination of its effects also drives the push for the anti-corruption commissions to help fight the vice. ethics education enhances the awareness creation of the benefits of good morals such as good governance accompanied by transparency. it is in the same vein some civil society organizations, advocate for the fight against the corrupt practice. international civil society calls for transparency that enhances the good governance of its member states around the globe. the perception of the corruption index rate produced annually makes the member states debate on the issues regarding corruption. despite, the lack of trust in the annual reports need for transparency by countries is no issue to bargain as the issue of corruption is hitting up. the address of corruption by countries helps investors build trust in a certain country and facilitate its eradication. reinforcing what governments and civil society do to fight against corruption through ethics education will to a great extent contribute to sustaining the war against corruption. theoretical foundation of ethics education to eradicate corruption the underpinning theory encompassing the discussion in this paper is the deontological theory of moral obligation. the word deontology derives from the greek words for duty (deon) and science (or study) of (logos). in contemporary moral philosophy, deontology is one of those kinds of normative theories regarding which choices are morally required, forbidden, or permitted. in other words, deontology falls withinthe domain of global journal of transformative education (2024) vol 4 ndiku, nasongo, & odero, ethics education in fight against corruption 10 ational institutions concentrated on academic excellence fanned by the push for good academic grades at the expense of morals and values training sometimes effectively achieved through informal and nonformal learning. ethics education content concerning corruption ethics define the principles that morally control someone’s behavior in any activity. ethics is a philosophical branch that revolves around the analysis and concepts of moral interactions that helps identify the right or wrong. the ethical analysis helps us define ethics education which aids in the determination of pedagogical requirements through the analysis and conceptualization of behavior morally. ethics education aims to assemble a knowledge body for its purposes rather than only studying ethics. teaching ethics in schools helps children approach the life challenges they encounter. educational ethics is considered a human right because it aids in making people free. according to dewey, the introduction of democracy in teaching helps in the application of new methods in teaching and teaching (dewey, 1980). in education, four major ethical considerations takes the center of the pedagogical training. the ethical considerations include truth, dignity, act of fairness, and freedom. the ethical issues help one to grow with self-responsibility of determining what is right and what is wrong. dignity and truth dignity in ethics education is defined as the respect for human dignity (parandeh, khaghanizade, mohammadi, & mokhtari-nouri, 2016). students need to respect everyone including the younger ones. this is not only applicable to the students alone but also the teachers to respect others regardless of their ethnic background, age, religion, and opinions, and treatment of people justly. dignity and ethics education are strongly related and they can help regulate corrupt practices. on the other hand, truth aims at regulating the teachers’ activities by helping them steer the students to move through life activities and environment for others. truth helps in transparency, the transparency can range from the government activities to the administrative agencies. transparent administrative ways in the educational centers of learning can help curb the corrupt practices in society. they reduce the ways and channels of corrupt activities. moral theories that guide and assess our choices of what we ought to do (stanford encyclopedia of philosophy, 2024). for deontologists, what makes a choice right is its conformity with a moral norm. such norms are to be simply obeyed by each moral agent. the assumptions in the deontological theory is that society has developed clear rules, laws and norms that define the moral duty of individuals to act right and shun wrongdoing. society employs education to transmit and inculcate morality in children. as such, the contents of moral education and the educational process should ensure that learners have a clear sense of what is right and wrong, good and bad, and be willing to choose right actions. in essence, if education is properly undertaken, then learners will be clear in their minds that corruption is wrong, evil and should be shunned by all. rationale and content of ethics education in combating corruption since education is considered the basic pillar of any society, different stakeholders are actively reinforcing ethics education around the world, for instance, unesco initiated a program in 2004 where it supported its member states in initiating and supporting teaching programs and professional ethics education. this is approached by ten have (2008), in his work addressing the influence of unesco in ethics education programs in schools. also, the european union has encouraged its member states to incorporate ethics education in their school curricula. they stress that students who are equipped with ethical norms at early stages will easily understand that there are diverse conceptions, principles, and perceptions and have an improved ability to substantiate their moral judgments (cam, 2016). in the us, ethics education became part of most us institutions of higher education between 1980 and 2015. over time, ethics education has been attributed to playing a role in enriching students moral capacities and reinforcing community standards (keohane, 2006). ethics education in the us has produced consistent results and has provided structured opportunities for students to develop values associated with morality. traditionally, the african society took upon itself to produce ethically upright generations. after the introduction of formal education, the responsibility of inculcating ethics in children was left largely to schools (mwanzia, 2019). this to a great extent has led to the erosion of the training in morals and values as educ global journal of transformative education (2024) vol 4 ndiku, nasongo, & odero, ethics education in fight against corruption 11 virtues training virtues training entails the lifelong skills that help an individual live rightfully in society through association with others. virtues are related to ethics education as they advocate for rightful practices such as honesty, fairness, and freedom (melé, 2005). fair treatment of individuals stipulates that all people must be treated without discrimination. fair treatment of individuals in society is arrived at fair practices in the school, as the school is a social organization that guides the activities of the society, if students are trained in the right way through virtues training, the students will acquire the rightful skills to employ in their daily dealings with others, through the implication of virtues at a tender age in education, hence, human justice is attained which is also advocated for by human rights. approaches in ethics education to eradicate corruption the approaches in ethics education to reduce corruption include instructional approach. according to mulhearn et al., (2017), instructional approaches in ethics facilitates content delivery, the delivery method, processes, and activities. the instructional method is effective in the acquisition of the skills and knowledge of the learners. the acquired knowledge helps the students acquire appropriate skills that promote heathy living through corruption eradication. corruption is the key element that affects the current society. improvisation of the appropriate ways of its elimination helps equity in society. instructional training helps the learners identify how corruption is carried out. the possible ways of evading them are identified in the instructional training (mulhearn et al., 2017). the use of instructional methods such as video presentations of corruption being undertaken helps students identify the need to be just and practice fairness to others. if a teacher gives illegal marks to a student, for example, the other learners will be offended. the appropriate ways of elimination is through the application of relevant approaches. the second approach to the study of ethics in education is the utilitarian approach. the utilitarian approach seeks that all people in society be treated fairly. it seeks that any action taken should strive to bring happiness to all the people in the society. if the action offends others, then the act should be eliminated. the use of the utilitarian approach in learners’ education helps them learn how to live socially and justly in society. since corruption denies members of the society who cannot practice in the act of injustice fair treatment, they are denied the rights and freedoms of association with other members of the society. instilling of fair practices among learners at an early age through ethics education helps eliminate them. according to armstrong, ketz & owsen, (2003), accounting students can invoke methods of cost to discuss it in varied topics. the utilitarian idea argues that “the end justifies the means,” this argues that people should engage in activities that are beneficial to all. advocating for fair practices helps reduce corrupt practices in society. virtue approach can also be used in ethics education to address corruption. virtues approach aids in virtues development. the method is rooted in the philosophical account for the conduct morally and the aim in education. according to carr & steutel (2005), the virtues approach aims at virtue promotion and instillation to the students. a teacher can practice morality by acting as an example to the students. practicing a good role model is also a way of helping students acquire moral knowledge. if the teacher refuses to receive or issue a bribe, the students will learn that the act is a vice and they should not engage in it. the virtues approach aims at instilling values that are admirable to the learners (carr & steutel, 2005). if students grow up with moral values they will not engage or they will speak out against the vice. the virtues approach can well be addressed by the teachers by introducing it into the school curriculum. the government can chip in by providing the available resources to aid the virtues approach instilled in the learners. conclusion corruption has been found to be a serious challenge globally, internationally, and regionally. the cases of corruption range not only at individual level but also at groups, institutions of learning, and the government at large. several efforts to curb this vice have produced little or no fruits. with the involvement of the government bodies in corruption, it becomes difficult to overcome this vice, however, there is a need to instill ethical education at grassroots levels in schools to produce future generations who are corruption-free and that will be commited to reduce the cases of corruption at all levels. it is due to this that this study sought to analyse the role of ethics education in the fight against corruption. the study was guided by the deontological theory of ethics whose main concern is on how individuals are expected to behave with respect to the moral duties they are entitled to. it is enshrined in the statement, “duty for global journal of transformative education (2024) vol 4 ndiku, nasongo, & odero, ethics education in fight against corruption 12 global journal of transformative education (2024) vol 4 duty’s sake”. meaning that individuals who have encountered ethics education will be obligated to obey rules and laws on the right actions and shun vices like corrupt acts. the sources were extracted from literature with emphasis on secondary sources. the study used document analysis as qualitative paradigm was employed to arrange, locate and assess the information gathered. recommendations the authors recommend the following: there is a need for education stakeholders to foster ethics education in school curriculum. thus ethics education is to be made a compulsory subject in all stages of education. the ethics education process should emphasize the deontological theory of moral obligation such that learners adhere to rules and principles laid down at all times. additionally, ethics education should promote rational reasoning in the way that individuals will critically reflect on how their actions might affect others, undermining their dignity and the common good, and strive to respect fellow humans by shunning corruption. references akdemir, t., & yeşilyurt, ş. 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(2021). principles of clinical ethics and their application to practice. medical principles and practice, 30(1), 17-28. ndiku, nasongo, & odero, ethics education in fight against corruption 1 judah m. ndiku (jndiku@mmust.ac.ke) is an associate professor of educational administration & management at masinde muliro university of science & technology, kakamega, kenya. 2 joseph w. nasongo (jwamoch@mmust.ac.ke) is an associate professor in the department of educational foundations at masinde muliro university of science & technology, kakamega, kenya. authors 3 monicah a. odero (moniodero@gmail.com) is a researcher at masinde muliro university of science & technology, kakamega, kenya.. https://www.theseus.fi/bitstream/handle/10024/169763/corruption%20in%20kenya.pdf?sequence=2 https://irbackend.kiu.ac.ug/server/api/core/bitstreams/404ef951-47d8-4a7d-98f1-c5b23ac25e75/content https://irbackend.kiu.ac.ug/server/api/core/bitstreams/404ef951-47d8-4a7d-98f1-c5b23ac25e75/content https://irbackend.kiu.ac.ug/server/api/core/bitstreams/404ef951-47d8-4a7d-98f1-c5b23ac25e75/content https://plato.stanford.edu/ https://pubs.aeaweb.org/doi/pdf/10.1257%2f089533005774357860 https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/0090591705278397?casa_token=6xxs4mh_alqaaaaa:j3-v1nsvlovla-wi5vz-sfdsb6tw3c0cxhzyts4tf43xrcfmh7gemqrofp74gqlpjpmmyfs-nou https://www.tikenya.org https://www.tikenya.org abstract strategic innovation ecosystems have complex forces for the transformative development of human society through higher education. the sustainability of socio-economic development of cameroon requires a robust national and regional innovation ecosystem in which higher education plays an important role in value and wealth creation. the challenge with cameroon’s higher education is a transition from the traditional rigid bureaucratic system to a more dynamic performance-based management ecosystem that can mainstream resilience and recognise excellence. the study adopted the innovation ecosystem approach to explain the transformative potential of higher education, using correlational research design. we selected nine advanced schools of technology, engineering, and management from public and private sectors across four regions of cameroon, including a purposive and simple random sampling of 370 respondents. spearman correlational ranking tested our three hypotheses. all three hypotheses were significant at pv=0.000 or 95% with the predictive coefficient of 59.7%, 55.8% and 71.3% respectively. we concluded that the transformative potential of higher education is evident through development of technological knowledge networks, innovation/knowledge clusters, and transformative digital governance in enhancing transformative learning. we recommend that higher education institutional leadership should consider these transformative development indicators as institutional benchmarks for higher education quality assurance, responsiveness assessments, and governance practices. these can ensure the emergence of the clustered innovation ecosystems and competitive intelligence at the national and regional university environments that contribute to sustainable socio-economic development of cameroon and africa. keywords: strategic innovation ecosystem, technological transfer, transformative development, fourth industrial revolution, competitive intelligence, strategic institutional governance bafon, j.n., tanyi, a. m., kamdjo, c.v., & djeumeni, m. t. global journal of transformative education (2024) vol 4 pp 64-75 doi 10.14434/gjte.v4i1.36663 open access published by the global insitutute of transformative education (http://www.gite.education) © bafon, tanyi, kamdjo, djeumeni, 2024. open access this journal is distributed under the terms of the creative commons attribution noncommercial nonderivative 4.0 international license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction without revision in any non-commercial medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the creative commons license, the transformative development potential of higher education in the 4th industrial revolution: a strategic innovation ecosystem approach for technological development and knowledge transfer in the 21st century cameroon joel n. bafon,1 adolphe m. tanyi,2 carole v. kamdjo3, marcelline t. djeumeni4 full listing of authors and contacts can be found at the end of this article. introduction the sustainability of socio-economic development in africa requires a robust national and regional innovation ecosystem. higher education plays an important role in mainstreaming the national and regional development agenda through knowledge production and open innovation ecosystems (yan, wang, yan & zhai, 2020). in this light, the challenge with cameroon’s higher education is a transition from the traditional rigid system to a more dynamic knowledge society and value creation ecosystem. over the years, there have been many policy innovations at system level since 2005 leading to new institutional governance (njebakal, & teneng, 2017). however, there exist institutional discrepancies in building a robust institutional knowledge actualisation and crystallisation for higher education innovation ecosystem (fagerberg, 2015). there have been many limitations to research and development in fostering technological innovation and relevant core competencies that respond adequately to competitive leverage of the fourth industrial estate (fagerberg, 2015). the fourth industrial revolution is marked by indicators such as virtual reality, the internet of things, artificial intelligence, and block-chain innovations. these variables have had significant but disruptive contribu64 bafon, tanyi, kamdjo, & djeumeni, transformative development potential of higher education 65 tions to knowledge management, pedagogic innovation, quality assurance and strategic institutional governance in higher education today (igel, ullrich, & kravcik, 2018). the transformative development in education in africa and in cameroon, in particular, requires an endogenous knowledge and competencies built on competitive intelligence as means of guaranteeing new technological transformation for a sustainable and inclusive growth (arbeiter, & buča, 2021). these innovative processes need well-developed pre-incubators, incubators, science parks, clusters and international research collaboration networks in scientific knowledge sharing and exchange (ablaev, 2018). therefore, adopting the cluster innovation ecosystem, transformative digital governance, digital knowledge networks and strategic-competitive intelligence in innovation development and knowledge provide strategic institutional capabilities of higher education to contribution to sustainable socio-economic development of cameroon and africa (bell, 2016). theoretical framework strategic innovation ecosystem “the innovation ecosystem is defined as groups of symbiotically interacting ‘players’ which include companies and other players such as the providers of knowledge, resources, and ‘rules of the game’. it is the companies which constitute the economic ‘engine’ of the ecosystem since they create value for consumer-users, output, and employment.” (fransman, 2014, p. 5). the higher education innovation ecosystem will integrate pedagogical innovation research systems, community development systems, and institutional governance systems. the symbioses of these complex transformative systems provide avenues for knowledge distillation and valorisation (johansen, 2018). according to godin (2015) the early history of the the term “innovation” gives a pejorative connotation to the concept. to him, the term was first used by anthropologists and sociologists, and it has been popularised by economists and the management world. “everyone agrees that innovation is crucial for the performance over time of both companies and countries. however, there is far less agreement regarding two key questions: how does innovation happen? how can we make innovation happen?” (fransman, 2014, p. 5) innovation therefore is an important indicator in the transformative development of knowledge economy through higher education. this concept deals with the creation and development of ideas, products, organisations and quality management (spinoglio, 2015). the implications of globalisation through the development of information and communication technologies demands organisations to be more innovative to be competitive in the local and global knowledge environments (fransman, 2014). in this line, the “strategic innovation” is crucial to aligning organisational processes and ensuring the success of its managerial operations (palmer & kaplan, 2007). bridging the ecosystem and strategic innovation framework will give an organisation a sustainable strategic performance in the organisational management in the disruptive knowledge ecosystem. the university as a non-profit organisation in the 21st century must adapt to new knowledge changes in order to be relevant to its environment. the effective and efficient deployment of resources depends on institutional innovation strategic ecosystems (reichert, 2019). according to kotsemir, abroskin, and dirk (2013), the traditional reading of innovation from the schumpeterian concept see innovation as “a historic and irreversible change in the production of thing and creative destruction.” (p. 4) our faculties and departments still lack the disruptive and creative destruction potential because there are no practical sites for innovation especially from the organisational configuration standpoint. university knowledge production should be able to build an irreversible change that brings values and wealth creation to the community (brennan et al 2014). innovation is the “establishment or enlargement of organisation processes, methods assimilation, and exploitation of novelty” (spinoglio, 2015, p. 5). newness and change are the driving forces of innovation which can be manifested in organisational structures or processes. but when institutions are hostile to innovation, rigidity will continue to plague its effective functioning (lawal, 2017). innovation is also seen as “incremental.” this is the process in which new products emerge. so, as total quality management in educational reforms are built on the strategic innovation, it is then the responsibility of strategic leaders at the corporate level to design the development of strategic innovation (palmer & kaplan, 2014) as well as, foster the development of an innovation ecosystem (reirchart, 2019). these approaches are more pragmatic in skills and competency development. the ecosystem reinforces the university global journal of transformative education (2024) vol 4 66 global journal of transformative education (2024) vol 4 capacity in knowledge production and dissemination and the interconnected knowledge networks and collaboration. the concept of innovation has received varied scholarly attention since the dawn of the 20th century. most scholars used innovation and creativity interchangeably, but from the onset they were never use as related terms (godin, 2015). innovation is perceived by some scholars as an extension or the modification of invention and production of new ideas (godin, 2015). this definition is very applicable in knowledge production and dissemination when it concerns research and development. to improve university teaching, curriculum innovation in africa is key in the production of relevant content and not the duplication of the western norms. lotz-sisitka, (2015) notes that innovations bring competitiveness to the organisation. also, distinctive innovation deals with development and re-engineering of knowledge, content methodologies and approaches, and disruptive innovation. the term also includes assimilation, transformation, exploitation, and translation of new knowledge in the practical context (godin, 2015). “innovation ecosystem as co-innovation networks, in which actors from organizations concerned with the functions of knowledge production, wealth creation and norm control interact with each other in forming co-evolution and interdependent relations (both direct or indirect) in cross-geographical contexts, and, through which new ideas and approaches from various internal and external sources are integrated into a platform to generate shared values for the sustainable transformation of the society.”(cai, ma, & chen, 2020, pp.) alkhanbouli (2022) explored the typology of innovation ecosystems based on the university innovation ecosystem in the united arab emirate universities. the study explored university incubators and research centres with entrepreneurial mentality. in this typology. the research identified six innovation ecosystems: corporate innovation ecosystem, digital innovation ecosystem, city-based innovation ecosystem, high-techsmes centre ecosystem, hyper-local innovation ecosystem, and university-based innovation ecosystem. in the context of cameroon all these typologies of the ecosystem can be applicable. these micro innovation ecosystems are interconnected in building the macro higher education innovation ecosystem. cai, ma, and chen (2020) outlined the overarching framework of higher education and innovation ecosystem. knowledge economy ecosystem, new knowledge and technologies employs an ambidexterity in the exploration and exploitation of knowledge. in the knowledge innovation ecosystem, system relation to the university and economic development are very important. in this way, higher education become a driving engine of economic growth in the macro innovation ecosystem (fagerberg, 2015). tierney and lanford (2016) think that these new trends in public life demands knowledge, innovative frameworks, and social intelligence competences in institutional knowledge management (viviers, saayman, muller, & calof, 2002). yan, wang, yan, & zhai (2020) examined the open innovation ecosystem of higher education. in their research, they suggested that the higher education open system concerns the university capability to create open sources of knowledge that contribute to innovation outcomes. the open innovation ecosystem enhances the flow of ideas knowledge, information and data. the open innovation provides opportunities, efficiency in research transformation and valorisation as well as commercialisation. knowledge-driven innovations in internationalised environment create avenues for the organisational competitive advantage and institutional visibility. the study concluded that the open innovation ecosystem could have a positive effect on the development of higher education. this kind of innovation provides auto-financing strategies and wealth creation opportunities for the universities to fulfill their third mission through knowledge and technological transfer. the research also found that the university innovation ecosystem influences a student’s creative potential as they navigate the innovation ecosystems with creative ideas and exchange avenues (bocket et al 2020). ansgar, bernardo and gerhard (2016) examined the role of innovation in public policy. even though innovation has been perceived as more of a business concept, the concept is well-rooted in public policy and corporate governance. disruptive environmental changes and extensive globalisation informs innovations in public policy. the sustainability and relevance of public policy today relies on the continuous strategic innovation processes in institutional governance. higher education public policy has equally undergone the innovation processes. the knowledge driven fourth industrial estate demands incessant innovative strategies which mutually build strategic innovation ecosystems for the university in the effective implementation of public policy and bafon, tanyi, kamdjo, & djeumeni, transformative development potential of higher education 67 university contribution to national and regional economic development. in the innovation ecosystem, sustainable strategic management is one of the driving forces of imaginative thinking in policy development. in this view, balancing production and governance innovation are some ambidextrous strategies that an institution may harness in order to remain responsive to external environmental exigencies (akin ,2016). vlasov (2021) analysed the influence of massification on internalisation and state funding on higher education on innovation development. the internalisation of funding leads to infrastructural development which can mitigate massification challenges, creativities, and innovative competences for the fourth industrial revolution (nakano & wechsler, 2018). stukalenko, et al, (2016) analysed innovation technologies of learning in the modern education teacher’s professional preparedness. higher education innovation ecosystems enable stakeholders to build clusters and incubators which enhance pedagogic transformative proficiency and professional preparedness for the fourth industrial complex (lawal, 2017). rashidi, azma, sami, and sobhoni (2020) note that universities in disruptive advanced technologies knowledge-based organisations can only adapt to national and regional economies by reinforcing national relation with industries. they set out to develop a value creation university framework based on higher education innovation indicators. they employed exploratory and taxonomical approaches. the result of the study showed that financial and pragmatic strategies have positive effects on university adaptability. also, social outcomes and intra-organisational platforms equally have positive effects. value creation and higher education have positive impacts on institutional change and competitive intelligence (pellissier & nenzhelele, 2013). lappalainen, markkula, and kune (2015) focused on finished construction clusters on building a regional innovation ecosystem. this study involves action research methods, digital modelling, co-development process parallel research, development and innovation, pathfinders, prototype development, radical innovation, human development, and leadership. these are key ecosystem indicators in a knowledge-based economy. in this perspective, brito (2018) explored deeper understanding and the dynamics of the university as a promoter of the development of innovation ecosystems. in this setting, universities are perceived as leaders and integrators into this ecosystem. their contributions are in three-dimensions: knowledge, transformative talent of the university, and university industrial linkage as well as long-term relation strategy. however, the cameroon higher education institutions still need much resource deployment and policy effectiveness for this structural transformation to take place. institutional leadership in higher education in cameroon must consider these new strategic innovation approaches to ensure sustainable structural configuration and system innovation. there is also a need for the integrators of diversity of actors’ resources and competences. from this approach, we urge that the university role in the innovation ecosystem be adaptive, complex, and dynamic in order to ensure sustainable strategic innovation and knowledge valorisation processes. this strategic management dimension can guarantee sustainable social economic development, specifically in cameroon and in africa in general (cabeza-pullés, fernández-pérez, & rodán-bravo, 2020). statement of research problem cameroon, and, in general, africa, are still facing many challenges in embracing the fourth industrial revolution due to the lack of digital infrastructure that adequately ushers in this industrial estate. the consciousness of african governments and higher education institutions is crucial in this direction. this is kind of industrial estate needs a digital technological cluster, a security cluster, knowledge management clusters, and high levels of digital governance to inform decision-making through data analyses. the combination of these variables will morph into a robust strategic innovation ecosystem. therefore, to what extent does transformation potential of higher education from the strategic ecosystemic approaches respond to technological development and knowledge transfer in the emerging fourth industrial complex in cameroon? research objectives i) to examine the relationship between digital technological knowledge networks and transformative learning in cameroon’s higher education. ii) to examine the relationship between innovation/ knowledge clusters and transformative learning in cameroon’s higher education. iii) to examine relationships between transformative digital governance and transformative learning in cameroon’s higher education. global journal of transformative education (2024) vol 4 bafon, tanyi, kamdjo, & djeumeni, transformative development potential of higher education 68 research questions i) what is the relationship between digital technological knowledge networks transformative learning cameroon higher education? ii) is there a relationship between innovation/knowledge clusters and transformative learning in cameroon’s higher education? iii) is there a relationship between transformative digital governance and transformative learning in higher education in cameroon? research hypotheses i) ha1: there is no significant relationship between digital technological knowledge networks and transformative learning in higher education in cameroon. ii) ha2: there is a significant relationship between innovation and knowledge clusters and transformative learning in cameroon in higher education. iii) ha3: there is no significant relationship between transformative digital governance and transformative learning in cameroon in higher education. significance of the study this study is important in that it highlights the current technological and economic changes that are affecting higher education in cameroon. the adoption of an innovation ecosystem approach to explain digital technological knowledge networks, innovation/knowledge clusters, and transformative digital governance demonstrates the importance of these variables in the fourth industrial revolution. this variable addresses the needs of transformative education at the higher education level. it is necessary for universities in cameroon to build innovation ecosystems that will create avenues for wealth and value creation, knowledge management and technological infrastructure, as well as human capital. there is need for continuous development of new skills and competences such that higher education can adapt to the complex-dynamics of digital innovations. research methodology in this study we used the quantitative approach with correctional research design sampling procedures this study was conducted in nine public and private higher education institutions across four regions of cameroon. the target population was students in public and private higher education institutions from four regions of cameroon. these regions include the northwest, southwest, littoral and the centre regions. table 1 presents the accessible population comprised of 10,185 students. the respondents were selected through simple random sampling and purposeful techniques that allowed every member of the target population to be selected. in this regard, research students were more involved in pedagogical, administrative, and research activities. in this study, only colleges of technology and engineering were considered. statistics were drawn from the 2021 higher education annual statistics. we worked with a sample size of the 370 respondents. after administering 435 copies of questionnaires, 370 questionnaires were submitted with a retention rate of 85.52%. therefore, 370 respondents were engaged in the study, of which 224 (60.5%) of the respondents were males and 146 (39.5%) of respondents were females. data collection instrument the instrument used for data collection was a questionnaire that was analyzed to measure the relationships between variables. the questionnaire was operationalised into four sections containing the construct of the study. these constructs had seven items each. after the development of the questionnaire, it was submitted for expert evaluation of content validity, clarity, and coherence were confirmed. we also administered the questionnaire to ten students within the target population of the students at 0.85. the questionnaire was shown to be consistent and reliable for our study. global journal of transformative education (2024) vol 4 bafon, tanyi, kamdjo, & djeumeni, transformative development potential of higher education 69 reliability of the instrument after one month of pretesting the questionnaire, it was redistributed to the respondents. from obtaining the copies of the questionnaires, the responses were computed into the spps software in which we obtained a reliability coefficient stability score of 0.86. the coefficient showed the coherence and reliability of the instrument after recurring tests. data presentation and interpretation relationship between digital technological knowledge networks and transformative learning table 2 shows patterns in respondents’ views on digital technological knowledge networks in higher education in cameroon. the seven items designed to measure digital technological knowledge networks had a mean above 2.5. in the first item, 349 (94.6%) of the respondents generally agreed that “your institution promotes digital collaboration and knowledge networking ecosystems.” the second item shows that 348 (94.1%) of the respondents generally agreed with the statement, “there exists open access to digital knowledge sharing opportunities and talent development in your institutions”. for the third item, 333 (90.0%) of the respondents generally agreed that. “there exist continuous or digital lifelong learning programmes in your institution.” in the fourth item, 321 (86.7%) of the respondents agreed that their institution promotes the development of regional digital knowledge ecosystems. in the fifth item, 224 (60.5%) of the respondents generally agreed with the view that their institution promotes the development of regional digital knowledge ecosystems. the sixth item shows that 277 (74.4%) of the respondents agreed on the opinion that their institution creates an attractive environment for digital investment. finally, in the seventh item, 323 (87.3%) of the respondents generally agreed that there are digital opportunities for the commercialisation of research findings. from the results of the research question one, the majority of the respondents generally agreed at an overall percentage of 84.7% that digital technological knowledge networks have significant relation with transformative learning in higher education with a cutoff mean of 3.1 and with a standard deviation of 2.4, which is above a normal cutoff mean of 2.5. digital technological knowledge networks have significant influence over transformative learning capabilities in higher education. relationship between innovation/knowledge clusters and transformative learning table 3 presents the results from the respondents’ views on innovation/knowledge clusters in higher education in cameroon. among the items are ones designed to assess innovation/ innovation clusters in higher education in cameroon. all seven items had a mean above the normal cut off mean of 2.5. in the first item, 284 (76.8%) of the respondents generally agreed that their institution encourages entrepreneurship and start-up ecosystems. the second item shows that 319 (86.2%) of the respondents generally agreed with the statement, “there are emerging technological-based ventures.” for the third item, 327 (98.3%) of the respondents generally agreed with the statement, “there is accessibility to funding and mentoring in innovative research.” the fourth item indicated that 189 (51.1%) of the respondents agreed that “there are knowledge brokers and accelerators within the innovation clusters.” the fifth item shows that 267 (72.2%) of the respondents generally agreed with the view that “there is the concentration of knowledge and expertise within global journal of transformative education (2024) vol 4 bafon, tanyi, kamdjo, & djeumeni, transformative development potential of higher education 70 global journal of transformative education (2024) vol 4 clusters.” the sixth item shows that 255 (66.9%) of the respondents agreed with the opinion that “there is the concentration of knowledge and expertise within clusters and knowledge clusters have industrial-relevant skills and competences.” finally, in the seventh item, 288 (78.0%) of the respondents generally agreed that “your institution ensures the stimulation of local economic growth through research and cooperation programmes.” for research question 2, findings portrayed that the majority of respondents generally agreed (75.6%) that innovation/knowledge clusters have significant relations with transformative learning in higher education, with a cutoff mean 2.9 and with a standard deviation of 2.1, which is above a normal cutoff mean of 2.5. innovation knowledge clusters have significant contributions towards building a transformative learning capability in cameroon’s higher education. relationship between transformative digital governance and transformative learning table 5 describes respondents’ perceptions on transformative digital governance in higher education in cameroon. in the seven construction items to measure transformative digital governance, six of the seven items have means above 2.5 which is a normal distribution. in the first item, 275 (74.3%) of the respondents generally agreed that there is availability up-to-date and quality digital infrastructures in their institutions. the second item shows that 187 (50.5%) of the respondents generally agreed with the statement that “there is effective steering of electronic management systems in the internal management processes.” for the third item, 218 (64.3%) of the respondents generally agreed with the view that their institution fosters data analytics for informed digital decision making. the fourth item, 213 (80.3%) of the respondents agreed that there are facilities for content personalisation and mobility. in the fifth item, 253 (68.4%) of the respondents generally agreed with the view there is online dashboard/ or portal for institutional change management. the sixth item shows that 288 (87.8%) of the respondents agreed on the opinion that there is a digital framework for transparency and accountability in institutional management performance. in the seventh item, 276 (74.6%) of the respondents generally agreed that there exist digital collaboration and engagement in soliciting feedback, ideas and suggestions for the best institutional management performance. drawn from the results of the research question three, the majority bafon, tanyi, kamdjo, & djeumeni, transformative development potential of higher education 71 global journal of transformative education (2024) vol 4 of the respondents generally agreed at an overall percentage of 71.4% that transformative digital governance has a significant relationship with transformative learning in cameroon higher education with a cut off mean 2.8 with standard deviation 1.87 which is above a normal cut off mean 2.5. transformative digital governance has significant contribution in building transformative learning capabilities sin higher education. table 5 presents respondents’ views on transformative learning capabilities in cameroon higher education. based on the items designed to measure this variable, all the 7 items have a mean which is above the normal cutoff mean of 2.5. this implies that the respondents generally agreed on the importance of transformative learning in cameroon’s higher education in the fourth industrial revolution. in the first item, 298 (81.2%) of the respondents generally agreed that there is a higher need for an open knowledge sharing process. the second item shows 286 (77.3%) of the respondents generally agreed with the statement that “continuous curriculum development and innovation is a requirement in knowledge transfer.” for the third item, 260 (70.3%) of the respondents generally agreed with the view that project-based and experiential learning approaches foster knowledge creation. the fourth item, 253 (68.5%) of the respondents agreed that problem-solving and strategic thinking competences promote the development of products. in the fifth item, 168 (61.6%) of the respondents generally agreed with the view that knowledge resources mobilisation enhances efficiency in knowledge development and transfers. the sixth item shows that 310 (83.7%) of the respondents agreed on the opinion that strategic monitoring and evaluation ensure quality and incremental innovation. in the seventh item, 315 (85.2%) of the respondents generally agreed that the creation of effective communities of practice facilitate knowledge transfer. the findings of the of the dependent variable shows that, the respondents generally agreed at an overall percentage of 75.4%. more so, all the items designed to measure transformative learning in cameroon’s higher education with a cutoff mean of 2.8 with a standard deviation of 2.04, which is above a normal cutoff mean of 2.5. this implies that higher education stakeholders should foster transformative learning capabilities in higher education. hypotheses testing h01: there is a significant relationship between digital technological knowledge networks and transformative learning in cameroon’s higher education. h02: there is a significant relationship between innovation/knowledge clusters and transformative learning in cameroon’s higher education. h03: there is a significant relationship between transformative digital governance and transformative learning in cameroon’s higher education. table 6 shows a significant correlation between digital technological networks and transformative learning capabilities in higher education in cameroon. (r=0.597, p = 0.00, =0.005). the correlation coefficient signifies that a unit increase of digital technological networks influences transformative education capabilities at 59.7%. therefore, the spearman’s rank correlation coefficient suggests that an improvement in digital technological knowledge networks will lead to an exceptional increase of transformative education capability in cameroon’s higher education. institutional managers should strive to promote the development of digital technological networks by means of boosting transformation in learning. table 6 also shows the correlation between innovation/knowledge clusters and transformative education bafon, tanyi, kamdjo, & djeumeni, transformative development potential of higher education 72 global journal of transformative education (2024) vol 4 capabilities in higher education in cameroon. (r=0.558, p=0.00, =0.005). this implies that there is statistically significant relationship between innovation/knowledge clusters and transformative learning in cameroon’s higher education. the spearman correlation coefficient signifies that innovation/knowledge clusters impact transformative learning capability in cameroon’s higher education correlated at 55.8%. therefore, the spearman’s rank correlation coefficient indicates that an incremental unit of development in innovation knowledge clusters should yield a corresponding increase in the transformative education in capabilities in cameroon’s higher education. the third block in table 6 shows the correlation between transformative digital governance and transformative education (r=0.713, p=0.00, =0.005). there is a statistically significant correlation between transformative digital governance and transformative learning in cameroon’s higher education. the correlation coefficient means that transformative digital governance has an influence on transformative learning capability in education at 71.3%. therefore, the spearman’s rank correlation coefficient reveals that the effective implementation of transformative digital governance may lead to an extraordinary impact on transformative education capabilities in cameroon’s higher education. discussion digital technological knowledge networks digital technological knowledge networks have an important role in cameroon’s higher education in knowledge transformation and economic growth. the findings of the study revealed at the level of descriptive statistics that the respondents generally agreed at 84.7% on the different measurements of technological knowledge networks (reirchart, 2019). these findings were shown to corroborate sivasankaran and karthikeyan (2021). this signifies that the promotion of digital collaboration and knowledge networking ecosystems, open access to digital knowledge sharing opportunities, talent development, continuous or digital lifelong learning programmes, institutional promotion of the development of regional digital knowledge ecosystems, and an attractive environment for digital investment are indispensable in the sustainability of an institutional technological knowledge network and transformative learning capabilities in higher education in cameroon (sivasankaran & karthikeyan, 2021). also, the inferential statistics revealed that digital technological knowledge networks have a significant relationship with transformative learning in cameroon’s higher education with a predictive coefficient of 59.7%. our study corroborates with akan (2020) which focused on developing hyper-local innovation ecosystems (yan, wang, yan, & zhai, 2020). findings demonstrate that higher education in the regionalisation and decentralisation processes work with regional and local authorities in developing a robust and completive innovation ecosystem. findings also show that digital technological knowledge networks in the innovation ecosystem will facilitate value creation (cai, ma, & chen, 2022). therefore, higher education has a transformative potential in the emerging fourth industrial revolution. innovation clusters innovation/knowledge clusters in higher education stimulate entrepreneurial initiative and build a robust innovation ecosystem. from our findings, innovation and knowledge clusters have a significant relationship with transformative education capabilities in bafon, tanyi, kamdjo, & djeumeni, transformative development potential of higher education 73 global journal of transformative education (2024) vol 4 cameroon’s higher education. this relationship affects transformative learning capabilities at 55.8%. clusters and incubators are the building blocks of a national and regional innovation ecosystem. higher education institutions are motors that drive these ecosystems through innovation production and dissemination (reirchart, 2019). these results show the positive effect of innovation clusters on knowledge and competences development (yan, wang, yan, & zhai, 2020). therefore, entrepreneurship and start-up ecosystems, emerging technological-based ventures, accessibility to funding and mentoring innovative research, knowledge brokers and accelerators within the innovation clusters, concentration of knowledge and expertise within clusters and industrial-relevant skills, competences and the stimulation of local economic growth through research and cooperation are indispensable indications of innovation clusters in the micro-meso-macro innovation ecosystems. these findings are supported by bocket et al, 2020. to further confirm these innovation ecosystem benchmarking indicators, the descriptive statistics show that 75.6% of respondents generally agreed that innovation/knowledge clusters have a significant relationship with transformative learning in higher education in cameroon, which is above a normal cutoff mean. innovation knowledge clusters have significant contributions towards building a transformative learning capability in cameroon’s higher education (sivasankaran & karthikeyan, 2021). knowledge and innovative cluster promote knowledge and technological transfer (bocket et al, 2020). transformative digital governance the integration and sustainable appropriation of transformative digital governance strategies is central to transformative education capabilities in the fourth industrial revolution in cameroon’s higher education. the findings of our study reveal that transformative digital governance has a predictive coefficient of 71.3%. these results implied that, availability of up-to-date and quality digital infrastructures, effective steering of electronic management systems, internal management processes, data analytics for informed digital decision making, content personalisation and mobility, online dashboard or a portal for institutional change management, a digital framework for transparency and accountability in institutional management performance and digital collaboration, and engagement in soliciting feedback, ideas and suggestions for the best institutional management performance are key digital governance assessment methodology indicator(vlesov, 2021). the development and provision of digital infrastructures in an institution of higher education improve efficiency and cost-effectiveness in the institutional resource-based management. moreso, the respondents generally agreed at an overall descriptive score of 71.4% that digital transformative digital governance has a significant relationship with transformative learning capabilities in higher education. transformative digital governance strategies will foster tremendous transformative learning capabilities in higher education (lotz-sisitka1 et al, 2015). digital governance indicators in higher education are primordial in shaping research development, pedagogical innovation, knowledge flows, and institutional steering for quality assurance and community outreach (brito, 2018) conclusions this paper evaluated the relationship between transformative development in the fourth industrial revolution and transformative education capabilities in cameroon’s higher education as a means of fostering technological development and knowledge transfer for the strategic innovation ecosystem approach. at a more in-depth level, the paper focused on digital technological networks, innovation/knowledge clusters, transformative digital governance, and transformative education capabilities. the strategic innovation ecosystem theory demonstrated that higher education is a major stakeholder in the leading national and regional innovation ecosystems through decentralisation and regionalisation in cameroon’s higher education (reirchart, 2019). the promotion of digital collaboration and knowledge networking ecosystems in the community and at inter-university levels fosters ecosystem development, open access to digital knowledge sharing opportunities just as talent development creates transformative communities of practice, and continuous or digital lifelong learning programmes. these also foster entrepreneurship and start-up ecosystems, emerging technological-based ventures, and accessibility to funding and mentoring innovative research. knowledge brokers and accelerators are innovation opportunities that build students’ communities and create a competitive knowledge environment, as well as promote excellence in research and development. further, they offer developing data analytics tools for informed digital decision making, harnessing contentpersonalisation and mobility frameworks. also crucial bafon, tanyi, kamdjo, & djeumeni, transformative development potential of higher education 74 global journal of transformative education (2024) vol 4 are an appropriation of online dashboard/or portal for institutional change management, a digital framework for transparency and accountability in institutional management performance pragmatic digital approach to transformative education. we therefore conclude that higher education knowledge and innovation practices from an exosystemic approach have indispensable contributions to transformative education in cameroon’s higher education. consequently, institutions of higher education must develop transformative digital governance, technological knowledge, and benchmarking frameworks to ensure continuous improvement, sustainability, competitiveness, visibility in knowledge production, and commercialisation in cameroon’s higher education (njebakal, & teneng, 2017). recommendations policies makers and institutional administrators should consider concentrating investments on technological infrastructures that pay attention to the realities of the emerging fourth industrial estate while equipping human resources with digital capabilities through knowledge networks and innovation clusters that create a competitive leverage for universities in the global knowledge society. also, providing students with up-to-date digital tools resources which are fundamental to the formation of the responsive human capital is a crucial component. that said, effectiveness, efficiency, transparency, and equity of institutional governance also depend on the appropriation and crystallisation of digital technology into a university management system. this digitalised infrastructure will facilitate data analytics, which could greatly contribute to informed decision-making in higher education. institutional administrators must continuously improve their knowledge infrastructures and network ecosystems for a transformative education. new perspective this study focuses on technological knowledge networks, innovation and knowledge clusters, transformative digital governance in higher education in the emerging fourth-industrial revolution. a future study has the possibility of extending the research to artificial intelligence (ai) and its implications in transformative education in africa or in cameroon’s 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(2020). internal and external coordinated open innovation ecosystems: concept building and applying to shanghai zizhu international education park. journal of open innovation: technology, market, and complexity, 6(4), 113. 1 joel n. bafon (bafonnshom@gmail.com) is a doctoral student in the department of curriculum and evaluation at university of yaounde i, yaounde, cameroon. 2 adolphe m. tanyi (tanyiadolf@yahoo.fr) is an lecturer in the department of didactics at university of yaounde i, yaounde, cameroon 3carole v. kamdjo (carole.kamdjo@fse-uy1.cm) is a doctoral student in the department of curriculum and evaluation at university of yaounde i, yaounde, cameroon. authors 4marcelline t. djeumeni (marcelline.djeumenictamabe@ yahoo.fr) is an associate professor, h.tt.c, at university of yaounde i, yaounde, cameroon. bafon, tanyi, kamdjo, & djeumeni, transformative development potential of higher education https://www.athensjournals.gr/sports/2018-1-x-y-igel.pdf 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https://scholar.google.com/scholar?output=instlink&q=info:rgepw-foqyuj:scholar.google.com/&hl=en&as_sdt=0,15&scillfp=17682712855549347981&oi=lle https://scholar.google.com/scholar?output=instlink&q=info:rgepw-foqyuj:scholar.google.com/&hl=en&as_sdt=0,15&scillfp=17682712855549347981&oi=lle https://scholar.google.com/scholar?output=instlink&q=info:rgepw-foqyuj:scholar.google.com/&hl=en&as_sdt=0,15&scillfp=17682712855549347981&oi=lle kamdjo, c.v. & ngamaleu, hrn. global journal of transformative education (2024) vol 4 doi 10.14434/gjte.v4i1.36662 open access published by the global insitutute of transformative education (http://www.gite.education) © kamdjo & ngamaleu, 2024. open access this journal is distributed under the terms of the creative commons attribution noncommercial nonderivative 4.0 international license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction without revision in any non-commercial medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the creative commons license, market orientation for a contextualized professionalization of higher education in africa: state of art carole vanessa kamdjo1 & henri rodrigue njengoue ngamaleu2 abstract market orientation is a managerial philosophy governing the behavior of all actors in an organization to create greater value for the benefit of all stakeholders. considered in the field of education, this managerial culture presupposes questioning and involvement of the various stakeholders (students, companies, university competitors, etc.) allowing consideration of educational actions for the benefit of all these actors. the professionalization of teaching has been one of the major challenges of african educational systems for several decades. to meet this need, african governments have imported several education systems, the latest of which is the bachelor-master-doctorate (bmd) system. we aim in our paper to posit that africa was not ready for a world uniformization of diploma as bmd subsystem implemented. in this review of the literature, we compare publications to present the concept of market orientation, its conception in higher education and how it can be used to achieve goals of contextualized professionalization, using the thirty glorious years and that of china’s period of industrialization to support understanding. this review finds that implementation of a marketoriented culture can allow higher education to offer a response adapted to the expectations of society through five points summarized as 1) orientation toward policy-makers; 2) enterprises orientation; 3) competition orientation; 4) teachers and students orientation; 5) inter-functional coordination. keywords: market orientation, professionalization of teaching full listing of authors and contacts can be found at the end of this article. introduction the professionalization of higher education is a need for africa’s governments independence. it could help to link education to economic needs and reduce poverty. for education systems, professionalization will help to enhance external effectiveness of higher education. professionalization of programs can improve the graduates’ outlook in the job market. to achieve the goal of professionalization, higher education has imported several educational systems, the latest and currently used being the bachelor-master-doctorate system. this system aims to professionalize higher education and its effectiveness remains mixed, as demonstrated by many authors. indeed, the reforms have taken place, but do not achieve the expected results in terms of improving employability (bouba, 2014), enhancing personal and professional qualities (bomda, fozing and mgbwa, 2022) or even the overall situation of unemployment and underemployment (avom & nguekeng, 2019). criticisms against this system have been made in other countries on the continent, notably in algeria (ghouati, 2022) and senegal where its cancellation is being considered. this inadequacy is seen in an increasing underemployment rate. indeed, according to economists, sub-saharan africa remains the region of the world most dependent on its agricultural sector, but the low competitiveness of traditional agriculture and struggle for access to natural resources have contributed to accelerating the massive continuous migration of peasants towards the cities (nkuitchou, 2022). this is why african cities have seen their population multiply by more than ten times during the 20th century (banque africaine de développement [bad], 2020). this strong mismatch between the need for skills and the quality/level of education has harmful effects on employment conditions (bad, 2020) and consequently on economic growth. the objective of this article is to propose some axes for building and implementing a higher education 14 15 system that meets the contextual needs of the economies of african countries. to achieve this, the author’s research group has developed a documentary analysis that allows them to specify the definition of the concept of professionalization adapted to higher education, return to the conceptualization of the concept of market orientation and subsequently detail the axes of structuring and implementing a system of professionalization of higher education in a market-oriented logic. without the pretension of completeness, at different stages, they enlighten their objectives by using two examples: the thirty glorious years and the china experience. conceptual framework the meanings taken by the word “professionalization” closely depend on the conditions of its appearance and its use (wittorski, 2008; boussard, 2014; ghouati, 2022). the authors retain three specific meanings. firstly, it concerns the professionalization of an activity understood as “the process by which an activity becomes a liberal profession driven by an ideal of service” (wittorski, 2014, p. 16). secondly, comes the professionalization of training or employment, which consists of promoting the development of knowledge and skills through processes of learning, acquisition and development of skills that transform a learner into a professional (wittorski, 2012; boussard, 2014). finally, comes professionalization understood as the evolution of an organization or a function (functional service) of the organization towards the production of organized and efficient work through the development of the flexibility of people at work (wittorski, 2012). this last typology is based on current developments within organizations which are: work planning; the transition to a logic of results; as well as the transition from a centrally controlled system to a certain decentralization of responsibilities. in higher education, the authors mostly retain two conceptions of the professionalization concept. firstly, the professionalization of the teaching activity consists of giving the teaching activity the character of a profession. secondly, the professionalization of training consists of creating a link between training and the labor market (abdourhaman, 2018, ghouati, 2022). professionalization of teaching activity the professionalization of teaching activity is inspired by the work of sociologists who were first functionalists, then interactionists and finally conflictualists on the dynamics of professions (abdourhaman, 2018). according to the latter, “professions” present a certain number of criteria such as autonomy, peer control, the ideal of service and a higher degree of university education. the contemporary issue of teacher professionalization arises from a manifest desire to recognize the long-scorned teaching body. but does the tribute to teaching activity really comes with the temporary professionalization revolution? the tribute to the teaching profession is very old. it goes back almost to the depths of human civilization. historically justified initially in the satire of khety’s satire of the trades written around 1940–1900 bce. the teacher is described as an official and high dignitary of the egyptian kingdom (marshall, 2016). the aim of education was to train “scribes” who could subsequently specialize in various fields such as medicine, veterinary science, architecture, mathematics, astronomy, theology, law, painting, diplomacy, or translation (mounier-kuhn, 2020). however, the authors demonstrate that this profession subsequently deteriorated when it reappeared in greece between the 16th and 18th centuries as part of protestant reforms and catholic counter-reforms. mainly carried out by women, the teaching activity is then linked to a certain vocation, a subjective impulse through which we feel called to fulfill an essential mission: that of teaching. the lack of training for these candidates was justified by the promotion of feminine virtues such as love of children, devotion, obedience, and the spirit of service and sacrifice. the working conditions of a profession were not there either. women teachers were required to fulfill their mission regardless of their material condition, even in the most miserable conditions. developments in teaching activity in western history will also be initially marked by the rise of the first public and secular school networks and the integration of teachers into the public service. normal schools are created and gradually become compulsory (tardif, 2013). the “age of the profession” corresponds to the constitution of a professional identity of the teaching body, perceptible by external signs such as the training, swearing-in, solemn presentations of diplomas, special outfits, etc. (maingari, 1997; abdourhaman, 2018); but also perceptible by internal methodological rigor such as the definition of a pedagogical profile of the teacher as well as the definition of a knowledge base for the teaching profession (tardif, 2013). thus, the meaning of the professionalization concept in the logic of the global journal of transformative education (2024) vol 4 kamdjo & ngamaleu, market orientation for professionalization of higher ed in africa 16 global journal of transformative education (2024) vol 4 professionalization of teachers is mainly inspired by the definition of a professional group. it is indeed a question of changing the status of teaching from a trade to a profession as in the anglo-saxon sense. this evolution implies a university education of high intellectual level, the definition of a scientific and specific knowledge base allowing teachers to be considered as pedagogical specialists (tardif 2022), as well as professional autonomy, or at least recognition, both legal and social, that the professional is best positioned to decide on the actions one must take in any professional situation (wittorski, 2014). professionalization of training the conception of professionalism of training in higher education comes to complete the conception seen before. indeed, among the criticisms made of higher education to demand its professionalization, its external effectiveness figures prominently. the current variation of professionalization suggests aligning traing training with employment. in a narrow vision, this conception would reflect the idea of “professional training” (boussard, 2014; wittorski, 2014) and in this logic, professionalization would use teaching as it would have used other organizations involved in training. however, in a more globalizing vision, and especially in connection with the problem of external inefficiency of higher education, it is rather a system for promoting employment responding to the social quest of states to fight against unemployment, underemployment and, by extension, poverty (abdourhaman, 2018) supposed to link training to a specific need of the labor market. in other words, professionalization conceived as a particular system for promoting employment, can be conceived on the one hand as the implementation and acquisition of a base of skills (knowledge, know-how and interpersonal skills) by learners (vocational training) or elsewhere in a more global way as a mechanism for regularizing education in order to produce graduates in quantities and numbers useful to the economy of a given region. by summarizing, two complementary concepts emerge from what precedes the professionalization of teaching activity as a process of revalorization the profession of teaching and the training professionalization as a mechanism for improving the external efficiency of the higher education system. we use these conceptual bases to analyze articles and works relating to the implementation of the concept of market orientation in higher education. our basic hypothesis is that the impimplementation of market orientation would indeed provide better operationality to the professionalization process. methodology the context described above led us to undertake qualitative review of the literature based on the analysis of a series of articles and books. the authors suggest that africa was not ready for a world uniformity of diploma as a bmd subsystem implemented. in professionalization of higher education, many african countries need to link higher training to political and economic needs. the authors also aim to support the professionalization goals of african countries. as a profession, educators need to construct a higher education subsystem that is market oriented. to verify this claim, the authors use a data collection and analysis strategy which is explained in this section. data gathering the authors have previously constituted a corpus of text to study relating to the synthesis of the concept of market orientation to provide a synthetic presentation. the authors then deepened the research by bringing together as many documents as possible relating to the adoption of market orientation in higher education. this research has mainly extended over the past ten years, providing the most updated information on the subject. but also, this choice is dictated by the relative recency of the use of the concept in higher education even if the literature reveals however that the implementation of the related techniques was introduced to higher education much earlier. as readers need to have more information about the educational subsystem for economic growth, the authors end chose some documents relating to the economic growing in some other regions in the world especially during “the thirty glorious years” and the china experience. data analysis we submitted all the documents to a content analysis by proceeding to a complete reading of each document beforehand to determine the objectives and results obtained when it was a scientific study (article), but also, to determine the quintessence of the conceptual evolutions on the subject through the book chapters. the researchers share their interpretation of the patterns in the literature as they relate to implementation of market orientation in higher education. kamdjo & ngamaleu, market orientation for professionalization of higher ed in africa 17 market orientation and its implementation into higher education the concept of market orientation finds its foundations in the work of kohli and jaworsky (1990) and narver and slater (1990). it is then considered as “the implementation of the marketing concept” (kohli & jaworsky, 1990, p. 5). the latter designates “a philosophy which postulates that the long-term profitability of a company is better ensured by focusing its activities on satisfying the needs of the consumers who make up one or more target segments” (p. 5). thus, its initial conceptualization is based on three essential dimensions: customer orientation, competition orientation and inter-functional coordination (narver and slater, 1990). however, the concept of market orientation differs from that of traditional marketing in the sense that the concept of traditional marketing is solely customer-oriented and is generally confined to the marketing department, while the concept of market orientation is oriented towards the key players in the market and is seen as a cross-cutting culture that challenges all company functions at all hierarchical levels (khan, khan & rafique, 2023). initially made up of the components of customer orientation and competition orientation in its founding definitions, reflections on market orientation will be based on fundamental theories of organizations such as stakeholder theory and agency theory in order to evolve towards the birth of two new theoretical propositions. firstly, the question of the consideration of dimensions of market orientation was reconsidered by the progressive integration of all the stakeholders of the organization (bugandwa, 2013), secondly, the market orientation has been understood from its foundation as an organizational culture solely guided by a principle of defensive management (ngatno, 2019). this translates into a reaction to the non-completely satisfied needs of customers. however, organizational performance strategies will also translate into anticipating competitive decisions and forecasting markets (schulze, townsend & talay, 2022). the integration of a proactive logic and by extension of an offensive management, thus makes it possible to define the concept of market orientation in a more complete and more structured way. this is why the concept of market orientation will be defined more globally like a managerial philosophy governing the behavior of all actors in an organization for the creation of greater value for the benefit of all stakeholders (khan, khan & rafique, 2023). a pure transposition of the market orientation model from the for-profit field (customer orientation, competition orientation, inter-functional coordination) to higher education raises great controversy. however, several studies have simply limited themselves to it (hammond, webster, & hammond, 2020), while others have still made a real adjustment to take into consideration the specificities of the education markets in general and especially in the higher education field. the authors will first proceed with a presentation of the criticisms brought to a pure transposition of market orientation in higher education to better support the concept, before succinctly presenting the implementation model they support for market orientation adapted to higher education. criticisms of pure transpositions of market orientation to higher education the criticisms made of the transposition of market orientation into an educational context are of two complementary orders and stipulate that teaching has no commercial scope; therefore, the student cannot be considered a customer. the first criticisms of the importation of techniques and tools from commercial companies to educational institutions consist of the consideration that educational institutions would be considered more as non-profit institutions and therefore non-market (dwyer, 2022). a non-profit organization can be defined as an organization established for altruistic, moral, social, educational, religious, philanthropic, health, etc. purposes and whose activities must not provide any economic advantage to its members and donors. it can be safely said that heis falls under the non-profit sector since educational institutions in general and especially higher education institutions (heis) serve the public good. the second criticism arises from the fact that in market orientation considerations, the students are generally assimilated to the customer. this consideration is recurrent in anglo-saxon works due to the high tuition fees that completely cover the cost of education (e.g.: webster, hammond and rothwell, 2017). however, most students and practitioners in french-speaking countries reject this consideration for two reasons. the first is conceptual and clearly poses the question: “is the ‘customer’ concept semantically the right one to design students?” (bugandwa, 2013, p. 70). drawing on stakeholder theory, supporters of market orientation in higher education will conceptualize a more digestible model adapted to higher education. global journal of transformative education (2024) vol 4 kamdjo & ngamaleu, market orientation for professionalization of higher ed in africa 18 this managerial culture presupposes the questioning and involvement of various stakeholders (students, companies, universities competitors, public policy etc.) (dwyer, 2022), allowing planners to think about educational actions for the benefit of all these actors (bugwanda, 2013; hammond, webster, & hammond, 2020). actions can follow by cross-functional coordination which ensures the dissemination of resolutions and the creation of synergies within educational institutions (mokoena, 2019). these practices are described by the expressions such as student-driven, competition orientation, enterprises and investors orientation, orientation towards policymakers, cross-functional coordination and responsiveness (bugwanda, 2013; dollinger & vanderlelie, 2020). thus, a good implementation of a market-oriented culture makes it possible to generate an educational system that meets the envisaged contextual need. in this part we briefly present what each of the approaches to market orientation refers to according to the current literature and for each we have taken care to verify its application in the two economic growth models chosen as examples. namely in particular the period of the thirty glorious years and the chinese growth experience. orientation towards policymakers orientation towards policymakers is supposed a perfect correlation between the needs of economic growth plans and educational goals (dwyer, 2022). firstly, the literature generally gives fundamental importance to the donors of non-profit organizations such as the government and government agencies, volunteers, etc. the public authorities, as the main financial provider of heis, it is important presumably to consider their interests which are generally of a societal nature. in the medium term, the objective of higher education must be centered on the production in number and quality of graduate profiles corresponding to the planned needs of the economy. indeed, according to the authors of the theory of human capital, we must invest more in education to stimulate and converge toward long-term growth (moulin, 2022). in addition, public investment in education is accompanied by other positive effects since more educated people are healthier and have a longer life expectancy. the french and canadian experience of the thirty glorious years period (1945-1975) shows an “economization of higher education.” a “welfare state” was quickly formed in both countries (doret & manifet, 2017; bongrand, 2021). indeed, according to the authors, it is a matter of “promoting education as a lever for economic policy.” in france, we are witnessing vast transformations in higher education, marked first by the democratization of higher education, which was once elitist. this “democratization” is thus inseparable from the economization of the educational institution. in fact, the reform attempts to adjust the structures and operating methods of the public education service to the anticipated evolution of needs for qualified personnel. it is in this perspective that the berthoin decree of january 6, 1959, the official kick-off of the reform, urges “investment to full benefit” in school, presented as an instrument capable of converting “human expansion” of the baby boom in “economic expansion 21” (bongrand, 2021). this movement led at the end of the 1960s to the equating of training with employment in administrative nomenclatures. the more recent chinese experience (1980 to the present) is not an exception, in fact professional higher education has become “a pragmatic strategic choice which aims to take into account the main national characteristics”. the government ensures its management and promotion. to this end, we note the launch of the construction of 100 professional higher education establishments in 2006 following a decision by the state council. training is therefore oriented by the planning of the economy, and its design with industrial and commercial players as co-actors. (yang and lin, 2016). indeed, professional higher education constitutes an exceptional alternative to higher education. it even tends to replace the latter by displaying an access rate of more than 50% of all national students in 2020 and constantly increasing. student-driven or student orientation students’ orientation will be defined as the degree to which universities try to consider the current and latent needs of their students (current and potential, and in a more extensive sense, their parents). consistent with the malcolm baldridge criteria for education and based on the roles stated above, this orientation implies both the learning process and students’ satisfaction. students are the most cited stakeholders in the literature (eg: bugandwa, 2013; hammond, webster, & hammond, 2020; dollinger & vanderlelie, 2020; muya, & tundui, 2023). they play a vital and complex role in the existence and functioning of higher education institutions (hammond, webster, & hammond, 2020). first, students constitute the raw material when they are admitted to higher education. educators should then global journal of transformative education (2024) vol 4 kamdjo & ngamaleu, market orientation for professionalization of higher ed in africa 19 use training and practice to produce well-trained and virtuous citizens. at this level, students’ satisfaction is not a valid measure, because the end customer is society (public and private companies, educational institutes, hospitals, etc.). thus, customer orientation applies here is not for the student but to other stakeholders who intend to use the students’ skills (aghajari, & varij, 2023). furthermore, students are actors in learning and co-producers of knowledge because they combine their efforts with those of the institution and those of the trainers to produce a particular finished product themselves (dollinger & vanderlelie, 2020). in addition, they participate in the training process through their skills, and through the training previously acquired, and through their diligence. from the previous analysis, the complexity of the role of students in their relationship with higher education institutions clearly emerges. however, it has the advantage of showing us that student orientation takes on meaning in higher education and can be conceptualized both in terms of students’ satisfaction and in terms of improvement of learning (meia, stumpf, & garessus, 2021). little attention paid to students’ requests reflects an asymmetry between training staff and learners (serres, escalié and magendie, 2019). according to the literature, everything suggests that student orientation was not a priority for higher education systems during the “thirty glorious years” period. one of the justifying reasons can be found in the fact that the revolution in professional training was first carried out by young people, particularly in the departmental circles of young farmers aged 15 to 30 for whom young people must become apostles of knowledge, that is to say, “make training desirable” (bongrand, 2020, p 40). knowledge is then considered by the latter as the pivot of tomorrow’s agriculture. indeed, according to the chinese vocational training system, a modern vocational training system is not only one aligned with economic development but also one that “prioritizes student-centered development” (yang and lin, 2016, p. 148). however, this trend is quite recent, since around 2016, the training system was previously centered on the national strategy for balanced development. it therefore initially relied on the regional growth policy, the industrialization plan as well as small and medium-sized businesses in rural areas or booming activities in thirdand fourth-tier cities (jiang, 2015). enterprise orientation the role of companies in heis is perceived according to the literature in three main points: they are the first users of higher education products (training and research). they can be considered clients of these institutions through research contracts and lifelong training (aghajari, & varij, 2023). they are players in training thanks to internships in companies and the growing development of professional sectors which require their expertise. thus, relations between higher education establishments and businesses go beyond simple financial relations, which means that companies are considered undeniably important stakeholders (bugwanda, 2013). for the two examples of development illustrated in this work, business orientation is an important dimension of professionalization in higher education. during the “thirty glorious years,” the transformation of the social role of school and the functionalization of the latter resulted firstly from increased investment on the part of industrial and agricultural circles (bongrand, 2020). for companies in the 1950s, it was then a matter of integrating the “training within industry” principle from the american economy. this principle is the basis of current life-long training. in china, businesses are the second pillar of vocational training after national development policy (jiang, 2015). in 2014, president xi jinping reiterated this again in these terms: “we must continue the integration of production and education, cooperation between enterprises and establishments, the combination of work and study and the unity between knowledge and action, but also lead the community, especially industries and enterprises, to actively support vocational training and strive to build a vocational training system with chinese characteristics.” (yang and lin, 2016, p. 149). competition orientation the opening of education to the private sector as well as the globalization of education have brought with them the birth and growth of the concept of competition within higher education. educational paths for an increasingly large proportion of students include an experience abroad (moulin, 2022). these recent and profound transformations in higher education have the effect of fueling increased competition between students, between establishments and between national higher education systems. this competition, according to the authors, can be identified along three axes. global journal of transformative education (2024) vol 4 kamdjo & ngamaleu, market orientation for professionalization of higher ed in africa 20 first, competition between higher education institutions in the same geographical area mainly linked to the democratization of higher education (bongrand, 2021). second, competition between national higher education systems and between institutions on an international scale. indeed, with the globalization of higher education and especially the harmonization on an almost planetary scale of educational systems as promoted by the lmd system, educational paths are marked, for an increasingly significant part of students, by an experience abroad. universities must now demonstrate their performance (university ranking) to attract the best minds or recruit internationally. competition on an international scale therefore takes the form of rivalry sometimes in terms of performance (best rankings on a regional or international scale), sometimes in terms of marketing tactics to attract new recruits (awareness raising, promotional recruitment policies, etc.) (bugandwa, 2013). the final form of competition is competition in the virtual market. it takes shape with the evolution of information and communication technologies (ict). it mainly targets the continuing education market. competition orientation therefore requires full awareness of this state of competition between universities and between national higher education systems. the competition orientation is perceived in terms of competition between national higher education systems. a large part of the literature on the chinese higher education system reports that chinese professional higher education constitutes a unique contribution to the global education system (jiang dayuan, 2015). this professional education then constitutes an “inimitable source of vitality” for higher education (yang and lin, 2016). for the period of thirty glorious years, the question of institutional competition resulted only in the concern for the various governments to keep their workers in regional growth zones (bongrand, 2021). employees orientation the importance of employees in creating superior market values has been demonstrated in traditional market orientation literature (khan, khan & rafique, 2023). employee satisfaction is defined as an organization’s intention to serve the interests of its employees and meet their needs. (yau et al., 2007 cited in bugandwa, 2013). in all organizations, especially service organizations, employees represent the cornerstone of the success of any strategy. to improve the quality of education, universities must encourage staff interinteractions with students. the satisfaction of the latter may also depend on the way in which non-academic staff organize their services in the different departments. the importance of teaching staff in higher education has been demonstrated along at least two lines. first, the quality of training depends mainly on the teachers and employees of an establishment. indeed, several studies on student satisfaction and the qualitative perception of training have shown a correlation between the latter and the well-being of administrative staff and that of professors in an establishment (serres, escalié and magendie, 2019). this result is, however, tempered because other studies affirm that students say they are satisfied with a teacher when the teacher pays attention to their difficulties and makes efforts to help them assimilate the course (dollinger & vanderlelie, 2020). students’ perception of academic performance then depends on the relational climate with the teachers and staff of the establishment. doctoral research carried out on students from 11 tunisian universities demonstrates that organizational commitment has a significant impact on perceived quality (bugandwa, 2013). indeed, according to these authors, organizational commitment is an antecedent of perceived quality in higher education. inter-functional coordination cross-functional coordination involves a clear understanding and smooth flow of information about key stakeholders’ expectations and organizational beliefs, culminated by communicating these expectations through formal and informal means (meetings, brainstorming, etc.) to all members of the organization (bughanda, 2013). this assumes that the process of creating stakeholder value is not the work of a single function, but rather the entire organization. this consideration is very clearly in line with that of kohli and jaworski (1990). ultimately, it is about improving the way in which the educational organization is supposed to respond to its market. it also refers to the sense of shared values and beliefs and their relationship to achieving organizational goals. cross-functional coordination involves the degree to which information about stakeholders and the macro environment is shared across the organization. global journal of transformative education (2024) vol 4 kamdjo & ngamaleu, market orientation for professionalization of higher ed in africa 21 global journal of transformative education (2024) vol 4 responsiveness this last dimension of market orientation in education is not really a dimension. it corresponds to the culmination of the first six dimensions and consists of the response, in terms of training architecture and the higher education training system, to the needs of society represented by the main stakeholders (dwyer, 2022). as presented in the literature, this last point refers to the dimension of responsiveness as defined by kohli and jaworski (1990). higher education can no longer evade its essential mission of responding to the needs of society (bughanda, 2013). furthermore, it is necessary to clarify that, more than any other organization, higher education institutions should not limit their actions to responding to external pressures. instead of being subjected to such pressures and suffering the consequences, they are encouraged to act proactively in their environment. this is particularly important for higher education institutions, as students and other stakeholders may misunderstand their needs (aghajari & varij, 2023). higher education should strive to change the behaviors of stakeholders, such as explaining to students the quality requirements in higher education, helping them understand their role in the learning process, etc. they can then base their initiatives on the vision of overall national policies in terms of medium-term needs of the national labor market. in summary, the response to the professionalization of higher education in a logic of adequacy between training and employment is mainly driven by the national vision of the human capital needs of the various economic sectors. the two examples taken for this work confirm this reflection. conceptually, this first position can be seen as an orientation towards political decision-makers. this initial orientation toward political decision-makers makes it possible to specify the areas of activity to be prioritized in the professionalization strategy as in the case of china (yang & lin, 2016). it will be followed by orientations towards the other stakeholders mentioned above (enterprises orientation, educational staff orientation, competition orientation, student orientation) in order to support and improve the content of the programs and use of appropriate pedagogy. functional coordination will determine the capacity to distill the objectives pursued within all the actors and at all functional levels and to generate an adequate response at all levels of the overall training structure. are we ready for global harmonization of higher education? we have theoretically analyzed what the professionalization of higher education refers to. in short, it is about adapting to one’s political and economic environment. for some, it is about the economization and functionalization of higher education (bongrand, 2021). for others, it is about preparing students by integrating production, teaching and research in the service of development and employment (yang & lin, 2016). nkuitchou (2022, p.518) further demonstrated that we cannot talk about the same human capital in two environments where the stages of economic development and the growth objectives are different. ultimately, african countries would benefit from working on defining a higher education system representative of its values, culture, and economy. conclusion since independence, the main mission of higher education for sub-saharan african countries has been the response to personnel needs as determined by public policy. however, with a view to aligning with international developments, this primary vocation of african universities has been qualified by a certain number of logics which are however not necessary for the economic and social construction of our nations. throughout this article we have argued that, in fact, in a logic of growth as expressed by most countries of sub-saharan africa, higher education has remained a tool for the construction of human capital necessary to achieve societal objectives. the ambition for professionalization, as stated by the educational authorities, finds its full meaning. however, it lacks implementation in the daily experience of higher education institutions. the concept of market orientation as stated above lays some foundations. overall, the implementation of a market-oriented culture within professionalization objectives, involves: 1. understanding national development objectives and their translation in terms of human capital needs; this first step is qualified as orientation toward policy makers. 2. selection and integration into the definition, implementation, and monitoring of training content of companies whose activities are close to national priorities which can be call enterprises orientation. kamdjo & ngamaleu, market orientation for professionalization of higher ed in africa 22 global journal of transformative education (2024) vol 4 3. the popularization of the quality of training planned or implemented to captivate and retain students name competitor orientation. 4. the promotion of the teaching staff as well as the progressive and controlled integration of comments from students and their parents seen as teacher and student orientation. 5. all this is supported at each stage by excellent inter-functional coordination. the examples used in this work without pretension of exhaustiveness contribute to demonstrating that a synergy of actions as defined above will allow higher education to offer a response adapted to the expectations of society. as economists point out, african economies, mainly in sub-saharan africa are mainly made up of informal businesses which create significant obstacles to the continent’s development challenges (nkuitchou, 2020). this dissonance is supported by chronic under-industrialization, a still rudimentary agricultural system. faced with these economic issues, should the professionalization system adapt to its informal economic environment? or should it be aligned with growth planning which is sometimes limited to the sole description in documents? references abdourhaman, i. 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https://revue-isg.com/index.php/home/article/view/860 https://revue-isg.com/index.php/home/article/view/860 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/s001985012200058x?via%3dihub https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/s001985012200058x?via%3dihub https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/s001985012200058x?via%3dihub https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/s001985012200058x?via%3dihub https://doi.org/10.4000/trema.3066 https://doi.org/10.4000/trema.3066 http://journals.openedition.org/ripes/58 http://journals.openedition.org/ripes/58 amadiok, d., abroampa, w.k., & osei, e.o. global journal of transformative education (2024) vol 4 pp 76-86 doi 10.14434/gjte.v4i1.36683 open access published by the global insitutute of transformative education (http://www.gite.education) © amadiok, abroampa, & osei. 2024. open access this journal is distributed under the terms of the creative commons attribution noncommercial nonderivative 4.0 international license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction without revision in any non-commercial medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the creative commons license, students’ use behaviors of e-learning management systems in ghanaian public universities: what do the demographics say? daniel amadiok,1 winston kwame abroampa,2 & eric opoku osei3 abstract it is crucial to identify and offer intense training to groups of students who underutilize e-learning management systems. this study used a quantitative research methodology to evaluate demographic differences in students’ use of e-lms in ghanaian public universities. a questionnaire was used to collect data from 531 students. the techniques for data analysis included independent t-tests, mean computation, percentage estimation, and standard deviation estimation. based on age and educational level, the results showed that there were no statistically significant variations in how students used e-lmss. nevertheless, a statistically significant variation in their use behavior with regard to gender and academic major was established. particularly, social science majors and female students in ghana’s public universities showed low use behavior of e-lms. therefore, it is recommended that students majoring in social sciences and those who are female undergo enhanced training on using the e-lms platform. keywords: demographic characteristics, e-learning management systems, use behavior full listing of authors and contacts can be found at the end of this article. introduction it is impossible to overestimate the importance of technology in education, particularly in higher education, where it has become an absolute necessity rather than an option. technology integration has become crucial for every educational organization in the twenty-first century (alshehri, 2020). when compared to conventional classroom approaches, technology has a number of benefits for education that greatly speed up the teaching and learning processes (aldowah, ghazal, umar, & muniandy, 2017). with the use of digital tools, educators may more quickly and effectively impart knowledge, look for answers to students’ learning problems, and offer assistance. technology also gives teachers the tools to interact with students who may be dispersed across various geographical regions. additionally, technology helps students study more efficiently and gives them the tools they need to take charge of their own education. through digital tools, students have access to a wide range of educational resources, enabling them to customize their learning to meet their unique needs. due to the crucial role that digital tools play in the administration and delivery of higher education, numerous educational institutions throughout the world have made significant investments in digital technologies to assist teaching and learning. the e-learning management system is one such piece of technology that is essential to many academic endeavors (kasim & khalid, 2016; wichadee, 2015). e-learning management systems are comprehensive software solutions created for the creation, management, and dissemination of educational information to students (lang & pirani, 2014). these systems are referred to by a variety of titles in the academic community, including virtual learning environments, course management systems, and learning content management systems (ghilay, 2019). the varied names associated with these platforms naturally reflect their main objectives, which center on course management and learning facilitation. numerous studies also offer various viewpoints on e-learning management systems. they are frequently portrayed as self-contained online learning platforms with storage capabilities that enable instructors to create and distribute educational content while also keeping track of student involvement (tseng, 2020). they also function as centralized hubs for uni76 amadiok, abroampa, osei, student use of elearning mgmt systems 77 versities, enabling academic institutions to efficiently plan and manage online teaching and learning (nicholas-omoregbe, azeta, chiazor, & omoregbe, 2017). as sharma, gaur, saddikuti, and rastogi (2017) suggested, these systems can also distribute instructional information through the internet, enabling flexible lesson planning to accommodate students who are spread out geographically. e-learning management systems are web-based solutions that encourage teacher-student interaction and collaboration, foster the dissemination of knowledge, and strengthen the learning process. colleges use these systems to perform both synchronous and asynchronous e-learning activities, as well as hybridized deliveries, giving online education a flexible and all-encompassing approach. the variety of e-lmss used in higher education institutions is expanding because of the development of information and communication technologies. because there are so many alternatives, different institutions choose particular systems (xhaferi, bahiti, & imeri, 2015). notable e-learning management systems include moodle, ecollege, canvas, sakai, and webct (annamalai, ramayah, kumar, & osman, 2021; matarirano, jere, sibanda, & panicker, 2020). these e-lmss provide a wide range of functionality, such as discussion forums, gradebooks, announcement tools, and file management capabilities, to help students and educators navigate virtual learning environments (biney, 2020). additionally, some of the applications might include extra functionality, including content creation, delivery, management, assessment, email, chat, list servers, instant messaging, and discussion forums (akay & gumusoglu, 2020). through e-learning management systems, educators have access to a variety of big data like never before. to incorporate learning analytics into the teaching and learning process, these systems automatically generate enormous amounts of data, which are subsequently examined using statistical tools (ismail, hamid, & chiroma, 2019; matsebula & mnkandla, 2017; lenar, jamila, ego, & rustem, 2019). predictive algorithms and forecasting tools that draw on data from educational institutions are used in e-learning management systems. institutions can better understand students’ learning patterns and forecast their chances of success by carefully evaluating the data kept in log files within these systems (yu & jo, 2014). importantly, in these learning environments, several elements, including study time, peer relationships, adherence to study schedules, and frequency of downloads, have a significant impact on students’ academic development. dashboards in e-learning management systems track and assess students’ academic progress over time, producing important metrics including completion rates, involvement in the e-lms, attendance data, and the likelihood of academic success. these indicators give educational authorities the ability to glean important insights into the growth and achievement of their students. institutions use the data collected from teacher and student actions inside these systems to improve and hone their pedagogical strategies. the broad adoption and effective implementation of e-learning systems in educational institutions depend on their acceptance by three crucial stakeholders: educational institutions themselves, teachers, and students (edumadze et al., 2014). however, it is crucial to acknowledge the notable discrepancies in students’, instructors’, and administrators’ readiness to use e-lmss (ansong, boateng, & boateng, 2016). the level of e-learning system use in higher education institutions is determined by elements like the educational content’s quality and the accessibility of necessary resources like chat platforms, forums, and collaborative features. several studies (ayouni, menzli, hajjej, maddeh & al-otaibi, 2021; kuadey et al., 2022; mtebe, 2015; juhanak, zounek & rohlikova, 2019) have confirmed the widespread adoption of e-lmss at institutions of education and universities around the world. they also highlighted the growing adoption tendency in both well-resourced and under-resourced institutions. the high adoption of e-lmss has failed to transfer into proportionate students’ use behavior of the platforms in sub-saharan africa (dampson, 2021; mtebe, 2015). while studies (dampson, 2021; tagoe & cole, 2020; asamoah, 2020; sahoo, odame, reddy & khan, 2020) acknowledge the general underutilization of e-lmss in public universities in ghana, there is a dearth of knowledge and empirical findings on the influence of demographic factors on the overall non-use of e-lmss by students. therefore, it is necessary to thoroughly examine various demographic groups to determine those contributing to the underutilization of e-lmss within ghana’s public universities. in fact, analyzing student usage behavior based on demographic categories can give university administrators insightful information that will help them customize support programs to meet the specific requirements of these groups. furthermore, a thorough comprehension of the variations in students’ use of e-lmss has enormous promise for developing applicable regulations and enhancing training methglobal journal of transformative education (2024) vol 4 78 global journal of transformative education (2024) vol 4 ods in higher education. thus, the research questions this paper sought to answer are: 1. what are students’ use behaviors of e-learning management systems? 2. what statistically significant differences exist in students’ use behaviors of e-learning management systems based on their demographic characteristics? to add contextual knowledge to the research questions, the ensuing section presents a review of studies related to the themes extracted from the research questions. students’ use behavior of e-lms the words “use behavior,” “actual use,” or “actual usage” are widely used interchangeably in numerous studies in the field of information systems. these phrases jointly express the idea of a firm commitment to using a certain technology or information system (black, 1982). students’ usage behavior of e-learning management systems in the specific context of education serves as a visible indication of their persistent dedication to utilizing these educational platforms (yakubu & dasuki, 2018). the importance of behavioral intentions and perceived behavioral control in determining the actual use of information systems is stressed by theoretical frameworks like the technology acceptance model (davis, 1986), the theory of planned behavior (azjen, 1991), and the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (vankesh, thong, & xu, 2016). these theories stress that people’s intentions and perceptions of their level of control over their behavior are the primary forces behind their actual interactions with technology. assessment of students’ use behavior of the teaching and learning platform is a crucial component of this study. such an assessment not only clarifies the degree of their contact with the systems but also provides priceless information about the platform’s overall influence on their academic endeavors. as a result, a thorough examination of students’ actual use behavior serves as a vital benchmark for determining the usefulness and efficacy of the platform in improving the educational experience of students. numerous studies have acknowledged students’ actual use behaviors of e-lmss in advanced countries as extremely high. however, these same studies have pronounced that the application is underutilized in the sub-saharan african context (dampson, 2021; tagoe & cole, 2020; asamoah, 2020; mtebe, 2015). some groups of students are the cause of the underutilization and must be identified. gender segregation in e-lms use in several studies examining students’ uses of technology, the influence of gender as a demographic element has been examined. according to cai, fan, and du’s (2017) research, the gender gap in technology use has only minimally closed, indicating that there is still a significant gap between males and females. in a similar vein, mumporeze and prieler’s (2017) study indicated that women utilize technology on average less than men do, and qazi et al. (2021) discovered that men are more likely to use icts than women. additionally, alshorman and bawaneh (2018) found that men tend to have more positive sentiments toward their use of technology than do women. men utilize learning management systems more actively than women, according to borokhovski, tamim, pickup, rabah, and obukhova (2019). in addition, lim et al. (2020) used factorial invariance analysis to distinguish between how men and women use e-learning management systems. dahlstrom & bichsel (2014) reported that men and women use technology equally, which is in opposition to these findings. they asserted that inequalities in attitude are to blame for the disparities in technology use. dahlstrom and bichsel’s (2014) assertion is supported by the studies (alshorman & bawaneh, 2018; yalman, basaran, & gonen, 2016). there are few studies that prove the distinctions between male and female students’ uses of e-learning management systems in ghana’s public universities. thus, this current study proposes the hypothesis: h01: there is no statistically significant difference in students’ use behaviors of e-learning management systems based on their gender. age segregation in e-lms use numerous studies have shown that age can have a variety of effects on how people use technology. researchers (scherer, siddiq, & teo, 2015; john, 2015; guillén-gámez, lugonesb, & mayorga-fernándezh, 2019) have noted that age influences how people utilize technology. according to cabero and barroso’s (2016) research, younger males tend to excel at technology and utilize it more frequently than their older counterparts. this assertion was supported by a similar study by gudmundsdottir and hatlevik (2018), which emphasized that younger students have better technology usage abilities than older people. guilléngámez, lugonesb, and mayorga-fernándezh (2019) backed up the conclusions made by the studies (cabero amadiok, abroampa, osei, student use of elearning mgmt systems 79 & barroso, 2016; gudmundsdottir & hatlevik, 2018) by emphasizing that younger students use technology more frequently than their older peers. furthermore, onyeaka, romero, healy, and celano (2020) discovered that younger students engage with a larger variety of technologies than their older counterparts and have more expertise in using technology. in contrast, john (2015) found that those over the age of 30 had more favorable opinions about their usage of technology than people under that age. despite these diverse findings, only a small number of studies have looked at how age affects how students use e-learning management systems. particularly, there has not been much coverage of the higher education scene in ghana. consequently, to investigate this assertion, the following hypothesis has been formulated: h02: there is no statistically significant difference in students’ use behaviors of e-learning management systems based on their age. educational level segregation in e-lms use students are normally divided into two groups in universities all around the world: undergraduates and postgraduates. there are differences between how these two groups of students use technology. several studies have examined these student groups’ perspectives on how they use e-learning management systems. for instance, postgraduate students exhibit a high level of proficiency when utilizing e-learning management systems, according to buthelezi and wyk’s (2020) research. postgraduate students, on the other hand, exhibit little involvement with e-learning management systems (kite et al., 2020). according to dahlstrom and bichsel’s (2014) research, undergraduates did not show a lot of enthusiasm for using e-learning management systems in practice. in contrast to sahoo, odame, reddy, and khan’s (2020) finding that undergraduates are skilled at using these systems, firat’s (2016) study emphasized distinct usage habits with regard to undergraduates’ use of e-learning management systems. it is clear from reading these studies that we still don’t fully grasp the differences between undergraduates and postgraduates in terms of how they use e-learning management systems. to address this gap, the following hypothesis has been formulated: h03: there is no statistically significant difference in students’ use behavior of e-learning management systems based on their educational level. academic major segregation in e-lms use academic majors are split into two groups in binyamin’s (2019) taxonomy of university courses: science and social science. according to binyamin, science students concentrate on fields like medicine, applied sciences (like computer science and engineering), and natural sciences (like biology, physics, and chemistry). in contrast, social science students focus on the humanities (such as history, religion, education, languages, and management). ngah et al.’s (2022) study pointed out that there are variances in how students use technology. students studying pure science outperformed those studying social science in terms of technology use. this occurrence was explained by the fact that students studying pure science are engaged in practical activities and want to employ technology. despite this categorization, a limited number of studies have explored the variations in technology usage based on these divisions. consequently, this study aimed to investigate the disparities in students’ use behavior of e-lmss based on their academic major. to examine this assertion, the hypothesis below has been formulated: h04: there is no statistically significant difference in students use behavior of e-learning management systems based on their academic major. methodology all students enrolled in ghanaian public universities who had used their institution’s e-learning management system (e-lms) for at least a year comprised the study’s target population. the accessible population involved three public universities in ghana because of their use of structures that enable students to collect data for academic purposes. however, saunders, lewis, and thornhill (2019) advise using a multistage random sample strategy, which the researchers did because of the geographically scattered distribution of students within the universities. the faculties, along with their corresponding departments, made up the study’s natural clusters. the sampling procedure was conducted in stages, with the first stage involving the selection of one faculty (within a specific division in a college) from each of the three universities using the lottery method. the second stage involved choosing one department from each of the three faculties selected using the lottery technique once more, without replacement. in the final stage, student participants were selected using simple random sampling with the randomizer software as suggested by creswell and creswell (2018). global journal of transformative education (2024) vol 4 amadiok, abroampa, osei, student use of elearning mgmt systems 80 the accessible population, which included 4,002 students, consisted of those from the three universities that were selected during the initial sampling phase. using a chart created by krejcie and morgan in 1970, a sample size of 825 was determined. after a thorough assessment of the literature, a paper-based questionnaire was created and given to the respondents. this decision was because, as binyamin (2019) suggests, print versions have a higher response rate than online distribution. a five-point likert-type scale was used to rate the adapted questionnaire items. three ict lecturers reviewed the questionnaire items to make sure they were valid. the questionnaire’s pre-testing produced a reliability index for cronbach’s alpha of 0.957. the respondents were given a total of 825 questionnaires; however, only 598 of these were filled out and returned. sixty-seven questionnaires were declared unsuitable for further analysis after a preliminary evaluation because of missing values and suspicious patterns. consequently, 531 questionnaires, accounting for 64.4% of the total, were included in the final analysis. research question 1, which was descriptive, involved looking at frequencies, percentages, averages, and standard deviations. contrarily, an independent t-test was used to analyze research question 2, which was inferential in nature. data analysis demographic data the study elicited students’ gender, age, educational level, and academic major as demographic data. table 1 presents the demographic data of the respondents. data in table 1 show that males and females made up 54.4% and 45.6%, respectively, of the total number of respondents. the mean age of the respondents was 23.82. students below the mean age and students above the mean age were (302) 56.9% and (229) 43.1%, respectively, of the total respondents. undergraduates were 449 (84.6%), whereas postgraduates were 82 (15.4%). students who had science as their academic major were 197 (37.1%), whereas those with social science as their academic major were 334 (62.9%). in summary, the analysis of table 1 suggests that, firstly, there were more male respondents than female respondents. secondly, the number of students below the mean age exceeded those above the mean age. thirdly, undergraduates outnumbered postgraduates. lastly, there were more respondents with a background in the social sciences compared to those with a pure science background in this study. students’ use behavior of e-lms frequency, percentage, mean, and standard deviation were computed from the data on students’ use behavior of e-lms. table 2 depicts the results. global journal of transformative education (2024) vol 4 amadiok, abroampa, osei, student use of elearning mgmt systems 81 the data in table 2 show that students agree (m = 3.43; sd = 1.149) that they use their university’s e-lms frequently. again, the data in table 2 show that students were unsure (m = 3.28; sd = 1.179) that they depend on the university’s e-lms for their studies. moreover, from the table, students agreed (m = 3.71; sd = 1.043) that they tend to use their university’s e-lms for as long as is necessary. finally, the data in table 2 show that students were unsure (m = 3.43; sd = 1.061) of the fact that they tend to use many features of their university’s e-lms. summarily, table 2 shows that students were unsure (m = 3.46; sd = 1.11) of their use behavior of their university’s e-lms. it is, thus, deduced that in public universities in ghana, students are unsure of their usage behavior of e-lmss. students’ use behavior of e-lms in terms of their demographic characteristics the results of the analysis of students’ use behavior of e-lmss based on their demographic characteristics are presented in this section. the demographic characteristics are gender, age, academic level, and academic major. the results are shown in table 3. table 3 reveals a statistically significant difference (p = 0.004; = 0.05) between males and females in their use behavior of e-lms. the table indicates that the mean of males (m = 3.567; sd = 0.9309) is higher than the mean of females (m = 3.336; sd = 0.9257). thus, h01 was rejected. it is, therefore, imperative that males have a higher use behavior of e-lms than females. also, there was no statistically significant difference (p = 0.690; = 0.05) between below-mean age and above-mean age in terms of their use behavior of e-lms. thus, h02 was accepted. a look at the mean scores in table 3 shows that the mean score of students below the mean age (m = 3.476; sd = 0.9326) is similar to the mean score of students above the mean age (m = 3.443; sd = 0.9395). it can, thus, be deduced that students with their ages below the mean age have use behavior of e-lms similar to that of students with their ages above the mean age in ghanaian public universities. table 3 further shows that there was no statistically significant difference (p = 0.312; = 0.05) between undergraduate and postgraduate students in terms of their e-lms use behavior. thus, h03 was accepted. a look at the mean scores in table 3 shows that the mean score of undergraduate students (m = 3.444; sd = 0.9431) is similar to the mean score of postgraduate students (m = 3.558; sd = 0.8874). thus, it indicates that undergraduate and postgraduate students have similar use behaviors of e-lms in ghanaian public universities. finally, table 3 indicates that there was a statistically significant difference (p = 0.01; = 0.05) between students in the sciences and social sciences in terms of their use behavior of e-lms, so h04 was rejected. table 3 shows that the mean score of students with an academic major in science (m = 3.643; sd = 0.942) is higher than the mean score of students with an academic major in social science (m = 3.355; sd = 0.915). thus, it implies that students in the sciences have a higher use behavior of e-lmss than those in the social sciences in ghanaian public universities. discussion the study revealed that students were unsure (m = 3.46; sd = 1.11) of their use behaviors of their university’s e-lms. this result corroborates the studies of dampson (2021), tagoe and cole (2020), asamoah (2020), and mtebe (2015), which revealed that students underutilize e-lmss in universities in the sub-saharan context. these findings are attributable to a specific subset of students who either demonstrate a limited level of engagement with e-lmss or, in some. global journal of transformative education (2024) vol 4 amadiok, abroampa, osei, student use of elearning mgmt systems 82 cases, do not engage with them at all. it also became known that there was a statistically significant difference (p = 0.004; = 0.05) in students’ use behavior of e-lmss based on their gender. this result aligns with studies that claim that there is a gender imbalance in the use of e-learning systems and that males use e-lmss more frequently than females. the study by li, wang, and campbell (2015) found that male students use e-lms more regularly than females. moreover, alshorman and bawaneh’s (2018) study found that males have higher attitudes toward technology than females. contrary to this study, alblassi’s (2016) study revealed that e-lms use among males and females was the same. likewise, dahlstrom and bichsel’s (2014) study found that males and females have the same abilities for utilizing information technologies. moreover, the study by cai, fan, and du (2017) found a reduction in the gap between men and women in terms of technology utilization. this finding of the study is in congruent with most studies regarding information technology utilization. the result indicates that female students in ghanaian public universities need more training on e-lmss to build optimal utilization behavior. this result might have occurred because males are more tech-savvy than females and would want to use more technology in their activities (dahlstrom & bichsel, 2014). the study also found that there was no statistically significant difference (p = 0.690; = 0.05) in students’ use behavior of e-lms based on their age. this result is inconsistent with most of the studies (cabero & barroso, 2016; gudmundsdottir & hatlevik, 2018; guillén-gámez, lugonesb, & mayorga-fernándezh, 2019) in this research area. these studies found that younger students tend to use e-lmss more than older students. the findings of this current study seem to have occurred because the age differences among respondents was small. all ages in the 21st century have equal access to various kinds of technologies and skill development, which may be influencing their use behaviors of e-lms, hence this result. it was realized that there was no statistically significant difference (p = 0.312; = 0.05) in students’ use behavior of e-lms based on their educational level. this result indicates that undergraduates and postgraduates have the same use behavior for e-lms. several studies (sahoo, odame, reddy, & khan, 2020; buthelezi & wyk, 2020; firat, 2016) in this research area have considered students use of e-lmss based on either undergraduates or postgraduates. however, this study compared both groups use of e-lmss. the result might have occurred because both undergraduate and postgraduate students are subjected to e-lms use in the same way. the study further found that there was a statistically significant difference (p = 0.01; = 0.05) in students’ use behavior of e-lms based on their academic major. this finding indicates that students with an academic major in science have a higher use behavior of e-lms than students with an academic major in social science. this corroborates the study of ngah et al. (2022), which revealed that there was a statistically significant difference between pure science and social science students in terms of their usage of technologies. pure science students utilize technologies that offer them more firsthand practical activities than social science students. this finding is not surprising in the ghanaian higher education context because science students tend to be more practice-oriented and prefer to use technologies in their studies than social science students. science students have specialized ict tools for modeling, data analysis, and simulations in their course areas. in summary, there was no difference in students’ use behaviors of e-lmss in terms of age and educational level. however, there was a difference in students use behaviors of e-lms based on their gender and academic majors. female and social science students underutilize e-lmss; therefore, enough training on e-lms usage should be offered to them. the management of public universities in ghana should give special attention to females and social science students when strategies and policies on e-lms are being applied to them. it is imperative that the capacity of all students, irrespective of their background, be developed to enable them to conveniently use lms. the potential limitation of this study is that it relied on a self-reported survey. however, respondents were informed of the ethical conditions under which the study was being conducted, to encourage genuine responses to the questionnaire. conclusion the purpose of this study was to examine the demographic differences in students’ e-lms usage behavior. according to the study’s findings, neither students’ age nor educational level significantly affected how they used an e-lms. however, there were noticeable differences in how students used the e-lms based on their academic major and gender. as a result, global journal of transformative education (2024) vol 4 amadiok, abroampa, osei, student use of elearning mgmt systems 83 global journal of transformative education (2024) vol 4 we suggest that e-lms usage regulations and procedures be applied consistently to all students. however, special attention should be given to female students and students majoring in social science areas. it is significant to emphasize that the generalizability of this study is constrained to ghana’s traditional public universities. further research involving technical and private universities is advised in order to have a more thorough picture of e-lms usage patterns across all universities in ghana. this increased research effort would provide a more comprehensive viewpoint on e-lms use behavior within the ghanaian higher education sector. acknowledgement dr. partrick swanzy, the entire staff, and the entire student body of the department of teacher education at kwame nkrumah university of science and technology are all acknowledged and thanked for their encouragement, which has led to this paper. references akay, d. e., & gumusoglu, e. k. 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https://www.hrpub.org/journals/article_info.php?aid=3943 https://www.hrpub.org/journals/article_info.php?aid=3943 https://www.hrpub.org/journals/article_info.php?aid=3943 86amadiok, abroampa, osei, student use of elearning mgmt systems global journal of transformative education (2024) vol 4 mcghie, v. & dos reis, k.. global journal of transformative education (2024) vol 4 pp 43-55 doi 10.14434/gjte.v4i1.35408 open access published by the global insitutute of transformative education (http://www.gite.education) © mcghie & dos reis 2024. open access this journal is distributed under the terms of the creative commons attribution noncommercial nonderivative 4.0 international license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction without revision in any non-commercial medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the creative commons license, translations as a transformative form of language support to english additional language speaking students at a south african university venicia mcghie1 and karen dos reis2 abstract this paper reports on an innovative translation intervention strategy piloted in the first semester of 2017 in the business faculty at a historically black university in south africa. the pilot study covered the implementation and monitoring of translating instructions, questions and explanations into two of the students’ first languages in the formative assessments in the first-year management 131 subject. the pilot project was situated within a qualitative, interpretive research paradigm. the research design used for the pilot project was a case study design. a total of 259 first-year students (both english home language and additional language-speaking students) completed a survey. the findings show that the translations in their home languages assisted the students in comprehending the instructions and course content. in so doing, it levelled the playing field and enabled them to perform optimally, resulting in an increased pass rate in the subject. additionally, the english-speaking students felt the intervention was a much-needed innovation. also, other additional language-speaking students requested translations to be done in their home languages as well. the findings provide evidence that students who are english additional language speakers need innovative and transformative language interventions to succeed in their respective degree programmes at post-secondary institutions. the implication is that other colleges and universities should consider doing the same for their students to increase the retention and success rates of undergraduate students in higher education. keywords: first-year students; english additional language; translations; language support, intervention strategy; academic success. full listing of authors and contacts can be found at the end of this article. introduction the south african constitution recognises eleven official languages for its multi-racial and multi-cultural population (department of basic education, 2013; republic of south africa, 1996). isizulu (one of the eleven languages) is the most spoken language, with 11.58 million speakers (23%), followed by isixhosa, 8.15 million (16%), and afrikaans, 6.85 million (13.5%). english is spoken by 4.89 million people (10%), followed by sepedi with 4.62 million (9.1%), and setswana with 4.07 million (8%) (census, 2011; south africa information, 2018). however, based on south africa’s colonial past, english, as the fourth most spoken language in south africa, is perceived as a ‘global language’, and hence, it is the preferred mode of communication and interaction in academia, trace, the economy and technology (brenzinger, 2017; hurst & mona, 2017; xue & zuo, 2013; xuyen & trang, 2021). consequently, english is used as the medium of instruction in primary schools (from grade 4 onwards) and most high schools and post-secondary institutions in south africa (council on higher education, 2014; department of basic education, 2013). the preference for english as the medium of instruction in schools and tertiary institutions in south africa is problematic on at least three accounts. firstly, it goes against the language policy and developmental plan for south africa because it does not promote mother-tongue education. globally, much research has been done on the issue of having to learn and construct new knowledge in one’s home language versus in an additional language (bada, 2017; brock-utne, desai & qorro, 2006; gentry, 2022; mgqwashu, 2011; xuyen & trang, 2021). the research findings show that 43 mcghie & dos reis, translations as language support 44 learners who learn and construct new knowledge in their home language achieve a greater degree of academic success than learners who are english additional language speakers (bada, 2017; hoxha & sumner, 2021; hurst & mona, 2017; mgqwashu, 2011). secondly, the multilingual language policy is hindered by public funding constraints and a lack of educational resources (such as a lack of libraries and technological equipment in some schools) (brenzinger, 2017; heugh, 2013). hence, not adhering to and implementing the approved language policy makes it contradictory as the intention is “praiseworthy,” but action is lacking. more recently, the education policy debate has gradually shifted from access to schooling to improving the quality of learning and teaching at post-secondary institutions because more students are failing nationally than succeeding in their respective degree programmes (council on higher education, 2014; 2016; masino & nino-zarazua, 2015; pather, 2018). thirdly, it is also about social justice imperatives because the emphasis on english, which is the colonial language, is to the detriment of developing the indigenous languages in south africa (hurst & mona, 2017; masino & nino-zarazua, 2015; mgqwashu, 2011). from a social justice perspective, the authors advocate for the liberation and empowerment of the poor and marginalised groups in society and for the provision of quality education that could lead to economic emancipation and development for all (council on higher education, 2014; 2016; leibowitz, 2009; masino & nino-zarazua, 2015). it was for the above reasons, among others, that the post-apartheid government in 1995 embarked on a transformation process to eradicate the inequalities of the past through the acknowledgement of eleven official languages (ministry of education, 2001). however, while the intention was good in theory, the status quo remains three decades after democracy. the 2015 and 2016 student protests highlighted the need for decolonisation, and the #rhodesmustfall movement specifically foregrounded the language issue and the fact that the colonial language still dominates the medium of instruction at most higher education institutions in south africa. the authors argue that transformative learning theory principles should be applied in post-secondary education in south africa. transformative learning is based on the premise that human beings interpret their experiences uniquely and that how they see the world results from their perceptions and experiences (cranton & taylor, 2012). it is a process of examining, questioning, and revising those perceptions, so critical thought and self-reflection are part of it. the goal should be to teach students to become self-aware and critical, to question norms and perceptions and, in the process, to be transformed (cranton & taylor, 2012). based on the above context, this paper reports on a pilot project conducted during the first semester of 2017 in the business faculty at a historically black university in south africa. the pilot project covered the implementation and monitoring of translations as an innovative intervention strategy that aimed to provide language support to new first-year students who were additional language speakers of english in the faculty. hence, the paper attempts to fill the gap of english additional language speaking students’ challenge to construct meaning in a language that is not their mother tongue (landsberg, 2005; mgqwashu, 2011). while much research has been done on the challenges that these learners face in the learning process, not many studies focus on providing intervention strategies to assist them (bada, 2017; heugh, 2013; hurst & mona, 2017; pather, 2018). the authors contend that these students need language support to succeed at post-secondary institutions in their respective degree programmes. the innovative translation support intervention strategy discussed in this paper is one such attempt. context of the pilot project the university where the pilot project was conducted is one of four institutions of higher learning in one province in south africa. the apartheid government established the university to provide for the higher education needs of the coloured population in south africa. the university’s language of learning and teaching was afrikaans, one of the eleven official languages. however, because this university was directly involved in the struggle against apartheid, it became known as the “university of the left” (walker & badsha, 1993) and opened its doors to african and asian students as well (letseka & maile, 2008; volbrecht, 2002). most of these students came from working class communities and under-resourced public schooling (mcghie, 2012; mgqwashu, 2011; venter, 2020). to accommodate the african students who had different home languages, the university changed its language policy to a bilingual one with afrikaans and english as the languages of learning and teaching (academic development centre, 1998). global journal of transformative education (2024) vol 4 mcghie & dos reis, translations as language support 45 global journal of transformative education (2024) vol 4 as a result of a steady increase in the number of african students over the years, there was a gradual move to english as the only language of learning and teaching at the university, but it was not without disparities and concerns among the university staff and management (academic development centre, 1998; volbrecht, 2002). in order to resolve the issue, the university management accepted a multilingual approach at its council meeting held in june 1992 that reads: “regarding the lingua franca to be used particularly by students, it was generally agreed that students be encouraged to write in the language they feel comfortable with” (volbrecht, 2002, p. 217). despite this decision, the university moved overwhelmingly to english as the only language of learning and teaching by the end of 1992. according to dyers (1996), the reasons for the shift to english were: • most lecturers perceived english as the most viable academic lingua franca at that point in history; • the majority of the lecturers were english-speaking or bilingual (english and afrikaans), and only a small minority of the lecturers were isixhosa-speaking; • most students at the time were isixhosa-speaking (44%), and surveys conducted among students suggested that most isixhosa-speaking students preferred receiving instruction in english rather than in isixhosa. english as the official language of instruction and communication meant that only english was used in lectures and tutorials, tasks, assignments, tests and examinations, and written material and learning resources used by staff. ironically, the language of the colonisers and the oppressors who instigated discrimination and injustice became the language of teaching and language at this university and still is to this day. this situation poses language learning challenges for the students (hurst, e. & mona, 2017; landsberg, 2005; mcghie, moodley & naidoo, 2015). since 1993, students who are additional language speakers of english have to learn and construct meaning in english at an advanced level. it is no wonder, then, that the overall throughput rate of the university’s students is below the national south african benchmark mark of 29% (council on higher education, 2016; 2017). it is against this backdrop that the authors advocate that transformative learning should take place where the status quo is challenged and students be empowered through the use of language support interventions in their home languages. such interventions can provide students with extra assistance to understand better the content of their different subjects and the instructions, questions and explanations they receive for tasks, assignments and tests. in this way, they will know what is required to complete these assessments correctly and, as a consequence, strengthen their chances of passing their assessments and their subjects well. moreover, first-year students need more academic support than senior students, as they also have to deal with transitional and adjustment challenges (council on higher education, 2017; letseka, cosser, breier & visser, 2010; pather, 2018). aim and objectives the aim of the pilot project was two-fold. first, the authors wanted to provide translations as a transformative intervention strategy in the students’ home languages to aid new first-year students’ understanding of instructions, questions and explanations in their assignments so that they would know what and how to do their assignments correctly. secondly, by implementing the intervention strategy, the authors wanted to strengthen first-year students’ chances of succeeding academically. the objectives were to: • legitimise the other two official languages used in the province (afrikaans and isixhosa) in order to strengthen students’ understanding and academic integration; and • increase students’ academic performance and success in their different subjects. to achieve the aim and objectives, the main research question was: can the provision of translations as a transformative intervention strategy enhance students’ academic success? literature review the student movements, #feesmustfall and #rhodesmustfall in 2015 and 2016, were outcries from the students to south african universities’ management and the department of higher education to adhere to the bill of rights in the south african constitution and the language policy (republic of south africa, 1996). tinto (2009, p. 2) explains, “to be serious about student retention, universities would recognize that the roots of student attrition lie not only in their students and the situations they face, but also in the very character of the educational settings in which they ask students to mcghie & dos reis, translations as language support 46 learn, namely the classrooms, laboratories, and studios of the campus.” this quote implies that university management and staff should be mindful of the learning contexts they create for their students and the institutional culture and practices that could alienate them. it means that university management should place the students first and provide the necessary resources and support to assist students’ social and academic integration into the university environment (tinto, 2006, 2009). the authors agree with tinto that student success does not happen by chance (tinto, 2009). according to him, student success results from an intentional, structured and proactive set of coherent, systematic, and carefully aligned strategies, with the first year of university studies as the most critical period to make it happen (tinto, 2009). as a consequence of this commitment, providing translation as a transformative language intervention strategy to english additional language speaking students is one form of language support that could increase students’ pass rates. cummins (2007, 2008) explains that a minimum of five to seven years is needed for english additional language learners to catch up academically, that is, to acquire the language proficiency needed in english to succeed at the tertiary level. cummins (2007, 2008) distinguishes (based on research that was conducted into the role of language proficiency and bilingualism in academic achievements) between conversation proficiency (what he used to term bics – basic interpersonal communicative skills) and academic proficiency (formerly termed calp – cognitive academic language proficiency). cummins (2008) further explains that language proficiency in a social situation (bics) is characterised by interpersonal interaction and requires only basic interpersonal language proficiency from the communicator. meaning is negotiated by the participants in the conversation and conveyed through language. the context within which the communication takes place supports conveying meaning. interpretations are embedded in the situation and often associated with non-verbal clues. he explains that calp is usually language in its primary and written form, and it is not, for example, possible to obtain additional information from non-verbal clues (cummins, 2008). he argues that more advanced language skills than those required for an informal, personal conversation are needed to read or write a scientific report or academic assignment (cummins, 2008). as such, the shortcomings in additional language speaking students’ language skills would inhibit their achievements in academic tasks much more than it would in the case of interpersonal communication (cummins, 2007, 2008). for this author, academic language proficiency refers to an absolute concept of expertise in understanding and using the specific language employed in an educational context and required to complete academic tasks (cummins, 2008). consequently, he argues that academic language proficiency means that one has ‘the language knowledge together with the associated knowledge of the world and metacognitive strategies necessary to function effectively in the language of communication and instruction at the university level (cummins, 2008). an inference can be made from cummins’ explanation of what ‘knowing a language means’ that english additional language speakers have a demanding and daunting task ahead of them when they embark on the learning journey at the post-secondary level. most of these students have difficulty achieving good grades in their subjects, not because they are ‘dumb’ or ‘weak’ or ‘lazy’ (labelling terms often ascribed to these students by some academics), but simply because english is not their home language (gentry, 2022; hoxha & sumner, 2021; masino & nino-zarazua, 2015). hence, the english language proficiency of additional language speaking students is not developed sufficiently to enable them to perform well in their different subjects, which is why they need transformative and innovative language intervention support. methods the pilot project was situated within a qualitative, interpretive research paradigm (creswell & creswell, 2018; yin, 2014). there were two reasons for this choice. the first was based on the fact that the authors wanted to assist english additional language-speaking students in their daily lived experiences of having to study and construct meaning in english, which is referred to as their ‘natural setting’ (babbie & mouton, 2010; creswell & creswell, 2018; yin, 2014). the second reason was that qualitative research acknowledges that reality is socially constructed, as people’s experiences happen within personal, cultural, historical and social contexts (babbie & mouton, 2010; hennink, hutter & bailey, 2011). the students’ meaning-making process happened within a colonised set-up where they had to acquire and construct advanced knowledge in english. this meant that their own personal,cultural, global journal of transformative education (2024) vol 4 mcghie & dos reis, translations as language support 47 historical and social contexts had to be replaced with a ‘foreign one’ as they had to learn the english language and the associated knowledge and metacognitive strategies necessary to function effectively, as cummins (2008) explains. these principles are also in line with transformative learning theories – that meaning is negotiated and should be questioned and critically analysed to effect change and allow students to use their agency (cranton & taylor, 2012). the research design used for the pilot project was a case study design (stake, 2006; yin, 2014). a case study design assisted in understanding and gaining insights into first-year, english additional language speaking students’ language needs, and in decolonising the usage of english as the medium of instruction at the university (stake, 2006; yin, 2014). the authors’ approach to decolonising the usage of english through the provision of translations was based on le grange’s (2016) notion that decolonisation is the phenomenon that encompasses providing language support to first-year students. thus, the authors propose that the provision of translations as a language support intervention strategy for english additional language speaking students can be used as an initial step towards the decolonisation of the use of english in higher education institutions in south africa and globally. the pilot project was rolled out in all the first-year subjects in the university’s business faculty at the beginning of the first semester in 2017. the lecturers teaching first-year subjects were invited to send their instructions, questions and explanations of their different tutorial assignments (which form part of the formative assessments during the course of the semester) to the teaching and learning specialist who coordinated and facilitated the translation thereof into afrikaans and isixhosa (the two dominant languages spoken in the western cape province where the university is situated). notices were placed on the university’s online student learning platform inviting the students to download the translated assignments. announcements about this service available to the students were also made in the different lectures during the semester. the teaching and learning specialist sent the tutorial assignments to a team of translators recommended by the subject lecturers and selected based on a proficiency test. regular meetings with the translators and the different lecturers were held to ensure that the translations were on par with the english versions. in addition, there was ongoing email communication between the teaching and learning specialist and the lecturers to monitor and quality assure the process. lecturers from six different departments in the faculty participated in the process. at the end of the semester, a report was drawn from the students’ learning management system that indicated how many students downloaded the translations in the six departments. the report reflected that the most downloads (782) occurred in the management (man 131) first-year subject. based on the fact that the most downloads occurred in this subject, the authors decided to use the information of all the first-year students who were registered for man 131 as data for this paper. the results are divided into five data sets. data set 1 consists of a breakdown of how many isixhosa-speaking students and how many afrikaans-speaking students downloaded the instructions in the man 131 subject. data set 2 presents a breakdown of the students’ home languages, and data set 3 gives an account of the two tutorial assignments, which were translated into isixhosa and afrikaans. finally, two surveys were conducted towards the end of the first semester to establish the students’ and academics’ views and experiences of the language support intervention strategy. in keeping with ethical principles, the staff and students were invited to participate voluntarily in the survey. the surveys were sent to all the academics and first-year students in the faculty. for this paper, only the students’ responses are analysed and discussed. the responses of the staff will be discussed in another paper. a total of 259 first-year students (both english home language and additional language speaking students) completed the survey. the students had to indicate if they were english home language or additional language speaking students. however, only 100 of the students answered all the questions and provided explanations for their answers. thus, only the 100 responses (23 english home language and 77 additional language speaking students) were analysed and reported on in this paper. four questions were asked in the student survey. these ask whether or not students: 1. were aware of the language support programme; 2. downloaded the translated instructions, questions and explanations of the tutorial assignments from the university’s student learning management system; 3. thought that the translated instructions, questions and explanations in the tutorial assignments improved their understanding of the content of their subjects (they had first to tick a box, (yes or no), global journal of transformative education (2024) vol 4 mcghie & dos reis, translations as language support 48 and then explain their answers); and 4. whether they thought there was a need for such an intervention (again, they had to tick a box (yes or no) and then explain their answers). the students’ responses to the four questions were quantitative (yes/no answers) and were entered into excel software to present the number of similar and different responses visually. these responses are referred to as data set 4. the students’ explanations to the last two questions were qualitative in nature and analysed through content analysis, using a three-stage, open coding process (henning, 2004). the first stage involved a general reading and noting of the explanations on a word document. the second stage involved a second, closer reading where similar responses were categorised under main themes and entered on another word document. the last stage of the open coding process involved a further reduction of the responses into sub-themes on a new word document. the authors worked through the responses carefully and requested another colleague to check and verify that the responses were correctly documented on the three word documents. these explanations are referred to as data set 5. results the results from the four quantitative data sets are presented first and, after that, the themes and subthemes identified in the qualitative data set. data set 1: downloaded isixhosa and afrikaans translated tutorials in management 131 as stated in the previous section, 782 downloads were made. of these, 263 downloads were made by the isixhosa-speaking students for tutorial assignment 1 and 243 for the second tutorial, while the afrikaans-speaking students made a total of 164 downloads for tutorial 1 and 112 downloads for tutorial 2. table 1 reflects the downloads in percentages. the percentages for the isixhosa downloads are more or less on par with the number of students who reported that isixhosa is their first language (refer to data set 2). this, however, is not the case for the number of afrikaans downloads made, as only 47 students declared that afrikaans was their first language (refer to figure 1). possible reasons for the discrepancy are discussed in the next section. data set 2: language distribution of registered first-year students in management 131 a total of 735 first-year students was registered in management 131 in the first semester of 2017. of the 735 students, 47 indicated on their registration information that they were afrikaans-speaking students (6.39%), 252 isixhosa-speaking (34.29%), 280 english (38.10%), and 156 other language speakers (21.22%). figure 1 gives a visual presentation of the percentages. figure 1 shows that 61.90% (that is 6.39 + 34.29 + 21.22) of the students registered in management 131 were english additional language speaking students, and 38.10% were english home language speakers. this finding reflects the university’s general trend of language distribution (institutional planning office, 2017). data set 3: comparison of students’ performance in the two tutorial assignments figure 2 illustrates the students’ performance averages in the two tutorial assignments translated compared with the english-first-language-speaking students’ average results. the results indicate that the afrikaans-speaking students’ average was 78.6%, the isixhosa-speaking students was 71.90%, and the english mother tongue students’ average was 76.21%. global journal of transformative education (2024) vol 4 mcghie & dos reis, translations as language support 49 data set 4: quantitative responses from the students’ survey table 2 reflects the 100 students’ responses to the four questions asked in the survey. the results show that 71 students (71%) were aware of the language support programme, while 29 said they were unaware. thirty-nine of the 100 students downloaded the translated tutorials, and 61 did not. one can infer that the 23 english home language students were part of the 61 who did not download the translations because there was no need to do so. hence, the remaining 38 were english additional language speaking students, which could mean that they considered downloading the instructions as ‘extra work’ and decided not to download the translations. alternatively, it could have been some other language-speaking students who did not download the translations as they were not in their first languages. however, it should be noted that the other afrikaans downloads (see table 1) could have been made by some of the remaining 159 students whose responses were omitted, as explained in the methods section. the results further reflect that the students who used the translated assignments’ instructions, questions and explanations indicated that the translations assisted them in better understanding the work covered in the module. lastly, most students (92%) thought there was a need for such an intervention, and they provided reasons for their stance in data set 5. data set 5: students’ explanations of the answers given to the last two questions two main themes were identified from the students’ explanations for their answers to questions 3 and 4: (i) positive explanations and (ii) challenges identified. four sub-themes were identified under the first theme and two under the second theme. these are described below. theme 1: positive explanations. sub-theme 1: better understanding of the subject matter the thirty-nine students who downloaded the translated assignments explained that it assisted them in understanding the content of the subject better. below are examples of pertinent responses received: • it helps me a lot as i did not understand at first. • it helps because i understand the work better. • i understand the work much better. thus, the fact that students felt that the translations assisted them in better understanding the content of the subject could be one of the contributing reasons why the afrikaans-speaking students’ performances in the two tutorial assignments were better than the english mother tongue students’ performance. sub-theme 2: receiving translated assignments was advantageous thirty-two students responded positively and said receiving the assignments in their first language was ‘great’. below are specific sentiments expressed by the students: • the program is doing a great job! • the translated tutorials are a good idea. • this is a great service and students are lucky to have this service available. these comments imply that the students were satisfied with the intervention. in addition, the third response implies that the students did not think of the intervention as a right they had. instead, receiving the global journal of transformative education (2024) vol 4 mcghie & dos reis, translations as language support 50 global journal of transformative education (2024) vol 4 tutorial assignments in isixhosa and afrikaans was perceived as ‘being lucky’, which could be inferred as ‘being privileged’. an inference can be made that the students did not expect to receive translations in their first language as they knew that the university used english as its medium of instruction. also, language support interventions in the form of translations are not standard practice at the school level (the policy does not require schools to implement such interventions), which could be another reason why the students regarded it as a ‘privilege’ (department of basic education, 2019). sub-theme 3: empathy showed by english home language speaking students another positive response was that the 23 english home language speaking students who completed the survey showed empathy towards students who were additional language speakers of english. they explained that having the tutorial assignments translated into isixhosa and afrikaans was an innovative idea because these students would better understand what the assignments were about, which could assist them in doing better in their modules. certain students provided the following recommendations for the way forward: • i feel it will benefit second language students tremendously. • i think the translated tutorials do assist students, as english is not their first language. • basically, i think translated tutorials are good because some students struggle to understand in english. moreover, one student felt that this initiative could lower the dropout rates. an inference can be made that the student was aware that learning in english is challenging for additional language speaking students and that it could be one of the reasons why many students fail and do not complete their degree programmes on time. thus, the student thought that receiving the tutorial instructions and explanations in afrikaans or isixhosa would aid the students’ understanding and strengthen their chances of passing their subjects, which correlates with the aim and objectives of this paper. sub-theme 4: creating equality one student noted: • i think they are a good venture, they create a sense of equality. the comment from the student implies that he/she thought that the translations levelled the playing field. that is, students who were additional language speakers of english could make sense of and understand the tutorial assignments better because it was in their mother tongue (similar to students who received it in english and who were english home-language speaking students). in this instance, an inference could be made that this response alluded to decolonising the curriculum and breaking the dominance of english in the classroom, on the one hand, and providing these students with an equal opportunity to pass their respective subjects, on the other hand. theme 2: challenges identified sub-theme 1: a need to translate the assignments into other languages nine students suggested that the assignments’ instructions, questions and explanations should also be translated into other languages and not only into isixhosa and afrikaans. below are some of the students’ suggestions: • isizulu must be catered for. • i think all 11 languages should be catered for. • consider adding other languages. these students’ responses indicate a need for language support and that isixhosa and afrikaans speaking students benefited from the support, but they did not. it thus provides evidence for the argument in this paper, which is that english additional language speaking students need transformative language support interventions to improve their understanding of instructions, questions and explanations given in tutorial assignments, tests and examinations in their different subjects. sub-theme 2: not making use of the translation provided seven students indicated that they did not download the translated assignments because they were “lazy” and thereby not “creating more work” for themselves. the students concurred with the response below: • i was too lazy to download the translations. this response is not uncommon, as there will be students who do not want to make the extra effort to help themselves. at least they were honest in explaining why they did not use the support provided mcghie & dos reis, translations as language support 51 global journal of transformative education (2024) vol 4 discussion the analysis in the previous section focuses on three main issues, namely: 1. the language distribution of the first-year students who were registered for the management 131 subject; 2. the results of the students in the two tutorial assignments that were translated, and 3. the students’ survey responses, which can be grouped into three findings: first, the translations aided the students’ understanding of the content in the module. second, it was an innovative transformative idea to provide language support in the form of translations to english additional language speaking students. third, translations of the formative assessments should also be provided to students who speak other south african languages. figure 1 shows the language distribution of the first-year students registered for the management (man 131) subject in the first semester of 2017, where most of the downloads occurred. however, if one compares this finding with the results in table 1, it is only the isixhosa finding that correlates with the number of students who reported isixhosa as their first language. table 1 reflects that only 47 students indicated that afrikaans is their first language, but 163 afrikaans translations were downloaded for the first assignment and 112 for the second. a possible reason for the discrepancy in the afrikaans downloads could be that the same students could have downloaded the translations more than once. it could also be that some of the students who indicated that they were english home language speakers downloaded the translations as well because they came from afrikaans-speaking home environments. this inference points to the dominance of english and the fact that it is regarded as the ‘language of choice’ (bada, 2017; heugh, 2013; xue & zuo, 2013). moreover, both students and their parents regard english as ‘superior’ to the other indigenous languages, as it is seen as the ‘global language that can open doors’ and as a result, parents would intentionally use english to communicate with their children so that the children can become fluent in the english language (dyers, 1996, 2001; xue & zuo, 2013). that is why the children, when they come to university, regard english as their first language, despite their parents speaking afrikaans (dyers, 1996, 2001). it could be argued that the preference for the english language is one of the reasons why the other indigenous languages in south africa are not further developed and strengthened (masino & nino-zarazua, 2015; matsinhe, 2004; mgqwashu, 2011). however, this inference also speaks to cummins’ (2008) division of bics and calp and his explanation of language proficiency in a social situation (bics), which is characterised by interpersonal interaction and requires only basic interpersonal language proficiency from the communicator because meaning is negotiated by the participants in the conversation and is conveyed using language. as such, students who come from an afrikaans-speaking background and switched to english only will have bics that is better developed than their calp. as a result, they will think that they have mastered the english language and will regard themselves as english mother tongue students. however, when it comes to calp, they will need assistance, which could be why more afrikaans downloads were made (163 and 112) than the number of students (47) who reported they were afrikaans-speaking. the second finding that emerged from the data is the results presented in figure 2. the results reflect that the afrikaans-speaking students’ performance (78.6%) was higher than the english-speaking students (76.21%), followed by the isixhosa-speaking students’ performance (71.90%). thus, the results validate what the students reported in the survey – the translated tutorial assignments improved their understanding of what was required of them and, in so doing, enhanced their performance in the two assessments. in addition, the fact that their results compared favourably to the results of their english counterparts is further proof that the transformative translation intervention strategy produced the desired result. when students are empowered to understand better instructions, questions and explanations given in formative assessments, they could perform close to, or better than, the english mother tongue students, as the results showed. this finding is also in line with what cummins (2008) argues for that english additional language speaking students require language support to succeed academically since they have to learn the language of instruction and, at the same time, learn the academic content. it also speaks to an element of transformative learning in that the students were provided with the opportunity to read and understand the instructions in their own language, and not in the colonial language. however, the authors are mindful that other factors (such as having sufficient time to complete the tutorial assignments and consultation with the lecturer and mcghie & dos reis, translations as language support 52 global journal of transformative education (2024) vol 4 tutors) could have also contributed to the students’ good performance. also, since this was a pilot project, there were no previous findings that could be used to compare or benchmark the students’ performance. the only comparison that could be made was with the overall pass and failure rates of the man 131 subject in 2016, where there was a 74.2% pass rate and a 25.8% failure rate. the pass rate of man 131 in 2017 was 89.5%, and the failure rate was 10.5% (department of management, 2017). this means that there was an increase of more than 15% in the pass rate in 2017. the authors propose that the provision of translations in the students’ mother tongues contributed to the increase in the pass rate in the module in 2017. lastly, the fact that the english home language students and the students who downloaded the translated assignments felt that the intervention strategy was an innovative and much-needed step, underscores the need for students to be taught in their native language as it will improve and enhance their understanding of what they read and learn (cummins, 2008; department of basic education, 2018, 2019; whiteside, gooch & norbury, 2017). this need for mother-tongue education is further highlighted by the nine students who indicated that translations into their first languages should also be provided since they spoke some of the other eleven languages. smith (1999) and chilisa (2012) advocate that the concepts of “deconstruction and reconstruction” question that which is understood as “the norm” in order to rewrite history so that indigenous people’s norms, traditions and cultures rightfully be acknowledged as legitimate and valid. similarly, transformative learning pedagogy emphasises the need to question and challenge experiences and perceptions from a colonial nature. these should be critically analysed, and students should be empowered and encouraged to exercise their agency in a transformative manner. in this regard, the additional language-speaking students exercised their right to construct meaning in their home languages, which form part of their culture, values and traditions. they were pleased that they were provided with the opportunity to receive the instructions, questions and explanations of the tutorial assignments in their mother tongues. therefore, the translation intervention strategy validated the students’ knowledge and lived realities, which is what gentry (2022), hurst and mona (2017) and cranton and taylor (2012) also argued for. equally important is the comment by another student “…they [the translated instructions, questions and explanations] create a sense of equality.” the two responses (an innovative idea and equality) drive the message home – that indigenous languages should be acknowledged, respected, and embraced so that transformative learning can occur. the authors propose that students and the broader communities in south africa and elsewhere should be allowed to practise their right to be taught in their home languages. if that is not feasible (as is the current situation in south africa), transformative language support interventions should be in place to assist these students, which is what tinto (2009), cummins (2007, 2008), strydom and mentz (2010) and whiteside et al. (2017) (amongst others) suggest should happen. conclusion and recommendations three overall findings could be inferred from the analysis and discussion of the data collected for this pilot project. • there are still more students who are english additional language speaking students in the business faculty at the university than those who are english mother tongue speakers; • the translation intervention strategy aided the english additional language speaking students’ comprehension of the instructions, questions and explanations received in the tutorial assignments. in so doing, it levelled the playing field and enabled them to perform optimally, which increased the pass rate in the management 131 subject. • the acknowledgement from english-speaking students that the intervention strategy was an innovative idea, together with the additional language speaking students who suggested that it should be done for their languages as well, is a strong indication that there is a need for transformative language support for students whose first language is not english. therefore, it is recommended that more language support interventions be created and implemented for additional-language-speaking students of english to assist them in better understanding the content of their different subjects. a second recommendation is that the faculty and the university management attempt to provide more financial support so that translation interventions are also offered to students who speak the other official languages. mcghie & dos reis, translations as language support 53 global journal of transformative education (2024) vol 4 the last recommendation is that the translation support intervention should also be extended to second and third-year students so that they, too, can benefit from an enhanced understanding of instructions, questions and explanations in their assignments and be able to perform as well as the english home language speaking students and even better, as was the case for the afrikaans-speaking students. the authors acknowledge that this was a pilot project, and they did not have a control group or a pre-and post-test to compare the results. however, the fact that the students passed the two assignments well, none of them failed, and the overall pass rate in the module increased by 15% demonstrates that language support interventions are essential enablers for students who are not mother-tongue speakers of english at post-secondary institutions. therefore, the findings discussed draw attention to the fact that higher education institutions globally should take the lead in supporting and advocating for language support interventions in the form of translations for both formative and summative assessments for their students who are non-native speakers of english. in so doing, undergraduate students’ retention and success rates would increase. finally, providing innovative translations as a form of language support will instil a sense of equality among all students regardless of their home languages. such provisions will assist with the quest for transformative education. references academic development centre, university of the western cape. 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(5th ed). california: sage publications. 1 venicia mcghie (vfmcghie@uwc.ac.za) is an associate professor in the faculty of economic and management sciences, university of western cape, cape town, south africa. 2 karen dos reis (kdosreis@sun.ac.za) is a research associate as the university of stellenboch, stellenbosch, south africa. authors https://www.insideeducation.org/featured/south-africa-high-drop-rate-first-year-university-students/ https://www.insideeducation.org/featured/south-africa-high-drop-rate-first-year-university-students/ https://southafrica-info.com/arts-culture/11-languages-south-africa https://southafrica-info.com/arts-culture/11-languages-south-africa hanson, m. a, & beem, h. global journal of transformative education (2024) vol 4 pp 87-103 doi 10.14434/gjte.v4i1.36705 open access published by the global insitutute of transformative education (http://www.gite.education) © hanson & beem. 2024. open access this journal is distributed under the terms of the creative commons attribution noncommercial nonderivative 4.0 international license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction without revision in any non-commercial medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the creative commons license, transitioning hands-on stem teacher training in ghana from an in-person to online modality mawuena a. hanson1 & heather beem2 abstract covid-19 provided an avenue for teaching and learning to be done remotely, hence practical education network (pen), a nonprofit organization in ghana, took advantage of this to transition from an in-person to online training mode. this study aimed to determine how the efficacy of hands-on stem teacher training in ghana compared between fully in-person and fully online modalities as well as the best practices that can be elucidated from a ghanaian training provider’s transition between the two. in-person training content was converted into videos and powerpoint presentations accessed asynchronously together with synchronous zoom sessions for discussions. between 2020-2021, two hundred and twenty (220) teachers who teach science, math and ict were selected from 10 regions of ghana to participate across five (5) cohorts. relying fully on locally available materials, pen successfully implemented an online training on hands-on content, which is arguably a “pandemic-proof” approach. results showed that teacher confidence and feasibility to implement hands-on activities increased with statistical significance and large effect size for both in-person and online training offerings. hence, even with minimal technology, teachers across africa could be trained online and experience meaningful learning. the key difference between the two modalities was the time involved, as the online offering was spread out over a longer period of time. this work can motivate other african education providers to pursue online offerings, as they are lower-cost, and can still be effective, despite contextual challenges. keywords: stem, teacher training, in-person training, online training, locally available materials, hands-on full listing of authors and contacts can be found at the end of this article. introduction the vast majority of education providers in africa have traditionally relied exclusively on in-person offerings (crawfurd, evans, hares, & sandefur, 2021). the covid-19 pandemic triggered a need for education and learning opportunities to be made available remotely. closure of schools in the wake of the pandemic implied that innovative strategies needed to be employed for teaching and learning to continue while students were home. this was necessary to avoid disruptions in the educational sector (addae, amponsah, & gborti, 2021). this presented a significant obstacle to be surmounted, given contextual challenges with online learning such as poor internet connectivity, low digital literacy levels, and the familiarity with in-person engagements for establishing connection. existing teacher training landscape in africa teacher professional development is a necessary component of the provision of quality education. to be effective and remain relevant, teachers need to have periodic in-service training. however, an insufficient proportion of teachers in ghana and africa at large are afforded the opportunity to engage in this regularly (sanyal & unesco, 2013). several teacher training service providers operate in africa, however most of them focus on general pedagogical practice. only a few utilize digital modalities for training delivery, even after the pandemic. and even fewer focus on the unique needs that stem teachers have. ghana is a rapidly developing economy, and the country is actively implementing a number of education reforms. nonetheless, the same gaps mentioned in africa’s teacher training landscape hold in ghana: few of them leverage digital approaches or provide stem-specific content. the digital education interventions that exist in ghana are generally directed at students, such as studying past questions for the national exams (ecampus, 2023) or learning to code (suacode. ai, 2023). almost no digital interventions in ghana focused on teachers prior to the pandemic. the center for national distance learning and open schooling 88 hanson & beem, transitioning stem teacher training to online modality 89 (cendlos, 2023)and ghana society for educational technology (gset, 2023) are two exceptions. the edtech readiness index (marin, cobo, cloutier & lambert-porter, 2021) shows six pillars on which a country’s readiness to adopt edtech could be founded. many african countries will score relatively low on this. stem-specific training content is highly needed in ghana, given that those subjects are known to be most effective when taught in an experiential manner. the lack of hands-on learning is something that is often lamented amongst ghanaian education stakeholders, utilizing the phrase “chew and pour” to describe the rote approach that pervades practice (owusu-acheaw, 2014), especially in stem subjects. the traditional approach tends to encourage memorization and reproduction of facts, limiting learning outcomes (nugba & quansah, 2020). regarding hands-on learning in ghana, a small number of training providers include it in their offerings, mostly approaching it from a play-based learning approach, albeit not in stem (foundation first, 2023; sabre education, 2023; right to play, 2023). in addition to the ghana association of science teachers (gast), practical education network (pen) is one of the few stem teacher training providers in ghana, and its program will be the subject of this study. pen’s approach of in-person training of teachers to leverage low-cost materials to teach hands-on activities in stem subjects has had a significant impact on student attitudes and learning outcomes in ghana (babb & stockero, 2020; practical education network, 2020). the african and ghanaian education landscapes experience a gap in training offerings for teachers both in the digital modalities and in a pedagogical approach targeted at hands-on learning. there is a need to scale up existing interventions that are effectively filling the gap. response of education stakeholders to covid-19 in africa the disruption of education due to covid-19 called for the development of innovation that could help the delivery of education remotely (mukute, burt, francis, & de souza, 2020). most governments around the world called on their teachers to ensure continued learning in the pandemic, but few african governments were able to offer training or specific support for them to do so (vegas, 2020). nonetheless, several interesting interventions emerged on the continent. they can be categorized into those that facilitated passive learning and those that facilitated active learning. african governments launched several educational programs, and largely passive learning approaches such as leveraged television and radio to do so (edtech hub, 2020). countries like nigeria, tanzania and sierra leone broadcasted lessons on tv (osman, & keevy, 2021). radio emerged as a popular tool for remote learning during the pandemic. sierra leone’s ministry of basic and senior secondary education turned to “education radio” (government of sierra leone, 2020), “rising on air,” an initiative from rising academies, was adapted for use in more than 10 countries (flood, 2020), and yiya airscience in uganda supported remote and outof-school children (kisakye, 2020). challenges with radio include its ephemeral nature, the difficulty of monitoring its use, and the minimal interactivity levels it facilitates (damani & mitchell, 2020). a few interventions emerged for active learning on the continent. zoom and other video conferencing were some of the most popular online platforms for teaching and learning during the pandemic (erna, genisa, muslaini, & suhartini, 2022). lower bandwidth options like whatsapp were also used for running teacher training, as led by nigeria’s cchub (tijani, madu, falade, & deleajayi, 2021). in sierra leone, phone calls were used for live tutoring (crawfurd, evans, hares, & sandefur, 2021). more active approaches, such as these, should be considered as preferred options for learning. the role of the teacher is important for roles such as facilitating two-way dialogue, addressing misconceptions and increasing engagement (munna & kalam, 2021). to the authors’ knowledge, no african service providers developed a digital offering for teacher training, and which facilitated a hands-on approach. response of education stakeholders to covid-19 in ghana ghana’s national education response in the covid-19 pandemic centered around the ministry of education’s production of a tv broadcast of lessons for students (dome & armah-attoh, 2020) and a radio reading program (us embassy in ghana, 2023). for the tv program, each class for primary and jhs had 35 minutes of content, whereas each class for shs had 60 minutes of content per day (ghana education service, 2020) as mentioned earlier, this platform facilitates passive learning, which has inherent limitations. highend private schools were able to transition to fully remote offerings so as to enable a more active approach. this, however, only benefited a small minority of the population. most students in ghana found themselves largely devoid from structured learning from march to global journal of transformative education (2024) vol 4 90 global journal of transformative education (2024) vol 4 december 2020. at the grassroots level, a few other interventions also emerged, such as a radio program in the western region. these did not, however, attempt to cover hands-on learning, and focused on delivering content knowledge. methods employed by hands-on education providers to transition online/remote globally, prior to the pandemic, most online courses lacked significant hands-on components (eisenberg & fischer, 2014). enabling hands-on content online is a challenge that most education providers had not tackled until the covid-19 pandemic provided a strong impetus. efforts to transition hands-on learning online can generally be grouped into three categories. 1) materials kits for each student. several universities adopted this approach, packaging kits and shipping them to students (halpern, 2021; hart et al, 2021; leung & chu, 2020; mcquate, 2020; travaglini, sheppard, chen, & nittali, 2021; wu et al, 2020). 2) remote labs where students either observe a lab technician/teacher conduct an experiment or remotely control a pre-made experimental setup (yeung, 2020). 3) virtual labs using computer-based representations or simulations, usually involving animations (advanced tools for e-learning, 2023; pivot interactives, 2023; university of colorado boulder, 2019). these can be programmed for pre-determined modes of interactivity. some of these virtual labs had been around for decades prior to the pandemic. papers comparing all of these approaches (bishop et al, 2021; fox, 2020; wijenayake et al, 2021) reveal challenges such as equitable distribution of materials and cost of implementation. using or adapting any of these three approaches to the african context presents a few challenges. with the first approach, the cost of shipping materials is high. at the onset of the pandemic, ashesi university in ghana adopted this approach to send engineering kits to all students (ashesi university, 2020) but the cost prohibited its continued use. the cost involved in delivering materials to the “last mile” in rural africa is significant. the need for using readily available materials has been mentioned (larson & farnsworth, 2020). a few educators developed innovative approaches for guiding their students to use materials they had around them, such as using a smartphone to measure focal length (girot, goy, vilquin, & delabre, 2020). with the second and third approaches, remote and virtual labs evade the tactical experience that facilitates deeper engagement, flexibility to test variations beyond the guided prompts and therefore greater connection to each individual’s existing knowledge and constructs. remote labs are more difficult to carry out given the generally low bandwidth and therefore short duration that video connection can be maintained in a group. virtual labs inherently present a layer of artificiality to lab work which, in the authors’ opinions, continues to evade the goal of engaging in real experiences students are craving. also, these tools have not necessarily been designed for mobile usage, which is the dominant platform that african teachers would be using. there is a need for developing approaches to deploying hands-on learning remotely in a manner that is contextually appropriate for the african continent. practical education network (pen) is a ghanaian ngo with a mission to enable every african child to learn by doing. pen’s core programming is a hands-on stem teacher training program, which builds capacity to leverage low-cost, locally available materials (practical education network, 2024). pen’s definition of hands-on learning comes from the constructivist approach and necessarily utilizes physical materials to facilitate learning. pen leaned into the challenges presented by the covid-19 pandemic and successfully translated its hands-on teacher training from a fully in-person to a fully online offering. this paper highlights aspects of this translation, key lessons learned in the process, and the effect of the online training. two research questions are explored in this paper. rq1: “how does the efficacy of hands-on stem teacher training in ghana compare between fully in-person and fully online modalities?” rq2: “what best practices can be elucidated from a ghanaian training provider’s transition from in-person to online modalities?” the translation process and resultant learnings are presented in this paper, with suggestions for how this model can be employed by other training providers on the continent to similarly transition to online modalities. methodology covid-19 challenged pen to translate its purely in-person training into a fully online mode. hence its content was converted into videos and powerpoint presentations for participants to access asynchronously. this was complemented with live training and discussion sessions held on zoom as well as assignments hanson & beem, transitioning stem teacher training to online modality hanson & beem, transitioning stem teacher training to online modality 91 offered in google classroom, a learning management system (lms). to have an effective and successful online training, inclusion criteria were set. teachers who had a good internet connectivity, access to a smartphone, laptop or desktop computer, and who were motivated and committed to completing an online training were included in the online training. teachers’ commitment to completing the training included attending all live training sessions, completing and submitting assignments. the assignments were in the form of watching videos and replicating hands-on activities in their classroom and uploading these videos on the lms. figure 1 shows the process involved in implementing pen’s in-person and online training modes. although both begin similarly, the online modality has a few additional elements that facilitate its delivery over a period of time. in the online training, a whatsapp group was formed to facilitate communication between the organization and the participants. then the same content was broken down into short modules completglobal journal of transformative education (2024) vol 4 hanson & beem, transitioning stem teacher training to online modality 92 ed over time. a cycle of live zoom sessions and assignments on an lms was repeated multiple times. the zoom session served to first orient teachers to the program and then later served as a platform for experience sharing based on what they completed as their assignments. short instructional videos on how to conduct each hands-on activity were shared on the lms, the teacher was guided to gather the local materials in their own locality, reproduce the activity on their own, and upload a short video of them conducting the activity. over the period of 2014-2019, the in-person training program was rolled out for several cohorts across ghana. in 2020-2021, this training program was rolled out fully online and for five different cohorts. details of the online training cohorts are captured in table 1. these covered various districts and regions within ghana, some being urban, some peri-urban and some rural. the funder type also varied. in all cases, ghana education service (ges) was closely consulted in the implementation. the cohorts will be referred to by their abbreviated names henceforth in this paper. baseline information a presurvey, a digital literacy and access to it equipment survey, and a consent form, developed as google forms, were administered prior to the training to collect baseline data. the pre-survey was used to assess teachers’ teaching practice and knowledge of teaching using hands-on methods. the digital literacy and access to it equipment survey collected data on the digital literacy levels of teachers prior to the intervention, whereas the consent form was used to officially seek the consent of teachers to participate in the online training. however, data analyzed to obtain baseline information was from the digital literacy and access to it equipment survey. data such as teachers’ usage of video conferencing tools, participation in an online course before the training, access to digital devices and challenges faced while using the internet was collected and analyzed using simple descriptives. the survey had closed-ended questions which were analyzed quantitatively. the categories of questions asked sought to find out about teachers’ proficiency in the use of video conferencing tools, challenges teachers faced while using the internet, teachers experience with taking courses online, among others as shown in the appendix. the questions asked included “have you taken an online professional course or class before, and likertscale questions on teacher confidence and feasibility of conducting hands-on activities in their classrooms. endline information a post-survey in the form of a google form was also used to collect data on the impact of the training on teachers. the course completion rate of the training compared to other massive open online courses (moocs) and challenges teachers faced while participating were determined at the end of the online training. the course completion was calculated as the percentage of teachers who completed pen’s online training divided by the percentage of teachers who signed up for the training. this figure was compared to that of other online courses. both pre and post surveys asked the same close-ended questions on confidence and feasibility. these were analyzed quantitatively using simple descriptives. sample questions asked included: “i can now carry out stem-related hands-on activities in my classroom,” “i know what to do to increase my students’ engagement during a science lesson,” “i am confident i can global journal of transformative education (2024) vol 4 hanson & beem, transitioning stem teacher training to online modality 93 teach my students using a hands-on approach today,” “i am confident that i can address most of my students’ concerns during science lesson using a hands-on approach.” pre-post comparison of teachers’ confidence levels and feasibility to carry out hands-on activities during their lessons was done to determine change in teacher skills and attitudes over the course of the training. paired t-tests, to determine p-values for statistical significance (p < 0.05) and hedge’s g test, to determine the effect size were done. the effect size was considered to be small if |g| >0.2, medium if |g| >0.5, and large if |g| >0.8. these compared the change in confidence and feasibility levels from both the in-person versus online training modes. learning gains were also determined for both online and in-person teacher participants. teachers’ learning gains per unit time were calculated as the difference in average scores of confidence and feasibility indicators, before and after the training, divided by the amount of time spent with each training cohort. figure 2 illustrates the key components of the training format, namely providing instructional video content that the teachers could watch asynchronously, teacher replicating the activities themselves and uploading a video as evidence, and finally a group zoom session used to share experiences on the hands-on activities they carried out. field visits and interviews after the training program was complete, pen staff followed up on some teachers who were randomly selected from the greater accra western and ashanti regions of ghana. the selected teachers in the greater accra region were visited in their schools and those in the western and ashanti regions were interviewed on the phone six months after being trained. pictures of teachers and their learners were taken, and the beneficiary teachers were also interviewed face-to-face during the field visits. teachers in other regions outside accra, were interviewed via phone calls. all interviews were transcribed verbatim, and stories were developed out of them. results participant demographics in total, across the five cohorts, 220 teachers who teach science, math and information and communication technology (ict) were selected from 10 out of the 16 regions in ghana to participate in pen’s online teacher training in the use of hands-on methods to teach stem subjects. they were between the ages of 18 and 50 years. 57% of the teachers were males and 43% were females. baseline information figures 3 to 8 capture key results obtained from the baseline data. these help to create a picture of teachers’ access to digital devices as well as their digital literacy levels prior to the training. figure 3 shows teachers’ exposure to selected video conferencing tools. teachers surveyed across five training groups were generally not exposed to using video conferencing tools. however, teachers were more exposed to zoom compared to other video conferencing tools. comparing teachers who had never used zoom to those who had before the training, data collected showed that many teachers described themselves as being very good at using zoom. 40% of the teachers were very good at using zoom compared to 10% who had never used it. these exposure levels that teachers reported did not differ significantly whether they were based in rural or urban areas. figure 4 details the percentage of teachers who had taken any online course before the training. baseline data collected before the online training. baseline data global journal of transformative education (2024) vol 4 hanson & beem, transitioning stem teacher training to online modality 94 collected before the online training showed that teachers were not used to or exposed to doing online courses or training. about 73% of the teachers had never done an online training prior to pen training. generally, teachers in all the training cohorts had a low level of exposure to taking an online course prior to the training. however, teachers from nzema east which is a largely rural district had a relatively higher value (56%) for percentage of exposure to online training. this could be attributed to lower reliability, given that the nzema east cohort had the smallest sample size. percentage of teachers who had access to a digital device prior to the training is shown in figure 5. this data reveals that smartphones are by far the device which are most accessible to this teacher population, and therefore they will be relying mainly on them to engage with the online training. only 6% of teachers owned desktop computers and 27% of them owned laptops. figure 6 shows the percentage of teachers who reported generally facing challenges while using the internet before the training. in aggregate across the five training groups, about 55% of the teachers surveyed said they faced challenges using the internet. generally, the five cohorts reported similar responses, except for nzema east, which again is likely attributable to the low sample size in that cohort. global journal of transformative education (2024) vol 4 hanson & beem, transitioning stem teacher training to online modality 95 figures 7 and 8 show the type of challenges teachers faced while using the internet prior to the training. the types of challenges faced include cost of purchasing internet data, poor internet connectivity, faulty device, and inability of device to download certain apps. cost of data was the major challenge faced, with 44% of the teachers attesting to that, followed by poor internet connectivity (34%), inability of device to download certain apps (14%) and faulty device (8%). endline information in figure 9, the percentage of teachers who successfully completed the training program is presented. teachers in the secf training cohort had the highest percentage (85%) of teachers completing the training. ahanta west training cohort had the least percentage (14%) of teachers completing the training. across all cohorts the online training had an overall course completion rate of 48%. global journal of transformative education (2024) vol 4 hanson & beem, transitioning stem teacher training to online modality 96 table 2 shows the p-values of t-tests conducted on teachers’ confidence and feasibility levels (scale of 1 to 5) before and after pen’s in-person and online hands-on training. the increase in teacher perceptions was statistically significant (p < 0.05) for both teachers participating online and in-person, and with large effect size (|g|>0.8). teachers who participated in either online and in-person training all increased significantly in confidence and feasibility levels in the use of hands-on methods to teach stem subjects after the training. the learning gains achieved were higher per unit time in-person than they were online as presented in table 3. on average, in-person training had 7.2 times higher learning gains per week than the online version, based on the feasibility metric. global journal of transformative education (2024) vol 4 97 table 4 shows that on average, in-person training had 8.1 times higher learning gains per week than the online version, based on the confidence metric. delivering the same training content online required a longer interaction time. hence, although both modalities resulted in significant gains and with large effect size, the online modality required a longer time. it should be noted that the participants differed between the in-person and online cohorts, hence there is a limitation on how directly comparative this analysis can be. nonetheless this highlights the main point that both offerings are effective, however, the online offering likely requires a longer time to achieve the same learning outcomes. field visits and interviews staff from pen visited a few of the training participants in their respective schools six months after finishing the online training. the following three stories from the field and quotes capture some ways in which the online training was seen to have made an impact on teachers and students. these teachers shared staggering testimonies about the positive effect of the training. they testified about the significant knowledge and skills they have gained to help improve the teaching and learning of stem subjects. madam ama (pseudoname) teaches primary 5 in one of the public basic schools in accra. after receiving pen’s training, she now uses hands-on methods to teach science, and this is empowering her students. this was very evident in the confidence with which her learners answered science questions asked them during our visit. as seen in figure 10, the students happily showed some innovations they created out of their experiences with hands-on teaching and learning. they went beyond the curriculum and decided to apply the hands-on approach to creating designs of ideas they generated. madam ama informed us that all the students in her class, even those who previously were not doing well in science, gained more interest, became innovative and performed better in their science tests. global journal of transformative education (2024) vol 4 hanson & beem, transitioning stem teacher training to online modality 98 madam efe (pseudoname) says that before attending this training, when she needed to teach her learners about temperature, she would walk to a nearby hospital to borrow a thermometer. but after being exposed to the possibility of using everyday materials in our environment, she now uses her own plastic bottles, alcohol, and straws to demonstrate the concept. she has seen that her students understand concepts better than before and do not easily forget them. moreover, her students always inquire about what the next topic to be treated is, so that they can help look for the associated local materials and bring them for their next science lesson. madam efe even noted that truancy levels reduced because her students have become more engaged in her lessons. figure 11 shows an example set of local materials that a teacher and their students gathered to facilitate this type of learning. madam helen (pseudoname) is a primary 5 teacher in the greater accra region of ghana. she is a class teacher who teaches subjects including science in a public school. madam helen mentioned that prior to the intervention, most of her students were not interested in science, hence were not doing well in it. however, when we visited the school, we clearly observed learners who were actively engaged in their science class. madam helen testified of a particular learner of hers who was originally quite disinterested in science and math, but now had become proactive and eager to engage in lessons, whenever practical activities were involved. she testified of yet another learner in her class who surprised her with a significant positive change. even that learner’s mother noticed the changes in her attitude towards learning, since before she saw her as being duller than her siblings. however, that learner now eagerly volunteers to act as secretary for her group and contributes during lessons. previously, she did not like doing assignments that were given her work was mostly incomplete but she now does well to complete them. the quotes below exemplify some of the feedback received from teachers when they were interviewed. “thank you. what i have to say is that this training is not only teaching us practical science. we have also learned educational technology using the phone. with this new curriculum, we can see that most of the topics need it in teaching the children.”female (maths and science teacher-greater accra region) “we came in empty but now we can say that we are full because there is a change in behavior. learning has also taken place. sometimes when it is time for science lessons, it becomes so dull especially with the new curriculum because we do not have any approach to get the practical way of teaching this lesson. but this time it is not that.” female (science teacher-greater accra region) global journal of transformative education (2024) vol 4 hanson & beem, transitioning stem teacher training to online modality 99 “i personally enjoyed it because i am not the science type. but this has given me courage to teach my kids. it has boosted my confidence to teach a science topic and i never regretted joining the course.”female (science teacher-western region) “with the aid of pen, i have learned how to improvise with available materials for my science practicals.”male (science teacher-western region) “previously, i taught science using the ‘lecture method’ where i just talked and talked. we had limited teaching aids, and my teaching was mainly me standing in front of the class and just talking. my headteacher recommended me for this training and i must say this training has expanded my horizon. i will say, i had a holistic experience. first, we started off learning how to use zoom and google classroom. this was a plus for me as i am now literate in the use of these tools.” female (science teacher-ashanti region) the teachers who benefited from pen’s training shared very positive feedback about the impact of the training, revealing it to be a unique offering within the ecosystem and highly effective in spite of the online nature. they testified of significant improvements in their teaching, increases in their students’ interest, and improvements in their students’ learning outcomes in stem subjects, even highlighting “turnaround” cases for specific learners. discussion and conclusion an online version of a hands-on stem teacher training offering was successfully created and implemented across five training cohorts in ghana. this offering fills a unique gap in the african education landscape and opens up possibilities for what other service providers can similarly do. leveraging its focus on the use of locally available materials, pen has arguably created a “pandemic-proof” model of its training. by relying fully on the use of items that can be procured or gathered in one’s own environment, hands-on education can continue to be offered. moreover, this offering was successfully deployed in a landscape where the use of digital tools has been relatively nascent. this fact should also challenge education providers to lean into this in order to scale impactful interventions on the continent. in answering research question 1, the evidence suggests that the fully online modality of this handson stem teacher training in ghana had equally strong outcomes on participating teachers as those who participated in the fully in-person version. for the two key metrics measured regarding outcomes at the teacher-level, confidence to teach using a hands-on approach and feasibility of teaching with a hands-on approach, both in-person and online participants experienced statistically significant gains and with large effect sizes as a result of this training. this indicates that regardless of the modality, the training offering is impactful. the key distinction between the two offerings is the duration of time required. in translating the training content to an online modality, the material was broken down into short components so as to enable the participants to go through the material without demanding too much data at a time and without experiencing digital fatigue. this meant that while the same training (introduction to hands-on science) was covered during a one day in-person session, it required being spread out over several weeks when offered in an online format. in answering research question 2, two best practices are put forward. one is to leverage the use of locally available materials so as to enable hands-on, experiential education. even in a remote learning setting, one need not ship materials to each participant nor set up a virtual lab in order to ensure that practical learning takes place. second is to translate existing training content into short videos that can be accessed asynchronously and provide specific instructions. this ensures that participants are engaged in the digital setting and that they also are guided on specifically what they can practice. this online training can be considered as a strong alternative along different dimensions. first, it is comparatively cost-effective especially with the use of locally available materials which are readily available in each person’s respective environment. the use of pre-recorded videos makes watching and/or downloading them more feasible than streaming live videos, both from a cost and flexibility in time standpoint. the completion rate for this online training based on data collected was 48%. this is relatively higher than the completion rate of most moocs. a study conducted in indonesia saw 100% completion rate of a teacher training in-person or hybrid, but only a 31% completion rate when offered online (burns, 2013). again, the average global journal of transformative education (2024) vol 4 hanson & beem, transitioning stem teacher training to online modality 100 completion rate of courses offered at university of pennsylvania through coursera ranged from 2-14% (perna et al, 2013). persistence levels through the training varied by cohort. a separate study investigated the factors at play in the course completion rate for these cohorts (hanson & beem, 2022). it revealed that the majority of teachers who made it to the onboarding stage, persisted through to course completion. the largest drop-off was between signing up (enrolling) and attending the first zoom session (onboarding). hence, the level of sensitization to the concept of online training may be one of the most significant factors to address to improve persistence. for most teachers, if they commenced the training, their individual motivation and drive saw them through to the end. although it is easy to fall on the dominant narrative that poor internet connectivity is the key factor in inhibiting digital modes of education from sticking in this context, other factors such as the motivation level of the participant and the commitment level of the field partner should be considered. in spite of the expected challenges associated with delivering an online training in this context, many teachers persisted to complete the training, and those who did benefited tremendously. based on field visits to some of their schools and phone interviews with others, multiple stories and anecdotes were shared of how this training impacted their teaching and their learners’ learning. this study can serve as an example to other african education service providers to lean into the opportunities that translating their content into digital modes can provide. references addae, d., amponsah, s., & gborti, b. j. 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(2020, august 25). the campus learn, share, connect. hanson & beem, transitioning stem teacher training to online modality 1 mawuena a. hanson (mahanson@ practicaleducationnetwork.com) is a research, monitoring, evaluation and learning officer at practical education network, accra, ghana. 2 heather beem (hbeem@ashesi.edu.gh) is a senior lecturer at ashesi university, and ceo of practical education network, accra, ghana. authors https://doi.org/10.4314/sajee.v36i1.7 https://doi.org/10.4314/sajee.v36i1.7 https://doi.org/10.4314/sajee.v36i1.7 https://oapub.org/edu/index.php/ejes/article/download/3379/6015 https://oapub.org/edu/index.php/ejes/article/download/3379/6015 https://oapub.org/edu/index.php/ejes/article/download/3379/6015 https://oapub.org/edu/index.php/ejes/article/download/3379/6015 https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/libphilprac/1130/ https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/libphilprac/1130/ https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/libphilprac/1130/ https://www.pivotinteractives.com/ https://www.practicaleducationnetwork.com/mission-and-vision https://www.practicaleducationnetwork.com/mission-and-vision https://righttoplay.com/en/countries/ghana/ https://righttoplay.com/en/countries/ghana/ http://sabre.education/ http://sabre.education/ https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000229200 https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000229200 https://suacode.ai/ https://suacode.ai/ https://peer.asee.org/augmenting-activities-in-engineering-courses-with-tools-technology-and-kits-for-remote-experiential-learning https://peer.asee.org/augmenting-activities-in-engineering-courses-with-tools-technology-and-kits-for-remote-experiential-learning https://peer.asee.org/augmenting-activities-in-engineering-courses-with-tools-technology-and-kits-for-remote-experiential-learning https://gh.usembassy.gov/u-s-partners-with-ghana-to-launch-ghana-learning-radio-program-to-improve-reading-for-all-ghanaian-children/ https://gh.usembassy.gov/u-s-partners-with-ghana-to-launch-ghana-learning-radio-program-to-improve-reading-for-all-ghanaian-children/ https://gh.usembassy.gov/u-s-partners-with-ghana-to-launch-ghana-learning-radio-program-to-improve-reading-for-all-ghanaian-children/ https://phet.colorado.edu/ https://phet.colorado.edu/ https://www.brookings.edu/articles/school-closures-government-responses-and-learning-inequality-around-the-world-during-covid-19/ https://www.brookings.edu/articles/school-closures-government-responses-and-learning-inequality-around-the-world-during-covid-19/ https://www.brookings.edu/articles/school-closures-government-responses-and-learning-inequality-around-the-world-during-covid-19/ https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ej1287739 https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ej1287739 https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ej1287739 https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ej1287739 https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ej1287739 https://www.timeshighereducation.com/campus/remote-vs-virtual-labs 103 global journal of transformative education (2024) vol 4 appendix pen online teacher trainingdigital access & literacy survey 1. full name (as it appears on your id card) ……………………………………………………………………………………………………… 2. telephone/whatsapp number ……………………………………………………………………………………………………… 3. what position(s) do you hold in your school? e.g. head teacher ……………………………………………………………………………………………………… 4. what stem subject(s) do you teach? e.g. integrated science ο integrated science ο mathematics ο other ………………………………………………………………….. 5. what is the name of you school? ………………………………………………………………………………... 6. which class(es) do you teach currently? ο j.h.s 3 ο j.h.s 2 ο j.h.s 1 ο class 6 ο class 5 ο class 4 ο class 3 ο class 2 ο class 1 7. type of school/institution ο private ο public/government 8. in which region is your school located? e.g. ashanti region ……………………………………………………………………………………………… 9. in which district is your school located? e.g. ahanta west district ……………………………………………………………………………………………………… 10. which of the following devices do you own and can use consistently throughout the months of the online training? (select all that apply) ο laptop ο desktop computer ο smart phone 11. what is/are your preferred social media channel(s)? (select all that apply) ο whatsapp ο instagram ο twitter ο facebook ο linkedin hanson & beem, transitioning stem teacher training to online modality 104 global journal of transformative education (2024) vol 4 12. do you have challenges when using the internet? ο yes ο no 13. if yes, what are the challenges you face when using the internet? (select all that apply) ο i cannot afford the cost of buying data continuously ο the internet connectivity is poor at my location ο i have a problem connecting to the internet with my device ο the specification of my device makes it challenging to download apps ο other………………………………………………………………………………….. 14. what best describes your proficiency/usage level in using any of these video conferencing tools? (range = very good never used it) 15. have you ever used the google classroom? ο not at all ο very little ο to some extent ο a lot 16. what days of the week will be most favourable to participate in live sessions? ο monday ο tuesday ο wednesday ο thursday ο friday ο saturday ο sunday 17. what time of the day will be most favourable to participate in live training sessions? ο 9-11am ο 12pm 2pm ο 3pm 5pm 18. have you taken an online professional course or class before? ο yes ο no 19. how has covid-19 affected your professional development? ……………………………………………………………………………………………………… hanson & beem, transitioning stem teacher training to online modality kouam, c.. global journal of transformative education (2024) vol 4 pp 31-42 doi 10.14434/gjte.v4i1.36723 open access published by the global insitutute of transformative education (http://www.gite.education) © kouam, 2024. open access this journal is distributed under the terms of the creative commons attribution noncommercial nonderivative 4.0 international license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction without revision in any non-commercial medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the creative commons license, english as foreign language (efl) teaching and learning in cameroon: decolonizing francophone teachers’ minds clement kouam abstract this article makes an argument for francophone efl (english as foreign language) teachers in cameroon to recover from the ‘ukolonia’ syndrome (bokamba, 2011) and to use the indigenised variety of english as the model for teaching and learning instead of continuing to target the standard british english accent. the study shows that the attempt to use an inner circle accent as a model leads to hypercorrection and limited fluency on the part of the learners. on the other hand, the use of the indigenised variety as a model by a few anglophone efl teachers results in better proficiency. the arguments are supported by (1) a questionnaire survey of 50 franchophone efl teachers, (2) classroom observation carried out in ten efl classes five of which were conducted by anglophone teachers and the other five by francophones, and (3) the analysis of curriculum documents for teacher education. the study is underpinned by bokamba’s (2011) ukolonia theory and kachru’s (1985) world englishes framework. the paper argues that a decolonization of francophone efl teachers’ mindset and the replacement of standard british english by mainstream cameroon english can enhance the efl teaching/learning process significantly. the findings and the recommendations provided also constitute a good material for innovation in efl teacher education and in classroom practice. keywords: cameroon, cameroon english, received pronunciation, efl teaching/learning full listing of authors and contacts can be found at the end of this article. the sociolinguistic context of cameroon cameroon is a multilingual country with 273 living indigenous languages (eberhard, simons, & fennig, 2023) and numerous foreign languages, two of which (french and english) are colonial legacies inherited from the franco-british colonial rule. located at the intersection between west and central africa, the republic of cameroon is a blend of former east cameroon (french colony from 1916 to 1960) and former west cameroon (british colony from 1916 to 1961). while the former has remained essentially francophone, the latter continues to be a dominantly english-speaking area. although cameroon had for long been a german protectorate (1884-1916) before the taking over by france and britain following their victory over germany during the first world war, the impact of the german language in the country is insignificant as compared to that of french and english. besides being the most important lingua francas for both intranational and international communication, they are the only of ficial languages of the country. in the partitioning of the war trophy, britain obtained one-fifth of the cameroonian territory composed of two discontinuous strips of land along the nigerian border while france acquired the remaining four-fifths (echu, 2003). the two colonial powers adopted different modes of administration in their colonies. interestingly, many current developments in english in general and in attitudes and pedagogic concerns in particular are still a reflection of the colonial systems that were practised. for instance, despite the current scramble for english in the french-speaking part of cameroon, francophone efl (english as foreign language) teachers’ attitude still clearly shows their preference for the far-fetched standard british english accent to the detriment of the more attainable cameroon english model. though other factors (e.g., variation in curriculum content for efl and esl teacher education) may come into play in accounting for this attitudinal behaviour, the french colonial system of indirect rule that attempted to create an idealised europeanised african appears to be one of the tangible explanations. 31 kouam, efl teaching & learning in cameroon 32 training and specificities of efl and esl teachers in cameroon most cameroonian teacher training colleges devote two series to the training of secondary and high school teachers of english, namely the english modern letters series and the bilingual letters series. while the former is overwhelmingly dominated by student teachers with an anglophone background, francophone students dominantly constitute the latter. upon completion, graduates from the bilingual unit are transferred to secondary and high schools to teach english and french as foreign languages (efl/ffl). on their part, those from the purely english division serve as esl (english as a second language) teachers. however, given the extremely large number of the francophone student population, some esl teachers are often solicited for the teaching of efl. the observation stage of the study showed that while esl teachers’ efforts are geared towards the upgrading of learners’ communicative skills through indigenized cameroon english, most of their francophone efl colleagues waste precious time, energy and resources targeting near-native english speech appropriation by the francophone learners. unfortunately, their efforts do not yield the expected results as they themselves do not master the native accent they want the learners to acquire. in other words, francophone efl teachers jeopardise the efl teaching and learning process with hypercorrection, resulting from their unattainable goal to sound british or american. this paper seeks to explain the strong attachment of francophones to native english speech, examine the consequences of this phenomenon on the efl teaching and learning process and suggest solutions to the problem. there seems to be a close relationship between the colonial modes of administration in the two parts of cameroon and the attitude of english users towards english. while the french system of assimilation exposed francophone cameroonians to standard french, the british policy of indirect rule rather promoted an educational policy that deviated anglophone cameroonians from standard english. this is confirmed by simo bobda (2004) who equates the british policy to “linguistic apartheid’’ and bokamba (2011) who notes that the french, unlike their belgian, british and german counterparts who appeared to be largely circumspect regarding their assimilation objectives, were very explicitly eloquent, with education as the means par excellence for achieving them. thus, the attitude to accent in teaching french in cameroon might have been transferred to the teaching of efl. language policy in cameroon although advocacies for linguistic decolonization have been receiving favourable echoes in many african countries (e.g., botswana, burundi and even nigeria) where local languages now have official and other important statuses (bokamba, 2011), the language policy in cameroon is still geared towards the sole promotion of colonially inherited languages. the current language policy itself tends to be, to a great extent, a reproduction of colonial practices. language policies in the colonial era the correlation between the language policy that held sway in east cameroon during the colonial period and the yearning for the native english accent by francophone teachers of english in cameroon is obvious. this myth of the native speaker dates back to the french colonial period where the policy of assimilation prepared the indigenous people to target the colonial master’s speech model. this contrasted significantly with the system of indirect rule applied by britain in its colonies, former west cameroon included. the aim of the french policy was to replace the indigenous languages, cultures and civilization with the french one. echu (2003) reports that barely one year after taking over cameroon from the germans, france instituted a special subvention for schools that used french as the language of instruction and those that taught in indigenous languages were closed. thus, 47 schools opened by sultan njoya in the bamun region were all closed down and his printing press destroyed. many other schools (e.g., those run by the american presbyterian missionaries, and in which bulu was the language of instruction later suffered the same fate (echu, 2003, 36). this policy quickly paved the way to the creation of many french-medium schools before independence (e.g., lycée leclerc, lycée joss douala and lycée manengouba nkongsamba). the french and trained cameroonians ran such schools to acquire a native-like command of the french language. looking at the drastic nature of the measures undertaken to promote the french model of education, one can logically suspect that such actions were aimed to serve a hidden agenda. it won’t therefore be an exaggeration to conclude with bokamba (2011) that the colonial culture assimilatory or brainwashing objectives were well elaborated and “touched on the means to achieve more important and fundamental objectives: cheap african global journal of transformative education (2024) vol 4 kouam, efl teaching & learning in cameroon 33 global journal of transformative education (2024) vol 4 labor and other economic benefits for france.” on their own, the british governed through cameroonian traditional authorities. the use of indigenous languages (bafut, duala, kenyang, mungaka, etc.) as languages of instruction was a common phenomenon. pidgin english, rather than standard english, was promoted alongside these local languages (echu, 2003). for simo bobda (2004), the british seem to have thought that pidgin english was more suitable for africans than standard english and at the same time a way to keep africans away from their privacy. kachru (1986) confirms this, noting that the acquisition by africans of native-like proficiency in english made them suspect. looking at the two colonial systems, it readily ensues that francophones, through the system of assimilation, were moulded to look up to the native speech model, contrary to anglophones who were trained to prioritise the communicative value of english rather than to long for standard british english. the language policy in postcolonial cameroon french became the official language in french-speaking cameroon upon independence in 1960 and english enjoyed the same status in the english-speaking area following its independence in 1961. at reunification on 1 october, 1961, official bilingualism was instituted in the new federal republic. cameroon, like many other former african colonies, obviously opted for this foreign language option in order to avoid a language conflict arising from the choice of an indigenous language on the one hand and the financial and material cost on the other (bokamba, 2007; echu, 2003). to promote the official bilingualism policy, the government made the teaching of english and french compulsory in the two subsystems of education inherited from colonisation. since then, french has mainly been operating as a foreign language in the anglophone subsystem. english has also been enjoying the same privilege in the francophone subsystem. the following excerpt from the constitution of 18 january 1996 better captures the current language policy in cameroon. the official languages of the republic of cameroon shall be english and french, both languages having the same status. the state shall guarantee the promotion of bilingualism throughout the country. it shall endeavour to protect and promote national languages. (article 1, paragraph 3) despite constitutional provisions which make clear that french and english have the same status and constitute the backbone of the country’s language policy, it is obvious that french remains the main official language. the numerical advantage of french-speaking cameroon (eight regions out of ten and seventy-five percent of the national population) favours this situation which has caused a lot of harm to national unity. anglophones have long complained about linguistic marginalization and the posting of francophone monolingual administrators, magistrate and teachers to their regions is often cited as one of the main reasons accounting for the anglophone crisis which has been going on since 2016. hopefully, the new trend consisting of francophones rushing for english is likely to reduce french dominance over english in the future in both public and social spheres. as for the hundreds of cameroonian languages, they continue to be relegated to the background even though more efforts are now made to promote them through formal education. but even here, they compete with other imported languages such as spanish, german, chinese, russian, italian and even the fading latin. also, even though it is not uncommon for public workers to speak their local language with collaborators or users of the same linguistic community, this practice is frequently denounced, and its promoters accused either of tribalism or of taking the administration hostage to the benefit of their village people. bokamba (2011) warns against such a neglect of local languages in favour of policies that privilege the colonial master’s language, observing that if africa is to reclaim its destiny and emerge from its “downward spiral” of missteps and misfortunes of the last fifty years or so, the utilization of key african languages in public domains represents not only a major rectification in the development trajectory, but also invaluable tools towards its advancement. the time to engage this process is now, and we, africans alone, are its captains and navigators. as argued in bokamba (2007), if the ukolonia behavior discussed here, which is a curable syndrome via civic/cultural education, is not reversed, africa will suffer a deeper level of marginalization, and it will certainly be trampled over by the ever-encroaching globalization of english, french, and portuguese through multinational companies that are aggressively seeking unfettered access to african natural resources. (pp. 162-163) indeed, english as a global language has penetrated cameroon so profoundly that francophones are increasingly neglecting local languages in favour of english. as a result, more and more kids grow up in the kouam, efl teaching & learning in cameroon 34 french part of the country without the knowledge of their mother tongues. english in francophone cameroon it was not until the early 1990s that francophones started developing real interest for english, the language that had become the first international language and the language of business and professional opportunities. mbangwana (2004) depicts the unprecedented rush of french-speaking cameroonians for english in the following terms: francophones who never bothered learning english through the bilingual training programme in the university, which was free of charge, started looking for money after graduating from universities to register for language courses, whether they were private language institutes such as the b & k language institute, british council, or the american cultural center. all of these efforts were for acquiring the language that served like a passport to study or work abroad around the world. (p. 25) the passion of francophone cameroonians for english has led to a situation where they are now massively represented in efl teaching in secondary education nationwide. this zeal for the language has even led to the emergence of a new variety of english known as cameroon francophone english and abbreviated as camfe (atechi, 2015; ngefac, 2022; safotso, 2018; simo bobda, 2013). due to this new brand, the label cameroon anglophone english (camae) is now supplanting that of cameroon english (came) in referring to the english of anglophone cameroonians. although camfe still necessitates an in-deph linguistic description, it is fast gaining ground. the exceptionally rapid growth of cameroon francophone english (which is normally an efl variety) is also due to its proximity and even its co-existence with cameroon anglophone english (which is an esl variety). the place of camfe and camae within english-speaking communities english-speaking communities across the world obey to specific classifications. crystal (2003) distinguishes between enl (english as a native language), esl (english as a second language) and efl (english as a foreign language) communities. kachru (1985) introduces the terminologies inner circle, outer circle and expanding circle in the place of enl, esl and efl, respectively. kachru’s classification pays close attention to the types of spread, the patterns of acquisition and the functional domains in which english is used across cultures. it highlights, for instance, the difference between traditional native speakers (found in countries which represent the traditional seats of english) and the functional native speakers (who are those that speak english as from birth in outer circle countries). however, both classifications share significant similarities. crystal and kachru both present the first community (enl community/ inner circle) as including settings where english is mostly used as mother tongue and unique language by the population. such countries comprise the united kingdom, the united states of america, australia, canada and new zealand. the second group (esl countries/ outer circle) includes former british colonies. in this circle, english enjoys a prestigious status because it is generally one of the official languages if not the only one. it occupies a preponderant position among the two or numerous languages which make the speakers’ linguistic repertoire. here, english often exists alongside many other languages and is significantly indigenised. it is generally assigned a very high status (official or co-official language). it is used as a medium of instruction and a language of administration. countries which belong to this circle include anglophone cameroon, nigeria, india, malaysia, singapore, ghana, kenya, hawaii and south africa. the third group (efl countries/expanding circle) includes the rest of the english-speaking world. in this circle, english is used mainly for international communication. in such contexts, the english language is simply a subject in the curriculum and is used only for specific purposes. francophone cameroon, france, south korea, china, tunisia, egypt, indonesia, saudi arabia and russia are some of the countries which belong to the expanding circle. francophone cameroonians’ attitudes towards cameroon english in spite of the fact that francophone cameroonians are now passionate about the english language and the english subsystem of education, they prefer native englishes, especially british english, and reject indigenised came which they view as’pidginized.” however, research has shown that targeting native english in cameroon is unattainable. kouam (2022) shows that the attempt by franchophone cameroonians to articulate native english features only results in hypercorrec global journal of transformative education (2024) vol 4 kouam, efl teaching & learning in cameroon 35 tion, defined by labov (1966) as the tendency whereby speakers strive to articulate standard linguistic features, but end up producing features that are neither those of the standard variety they are targeting nor those of the mainstream variety spoken by members of their speech community and which they were trying to avoid. this phenomenon seems to be greatly compromising elt efforts in the country’s efl context. while postcolonial theorists such as wa thiongo (1986) and bolton, kachru, kachry, and nelson (2006) advocate linguistic decolonization and a pronounced preference of indigenous african languages in education to enable the africanisation of the educational industry, it is difficult to understand the preference of francophone cameroonians for native english models and the rejection of the indigenised accent which has the advantage of portraying the identity of the postcolonial user to a great extent. this attitude is a clear indication that the french colonial system of assimilation still holds sway in the minds of francophone cameroonians. it totally contradicts the aspirations formulated in decolonization voices. for bolton, kachru, kachry, & nelson (2006, 230), learners should “target pronunciation which is easier to learn because it is more attuned to the phonology of their mother tongues, without forfeiting intelligibility,” instead of struggling to produce the mannerisms of an idealised native speaker of english. these scholars encourage the promotion of pronunciation models with which speakers of the new englishes are familiar and which are attained through formal education to ensure international intelligibility. bolton, kachru, kachry, and nelson (2006) corroborate kramsch’s (1999) recommendation that each variety of english must cater for both intranational and international communication. in the same connection, firth (1964) recommends that second language learners of english be equipped with the educated variety of their local accents. he views “educated english” as follows: by educated english we must not understand standard english. educated english shows a wide range of permissible variations. speakers of this kind of english do not necessarily submerge all signs of social or geographical origin. their accent is often unmistakably local or characteristic of a class. educated english is spoken by all the classes of people all over the english-speaking world. this is the only kind of english that has the remotest chance of universality even in great britain itself. (firth, 1964, 196) the quote above shows that targeting strict american and british accents in postcolonial settings to the detriment of the educated varieties of the local englishes is a futility. firth’s (1964) view is shared by achebe (1965) who opines that non-native speakers of english should passionately espouse their local english models and avoid useless emulations of native speech forms. he declares: so my answer to the question ‘can an african ever learn english well enough to be able to use it effectively in creative writing?’ is certainly yes. if on the other hand you ask ‘can he ever learn to use it as a native speaker?’ i should say, i hope not. it is neither necessary nor desirable for him to be able to do so. the price a world language must be prepared to pay is submission to many different kinds of use. (achebe, 1965, 29) achebe (1965) thus sees indigenized varieties of english as hallmarks of the african identity and as varieties which africans should go for. unfortunately, the myth of the native speaker continues to be present and is sometimes encouraged by elt professionals as is the case with simo bobda (2004, 25) who points out that “the educational and professional survival of the ambitious african at the beginning of the third millennium still largely depends on how well he or she accommodates to inner circle englishes”. he upholds that it is a truism that school curricula in africa must seek to promote this accommodation. the cameroonian scenario is perfectly in line with this recommendation. ngefac (2011, 40) observes that “in most english language textbooks used for the teaching of english in cameroon, drills on standard british english accent abound and no drills are provided for educated cameroon english pronunciation.” although the situation has improved a little bit now, with more and more literary works and a few teaching materials designed based on came, most current english language textbooks, if not all (e.g., interactions in english) still reflect inner circle english norms. methodology fifty (50) francophone and five (5) anglophone efl teachers from ten (10) secondary and high schools in three french-speaking regions of cameroon were recruited as participants for this study. they were selected among seventy-four efl teachers who made up the efl teaching staff of the ten schools. the regions selected included centre, littoral and west. different global journal of transformative education (2024) vol 4 kouam, efl teaching & learning in cameroon 36 research tools were used to collect data. a short questionnaire was designed to thoroughly identify teachers and elicit their claims about the english accent they promote for educational practices. it was given to francophone efl teachers exclusively. a survey of the curriculum was also done to check if student teachers from both the bilingual letters series (future efl teachers) and the english modern letters series (prospective esl teachers) are subjected to the same english language courses during their training. the purpose was to subsequently find out if there was any correlation between pronunciation choice in the classroom and the content of the curriculum that served for their instruction. in other words, is there any relationship between pronunciation practice in the elt classroom and the nature of the courses taught at the teacher training school? an observation of five efl classes conducted by francophone teachers also helped to determine the extent to which the pedagogic model practised by francophone efl teachers reflects their claims in the questionnaire. this model was then compared to what obtains in the efl teaching situations conducted by the five selected anglophone teachers. as concerns theoretical considerations, bokamba’s (2011) ukolonia theory and kachru’s (1985) world englishes model are the perspectives from which the study was carried out. bokamba (2011, 161) defines ukolonia as “a psychological syndrome that obfuscates the rational thinking of a patient in a postcolonial society and causes him/her to evaluate himself/herself in terms of values and standards established by the former colonial masters’ culture(s)’’. this reflects francophone cameroonians’ attitude towards cameroon english; an attitudinal tendency that clearly reveals the internalized colonial mentality that characterizes these english users. as for the origin of this slave mentality, bokamba (2011) explains: ukolonia resulted from the long-term brainwashing that characterized the explicit or implicit policy of assimilation of africans to western cultures, especially through education, religious practices, and administrative practices. through these agencies, african customs and cultures were viewed as inferior to their western counterparts, and thus devalued and stigmatized as “backward”; while, in contrast the western modes of life were valued, promoted, and incentivized as worthy of emulation. (p. 161) from the above description, it is clear that ukolonia remains a widespread practice in cameroon. even the school curricula seem to serve the needs of the west more than those of cameroon. concerning kachru’s (1985) world englishes model, it acknowledges the irreversible indigenisation process undergone by english out of its traditional seats, and establishes the new englishes as autonomous varieties with characteristic features. therefore, it contrasts with frameworks such as error analysis, which view all deviations from traditional native englishes as errors and, consequently, as uninvited guests in any elt situation. in this perspective, it is actual communication and intelligibility which are the watchwords, and not necessarily how much a speaker can twist their tongue to approximate native speech models. besides, the model denounces the monopole that inner circle englishes still have in many non-native environments. for kachru (1985), inner circle speakers cannot continue to be the exclusive norm-setters in a context where the english language has transcended many national, international and continental boundaries to emerge as a global lingua franca. in this development process, ngefac (2012, 169) points out, english has significantly embraced the contextual realities of postcolonial contexts, due to the process of nativisation through which each new english setting “has acquired new norms of correctness, which very much reflect the twists and turns the language has undergone in such contexts”. many outer circle countries and even some expanding circle ones are claiming their englishness, thereby manifesting their wish to move from norm-depending to norm providing english settings. this can only be made possible through frameworks such as the present ones. data analysis and findings the analysis of the data collected yielded interesting findings. representation of francophones in efl teaching one of the issues which need to be surveyed accurately in the efl teaching sector in cameroon is that of ‘who teaches english as a foreign language in cameroon’. the answer to this question is likely to shed more light on the speech orientations millions of francophone cameroonians trained in secondary and high schools receive every year. in other words, if efl teachers are mostly anglophone cameroonians, the learners will obviously tend to be accustomed to cameroon anglophone english. on the contrary, if the efl teaching staff is dominated by francophones as preglobal journal of transformative education (2024) vol 4 kouam, efl teaching & learning in cameroon 37 dicted in this study, there is a likelihood that cameroonian learners from the francophone sub-system of education will be adepts of cameroon francophone english, which also entails that their likelihood to exhibit hypercorrection in their english speech will be very high. this is because camfe has been observed to be a variety with a great deal of hypercorrect features. not having the means to carry out a large-scale survey to determine the exact percentage of francophone efl teachers serving nationwide, we could, at least, do this verification from the ten schools we consulted for the investigation. in each efl department (commonly referred to as anglais department), the number of teachers was determined. then a distinction was made between those who had a francophone background and those with an anglophone background. the table below provides a picture of the representation of francophones in the ten efl departments that were visited. as shown in table 1, efl teachers are mostly francophones (up to 67.5% of the efl teachers that were met in the schools that were sampled). the overall teaching staff of the ten efl departments that were visited was made up of seventy-four (74) efl teachers. out of this number, up to 50 had a francophone background. while in some departments we could have a fair number of anglophones (e.g., 4 out of 10 teachers met in government bilingual high school obala), in others (e.g., government technical high school nkometou-centre where 6 efl teachers could be found), all were francophones. these figures clearly denote the predominance of francophone teachers in the teaching of english to francophone cameroonians. as mentioned earlier, a questionnaire was administered exclusively to the fifty francophone teachers. this aimed at eliciting their preferred english accent for elt. francophone efl teachers preferred english accent teachers were expected to choose their preferred english accent for educational practices out of the three options that were proposed, namely (1) the standard british english accent, abbreviated as sbe and also known as received pronunciation or rp, (2) the cameroon english (came) accent and (3) a mixture of sbe and came accents. the table below displays their choices. table 2 indicates that up to 38 (76%) of the teachers went for the native accent (standard british english). while 9 (18%) were in favour of a mixture of native and cameroon english accents, only 3 (6%) showed a preference for the indigenised cameroon english accent. these figures are very indicative of francophone cameroonians’ very negative attitude towards cameroon anglophone english and their strong attachment to western speech models. given that there is often a gap between what one prefers and what they actually have or do, it was considered suitable to seek to know what they think they teach. their claims are displayed in table 3. it is quite interesting to note that as many as 28 francophone efl teachers (56%) out of 50 claimed they teach nothing but the standard british english accent. this claim makes one wonder if what these teachers claimed they are teaching was actually what they taught. such a preoccupation could only be addressed through classroom observation that was carried out at a later stage of the data collection process. nineteen (38%) acknowledged that they teach a mixture of native and came accents and only 3 (6%) recognized that they teach the indigenized cameroon english accent. from all indications, teachers’ claims are not genuine but simply a way for them to show that they abide by the official recommendations to promote traditional native english norms. kachru (1986, 117) thinks it’s not only useless but impossible to implement inner circle english standards in postcolonial environments. that is why he disagrees with non-native speakers who boldly claim they speak received pronunciation. the scholar makes it clear that “no member of the outer circle speaks rp,” and upholds global journal of transformative education (2024) vol 4 kouam, efl teaching & learning in cameroon 38 that “even if he could, he would lack those mannerisms distinct of a native speaker”. in the same vein, todd (1982, 289) had earlier observed that “virtually no african speaks rp.” it should be noted that even in britain, rp features are now very scarce as research shows that less than 3% of the british population now uses rp in its pure form. despite this literature contradicting teachers’ statement that they teach standard british english, it was important to seek empirical evidence through classroom realities. the efl teaching scenario in cameroon classroom observation involved ten efl classes, five of which were conducted by anglophone teachers and the other five by francophone teachers. it ensued from the ten classes attended that levis’ (2005) nativeness and intelligibility principles are two paradigms holding sway in the cameroonian english language teaching industry nowadays. it was so obvious to note that english language teachers with an anglophone background are mostly guided by the intelligibility principle and insist on the local came while those with a francophone background are mostly guided by the nativeness principle, despite on-going signals that the promotion of native english models in cameroon is not yielding the expected fruits. anglophone efl teachers’ focus an appraisal of what constitutes the target in efl teaching situations for each of the two categories of english language teachers that were observed showed that anglophone efl teachers’ efforts are aimed at developing learners’ communicative skills through a pedagogic model which enables them to understand and to be understood by other english-speaking users. these are teachers who are basically trained to serve as esl teachers. they proved to be more attuned to the promotion of educational practices that favour a realistic, pragmatic and attainable speech model to the learners. without forfeiting intelligibility, they train learners to speak english as naturally as they speak their cameroonian first languages. francophone efl teachers’ focus these are francophones trained in bilingual series to teach english to other francophone cameroonians. classroom observation demonstrated that their objective is geared towards the attainment of native or native-like speech. they pretend to be teaching nothing but native english. however, observation showed that their attempts to approximate these inner circle englishes rather lead them to hypercorrection. for instance, (instead of ) was provided by a francophone efl teacher as the american english pronunciation of module one. in the same vein, (instead of ) was brandished by another francophone efl teacher as the sbe rendition of reject. the phonological rendition of th in words such as this and mathematics are other glaring examples that were observed, as the sequence was hypercorrectly articulated by francophone efl teachers as /v/ and /f/, respectively, to the detriment of their sbe counterparts /ð/ and /θ/ and their came forms /d/ and /t/. this is further evidence that the increasingly high percentage of hypercorrect speech features in cameroon francophone english is as a result of francophone efl teachers’ ukolonia mindset which vividly depicts neo-colonialism as it cherishes and idealises what is foreign but despises and rejects what is local. general observations while anglophone efl teachers simply ensure that their learners speak english in a way that is intelligible to the listeners, their francophone colleagues are interested in ensuring that the learner articulates words following standard british english and american english patterns. interestingly, the pronunciation model provided by the teachers themselves does not, in most cases, reflect the variety they are struggling to teach. the learner finally does not gain much because the efforts to sound british or american limit their fluency significantly. this could explain why francophone cameroonians are very good at english grammar but avoid speaking due to the fear to make mistakes (safotso, 2022). in fact, they are very often interrupted by their francophone efl teachers who constantly come in to “correct” their english pronunciation. it also transpired from classroom observation that francophone students trained by francophone efl teachers are far less fluent in english and, consequently, less officially bilingual than the few trained by anglophone teachers, whose target is actual communication. a palpable example came from a speech exercise done in two première classes in gbhs obala where learners were expected to say the sentences aloud stressing the words in bold so as to give the sentence the rhythm or cadence it deserves. while the premiere d1 learners, taught by an anglophone efl teacher, could easily and fluently repeat the sentences following their teacher’s global journal of transformative education (2024) vol 4 kouam, efl teaching & learning in cameroon 39 local english accent, those of premiere d2 found it very difficult arriving at a pronunciation their francophone trainer was imposing on them. in most cases, francophone teachers’ speech was flawed by hypercorrection due to their unsuccessful attempts to respect sbe segmental and suprasegmental rules. at the same time, learners, whose speech organs could not get rid of the sound systems of french and their mother tongues, could not afford to emulate the teacher whose own efforts to sound native were actually fruitless. for the sentence, it would be great if all cameroonians could have access to the internet, (interactions in english 1eres, p. 258) for instance, the francophone efl teacher provided the following as reference pronunciation: it would be if all access to internet. on the other hand, the digest cameroon english pronunciation the anglophone efl teacher provided to her learners enabled the latter to repeat with a high degree of fluency. the glaring contrast characterizing the teaching approaches used by francophone and anglophone efl teachers led to the scrutiny of their training programmes. the syllabus for teacher education the syllabus used in training efl teachers in cameroonian higher teacher training colleges shows some significant differences from the one used to train esl teachers. the main contrast arises from the fact that while esl student teachers have all their courses in english from level one to level five (except one french course that is supposed to upgrade their french proficiency), their efl counterparts have 50% of their curriculum content constituted of french subjects and the other 50% being made of english subjects. looking at the english subjects, both esl and efl student teachers have in common a course entitled english speech and usage, which focuses on sbe. but unlike their esl mates, efl student teachers are not taught a key course entitled world englishes, which aims at exposing the learners to the different varieties of english. the course promotes indigenized englishes, contrarily to english speech and usage, which only provides drills on standard british english and, to an extent, american english. no drill on came or any other local variety is thus provided to prospective francophone efl teachers. the correlation between the course entitled world englishes and the acceptance or rejection of the new englishes such a cameroon english cannot be belaboured. it is a course which values the new englishes and highlights their place within the world englishes arena. consequently, the course contributes to build self confidence in new englishes speakers, thereby making them proud of the indigenized englishes. such a course is likely to help francophone efl student teachers get rid of the ukolonia (slave) mentality (bokamba, 2007, 2011) which highly characterizes them. needless pointing out that while in secondary and high school, most of the present student teachers acquired from their own francophone efl teachers what was fallaciously presented to them as native english. the same fallacy is, unfortunately, reinforced through exposure to the course entitled english speech and usage whose sole aim is to acquaint prospective efl and esl teachers with inner circle english norms. the presence of this course in the curriculum serving in the training of english language teachers is due to the fact that it is a traditional native english variety, namely standard british english, which continues to serve as reference model for english language teaching practices across cameroon despite the fact that researchers have been raising an alarm to denounce a policy which promotes a language variety which is not at the reach of cameroonians and cannot actually convey cameroonian experiences. from the numerous research endeavours carried out to assess cameroonians’ familiarity with the british variety of english, it occurs that they significantly lack the mastery of this model. even teachers who are called upon to teach it have proven beyond any reasonable doubt to be ignorant of it. this has led to publication titles such as when the blind lead the blind: the fallacy of promoting standard british english in cameroon (ngefac, 2012). the absence of efl teachers’ exposure to world englishes can only lead to the situation prevailing in the francophone english-speaking community in cameroon nowadays, where speakers twist their tongues to sound british or american in their english speech and make clear attempts to avoid uttering features that associate them with the local cameroon english. unfortunately for them, it is so obvious that even when they successfully articulate some isolated words or sentences in accordance with traditional native english norms, difficulties handling aspects such as intonation and connected speech quickly expose their masquerade and reveal to the limelight that they are simply trying their hand in something their speech organs are unfamiliar with. the decolonization of francophone efl teachers’ linguistic mindset thus appears as a necessity. global journal of transformative education (2024) vol 4 kouam, efl teaching & learning in cameroon 40 the urgency of decolonising francophone efl teachers’ mindset francophone efl learners in cameroon are paying a huge price for the colonial linguistic indoctrination subtly led by such enemies of indigenised englishes as prator (1968), quirk (1985) and honey (1997), who saw the promotion of the new englishes as a heresy. looking at the current english language scenario, how sustainable can quirk’s (1985) call for the use of a “single monochrome standard form that looks as good on paper as it sounds in speech’’ actually be today? what would honey (1997) think of his own declaration that if speakers of english in the new nations create their own standard, they are likely to be excluded from the global scene because they cannot exercise the same level of competence as other members of the world english-speaking community? these advocates of a new englishes genocide thought they could continuously impose inner circle english norms all over the world. it is left to outer and expanding circle users to realise that they outnumber the traditional native speakers by far and this numerical advantage must permit them to set and follow norms which capture the cosmology of the specific non-native english-speaking countries. unfortunately, some non-native speakers (e.g., francophone cameroonians) continue to be at the forefront to combat the englishes that carry the colours of their sociocultural realities. the following report by platt, weber & ho (1984, 170) is a clear indication that the decolonisation of many non-native english speakers’ linguistic mindset is a matter of utmost importance. the scholars indicate that in a workshop on the english language in singapore, a speaker with a conspicuous singaporean accent passionately affirmed: “i speak rp.” surprisingly, his statement rather provoked laughter and protest from the british audience. such behaviours make one wonder why speakers of the new englishes undervalue the varieties of english that they speak and rather want to identify themselves with foreign models. ngefac (2012) attempts an explanation to this state of affairs, hypothesising that the reason which has influenced some cameroonians to change their black skin using chemical products in order to look white like their ex-colonial masters is the same reason at the base of their negative attitude towards the languages that are rooted in the sociocultural and sociolinguistic realities of their country. he upholds that such people believe the greatness of cameroon lies “in the ability of cameroonians to prove that they master ex-colonial languages as much as, or even more than traditional native speakers of the languages” themselves. when will africans actually realise that “when an african speaks american english, the credit goes to america,” as rightly pointed out by micheal ndemanu in may 2023 during the second world conference on transformative education held in ghana? there are many anglophone cameroonians who successfully carry out their daily activities worldwide using their indigenised came accent. just like no language can portray one’s identity better than their mother tongues, no english variety can depict the sociocultural realities of a new english setting or express the ways and thoughts of its users better than the local variety. it is equally obvious that it is only through their native or indigenised languages that individuals can actually showcase their highest degree of creativity, self-confidence and performance. what can justify the persistence of colonialist visions like simo bobda’s (2004) equating the language policy applied by the british in cameroon during the colonial period to a linguistic apartheid, and advocating “not just english per se, but standard british english” in cameroon? this is a vision which takes on the british administration for keeping africans away from “good english”. for its author, the british should have drilled africans on standard british english. africans in general and francophone cameroonians in particular should stop seeing native english speech as more prestigious, correct and intelligible than their local varieties. doing so is ignoring kachru’s (1992, 67) call on all english users around the world to “realise that this new role of english [as an international language] puts a burden on those who use it as their first language, as well as on those who use it as their second language.” that is to say, it is not the duty of non-native speakers alone to speak english in a way that ensures international intelligibility. francophone efl teachers in cameroon should be acquainted with this and should equally think of some powerful declarations from such postcolonial thinkers as achebe who were able, as far back as in the 1960s, to perceive indigenized varieties of english as real forces to reckon with. they should be aware that the english language has become a global resource and the possession of every community that in any way uses it regardless of what any other individual or community may feel or think about the matter (mcarthur, 1999). in a world dominated by the west, africa must strive to get its own share through fights of various global journal of transformative education (2024) vol 4 kouam, efl teaching & learning in cameroon 41 natures, including linguistic struggles. it is no news that language is power. american imperialism has been very successful thanks to the spread of the english language. if africa cannot totally rely on indigenous languages to face the rest of the world, its indiginised english varieties can play a major role. kouam (in production) strongly believes that cameroonian and african natural resources are appealing enough to america and europe. if the indigenised african varieties of english appear to be the sole means of communication through which discussions regarding these resources can be held, the western world will not resist. they will embrace indigenised african english models. francophone efl teachers’ mindset, as it stands, is contrary to african transformative development initiatives and visions. it must be reshaped through decolonisation. the best method to deconstruct and reconstruct francophone efl teachers’ english linguistic mindset in cameroon remains the teaching of the course entitled world englishes to efl student teachers. the teaching of such a course will definitely influence their attitudes towards indigenised english varieties. fewer and fewer studies now brandish traditional native speakers of english as sole norm-providers and non-native speakers as followers of the established norms. instead, most works (e.g., levis, 2005) require that the nativeness principle, which used to prevail in the teaching of english pronunciation in both native and non-native contexts, should now pave the way to the intelligibility principle, which best addresses all contexts of second or foreign language teaching/learning. francophone efl teachers in cameroon should follow this principle which simply requires learners to be intelligible. therefore, language policy makers in cameroon should recommend mainstream cameroon english for both esl and efl teaching to the detriment of standard british english. studies have shown that camfe contains many features of came and very few features of sbe even though camfe speakers paradoxically display a very negative attitude towards came and a very positive one towards sbe. the codification process of came is far advanced. the legitimate features of its educated variety as well as features that can be considered as mistakes and excluded are well known. more textbooks need to be designed based on its educated variety to enable a smooth teaching of this local english model. conclusion although english is mainly a colonial heritage for cameroonians and other africans, postcolonial nations should develop pride for its local varieties, as they are emblematic of our sociocultural realities. as for now, there is almost no alternative to english as a global lingua franca. it would be fallacious to think that a cameroonian indigenous language can guarantee the instrumental role that english fulfils today. the issue is thus that of the variety that should be promoted. in the cameroonian context, came should be the target in elt rather than standard british english. if the cameroonian efl teaching stakeholders (who are mostly of a francophone background) emulate their fellow anglophone colleagues in the teaching of an accent which is at the reach of the learners and is rooted in their sociolinguistic and sociocultural realities, francophone cameroonian learners will develop greater competences in oral communication. the exposure of prospective francophone efl teachers to world englishes, as is already the case with esl teachers, can seriously play in favour of this. the present situation which is characterized by the unattainable objective of approximating native englishes ignites frustrations in the students, as they remain unable to communicate actively in the language. also, embracing came rather than sbe can only reinforce national integration. there is thus a necessity to join wa thiongo (1986) in his call for a decolonization of the mind. levis’ (2005) intelligibility principle should also be the watchword in the cameroonian efl teaching industry nowadays given that the nativeness principle which has so far been followed by francophone efl teachers simply leads to hypercorrection, a phenomenon which was observed to be compromising francophone learners’ ability to speak english naturally and fluently. references achebe, c. (1965). english and the african writer. transition, 4(18), 27-30. atechi, s. n. (2015). english and french in cameroon today: revisiting a previous statement. international journal of language studies, 9(1), 75-90. issn: 2157-4898; eissn: 2157-4901. bokamba, e. g. (2007). multilingual policies in african public domains. in achimbe, e. (ed.): identity construction in postcolonial multilingual spaces. newcastle: cambridge scholars publishing. bokamba, e. g. (2011). ukolonia in african language policies and practices. in selected proceedings of the 40th annual conference on african linguistics, (pp. 146-167). cascadilla proceedings project. global journal of transformative education (2024) vol 4 http://www.lingref.com/cpp/acal/40/abstract2572.html http://www.lingref.com/cpp/acal/40/abstract2572.html kouam, efl teaching & learning in cameroon 42 bolton, k., kachru, b., kachru, y., & nelson, c. l. (2006). the handbook of world englishes. varieties of world englishes, 289-312. blackwell publishing. crystal, d. (2003). english as a global language, (2nd ed). cambridge: cambridge university press. echu, g. (2003). the language question in cameroon. linguistik online, 18, 19-33. 1/04 issn 1615-3014. eberhard, d. m., simons g. f., & fennig, c. d. (2023) ethnologue: languages of the world, [21st ed.]. sil international, usa. firth, j. r. (1964). the tongues of men and speech. london: oxford university press. language and language learning series. honey, j. (1997). language is power: the story of standard english and its enemies. london: faber and faber. kachru, b. (1985). standards, codification and xociolinguistic realism: the english language in the outer circle. in r. quirk & widdowson, h. g. (eds.), english in the world: teaching and learning the language and literatures (pp. 11-36). cambridge: cambridge university press. kachru, b. (1986). the alchemy of english: the spread, function and models of non-native englishes. oxford: pergamon press. kachru, b. (1992). world englishes: approaches, issues and resources. language teaching, 25(1), 1-14. kouam, c. (2022). hypercorrection in cameroon francophone english speech. in ngefac, a. (ed.), aspects of cameroon englishes. cambridge scholars publishing. pp157-173. kouam, c. (in press). the linguistic mindset of anglophone and francophone users of english in cameroon. in ngefac, a., neba, d. c. and ndemanu, m. t. (eds.). language, literature and education for the development of postcolonial africa. bloomsbury publishing kramsch, c. (1999). global and local identities in the contact zone. in gnutzmann, c. (ed.), teaching and learning english as a global language: native and non-native perspectives (pp. 131-143). tubingen: stauffenburg-verl. labov, w. (1966). the social stratification of english in new york city. washington, d. c.: center for applied linguistics. levis, j. m. (2005). changing contexts and shifting paradigms in pronunciation teaching. tesol quarterly, 39(3), 369-377. mcarthur, t. (1999). english today. cambridge: cambridge university press. ndemanu, m. t. (2023). opening remarks from the chairman. the 2nd world conference on transformative education, cape coast, ghana, may 27, 2023. ngefac, a. (2011). when the blind lead the blind: the fallacy of promoting standard british english accent in cameroon. journal of language teaching and research, 2(1), 40-44. ngefac, a. (2012). from skin colour mutilation to tongue rejection: cameroonians’ attitudes towards their local tongues. in echu, g. (2012). fifty years of official bilingualism (1961-2001). harmattan: paris, 163-191. ngefac, a. (2022). introduction: aspects of cameroon englishes. in aspects of cameroon englishes. cambridge scholars publishing. pp1-14. platt, j., weber, h. and ho, m. l. (1984). the new englishes. london: routledge and kegan paul. prator, c. (1968). the british heresy in tesl. in j. a. fishman, c. a. ferguson, & gupta, j. d. (eds.), language problems in developing nations. new york: john wiley. quirk, r. (1985). the english language in a global context. english in the world: teaching and learning the language and literatures, 16, 17-21. safotso, g. t. (2018). a study of the phonological features of cameroon francophone english. saabrüncken: scholars’ press. safotso, g. t. (2022). cameroon francophone english in public speeches and on audio-visual media. in a. ngefac (ed.). aspects of cameroon englishes. cambridge scholars publishing, 148-156. simo bobda, a. (2004). linguistic apartheid: english language policy in africa. english today, 77, 20 (1), 19-26. simo bobda, a. (2013). the emergence of a standardizing cameroon francophone english pronunciation in cameroon. in nils-lennard johannesson et al. (2013 ed.), of butterflies and birds, of dialects and genres. stockholm: us-ab, pp. 289-301. todd, l. (1982). the english language in west africa. in bailey, r. & görlach, m, (eds.), english as a world language (pp. 281-305). ann arbor: michigan press. wa thiongo, n. (1986). decolonising the mind: the politics of language in african literature. heinemann education. clement kouam (kouamclement@gmail.com) is a parttime lecturer at the university of yaounde i in cameroon. author global journal of transformative education (2022) vol 3 issn 2640-1533s open access editorial team gjte invites you to apply to be a member of the editorial board. potential reviewers can register for an account on the gjte website: register for gjte account i global journal of transformative education volume 3, april 2022 published by the global insitutute of transformative education (http://www.gite.education) © gjte. 2022. gjte is a peer-reviewed open access journal produced as part of the iu scholarworks system, indiana university, bloomington, indiana, usa. editors-in-chief michael t. ndemanu, ball state university, muncie, indiana, usa serafín m. coronel-molina, indiana university, bloomington, indiana, usa managing editor tom j. mcconnell, ball state university, muncie, indiana, usa editorial board kennedy n. bota masinde muliro university of science & technology, kakamega, kenya judah m. ndiku masinde muliro university of science & technology, kakamega, kenya wilfridah m. mucherah ball state university, muncie, indiana, usa daniel baron the bloomington project school, bloomington, indiana, usa teresia mbogori ball state university, muncie, indiana, usa james kigamwa literacy international, neward, delaware, usa alissa mwenelupembe national assoc. for the education of young children, washington, dc, usa sarah haisley ivy tech community college, muncie, indiana, usa seema lasi aga khan university, karachi, pakistan david roof ball state university, muncie, indiana, usa lynne stallings ball state university, muncie, indiana, usa hugo yuhsiu lee united nations, new york, new york, usa sherilynn jordan indiana university, bloomington, indiana, usa https://scholarworks.iu.edu/journals/index.php/gjte/login global journal of transformative education (2022) vol 3 issn 2640-1533s open access ii published by the global insitutute of transformative education (http://www.gite.education) © gjte. 2022. gjte is a peer-reviewed open access journal produced as part of the iuscholarworks system, indiana university, bloomington, indiana, usa. multiple perspectives on tranformative education articles transforming education from theory to practice: daring to re-imagine and re-innovate third volume of the global journal of transformative education ............................................................................................................... 1 michael t. ndemanu & serafín m. coronel-molina, editors-in-chief the little red hed and a corona giant: creative storytelling as a transformative strategy in an early childhood classroom .................................................. 3 ilfa zhulamanova & jill m. raisor literary review of translanguaging, translating, and interpreting in education ........................................................................................................................ 15 corinne gentry transforming syllabus design: maximizing learning outcomes in higher education .............................................................................................................. 25 michael ndemanu book reviews caralyn zehnder, cynthia alby, karynne kleine, julia metzker. (2021). learning that matters: a field guide to course design for transformative education .............................................................................................................. 34 zhaoyi zhang nana osei-kofi, bradley boovy, & kali furman. (2022). transformative approaches to social justice education: equity and access in the college classroom ...................... 38 michelle a. medved in memoriam ..................................................................................................................................... 43 open call for papers ...................................................................................................................................... 44 gjte editors contents global journal of transformative education volume 3, april 2022 ndemanu, m. t., & coronel-molina, s. m. global journal of transformative education (2022) vol 3 doi 10.14434/gjte.v3i1.34349 open access published by the global insitutute of transformative education (http://www.gite.education) © ndemanu & coronel-molina. 2022. open access this journal is distributed under the terms of the creative commons attribution noncommercial nonderivative 4.0 international license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction without revision in any non-commercial medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the creative commons license, transformative education from theory to practice: daring to re-imagine and re-innovate third volume of the global journal of transformative education michael t. ndemanu1 and serafín coronel-molina2 editors-in-chief, global journal of transformative education full listing of authors and contacts can be found at the end of this article. according to the transformative learning theory developed by jack mezirow (1991), connecting theory with practice is vital because transformative learning occurs during the connection process. a theory can be defined as a set of assumptions or hypotheses about a reality. in other words, it is a mental map representing the world (granick, 2005; knapper, 2000). meanwhile practice can be defined as something that one does. theory can inform practice because it provides a rationale for a decision or action to be taken. it is often modified based on the outcome of practice. theory, therefore, should inform practice and vice versa. it is within this theory to practice framework that articles for this issue were framed. for this volume, out of several manuscripts submitted, three were found to meet the standards and rigors of transformative education ideals as enunciated on our website, www.gite.education and were closely aligned with the current theme. the articles focus on diverse topics ranging from creative storytelling as a transformative education strategy, transformative syllabus development approaches to translanguaging in the k-12 classroom. the contributions are relevant to scholars, educators, practitioners, educational policymakers, graduate students, and grassroots organizations interested in transformative education across the globe. the first article, titled the little red hen and a corona giant: creative story-telling as a transformative strategy in an early childhood classroom, is authored by zhulamanova & raisor. these authors find storytelling to be instrumental not just in communication, but also as a way for kindergarteners to display a great depth of comprehension. the study details the use of a creative storytelling strategy implemented in an early childhood classroom which was interrupted by the covid-19 pandemic. the end result is a two-phase study which concluded with pre-kindergarten aged children using storytelling to discuss and display their perceptions of coronavirus in an academic setting. in the article on translanguaging, gentry, the author, shares the findings of a research on translanguaging, translating, and interpreting in k-12 classrooms. the second article is literary review of translanguaging, translating, and interpreting in education, by gentry. the author defines translanguaging as the act of using the two languages strategically to maximize communication during the learning process. it is used as an interactive tool among those who are not yet proficient in the dominant language. translanguaging is fast becoming a universal practice in k-12 school districts with high immigrant population in spite of the perennially lingering english-only policies. the need for translated documents and the importance of hiring interpreters to sustain translanguaging practice is emphasized in this article. in the third article, transformative syllabus design: maximizing learning outcomes in higher education, ndemanu discusses the contours of developing a 21st century course syllabus that empowers students in the learning process to become critical thinkers, problem-solvers, innovators, and collaborators. the author draws from transformative learning theory to provide detailed information on the characteristics of a syllabus, its universal components, interpreting course code, uses of a syllabus, accessibility, and backward design. he also draws from bloom’s taxonomy to offer a pragmatic guide to syllabus creation with concrete examples on how instructors can employ a backward design approach for syllabus development to effectively create a syllabus of a course they have never taught before. the author concludes by reiterating that the overarching emphasis of teaching with a syllabus is to promote ndemanu & coronel-molina vol 3 intro: theory to practice page 2 higher-order thinking and deeper learning in higher education because a syllabus that promotes such practices and knowledge transfer maximizes learning outcomes. this issue encompasses two book reviews of recent high-impact texts on transformative education. the first text is: caralyn zehnder, cynthia alby, karynne kleine, julia metzker. (2021). learning that matters: a field guide to course design for transformative education. in this text reviewed by zhaoyi zhang, the authors argue that in today’s 21st century, the traditional way of teaching has mostly given way to transformative education in which teachers should not only impart knowledge, but also facilitate the acquisition of skills by students (david, 2016). educators in transformative education play the role of helping students to understand and acknowledge “the dynamics between their inner and outer worlds” (boyd & myers, 1988, p.261). this book provides guidance to teachers in the higher education system to help them design courses that can create meaningful learning experiences for students and actively engage them in social issues. the second book is: osei-kofi, n., boovy, b., & furman, k. (eds.). (2022). transformative approaches to social justice education: equity and access in the college classroom. it was reviewed by michelle a. medved. the book documents the difference, power, and discrimination program at oregon state university which has been enlightening undergraduate students on social justice education for 30 years. born out of student advocacy and the faculty that supports them, the program is an established collection of diversity education courses and faculty training seminars. the program has survived budget cuts, critics, and other challenges throughout its 30 years. transformative approaches to social justice education describes the methods of the program pragmatically and unflinchingly so readers of the book can apply them to their classrooms. acknowledgments the global journal of transformative education (gjte) is a singular publication venue since its main objective is to share educational research and research-based practices on transformative education from local and global perspectives. despite the great amount of time and effort we have invested in the conceptualization, development, implementation, production, and publication of this third volume, we could not have done all this by ourselves. the publication of this volume is the result of the hard work and dedication of many people. first of all, our profound gratitude goes to the global institute for transformative education (gite) and its founding members for their sustained sponsorship to make this volume happen. we are deeply thankful to tom j. mcconnell, who provided us with invaluable assistance in his role as managing editor, taking care of the daily operations of gjte. we are also grateful to our colleagues who serve on the editorial board, as well as to institutions, friends, colleagues, and social media networks from around the world for their help in publicizing the gjte website and facebook page widely. we would also like to thank all the contributors to this second volume for choosing gjte to publish their work. many thanks to iuscholarworks for hosting gjte’s website. without the generous assistance and contribution of all these great people and institutions, gjte would never have become a reality. we are equally grateful to our colleagues worldwide who spent significant number of hours reviewing the papers. we thank them for their time and diligence in the review process. we also owe an immense debt of gratitude to fred bay for his continuous generous donations to gite for transformative education conferences, which have been the springboard of gjte. references bell, d. v.j. (2016). twenty-first century education: transformative education for sustainability and responsible citizenship. journal of teacher education for sustainability, 18(1), 48-56. robert d. boyd & j. gordon myers. (1988). transformativeeducation. international journal of lifelong education, 7(4), 261-284. granick, j. (2005). a deeper look at theory and practice. international association of sufism. knapper, c. k. (2000). lifelong learning in higher education (3rd ed.). london: kagan page. mezirow, j. (1991). transformative dimensions of adult learning. jossey-bass. authors1 michael t. ndemanu (mtndemanu@bsu.edu) is an associate professor of education in the department of educational studies at ball state university, muncie, indiana, usa. 2 serafín m. coronel-molina (scoronel@indiana.edu) is an associate professor in the department of curriculum and instruction at indiana university, bloomington, indiana, usa. authors global journal of transformative education (2022) vol 3 https://ias.org/departments/sufipsychology/spf-articles/a-deeper-look-at-theory-and-practice/ abstract storytelling is a natural means of communication between generations and is deeply rooted in culture. in today’s classrooms, the act of storytelling is often overshadowed by a narrow focus on academics. however, storytelling could be viewed as a means of transformative education by creating autonomous, independent thinkers as demonstrated in this manuscript. children can use storytelling as a way to demonstrate depth of understanding, apply critical thinking skills, and to be active learners in their own education. this study details the use of a creative storytelling strategy implemented in an early childhood classroom which was interrupted by the covid-19 pandemic. the end result is a two-phase study which concluded with pre-kindergarten aged children using storytelling to discuss and display their perceptions of coronavirus in an academic setting. keywords: storytelling, early childhood education, covid pandemic zhulamanova, i., & raisor, j. m. global journal of transformative education (2022) vol 3 doi 10.14434/gjte.v3i1.32098 open access published by the global insitutute of transformative education (http://www.gite.education) © zhulamanova & raisor, 2022. open access this journal is distributed under the terms of the creative commons attribution noncommercial nonderivative 4.0 international license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction without revision in any non-commercial medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the creative commons license, the little red hen and a corona giant: creative storytelling as a transformative strategy in an early childhood classroom ilfa zhulamanova and jill m. raisor full listing of authors and contacts can be found at the end of this article. introduction storytelling is deeply rooted in the belief that children learn through stories verbally shared across generations and often involving an interesting mixture of folklore and history. in today’s classrooms, the act of storytelling is often overshadowed by a narrow focus on academics in classrooms. however, children can use storytelling as a way to demonstrate depth of their understanding, thinking, lived experiences and needs. for example, compare the following two teaching strategies. first, a book is read to children which might be disconnected from their lives and prior experiences while encouraging passive listening skills (global institute for transformative education, 2021). second, the same story is shared through a storytelling strategy where the children are given the opportunity to actively engage, take ownership, and construct their own meanings from the content. the second example clearly demonstrates the type of transformative education we hope to encourage in classrooms. the overarching goal of this study was to use a storytelling as a creative strategy in an early childhood classroom to open space for children for “dialoging” (bakhtin, 1984) with the world to express themselves, their emotions and feelings, and lived experiences in a creative way. the following manuscript details the use of a creative storytelling strategy implemented in an early childhood classroom which was interrupted by the covid-19 pandemic. the end result is a two-phase study which concluded with pre-kindergarten aged children using storytelling to discuss and display their perceptions of coronavirus. literature review oral storytelling is an ancient and may be the earliest form of teaching. it serves a dual purpose of entertaining and transmitting cultural beliefs and values from one generation to the next in many cultures including latinx (melzi, schick & scarola, 2018) and african american (champion, 2003). under-studied in zhulamanova & raisor, creative story telling as a transformative strategy page 4 education (hibbin, 2016a), it continues to maintain cultural practices and traditions over time, socialize children into their cultures, and aid their overall development (barton & barton, 2017; landrum, brakke, & mccarthy, 2019; strekalova-hughes & wang, 2019). storytelling attracts children to books (ritchie, james-szanton, & howes, 2003) and excite the imagination, involve the listeners, and motivate children to try storytelling themselves and create their own techniques (morrow, 2020). storytelling is a form of transformational education that helps children to understand dynamics between their inner and outer worlds and the expansion of consciousness and the working toward a meaningful integrated life as evidenced in authentic relationships with self and others” (boyd & myers, 1988, p. 261). what is storytelling? the national council of teachers of english (ncte) has provided a definition of oral storytelling as “relating a tale to one or more listeners through voice and gesture” (teaching storytelling, 1992). this simple definition considers the inherently social nature of storytelling that requires a listening audience to fulfil its definitional requirements. it also tacitly invokes the oral nature of storytelling whereby the tale is ‘related’ and not ‘read,’ and the emphasis upon ‘voice and gesture’ implicitly denies the use of a script. bromley (2019) defines an oral story as any text that is imaginative, a retelling of a story or a recount of an experience. traditional storytelling in an early childhood classroom is a product of students interacting socially with the elements in a book (lisenbee & ford, 2018). an example of a traditional storytelling activity comes from research conducted on early childhood students experiencing the story the very hungry caterpillar (carle, 1987; ford, 2009). these early childhood students enjoyed performing the book in addition to exploring the life cycle of a caterpillar through literacy centers. in the profession of early childhood, storytelling was promoted by teacher researcher vivian paley (copper, 2019). in paley’s classroom, children dictate and dramatize their stories. research findings suggest that paley’s storytelling approach to teaching and learning positively affect young children’s vocabulary and language skills and can serve as a feasible alternative to the skills-dominant and teacher-neutral early literacy curricula increasingly prevalent in pre-school classrooms around the country (nicolopoulou, 2019; ripstein, 2018). moreover, as da costa, davim, barbosa, & da silva (2016) state storytelling has the power to improve a child’s oral language skills, writing, and increase their vocabularies. more recent research (gardner-neblett & sideris, 2017) conducted with children who are african american has found that the ability to tell a clear and coherent story is important for the development of reading skills. storytelling significantly increases children’s literacy skills along with self-regulation of emotions, communication and negotiation with peers, imagination, fantasy, humor, and creativity (maureen, van der meji & de jong, 2018). dyson (2009) highlights how as young writers tell stories they appropriate others’ voices (from home, school, community and media), thus expanding their knowledge about social practices, symbolic systems and their social world. there is difference in cognitive requirement between the experience of picture-book reading and that of storytelling, according to neuroscience research (ten, van der putten, penne, maes, vlaskamp, 2016; miyuki, sachie, satochi, masato, kazuto, hirooki & sinichi, 2018). the experience of storytelling requires more demanding level of active imagination from listeners. when the brain is active, concentration and attention are at work which contributes to information retention and comprehension. thus, the difference in the prefrontal activation between the picture-book reading and the storytelling may reflect the difference in the cognitive demands for the act of imagining. while storytelling is a practice common to all cultures and most children enter school with a basic understanding of narrative form (meek, 1988), it is not widely accepted practice as compared to story reading. speaking and listening is implicitly devalued as a result of the elevation of instrumental literacy-based practice in the primary curriculum (hibbin, 2016b). typically, schools place importance on the development of narrative skills in writing but provide few opportunities for children to create and tell stories orally, once children become writers (dawkins & oneill, 2011). in a busy curriculum-focused environment, the strategy of storytelling allows space and time to stop and listen to students in meaningful and purposeful way, while facilitating their learning (bromley, 2019; cooper, capo, karen, mathes, & gray, 2007). it is a transformative approach as it challenges students to be active rather than passive learners. storytelling approach encourages students and teachers to think critically and requires communities to rethink curricula to create space for students to analyze the universe (global institute for transformative education, 2021). global journal of transformative education (2022) vol 3 page 5 global journal of transformative education (2022) vol 3 free-ranging, teacher-scaffolded activities, storytelling activities and curriculum in the early childhood classroom validate who the children are, what they know, and what they care about. thus, “the need for early childhood teachers to retain their historical focus on oral language-based curricula that are directed at fair and equitable goals for young children—like the storytelling curriculum—has never been greater” (cooper, capo, karen, mathes, & gray, 2007, p. 273). ironically, the study itself mirrors the unpredictability of researching during the 2019 coronavirus pandemic. our research quest was to learn how children respond to stories presented through storytelling strategies involving two-step method: 1) presenting a story to children using puppet show and 2) inviting children to respond, orally or in drawings, by re-telling the presented story or by creating their own stories. the working definition of storytelling in this study is oral re-telling of traditional tales, modelled by a storyteller, and taught to children. the study detailed in this manuscript emphasizes the importance of storytelling. theoretical framework in this study, we draw upon mikhail bakhtin’s (1895-1975), literary and cultural theorist and philosopher’s work that emphasizes plurality of voices. in essence, bakhtin’s work is concerned with the oppressive character of monologue, the monopolization of meaning, and the ruling out and suppressing of all competing voices. to counteract a “monologue” of prescribed preschool curricula driven by developmental norms and academic standards and standardized practices like book reading, we aimed to build upon the voices and stories of young children to allow them to learn and transform through creative literacy, play and performance. like bakhtin, we believe that life is an ongoing, finalizable dialogue taking place at every moment of human existence. “to live means to participate in dialogue: to ask questions, to heed, to respond, to agree, and so forth. in this dialogue a person participates wholly and throughout his whole life: with his eyes, lips, hands, souls, spirit, and with his whole body and deeds… he invests his entire self in discourse, and this discourse enters into the dialogic fabric of human life, into the world symposium” (baktin, 1984, pp. 292-293). such a view imposes difference, uncertainty, playfulness, surprise, and open-endedness as necessary, positive, and productive aspects of human condition (sterritt, 1998). however, what crucial to bakhtinian dialogue is a finely tuned sense of listening. bakhtin believed that by not listening we reject, disrespect, and disempower the speaker and the message. when we listen to children, we empower them. we learn about their inner thoughts, emotions, fears, anxiety, and joys through the act of storytelling. transformative education such as this displays a dramatic shift in views of teaching and learning, a shared ownership in education, a true sense of what it means to have student-teacher partnerships within the classroom (global institute for transformative education, 2021). as the profession of early childhood education takes a deep interest in a more culturally sensitive, collaborative, strength-oriented, and empowering approach practices, bakhtin’s ideas seem ever more prominent. in current times of uncertainty and unrest, there is a robust need for dialoging with and listening to the children we serve. inviting children to engage in creating and telling their own stories is about opening a space for plurality of voices, innovation, wonder, potentiality, freedom, and creativity that transcend monologic thinking and inform and expand traditional mundane classroom approaches of teaching and learning. storytelling procedures this study was conducted in two phases precovid-19 and during covid-19. beginning in the spring 2020, three researchers visited the setting to begin to establish a comfortable rapport with the children, classroom, and school. after obtaining families consent, around february 2020, the researchers introduced the idea of traditional storytelling to the teacher. during this time, once a week for five weeks, the researchers started the project by presenting a folk story using a puppet show as the main storytelling method. the storytelling technique implemented in our study complemented that of bromley (2019). the teacher told stories and children use teacher’s story as a springboard to develop their own stories. the plan was to visit each week to engage in storytelling activities during the circle time. after presenting the same story a few times, we planned to invite children to create their own stories using the presented story as a springboard. the first story presented to children was a simple version of the little red hen story, an american folk tale meant to teach children the zhulamanova & raisor, creative story telling as a transformative strategy page 6 importance of hard work and personal initiative. the main characters used in this puppet show – the hen, cat and mouse – were hand-made by team members. both the cat and mouse were made from wool and the hen was knitted using a wool thread (see figure 1). the story characters were available to the children afterwards to imitate and play with the puppets. figure 1. the little red hen characters due to the covid-19 pandemic the research came to an abrupt halt in spring 2020 after seven visits to the site. the study was able to resume in fall 2020 during covid-19; however, many barriers existed. the participants were all new to the classroom and non-essential visitors were not allowed in the classroom due to covid-19 precautions. therefore, research continued in an online synchronous mode through the use of zoom. the children were gathered around a swivl which held an ipad. swivl is a robot which can hold an ipad and rotates automatically to the marker. the marker is similar in shape to a remote control and allows for virtually interactions to feel more in sync. minimal issues occurred when utilizing the technology; however, one concern was that the ipad screen size was limited for the children to view. study context and participants the school was intentionally chosen because of its proximity to the researchers, openness to research, and a shared history with the researchers. the school consists of 464 students, preschool through eighth grade (see table 1). the classroom is nestled within the preschool wing with approximately 110 children. the participants in phase one included 15 preschool children. ages three and four (see table 2). the participation rate for the class was 94%. the participants in phase two included 11 preschool children ages three and four (see table 3). the participation rate for the class was 85%. additionally, one lead teacher and one assistant, consistent in both phases of the study, contributed greatly to arranging the technology and reporting information back to the researchers. table 1. demographics of school by ethnicity table 2. demographics of participants in phase 1 table 3. demographics of participants in phase 2 storytelling technique phase 2 due to covid-19 precautions, all storytelling times in phase two of the study, were completed virtually through the use of zoom. during phase two, the research team virtually presented a corona giant therapeutic story to help children to deal with anxiety and stress they experience with all the changes and adaptations they deal on a daily basis. the children were presented this story three times within a week for approximately two weeks. the children were given the opportunity to contribute their own stories using the corona giant as a springboard. they could share their stories right after the presentation or later to their teachers orally or in drawings. during phase two, the research team virtually presented a therapeutic story to help children to deal with anxiety and stress they experience with all the changes global journal of transformative education (2022) vol 3 zhulamanova & raisor, creative story telling as a transformative strategy page 7 and adaptations they deal on a daily basis. this story, inserted below, was originally created by susan perrow (2012) and was slightly modified by the researchers to adapt to the current pandemic situation. corona giant once upon a time, not so long ago, there lived a giant who was the strongest, largest, and most destructive creature ever to have lived on earth. the strange thing was that no one had never seen the giant, but many had experienced its dark shadow as it traveled around the earth, leaving destructions everywhere. people called it the corona giant. the corona giant was continually busy every day and night, moving around the world, stamping its dark presence on the earth, in every city,s every village, and every home making children and their families stay. away from each other and making them feel lonely and fearful. no one knew where the corona giant lived and how to conquer it. no one was safe from it– not the adults or children. the giant, who lived high up in the silver castle above the clouds, heard news of these terrible events from the birds. she was very worried about the corona giant and the evil work it was doing on the earth below. she decided to call a meeting and sent out an invitation to all the birds of the air everywhere in the world. on the day of the meeting, the giant was seated on her silver throne, beautiful in her flowing gown. all around here were gathered many birds: birds from every part of the world, birds of all colors and shapes and sizes, birds o the land and birds of the sea, birds of the day and birds of the night. patiently and carefully, the giant listened to each and every bird. when all the stories had been told, the giant spoke to the gathering: “there must be a way to overcome this dark force that is taking over the earth. every enemy has a weakness! fly back where you have come from and try to find where the corona giant lives. then you can observe what weakness it may have. report back to me as soon as you can…there is not a moment to lose!” so, the birds flew back to their homes around the world and kept a careful watch where the giant lives. days passed, weeks passed, months passed. when it was almost a year, an old owl finally found the giant. he was flying high around mountains searching for something to eat and flew into a deep dark cave. inside this cave was a huge, dark, mumbling, rumbling. figure. it was of no definite shape. in fact, its shape seemed to change sizes and form with every sound it made. sometimes, it looked like a giant red squid with many tentacles, other times, it turned into a scary, bearlike figure and stomped angrily. as he stomped, he the repeatedly chanted these mumblings and rumblings: all for me and me for all, eating all things big and small. greed is my game and power is my name the owl hid in a far corner of the cave and watched and listened, as owls can do very well. finally, the ugly, dark creature fell asleep. the owl quickly and quietly flew out of the deep mountain cave. then, he began the long journey across the sky, all the way to the castle of the giant. as he flew higher and higher, he kept saying the awful mumblings and rumblings so he would not forget them. all for me and me for all, eating all things big and small. greed is my game and power is my name when the giant heard the story from the owl, she immediately recognized giant’s weakness: the corona giant only cares for itself it only wants power for itself. then the giant called for her helpers, the birds and she said: “fly out around the world and sing this message to people. if they work together and care for each other, then they can slowly, but surely win this dark shadow that is harming the children and families”. global journal of transformative education (2022) vol 3 zhulamanova & raisor, creative story telling as a transformative strategy page 8 strength in caring, strength in togetherness, can overcome the giant’s selfishness. the birds flew out to all parts of the world and as they flew, they sang the message from the giant for all people on earth to hear. and to this day, the birds are signing their song. sometimes they even drop feather messages which flatter softly to the ground. when people find these feathers lying on the ground (in the garden, on the street, or in the forest they know that this message has been sent directly to them. they pick up the feathers and they remember the message that has been send to them by the giant: strength in caring, strength in togetherness! and slowly but surely, the wisdom of the song of the birds is helping the children and adults of the world to overcome the dark power of the corona giant. data collection and analysis data in this two-phase basic qualitative study (merriam, 2002) came from children’s drawings, audio recordings of children’s stories, photographs of children’s work, and recordings of all virtual storytelling visits with the children. data collection and analysis were not separate processes but were interconnected and simultaneous (hesse-biber & leavy, 2006) to gain insight into the main themes that emerged from children’s responses to the storytelling intervention. the recordings, images of storytelling episodes were reviewed and analyzed using thematic coding and inductive analysis (hatch, 2002), that promotes proceeding from specific to general. the two faculty researchers analyzed the data separately and then compared findings to validate thematic findings. findings the overarching goal of this study was to use storytelling as a creative strategy in an early childhood classroom to open space for plurality of voices that transcend monologic thinking driven by adults’ agenda and inform and expand traditional mundane classroom approaches of teaching and learning. as pushor explains, “when they come to school, they come with this multiplicity and contextuality, not independent of it” (2010, p. 7). therefore, it is important to create a space for helping children to express themselves and their lived experiences in a creative way. storytelling is about innovation, wonder, potentiality, freedom, and creativity that arise through plurality of voices, ideas and perspectives. having such space in a classroom challenges, expands, and transcends traditional routine of teaching and learning practices. the following two themes emerged from the data analysis: 1) storytelling makes children story makers, story tellers, and story actors and 2) corona and children. storytelling makes children story makers, story tellers and story actors. children in this classroom always engaged in various pretend play activities using prompts in dramatic play area. it was observed, however, that storytelling intervention provokes children to play with the story prompts and imitate the observed presentation. having a shared play idea, stemmed from the story plot, provides a topic for conservation motivating children to socialize, engage, construct scenarios elevating their play to mature level that results in learning (bodrova & leong, 2008). it became visible that storytelling intervention provokes children to play with the story prompts and imitate the observed presentation. the concrete prompts and story table setting provide some direction inexplicitly making the children storytellers. these items were intentionally left in the setting during phase 1 to encourage interaction and retelling of stories. engaged in dialoguing with each other (see figure 2) they either repeated the same plot or come up with their own remarks for the characters. children carry their ideas on into their dramatic play and the story continues to evolve and change including new toys, materials, and players. the conversation enhanced social interaction and communication among children. figure 2. children presenting the little red hen global journal of transformative education (2022) vol 3 zhulamanova & raisor, creative story telling as a transformative strategy page 9 analysis of data also illustrates that children use the presented story characters and some elements of it as a springboard for making stories. for instance, see figure 3 below. the child created his own version of the corona giant story by twisting the plot in his own way. in this picture, the corona giant is imprisoned, and the queen and birds are celebrating their victory. it is important to notice here, that the illustrations are solely a product of child’s imagination since the story was presented orally without the text. the child “translated” the auditory information onto the paper giving a shape and form to story characters he envisioned in his mind while he listened to the story. these mental representations derived from his previous knowledge and experiences. figure 3. a child’s story during the storytelling time, children immersed in the spirit of presented stories. the children became not only story makers, but story tellers and story actors as well. consider the four-year old’s child’s dictated story below: it is actually like the queen and the prince live is a mountain on a castle with bears. and the princess was actually abandoned because she stealed [sic] all the joy and then they found the real princess at the witch castle. and then the birds pecked her and then she heard it so much, and then they fall to the ground, and then they go back to the castle and then the end. this simultaneously simple and complex creation indicates the author’s expressive and receptive vocabulary, awareness of words in sentences, phonemic awareness, and understanding of the meaning of the words. it has a beginning, some drama in the middle, and the end and represents a child’s world of thinking and living. children take the story ideas and words into their dialogues, exchanges, and act them out in their dramatic play by intentional storytelling. for instance, consider this children’s dialogue that was observed on 01/31/20. three girls are playing in dramatic play area: child 1: pretends to be a hen from the little red hen story and ask her two playmates: who wants to sweep the floor? child 2: (standing on her knees, pretending to be a cat) not i! child 3: (sitting and presenting to be a mouse) not i! child 1: who wants to help me to eat breakfast? child 2 & child 3: i do, i do! child 1: promise me you help me, and i will share the breakfast with you. child 2 & child 3: nod their heads. the presented little red hen story plot was used here by these three children to organize their play, communicate, socialize and learn. stories enhance the child’s inner world and result in imaginative play. thus, the provided stories have a power to stimulate and foster dramatic play in early childhood classrooms. corona and children. this theme emerged in most of the children’s stories, drawings and dialogues in the forms of a germ, princesses, and giants. analysis of 10 children’s drawings collected resulted in one about a germ, four on princesses, and five on giants. the drawing featuring the word “germ” was of a child keeping the germ from entering the child’s house (see figure 4). of interest, was the fact that the child felt confident in preventing the germ from entering the home; thereby, able to protect the family. additional analysis would have been beneficial to explore how the child planned to keep the germ from entering the home. would it have been health measures emphasized in the classroom, school, and community such as washing hands, staying at least six feet apart, etc.? or would the child have created an imaginary world in which superpowers would have served as a protective force? global journal of transformative education (2022) vol 3 zhulamanova & raisor, creative story telling as a transformative strategy page 10 figure 4. child’s drawing germ four of the drawings collected featured princesses. all princesses were smiling in the drawings. ideas emerged such as a princess being saved by a knight, the princess getting to see her family (see figure 5), the princess and her friends, and the princess enjoying the sun. of interest to our study, was the drawing of a princess getting to see her family. additional analysis would have been beneficial to determine why the princess was unable to see her family. was the princess in quarantine which would have mimicked reality or was the princess, as often pictured in fairytales, captured and waiting to be rescued? figure 5. child’s drawing – princess a giant was the most featured object in the children’s drawings. consistently, the giant was angry or mad as evidenced by the children’s wording of “the giant is mad! something is in his way!”; “the giant is mad! he didn’t like the people!”; “the giant stomped all over the world!”; “the giant is walking to the city.”; “the giant is being watched by the birds!”. the last quotation was the only giant pictured as smiling. all other giants had straight lines for a v shaped mouth, a horizontal line (see figure 6), or a sad face. a likely correlation to the corona giant story was that the birds were helpful to the giant; therefore, the giant was pictured as smiling. figure 6. child’s drawing giant this topic is also captured in one of the dialogues between the researcher and the children: researcher: so, what happened when corona giant came to your city? what did you do? children: wear a mask! researcher: mask. oh, yes. that’s how we changed. children: and be safe. teacher: and where can’t you go now? child: i can’t go to chuck e. cheese now until corona’s gone. global journal of transformative education (2022) vol 3 zhulamanova & raisor, creative story telling as a transformative strategy page 11 child: i can’t go to mcdonald’s playground. child: i wanted to go to the movie and they said no, it’s closed. researcher: yes, so the corona giant is making us do and not to do so many things. this is what i would like you to do children. since i cannot see you guys, i mean i cannot come to your school. can you draw your story for me? child: yes! child: i already made a book. i can make another book about corona the giant. discussion the limited amount of collected data due to covid-19 pandemic suggests that a storytelling approach to teaching and learning can positively affect young children’s learning and development by making them story makers, story tellers, and story actors. to become a story maker, one needs to listen to absorb the language and ideas of others. a well-crafted and intentionally chosen narrative helps children to make sense of the world, imagine and “give birth” to their own stories to express, communicate and ‘dialogue’ (bakhtin, 1984). as it was observed in data, for a child as young as three or four, a simple dot on a paper or drawing is a story. when there is a story, there is a point to communicate, idea to express, and reason to participate in the “carnival” (bakhtin, 1984) of the social world. creative storytelling strategies promote active engagement in the learning process which can become transformative in nature. this way, telling stories promotes children’s language skills that stimulates overall development (nicolopoulou, 2019; ripstein, 2018). practicing and mastering listening and oral language skills establishes profound foundation for children to become confident readers and writers at later stages (hibbin, 2016b). it was also found that young children who heard the stories told demonstrated improved story comprehension in their retelling, while children in the story reading group improved their language complexity (isbell, sobol, lindauer, & lawrence, 2004). moreover, the creative storytelling intervention provokes young children to engage in dramatic play by imitating the observed practice. normally, preschool children participate in physical play, object play, pretend (or socio-dramatic) play, and guided play. together, they comprise four broad categories, each of which is based on the developmental purpose it serves and the relationship of each type to children’s learning. this is important for today’s world where not all children know how to play (bodrova, 2001, karpov, 2005) and their play does not elevate to level when it results in learning (gudareva, 2005). only mature, sophisticated level of play triggers cognition and promotes self-regulation (bodrova & leong, 2008; bodrova & leong, 2003). storytelling is different than reading and it requires more active work of the brain. when the brain is active, concentration and attention are at work which contributes to information retention and comprehension (ten, van der putten, penne, maes, vlaskamp, 2016; miyuki, sachie, satoshi, masato, kazuto, hirooki & sinichi, 2018). children need to use their imaginative powers to illustrate the story scenes in their mind to project it on paper or play later. however, the child’s response/creation does not directly mirror the adults ‘story but rather intertwined with his own inner worries, concerns, thinking and understating of the world. this became visible in children’s illustrations of corona giant narrative as they work was ‘painted’ by their fears of germs, separation of families, concerns about safety and overall underling anxiety about the pandemic situation. telling and expressing their inner needs and emotions has a power to foster positive identity, empathic understanding of self and others and bi-directional communication (hibbin, 2016a). therefore, it can be concluded that storytelling invites children to become story makers, story tellers and story actors to think creatively and engage in dialogue with others and the world. the intentional organization of storytelling activity can be used as a tool to promote language, literacy, vocabulary, socio-emotional development, self-expression, identification with story characters, empathic understanding of self and others, culture and identity. it stimulates intrinsic motivation for play. the concrete prompts and story table setting provide some direction inexplicitly inviting the children to play. the classroom with storytelling and play can serve as a feasible alternative to the skills-dominant and teacher-neutral early literacy curricula increasingly prevalent in pre-kindergarten classrooms around the country. the oral re-telling of traditional tales, modelled by a storyteller and taught to children in school, can be understood as ‘non-instrumental’ practice in speaking and listening that emphasizes oral language over the reading and writing of stories. hibbin (2016a) suggests that psychosocial development of young people in school can be encouraged and actively pursued with global journal of transformative education (2022) vol 3 zhulamanova & raisor, creative story telling as a transformative strategy page 12 global journal of transformative education (2022) vol 3 opportunities afforded by oral storytelling for self-expression, identification with story characters, empathic understanding of self and others and bi-directional communication. in a busy curriculum-focused environment, the strategy of storytelling allows space and time to stop and listen to students in meaningful and purposeful way, while facilitating their learning (bromley, 2019; cooper, capo, karen, mathes, & gray, 2007). free-ranging, teacher-scaffolded activities storytelling activities and curriculum in the early childhood classroom validate who the children are, what they know, and what they care about. thus, “the need for early childhood teachers to retain their historical focus on oral language-based curricula that are directed at fair and equitable goals for young children—like the storytelling curriculum—has never been greater” (cooper, capo, karen, mathes, & gray, 2007, p. 273). conclusion storytelling is deeply rooted in the belief that children learn through stories verbally shared across generations. it is about innovation, wonder, potentiality, freedom, and creativity that arise through plurality of voices, ideas and perspectives. having such space in a classroom challenges, expands, and transcends traditional routine of teaching and learning practices. however, in today’s classrooms, the act of storytelling is often overshadowed by a narrow focus on academics in classrooms. therefore, it is important to create a space for helping children to express themselves and their lived experiences in a creative way. children can use storytelling as a way to demonstrate the depth of their understanding as well as express emotions such as fear, worry, etc. in closure, the following poem was shared with the researchers by an older child. quarantine nothing to do. quarantine is it something for you? quarantine nothing to do. quarantine is a boring thing for me and you. watch out for germs, they are as hairy as worms. take some turns and you will find those germs! children have stories to share with us and it is our responsibility as educators to listen. whether it is through stories, drawings, or poetry children are creatively expressing themselves. this manuscript details the use of a creative storytelling strategy implemented in an early childhood classroom in two distinct phases due to the interruption of the covid-19 pandemic. the result documents a beautiful display of children’s creative storytelling ability and its connectedness to real world events. work such as this lays the path for transformation in education. it demonstrates the importance of providing young children with the opportunity for an education better suited for global interconnectedness (global institute for transformative education, 2021). references bakhtin, m. 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(2018). building bridges between home and school for latinx families of preschool children. occasional paper series, 39, 1-11. merriam, s. b. (2002). qualitative research in practice: examples for discussion and analysis. san francisco: ca: jossey-bass. miyuki, y., sachie, o., satoshi, e., masato, t., kazuto, k., hirooki, y. and sinichi, n. (2018). effects of storytelling on the childhood brain: near infrared spectroscopic comparison with the effects of picturebook reading. fukushima journal of medical sciences, 64(3), 125–132. morrrow, l. m. (2020). literacy development in the early years: helping children read and write. pearson. (9th edition). national council of teachers of english. (1992, june 1). teaching storytelling. nicolopoulou, a. (2016). promoting oral narrative skills in low-income preschoolers through storytelling and story acting. storytelling in early childhood: enriching language, literacy and classroom culture, 49. perrow, s. 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(2019). perspectives of children from refugee backgrounds on their family storytelling as a culturally sustaining practice. journal of in childhood education, 33(1), 6-21. doi: 10.1080/02568543.2018.1531452 ten brug a., van der putten, a. a, penne, a., maes, b., and vlaskamp, c. (2016). making a difference? a comparison between multi-sensory and regular storytelling for persons with profound intellectual and multiple disabilities. journal of intellectual disability research, 60(11), 1043-1053. doi: 10.1111/jir.12260 acknowledgments we would like to express our sincere gratitude to the school, teachers, children, and families who participated in this study. we would also like to thank the contributions of norah baehl who assisted with this research. ilfa zhulamanova (izhulamano@usi.edu) is an assistant professor in the department at teacher education, early childhood, university of southern indiana, evansville, indiana, usa. orcid id #0000-0002-3167-3289 authors jill m. raisor (jmraisor@usi.edu) is an associate professor in the department at teacher education, early childhood, university of southern indiana, evansville, indiana, usa. orcid id #0000-0003-3333-4237 zhulamanova & raisor, creative story telling as a transformative strategy https://educate.bankstreet.edu/occasional-paper-series/vol2018/iss39/10 https://educate.bankstreet.edu/occasional-paper-series/vol2018/iss39/10 https://educate.bankstreet.edu/occasional-paper-series/vol2018/iss39/10 https://ncte.org/statement/teachingstorytelling/ https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3167-3289 https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3333-4237 abstract this paper covers literature on translanguaging, translating, and interpreting in education, primarily k-12 institutions. translanguaging is defined by dr. josh prada and its strengths are demonstrated in different contexts, including its use in the english as a new language classroom. this study is elucidates the value of translanguaging in the classroom since it offers opportunities for scaffolding and building confidence in english while encouraging english language learners (ells) to actively participate in the learning process and to feel more comfortable around peers and staff. multilingualism is reviewed in the context of language choice in different social contexts to better understand the usefulness of translanguaging. spanish and english literacy and their impact on native spanish-speaking children is also explored in this paper which allows understanding of personal experience from ells. english-only policies are discussed and cautioned against due to the environment that is created by monolingualism. the importance of interpreters in schools is stressed because it has been determined to provide better educational outcomes for english language learners. the importance of translated written documents was covered in this study to better understand family involvement in education. findings from this research include opportunities provided by translanguaging, the necessity of overcoming internalized biases, the harm of english-only policies, the importance of interpreters in schools, and the importance of translated documents/communications to strengthen family involvement. keywords: translation, interpretation, translanguaging, bilingualism, monolingualism gentry, c. global journal of transformative education (2022) vol 3 doi 10.14434/gjte.v3i1.32233 open access published by the global insitutute of transformative education (http://www.gite.education) © gentry, c. 2022. open access this journal is distributed under the terms of the creative commons attribution noncommercial nonderivative 4.0 international license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction without revision in any non-commercial medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the creative commons license, literary review of translanguaging, translating, and interpreting in education corinne gentry full listing of authors and contacts can be found at the end of this article. introduction in this paper, i will review literature on translanguaging, interpreting, and translating in an educational context. i chose this topic because of my career in a large midwestern urban school district. i am the school’s parent liaison, and it is my goal to involve the parents and families of students in their education and in the school community. i am the only staff member in the school who speaks spanish. the secretary calls me to the front office several times a day when a spanish speaker is present or on the phone. normally, it is a simple question or message, such as the student is ill and will not be in class that day. my coworkers are unable to communicate with spanish speakers, and sometimes i think they do not want to learn how. however, their unwillingness to learn is likely rooted in a lack of time and energy to dedicate to language learning. how do these families feel at school? they can only communicate in their home language with one person in the entire building. when a teacher needs to communicate with a spanish-speaking parent, they ask me to translate a document or letter, or they ask me to call a parent. one could argue that the language barrier reduces communication with these families, whether the communication is negative or positive. in my research, i am going to explore the state of translanguaging and interpreting in schools. translanguaging is defined as “using the two languages strategically to maximize communication to express a message” (prada, 2019). while communication with families is very important in education, communication with students is important as well. i will explore methods of translanguaging in the classroom and in communigentry, translanguaging, translating & interpreting page 16 nication with families. the majority of examples are based on native spanish speakers who are learning english as a new language. it is clear that transformative changes are necessary in the school system for english language learners (ell). some teachers use english-only policies that are destructive to the child’s self-worth. these policies make the child feel unvalued and less-than, which is detrimental to the teacher-student relationship and will result in poor educational outcomes. educators must welcome and celebrate different languages and cultures rather than pushing them aside. while some english as a new language teachers use english-only policies because they themselves only speak english, these policies are incredibly alienating. we must allow our students to learn by translanguaging and providing scaffolding to build their confidence in english, which will result in the student feeling welcomed and valued. transformative teaching methods for english language learners include multilingual books, using the native language in writing, visual displays, notes in the native language, and bilingual dictionaries. these practices break away from the status quo of enforcing english-only policies. these practices will result in better educational outcomes, providing more equity between native english speakers and native speakers of other languages. the practices are easily applied to real-life educational settings. native spanish speakers and translanguaging translanguaging means using the two languages strategically to maximize communication to express a message, meaning the two languages are an integrated system instead of two separate languages, as defined by dr. josh prada in his article “exploring the role of translanguaging in linguistic ideological and attitudinal reconfigurations in the spanish classroom for heritage speakers.” another definition of translanguaging is “the multiple discursive practices in which bilinguals engage in order to make sense of their bilingual worlds” (garcia, 2009). the first language can be utilized to its full potential to adopt a fluid instead of a fixed notion of language (kabir, 2019). the speaker uses characteristics of the two languages for the highest communication potential. this is also where we experience loan words between languages, such as siesta and paella. english learners use translanguaging as a bridge between english and their native language. translanguaging builds confidence when the speaker can use simple words and phrases in the new language; the speaker can build the foundation of the new language when using the native language if they do not know the phrases or words in the new language (prada, 2018). the practices of translanguaging in pedagogy will be discussed in this paper later on. people also use translanguaging when a concept exists in one language and does not exist in the other. for example, there is an american woman who has visited spain and wanted to explain characteristics of spanish culture. she would not say that “my classmate is having a big party for her 15th birthday”, she would say “my classmate is having a quinceanera.” on the contrary, people use translanguaging to explain concepts in english as well. a girl in high school wouldn’t say that “the boy asked me to the big dance for the 12th graders”; she would say ¨a boy asked me to the prom¨. it is important to consider many perspectives when a native spanish speaker is translanguaging. one must consider the population of spanish speakers in the community. does the speaker live in miami, which has a majority hispanic population, or in a small, white town in ohio? also, it is important to consider the context (casual or formal) and life experiences, such as level of education or socioeconomic status, as the social context and socioeconomic status may change the vernacular used in the exchange. native speakers use translanguaging to give more meaning to interactions with language flexibility. translanguaging allows the speaker to offer, obtain, process, and understand information. the definition of translanguaging introduces the concepts of heteroglossia and diglossia “heteroglossia means using the two languages in a flexible way; the barriers of which words and phrases are from one language, and which are from the other language do not exist” (prada, 2018). heteroglossia also transcends barriers of geography. the use of each language has no restrictions because the two languages are so integrated. diglossia means that the two languages are separate and are not used together (prada, 2018). they are separate in the mind, and they are not integrated. sadly, the idea of diglossia introduces a hierarchy of language. in the united states, many people believe that english is the superior language and spanish is inferior. this belief stems from racism, white supremacy, and xenophobia. some people think that native spanish the method that people speak casually, such as with family is inferior because it is not in line with the standard. but, it is important to remember that this idea originates from raciolingusitics people want them to “sound white” global journal of transformative education (2022) vol 3 gentry, translanguaging, translating & interpreting page 17 global journal of transformative education (2022) vol 3 when they speak english. while spanish as the heritage language works perfectly in most situations, it is difficult for its speakers to enter the academic spheres. people who translanguage can learn to speak and write more “academically” to enter these academic spheres; in this case, translanguaging is a skill. translanguaging has a great influence on the language classroom. when the language is separate and an abstract entity, translanguaging cannot happen. the second language needs to be integrated into the classroom. for the sake of simplicity, i will discuss translanguaging in pedagogy in the context of native spanish speakers learning english. the first point to consider is that the teacher needs to differentiate instruction for small groups or individual students; the “one size fits all” strategy is not effective in the english language classroom. it is important to ensure that students have prior knowledge and context to do class work. for example, a teacher at a higher-income magnet school could assign students to do research and write about college and career prospects that interest them. a staff member or classmate could explain that students at this particular school are expected to go to college, so they should research a career path that requires a college degree. many authors encourage the idea of flexible language use in the classroom to ensure that students feel comfortable in class and with their peers. the use of flexible language can allow students to connect with the material in a more personal way. also, translanguaging can strengthen relationships between classmates because they have the native language in common, and with language comes life experiences and culture. it is recommended to pair students who know more english with students who speak less english, and this practice is common in many academic contexts and subjects. one other point to consider is if local language factors, such as accents and vocabulary, should be used in the classroom. some argue that local vernaculars are not up to standard; however, many academics argue against the idea of a language standard as it creates an unfair deficit framework (harris & schroeder, 2013). awareness of regional accents and vocabulary increases language fluency. in conclusion, it is important to have a definition of translanguaging and how to give context to this phenomenon. the author gives information on translanguaging in the context of pedagogy in the language classroom. we are reminded that raciolinguistics are present and create a hierarchy between the two languages, and it is important to view this phenomenon without judgment and internalized racism (prada, 2018). translanguaging is a great method to build a bridge between the native language and the second language. multilingual translanguaging in different social contexts speakers use translanguaging differently in each social context. my research on this phenomenon is based on a study of a trilingual couple from china, as outlined in translanguaging and translation: the construction of social difference across city spaces. (blackledge, creese, and hu, 2018). the husband is from china and the wife is from malaysia, and they usually speak mandarin. they speak cantonese and english as well. the couple met when working together at a restaurant, and now they have three children. the couple owns a meat business in birmingham, which is a “superdiverse” city. the couple uses translanguaging and translation in different areas in the city. this is a strategic use of the three languages that depends on the context and the participants in the interaction (blackledge, creese, and hu). the authors analyze three recordings a conversation at their business, a social conversation, and a conversation at home between husband and wife. in this study, we see that interpreters are “social agents” who reflect and transfer information (blackledge, creese, and hu, 2018). this couple can find common ground with whom they would have not otherwise communicated. more people can connect with translanguaging because they can use their entire repertoire of communication (blackledge, creese, and hu, 2018). speakers of different walks of life, ethnicities, genders, and more can connect when they translanguage. translanguaging fills in the gaps in each language to communicate the entire message all three languages are integrated into one large language repertoire for successful interaction (blackledge, creese, and hu, 2018). the methodology of this study consists of recordings at work (the meat stand), among friends, and at home. the authors explain the wife’s parents were visiting from malaysia, and the couple spoke cantonese with the parents. when the couple was at work, they usually spoke mandarin, and they usually spoke cantonese, mandarin, or english to communicate with customers (blackledge, creese, & hu, 2018). the first recording was at the meat stand in town square. the husband and another cashier were at the booth, and the recording is an interaction between the gentry, translanguaging, translating & interpreting page 18 husband, the other cashier, and the customer. in the context of the stall or a store, people cross social lines to make the transaction. the two men made a judgment to decide which language to use, or would test all three languages to see which language succeeds in conversation. the customer asked the husband to translate the question to the other cashier, but the cashier understood the dialect of chinese that the customer spoke. in the recording, the husband was more concerned about expressing the main idea of the message rather than the details (blackledge, creese, and hu). in the next recording, we listen to a conversation between the husband, the wife, and the other cashier. the conversation is about a birthday celebration for a friend. the other cashier expresses that while he wants to go to the party, he does not want to spend money on beers and a taxi. the group discusses the cultural differences between england and china with respect to the etiquette of celebrations. in this conversation, the other teller speaks in english. the wife speaks to the husband in mandarin a few times to confirm that she understands english, which shows that she thinks the husband understands more english than she does. the husband uses colloquial phrases, and the couple uses english and mandarin as an integrated system (blackledge, creese, and hu, 2018). the final recording takes place in the home. during the study, the wife’s parents were visiting, and the couple spoke in cantonese with the parents. the parents do not participate in this conversation, but are present during the interaction. the couple discuss the business and that they think some workers are lazy. the couple uses offensive words about white workers. while the words are racist, the couple does not feel bad about using these words because there are no white people in the vicinity. the couple speaks informally and they use sarcasm. there are no social lines in the house because the husband and wife are of the same social class as the in-laws, and they do not need to cross these lines (blackledge, creese, and hu, 2018). it is also important to consider how young people use translanguaging, as seen in “translanguaging as a boundary-crossing mechanism: a turkish-american youngster and her linguistic negotiation of three discursive spaces” (de jong & yilmaz, 2020). this study reviews a young girl around age six and her experiences in translanguaging at home, her turkish-language heritage school, and her mainstream school. the authors state that her family valued the girl’s multilingualism and wanted to preserve her knowledge of the turkish language, so they spoke turkish at home and sent her to a turkish heritage school on sunday afternoons. the child was born in hong kong and had hong kong citizenship, so they also valued her knowledge of cantonese. her mainstream school was fairly diverse, but the teacher had little knowledge of the turkish language and culture, based on a teacher interview. the teachers at the heritage school spoke both english and turkish (de jong & yilmaz, 2020). one of the findings the authors found was the difference in language use by the adults in her life. her parents only used turkish at home, aside from using english to help the girl with homework (de jong & yilmaz, 2020). her teacher at school used english most of the time, aside from occasional spanish with some spanish-speaking students (de jong & yilmaz, 2020). the teachers at the heritage school spoke both english and turkish in order to facilitate understanding between students of varying language proficiencies (de jong & yilmaz, 2020). based on these findings, we can conclude that her teachers at the turkish heritage school were using translanguaging to allow for a broader repertoire of communication. another finding from the study was the difference in language use by her peers in these three different placeshome, the heritage school, and her mainstream school. her peers at home were the children of family friends who also spoke turkish, so these interactions were almost entirely in turkish (de jong & yilmaz, 2020). her peers at her mainstream school spoke almost entirely english, aside from occasional spanish conversations with spanish-speaking peers. in an interview, the girl noted two experiences of speaking turkish at schoolonce when she met another turkish-speaking student, and once when she was teaching a peer a few words in turkish (de jong & yilmaz, 2020). her peers used translanguaging frequently at the heritage school in order to accurately convey messages between students of varying language proficiencies (de jong & yilmaz, 2020). the teachers at the heritage school supported translanguaging so they could embrace both parts of their identity and widen their community (de jong & yilmaz, 2020). another finding to consider is the boundaries between these three locations. the girl could easily transition between home and the heritage school because turkish could be spoken at both places, but the transition from home to her mainstream school was incredibly difficult (de jong & yilmaz, 2020). the transition from the heritage school to the mainstream school was global journal of transformative education (2022) vol 3 gentry, translanguaging, translating & interpreting page 19 not as difficult because english was spoken in both places, but the girl was able to translanguage at the heritage school, which was not an option at her mainstream school (de jong & yilmaz, 2020). in conclusion, the couple uses translanguaging as a very important resource in the business and with the family (blackledge, creese, & hu, 2018) and in the young turkish girl’s experience in navigating home, her mainstream school, and her heritage school (de jong & yilmaz, 2020). the husband and the other cashier use translanguaging with customers at the meat stand, and they use translanguaging in social situations as well. they decide which language to use strategically depending on the context, and they can mix the three languages to get the message across, along with using the same strategy with the wife’s parents (blackledge, creese, and hu, 2018). the young turkish girl decides which language to use with different people in her life (parents vs. teachers, peers at the heritage school vs. peers at her mainstream school, etc.). this study shows that people communicate more effectively when they use their entire repertoire to communicate with different people in different situations strategically. latinx childrens’ use of translanguaging many latinx students have an internal conflict between english and spanish, and have compartmentalized english for use during the school day and spanish for use at home (bussert-webb, masso, & lewis, 2018). the authors of latinx children’s push and pull of spanish literacy and translanguaging explain that schools have “english-only” policies because state tests are only in english, and funding for schools depends on state test scores. the pedagogy only focuses on phonics and grammar, which does not allow analysis, synthesis, and higher order thinking (bussert-webb, masso, & lewis, 2018). unfortunately, these children often do not learn to read and write in spanish, and sometimes they lose their spanish. when students lose their spanish, they lose a rich culture and family connections. sadly, schools see spanish as a problem rather than a magnificent resource. many schools force latinx students to take very basic classes (possibly because students do not earn high scores on state tests, because the test is in english), and students are not prepared for higher education (bussert-webb, masso, & lewis, 2018). another hypothesis is that schools see spanish as a language of the lower social class, and they think that spanish speakers are not intelligent, so they have a deficit. many of these students do not feel comfortable in class and rarely participate (bussert-webb, masso, & lewis, 2018). we can investigate latinx childrens’ use of translanguaging by reading a study that takes place in a private tutoring program during may and june 2017, as outlined in latinx children’s push and pull of spanish literacy and translanguaging (bussert-webb, masso, & lewis, 2018). the students in this program were there because they were struggling in school, particularly in reading and writing. fifteen student teachers worked with 19 children for an hour and a half in the afternoons, and then the college students had a literacy class in the evenings. college students would help children write in english, in spanish, and in translanguaging. all of the students were in grades kindergarten through eight, and did not learn spanish literacy in school. the data from the study was based on interviews with the children. the study authors would ask questions about experiences with the tutoring program and experiences with spanish at school. the students liked the opportunity to write in spanish because they never had the opportunity to write in spanish at school (bussert-webb, masso, & lewis, 2018). in the interviews, many children talked about state tests, and they were not permitted to answer the questions in spanish (bussert-webb, masso, & lewis, 2018). some children said that writing in spanish was too difficult and they could not do it, because they had not had formal instruction to write in spanish (bussert-webb, masso, & lewis, 2018). some children were confused by translanguaging because of “bracketing”the separation between english and spanish (bussert-webb, masso, & lewis, 2018). the children understood that spanish was at home, and english was at school. however, the students did not realize that they had been translanguaging for a lifetime with their families and in the community. for example, many of the children had been translating for their parents for many years. one student felt that translanguaging was like “spanglish” with a pouting face my thought is that she has an internalized dislike of spanish, which is based on racism and the hierarchy between english and spanish. however, the faculty at the tutoring center worked very hard to create positive associations with spanish and translanguaging. for example, the center had a mother’s day card making activity in may, and the messages within the cards were in spanish. the children enjoyed this activity because their language and culture were respected and celeglobal journal of transformative education (2022) vol 3 gentry, translanguaging, translating & interpreting page 20 brated. college students switched between english and spanish to show that the two languages are important. the center acted as a “third place” between home and school, a place to experience and learn. in conclusion, the study shows that bilingual children have internalized racism because schools only value english, schools only value english because state tests are often only in english, and school funding is based on state test scores. if there were not any government pressure and testing, schools could teach spanish literacy to support english literacy. perhaps states like texas and california need to consider different policies to preserve spanish instead of its erasure. translanguaging in practice and its shifts in ideologies unfortunately, there are some educators who do not allow native language in the classroom. we learn more about the benefits of linguistic diversity in the classroom from a study on eight schools that choose to introduce the project “city university new york state initiative on emergent bilinguals” [cunysieb] (menken & sanchez, 2019). the cunysieb faculty introduced the concept of translanguaging to the faculty of the eight schools during professional development meetings, and asked them to allow students to use the entire linguistic repertoire in class flexibly and strategically within translanguaging pedagogy. this request caused a change of mind and changed monolingual practices in schools (menken & sanchez, 2019). to give context, some teachers spoke spanish, but some native languages of the students were not spoken by the teachers. the teachers slowly introduced new practices of translanguaging pedagogy. for example, a practice of translanguaging in the classroom is to put students in pairs and small groups. translanguaging offered opportunities for scaffolding in partner/small group conversations. the multilingual practices included multilingual books, using the native language in writing, visual displays, notes in the native language, and bilingual dictionaries. the schools had many changes of ideology about the language. teachers no longer acted like the “english police,” which developed a schoolwide belief in translanguaging. the schools no longer see the native language as a deficit, but as an advantage (menken & sanchez, 2019). translanguaging is a very useful resource even when the teacher does not speak the native language of the student. the study shows that it is important to see the bilingual student holistically. in the past, educators in the school district did not consider the native language’s grammar and sentence structure (menken & sanchez, 2019). with translanguaging, teachers can view the language, culture, and history of students more favorably and with context. according to the study, translanguaging eliminates language hierarchies, because languages are woven together and are not separated. the students participated more in class and felt like a part of the school community. the students understood the class topics more thoroughly and had more control over their learning. as a result of this project (cunysieb), the districts enacted new education policies. five of the eight schools created bilingual programs, and three schools created transitional bilingual programs. some schools created classes that are entirely in spanish. the study authors pointed out that developing the native language supports the development of english. one problem with bilingual education is that it is difficult to staff bilingual teachers. another problem with bilingual education is that it can separate the two languages, but the study schools are using translanguaging to prevent the separation (menken & sanchez, 2019). in my research, i found it important to include findings from “(re)imagining the future of translanguaging in pedagogies in tesol through teacher-researcher collaboration” from shepard-carey and tian, 2020. this article highlights teacher and researcher collaboration to mobilize and sustain translanguaging pedagogies in teaching english to speakers of other languages, or tesol. the two researchers paired up with a local english instructor to build a collaborative partnership to create effective translanguaging strategies to ensure higher educational outcomes. researcher tian built a partnership with a former classmate who taught an intensive english course at a university (pseudonym ms. davidson). when outlining their goals, ms. davidson explained that translanguaging had been a “hidden” practice in her classroom via online bilingual dictionaries and students resorting to their native language in small group discussions (shepard-carey & tian, 2020). ms. davidson wanted to learn ways to leverage those multilingual resources in her teaching (shepard-carey & tian, 2020). tian and davidson created translanguaging activities in their classroom based on course goals and learner backgrounds, “such as comparing and contrasting semantic and cultural use of language in context (e.g., idioms and language in mass media) and culturally relevant figures’ global journal of transformative education (2022) vol 3 gentry, translanguaging, translating & interpreting page 21 role play” (shepard-carey & tian, 2020). one challenge they faced was student resistance to use the native language due to the hidden curriculum of immersion being the only way to learn a language, so tian and davidson held open discussions about native languages and their relation to english (shepard-carey & tian, 2020). tian and davidson found that translanguaging pedagogies significantly increased learner comprehension, metalinguistic awareness, and comfort level with using english (shepard-carey & tian, 2020). researcher shepard-carey worked with her former co-teacher, pseudonym ms. hassan. while shepard-carey had a stronger background in pedagogy, ms. hassan identified as an immigrant and spoke somali, the native language of many of her students; her background provided knowledge and experience that was beneficial to the classroom (shepard-carey & tian, 2020). they both had to confront some internalized biases; both teachers had been taught to use english-only policies in the classroom, but their collaboration allowed for more opportunities for students to use translanguaging in the classroom (shepard-carey & tian, 2020). for example, the co-teachers used a multilingual morning meeting routine that lasted all year (shepard-carey & tian, 2020). since the students were translanguaging, they were able to create deeper connections between their native language and english for better understanding (shepard-carey & tian, 2020). in conclusion, the cunysieb project created a more positive view of bilingual students and their cultures and histories. this project led to more researchers and educators to use translanguaging in the classroom, as seen in shepard-carey and tian’s work. the project went beyond pedagogy practices and created a change in ideology. it is important to remember that teachers need to believe in translanguaging to teach with these practices, and it is a reminder that english is no better than any other language (menken & sanchez, 2019). some students may meet translanguaging with resistance, but with open communication and encouragement, students can benefit greatly from translanguaging. small changes can create a change in ideology, and it can make a big change in the school and community. the importance of interpreters in schools we must also consider the importance of interpreters in schools for families who speak languages other than english. “bridging the latino achievement gap: the importance of interpreters in schools” by rachel r. williams of university of kentucky offers perspective based on real experiences in public schools. the author begins with the notion that schools generally fail to understand and accommodate languages and cultures other than english and american. sometimes there are conflicts between students and adults in school due to a lack of understanding of their culture and language (willams, 2016). but, there is a large communication barrier between the families that only speak spanish and the schools that only communicate in english (williams, 2016). studies show that there is a correlation between family involvement in education and student success. what are the advantages of family participation in education? according to the author, students are much more successful when their families are involved in the school versus not being involved in the school. the first advantage is that students are more engaged in the classroom. the second advantage is that students are more motivated. the third advantage is that students have higher levels of control and competence, and more effective self-control and goal orientation. all of these advantages lead to higher outcomes of student success (williams, 2016). why are these students more successful? the author writes that students feel more comfortable in school. these students are often “high-achieving” due to intellect or “high-achieving” because they have help and support in education. these students often take advanced classes and feel happy and confident (williams, 2016). parents who are spanish speakers have many disadvantages in education, primarily in regards to communication. it is difficult for these parents to help with homework because they do not understand directions and content. it is important to consider that some parents have not had much education, and many did not graduate from high school. the largest barrier is that parents cannot communicate with school personnel. children are often “language brokers”, or interpreters for their parents (rossato, 2010). these situations when the child needs to interpret give children a lot of stress; also, there is a limit to the complexity and potential of the communication because the child does not understand the subject, or the vocabulary is too advanced (rossato, 2010). when children are interpreting for parents, it is not possible to determine the accuracy of communication, which could lead to misunderstandings. williams (2016) coordinated a study on parent and family involvement in education. a bilingual and latino global journal of transformative education (2022) vol 3 gentry, translanguaging, translating & interpreting page 22 interviewer asked the children about their attitude about education, such as “how do you feel about math?” and “what subjects do you like?” the interviewer asked parents about their experiences and attitudes about school. 58% of parents said they were confident in their ability to communicate with their child’s teacher, and 42% said they were not confident in communicating with their child’s teacher. 78% of the 42% said they had access to an interpreter, and 22% did not have access to an interpreter. another aspect of this study was about conversations between school staff and parents. the researcher concluded that it is very necessary to have an interpreter during these conversations to maximize communication. the presence of an interpreter increases the pace of communication, the level of communication, and the levels of trust between the two parties. it is imperative that the interpreter and staff work together to maximize communication with parents. communication flow between parents and school staff has a positive correlation with monitoring student achievement, such as looking at grades in powerschool (williams, 2016). parents with adequate communication can help with homework and support students when they need it. there is more frequent contact between parents and the school, and these conversations are of a higher caliber. however, communication is not a factor in how much the family values education. all families want their students to be successful academically, but sometimes they are unsure of how to help. it is very difficult to help with homework and communicate with the school when they do not speak the same language and there is no interpreter. it is unlikely that a child can understand complicated documents like these, especially in their second language. documents need to be in spanish, or the office needs to provide an interpreter. it is not the child’s responsibility to translate documents or for other adults. the content of such documents is often too complicated for the child to understand. sometimes the subject matter is not appropriate, such as details of a divorce or medical forms regarding reproductive health. in conclusion, all families want to support their children, and they want children to be successful in their education. but, it is very difficult to help the child with homework when the parent does not speak the same language. it is important that interpreters work together with school staff to ensure that parents who are spanish speakers have the same quality of service and communication as parents who are english speakers. families and schools are a team, and the goal is the child’s success. translations in school communication it is also imperative to discuss the responsibility of schools to communicate with all families. stephanie fordice, former communications coordinator for cook county schools in illinois, offers strategies to ensure effective communications for all families. fordice’s article “at the corner of diversity and communication” gives many suggestions for schools and school districts. the first suggestion is to ensure that the translations are accurate and readily available and it is also recommended to have an interpreter at all school events so all families can communicate and feel comfortable (fordice, 2014). all schools and the district office need an interpreter in the building to answer questions in a timely manner, and all documents and publications (newsletters, calendars, etc.) need a translation; of course, these translations need to go to the correct students. one simple strategy is to make bilingual copies with english on one side and the second language on the other side. the author compares the translations to differentiated instruction because all families need different supports. it is important to consider the format of the documents as well, as some languages read right to left instead of left to right (fordice, 2014). it is also important to ensure that these documents and publications are on paper and online, since some families do not have the technology or access to the internet (fordice, 2014). when furthering my research in school communication, i came across the article “the roles of the online environment in school-family communication ‘’ by otilia clipa, faculty member of stefan cel mare university of suceava. in clipa’s findings, we discover that 80% of parents feel that online communication would strengthen the relationship between the school and the family, along with 76% of teachers. if the school decides to have information on the website or social media, the platform needs to have a function that translates the content into other languages, and it is important that the translation is correct (fordice, 2014). some schools and districts post videos, so they need captions available in the needed language (fordice, 2014). in personal experience, many schools use blackboard connect, a service that broadcasts phone messages, text messages, and emails to families. these communications are fairly easy to translate into the needed language. global journal of transformative education (2022) vol 3 gentry, translanguaging, translating & interpreting page 23 another important idea is to have a school liaison who is bilingual so the parents and families can communicate with at least one staff member at the school (fordice, 2014). the liaison focuses on communication with families and community partners. the liaison considers all factors that prevent parent and family involvement, such as transportation and language barriers. the author’s research was based on a school in chicago that has two family liaisons (one bilingual) because family involvement has a positive correlation with student success. it is also important that these liaisons and other school staff members are competent in internet and social media usage (clipa, 2019). conclusion students learning english as a new language could have more success if school staff members change their ideologies and confront their internalized biases. translanguaging allows students to access their entire repertoire of communication to fully communicate a message, along with allowing students to scaffold as they build confidence in english. it is imperative to celebrate progress instead of showing disappointment when a child’s attempt in english is not quite correct; many children would shut down and feel very embarrassed in that instance. when teachers enforce “english-only” policies, this destroys the student-teacher relationship, which is detrimental to student success. students need to know they are safe and valued at school for authentic learning to take place and have positive educational outcomes. staff members could show a genuine interest in the child’s culture and learn more by speaking with the child and doing research. in order to improve communication with families, one of the simplest strategies is to print school documents in english on one side and spanish on the other. that way, it is ensured that families who need the the document in spanish will have it. another strategy is to hire an interpreter whose sole duty is to communicate with families during meetings or other school events. the interpreter could also make phone calls and write correspondence in the needed language to improve communication and remove any barriers. it is imperative to value diversity instead of viewing it as a burden. as educators, we are doing ourselves a disservice when we do not value a child’s background and language. it is our job to ensure each child has what they need to be successful, and a child whose first language is not english should have the same opportunities as a child who is a native english speaker. these barriers need to be removed to ensure equity in school and beyond. global journal of transformative education (2022) vol 3 gentry, translanguaging, translating & interpreting page 24 references bussert-webb, k., masso, h., & lewis, k. (2018). latinx children’s push and pull of spanish literacy and translanguaging. the qualitative report. clipa, o., stefan cel mare university, r., juravle, v., & stefan cel mare university, r. (2019). the roles of the online environment in school–family communication. innovations, technologies and research in education. creese, a., blackledge, a., & hu, r. (2017). translanguaging and translation: the construction of social difference across city spaces. international journal of bilingual education and bilingualism, 21(7), 841-852. fordice, s. (2014). at the corner of diversity and communication. education digest, 79(6), 22. garcía, o. (2009). bilingual education in the 21st century: a global perspective. chichester (uk): wiley-blackwell. harris, y. r., & schroeder, v. m. (2013). language deficits or differences: what we know about african american vernacular english in the 21st century. international education studies, 6(4). kabir, d. m. (2019). reviewing translation and l1 in language pedagogy from translanguaging lenses. belta journal, 3(1), 32–46. menken, k., & sanchez, mtm (2019). translanguaging in english-only schools: from pedagogy to stance in the disruption of monolingual policies and practices. tesol quarterly, 3, 741. prada, j. (2019). exploring the role of translanguaging in linguistic ideological and attitudinal reconfigurations in the spanish classroom for heritage speakers. classroom discourse, 10(3-4), 306-322. rossato, l. (2010). former child language brokers: preliminary observations on practice, attitudes and relational aspects. «mediazioni», 2010, 10. tian, z., & shepard-carey, l. (re)imagining the future of translanguaging pedagogies in tesol through teacher-researcher collaboration. tesol quarterly, 54(4), 1131–1143. williams, r. r. (2016). bridging the latino achievement gap: the importance of interpreters in schools. retrieved april 24, 2021. yilmaz, t., & de jong, e. (2020). translanguaging as a boundary crossing mechanism: a turkish-american youngster and her linguistic negotiation of three discursive spaces. australian journal of applied linguistics, 3(1), 11–25. corinne gentry (csgentry@gmail.com) is a graduate certificate student in the department of world languages & cultures at indiana university-purdue university indianapolis, indianapolis, indiana, usa. author https://www.academia.edu/65333062/latinx_children_s_push_and_pull_of_spanish_literacy_and_translanguaging https://www.academia.edu/65333062/latinx_children_s_push_and_pull_of_spanish_literacy_and_translanguaging https://www.academia.edu/65333062/latinx_children_s_push_and_pull_of_spanish_literacy_and_translanguaging https://www.academia.edu/73400648/the_roles_of_the_online_environment_in_school_family_communication https://www.academia.edu/73400648/the_roles_of_the_online_environment_in_school_family_communication https://www.academia.edu/73400648/the_roles_of_the_online_environment_in_school_family_communication https://www.stir.ac.uk/research/hub/publication/995678 https://www.stir.ac.uk/research/hub/publication/995678 https://www.stir.ac.uk/research/hub/publication/995678 https://www.stir.ac.uk/research/hub/publication/995678 https://www.academia.edu/61952540/language_deficits_or_differences_what_we_know_about_african_american_vernacular_english_in_the_21st_century https://www.academia.edu/61952540/language_deficits_or_differences_what_we_know_about_african_american_vernacular_english_in_the_21st_century https://www.academia.edu/61952540/language_deficits_or_differences_what_we_know_about_african_american_vernacular_english_in_the_21st_century https://www.academia.edu/43789020/reviewing_translation_and_l1_in_language_pedagogy_from_translanguaging_lenses https://www.academia.edu/43789020/reviewing_translation_and_l1_in_language_pedagogy_from_translanguaging_lenses https://www.academia.edu/70061978/translanguaging_in_english_only_schools_from_pedagogy_to_stance_in_the_disruption_of_monolingual_policies_and_practices https://www.academia.edu/70061978/translanguaging_in_english_only_schools_from_pedagogy_to_stance_in_the_disruption_of_monolingual_policies_and_practices https://www.academia.edu/70061978/translanguaging_in_english_only_schools_from_pedagogy_to_stance_in_the_disruption_of_monolingual_policies_and_practices https://www.academia.edu/70061978/translanguaging_in_english_only_schools_from_pedagogy_to_stance_in_the_disruption_of_monolingual_policies_and_practices https://www.researchgate.net/publication/336170680_exploring_the_role_of_translanguaging_in_linguistic_ideological_and_attitudinal_reconfigurations_in_the_spanish_classroom_for_heritage_speakers https://www.researchgate.net/publication/336170680_exploring_the_role_of_translanguaging_in_linguistic_ideological_and_attitudinal_reconfigurations_in_the_spanish_classroom_for_heritage_speakers https://www.researchgate.net/publication/336170680_exploring_the_role_of_translanguaging_in_linguistic_ideological_and_attitudinal_reconfigurations_in_the_spanish_classroom_for_heritage_speakers https://www.researchgate.net/publication/336170680_exploring_the_role_of_translanguaging_in_linguistic_ideological_and_attitudinal_reconfigurations_in_the_spanish_classroom_for_heritage_speakers https://www.academia.edu/72456995/former_child_language_brokers_preliminary_observations_on_practice_attitudes_and_relational_aspects https://www.academia.edu/72456995/former_child_language_brokers_preliminary_observations_on_practice_attitudes_and_relational_aspects https://www.academia.edu/72456995/former_child_language_brokers_preliminary_observations_on_practice_attitudes_and_relational_aspects https://uknowledge.uky.edu/honprog/24 https://uknowledge.uky.edu/honprog/24 https://www.academia.edu/73759542/translanguaging_as_a_boundary_crossing_mechanism_a_turkish_american_youngster_and_her_linguistic_negotiation_of_three_discursive_spaces https://www.academia.edu/73759542/translanguaging_as_a_boundary_crossing_mechanism_a_turkish_american_youngster_and_her_linguistic_negotiation_of_three_discursive_spaces https://www.academia.edu/73759542/translanguaging_as_a_boundary_crossing_mechanism_a_turkish_american_youngster_and_her_linguistic_negotiation_of_three_discursive_spaces https://www.academia.edu/73759542/translanguaging_as_a_boundary_crossing_mechanism_a_turkish_american_youngster_and_her_linguistic_negotiation_of_three_discursive_spaces abstract this paper discusses the contours of developing a 21st century course syllabus that empowers students in the learning process to become critical thinkers, problem-solvers, innovators, and collaborators. the author draws from transformative learning theory to provide detailed information on the characteristics of a syllabus, its universal components, interpreting course code, uses of a syllabus, accessibility, and backward design. he also draws from bloom’s taxonomy to offer a pragmatic guide to syllabus creation with concrete examples on how instructors can employ a backward design approach for syllabus development to effectively create a syllabus of a course they have never taught before. the author concludes by reiterating that the overarching emphasis of teaching with a syllabus is to promote higher-order thinking and deeper learning in higher education because a syllabus that promotes such practices and knowledge transfer maximizes learning outcomes. keywords: syllabus, learner-centered, learning outcomes, 21st century skills, higher education ndemanu, m. t. global journal of transformative education (2022) vol 3 doi 10.14434/gjte.v3i1.33616 open access published by the global insitutute of transformative education (http://www.gite.education) © ndemanu, m. t., 2022. open access this journal is distributed under the terms of the creative commons attribution noncommercial nonderivative 4.0 international license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction without revision in any non-commercial medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the creative commons license, transformative syllabus design: maximizing learning outcomes in higher education michael t. ndemanu full listing of authors and contacts can be found at the end of this article. introduction wilhelm von humboldt, a german philosopher, is the founder of today’s modern university system that transformed universities from training-oriented professional institutions couched in transmissive pedagogy to the present-day higher education institutions that are committed to the discovery of, pursuit of, search for, knowledge (mueller, 1991). the goal of using a syllabus to teach college courses is to ensure that modern higher education institutions meet the goals for which they were founded. this paper is aimed at strengthening professional development skills of higher education instructors in syllabus development. it is a truism that higher education in any country is a citadel of knowledge production and consumption. while one would expect a fair balance between research and teaching in a university, many organizations concerned with the quality of programs only tend to use research output as a yardstick of an institutional value, thereby undermining teaching (oecd) which is one of the most crucial aspects of college education. this may explain why there is no teacher preparation program for university instructors as it is the case for k-12 teachers. although professors are content experts in their various fields, most of them did not take formal coursework on pedagogy. nonetheless, many would claim that they master college teaching and do not need professional development in pedagogy on grounds of their extended apprenticeship of observation (lortie, 1975). apprenticeship of observation is predicated on the notion that by the time a student has completed their k-12 education, they had amassed more than13000 hours of teaching observations as they observe their own teachers and professors teach them. whether a professor has received formal preparation in college teaching or not, there is a general consensus that they should all know how to conceptualize and develop a syllabus for each of the courses that they teach so as to improve the quality of college education. this essay offers a pragmatic guide to syllabus development ndemanu, designing university syllabi for 21st century skills page 26 using transformative education theoret-ical framework. a syllabus can be defined as a course roadmap that that provides the various makeups of a course such that prospective and current students in the course are abreast with the course objectives and expectations. as parkes et al. (2002) posit, a syllabus serves as a contract between the instructor and the students given that it contains vital information regarding course description, course readings, assignments and their deadlines, attendance policy, roles and duties of students as well as the responsibilities of instructors. while research on syllabus is very limited, most of it has focused on its purpose and its required components. calhoon et al. (2008) went outside the norm to study how students use syllabi. they contended that students access syllabi on a regular basis when the syllabi contain information about assignments, due dates, and rubrics. it is worth noting that syllabus embodies a lot of intricacies owing to educators’ varying philosophical orientations and dispositions. paradoxically, such orientations are not as diametrically different among educators in developing countries owing to the fact that they all studied through a very traditional and transmission-oriented pedagogy. thus, a plurality of educators still strongly believes in the banking concept (freire, 2000) in which the instructor is the sole owner of knowledge and the reading material and only share them with students during lectures. such an entrenched belief in the sole proprietorship of knowledge in a specific domain influences instructors’ choice of tone, content, delivery methods, expectations, objectives, instructional activities, and course policy during the syllabus design process. while it is unheard of in higher education in the united states that college professors could teach a course without a predesigned syllabus, it is still a ubiquitous practice in some countries around the world. many students are still graduating from college without ever having had any exposure to the syllabi of the courses they took. it was within this backdrop that the author of this essay decided to write an article on strategies of developing a learner-centered course syllabus so that it could benefit all the faculty members who are interested in maximizing their students’ learning outcomes through active learning, but who do not know how to go about it. in the subsequent sections of this essay, a conceptual framework will be discussed, followed by characteristics of a syllabus, procedure of syllabus design, and conclusion. conceptual framework for this article, a transformative learning theory is used to discuss the merits of designing a learner-centered syllabus. transformative learning theory, coined by mezirow et al. (2000) in the 1970s, was initially used in the field of adult education before becoming mainstreamed in the education field as a whole. it is a relatively new terminology that was first used to describe a new teaching and learning process that involves meaning making out of new information to ensure that knowledge is transferred and applied in real-life contexts beyond the classroom. it encompasses reviewing, manipulating, and interpretating current and past experiences to make meaning. it also embodies critical thinking and critical literacylearning to question. learning to deconstruct and reconstruct concepts, theories, ideologies, and worldviews. in other words, learning is preceded by disorienting dilemmas because a previous experience has been disrupted. thus, transformative education could engender psychological trauma since it problematizes a perennial practice that has been normalized over the years (todd, 2003). education is supposed to lead to the transformation of the learner and consequently the society. many teachers in developed countries already employ transformative education theory in designing and teaching their courses given that transformative education cultivates critical thinking skills in learners. it also places strong emphases on creativity and problem-solving skills which are essential skills for the 21st century problems. the contemporary notion of transformative education transcends the adult education field into broader view of education as an art of transforming learners and not just informing them. as yacek (2019) argued, transformative education requires psychological restructuring for effective learning to take place because it requires an in-depth critical reflection about previously held beliefs to determine whether those previously held ideas should be upheld or discarded. it requires perspicacious determination of what to reject and what to substitute previous knowledge with. thus, syllabi should be designed in such a way that educational goals will be formed around addressing the fundamental question of educating more for transformation and minimally for information (rosebrough et al., 2011). not all education acquired is considered transformative. for yacek (2019), it is only transformative when an educational experience is identified as an extraordinary monumental change in a learner’s personal development, shattering previous beliefs and worldviews while global journal of transformative education (2022) vol 3 ndemanu, designing university syllabi for 21st century skills page 27 global journal of transformative education (2022) vol 3 ushering it fresher perspective on prior concepts. the word transformative ought not to be viewed as a buzzword given that almost every learner at all ages experiences some sort of transformative experience in formal and informal contexts. there are christians who become atheists and vice versa. there are homophobes and transphobes who become pro-lgbtq. there are climate change deniers who become major advocates of environmental education. it is vital to harness the facts that contributed to such transformation so that educators can draw from those narratives to enhance transformative pedagogies. in transformative education, there is a major shift in students’ habits of thought and action (english, 2014). it does not, therefore, suffice to create a syllabus for a creation’s sake. it has to be purposefully transformative, learner-centered, and laser-focused on building students’ 21st century competency skills. incorporating multifaceted pedagogies ensures that learners are metacognitively reached so that they can become proficient in addressing 21st century problems. characteristics of a syllabus the overall tone of a syllabus is undergirded by the university’s mission and vision statements as well as the teaching philosophy of the course instructor. where there is no mission statement foregrounding the kind of education that the university values, there is likely going to be less uniformity in the curricular and pedagogic approaches across syllabi. thus, it is of utmost importance to review and incorporate the mission and/ or vision statements of the university and departmental college into the syllabus because they serve as overarching guiding tone and direction in the development of the curriculum as well as the instruction. here are a few examples of university mission and vision statements and how they can shape the development of syllabi in these institutions: mission statement of the university of michigan (um) “the mission of the university of michigan is to serve the people of michigan and the world through preeminence in creating, communicating, preserving and applying knowledge, art, and academic values, and in developing leaders and citizens who will challenge the present and enrich the future” (umich.edu). it is evident from this mission statement that um values critical thinking skills, leadership skills, civic education, knowledge creation and knowledge application. it is up to the instructors to infuse theses values in their syllabi. mission statement of the ball state university (bsu) “we engage students in educational, research, and creative endeavors that empower our graduates to have fulfilling careers and meaningful lives enriched by lifelong learning and service, while we enhance the economic, environmental, and social vitality of our community, our state, and our world” (bsu.edu). bsu’s mission statement iterates research, creativity, preparing students for fulfilling careers, social, environmental, and economic sustainability. this mission statement gives a bigger picture of the university’s overarching goal that instructors in that institution use or ought to use as a starting point when designing a syllabus. vision statement of indiana university (iu) “our mission is to provide broad access to undergraduate and graduate education for students throughout indiana, the united states, and the world, as well as outstanding academic and cultural programs and student services. we seek to create dynamic partnerships with our communities in economic, social, and cultural development and to offer leadership in creative solutions for 21st-century problems, and we strive to achieve full diversity and maintain friendly, collegial, and humane environments, with a strong commitment to academic freedom. to achieve our vision as one of the great research universities of the 21st century, we will: • provide an excellent, relevant, and responsive education across a wide range of disciplines in baccalaureate, graduate, and professional education, to students from all backgrounds • pursue excellent world-class research, scholarship, and creative activity • engage in the economic, social, civic, and cultural development of indiana, the nation, and the world by building on the base of excellence in research and education” (iub.edu). iu has a comprehensive vision statement that covers almost all the various mission iterations of um and bsu. some of the major highlights of its vision statement include: access to higher education, research, leadership skills in creativity, academic freedom, inclusion, diversity, social, economic, and civic vitality of the community. ndemanu, designing university syllabi for 21st century skills page 28 each university is established to address the societal needs and the labor shortage of the state or region in which it is located. national and international needs are often secondary at the creation of the institution, but could subsequently occupy frontline positions in the institution’s curriculum. a well-crafted syllabus in mu, bsu, and iu will explicitly and implicitly address most of the major themes of the university’s mission statement. the syllabi may foreground specific content knowledge, ways of knowing, communication, research, experiential learning, environmental sustainability, collaboration, creativity, problem-solving skills, and community service. a university’s mission/vision statement sets the tone of an educational culture on the entire campus. such a tone is then replicated in the various syllabi throughout the campus. a course syllabus needs to adhere to institutional framework in order to fulfil the objectives of that institution. most of the current university’s missions are designed to cultivate in students the 21st century competency skills. interpreting course code another notable and indispensable characteristic of a syllabus is the course code. course codes are identity markers that differentiate one course from another in terms of discipline and level of study. on designing a syllabus, instructors need to be aware of the meanings of the subject code and the catalog number in order to provide content and assessments that are appropriate for students’ developmental and academic readiness. undergraduate courses typically have the subject code and the catalog number ranging from 100 to 499. for example, the course psyc 101 has psyc as the subject code that represents the psychology discipline while the catalog number, 101, shows the level of study. the first digit indicates specific level of study while the rest of the digits are defined by the different levels of course strength. therefore, a course that starts with 1 as in psyc 101 shows that it is a foundational course while level 2 courses start with 2 such as in psyc 201, indicating that it is an expansive foundational course. levels 3 and 4 courses typically require prerequisites because they require more advanced thinking skills and demonstration of in-depth knowledge. universal components of a syllabus although there is seldom a standardized syllabus format, there are, however, some major characteristics of a learner-centered syllabus. the characteristics which can be grouped into four broad categories include: contact information, institutional statements, objective information, and course policies. category one: contact information in this category, the first page of the syllabus starts with a boldly marked name of the institution, followed by the course title (e.g., xxx 100), course sections, semester in which the course is offered, meeting dates and time, room number, instructor’s name, e-mail address, phone number of the instructor, office address, and office hours. if there is a graduate assistant assigned to the instructor, their name and e-mail address should also be included. the information on this category should not cover more than ¼ of a standard a4 size page. the contact information is particularly helpful to first-generation college students because provides them information about the location of their classes and ways to contact their professors at any given moment. this helps reduce stress and anxiety that students tend to experience in their first year in college. category two: institutional statements at the end of contact information on an a4 size page, there are mandatory institutional statements that are cut and pasted into the syllabus. the content encompasses university’s mission statement, institutional statements about diversity and inclusion, disability services, writing center, and technology help desk. some institutions also include statements forewarning students against plagiarism, tobacco use and alcoholism on campus. all these statements are invaluable to the entire student body because they contain policies that reiterate institutional expectations and provide information about the various services that are offered by the university to accommodate students’ needs in the areas of technology, disabilities, library services, learning, and writing centers. universities want these statements to be included in all syllabi to ensure a wider dissemination and digestion of their message. not all institutions have all the statements. instructors are not advised to borrow and use statements from another university. they should design their syllabi with the institutional information that has been made available to them by the hierarchy. in many universities in the united states, professors receive emails weeks before the beginning of each semester on institutional statements that must be part of the syllabus. global journal of transformative education (2022) vol 3 ndemanu, designing university syllabi for 21st century skills page 29 category three: objective information objective information encompasses narrative about the course, the purpose and the rationale of the course, prerequisites and/or co-requisites courses that must be taken before or along the current course, course objectives or competencies, course materials and texts, assignments, final exam or final project, rubric, grade criteria, course calendar, and supplemental reading sources. under objective information, the instructors explain clearly what the course is all about, why it is important for the students, why it is necessary for their chosen program, and why they should sign up for the course. one of the best ways to retain students’ interests in the course from the outset is to give them a palpable rationale as to why the course is being offered, stating persuasively how it would fulfil their program requirements and how it would contribute to their career growth and/or to the better of the society. if there is a prerequisite course, it has to be stated in the syllabus as a prerequisite requirement. sometimes, some courses are taken alongside one other course. if it is the case with the course that is being designed, the co-requisite should be stated in the front page. in transformative education, there is a paradigm shift from course objectives to course competencies. historically, syllabi that are developed from the perspective of lesson objectives focus more on what students should know by the end of the course, whereas competency-based approach to course design focuses on what students should be able to do by the end of the course. in order to effectively state and subsequently assess learning competencies and critical thinking skills, action verbs are employed to state course competencies as advocated in the bloom’s taxonomy graphicshown in figure 1. “remember” and “understand” are at the bottom of the pyramid of bloom’s taxonomy because they represent static verbs and require the least amount of learning effort. instructors should take this graph into serious consideration when developing learning competencies and assessments of a course. in selecting the course reading material, instructors should ensure that the reading material are void of sexism, racism, ethnocentrism, colorism, ableism, ageism, xenophobia, homophobia and all other isms and phobias that affect people negatively. this is an opportunity for champions of decolonization to decolonize their curriculum making by choosing reading material that are devoid of dehumanizing and colonizing language and history. it is also an opportunity to empower students in the learning process by offering them choice readings (sleeter, 2008), mirror and window curriculum (style, 1988), and place-based curriculum (preston, 2015). one of the essential information that students look for in a syllabus is the text because they want to buy it or order it online in time. furthermore, the syllabus contains detailed information about the course assessment process. it includes assignment descriptions, grading rubrics, submission modes, deadlines, and cut-off time after which submissions may or may not be accepted with or without a penalty. each assignment should also include instructor’s preference for total word count, stipulated margin, font, and font size. a rubric is a scoring sheet that shows students how their work will be graded. it provides more clarity to students as to what is expected global journal of transformative education (2022) vol 3 fig. 1. courtesy of vanderbilt university center for teaching (armstrong, 2010) ndemanu, designing university syllabi for 21st century skills page 30 of them while saving time to instructors because they do not have to give detailed written feedback since it is already included in the rubric. in the syllabus, students are also given the range of scores and their equivalent grades in the rubric, known as grade criteria. for example, the grade criteria have to show in the syllabus that 94% upward in an exam is an a grade and that 59% downward is f. varying assignments or exam formats is also important because it allows students who are not good test-takers in a proctored room to excel in other assignments done in stress-free settings. another vital aspect of the objective information in a syllabus is the reading calendar. there must be a reading or video/audio linked to each class meeting date. for instance, if a class meets on monday and wednesday each week, the syllabus should indicate the reading tasks assigned for each day. students have to be informed on the first day of class that the readings are meant for them to read before coming to class. each digital reading title should indicate in parenthesis where and how it could be accessed. if it is a book chapter, reference should be made about the specific book and the specific chapter including the page range. category four: miscellaneous course policies course policies in this category embody clarification of behavioral and attitudinal expectations, information about class attendance, late and missing assignments/exams, nature of participation in activities, and general ethics. some degree programs assess students on professional dispositions which can include general behavior and attitude, dress code, and punctuality. in the absence of an institutional statement on plagiarism and copyright issues, an instructor may insert their own personally worded statement into the syllabus to minimize plagiarism. if the course includes field experience or fieldwork component, the information should be incorporated into the syllabus so that students can plan accordingly. students need to be aware of how long it would take their instructor to respond to e-mails. most instructors respond within 24 hours on weekdays. it is necessary to defer to the institutional policy with respect to instructor’s promptitude in e-mail responses. it is worth noting that the structure of syllabus and the sequencing of the content should be given due consideration. the foregoing categories define a general logical order that a typical learner-centered syllabus should follow. sequencing of course content in a way that promotes scaffolding from the simplest concept to the most complex one in the learning process is very prior to the first class of the semester. ideally, a syllabus should be made available to students a week before important. however, owing to the limited scope of this paper, content sequencing techniques will be a separate paper. syllabus accessibility once the syllabus is fully designed and meticulously edited to ensure clarity, the instructor should make it available to the students at least twenty-four hours classes begin so that they will have ample time to purchase and ship the course texts and other learning tools before the start of the semester. according to a survey conducted by campusbooks.com (2016), 67% of the students surveyed said they purchase used textbooks while 55% said they rent textbooks for their courses each semester. other research institutions have conducted similar research. according to kelly (2019), 58% of students who responded to a survey on students’ habits toward purchasing textbooks said they buy at least one textbook on amazon. only 51% said they buy books at their campus bookstore. in the survey, one student said, “school bookstore typically charges 3x as much as ordering from amazon or another site.” therefore, it is imperative to share the syllabus days or weeks before the start of the semester or at the very least, provide information about the text weeks earlier. learning management systems (lms) are the platforms that instructors in developed countries use to share a lot of information with students. many developing countries cannot afford the cost of these learning management systems (lms) like blackboard and canvas which are designed for schools, colleges, and universities. lms are used for e-learning as well as to post all relevant information about a course including syllabi, assignments, rubrics, assignment submission portal, attendance tracking, and grade postings. in countries where universities cannot afford these learning management systems, there are other options that faculty members can use to communicate with students for free. there are moodle.com, google classroom, whatsapp, telegram, etc. a hard copy of a syllabus should be made available to students who do not have access to the internet. the first day of class should also be used to read through the syllabus with the students. considering that the instructor’s role in the classroom is to help students maximize learning outcomes, going over the syllabus thoroughly helps clarify nebulous global journal of transformative education (2022) vol 3 ndemanu, designing university syllabi for 21st century skills page 31 areas in the syllabus and set the students up for success right from the beginning of the semester. while what a student discovers in the course of learning is more important than what they cover in class, it is crucial for students to have full access to what is being covered so as to plan ahead of each class session. uses of a syllabus a well-designed syllabus facilitates teaching and learning. it shows a clear pattern of teaching and learning activities built into the course (slattery & carlson, 2016). considering the importance of a syllabus and its ubiquity in higher education in developed countries, it is rather ironic that there is limited research about it. according to littlefield (1999) a syllabus has several functions: it facilitates teaching because it enables teachers to plan better in advance. it serves as a binding document between the students and the instructor. it sets the tone of the course for the entire semester. it helps students plan their learning carefully. it ensures smooth and effective continuity of the course content from the originator of the course to subsequent instructors given that there is always a master syllabus that is safely kept by the department chair. instructors teaching an old course for the first time use the master syllabus as a starting point in developing their own syllabus. they have to build from the previous instructor’s syllabus otherwise the original goal of the course could very easily be misconstrued and bastardized overtime. it serves as an artifact for promotion, tenure, and for job applications for instructors. it can also be argued that a syllabus minimizes students’ unnecessary outreach to the instructor since effective syllabi pre-emptively answer students’ questions. course expectations set forth in the syllabus and explained by the instructor on the first day of class can affect students’ interest in the course on the first day of the class. transformative educators do not scare students away from their course; they attract them to their course and work with them to address any individual concern about the course. in addition, using the syllabus as a contractual document between the student and the instructor is very important because students have the propensity to feel cheated in their grades when they did not do well in a test. to avoid any possible lawsuit from students, some universities even require students to read and sign the syllabus on the first day of the course so that students cannot successfully challenge in a court of law any aspect of the signed syllabus in due course. the syllabus can serve as an artifact in a job application portfolio. it is common for faculty applying for a college/university teaching position to carry along to interviews their portfolio which, among many other things, includes syllabi of the different courses they have taught. it is also a standard practice for faculty seeking tenure and promotion to include copies of syllabi of all the courses they have designed and/or taught. when evaluating professors’ teaching skills, evaluators (who most often are peers) are expected to review the faculty’s syllabi and observe them teach. thus, an instructor’s teaching philosophy can be easily gauged through a review of the syllabus than through a one-session teaching observation. backward design of a syllabus according to wiggins and mctighe (2005) backward design entails developing a syllabus beginning with course goals and working backward to lay bare what learners need to know in order to meet them as opposed to the traditional method which focuses on the coverage of topics and contents recommended by the government or accreditation bodies. while instructors may erroneously want to begin a syllabus design with content and technical details, a syllabus creation should begin with the goals, objectives and competencies, stating the skills students should be able to demonstrate by the end of the course. in the backward design process, instructors ensure that attention is paid not only to content coverage, but also to the purpose, usefulness, and the impact of the course on students. the following preliminary questions are crucial in the syllabus creation process: 1. what is important for students to learn? 2. how will the instructor and their students see learning happening? 3. what will the instructor and the students need to do for learning to take place? with a backward design, instructors are able to align their course goals and learning objectives with teaching activities as well as with course assessments. in this regard, students are consistently familiar with the course content and its goals. there are three stages global journal of transformative education (2022) vol 3 ndemanu, designing university syllabi for 21st century skills page 32 of backward design: stage one: desired outcomes: at this stage, the instructor starts the syllabus design with a deep reflection on the goals, objectives/competencies of the course by pondering over questions such as: what is important for learners to know and do by the end of the course? what knowledge or skills are students expected to acquire by the end of the course? what standards are supposed to be met? what are the transfer competencies that are expected? when the course competencies have been conceptualized and stated in active verbs, the instructor then reflects profoundly on the different measurable evidence which is in stage two of this process. stage two: acceptable evidence for instructors and students: this stage is about assessments and evaluations. how does an instructor assess students understanding and progress to determine whether or not learning occurred? what will an instructor consider as acceptable proficiency of the learning outcomes? the instructor comes up with different assessment tools that effectively measure the learning outcomes of stage one. stage three: learning activities: what sorts of learning material and activities are put in place that will result in the evidence of desired outcomes being met? as shown in these three stages, instead of starting a course curriculum with dense content of what students should learn, the instructor commences with what they envision as desired outcomes and walk backward to the content which embodies the learning activities. in planning the course, some of the critical questions that guide an instructor in the choice of learning material and activities are: what learning material is suitable for achieving the course objectives/competencies? how will this material be sequenced to maximize knowledge acquisition? what pedagogic activities will accelerate knowledge gain, knowledge transfer and knowledge application in real-world contexts? careful responses to the foregoing questions would ensure an effective planning and development of the syllabus. conclusion using a backward design to develop an effective syllabus that employs different pedagogic approaches to impart knowledge in students should be the priority instead of focusing on exposing them to large quantity of contents through the traditional lecture method that they can barely retain (cooper et al., 2016). miller (1927) defined lecture method as “… that mysterious process by means of which the contents of the notebook of the professor are transferred through the instrument of the fountain pen to the note-book of the student without passing through the mind of either.” in employing transformative learning theories to design a syllabus and teach 21st century skills, the instructional focus shifts from teaching objective facts to teaching core competencies of the course, critical thinking skills, problem-solving skills, information and computer literacy, collaboration, and creativity. a syllabus should promote heuristic pedagogy so that students can develop more confidence in their abilities to handle complex problems. effective teaching is preceded by constructive learner-centered course planning that revolves around syllabus design. a 21st century syllabus that is aimed at maximizing learning outcomes should carry an overtone of learner-centered pedagogy throughout the syllabus. reading materials, assignments, and instructional strategies laid out in any syllabus should highlight twenty-first century skills as presented earlier. some of these skills may not be woven into the core content of the course, rather they may occur mostly during the content delivery process, that is during the teaching of the course. a course may emphasize critical thinking and collaboration skills in their syllabus development by showing what sorts of learning, teaching, and assessment activities may help accomplish the two skills. the physics instructor who is conscious of the 21st century skills that are being reiterated in the university may redesign the syllabus to ensure that the said skills are being covered through the curriculum or through the instruction. education is designed to educate; to teach what is worth knowing, but that is not known. it is worth imagining what is worth knowing in community health today that is not known by citizens and the possible impact it has on their health, in particular, and their lives, in general. a carefully crafted learner-centered syllabus that demonstrates the transformative potentials of education is what all college instructors should strive for in the courses they teach. education is about transformation and that transformation entails changing frames of reference such as habits of minds, perspectives, and mindsets during an educational process to be more inclusive, reflective so as to transfer knowledge and apply it in other real-life contexts. a syllabus that promotes deeper learning and knowledge transfer maximizes learning outcomes. global journal of transformative education (2022) vol 3 ndemanu, designing university syllabi for 21st century skills page 33 references armstrong, p. 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(mtndemanu@bsu.edu) is an associate professor in the department of educational studies at ball state university, muncie, indiana, usa. author https://cft.vanderbilt.edu/guides-sub-pages/blooms-taxonomy https://www.bsu.edu/about/strategic-plan#:~:text=our%20mission,our%20state%2c%20and%20our%20world. https://www.bsu.edu/about/strategic-plan#:~:text=our%20mission,our%20state%2c%20and%20our%20world. https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/campusbookscoms-new-survey-reveals-college-students-highly-concerned-about-education-loan-repayment-300299544.html https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/campusbookscoms-new-survey-reveals-college-students-highly-concerned-about-education-loan-repayment-300299544.html https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/campusbookscoms-new-survey-reveals-college-students-highly-concerned-about-education-loan-repayment-300299544.html https://www.oecd.org/education/imhe/44058352.pdf https://www.oecd.org/education/imhe/44058352.pdf https://www.iu.edu/about/index.html https://www.iu.edu/about/index.html https://www.avnetwork.com/news/survey-most-students-shop-on-amazon-to-save-money-on-textbooks-campus-technology#:~:text=survey%3a%20most%20students%20shop%20on%20amazon%20to%20save,websites%20as%20well%20as%20the%20brick-and-mortar%20college%20bookstore. https://www.avnetwork.com/news/survey-most-students-shop-on-amazon-to-save-money-on-textbooks-campus-technology#:~:text=survey%3a%20most%20students%20shop%20on%20amazon%20to%20save,websites%20as%20well%20as%20the%20brick-and-mortar%20college%20bookstore. https://nationalseedproject.org/key-seed-texts/curriculum-as-window-and-mirror https://president.umich.edu/about/mission/ caralyn zehnder, cynthia alby, karynne kleine, julia metzker. (2021). learning that matters: a field guide to course design for transformative education. myers education press. 225 pp. $ 111 (hardcover), isbn: 978-1975504502 in today’s 21st century, the traditional way of teaching has mostly given way to transformative education in which teachers should not only impart knowledge, but also facilitate the acquisition of skills by students (david, 2016). educators in transformative education play the role of helping students to understand and acknowledge “the dynamics between their inner and outer worlds” (boyd & myers, 1988, p.261). this book provides guidance to teachers in the higher education system to help them design courses that can create meaningful learning experiences for students and actively engage them in social issues. z. zhang. global journal of transformative education (2022) vol 3 doi 10.14434/gjte.v3i1.34176 open access published by the global insitutute of transformative education (http://www.gite.education) © zhang, 2022. open access this journal is distributed under the terms of the creative commons attribution noncommercial nonderivative 4.0 international license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction without revision in any non-commercial medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the creative commons license, book review zhaoyi zhang full listing of authors and contacts can be found at the end of this article. summary in this book, “learning” covers multiple layers of meaning, including learning theories, learning outcomes and assessments, course design, teaching strategies and techniques, etc. as educators who will pursue careers at universities or are already teaching in higher education, no matter whether you are novice or senior, this book provides scaffolding for you from three aspects: a). how to design transformative lessons, how to create successful transformative learning experiences for students, and how to shape the identity of the transformative teacher. this book consists of 10 chapters. and each chapter is completed by a team of four brilliant and professional educators who have specific disciplinary expertise. collaboration is constantly brought up in the book. whether it is the way the book is written or the various activities that are recommended throughout the book, readers will find traces of collaboration. this is the element that the authors are proud of. each chapter of the book covers ample content and inspiration. chapter one (“teaching matters”) begins with the challenges that american higher education is facing in the present era, which include unequal distribution of educational resources, teachers who are very productive in research but weak in pedagogical knowledge, unequal power relations between “black, indigenous, and people of color (bipoc) and their white counterparts” (p. 2), and the lack of capacity of higher education institutions to respond quickly to unexpected situations (e.g. covid-19). all these problems are calling for changes in course design. the authors mention that educators in higher education institutions should regard exposing all of their students to transformative learning experiences as their teaching goal. this chapter also contains the introduction for all four authors and their beliefs about course design and teachers’ professional development. at the end of this chapter, the authors provide a guide to using this book so that readers can get insights into how to get the most out of this book. zhang book review: learning that matters page 35 in chapter two (“from the foundation up”), the authors firstly mention that trying to turn the classroom into a base for transformative education requires fostering creativity, and that means a degree of “improvisation” (p.18). this chapter provides four important concepts and principles for supporting this improvisation. the first one is about equity. the authors extract decentering pedagogy from critical theory, starting from no longer viewing students “within a deficit framework” (p. 27) and cherishing all students’ funds of knowledge, the authors then propose pedagogical approaches that promote equity. the second concept is aimed at the constructivist approach. in this section, by explaining the crucial role of constructivism in acquiring knowledge, the authors remind readers that students in the classroom are not just passive recipients, and transformative education cannot be teacher-centered. the third concept emphasizes creativity in promoting students’ engagement. the authors point out that the course focusing on active learning could be helpful to students’ scores. it is vital for teachers to understand how motivation influences learning. the fourth concept, therefore, focuses on the role of motivation. in this part, the question of whether students are motivated by mastery or performance goals is discussed. in the end, the authors hope teachers who have already built their teaching foundations could think about how to connect these concepts and theories with students’ deep learning. in chapter three (“design matter”), the authors shift the center from concepts to practical issues, focusing on course design. the aim of this chapter is trying to convince teachers that using design to guide teaching can be a very beneficial thing for both teachers and students. additionally, the authors provide three complementary and connected designing approaches for teachers, which are design thinking, backward design, and universal design for learning (udl). in short, design thinking is human/student-centered. it firstly needs teachers to develop empathy and collect students’ information before class, then anticipates the kinds of problems they will encounter in their classes, lists the worst possible outcomes for their classes, and find out the solutions in advance. this approach offers a framework for planning courses that are closely tied to the student experience. backward design is a course design approach guided by learning objectives, which requires teachers to think about what students need most to be successful. for udl, it is an approach considering serving more students. it aims at establishing a learning environment to support students’ diversity. in the end, the authors mention that the strategies provided in this chapter are important and will be repeatedly mentioned in the following chapters. chapter four (“portable outcomes”) is about portable outcomes, which means that students can take what they learn in one class to subsequent classes, and even to later work and life, rather than outcomes that are forgotten once the test is completed. in this chapter, the authors begin by differentiating the definition of student learning outcomes (slos) and aspirational goals. compared with aspirational goals which could be longterm and ideal, slos are more specific and measurable, which refer to as knowledge, skills, and dispositions. before introducing how to design slos, the authors demonstrate the “alignment” between slos and “the coherence students experience” in the classroom. (p.83). then, the authors give suggestions for how to write substantive slos. they should be student-centered, measurable, interlude, and inclusive. specifically, students are able to know what they should anticipate from the course, and realize how they will perform in class to meet the outcomes. in addition, the authors mention that substantive slos should take affection into consideration, which means that teachers should present clearly what they want their students to care about after finishing the course. what is more, well-designed slos should also care about students’ diversity so as to avoid biases. in the end, the authors advocate that after encompassing the above four characteristics, a truly portable goal must be to help students achieve higher order thinking skills that include analyzing and evaluating. chapter five provides an approach, which is also a framework, called the dilemma, issue, or question approach (diq). the authors summarize it as an approach to connecting subject knowledge with social issues. teachers utilize this approach to guide students using the knowledge they have learnt in class to solve real social problems. the authors point out that by doing this, students can more easily understand the usefulness of the knowledge and the reason why they need to learn it. in this chapter, multiple resources including reference websites and books are given to help readers think about how to design their diq framework. the authors also focus on describing the four steps of designing diq from brainstorming to getting feedback. it is important to summarize from the authors that diq breaks the status quo that critical thinking skill is only limited to “elitist activity” (p. 114). global journal of transformative education (2022) vol 3 zhang book review: learning that matters page 36 global journal of transformative education (2022) vol 3 in chapter six (“connected assessment”), the authors spend a great deal of time explaining assessment-related knowledge. the significance of this chapter is evident in the way that it helps address teachers’ ongoing focus on what a few students cannot do, in suggesting that teachers need to think about how to support the progress of all students, and in the need to recognize the strengths that each individual brings to the classroom. the authors start by expressing their concerns about unequal issues brought about by today’s assessments. in the next part, instead of explaining “assessment jargon”, the authors present assessment along “two continuums”, which are from connected to unconnected assessment, and from summative to formative assessment. in terms of comparing unconnected and connected assessment, the authors interpret connected assessment as the one which underlines the growth and achievements of students. it is aligned with slos with a stepped increase in difficulty as a way to see students’ progress. the authors also compare formative and summative assessment and suggest that formative assessment is not done by scoring at the end, but by collecting and using the information obtained during the learning process to change and improve students’ learning process. it is a relatively fair way of assessing. the rest of the chapter is reserved for how to provide effective feedback to students, which also contains the forms, focuses, rubrics that teachers need to pay attention to when they give feedback. chapter seven (“the power of projects”) involves some of the practical skills that teachers use to design classroom activities that can effectively engage students and are simultaneously convenient for teachers to give formative feedback. the authors start this chapter by explaining the reason for the popularity of project-based learning. then, three characteristics that should be equipped by a good project are explained in detail by the authors, which are authentic, collaborative, and transparent. the authors give many examples of actual classroom activities to make these three characteristics more visual and tangible. chapter eight (“strategies that matters”) mentions teaching strategies which could lead to significant learning. the authors introduce a concept of high-quality strategies which should be “active and engaging, intrinsically motivating, sticky, and culturally affirming” (p.207). a good high-quality strategy does not have to meet all of these characteristics, but it does need to equip many of them. next, the authors mention the need for teachers to develop different strategies at different stages of learning. the authors also give different and respective suggestions and activities that teachers can do to prepare students for learning, engage students in learning, discuss in the classroom, and make learning visible so that teachers can choose and implement them according to their own conditions and classroom conditions. this chapter concludes with a guide for readers to reflect on their own strategies and a summary of high-quality strategies so that readers will have a deeper understanding of what strategies can cause deep and significant learning. in chapter nine (“supporting students”), how to provide targeted support to students to ensure their success, effectively address inequities in education, and ensure enduring learning is a core topic. the authors provide ideas from four perspectives. firstly, teachers should guide students to find value in learning, which means that if students can understand the purpose of the course and tap into the value of the course, they can be more engaged. secondly, the authors mention that by praising students for their efforts and scoring less, teachers should provide the support that allows students to be unafraid of challenges and setbacks, and allows students to develop a “growth mindset” (p.263). thirdly, teachers have the responsibility to make students find a sense of belonging in the classroom. lastly, the authors mention the negative stereotype that students develop when they experience setbacks, which is also called “stereotype threat” in the chapter. it is important to help students reflect on their self-values to counter this stereotype. as a summary and ending chapter, chapter ten (“your turn: selfand collective efficacy”) plays a crucial role in helping reshape a transformative teacher’s identity. as was mentioned in chapter two that innovation is vital for developing transformative education. the authors in this chapter introduce bandura’s “collective-efficacy” to underline the significance of collaboration for innovation (p.281). at the same time, it is also important to build a community of mutual trust and respect for students, in which students can obtain the necessary skills. the authors also recommend that teachers join or establish teacher learning communities, or “communities of change agents”. there they can monitor and help each other to become qualified transformative educators (p.287). zhang book review: learning that matters page 37 evaluation the authors have succeeded in achieving the goal of improving and expanding teachers’ skill sets described at the beginning of the book. especially when reading chapters 3-9, which encompass all the things educators should consider when designing a course. the whole book is highly readable and interactive. as i took notes while reading, i found that i could easily extract the key information from each chapter and understand it without much difficulty. another strength of the book is reflected in its writing structure. each chapter begins with a preflection in a box, which may be a thought-provoking question or a small survey, giving the reader a preliminary idea of the chapter’s content before they even start reading the text. next, the authors list the activities they set up in this chapter and what they hope the reader will ultimately gain from the chapter’s contents. by doing this, the authors make the outcomes of the chapter transparent to readers, which allows the scrutiny from readers when they finish this chapter. in writing each chapter, instead of explaining theories and concepts, the authors present numerous activities, their own experiences, and evidence-based strategies. after presenting a piece of content, the authors set up a “reflect to learn” session, asking one or two questions to give readers a short buffer and reflection time before moving on to the next module to better consolidate what they have just read. each chapter follows the same pattern, starting with preflection and ending with ensuring that the readers can make the design happen. with this step-by-step guidance, readers will become more and more confident and motivated. conclusion overall, facilitating students to find motivation and meaning in the university’s classroom, acquiring the competence needed for the 21st century, realizing and addressing social inequities are goals that teachers should be committed to designing their courses, and that is also what this book is trying to help teachers achieve. as a guide book, learning that matters: a field guide to course design for transformative education is suitable for both individual educators and a group, like a faculty study group, since collaboration is ceaselessly mentioned throughout the book. teachers can also practice the activities and evidence-based strategies in the book in a selective manner. references david v. j. bell. (2016). twenty-first century education: transformative education for sustainability and responsible citizenship. journal of teacher education for sustainability, 18(1), 48-56. robert d. boyd & j. gordon myers. (1988). transformative education. international journal of lifelong education, 7(4), 261-284. zhaoyi zhang (zhazhang@iu.edu) is ph.d. student in the literacy, culture, and language education program, department of curriculum and instruction, school of education at indiana university, bloomington, indiana, usa. author osei-kofi, n., boovy, b., & furman, k. (eds.). (2022). transformative approaches to social justice education: equity and access in the college classroom. routledge. 304 pp. $ 31.96 (paperback), isbn: 978-0367551032 while social justice has become an increasing priority in many public institutions in the country, the difference, power, and discrimination program at oregon state university has been enlightening undergraduates for 30 years. born out of student advocacy and the faculty that supports them, the program is an established collection of diversity education courses and faculty training seminars. the program has survived budget cuts, critics, and other challenges throughout its 30 years. transformative approaches to social justice education describes the methods of the program pragmatically and unflinchingly so readers of the book can apply them to their classrooms. m. a. medved. global journal of transformative education (2022) vol 3 doi 10.14434/gjte.v3i1.34260 open access published by the global insitutute of transformative education (http://www.gite.education) © zhaoyi, 2022. open access this journal is distributed under the terms of the creative commons attribution noncommercial nonderivative 4.0 international license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction without revision in any non-commercial medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the creative commons license, book review michelle a. medved full listing of authors and contacts can be found at the end of this article. introduction the book is comprised of four sections, all of which feature strategies and methods from dpd faculty that teach undergraduate students about different aspects of identity. accessibility needs, race, gender, sexuality, and economic class differences are all addressed in the book. additionally, a wide array of techniques is utilized throughout the book. everything from collaborating with archivists and farmworker unions to incorporating social justice into stem coursework is discussed. dpd is a requirement for undergraduates within their general education classes, but it does not add to the number of credits the students need to take (osei-kofi, et al., 2021, p. x-xi). it has the two-fold benefits of both broadening white students’ perspectives and helping students from historically marginalized groups feel more included. faculty have also benefited from this program, which features specific training programs to help faculty embody the spirit of dpd within their classes and pedagogy. the following review will cover the book’s four sections in order, touching on its fifteen chapters and their respective authors. the first section, “archives and power: engaging history collaboratively,” covers the history of the dpd program and how to incorporate diverse narratives through history. the second section, “frameworks for transformative pedagogies” discusses the challenges of making courses more accessible both in the classroom and online. “destabilizing dominant narratives,” the third section, addresses the triumphs and challenges of teaching difficult subjects such as race, economic class, and transgender rights. the final section, “rethinking approaches to disciplinary content” provides the reader with meaningful ways to incorporate social justice topics in both stem and humanities-based courses. medved transformative approaches to social justice education page 39 section 1: archives and power: engaging history collaboratively echoing the sentiments of the introduction, the first chapter by kali furman addresses the circumstances in which the dpd program was created. it starts by addressing the racist founding of the state of oregon. oregon’s state constitution is the only one created with a clause banning black people from residing there (p. 4). when oregon state university was founded, it too became an institution based on the interests of white americans, including being established on the stolen land of native americans (p. 5). over time, the demands of students and the student body’s diversity have grown. after incidences of racism on campus over the decades, student activists proposed creating a diversity education program to try to make the university more inclusive (p. 3). the fact that the dpd program has survived multiple budget cuts and other threats to its existence, is a testament to the power of osu student advocacy and the faculty that supports them. the creation of the program and its continued existence demonstrates the ongoing need for such a program at a primarily white institution. crucially, furman notes that white and students of color still have “divergent” experiences at osu (p. 5). consequently, the legacy of “student activism and institutional moves to create offices or programs” to undertake “issues around diversity and inequity continue today” (p. 5). the following two chapters, written by archivist natalia fernandez and ethnic scholar natchee blu barnd, feature methods for teaching social justice through history. fernandez shares the powerful possibilities for archival texts to promote social justice both within osu and in the larger community. she shares her collaboration with professors to create eye-opening document analysis activities for students. when voices were absent from the osu archives, fernandez sought to find representation for them. fernandez and boovy co-founded the osu queer archives in 2014 and have expanded it with the help of student interviewers (pp. 22-25). barnd’s chapter details his students’ creation of social justice tours of the college town in which osu is located. he describes how walking tours “remind us to pay attention to our relationships to the land (and its people) wherever we find ourselves,” something that he attributes to his upbringing as an indigenous man (p. 43). from the beginning of each course, “the students directly practice techniques for collecting, analyzing, and incorporating community histories and highlighting contested productions of geography, especially in relation to race and racism” (p. 44). after taking a tour, the shared stories come to him every time he walks by that location. both fernandez and barnd provide practical ways to implement these activities and events. universities’ archival resources provide transformative tools for sharing new perspectives on history with students. section 2: frameworks for transformative pedagogies chapters four and five carry important reminders of equity and accessibility for anyone in the education field. written by jenkins and smith, chapter four covers instructional design and their efforts to improve the accessibility of courses for students with disabilities through the principles of universal design. jenkins also shares her experiences with having disabilities while in academia. their chapter discusses the ubiquity of ableism in academia and how universal design principles can help fight ableism (pp. 68-69). the chapter features recommendations for implementation, including a tool for identifying the perceived challenges of an assignment and encouraging consideration for what consequences an academic requirement might have (pp. 76-78). they suggest providing options that best fit the needs of students including flexible attendance and multiple modalities to demonstrate learning (pp. 80-83). in chapter five, myers expounds on many of the same concerns as jenkins and smith but for online academic settings. she argues, “design principles for accessibility should be a baseline” for online course design and suggests going further by including cultural responsiveness (p. 99). because online courses can exasperate inequities and accessibility issues, myers explains some of the steps that instructors can take to allow flexibility, alleviate some of the instructor-student power imbalances, and enlighten students to institutional discrimination through course tasks (pp. 90-96). myers successfully brings awareness to considerable injustices and guides online instructors on how to promote greater equity and accessibility in their courses. chapters six and seven share many commonalities in the internal, empathetic work that they suggest instructors and students take part in to bring greater awareness to injustices. though the chapters cover different frameworks, they are both highly internalized and potentially emotionally difficult. clough warns in chapter six that teaching peace literacy requires a deep personal understanding of one’s biases and it can be global journal of transformative education (2022) vol 3 page 40 global journal of transformative education (2022) vol 3 draining (p.106). pitcher and martinez note in chapter seven that the sentipensante work, largely done through reflective activities, is not something that everyone is ready for, especially in a public setting (p.136). if one is ready to take on this work, then clough suggests peace literacy to build empathic soft skills and promote consciousness to both personal and structural biases and the systems that perpetuate them (pp. 106-107). pitcher and martinez describe sentipensante as more of a belief system to promote one’s sense of belonging and restore their sense of being able to live their life wholly (pp. 127-129). although powerful philosophies, both chapters hint at the challenges of tackling emotional issues correctly in the classroom. there needs to be extensive training and personal reflection on the instructor’s part to lead these types of activities (p. 129). these chapters should serve as a primer to these frameworks and further exploration should be done before attempting to use them in the classroom. however, when well done, students can “gain confidence, find strength, and resilience through their narratives combined with history and social issues” (p. 135). section 3: destabilizing dominant narratives containing some of the most engaging chapters of the book, section three aims directly at how to teach difficult topics of social justice and the impact a professor’s positionality can have on student interpretations of the content. though positionality is prominent in transformative approaches, it is particularly addressed in how this section and section four’s ronald mize approach their respective social justice issues. chapters eight and nine prioritize bringing greater positionality to their respective fields. in chapter eight, rakes and driskill write about the specific inclusion of trans studies as part of its queer studies program. within the field of queer studies, white voices have been dominant, and osu’s qs courses work to disrupt that focus. instead, by giving privilege to voices from people of color, various levels of (dis)abilities, and income levels, osu’s program promotes intersectionality (pp. 146, 149). in doing this, white students must consider the spectrum of experiences and identities among the lgbtq+ community and who is impacted by systems of oppression. they then teach how to grapple with anger at systemic oppression and put it towards “the fruit of collective liberation” instead of using anger to be destructive (p. 144). in chapter nine, maldonado focuses on the ways that she incorporates intersectionality into her latinx studies classes by including race and ethnicity, gender, and labor rights. she also reflects on how her own identity as a latina impact how she is perceived by students. many of her students have never had a latinx educator before and they sometimes respond in different ways. students of color may be validated by her presence and some, primarily white students seem to think she brings a “latinx agenda” (pp. 160-161). these reactions from students bring a lot of assumptions to what can already be a difficult topic to teach. additionally, maldonado explains how she handles students who do not believe in her course’s relevance. she offers strategies to help students make personal connections and classroom exercises to discuss inequalities, workers’ rights, and unions (pp. 167-168). her inclusion of student reactions underlines both the work that educators of color can achieve, but also the biases they may encounter from others. growing up working-class herself, hurst references back to her own identity in chapter ten. there seems to be a blind spot for the role economic class plays in a person’s identity, privilege, and understanding of the world. hurst explains that while directly addressing economic class in the classroom is forceful, equally important is maintaining the privacy of those less privileged. sharing personal experiences can be uncomfortable or even humiliating, especially for those that are less privileged. instead, she suggests personal reflective exercises on privilege should be done privately or anonymously (pp. 181-182). however uncomfortable, we must keep tackling economic class and privilege. in talking about class, she explains, it helps “us build those necessary alliances between black, brown, and white people” to stop the “racists” from winning (p. 175). boovy and osei-kofi finish the section by describing their individual experiences teaching about race at a predominantly white institution. they argue that osu’s history, culture, and legacy all carry white dominance, which is why teaching about race is so crucial (p. 192). the teaching method that they share is “teacher as text” which started as a way for teachers to demonstrate their authentic selves and help students learn complexity around social issues like race, poverty, and police brutality (p. 193). both writers share their own experiences of how their identities impacted how students respond to them for better or worse (pp. 196-201). they agree that misunderstandings will happen when teaching about race, which is why race must continue to be addressed (pp. 200-202). medved transformative approaches to social justice education page 41 section 4: rethinking approaches to disciplinary content koehlinger and freehling-burton begin the section by delineating the importance of challenging the christian-based norms of mainstream american culture, for the country is far more religiously diverse than it may appear (p. 207). they share how their faiths impact their teachings and students’ interpretations of their teachings (pp. 208-210). the chapter moves on to historical and contemporary anti-semitism and islamophobia in the u.s. (pp. 216-223). the reader will come away from the chapter reflecting on the perpetration of christian dominance and on how harmful stereotyping of non-christians is damaging to religious tolerance in the u.s. (p. 212). mize is the first generation of his family to have not spent time in the fields. in chapter thirteen, he discusses the intentional design of his course, which focuses on farmworker justice movements throughout american history (p. 237). to tie in the dpd program requirements, there is a particular emphasis placed on “the social construction of difference, the historical and contemporary relevance of racism and other forms of institutional discrimination, and how these social categories shape the lived experiences of farmworkers residing in the united states” (p. 238). he frequently collaborates with a union leader for this course and is quick to explain how service-learning can be done poorly (p. 237). aims to help farmworkers should not be an act of voyeurism (pp. 240-241). mize’s thoughtful analysis of service-learning and consideration for the farmworkers make it one of the more impactful and meaningful chapters of the book. in chapter fourteen, borradaile challenges the perception that social justice education has no place in stem courses. she meaningfully embeds intersections of stem and human rights together, such as how the american government uses surveillance against political and racial groups (p. 257). borradaile provides specifics on navigating these issues and what methods to use. one is using “affinity groups” where students work to come to a consensus on incidents of discrimination that have occurred at their university and how they should respond. students discuss the pros and cons of different actions, recognizing that there often is not a perfect response (253-254). additionally, she shares the unfamiliarity of teaching and learning about emotionally difficult topics for stem instructors and students. borradaile herself had to adjust and she has found that students understand best from first-person narratives. it adds a voice to sometimes complex and difficult topics (255). though challenging, borradaile demonstrates that bridging stem and social justice is possible. chapter fifteen rounds out the book by alluding back to the power of teaching history in a reflective way. richards describes her work to “disrupt students’ notions of objective research” and demonstrates that historical work is “intimate, value-laden, and rich with struggles and questions of self” (p. 268). chappell and richards remind us of the power of primary documents for helping students “see the multiple dimensions of systemic and pervasive mechanisms of oppression in operation on multiple scales (p. 266). by taking classic history teaching methods and layering them with critical analysis, chappell and richards add to what many history educators already do. evaluation as an educator, the themes of social justice and anti-racism have been recently reverberating throughout both the k-12 and postsecondary institutions that i am a part of. it would be easy to write this book off as one following the current trends. however, this compilation sets itself apart because of its thoughtfulness, variety, and experience. few other universities, and institutions for that matter, have a diversity and inclusivity program that is thirty years old. oregon state university was not just following a trend, but in response to student advocacy and demands three decades ago. what better source to learn about teaching social justice than a pioneer in the field? this level of experience is reflected in the various methodologies described in transformative approaches. the best chapters describe thoughtful consideration and planning, drawing from learned experiences and student reactions. they also featured underrepresented topics, such as transgender and disability rights. notably insightful chapters include mize’s “sí, se puede! teaching farmworker justice” and hurst’s “talking about class” for their insight and consideration of both the topics they teach and the students they work with. mize co-planned with a local union leader, deciding that “this could not be yet another class where students learn about farmworkers and to repeat the surface representations of them” (p. 239). mize’s community partnership with a local union, as well as archivist natalia fernandez’s collaborations with faculty, and barnd’s local history tours are all examples of the ways the dpd program extends beyond the osu campus. medved transformative approaches to social justice education global journal of transformative education (2022) vol 3 michelle a. medved (michmedv@iu.edu) is a ph.d. student and associate instructor in the literacy, culture, and language education program in the department of curriculum and instruction, school of education at indiana university bloomington. author many chapters were helpful with specific strategies that could be somewhat simply implemented in busy educators’ lives. myers’ “critical pedagogy online” and jenkins and smith’s chapter covering universal design both provide thoughtful tools for making courses more accessible and flexible –especially pertinent in the time of a pandemic. for a handbook on social justice education, the chapters that featured pragmatic, simple suggestions were often the most valuable. the most difficult chapters often featured pedagogies or frameworks that were out of reach for the average reader. they contained warnings about needing extensive training and not being for everyone. while the chapters served as primers on sentipensante and peace literacy, they also described deeply philosophical (perhaps even spiritual) cognitive work. the chapters provided exercises to utilize but were also tinged with the implication that the pedagogies were extremely difficult to conduct correctly. they seem to be more intimidating than easily accessible. page 42medved transformative approaches to social justice education conclusion transformative approaches incorporates positionality, personal narratives, and experience-tested teaching methods to thoughtfully create a social justice handbook that educators from many fields will find valuable. its personal sentiments and a wide variety of topics set it apart from other resources with a narrower focus. of its highlights are highly implementable strategies that have been time-tested and advocacy for underrepresented topics in diversity education. its few downfalls are simply a few chapters that require much further education or lack realistic recommendations for classroom usage. educators are busy and want practical takeaways. as smith and jenkins describe their approach to increasing course accessibility, it “is a pedagogical practice that requires ongoing commitment and negotiation” (p. 80). achieving greater equity and promoting social justice in educational institutions must also take this long-haul, step by step approach, hence the importance of manageable frameworks and methods like this book provides. global journal of transformative education (2022) vol 3 open access published by the global insitutute of transformative education (http://www.gite.education) © gjte. 2022. open access this journal is distributed under the terms of the creative commons attribution noncommercial nonderivative 4.0 international license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction without revision in any non-commercial medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the creative commons license, in memoriam: dr. bame patience penn teneng the editors of the global journal of transformative education wish to express our sorrow at the news of the death of one of our friends and contributors. dr. bame patience teneng penn was a senior lecturer of educational administration at the university of yaounde1 in cameroon. she passed away unexpectedly on march 5, 2022. her passion for education and her commitment to sharing her work with a global community will be missed. 43 dr. bame patience teneng penn 1973-2022 editorial board. global journal of transformative education (2022), vol 3 open access global journal of transformative education open call for papers the global journal of transformative education (gjte). is an open-access journal that presents to learners, educators and researchers the optimal instructional strategies, transformative leadership, and inquiry methods that lead to better educational and research outcomes for their students and the society. gjte is published by the global institute for transformative education (gite). the editorial board of the gjte invites authors to submit manuscripts relating to research about transformative education, innovative teaching strategies or curricula, policy issues, the role schools have in transforming communities and society, and resources that can help educators and policy makers enact meaningful reforms that contribute to transformative education. gjte publishes at least one issue of the journal each year, and we offer an open call for manuscripts submitted by authors around the world. there are no submission deadlines for our regular issues, and authors may submit manuscripts at any time. special “themed” editions may be produced with guest editors. gjte will post calls for papers on the journal’s website to announce those issues. manuscripts should be limited to about 8000 words, and may include photos, diagrams, tables, graphs and figures. longer manuscripts may be accepted if the content warrants the length. authors should consider the specifications listed in the gjte author submissions page. in addition to images, authors may include hyperlinks to supplemental materials such as lesson plans, assessments, large data files, and video or other media. for more detailed formatting instructions, authors can download the gjte formatting guide and gjte manuscript checklist. gjte does not charge authors a publication fee. authors retain ownership of the content of the article that will be published under a creative commons 4.0 by-nc-nd license. submitted manuscripts undergo a double-blind review process, and authors may be asked to revise text or images before final publication. communications about submitted articles will be managed through gjte’s author submissions system. call for reviewers authors and other individuals are invited to apply to be reviewers. reviewers may be asked to read and assess submitted manuscripts as part of the peer review process, and will be listed as members of gjte’s editorial review panel. this panel is an important part of a rigorous publication process, and we invite a diverse group of reviewers from a variety of relevant areas of expertise. click here to register as a reviewer. please direct any questions about submissions to the editors: gjtemanager@gmail.com michael t. ndemanu, ph.d. educational studies ball state university muncie, indiana, usa managing editor tom j. mcconnell, ph.d. department of biology ball state university muncie, indiana, usa editors-in-chief serafín m. coronel-molina, ph.d. curriculum and instruction indiana university bloomington, indiana, usa 44 https://scholarworks.iu.edu/journals/index.php/gjte/index https://gite.education/ https://scholarworks.iu.edu/journals/index.php/gjte/about/submissions https://tjmcconnell.weebly.com/uploads/3/7/4/5/37455725/gjte_formatting_guide.pdf https://tjmcconnell.weebly.com/uploads/3/7/4/5/37455725/gjte_formatting_guide.pdf https://tjmcconnell.weebly.com/uploads/3/7/4/5/37455725/gjte_manuscript_checklist.pdf https://scholarworks.iu.edu/journals/index.php/gjte/about/submissions https://scholarworks.iu.edu/journals/index.php/gjte/about/submissions https://scholarworks.iu.edu/journals/index.php/gjte/user/register email:gite18@gmail.com editors-in-chief michael t. ndemanu ball state university serafin m. coronel-molina indiana university managing editor tom j. mcconnell ball state university global journal of transformative education (2019) vol 1 issn 2640-1533s open access editorial team kennedy n. bota masinde muliro university of science & technology kakamega, kenya judah m. ndiku masinde muliro university of science & technology kakamega, kenya wilfridah m. mucherah ball state university muncie, indiana, usa daniel baron the bloomington project school bloomington, indiana, usa bryce s. smedley usaid washington d.c., usa teresia mbogori ball state university muncie, in, usa james kigamwa literacy international tulsa, ok, usa editorial review board gjte invites you to apply to be a member of the editorial board. potential reviewers can register for an account on the gjte website: register for gjte account i global journal of transformative education volume 1, 2019 published by the global insitutute of transformative education (http://www.gite.education) © gjte. 2019. gjte is a peer-reviewed open access journal produced as part of the iu scholarworks system, indiana university, bloomington, indiana, usa. https://scholarworks.iu.edu/journals/index.php/gjte/login global journal of transformative education (2020) vol 1 issn 2640-1533s open access i published by the global insitutute of transformative education (http://www.gite.education) © gjte. 2019. gjte is a peer-reviewed open access journal produced as part of the iu scholarworks system, indiana university, bloomington, indiana, usa. introduction .................................................................................................................................................... 1 michael t. ndemanu & serafín coronel-molina, editors-in-chief nutrition tranition in africa: consequences and opportunities .............................................. 5 teresia mbogori & winnie mucherah examining child development from an african cultural context ............................................... 11 winnie mucherah & teresia mbogori problem-based learning for responsive and transformative teacher professional development ....................................................................................................... 18 tom j. mcconnell, joyce m. parker, & jan eberhardt constructing a dule-subjectivity ............................................................................................................ 26 brian david lozenski anthropological methods oof curriculum instruction for learners in informal education for abagusii of south western kenya ....................................................... 38 gilbert nyakundi okebiro adult education and dialogue .................................................................................................................. 46 antonette lorraine mccaster inclusive practice and transformative leadership are entwined ........................................... 52 rose atieno opiyo open call for papers ..................................................................................................................................... 68 gjte editors contents global journal of transformative education volume 1, 2019 global journal of transformative education (2019) 1 doi 10.14434/gjte.v1i1.26970 open access published by the global insitutute of transformative education (http://www.gite.education) © ndemanu & coronel-molina. 2019 open access this journal is distributed under the terms of the creative commons attribution noncommercial nonderivative 4.0 international license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction without revision in any non-commercial medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the creative commons license, introduction: volume 1 of the global journal of transformative education michael t. ndemanu & serafín m. coronel-molina, editors in chief the global journal of transformative education (gjte) is a newly founded open-source, peerreviewed journal created to share research and practical applications related to transformative education in the entire spectrum of educational settings around the world. gjte publishes scholarly research manuscripts, articles on teaching strategies, transformative teaching strategies, curriculum frameworks, and reviews of educational resources that support transformative teaching and learning in pk-20 institutions as well as in adult education programs. the articles published in this inaugural issue of gjte were presented at the world conference on transformative education (wcte) in kakamega, kenya in july 2018 under the theme, “rethinking curriculum, pedagogy, and research in africa.” all the papers underwent a blind review process prior to be considered for publication. wcte was organized against the backdrop of outmoded education systems in africa; that the systems are far removed from its socioeconomic and political realities; that they are the legacies of european colonial rules, thus they are antiquated and are not designed to solve african contemporary problems. thus, there was a need for scholars, p-12 teachers and policymakers to meet and discuss ways to move away from educating children just for basic literacy and numeracy skills to providing them world-class education for competitive interconnected global economies. such a bold move required a quasi-volte-face shift in how educators rethink the content of the curriculum, school, teaching, learning, leadership, and research across africa. for readers to have an insightful grasp of the articles’ contents in this inaugural issue, the editors of gjte have chosen to provide succinct definitions and explanations of transformative education concept. transformative education within the framework of this conference is defined as the act of re-conceptualizing the knowledge gained in school and through lived experiences and applying it in both academic and non-academic real-life multifaceted contexts. it entails instilling critical and autonomous thinking in learners in ways that help them to interpret new information independently and collaboratively rather than being mere recipients of knowledge and worldviews of others. according to national science foundation, “transformative research involves ideas, discoveries, or tools that radically change our understanding of an important existing scientific or engineering concept or educational practice or leads to the creation of a new paradigm or field of science, engineering, or education. such research challenges current understanding or provides pathways to new frontiers” (2007, p. v). to transform africa into a place of great political stability, economic opportunities, harmonious social order, rich in innovative technology and enviable inventions, policy makers and educators must be ready to shun a victorian-age education system which is already antiquated, and instead embrace creative, critical, problem-solving, and project-based instructional strategies which are catalysts to groundbreaking ndemanu & coronel-molina, introduction 2 tested model of professional development (pd) that uses the analytic framework of problem-based learning (pbl) to support professional learning. evidence suggests that pbl is effective in changing content knowledge and pedagogical practice. to teach content, facilitators engage teachers in learning activities designed using common pbl structures.” still in line with pedagogy, brian david lozenski in “constructing a dual-subjectivity: understanding the intersection of ethnic studies and ypar” examines “the outcomes of using participatory action research with youth (ypar) as an entry point into africana studies. the author draws from empirical research and anecdotal narratives to document a program where youth of african descent in the us engage in ethnic studies through the lens of action research.” in the article, “anthropological methods in curriculum instruction for learners in informal education for abagusii of south western kenya,” gilbert nyakundi okebiro proposes indigenous instructional strategies for impacting knowledge to children in ways that lead to more transformative and effective education. antonette lorraine mccaster’s article, “adult education and dialogue: utilizing project-based education as a method to provide transformative change in both students and teachers” argues that both communication and motivation are primary drivers of transformational learning in adult education. she asserts that “combining projectbased education with adult dialogue education provides a transformative method of education that encourages student-driven, collaborative project-based learning as well as opportunities for teachers to reflect upon their epistemology and pedagogy.” in “inclusive practice and transformative leadership are entwined: lessons for professional development of school leaders in kenya,” rose opiyo discusses the concept of transformative leadership in inclusive education for learners with special needs as a broad approach to education that seeks to interrogate the inclusive leadership inventions, sound economic growth, and globally competitive workforce. to this end, we introduce readers to a variety of articles whose contents are designed to disrupt and upend readers’ thinking about education and share its potential for radical transformation of minds if the curriculum and pedagogy are methodically and effectively designed. the first article of this issue addresses the fundamental curriculum question, “what knowledge is worth knowing?” the rest addresses an overarching question dealing with the most effective instructional methods like, “what instructional methods of delivering the content to the content to learners is most effective in achieving transformative outcomes in learners? teresia mbogori and winnie mucherah in “nutrition transition in africa: consequences and opportunities” discuss the ramifications of nutrition transition in africa that is stemming from the westernization of their african diets. in this article, they offer educational solutions through which the phenomenon of nutrition transition can be disrupted and a return to the consumption of whole grain diets and traditional vegetables embraced. in a nutshell, their article offers readers to rethink a food and nutrition curriculum in africa. in their second article, “examining child development from an african cultural context,” winnie mucherah and teresia mbogori, delve in to the importance of considering child development and his/her culture in an effective learning environment. in their article, they explore issues like indigenous language development, childbirth practices, self-esteem, and self-concept and how they impact african child’s self-worth and identity development. all these factors are important in designing a curriculum and pedagogy that optimize learning outcomes. in connection with optimizing learning outcomes, tom mcconnell, joyce parker, and jan eberhardt in “problem-based learning for responsive and transformative teacher professional development,” discuss “a researchglobal journal of transformative education (2019) 1 3 global journal of transformative education (2019) 1:1 skills of school leaders as they seek to address human diversity issues in their schools. invitation to prospective authors we invite authors keen on transformative education from all walks of life to consider gjte as an avenue for dissemination of their ideas germane to curriculum and teaching. gjte accepts submissions for its open call, with no deadlines for submissions, and no publishing fees for authors. the journal’s website includes author guidelines to help prospective authors with formatting specifications, and an online submissions system to help with the submission, review and editing process. new authors are invited to register in the system. gjte also invites readers to join our editorial board of reviewers by selecting the “reviewer” role and indicating content expertise. acknowledgements the global journal for transformative education (gjte) is a singular publication venue. despite the great amount of time and effort we have invested for its conceptualization, development, implementation, production, and publication of this inaugural volume, we could not have done all this by ourselves. both the conference and this volume are the results of the hard work and dedication of many people. first of all, our profound gratitude goes to the global institute for transformative education (gite) and its founding members for their sustained sponsorship to make this volume happen. we are deeply thankful to tom j. mcconnell who provided us invaluable assistance in his role as managing editor taking care of the daily operation of gjte. we are also grateful to our colleagues who serve on the board of reviewers for their time and diligence in the review process. we also owe a debt of gratitude to professor eng. frederick otieno, vice chancellor of masinde muliro university of science and technology (mmust) not only for his early buy-in to this concept of transformative education but also for funding and hosting the conference. we also thank fred bay of the bay & paul foundation and ball state university for sponsoring our three keynote speakers and for sponsoring some schools to attend and showcase their transformative activities at the conference. our profound gratitude goes to all the participants in the world conference on transformative education (wcte), especially to the following: dr. kofi marfo, professor and foundation director, institute for human development, aga khan university (south-central asia, east africa, and united kingdom); nkem khumbah, lecturer and member of the stemafrica initiative at theuniversity of michigan; justo méndez arámburu, co-founder and former president of nuestra escuela in puerto rico; and the hon. wilson sossion, secretary general kenya national union of teachers. we also owe a special debt of gratitude to rev. professor achoka jsk, phd, mknas director of research and postgraduate support, mmust, kenya and to dr. judah ndiku, executive dean school of education at mmust for his leadership and commitment to the conference from day one of the conference initiative till the conclusion of the event. without him and his closed collaborator, prof. achoka, the conference would not have recorded a major success. the successful outcome of the conference was due, in great part, to the careful organization and planning that took place beforehand. therefore, we are also deeply grateful to the following wcte conveners: drs. michael takafor ndemanu, serafín m. coronel-molina, daniel baron, winnie mucherah, kennedy bota, bryce smedley, and teresia mbogori for playing key roles in the organization of the conference. our special thanks to all the mmust faculty, k-12 pupils and their teachers, drivers, custodians, mmust students, caterers, dance groups, golf hotel staff, etc who all served in different capacities as well as played considerable roles that went a long way to enhance the experiences of the conference participants. ndemanu & coronel-molina, introduction page 4 michael t. ndemanu & serafín m. coronel-molina editors in chief global journal of transformative education ndemanu & coronel-molina, introduction last but not least, we are profoundly grateful to all the contributors to this inaugural volume for choosing gjte to publish their work. many thanks to the indiana university library system and its iuscholarsworks system for hosting the gjte’s website and to sarah hare for helping us with all the details related to the online platform where gjte is located. without the generous assistance and contribution of all these fine people and institutions, gjte would never have become a reality, and this inaugural volume would never have seen the light of day. 1 michael t. ndemanu (mtndemanu@bsu.edu) is an assistant professor of education in the department of educatioanl studies at ball state university, muncie, indiana, usa. 2 serafín m. coronel-molina (scoronelmolina@gmail. com) is an associate professor in the dept. of literacy, culture, and language education at indiana university, bloomington, indiana, usa. authors gjte is published by the global insitutute of transformative education articles are distributed under the terms of the creative commons attribution noncommercial nonderivative 4.0 international license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction without revision in any non-commercial medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the creative commons license, http://www.gite.education mbogori & mucherah. global journal of transformative education (2019) 1, 5-10. doi 10.14434/gjte.v1i1.26141 open access published by the global insitutute of transformative education (http://www.gite.education) © mbogori & mucherah. 2019 open access this journal is distributed under the terms of the creative commons attribution noncommercial nonderivative 4.0 international license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction without revision in any non-commercial medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the creative commons license, nutrition transition in africa: consequences and opportunities teresia mbogori1 and winnie mucherah2 abstract nutrition transition, defined as a shift in dietary patterns and energy expenditure, is a major concern worldwide and especially in lowand middle-income countries. nutrition transition is linked to an increased prevalence of metabolic disorders and non-communicable diseases such as obesity, diabetes and cardiovascular diseases. in regions such as the sub-saharan africa, prevalence of overweight and obesity has steadily increased in the recent years despite the high prevalence of hunger and malnutrition. factors that have contributed to nutrition transition include urbanization, socio-economic developments and technological advancements. food consumption in some households has shifted to diets rich in fats and oils, calorie-based sweeteners, and animal-based products high in saturated fats (diets commonly referred to as “western diets”), from traditional african diets based on legumes, whole grain products and traditional vegetables. opportunities to slow down the effects of nutrition transition in africa may exist through education and policy changes that are culturally sensitive. keywords: nutrition transition, health and development, malnutrition, traditional african diet full listing of authors and contacts can be found at the end of this article. introduction malnutrition, a condition that refers to deficiencies, excesses or imbalances in a person’s intake of energy and/or nutrients, remains a major hindrance to the social and economic development of a country especially in sub-saharan africa (bain et al., 2013). macronutrient and micronutrient malnutrition in women and children increases their vulnerability to infections which increases the levels of childhood and maternal mortality (stein, 2010). stunting due to chronic hunger is associated with inadequate cognitive development which reduces the learning abilities and productivity of the child later in life and leads to the vicious cycle of poverty and malnutrition (vorster, 2010). similarly, overweight and obesity causes an economic and social burden to the country due to high costs of its management (allender & rayner, 2007). many sub-saharan african countries are struggling with both undernutrition and overweight, also known as the double burden of malnutrition. this has been attributed to the rapid nutrition transition being witnessed all over the world and especially in developing countries. nutrition transition, defined as a shift in dietary patterns and energy expenditure, is a major concern worldwide and especially in low and middle-income countries (popkin, 1994; popkin, adair, & ng, 2012). nutrition transition in the africa is linked to increased prevalence of metabolic disorders and non-communicable diseases such as obesity, diabetes and cardiovascular diseases (bosu, 2015). in sub-saharan africa, prevalence of overweight and obesity has steadily increased in the recent years despite the high prevalence of hunger and malnutrition (tzioumis, kay, bentley, & adair, 2016). consumption of high energy dense foods such as soft drinks and deep fried foods has replaced the traditionally consumed foods that were high in whole grain cereals and vegetables in most african homes. in addition, improvement in infrastructure and economic status has reduced the duration and intensity of physical activity among children and adults (steyn & mchiza, 2014). 6 “receding famine” is the third pattern and it is one where many countries made great progress in reducing chronic hunger and famine and the consumption of fruits, vegetables and animal products increased. however, at this stage, physical activity levels started to decrease which could have been attributed to technological development. the fourth pattern “overeating and obesity related diseases” is characterized by diets that are high in fat, cholesterol, refined sugars, accompanied by sedentary lifestyles. this pattern is currently being observed all over the world especially in developing countries. finally, is the behavior change pattern which describes behaviors similar to the first stage where there is increase in intake of fruits and vegetables and reduction in the consumption of refined carbohydrates. these changes are currently being observed mainly in developed countries as a response to increase in chronic diseases. most of the work in nutrition transition mainly focuses on the fourth and fifth patterns. for the african population, nutrition transition could be described following patterns three through five with most of the population quickly moving towards stage four (popkin, 2004). as undernutrition and micronutrient deficiencies persist, overweight and obesity rates in african countries have shown a steady increase that has exceeded the prevalence of underweight since 1980 (black et al., 2013). shifts in dietary patterns have been mostly observed within the adult population, however, there are concerns that changes in infant and children feeding practices might soon shift to the young population as has been observed in developed countries. traditionally, the main types of food introduced to infants across africa were plant based cereals made from mainly maize, sorghum, wheat or millet (gibson, ferguson, & lehrfeld, 1998). although intake of cereal based complementary foods is usually associated with insufficient intakes of iron, calcium and zinc (gibson et al., 1998), in some communities, amaranths, milk, soy, fish and edible termites are used to enrich cereal based foods (konyole et al., 2012). with changing diets and improvement of social economic status among african families, infants are now introduced to foods high in fats and sugars as part of complementary foods (popkin et al., 2012). these foods are energy dense instead of nutrient dense and research has shown that such foods may lead to adulthood diseases such as type 2 diabetes during childhood and later in adult life (steyn & mchiza, 2014). mbogori & mucherah, nutrition transition in africa several studies have reported on the extent and consequences of nutrition transition and the double burden of malnutrition in africa (abrahams, mchiza, & steyn, 2011; steyn & mchiza, 2014; steyn, nel, parker, ayah, & mbithe, 2012). some of the main consequences include development of chronic diseases such as diabetes, high cholesterol levels and high blood pressure and cardiovascular diseases (albala, vio, kain, & uauy, 2002). these consequences are of great impact especially on the health care systems in african countries as these countries are still struggling with maternal and childhood undernutrition and micronutrient deficiencies. childhood is a very critical period in the development of an individual. while nutrition transition affects all stages of development, infancy and childhood stages are more likely to experience a greater impact. fortunately, it is easier to change or modify behaviors at young ages than it is to change behavior of adults. most studies done on nutrition status in children in african countries mainly focus on increasing food intake to prevent undernutrition and very few studies investigate the changes in dietary patterns of the children that could lead to overweight and obesity later in life. therefore, the purpose of this paper is to describe nutrition transition and highlight some of its consequences in children as well as to suggest some opportunities to mitigate the effects of nutrition transition within the african context. nutrition transition nutrition transition was first described by popkin (1994) as shifts in dietary patterns that are reflected through changes in body size and composition. popkin proposed five patterns of nutrition transition which represent the different stages of dietary changes in a population. first pattern is referred to as “hunter gatherer” and it describes the diets consumed in the hunter gatherer period if human evolution. these diets were high in carbohydrate, fiber and low in saturated fat. also, activity levels were high and obesity rates were very low. the second pattern is referred to as “famine” and it describes a period in time where there was food shortage that led to a decrease in dietary diversity and adequacy. also, towards the end of this period agricultural revolution occurred and societies that were more civilized were able to feed their population. although this stage mainly occurred in the 18th century in the developed countries, many places in sub-saharan africa are still dealing with famine today. global journal of transformative education (2019) 1 7 mbogori & mucherah, nutrition transition in africa consequences of nutrition transition in general, nutrition transition affects everyone in the population regardless of age. the most common outcomes are chronic diseases such as diabetes and cardiovascular diseases (delisle, agueh, & fayomi, 2011). while the developed countries have the resources to deal with the rise in these conditions, african countries are still dealing with undernutrition especially in children which in itself exerts a lot of strain to the health care system in africa (salam et al., 2015). maternal malnutrition during pregnancy, inadequate breastfeeding and poor complementary feeding practices are associated with malnutrition in children. during pregnancy and lactation, nutrient needs increase making these periods nutritionally-vulnerable stages for women of child-bearing age (khayat, fanaei, & ghanbarzehi, 2017). undernutrition in mothers is a cause for concern due to the impact adequate maternal nutrition has during the critical 1,000-day period from pregnancy to the first two years of the child’s life (woo baidal et al., 2016). similarly, obesity during pregnancy has been associated with poor health outcomes of the pregnancy such as increased risk of caesarian delivery, childhood overweight and obesity, diabetes in later life for mothers and obesity in adolescence for the children (poston, harthoorn, & van der beek, 2011; valsamakis, kyriazi, mouslech, siristatidis, & mastorakos, 2015). the immediate effect of poor nutrition during the early years of a child is morbidity and mortality and, delayed cognitive, social-emotional and motor development (da cunha, leite, & de almeida, 2015), while the long-term effects include impairment in, intellectual ability, work capacity, reproductive outcomes and overall health during adolescence and adulthood (da cunha et al., 2015). infants born to undernourished mothers are likely to be undernourished as well at birth and if they experience rapid weight gain in childhood, they are much more likely to suffer from diabetes and cardiovascular diseases later in life than children who were not undernourished at birth (victora et al., 2008). this means that in developing countries such as sub-saharan africa, greater efforts should be directed towards minimizing rapid dietary shifts towards consumption of high energy dense foods by children to mitigate possible development of chronic diseases in future life. opportunities to slow nutrition transition in africa nutrition transition is inevitable as countries continue to expand their infrastructure and economic development. however, there are ways that the society global journal of transformative education (2019) 1 can be more vigilant in order to slow down the progression. many countries globally are working towards behavior change so that people can move from consumption of highly processed energy dense foods to increased intake of fruits and vegetables. however, in africa there are communities, still experiencing famine, consuming diets high in fruits, vegetables and whole grains, and those that have adapted more westernized diets. this means that when planning interventions to slow down nutrition transition, these three levels should be considered. interventions are needed to improve food production for those experiencing famine, nutrition education on the importance of maintaining traditional african diets are needed for those who are still consuming diets high in fruits, vegetables and whole grains and behavior modification interventions are needed for those who have adopted a more westernized diet. education one avenue that nutrition and health related information is shared is through the formal schooling system. nutrition and health related programs that are offered through school platforms have been shown to improve the health and nutrition status of the poor and vulnerable children in low and middle income countries (sarr et al., 2016). for example, school meal programs common among many african countries encourage children to go to school because of the promise of a meal (alderman, hoddinott, & kinsey, 2006). for the most part, foods served in schools are sourced from local farmers and local markets and are therefore more likely than not to include traditional african diets rich in vegetables and whole grains. however, as nutrition transition progresses, there is a possibility that foods offered in schools might change into a more westernized diet that is more convenient and cheaper for the schools. in a school setting, nutrition education can benefit the children, teachers as well as staff by providing them with the tools for healthy eating. including nutrition education in the school curriculum is could help slow down the effects of nutrition transition, however, it has to be sensitive to the african context. nutrition education curricula need to be linked to locally grown foods, cultures and diversity as well as environmental sustainability. this means that examples used in instruction should be based on healthy foods that are locally available and accessible to the children instead of using examples of foods that are 8 mbogori & mucherah, nutrition transition in africa foreign to the community. some studies that have evaluated the impact of nutrition education in schools especially and have shown positive outcomes in the nutrition and health status of the students. however, these studies focus more on undernutrition and not overweight and obesity (walsh, dannhauser, & joubert, 2002). it is noteworthy that prevalence of overweight and obesity in children is still low in sub saharan africa and therefore could be the reason behind lack of obesity-based interventions. however, this makes it the ideal time to introduce nutrition education in the school curricula to minimize adoption of unhealthy dietary patterns among school going children. research and policy researchers and policymakers have an opportunity to work with individuals and communities in african countries to try and slow down the negative effects of nutrition transition especially on children. from the documented literature, it is evident that there are a number of intervention activities that focus on mitigating the effects of acute food shortage. these interventions are mainly funded by international donor agencies. the main challenge with donor agency funded interventions is that they tend to focus on the agency’s key interests that might not entirely reflect the needs of the society. for instance, many un agencies work in the dry areas to provide food aid in form of ready to eat formulas for severely malnourished children and food rations for the moderately malnourished children. while this is a noble cause that has been done over the years, the real cause of severe malnutrition, which is poverty and low productivity has not been adequately addressed. therefore, a cycle develops whereby malnourished children are rehabilitated but when they are out of danger, they fall back into the malnourished state due to the conditions that initially made them malnourished. in addition, most of the international donor agencies are very unlikely to engage in behavior change interventions that are needed for slowing down the effects of nutrition transition. to effectively address nutrition transition, stakeholders need to work with communities to ensure that the magnitude and severity of adopting a western lifestyle are understood by the community members. to that end, there are a number of questions about people’s perception of the changing nutrition status and dietary intake that need to be evaluated. for example, 1) how do individuals in african settings perceive global journal of transformative education (2019) 1 consumption of westernized diets high in refined sugar and fat as compared to consumption of traditional diets high in fruits and vegetables and whole grains? 2) how does the community view overweight and obesity either in a child or an adult? 3) are community members educated on the dangers of overweight and obesity that result from high calorie intake with sedentary behavior? 4) what are african governments doing to ensure that overweight and obesity do not reach alarming levels as those being witnessed in some of the developed countries? some of these questions have been explored to some extent. for example in south africa, a qualitative study among children found that some teenagers perceived being overweight and obese to be desirable especially by parents because it was an indication of happiness (puoane, tsolekile, & steyn, 2010). another study found that being underweight might be perceived as suffering from hiv or aids hence undesirable (okop, mukumbang, mathole, levitt, & puoane, 2016). such feedback indicates that before beginning a behavior modification intervention, education is needed to discount some of those beliefs and come up with mutually acceptable interventions. also, some countries have developed policy documents that are geared towards curbing the increase in overweight and obesity. however, evaluation of such policies needs to be done. conclusion there is sufficient documentation on nutrition transition in african countries. consequences of nutrition transition are more severe in african countries than in developed countries as they pose a double burden of undernutrition and obesity to the community, households and individuals. children in such households end up with developmental challenges and are more likely to develop adult diseases such as type 2 diabetes in childhood. very few studies investigate the understanding and perception of individuals and communities towards the components of nutrition transition such as increase in energy intakeor increase in adiposity. such studies are important because it is sometimes perceived that consumption of western diets and being overweight or obese are a sign of improved social economic status. this, therefore, may hinder government and other stakeholders’ efforts towards slowing down the effects of nutrition transition. there are opportunities to slow down the effects of nutrition transition through education, policy and research. food and nutrition topics that emphasize on consumption of traditional african diets and discourage the consumption of mbogori & mucherah, nutrition transition in africa 9 global journal of transformative education (2019) 1 western diets could be introduced into the schools’ curriculum. at policy level, national programs aimed at reducing hunger and malnutrition could focus more on ensuring intake of nutritious foods that are culturally appropriate and locally grown where possible. references abrahams, z., mchiza, z., & steyn, n. p. 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(2016). risk factors for childhood obesity in the first 1,000 days: a systematic review. american journal of preventive medicine, 50(6), 761-779. doi: 10.1016/j. amepre.2015.11.012 1 teresia mbogori (tnmbogori@bsu.edu) is an assistant professor in the department of nutrition and health sciences at ball state university, muncie, indiana, usa. 2 winnie mucherah (wmucherah@bsu.edu) is a professor in the department of educational psychology at ball state university, muncie, indiana, usa. authors mucherah & mbogori. global journal of transformative education (2019) 1, 11-17. doi 10.14434/gjte.v1i1.26140 open access published by the global insitutute of transformative education (http://www.gite.education) © mucherah & mbogori. 2019. open access this journal is distributed under the terms of the creative commons attribution noncommercial nonderivative 4.0 international license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction without revision in any non-commercial medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the creative commons license, examining child development from an african cultural context winnie mucherah1 and teresia mbogori2 abstract human development is multifaceted and characterized by physical, cognitive, social and emotional aspects. this development is strongly shaped by one’s socio-cultural context. it is impossible to separate one’s culture when explaining their development fully. the purpose of this paper is to critically examine key issues in child development through the lens of an african context. these key issues include language development, child birth practices, self-esteem, self-concept and identity development. language is a powerful tool of communication that consists of words used by a community. it enables us to pass down information from one generation to the next and creates a rich cultural heritage. for this reason, this paper examines the languages that are used in african schools and how they impact the development of an african child. another important issue that needs to be examined within the african context is the birth process. even though childbirth is considered a natural event, it takes place in different contexts and parents make important choices about conditions surrounding birth. the people who help a mother during birth vary across cultures and these childbirth settings and attendants impact the mother’s experience, particularly with regards to how she will interact with her child after birth, which consequently influences child development. finally, self-esteem, self-concept and identity development are strongly embedded in one’s cultural context. a healthy self-esteem and positive self-concept impacts a strong identity development. to gain a better understanding of these key concepts within the african cultural context, the framework of vygotsky’s social-cultural theory will be utilized. keywords: child development, african culture, self-esteem, self-concept, identity full listing of authors and contacts can be found at the end of this article. introduction the development of a child is multifaceted and characterized by several dimensions including the physical, cognitive, social and emotional aspects. this development is strongly shaped by one’s socio-cultural context. it is impossible to separate one’s culture and context in fully explaining their development. for example, constructs like motivation for academic achievement, self-concept, self-esteem, and identity development can only be adequately understood within one’s social-cultural contexts and values (mahn & john-steiner, 2013). what motivates a student in kenya to achieve academically may be totally different from what motivates a student in the united states to achieve (mucherah, 2008; mucherah & yoder, 2008). unfortunately, most frames of reference in explaining “optimal” development seem to be based on the western and european standards (schwartz et al, 2013). almost all examples given in textbooks are western and or european based, hardly any from an african perspective, unless it’s explaining “inadequate” development. in addition, research given in support of discussions used to explain development in africa or other developing countries tend to be conducted by westerners, with few african first authors. furthermore, majority of african scholars tend to interpret their research findings within the western and or european framework. clearly, there is a need to increase research productivity from africa and by african scholars. it is paramount that the african scholars interpret their research findings through the african lens. the world is becoming a global village and africa has to participate in this endeavor by mucherah & mbogori, african culture and child development 12 promote the african culture? when teaching the alphabet, what examples are given to support each letter of the alphabet? for example, a is for… the colonial education used western and/or european based examples such as a for apple. most children, particularly those in the rural areas have never seen an apple! unfortunately, this is still being used in early childhood education in kenya despite gaining independence in the early 60s. what languages are used for instruction in schools? an examination of the school systems in most african countries, particularly in kenya, reveal foreign languages are the main languages of instruction. how many african languages are encouraged or simultaneously used with the foreign languages such as english or french? in some countries, children are punished for using their native language at school, and this can have a negative effect on children if they become ashamed of their native language (mucherah, 2008). furthermore, punishing children for using their native language sends the message that their language is not important. this is unfortunate because children should be encouraged to maintain their native language while learning a second language as research shows children can pick up many languages simultaneously (thomas & johnson, 2008). furthermore, compared to adolescents and adults, children have the ability to pronounce words with a native-like accent in a second language if it is introduced early (neville, 2006). therefore, instead of punishing children for speaking their heritage language at school, teachers should be trained so that they can effectively use both/all languages for instruction. there is a need for more resources to be invested in training teachers to be culturally responsive in their instructional practices, and also to abolish practices such as humiliating or beating students who speak their native language in school. this is a problem because in some cases, parents tend to be happy when these children can not speak their native language. according to ngugi wa thiong’o (1986) these parents may not realize it but they have been programed by the colonial mentality. africans have to decolonize their mind in order to embrace their native languages (thiong’o, 1986). ngugi goes on to say that historically, english came to be seen automatically as the language of intelligence and african languages as peripheral. this was a conscious program enacted by all colonial powers. however, the colonial period is long gone and it is time for african education systems to re-examine their educational mission and practices. african have access to many languages and this is a signifcant resource because actively participating in empirical-based research and share with the world the unique aspects its culture contribute to understanding children’s development. clearly, there is a need for transformation in the education system on the continent of africa. the ideal place to start cultivating this transformation is through schools, starting from early childhood education. this paper will address five key aspects of child development that needs to be critically examined within the african context. they include language development, child birth approaches, self-esteem, self-concepts, and identity development. in addition, these conecpts will be examined within the framework of vygotsky’s socio-cultural theory. social cultural theory the sociocultural theory, developed by lev vygotsky, posits that social interaction and culture plays an important role in children’s construction of knowledge. according to this theory, culture and social interactions are indispensable to children’s interpretations and understanding of cultural expectations (bodrova & leong, 2007; vygotsky, 1962). in vygotsky’s view, knowledge is distributed among people and the environments in which they live. these environments are embedded in the cultural contexts of family, school, media, legal and religious institutions, and community organizations. according to vygotsky, children’s social interaction with more skilled adults and peers is inseparable from their knowledge development. through this interaction, they learn to use the tools that will help them adapt and be successful in their culture. for example, if you regularly interact with children in their native language, you not only advance their language skills but also communicate to them that their native language is an important aspect of their culture. therefore, this theoretical approach suggests that the knowledge, perceptions, attitudes and beliefs about language, childbirth practices, beauty, self-concept and identity development among african children is advanced through interaction with others within the sociocultural contexts. early childhood and language development there is a need to engage teachers, scholars and policy makers in discussions on the cultural contexts influencing children’s development. for example, an intentional examination of the early childhood curriculum is warranted. how are children introduced to formal education? what aspects in the curriculum global journal of transformative education (2019) 1 mucherah & mbogori, african culture and child development 13 children who are fluent in two or more languages perform better than their single-language counterparts on tests of control of attention, concept formation, analytical reasoning , inhibition, cognitive flexibility, cognitive complexity, and cognitive monitoring (bialystok, 2001, 2007, 2011; bialystok & craik, 2010). ironically, in most cases children who speak more than one native language in africa feel inferior to those who speak only one foreign language such as english or french. it would be in the interest of the children and the african culture in general, to promote and combine both the native and foreign languages for instruction at school. there is some hope in kenya because the current curriculum is emphasizing the use of kiswahili, which is the national language. in addition, the ministry of education in kenya has reintroduced african languages which has promoted a publishing house like east african educational publishers to issue numerous books on how to learn different mother tongues in kenya such as dholuo, ekegusii and kiluhya (ministry of education, 2015). despite this glimpse of hope, most kenyans prefer their children to be fluent in english, even if it is at the expense of the national and heritage language (mucherah, 2008). kenji hakuta (2001, 2005) support the combined heritage and foreign language approach because children have difficulty learning a subject when it is taught in a language they do not understand. furthermore, when both languages are integrated in the classroom, children learn the foreign language more readily and participate more actively. of great significance, children recognize the value of their heritage language and embrace it with pride. childbirth within the african context childbirth commences the process of child development. for centuries, the process of childbirth occurred in the homes. in the kenyan culture, particularly the luhya culture, there are women who help a mother during childbirth, they are referred to as birth attendants. these women are experts in customary midwifery and are known and respected in the community. this practice minimizes the stress of a pregnant woman since the midwife is usually familiar with the women whom she assists in the childbirth. less stress during child birth promotes relaxation in the mother and enhances the childbirth experience. this positive experience enhances the parent-infant interaction after birth, which increases positive social and emotional development of both mother and infant (kennell, 2006). however, this trend is gradually changing and children global journal of transformative education (2018) 1 are being delivered at the hospital by nurses and doctors. this is all good, if this is done for the sole purpose of hygiene, minimizing infections, and for the purpose of safety of the infant and the mother. unfortunately, home deliveries are now frowned upon while hospital births are viewed as progressive because in the western world like the united states, 99% of births take place in the hospital (martin et al, 2005). the problem is, not every family in africa can afford the hospital bill nor the means to get to the hospital in time for a safe delivery. it would therefore be helpful for the traditional mid-wives to work alongside a trained nurse and doctor so that emergences are taken care of if they happen, and the traditional mid-wifery expertise is preserved. not surprisingly, and fortunately, in most african cultures, midwives or women who help with child birth are very common and research shows for lowrisk women, midwife-led delivery is characterized by a reduction in procedures during labor and increased satisfaction with care (sutcliffe et al, 2012). this is not unique to africa because midwifery is practiced in most countries throughout the world (jesse & kilpatrick, 2013). this is important because mid-wives are usually community members who can eaily be sort for advice after the baby is born, unlike the hospital birth where the nurses and/or doctors are not easily accessable. in addition, the mid-wives speak the same language as the new mother, therefore, communication is easy and cultural expertise on how to care for the newborn is shared. this is important because this communication of what to do after the baby is born helps the mother to relax and bond with her baby. in some cases, hospital deliveries can be cold and distant especially for mothers from rural and low income families. sometimes, the language used by doctors is not understood by the mother, which can make the mother feel inept as a parent. feelings of incompetence can affect parent-infant interacrion after birth. physicians believe that during the period shortly after birth, the parents and newborn need to form an emotional attachment as a foundation for optimal development in the years to come (kennell, 2006). in some mother-infant-pairs, including preterm infants and mothers from disadvantaged circumstances, early bonding may establish a climate for improved interaction which promotes optimal child development (kennell, 2006). it would therefore be beneficial for the medical profession to tap into this expertise by working together with the midwives to reduce the stigma attached to home births and promote safe births for mucherah & mbogori, african culture and child development 14 to be problematic for african children. since the era of clark and clark’s doll study which found that african american children preferred lighter skin tone dolls, scholars have grappled with the issue of beauty and skin tone (mucherah & frazier, 2013). mucherah and frazier’s study (2013) found that majority of women of african descent preferred lighter skin tone and this was significantly correlated with their self-esteem. findings like this present a challenge to africans who are trying to instill a sense of pride in african children with darker skin tones. research indicates that variations in self-esteem have been linked with many children’s development. for example, children with high self-esteem show greater initiative. they are also prone to prosocial behavior and exhibit more happiness (baumeister & others, 2003. on the contrary, studies show that individuals with low self-esteem report more feelings of depression and have lower levels of life satisfaction (birkeland et al, 2012). possible ways to raise children’s self-esteem within the african context the findings from reviewed studies affirm the importance of increasing children’s self-esteem within the african cultural context (baumeister, 2013; campbell, 2012; harter, 2012; mucherah & frazier, 2013; rochat, 2013). this process starts with the educators, guardians and any adult who serves as a role model, that they need to embrace and promote african attributes, values and norms with conviction. one way to raise children’s self-esteem is by providing emotional support and social approval (harter, 1999). emotional support and social approval can be powerful influences on children’s self-esteem. the support and approval can be from teachers, parents and peers through encouragement and praise when children embrace culturally relevant behaviors and activities. for example, wearing cultural dresses/outfits, natural hair/braids, eating and enjoying traditional african foods, and speaking their heritage languages. some of the current trends on the content are promising. for instance, it’s encouraging to see young women and men embrace african attributes such as natural hair/braids and dark skin tone, use of african names only, and use of native languages with pride. this is important because our efforts to understand ourselves and to develop an identity that reflects our cultural heritage is long overdue. however, there is more that can be done to promote children’s self-esteem in schools. for example, there is a need to re-examine the textbooks that are used in schools. who are low-income mothers. this will also preserve the natural and african cultural funds of knowledge. this expertise has been passed on from generation to generation and if the current hospital deliveries continue, africa will lose this valuable skill. according to the socio-cultural theory, knowledge is learned and shared through social interaction and engagement in culturally valued activities. therefore, trained medical professionals working alongside traditional mid-wives sends the message that this is a valued expertise in the african culture. self-esteem and self-concept another key concept in children’s development is self-understanding which includes self-esteem, self-concept and identity. children’s conceptions and understanding of self is their cognitive representation and is the central aspect of their personality and psychological well-being (harter, 2012; rochat, 2013). a child’s self-understanding is based, in part, on the various roles and membership categories that define who children are, and more importantly, it is deeply embedded in their social-cultural contexts (harter, 2006; 2012). the large question here is, how do african children define themselves? what attributes are central to their self-understanding? a healthy understanding of self promotes one’s self-esteem, which is associated with positive life outcomes (harter, 2012). self-esteem refers to a person’s self-worth or self-image, while selfconcept refers to a domain-specific evaluations of self (harter, 2012). having a high self-esteem and a positive self-concept are important aspects of children’s well-being (baumeister, 2013; campbell, 2012). for years, beauty has been defined based on the western and/or european standards. for example, long, straight hair and fair skin for women have been the criteria for judging women’s beauty (mucherah & frazier, 2013). rarely are african attributes embraced in the definition of beauty. in the 60’s there was a movement in the united states of america, championed by prominent african americans like james brown, to promote black beauty. this movement promoted wearing natural hair, afro, and encouraged black people to embrace darker skin tones. unfortunately, this movement faded in the 80’s and the 90’s, but emerged again in the twenty-first century. there is also hope because in the united states prominent people and celebrities in hollywood are now wearing natural hair and embracing african names. if self-esteem refers to a person’s self-worth or self-image, and if western or european standards are used to determine one’s perceptions of beauty, this is bound global journal of transformative education (2019) 1 mucherah & mbogori, african culture and child development 15 fitting in with the group and connecting with others. the collectivist emphasis is especially prevalent in african countries such as kenya. research has found that african adolescents and young adults develop their identity through identification with and imitation of others in the cultural group (bosma & kunnen, 2001). this emphasis on interdependence in african cultures includes an expectation that adolescents and young adults will accept and embrace social and family roles (berman et al, 2011). ethnic identity is an enduring aspect of the self that includes a sense of membership in an ethnic group, along with the attitudes and feelings related to that membership (phinney, 2006). identity development becomes a central feature during adolescence. most young people start to grapple with issues such as “what is my purpose in life?” (erikson, 1968). helping african youth navigate the challenges of their ethnic identity by providing opportunities for them to experience strong african values and attributes with pride, is critical. this is because research shows that a positive ethnic identity is related to positive outcomes for ethnic minority adolescents (umana taylor et al, 2012). furthermore, adolescents’ positive ethnic identity is linked to higher self-esteem, school connectedness, and a healthy social functioning (jones & galliher, 2007). it is therefore safe to state that it’s imperative to ensure that african adolescents develop a positive ethnic identity as africans. conclusion a comprehensive understanding of factors that impact the major aspects of child development requires an awareness of the relevant cultural contexts. this understanding begins with institutions of education that promote the values and practices embedded in the african cultural heritage. educators and policy makers need to start re-examining their curriculum and teacher practices. in addition, scholars need to develop research instruments that are culturally relevant and to intentionally assess the construct validity of the research instruments in order to adapt the current western and european measures to the african context. one of the challenges facing transformative education is that there are not many writers in african languages on the continent. the continent appears to be captive to european languages and hostile towards african languages. according to ngugi, africa has to make an intentional effort to change because losing a language is losing one’s soul the authors? having many books with african authors is a place to start. even better, having books that are written in african languages would greatly promote african languages and pride in the african culture. finally, having books with main characters who are african helps children to see “themselves” in these books and sends a message that african characters are important. identity development children start to grapple with identity in middle childhood. they start to have questions such as “who am i?” “what do i want to be when i grow up?” as they look for answers to these questions, they are paying close attention to their social contexts such as home, neighborhood, school, and community at large. the process of identity development helps children to navigate some of the challenging and awkward social issues as they interact with their peers. this is critical because identity is who a person is and represents a synthesis and integration of self-understanding (erikson, 1968). vygotsky would argue that a child’s identity development is significantly influenced by the social cultural contexts including the interactions with more knowledgeable members of society (vygotsky, 1962). according to erikson, identity is a self-portrait composed of many pieces including the career a person wants to pursue, country of origin and how intensely the person identifies with his or her cultural heritage, and the kind of things a person likes to do which include sports, music, hobbies and interests (erikson, 1968; moshman, 2011). africa is known for its immense wealth in music, folk songs and dances. these folk songs should not only be performed during special occasions like school and college competitions. rather, they should be woven into the daily lives of africans so that children grow-up embracing these african gems. the challenge is, how strongly do african children embrace their african identity with its attributes? the world is becoming small and africa needs to be represented in this “small” world. as vygotsky’s socio-cultural theory posits, the social contexts play significant roles in identity. for example, family, culture, and ethnicity are linked to identity development. unfortunately, most research on identity development has been based on data collected from adolescents and young adults in the united states and canada (schwartz et al, 2013). many of these individuals have grown up with a cultural identity that emphasizes the individual. however, in many countries around the world, adolescents and young adults have grown up influenced by a collectivist emphasis on global journal of transformative education (2019) 1 mucherah & mbogori, african culture and child development 16 (thiong’o, 1986). there is clearly a need in africa to adopt a three-language policy where, in the case of kenya for example, every child will be grounded in their mother tongue, kiswahili and then english. the environments in which children in africa develop should exposure them to strengths and values of the continent. for example, schools should teach the egyptian civilization, before western and greek history. egyptian civilization is the missing link in most of the african education system, yet the 3,000 years of egyptian civilization showed that they did incredible things (thiong’o, 1986). these egyptian inventors were black africans who were leaders in art, sculpture, and astronomy. they also invented writing (hieroglyphs)! as children in africa develop, they need to have this knowledge. this goes back to the african native languages, authors, writers, and books because the lack of confidence in ourselves begins with hating our native languages. the history carried by those languages is erased, there is no memory of africa inventing things when we abandon our native languages (mucherah, 2008). this is supported by vygotsky’s theory of socio-cultural development. culture and social interactions guide children’s development. child development is inseparable from cultural and social activities. the education system in africa needs to provide relevant competencies for their children, embedded within the cultural contexts, so that they emerge from these institutions and stand on the world stage with pride for their african culture and without an excuse! references baumeister, r. f. 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(1962). thought and language. cambridge, ma: mit press. 1 winnie mucherah (wmucherah@bsu.edu) is professor in the department of educational psychology at ball state university, muncie, indiana, usa. 2 teresia mbogori (tnmbogori@bsu.edu) is an assistant professor in the department of nutrition and health physiology at ball state university, muncie, indiana, usa. authors mcconnell, t. j., j. m. parker, & j. eberhardt. global journal of transformative education (2019) 1. pp 18-25. doi 10.14434/gjte.v1i1.25848 open access problem-based learning for responsive and transformative teacher professional development tom j. mcconnell,1 joyce m. parker2 and jan eberhardt3 abstract educational reform should include teacher professional development (pd) to help educators learn how to implement new programs. this article shares a research-tested model of pd that uses the analytic framework of problem-based learning (pbl) to support professional learning. evidence suggests that pbl is effective in changing content knowledge and pedagogical practice. to teach content, facilitators engage teachers in learning activities designed using common pbl structures. stories about authentic phenomena present problems associated with specific concepts. learners work in groups to analyze problems, seek additional information, and construct plausible solutions. this same approach can support professional learning communities (plcs) to help teachers examine and revise their own teaching. in this model, teachers collaborate to identify “problems of teaching.” the group uses pbl to analyze information and solutions. teachers research teaching strategies, test a proposed strategy, and analyze evidence to build new understandings of teaching. keywords: teacher pd, problem-based learning, professional learning community, action research published by the global insitutute of transformative education (http://www.gite.education) © mcconnell, eberhard, & parker. 2019 open access this article is distributed under the terms of the creative commons attribution noncommercial nonderivative 4.0 international license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction without revision in any non-commercial medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the creative commons license, full listing of authors and contacts can be found at the end of this article. as we think about the need to create models for transformative education, education leaders need to consider how teachers will be educated in whatever new programs we develop and implement. if we truly value transformative teaching strategies, we should also think about how to best provide professional development (pd) for teachers that is as transformative as we aim to create for students. this paper presents nsf-funded research about effective pd that employs problem-based learning as a pedagogical strategy. the model was developed and tested with k-12 teachers over a four-year project. professional development is an important element of any education system. any professional, including teachers, enters the workplace as a novice, so continued learning is necessary. changes in student needs, diversity, new technology, revised standards and new curriculum, and many other variables also create a need for continued learning for even the most experienced teachers. but especially as we explore ways to identify and adopt new strategies that create a more transformative education system, teacher pd needs to be an intentional and well-planned component of any reform. for the pd planner, this presents a challenge very similar to those facing the teachers we serve. teachers who participate in any professional development (pd) program are sure to be a diverse group of individuals. some enter the program with years of teaching experience while others are new teachers. participants may come together from different disciplines, grade levels, school cultures, and communities. they also have different educational backgrounds and probably very different personal experiences in their own lives. one of the key challenges in planning effective pd is ensuring that all participants benefit. but in any discussion of “transformative education,” we must also think about how to help this diverse array of teachers learn to implement educational strategies in a way that empowers them to address problems in their own particular settings. if we wish to develop a mcconnell, parker & eberhardt. pbl for transformative teacher pd 19 authentic situations. this is largely because the patients do not often present as cases that neatly fit the textbook examples. patients sometimes presented information that was not directly relevant or failed to show symptoms that would help in the diagnosis. pbl model developed for medical schools has since been adopted in other content areas (hung, jonassen, and liu 2008) in which students need to learn critical thinking skills that resemble clinical practice in a medical setting. one of these areas is education. teachers may be thought of as clinicians. like a physician, a teacher must apply the critical thinking skills of diagnosing a problem and developing an action plan to address a need. each day, teachers assess students’ actions and ideas, make judgements about what ideas students are developing or have constructed, and devise strategies for helping students achieve the objectives not yet mastered. for nearly two decades initiatives to improve the quality of teaching have pointed to the clinical practice view of teaching as a structure for teacher education and professional development. the carnegie corporation of new york helped shape teacher education through a clinical practice model (ccny, 2001), and the latest caep standards for accreditation of teacher preparation programs (council for accreditation of education preparation 2013) call for clinical practice as a part of teacher education in the united states based on studies from the preceding accreditation organization (zimpher et al 2010). in both of these initiatives, teachers need to learn to think like master teachers, just as medical students need to learn to think like doctors. those skills require both content knowledge and an understanding of pedagogical approaches that meet the needs of diverse students. the model included in this paper is described in more detail in a book to be published in 2020, problem-based learning for responsive and transformative teacher professional development (mcconnell, parker, & eberhardt, in preparation) as part of the problem-based learning for the science classroom series (mcconnell, parker, & eberhardt, 2016-2018) of books from national science teachers association press. pbl problem structure problem-based learning features a real-world problem presented in the form of a story divided into two pages. the problem in the story is authentic in that it needs to be either a real event or a fictional one that reflects real phenomena. the problem story is also ill-defined – readers are not given all the facts needed body of students that has the capacity to face new problems in a culturally relevant way as they develop critical thinking and problem-solving schools that lead to innovation and meaningful change, we should also apply the same goals to the ways we teach teachers. the design of the pd program also needs to be one that not only permits but encourages teachers’ leadership in identifying, investigating and implementing changes in curriculum, in classroom practices, and pedagogical strategies (yaron 2017). the pbl project for teachers the problem-based learning project for teachers was an nsf-funded research project that developed a comprehensive pd program for science teachers in grades k-12. participants enrolled in the program were asked to identify content standards for which they felt they needed to improve their teaching. planners designed content learning activities to be offered in the first part of a summer workshop. the content of the activities was based on teachers’ selection of content topics or strands. in the second part the summer workshop, teachers learned to apply pbl to teaching practice, and formed professional learning communities ((plcs; hord 1997) that would meet in the next school year. the plc groups then met monthly to facilitate a pbl-based inquiry into problems of teaching practice each participant had identified. this pbl inquiry process resulted in lasting and meaningful changes to the way participants presented content, assessed student learning, managed classroom behavior, or designed entire curricula. the information shared in this paper reflects the research conducted over four years of the project, as well as continued refinement of the model through continued practice and reflection by the author and other principles in the pbl project for teachers. while the reader will find mention of content learning, most of the discussion will focus on using pbl to examine pedagogy. problem-based learning problem-based learning was first developed in the field of medical education as a response to a need to improve students’ ability to diagnose illnesses in a clinical setting (barrows 1980). instructors had noticed that first-year medical students were very good at memorizing facts, but they were not very successful in translating that knowledge to the type of clinical practice they face in diagnosing the condition of real patients in global journal of transformative education (2019) 1 http://www.nsta.org/publications/press/pbl.aspx http://www.nsta.org/publications/press/pbl.aspx 20 to solve the problem and may be given information that is not needed to solve the problem. this messy nature of the problem helps learners to think about what information is relevant and identify information they need to find from other sources. this feature of the problem more closely resembles the real world than traditional textbook story problems in which students need all the given information, and nothing more. learners in a pbl lesson then use an analytical framework to facilitate a collaborative discussion that helps learners identify known and unknown information, and begin proposing hypotheses, the possible solutions they think may help answer the challenge presented in the problem. a graphical representation of this process can be seen in figure 1. learners begin by reading page 1 of the story, then generate a list of three main types of information: • what do we know? • what do we need to know? • hypotheses. a facilitator (the teacher) helps monitor the discussion and record ideas on the whiteboard or papers posted where the class can see them. when the class has exhausted their analysis of page 1, the facilitator gives the learners page 2, and the process is repeated. after analyzing page 2, the class identifies the “what do we need to know?” items they feel are most relevant as “learning issues.” they then search for more information from the internet, library, textbooks, and other resources provided by the facilitator or through investigations. at the end of the discussion, students or groups present their findings and propose a solution to the problem. students are expected to use evidence to support their proposals. the discussion of alternative solutions may lead to selection of a final solution for the problem, or students may be asked to write about the solution they feel is best. in the pbl project for teachers, this structure was used to help participants learn about the science content standards they had identified when they enrolled in the program. the pbl problems created by project planners were the basis of problems included in the first three volumes of the pbl in the science classroom series. research on teachers’ learning with these content pbl problems revealed that about 83% of teachers gained significant amounts of content knowledge during the activity, including knowledge that persisted global journal of transformative education (2019) 1 for at least 8 months (mcconnell, parker & eberhardt 2013). the data revealed that teachers with varying degrees of prior education and content knowledge were all able to gain new ideas about the science topics through the pbl lessons. our research also suggested several key elements in designing effective pbl-based professional development for content learning. in order to be most effective, teacher pd programs need to include… • teacher participation selection of content topic • a close link between content taught and standards (or curriculum) • a mix of text-based and hands-on activities to support learning • time for individual teachers to process ideas • multiple forms of assessment of teachers’ understanding, with an emphasis on open response items mcconnell, parker & eberhardt. pbl for transformative teacher pd mcconnell, parker & eberhardt. pbl for transformative teacher pd global journal of transformative education (2019) 1 21 applying the pbl structure to pedagogical learning designing pbl professional development activities for content learning is very similar to writing lesson plans for k-12 students. the structure of the lesson and the way it is facilitated are nearly the same. but if we apply the structure of pbl to professional learning about teaching practice, the structure needs to change in several ways. the following section describes the design of a “focus on practice” component of the pbl project for teachers. the structure of a pbl problem for the “focus on practice” (fop) is very different from a content problem. one key difference is that the central focus of the problem is identified by the participant, not the facilitator. each teacher developed a unique problem that was very specific to his or her personal teaching situation. the problems were also resolved over the course of at least two months during the formal presentation of the teacher’s research into the “problem of practice.” in some cases, teachers spend most of the school year examining their question and trying various solutions. the extended time frame is very different from most content pbl lessons. figure 2 provides a comparison of the two different structures for a pbl problem. another change was the source of information upon which the group builds a solution to each problem. when applied to pedagogy, teachers were encouraged to use text-based resources, but they were also asked to collect evidence from their own classroom. this evidence included samples of student work, the teachers’ reflective journal, and videotaped records of a lesson when possible. the roles of group members also shifted. each teacher had primary responsibility for collecting information (research and evidence from the classroom). an initial analysis of that data was done individually by the “owner” of the problem before the evidence was brought to the group to be shared. group members then helped analyze the evidence, but most of the responsibility for a final solution fell on the problem’s owner. the “focus on practice” (fop) was the final part of the summer workshop and focused on pedagogy. pd planners led sessions on how to use pbl as a way to structure teacher-led inquiry and reflective practice within the context of a professional learning community (hord 1997). the summer session included sample plc meetings to model the process we encouraged teachers to employ for the following school year. teachers also formed their new plcs and began developing a schedule for a meeting each month through the school year. those groups met to discuss potential teaching problems that would guide each participants’ inquiry. other workshops included practice in videotaping their own classroom and the process of analyzing videos of teaching practice. the plc groups were first created by facilitators to generate groups with similar grade bands (grades 6-8 or 3-6 for example), geographic location to help facilitate meetings, or common subject areas (earth science, physical science). the ideal group had some similarities, but we also found some value for including a more heterogeneous group. teachers sometimes negotiated different groupings, usually based on geographic location when a teacher lived closer to one group but taught closer to a different group. to help teachers focus on a problem of practice they could use as their pbl problem, teachers were asked to write a “day in the life” journal entry. this writing asks the teacher to write about a typical day in their classroom that reflects a problem they wish to resolve or improve. the problems could focus on a science concept they struggled to explain accurately, a classroom management issue, or a particular lesson that does not seem to be effective in achieving the learning goals. in a sense, the “day in the life” writing served as page 1 of that teachers’ problem. just as in a content problem, the next step was group analysis. teachers shared their “day in the life” writings mcconnell, parker & eberhardt. pbl for transformative teacher pd global journal of transformative education (2019) 1 22 with members of their plc and discussed what they knew or needed to know about the problem. groups used the same three-topic lists as in the earlier example: “what do we know?” “what do we need to know?” “hypotheses.” a “hypothesis” in this case was a possible strategy to test out in the classroom. in some cases, group members would send the problem’s owner a book or journal article that might support or explain the proposed solution. figure 3 lists some samples of the problems of practice generated by participating teachers, along with the hypotheses they developed to be tested during the academic year. this “page 1” analysis took place during the summer workshop. each member shared the ideas they generated for a problem and talked about possible solutions. teachers then planned when in the school year they would test their solutions and schedule meetings to be led by each member of the group. each teacher was expected to teach the at least one lesson in which they would test their proposed solution before the assigned meeting. some participants extended their research to span an entire unit or most of the school year. teachers selected a one-month period that would be the focus of the problems they presented to the fop group. teachers shared entries from a reflective journal written before and after the lesson, collected at least three samples of student work showing a range of achievement, and recorded a videotape of the lesson. that teacher was also expected to view the video and select a segment of about 10 minutes that represents the problem being examined. each meeting was monitored and led by a facilitator, usually one of the pd program planners. when each teacher’s assigned month to present arrived, the group would listen to a summary of the problem and a review of the lesson taught. they also viewed the videotape and samples of student work. during this discussion, the group commented only on observations they made during the video. teachers were reminded not to make inferences or judgements or to propose solutions as they watched. this is similar to helping learners in a content problem to focus on “what do we know.” their observations were recorded on the “what do we know?” list in accordance with the pbl process. this process parallels the page 2 analysis shown in figure 1. there are also elements of the research phase of the pbl structure in that teachers were “investigating” and collecting evidence from the lesson they observed. after viewing the video, the group shared questions they had about the video and student samples. the questions generated are part of the “what do we need to know?” list during the analysis process. some of the questions may be answered by the teacher presenting the video and might focus on questions about the context of the lesson such as previous lessons, plans for the next day, or the teacher’s directions for the students. when the questioning step is done, the group can begin generating a list of solutions. this may focus more on drawing conclusions about the strategy tested by the teacher presenting the problem, or it may lead to new suggested strategies. the conclusion of this presentation comes when the teacher has feedback from the group that can be useful in shaping pedagogical choices for future classes. if the meeting led to a list of topics the teacher wanted to by the teacher presenting the problem, or it may lead to new suggested strategies. the conclusion of this presentation comes when the teacher has feedback from the group that can be useful in shaping pedagogical choices for future classes. if the group created a list of topics for further research or classroom trials, the presenter would use then the next month as an opportunity for further research. in some cases, more questions arise, or the teacher may wish to test another solution, either alone or with help from the group. 23 the process is flexible enough to permit multiple iterations of the cycle of reflective practice represented in the plc’s process. this would be followed by another discussion in the next plc meeting to share what the teacher found. this presentation was usually more informal and briefer but gives a chance for the group to extend their learning beyond the initial month. teachers who participated in the plc groups to analyze their own problem of practice were invited to attend a year-end meeting to share their work and celebrate each other’s successes. before the year-end meeting was convened, participants were asked to communicate their inquiry in a formal written summary. the document included the original problem statement and hypothesis, a description of the lesson or unit in which the hypothesis was tested, and a review of the evidence shared with the teacher’s plc. the summary also included a final “solution” statement and a reflection on what the teacher learned in the process. some of the teachers chose to also write about a “next problem” they would investigate. the process led to changes not only in the way participants taught the lesson they identified, but the changes transferred into many other aspects of the teachers’ practice. many of the teachers reported sharing the process with other teachers in their buildings and adopting the model for their school’s improvement plan. teachers’ lesson plans developed during the workshops also reflected changing ideas that suggest meaningful learning. the researchers also reviewed evidence of effective pbl implementation in plc groups and developed recommendations for pd planners: • plcs function best when teachers feel a sense of belonging and ownership of the group. • plcs are most effective when teachers lead by identifying problems of importance to them. • analysis and discussion must focus on teaching practice, not the teacher. • shared leadership leads to a sense of accountability to peers – a strong motivator. practice, but the changes are more likely if the members have a sense of belonging in the group. salinas (2005) refers to this as a sense of “presence,” the feeling that the group is sharing not a physical place but a common goal. to promote the sense of presence, planners worked with each group in the summer workshop to discuss goals and guidelines for discussion. making the guidelines explicit helps members focus on teaching practice rather than talking about the teacher as the cause of a problem. for groups in which members felt like equal members, they quickly internalized the guidelines and became nearly self-facilitating. an experiment with one group suggested that teachers with experience in the plc format and with the pbl framework are capable of functioning as a group without an external facilitator. other experiments found that plcs that met in a virtual environment could be just as effective as those who met face-to-face. the virtual plc groups (mcconnell, parker, eberhardt, koehler, & lundeberg 2013) met via webcams using a videoconference application that permits screen sharing, video, audio, and conference recording. the virtual groups were created to address the challenge of convening a group when teachers cannot easily meet face-to-face because of distance or difficulties in traveling to a meeting. teachers who had a natural connection because of subjects and grades taught were located at distances that made a faceto-face meeting each month impractical. the groups, consisting mostly of teachers with prior experience in a face-to-face plc, reported the same “sense of presence” as the in-person groups. the research also suggests that giving teachers the task of selecting the focus of the plc’s inquiry is extremely important. this is a feature not of pbl, but of collaborative teacher inquiry into practice. plcs are a very popular format for in-school pd right now in the united states. but administrators have chosen their own definition of a plc to mean any group of teachers who meet for “pd.” in many cases, the focus of the group’s research and discussion is assigned by teachers who meet for “pd.” in many cases, the focus of the group’s research and discussion is assigned by a building or district administrator. a popular use of so-called “plcs” is to create groups to identify trends and problems in standardized test scores or to review a problem identified by administrators as an area of need. while groups like these are necessary in some cases, they do not give teachers a sense of autonomy or professional respect (talbert 2010). we found that groups who are mcconnell, parker & eberhardt. pbl for transformative teacher pd discussion the recommendations above are based on research on variations in the design of the plc groups and the structure of the pbl problems. this section includesdiscussion of some of the key lessons learned and the variations that may make pbl an effective design for teacher pd in a variety of contexts. one of the most important findings is that the plc groups can be very effective in influencing teacher global journal of transformative education (2019) 1 24 long-term learning and changes in practice. pbl, when used as described above, is adaptable to nearly any context. teachers from different countries can use the pbl framework as a structure for plcs to conduct their work. the culture of the plc, because it is led by its members, will naturally fit the school community in which it is formed, and can focus on the specific needs of that group of teachers. the plcs can address whatever problems are prevalent in their own community or school, whether it be related to effective education, meeting the social needs of a diverse and changing group of students, or create a school that is more responsive to the needs of the students and community it serves. but for the purposes of our current discussion, pbl also represents a tool that is well adapted for creating a transformative learning environment. if we want teachers to make the kind of deep changes in consciousness, they need to be empowered to make the changes where and how they find them to be most appropriate. democratizing schools often means allowing learners to take leadership roles and make important choices. teacher professional development should be viewed through the same lens – teachers are the learners. if we hope to democratize their professional learning, we must move away from the one-size-fits-all pd programs selected and designed by administrators. pbl serves as a process for turning over the control of much of the professional learning to the professionals and focus on change that will be sustainable while meeting the real needs of the community. in order to bring about a shift toward this more teacher-centered approach to teacher professional development, we suggest a need to train teachers, administrators and pd leaders in the pbl process and the structure of effective professional learning communities. with adequate training, those stakeholders will be more likely to plan time for the plcs to meet, and more capable of creating and supporting effective and reflective teacher plcs. it is our hope that problem-based learning for responsive and transformative teacher professional development will serve as a resource that pd planners around the world can use to help them design, facilitate and implement such teacher centered professional learning experiences. mcconnell, parker & eberhardt. pbl for transformative teacher pd assigned a task devote less effort to their tasks between meetings. more importantly, the changes in their practice are far more superficial and short-lived when the topics are assigned by others. in order to make lasting changes in practice, pd planners need to honor the professionalism of participants by structuring the groups in ways that let teachers turn their attention to issues, problems and topics they find important and relevant. this recommendation can inform the make-up of groups to ensure that members of a group share a common goal. this finding aligns well with the goal of democratizing education – and in this case, teacher education – that is so prevalent in the research about transformative education. another important finding is the role of peer-topeer accountability in motivating teachers to persist in their pd efforts. data supporting this finding came from surveys and interviews with participants after the yearlong program. one of the themes that emerged in these sources of data is that teachers felt it was important to complete the tasks they were assigned by the group because of the shared leadership within the plc group. the shared leadership was created by avoiding having a “group leader” who ran meetings. the facilitator served as a resource person and an aide in recording ideas. while the facilitator helped monitor time and redirect the group if discussion veered off topic, the leadership of the meetings was given to whichever teacher was sharing his or her own problem and evidence – the one referred to above as the problem’s “owner.” a recurring comment from teachers each year was they felt “accountable to the group” each month. this was identified as a factor that helped encourage completion of tasks even when they considered avoiding the work they were doing for the plc. most teachers said this was true in a month when they presented their work, but that they also felt a sense of purpose when helping their colleague analyze their videos and review student work. one teacher wrote that she felt she “would be letting my group down” if she didn’t bring resources to help others with their pbl problems. conclusions problem-based learning has been shown to be an effective 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(2010). transforming teacher education through clinical practice: a national strategy to prepare effective teachers. washington, d.c: national council for accreditation of teacher education. mcconnell, parker & eberhardt. pbl for transformative teacher pd 1 tom j. mcconnell (tjmcconnell@bsu.edu) is an associate professor in the dept. of biology at ball state university, muncie, indiana, usa. 2 joyce m. parker (parker@cns.msu.edu) is an assistant professor in the dept. of earth & atmospheric sciences at michigan state university, east lansing, michigan, usa. 3 jan eberhardt (eberhar3@cns.msu.edu) is an assistant director (emerita) of the division of mathematics and science education at michigan state university, east lansing, michigan, usa. authors https://www.carnegie.org/media/filer_public/ff/26/ff263cd8-5a90-4cb5-9b53-881f1a68e03a/ccny_other_2001_tneprospectus.pdf https://www.carnegie.org/media/filer_public/ff/26/ff263cd8-5a90-4cb5-9b53-881f1a68e03a/ccny_other_2001_tneprospectus.pdf http://www.edweek.org/tm/articles/2017/05/09/the-five-ws-of-quality-professional-development.html?cmp=eml-contshr-shr http://www.edweek.org/tm/articles/2017/05/09/the-five-ws-of-quality-professional-development.html?cmp=eml-contshr-shr http://caepnet.org/knowledge-center http://caepnet.org/knowledge-center http://caepnet.org/knowledge-center lozenski. global journal of transformative education (2019) 1, 26-37. doi 10.14434/gjte.v1i1.26142 open access published by the global insitutute of transformative education (http://www.gite.education) © lozenski. 2019 open access this journal is distributed under the terms of the creative commons attribution noncommercial nonderivative 4.0 international license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction without revision in any non-commercial medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the creative commons license, constructing a dual-subjectivity: understanding the intersection of ethnic studies and ypar brian david lozenski1 abstract this article explores the outcomes of using youth participatory action research (ypar) as an entry point into africana studies. the author draws from empirical research and anecdotal narratives to document a program where youth of african descent in the united states engage in ethnic studies through the lens of action research. beginning with a tracing of the development of ethnic studies in the united states, the author shows how combining ethnic studies and ypar builds a dual-subjectivity within youth where they are subjects of their own curricular exploration and simultaneously developing a subjectivity as researchers and knowledge producers. the article highlights three major implications of this dual-subjectivity for the political agency of youth of african descent living in a midsized u.s. city. keywords: dual-subjectivity, ethnic studies, ypar full listing of authors and contacts can be found at the end of this article. philosophers have long conceded, however, that every man has two educations: ‘that which is given to him, and the other that which he gives himself. of the two kinds the latter is by far the more desirable. indeed all that is worthy in man he must work out and conquer for himself. it is that which constitutes our real and best nourishment. what we are merely taught seldom nourishes the mind like that which we teach ourselves.’ – carter g. woodson, the mis-education of the negro with his explanatory assertion, carter g. woodson, who many recognize as the founder of the field of african american studies (grant, brown & brown, 2016), refuses to allow for the conflation of education and schooling. through a woodsonian framing, education is about cultural sustenance, survivance, and human liberation. it is a vehicle that pumps the historical lifeblood of a people to their collective hearts and minds. any educational endeavor, whether taking place inside of a school or not, must foreground the self-determining capacities of the people who constitute it and participate in its function. as an ideal, educational self-determination is conceptually sound, yet, it becomes infinitely more complex in application. this task of educational self-determination is even more fraught for communities who have been historically marginalized and dispossessed of their educational rights (espinoza & vossoughi, 2014; lozenski, 2017a). in exploring the construct of dignity in relation to education and schooling, espinoza and vossoughi argue that despite systems of schooling that have come into existence through the denial of educational rights to negatively racialized groups, communities faced with an attack on their humanity have found ways to assert their human dignity through manifestations of self-education. for instance, the authors explore how despite anti-literacy legislation and state-sanctioned violence (williams, 2005), enslaved africans in the united states found ways to teach themselves to write their own humanity into existence for others to know through the genre of (en)slave(d)1 narratives. 1 i use the term “(en)slave(d)” rather than “slave” to assert that african people were never slaves in an ontological sense. the shift in terminology focuses on the action of the enslavement rather than constructing the people who were acted upon as less than human. lozenski, constructing a dual-subjectivity 27 cradled—sometimes buried—within these bodies of information (narratives) are brief, luminous first-person accounts of intellectual activity in the shadow of sanction, vigorous endeavors to learn that were suppressed, and fertile brushes with the acquisition of knowledge that, on occasion, resulted in harrowing forms of punishment. these reports are the remnants of learning—evidence of its cultivation, proof of its liquidation, and enduring witness regarding what participation in educational endeavors meant to the people involved (espinoza & vossoughi, 2014, p. 287). although no longer legally denied access to formal education, the african american descendants of these enslaved african authors continue to face forms of educational dispossession. the state has traded in its anti-literacy laws for a compulsory form of education designed to adhere the descendants of enslaved africans to its settler colonial logics based in white supremacy through a eurocentric curricular standard. while “multicultural education” is a common buzzword in contemporary k-12 education systems in the u.s., a myriad of scholars (casey, 2010; royal & gibson, 2017; spring, 2016) have documented how classrooms remain centered on the subjectivity of those who have been socially constructed as “white”. often, implementations of “multicultural education” continue to place all other communities of color in relation to the white settler subject. thus, african american history often begins with enslavement, native american history begins with european contact, etc. ethnic studies as a discipline constituted by subfields (e.g. africana studies, chicanx studies) seeks to decenter the non-ethnic white subject2 from the educational imagination. by constructing educational space and curriculum around the subjectivity of historically constructed ethnic groups, youth are able to come to understandings of themselves and their communities on their own terms, and not as background actors in a human history of those who have come to be called “white”. this article explores an instance of the praxis of ethnic studies with youth of african descent in a midsized city in the midwestern united states. the article describes an approach to ethnic studies that further seeks to build on the subjectivity of youth of african descent by positioning them not only as learners, but as researchers and community documentarians (kinloch, 2010; stovall & delgado, 2009). the youth described in this article worked to grapple with their own lived experiences by historicizing themselves (lozenski, 2017b) within an intellectual tradition, and by becoming producers of knowledge using participatory action research (cammarota & fine, 2008; caraballo, lozenski, lyiscott, & morrell, 2017). the article outlines the context and curriculum of a program called the uhuru youth scholars (lozenski, 2017b), and demonstrates outcomes of the intersection of ethnic studies and youth participatory action research (ypar). i argue this intersection constructs a dual-subjectivity where youth of african descent are simultaneously subjects of their own curricular explorations and of their own research practices. i suggest this dual-subjectivity constructs an agentive identity for engaging with ethnic studies. tracing the development of ethnic studies in the united states it is hard to know where to begin when trying to define the contours of ethnic studies as an academic field in the united states. here i am exploring ethnic studies as an umbrella term for multiple sub-fields that explore the histories and cultural practices of peoples, foregrounding ethnic heritage as the emphasis of study. ethnic studies are interdisciplinary and although they are typically focused on the social sciences and humanities, they can be applied to the fine arts, and natural sciences (cuauhtin, zavala, sleeter, & au, 2019). there has been plenty of recent scholarship about the application and role of ethnic studies in k-12 schools (de los ríos, lópez, & morrell, 2015; sleeter, 2011; tintiangco-cubales et al, 2015), and we know that ethnic studies in these institutions has had to be fought for in political battles and even court cases, such as the recent trials in the state of arizona3 (zehr, 2010; palos, 2011). in its current manifestation, ethnic studies stands as a direct challenge to the historical project of global journal of transformative education (2019) 1 2 i use the phrase “non-ethnic white” to underscore the notion that “white” does not refer to a specific ethnic heritage; rather, multiple ethnic groups, typically of european origin have become “white” in the united states (painter, 2010). there are myriad instances of european ethnic groups in the us creating educational environments around their own ethnic subjectivity. for instance, there is a long history of bilingual german, polish, and finnish schools (iyengar, 2014); hebrew schools; and irish/catholic parochial schools. 3 in 2010 the state legislature of arizona passed house bill 2281, effectively banning ethnic studies courses throughout the state. the bill targeted popular chicanx/latinx studies courses being taught in tucson, az. the bill was overturned in 2018 because it was found to have been “motivated by racial animus”. 28lozenski, constructing a dual-subjectivity u.s. schooling, which has been designed to culturally castrate youth of color, and inculcate their thinking with eurocentric ideation, and rationalizations for race, gender, and class hierarchy in order to subsume the potential for social unrest. as woodson asserted, “if you can control a man’s thinking you do not have to worry about his action” (woodson, 1990, p. 60). so it is no wonder why state-mandated education does not want ethnic studies to become a prevalent feature in its schools. conceptually, ethnic studies is bigger than schooling, and school has never been the primary location for this work. ethnic studies, perhaps, suffers from its own nomenclature. the difficulty in framing the field stems from the fact that ethnic studies has always been here. all peoples have found ways to educate generations and socialize them into a worldview that centers their own historical subjectivity. as simpson (2017) describes in as we have always done, referring to nishnaabeg tribal knowledge systems, “these stories relied upon a return to self-determination and change from within rather than recognition from the outside” (p. 22). in this way, even the idea that people should be contextualized in these “ethnic” categorizations can be problematic. however, in a vulgar attempt to trace the modern manifestation of the field in the united states, i look to african americans, who were at the forefront of broad-based movements to reaffirm their subjectivity through education. the descendants of enslaved africans in the u.s. have always had a precarious relationship to state-mandated, state-administered schooling, and thus, have been forced to deconstruct and reconstruct what notions of education mean. in the aftermath of legalized slavery and its adherence to educational dispossession through white terror and de jure anti-literacy laws, african americans fought intently for access to print literacy by any means. williams (2005) documents the attempts of the formerly enslaved to build schools, reading collectives, intergenerational knowledge sharing communities, and even militarized educational spaces. the desire for print literacy, that had been denied to so many, was palpable. an early connection made along with print literacy was the importance of the content of texts. for many, religious motivations to read the bible drove desires for literacy. yet, leaders like martin delaney and david walker argued that literacy should primarily be used to know the histories of african people. in other words, print literacy was only a tool for reclaiming educational subjectivity. literacy was not education in and of itself. these ideas continued global journal of transformative education (2019) 1 to build as public schooling in the u.s. was developed. early proponents of educational self-determination in public education were people like anna julia cooper and w.e.b. dubois, who argued that black youth should not only be taught classical european history, which was the central focus of elite education in u.s. schools. still, much of the focus on the education of black youth was about print literacy, rote memorization, and vocational skills. ironically, this approach was not much different than what occurred for working class white communities as public education was still being formed to indoctrinate ethnically diverse european immigrants into a culturally homogenous “american” ideal, which included the notion of becoming “white” (painter, 2010; spring, 2016). yet, for people of color who had little to no access to whiteness, this technical approach to education was part of the process of cultural erasure, and relegation to the bottom of the social strata. it was not until the liberatory transnationalist movement led by marcus garvey (blaisdell, 2012; chapman, 2004) that educational subjectivity gained more traction within black communities. garvey’s organization, the universal negro improvement association , argued in its “declaration of rights” that the education of black people should center their history and fundamental humanity: “we demand that instructions given negro children in schools include the subject of ‘negro history’ to their benefit” (vincent, 1977, p. 261-265). absent the black nationalist fervor of garvey and the universal negro improvement association4, carter g. woodson was developing curriculum and a network for the dissemination of african american history across the country to black educators through his organization, the association for the study of negro life and history (grant, brown & brown, 2016). building his theory of “mis-education”, woodson argued that traditional education models were rendering “educated” black people useless to the liberation of their communities. in his classic text, the mis-education of the negro, woodson wrote, “from literature the african was excluded altogether. he was not supposed to have expressed any thought worth knowing. the philosophy in the african proverbs and in the rich folklore of that continent was ignored to give preference to that developed on the distant shores of the mediterranean (p. 18). 4 the universal negro improvement association (unia) came to prominence in the 1920s and was one of the largest pan-african, black nationalist organizations in history, spanning several countries in north america, south america, and the caribbean. lozenski, constructing a dual-subjectivity 29 like garvey, woodson’s hope was that black youth, largely, would become the subjects of their own educational thinking and learning. yet, this conception of education, which has come to be the core of africana studies, did not gain mainstream appeal. with the passing of the brown v. board of education supreme court decision5, a lackluster process of racial desegregation began, where black youth were slowly phased into formerly all white schools, often facing violent resistance and hostility. black teachers were fired en mass, further reducing the chances that black youth would be at the center of their own educational endeavors (bell, 2004; siddle walker, 2009). it was not until the movements on desegregated college campuses for ethnic studies departments toward the end of the civil rights movement, that these desires for subjectivity became popular again (kelley, 2016). campuses like san francisco state, berkeley, cornell6, and the university of minnesota, among numerous others, saw massive protests and occupations demanding africana studies, chicano studies, asian american studies, and indigenous studies departments. combined with postcolonial nationalist movements and calls for third world solidarity (olesen, 2004), a global movement to displace colonial rule paralleled a movement for decolonial education. on college campuses today, it is not unusual to see ethnic studies programs, concentrations, majors, departments, and even some academic centers. in the 1970s a number of community-based and independent schools (rickford, 2016) began, which focused on specific communities of color. freedom schools and political organizations like the black panthers and nation of islam modeled african-centered education (perlstein, 2011). still, as mentioned earlier, ethnic studies has not gained traction in the state-sanctioned elementary and secondary classrooms in across the us, despite perpetually growing numbers of youth of color in us schools (sleeter, 2011). a community context for ethnic studies community-based educational spaces have attempted to mitigate the resistance to ethnic studies in traditional schools. it is common to find community-based organizations that provide ethnic studies programming across communities. the context for this article comes from one such organization called the network for the development of children of african descent (ndcad) (lozenski & ford, 2014). ndcad is located three blocks from one of the city’s main thoroughfares, yet it is unassuming as it sits tucked away from heavily trafficked areas. upon entering the organization, visitors are immediately drawn to the shelves of books on the left and the couches on the right. african art adorns the walls, and most people seeing ndcad for the first time spend several minutes silently walking and looking at the art and posters filled with information about the global histories of peoples of african descent. in the main corridor, past the couches, is a meeting area with chairs seated around large tables pushed together. beyond the large main room is a hallway connected to smaller rooms. the family resource room, which is reminiscent of a combined living and dining room with a fireplace, sofas, and large china cabinet, is filled with african ceramics made by susan martin, the assistant director of ndcad. large portraits of influential elders in the local african american community sit directly over the dining table, giving the room a homey feel, as though pictures of relatives were hanging on the wall. down the hallway, around a corner, sits the sankofa reading room, with a small table, childsize chairs, and books with a rainbow of black faces on the covers. there is also the elder kwame mcdonald7 memorial library, which has several bookcases filled with the personal library of the distinguished activist, writer, and elder who left his accumulated lifetime collection to ndcad, after his passing in 2011. the collection contains volumes of rare materials from the past half-century, such as originals of local black newspapers, journals, and magazines collected during the civil rights era. ndcad itself is the manifestation of a community vision developed from a series of community conversations in the mid-1990s called “cultural beginnings.” the idea of cultural beginnings was to engage in a systematic inquiry of the assets that local people and communities of african descent could draw from to promote global journal of transformative education (2019) 1 5 the brown v. board of education of topeka kansas was a supreme court decision in 1954 making racial segregation in us schools illegal. the decision spurred a wave of policies outlawing racial segregation in all public accommodations. 6 in 1969 the willard straight hall takeover by african american students at cornell university was the impetus for the development of the first ever africana studies and research center. the protest gained notoriety as the first armed building takeover when students procured weapons after being attacked by a white fraternity. 7 elder kwame mcdonald was a local educator and journalist, influential in founding ndcad. 30 the uhuru youth scholars caraballo et al. (2017) describe youth participatory action research (ypar) in their comprehensive review as: a critical research methodology that carries specific epistemological commitments toward reframing who is “allowed” to conduct and disseminate education research with/about youth in actionable ways. its origins in critical pedagogy inform its role as a pedagogical approach based on a conception of teaching and learning through collaborative and transformative inquiry (p. 313). situated in critical theory, ypar positions youth as researchers and documentarians of their own lived contexts. caraballo et al suggest that there are four major entry points for youth into this work including, academic learning and literacy, youth development and leadership, youth organizing and civic engagement, and cultural and critical epistemologies. the uhuru youth scholars (uhuru) program emerges from the last of these entry points. uhuru was imagined, designed, and implemented by a collective of high school youth, parents, faculty from a local university, and staff from ndcad. uhuru is a year-long course where high schoolaged youth gain high school and college credit through an ethnic studies course. the hybrid course combines exploration of classical and contemporary africana studies with research methods in ypar. uhuru holds steadfast to its goals of positioning youth as researchers who use historical constructions of african thought to make sense of contemporary issues related to their lives. the constant features of uhuru are an initial scaffolding of critical educational theory connected to their schooling experiences, practice in traditional qualitative research methods, and exposure to community educators and elders (lozenski, 2017b). for instance, uhuru youth read excerpts from critical texts like pedagogy of the oppressed (freire, 1970), the mis-education of the negro (woodson, 1990), and the souls of black folk (dubois, 1986). they explore the educational lives of the youth from a macro level and ask them to interpret the purpose, curricular breadth (or lack thereof), teaching techniques, and learning outcomes of their time in school. this is often the first time these youth have had the opportunity to openly discuss the “why’s” and “how’s” of school. they make connections between disparate pedagogies. they describe specific teachers as culturally relevant, and specific types of pedagogy as lozenski, constructing a dual-subjectivity social change. this asset-based framework of collective inquiry was already a departure from the deficit-based approaches that have become predictable in attempts to “fix” black communities, absent of any discussion of structural white supremacy. ndcad’s vision and mission statements are displayed prominently at the entrance of the organization. our vision we envision a place where the african spirit is nurtured and renewed we envision a place where african people come together to learn of and from ourselves we envision a place where we come to learn from our elders and our children we envision a place where we affirm our global family we envision a place where we take care of family business our mission we exist to strengthen the cultural connections within communities of african descent that promote, sustain, and enhance the healthy development of our children. ndcad uses several programmatic strategies to achieve this vision and mission within its community. among these strategies is the sankofa reading program, which is an 8-week reading intervention for children in grades k–8 that uses a sociocultural approach to learning connecting literacy with african identity. parent power is 4to 8-week series of workshops that recognizes that parents have the ultimate power to help their children become lifelong independent readers. parent power helps parents mobilize this power to work with their children to build literacy skills and become literacy advocates for their children when working with educators. through its think different, do different affiliate network, ndcad facilitates professional development for educators, helping teachers, youth workers, administrators, and others gain a deeper understanding of how culture is implicit in how children learn. the uhuru youth scholars program is the fourth programmatic strategy developed by ndcad. global journal of transformative education (2019) 1 31 depth of thought, and acts as a visual for presentations of the research design process. at this point the work of uhuru becomes largely unique from cohort to cohort as their research questions dictate their modes of inquiry, methods of data generation, and action-oriented activities. in the remainder of this article i highlight three important implications for pedagogy in ethnic studies work when mediated by ypar. a critical research methodology i have studied uhuru for several years as a participant ethnographer (madison, 2005), facilitator, and co-researcher with the youth in the program. each of these positions impacts my understandings of the pedagogical and methodological implications in nuanced ways, as does my social location and racial construction as an african american, cisgender, man. yet, as i explored in previous writing specifically focusing on methodology (lozenski, 2016), it is impossible for me to disaggregate these positionalities into distinct identities. i have described my role as being engaged in an “irreversible methodology”, which i liken to an irreversible chemical reaction, such as baking a cake. when baking a cake, the constituent parts (e.g. flour, eggs, sugar, milk) cannot be retrieved once the chemical reaction takes place. in similar ways, being an ethnographer, an educator, and a co-researcher cannot be easily disjoined. i explored how my research was impacted by my teaching, which was impacted by my collaborative relationship with the youth in uhuru. methodologically, i situate my work amidst previous critical ethnographers engaged with youth in par (morrell, 2004; kinloch,2010). drawing from this critical research tradition, i see my role as both critical pedagogue and critical researcher as an attempt to enact what kincheloe, mclaren, and steinberg (2011) have referred to as “bricolage”. kincheloe (2008) writes, “appreciating research as a power-driven act, the critical researcher-as-bricoleur abandons the quest for some naïve concept of realism, focusing instead on the clarification of his or her position in the web of reality and the social locations of other researchers and how they shape the production and interpretation of knowledge” (p. 131). bricolage refers to the hyper-awareness of social location amidst a field of power such that researchers are forced to imagine new ways of making interdisciplinary meaning about their social world. my theorization of my own “irreversible methodology” is an attempt to describe the complexity of educating and being educated within a context of inquiry. more lozenski, constructing a dual-subjectivity “banking” (freire, 1970). this allows the educators to situate the pedagogical philosophy of uhuru in “problem-posing” and collective inquiry (freire, 1970). uhuru’s work is metacognitive and transparent. the youth are informed by the political goals of black liberation and use african american scholars to construct themselves alongside black intellectual traditions, situating research as a form of literacy. another staple of the uhuru youth scholars program is to spend time connecting african knowledge systems to african language systems. pedagogically, language provides a unique avenue to make tangible connections between diasporic and continental african peoples. using the writings of raciolinguists like smith (1998) and smitherman and smitherman-donaldson (1986), the youth explore how language contains something like the dna of a people and can be helpful in tracing movement and transformation over time. typically, the short stint with african language systems is one of the more eye-opening periods for the youth researchers who have usually been told since they were of school age that their and their families’ black linguistic codes were deficient and “broken.” the youth often return with stories of how they showed the readings to their parents and grandparents who would respond with reserved interest, or their english teachers who would skeptically look at the readings and then commence with their narrow curriculum. as uhuru youth connect the pieces of their deep dive into the construction of their own belief systems, the educators help them organize their thinking by exploring how african knowledge systems are defined by interconnectedness rather than distinct disciplines of thought (lozenski & ford, 2014). through this framing black language is connected to spirituality, which is connected with aesthetics, which is connected with science and math, which is connected to photography, which is connected to history, and so on. as the youth circle a research topic, they develop what is known as an “issue tree”. the issue tree is made up of leaves (research questions about issues/ topics that interest the youth), branches (categories connecting each of the leaves by topic), limbs (underlying structures that connect multiple categories), and finally the trunk and roots (final research questions that explore the most pertinent limbs and go “below the surface”). not only is the tree a way to help excavate the underlying ideas that connect many of our interests, it is a teaching tool that helps them learn how to design researchable questions, provoke dialogue that requires global journal of transformative education (2019) 1 32 refusing notions of objectivity and neutrality that uphold the status quo of educational research. findings black youth in the united states embody particular explanatory forms of contradiction. they stand as testaments of survivance—sheer and utter determination of generations to simply resist erasure. they inhabit a liminal space between rhetoric and practice, enslavement and emancipation, and colonial subjectivity and citizenship. their construction as youth situates them uniquely within their communities as well. they experience the world differently, inhabit underground spaces, and fight to maintain some semblance of innocence, though that often dissipates early in their lives. the precarious positionality of black youth situates them powerfully as community researchers and documentarians (payne, starks, & gibson, 2009; stovall & delgado, 2009). understanding this positionality has important implications for enacting critical forms of research, developing curriculum, and rethinking teaching practices and the functions of schooling. positioning black youth as community researchers builds a deweyan (dewey, 2011, 2013; kurth-schai, 2014) sense of educative meaning, and “psychologizes the curriculum” of their lived environment. in our current historical moment of videotaped police brutality and murder, the reification of colonial curricula in schools (calderon, 2014), mass media demonization of black youth, and the continuance of mass incarceration, positioning black youth as community documentarians is a radical act. yet, this is precisely the goal of the uhuru. through their use of ypar, i saw how uhuru’s constructions as both black and youth produced important researcher dispositions such as skepticism, cultural hybridity (gonzalez, 2005), and historicity. although dewey was, at best, passive and, at worst, complicit (fallace, 2015) with regard to racism and structural white supremacy in the united states, the youth in my study inadvertently buttressed his treatment of democracy as an ongoing practice, which is constantly threatened by the status quo. kurth-schai (2014) writes, “for dewey, democracy, as a radical process of living in dynamic relationship, is always vulnerable. among democracy’s greatest threats is complacency—an unreflective passivity that renders processes of communal decision-making and civic action irrelevant and ineffective” (p. 428). this re-envisioning of democratic practice that moves away from an adherence to state-governmentality, realized only lozenski, constructing a dual-subjectivity importantly, the uhuru youth, as described below, enacted this conceptualization of research more proficiently because they were unbounded by years of disciplinary limitations. the findings explored in this article come from both empirical and anecdotal evidence. uhuru has been in existence since 2012, and i completed an empirical study of the 2012-13 academic year. i then co-facilitated the program until 2017. some of my empirical findings have become more nuanced in the subsequent years of teaching and co-researching with uhuru youth. the methods that inform these findings are both formal and informal. my ethnographic study of the 2012-13 cohort consisted of six high school seniors of african descent (ages 17-20), including youth who had recently immigrated to the us from liberia, african american youth, and youth who identified as having mixed ethnic and racial heritage. all of the youth who participated in uhuru agreed to take part in the ethnography as research participants. empirically, i conducted multiple semi-structured interviews with participants, video-recorded class sessions, took ethnographic field notes, and collected cultural documents such as data from the youths’ research (lozenski, 2014; 2016; 2017b). these data consisted of the youths’ metacognitive research journals, semi-structured interviews and focus groups they conducted with community members, iterative concept maps of their findings, and video recordings of the youth disseminating their research in multiple forums. analytically, i engaged in mediated discourse analysis (lozenski, 2014) of the uhuru program, including iterative qualitative coding (strauss & corbin, 1998). informally, i have engaged in discussions with individuals and groups about their experience, analyzed video resulting from their community-based research, video-recorded disseminations of their research at local and national academic conferences, video-recorded artistic performances based on their research, and collected cultural documents from their work together (lozenski, 2016). the findings here come from years of contemplating this work from multiple perspectives and positions. the entirety of the uhuru program, including its implementation, operation, and the research described in this analysis are embedded in critical theory, which is inherently attuned to the flows of power. uhuru was constructed out of a space of resistance to the dominant educational power structures. this analysis assumes these asymmetrical power dynamics are always in place and seeks to serve as a disruptive force, global journal of transformative education (2019) 1 lozenski, constructing a dual-subjectivity 33 through participation in electoral politics and voting, prioritizes the agency of community-based processes of self-governance and active citizenship. in this framing, citizenship is less about membership to a nation-state and more about local efforts to draw from community cultural wealth (yosso, 2005) to impact the lived realities of families and close-knit communities. drawing on this notion of “democracy as a radical process of living”, black youth are situated as researchers in three important ways: 1. the precarious nature of citizenship for black youth provides a healthy skepticism of ubiquitous claims of the united states being an egalitarian, democratic society. the distance between rhetoric and reality can push black youth toward a deweyan construction of radical lived democracy. 2. due to the constant threat of state-enacted and state-sanctioned violence against black youth, often through schooling, they are more apt to resist the complacency that dewey suggests is a constant threat to lived democratic practice. thus, these youth should be positioned as holders of particularly insightful capacities (e.g. oppositional consciousness) (sandoval, 2000) for action-oriented research. 3. critical participatory action research with youth provides the conditions for radical democracy to be practiced and allows curriculum to be “psychologized”, or have intrinsic meaning within the lived experiences of youth. circumstance. as vaught (2017) writes, “children have no vested rights. they do not own property. they are not enfranchised. attached to white propertied guardians, youth are private citizens-in-the-making or citizens-in-waiting. if they are not, they are a threat… they are foremost a threat to the exclusivity and authority of… the state” (p. 113). faced with this limited notion of democratic practice, all youth, and particularly black youth must conceive of democracy in alternative ways. they must either completely depend on the adults in their life to be their vicarious democratic conduits, or they need to find ways to assemble this practice using the means available to them. in this way, similar to the methodological bricolage (kincheloe, mclaren, steinberg, 2011) described above, these youth become bricoleurs of democracy, thus enacting this deweyan approach. across each of the uhuru cohorts, they have found creative and critical ways of engaging in an active democratic process to influence the political contexts that impact their lives. this is due to a combination of the developing political agency that attracts youth to a program like uhuru, and the pedagogy mediated by ypar and its active approach to influencing the social worlds of the youth. from this perspective, the political realm need not be reduced to electoral politics. elected officials are not the only policymakers in the lives of these youth. often, uhuru youth are impacted by more intimate policies happening at the school level, or by contact with local law enforcement. for instance, uhuru youth in the 2015-16 cohort engaged in research exploring the role of “school resource officers” (sros) in their high school. sros are police officers designated to public schools based on a contract between the police department and the school district (boarini, 2017). the youth surveyed their peers about contact with sros, engaged in a discourse analysis of district policy regarding the presence and role of sros, presented their findings at school board meetings, and engaged in protest around the presence of sros, and the disproportionate contact they have with students of color in the district. uhuru’s interest in this issue came after one of their classmates was assaulted by an sro, which came on the heels of several similar incidents. interestingly, the youth organized themselves outside of the context of uhuru, but used many of the methodologies they adopted through the program to inform their activism. they recognized that in order to challenge the power structure of the district that they would need to employ enacting democratic praxis typically, democratic participation in the us is narrowly conceived around electoral politics. voting stands as the epitome of what it means to be a participatory democratic citizen. historically, the right to vote has been denied to most subgroups in the united states at one time, including women, people who did not own property, people of color, felons, the disabled, and youth. today in most states, people convicted of a felony still face some form of disenfranchisement, even if they have served their sentence (fortin, 2018). youth under eighteen have always been disenfranchised, limiting their capacity to practice the perceived mechanisms of democratic practice. black youth are particularly vulnerable as pseudo citizens because they experience the historical accumulation of civic discrimination, and do not have access to the levers of power that many tell them are the only legitimate way to change their global journal of transformative education (2019) 1 34 step back and began to explore media accounts of how current events were being covered using critical media studies (morrell, duenas, garcia, lopez, 2013). we investigated language, bias, media production, consumption, and ownership, asking “who benefits from this coverage and who suffers?” simultaneously, we explored methods of qualitative and mixed-methods data generation such as field observations, semi-structured interviewing, survey development, and photography. youth saw the process of research from multiple angles and perspectives, generating and deconstructing data simultaneously. they were exploring their own purposes for conducting research while contemplating why other researchers and journalists were not being transparent about their relationship to the issue. they were questioning why what they were observing was being defended as “objective” while they could see obvious bias in the study. all the while they were immersed in classical african epistemologies (martin, 2008; mcdougal, 2014), which stood in stark contrast to the ways in which they were used to thinking about social inquiry. the resulting framework of their own research illuminated how all of these elements came together to provide a powerful lens through which to begin their own inquiry. ypar as bricolage an undertheorized aspect of youth research is creativity and improvisation in the research process. like other collectives of youth researchers, the uhuru scholars were unafraid to explore alternative methods of data generation. for instance, one uhuru cohort was interested in researching perceptions of beauty among black youth. they hypothesized that black youths’ understandings of beauty were tied to anti-black marketing and exposure to demands for hyper-consumption from the beauty industry. on a larger level, they were also attempting to historicize their work within the context of european colonization and the psychological impacts of domination on black communities. after doing interviews at a local beauty salon, the team found out that a group of people got together each week to watch the popular tv show empire at the salon. the group called up members of a different cohort exploring media conditioning to join them for the gathering to interview attendees. after the show finished members of each team held an impromptu focus group with everyone in the salon, which they video recorded, to get their perspectives about how media impacted the ways in which they saw the world and also defined beauty. lozenski, constructing a dual-subjectivity multiple methods beyond the franchise. understanding the practices of these youth as democratic broadens how we conceive of democracy in action. once youth see themselves as political agents, the methodological bricolage of democratic practice opens up to them, only being limited by their imagination. the praxis of ethnic studies in understanding state-violence the 2014-15 cohort of the uhuru youth scholars consisted of twelve high school youth from across st. paul. this particular year of uhuru was rife with emotion and frustration as the non-indictments of police in the slayings of michael brown (ferguson, missouri) and eric garner (staten island, new york) seemed to pile on top of each other each week. much of our early class time was spent giving the youth space to vent, yell, question, and voice desires for what justice could look like. our role as pedagogues was to help our youth develop the practice of historicity (lozenski, 2017b), by exploring how these seemingly modern instances of injustice were cyclical manifestations of white supremacy. we examined past accounts of police injustice and asked the youth to draw parallels between the relationship between police and black communities over time. we examined the role that research could play in documenting police brutality (eisen, 2014) and how, as researchers, we could develop a skill set to more effectively mobilize the resistance that was palpable in our community. some uhuru youth scholars became part of outside organized efforts to protest and resist through participation in the minnesota contingent of #blacklivesmatter and the local national association for the advancement of colored people’s (naacp) efforts to bring awareness to disparities in the criminal justice system. we were careful to make distinctions, however, between our roles as researchers and our participation in direct action, which allowed us to explore the multifaceted aspects of historical social movements that required the intellectual renderings of historical moments combined with the willingness to place bodies on the line in the face of oppression. martin luther king’s letter from a birmingham jail (1963/1992), enabled us to engage with dualism between thought and action, exploring how they constitute each other. still, our work was not only about being immersed in the current events of our time, although they provided us with usable evidence that we had much to learn and do as scholars and activists. thus we took a global journal of transformative education (2019) 1 lozenski, constructing a dual-subjectivity 35 whether it was due to the youths’ boldness, intuition, or naiveté, they generated some of the most rich, insightful data of their project. the focus group allowed for generative discussions about data analysis, coding, and alternative methods of collective meaning making. at the same time, it allowed us to discuss more abstract ideas like research ethics and the responsibility of collecting sacred stories from our community that we may not want to share with everyone. the notion of collecting sacred stories became an idea that the uhuru scholars continued to develop and presented at a national conference over the summer. it is experiences like these that give substance to the uhuru youth scholars program. the combination of the structured and the unscripted, the jazz-like flow of a solid foundation infused with improvisation provided a rhythmic heartbeat to our work, which allowed them to live out their heritage. conclusion as educators, researchers, and activists continue to demand ethnic studies in k-12 contexts, it becomes more imperative to be vigilant about how ethnic studies are implemented. just as important as the existence of spaces for the exploration of the ethnicized subject are the curricular, instructional, and monetary structures that constitute its capacity. in this article, i used a particular context for africana studies to illustrate how the capacity of black youth to engage in this work requires our expansive methodological and spatial imaginations. the intersection of ypar and ethnic studies positions youth to be subjects of their own analysis at the curricular level, and it positions them to be subjects of their own instructional practice at the research level. this dual subjectivity has important implications with regard to how the uhuru youth were able to understand the work of africana studies. ethnic studies are larger than the container of school. they require contexts that are not about technical approaches to teaching and learning. understanding the ethnic studies student-as-bricoleur enables educators to see that youth in these contexts are working to cobble together their freedom through self-determination. through this framing, the purpose of ethnic studies becomes entirely different. as kelley (2016) describes, referring to institutions of higher education. black studies was conceived not just outside the university but in opposition to a eurocentric university culture with ties to corporate and military power. having emerged from mass revolt, insurgent black studies scholars developed institutional models based in, but largely independent of, the academy. in later decades, these institutions were—with varying degrees of eagerness—incorporated into the university proper in response to pressure to embrace multiculturalism (p. 157). if we are true to the inception of these educational spaces, as kelley describes, then their purpose cannot purely be academic, or for some credential. rather, we should understand ethnic studies spaces as preparation for, and an attempt to engage in liberatory praxis. thus, kelley argues, we cannot separate our activist and intellectual capacities. ethnic studies is activism. the two cannot be disaggregated. as explored in the examples from the uhuru youth scholars program, if we see africana studies as an active space for liberation of the ethnicized subject, then there needs to be a concomitant pedagogy. ypar holds this capacity. ypar, as a pedagogical and methodological practice, provides the necessary fluidity for both the intellectual and action-based entities needed to engage in this work. i am not arguing that ethnic studies cannot be conceived of absent ypar. i am suggesting that the merging of the two creates a dynamic environment where the reciprocation of their ideals live in tact. ethnic studies cannot simply be taught using disconnected, technical, and mainstream methods in similar ways that ypar cannot take up issues absent of critical theory. the uhuru youth scholars demonstrate that liberatory democratic praxis needs a diverse theoretical and methodological environment. kincheloe (2008) writes, “the bricolage exists out of respect for the complexity of the lived world…. the task of the bricoleur is to attack this multicultural complexity, uncovering both the visible and invisible artifacts of multiple forms of power, and documenting the nature of its influence on not only their own but on scholarship and knowledge production in general” (p. 131-132). the ethnic subject is within this bricolage. the ethnic studies student must become bricoleur to describe the complexity of this experience in order to know the ethnicized subject’s liberated pathways. global journal of transformative education (2019) 1 lozenski, constructing a dual-subjectivity 36 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(2010). tucson students aren’t deterred by ethnicstudies controversy. education week, 30(4), 1-16. 1 brian david lozenski (blozensk@macalester.edu) is an assistant professor of urban and multicultural education at macalester college, st. paul, minnesota, usa. author okebiro. global journal of transformative education (2019) 1, 38-45. doi 10.14434/gjte.v1i1.26125 open access published by the global insitutute of transformative education (http://www.gite.education) © okebiro. 2019. open access this journal is distributed under the terms of the creative commons attribution noncommercial nonderivative 4.0 international license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction without revision in any non-commercial medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the creative commons license, anthropological methods in curriculum instruction for learners in informal education for abagusii of south western kenya gilbert nyakundi okebiro abstract abagusii used methods known as anthropological for transformative education. anthropological methods refer to indigenous ways for impacting knowledge and skills to children in the society. the methods differed in content and technique, but transformative education was moral, progressive, gradual and practical. the problem learners are ignoring anthropological methods because are indigenous and suppress transformative education for instance in acquiring university education, cannot adjust in the society. the objective is to examine the best approach to integrate, anthropological methods in curriculum development in educational system. the research employed survey method and data collected through questionnaire technique. results indicates abagusii have discarded anthropological methods for transformative education. the research paper concludes anthropological methods were transformative, effective and efficient in education since content was retained for long period by the learners. it recommends curriculum developers to incorporate them in the teaching-learning process in schools. keywords: anthropological methods, curriculum development, transformative education full listing of authors and contacts can be found at the end of this article. introduction the success of any education system depends not only on the nature of its aims, but also on its content (sifuna & otiende 2009, p.151), therefore, the curriculum of the informal education among the abagusii grew out of the immediate environment, real and imaginary, through the use of anthropological methods, which lead to transformative education. in this sense, farrant (2009, p. 19) has defined informal education, as there is no attempt at structuring it and was transformative from one skill to another. much of the learning goes on is almost unconscious, as with those things the child learns from his/her family, friends, experience and environment (farrant 2009, p. 19).this is applicable in the modern educational system but the teachers and learners forget and do not apply them because the anthropological methods are transformative in nature which are not applied in curriculum instruction in modern educational systems. methods used in curriculum development instruction in gusiiland were varied and diversified in age sets or groups, which were practical and demonstrative in the curriculum. in the contemporary society, curriculum is a syllabus followed in educational system. in gusiiland, education was imparted to the young beginning from birth until the end of life (death).in the modern society there are two types of basic education such as formal and informal. the former refers to education which is systematically planned in schools, colleges and universities. the latter is hidden learning that students undergo consciously or unconsciously within a school setting, for example assimilation desirable habits like punctuality, cleanliness, fairness, courtesy and so on which are portrayed by the staff and students in educational institutions globally (farrant 2009, p. 19). this research refers to the latter where students were instructed informally using formal methods among the abagusii. the curriculum instruction in gusiiland was/ is done by dominated mountains (ebitunwa), valleys, plains, rivers, grasslands and forests which were used asvenues for instruction (bogonko 1994, p. 2). in the okebiro, antropological methods in instruction for learners in informal education. 39 which included myths-which were tales effectively, described or accounted for natural phenomenon. elderly people used to explain to the young children things they did not understand. also legends were applied as methods of instruction. legends were tales fabricated to account for real events that took place time immemorial. the abagusii children also were instructed through folk-tales. folk tales were used to teaching ethics and some of these had an exciting ending or sorrowful or frightening ending. children also learned through dance and folksongs because a style of dance and folk song signified a type of rites, ceremonies, feasts and festival were performed through accompanying of melodious music and dancing. ceremonies, feasts and festivals were important sources of teaching. proverbs were used widely in ordinary conversation. uses of proverbs (emebayeno) were seen as a sign of wit/intelligence by the user, proverbs were a condensed wisdom of the abagusii ancestors. the third anthropological method of instruction among the abagusii was traditional learning by use of deterrence or inculcating fear method. children were taught morals and good behavior as they were born into the clan as a sign of transformative education taught in the stages of child growth and development. according to sifuna et al, (2006, p. 64), verbal warnings were used and more often followed by punishment for the offenders. children who committed offences were rebuked, smacked or assigned some piece of work, which expected to be completed before being allowed to eat. serious offenses resulted into severe beating and leading to reformatory. deception was another deterrent method especially used with the young. the fourth method was involving children in productive work. (ogosoma/chisemi) learning through medium of work enabled children acquires right type of masculinity and feminist roles. children learnt by being useful, by doing and working hand-in-hand with adults-this prepared children to become capable future husbands and wives. training of the children was done according to age and sex.such that the work that a child did usually increased in amount and complexity as s/he grew up. also the physical ability of the child was taken into consideration; a child was not assigned a task beyond his/her physical fitness (sifuna et al 2006, p. 64). in the formal methods, it involved theoretical and practical inculcation of skills. learning through apprenticeship was formal and direct method. children were instructed and trained as craftsmen such as potters, blacksmiths and basket makers/weavers by teaching modern schools, children should be introduced and made aware of natural features in the neighborhood such as rivers, hills, dams, mountains, lakes and water falls (ochieng 2015, p. 25). this features are seen and are within their experiences and children should learner about their uses for transformative education in kenya. therefore, according to bogonko (1994, p. 2), some specialty was needed in making musical instruments-drums,flutes,harps,horns,and trumpets-from the animal remains, reeds and other grasses. these were some of the areas where formal instruction and training were undertaken (bogonko 1994, p. 2). studies of transfer training, however, indicated that student was much more likely to apply his learning when he recognized the similarity between the situations encountered in life and situations in which the learning took place (tyler 2000, p. 18). in this aspect, the student was more likely to perceive the similarity between the life situations when two conditions were met: (1) the life situations and the learning situations were obviously alike in many respects, and (2) the students given practice in seeking illustrations in his life outside of school for the application of the things learned in school (tyler 2000, p. 18). abagusii developed different systems of education to transmit their particular knowledge and skills to the learners, which they used as methods known as anthropological. anthropological methods refer to the indigenous ways or devices for impacting knowledge and skills to the children in the society. the methods differed in content and technique, but the african indigenous education was moral, progressive, gradual and practical. the learners were taught how to cope with environment, how to farm, hunt or fish and prepare food or build a house and how to run a home. the methods were part of the culture among the abagusii and learners were taught orally by their parents and community members. the anthropological methods for curriculum instruction among the abagusii, were classified into: formal and informal. the informal methods included. first, learning to play-children engaged in many activities and the play activities were described as initiatory, imaginative and symbolic. children also enjoyed imitating their parents or other grownups through play. a popular form of play was wrestling (e’nyameni) through the age mates and fostered physical strength. other play activities includedswinging (oborundarundi), chasing one another aimlessly, striding and dancing aimlessly. the second method was use of oral literature global journal of transformative education (2019) 1 40 them formally. formal instructions were also given in constant corrections and warning to children, in domestic work, in herding, in cultivation and tending to certain crops, in fishing and so on. according to sifuna and otiende (2009, p. 154) formal education took the form of succeeding stages of initiation from status. the most prominent of initiation practices was the form of circumcisition.circumcision (okwaroka) was normally accompanied with formal lessons (sifuna & otiende 2009, p. 154), which were done through the anthropological methods of instruction and were transformative in nature. the instructors used to test whether or not the initiate understood the lessons, by use of songs. the questions were asked in a form of riddles (chimbachero) for the initiate to interpret their meaning. such questions dealt with issues pertaining to the protection of homestead (enka y’omugusii) against enemies committing adultery and many others (sifuna & otiende 2009, p. 154). the statement of the problem the problem nowadays children are ignoring the anthropological methods of instruction because they are indigenous and cannot adjust in the society after acquiring formal in university education girls for example are not able to prepare food and depend on maids and boys cannot run a home, as they depend on services from servants. the objective of the study the objective is to examine the best approach in integrating the anthropological methods in curriculum development in educational system in kenya. hypotheses h1there is no significant relationship between the anthropological methods to students in school for transformative education in kenya. h0 there is significant relationship between the anthropological methods to students in schools for transformative education in kenya. literature review the term curriculum is derived from a latin word “curere” which implies a racecourse or track followed by racing horses. as time went by, the racecourse came to be likened to course of study followed by learners in educational institutions. this thereafter, led to emergence of the term curriculum, which its initial meaning implies curriculum is a process or set of activities that global journal of transformative education (2019) 1 has a beginning and an end. curriculum simply is the syllabus, but in much more complex terms “curriculum” is much more than the syllabus or course outline. this means the anthropological methods were infused in the informal curriculum of education among the abagusii leading transformative education. kerr (1969) defines curriculum as “all the learning which is planned or guided by the school whether it is carried out in groups or individuals inside or outside the school.” according to mbithi (2009, p. 54), curriculum refers to what is taught at any given level of the school system. it refers to all the learning experiences that a learner goes through within a specified period in order to attain certain set objectives. curriculum development is understood to include a repeating process of planning based on national policies, production of instructional material, and implementation of the programme through the allocation of resources and evaluation (peiris 1976, p. 1).in this aspect, a comprehensive meaning od curriculum development include all of the following aspects of the curriculum: (a) the content or subject matter of the instructional programme, in this case of the abagusii for example circumcision was done openly for transformative education in the society. (b)instructional materials for instance teaching/learning aids or resources such as horns,skins,and so on were used. (c) instructional methods or strategies to achieve stated objectives, in this sense abagusii used the anthropological methods for transformative education.(d) the methods of evaluating the degree to which the intended objectives have been achieved. children were highly valued in african communities, because they played a very important role in the family and the community (kabiru & njenga 2009, p. 14).according to kabiru and njenga (2009, p. 19), ancient romans began to educate children as soon as they could speak, probably they used the anthropological methods which are discussed in this paper. the tabula rasa view emerged during the 17th century from teaching of john locke. to him, children were born as “clean slates” ready to be moulded through experiences and he advised parents to spend a lot of time with their children and guide them through instructions, examples and rewards such as praise and approval. this was also done through the anthropological methods applied in classical gusiiland, but in the contemporary modern society they are no longer applicable. education grew out of the immediate environment, real and imaginary. from the physical environment, children had to learn okebiro, antropological methods in instruction for learners in informal education. 41 about the weather, type of landscapes, animals and plants. above knowledge the children had to be acquainted with the problems and possibilities of the environment by being equipped with skills of overcoming and exploiting them-by use of axe, hoe, the spear and other tools of the past in the stone age period. children were taught how to cope with the environment, how to farm, how to hunt, how to fish or prepare food or build a house and how to run or manage a home. individual was to live and serve other people in accordance with accepted manners, laws, avoidance of taboos and a rigorous code of morality. every person in the homestead and its environment, parents and old relatives were responsible for the training in economic responsibilities. learning by imitation played a big role, for young boys and old men, were building, herding and hunting, for girls and women, sweeping, carrying wood from the forest, carrying water from the river/fetching water and cooking. indigenous education inculcated a religious attitude of life because religion was concerned morality and rules of conduct such as courtesy, generosity and honesty. methodology the research employed survey method and data collected through questionnaire technique. the study used a survey research design on the primary and secondary schools in kisii county. mugenda & mugenda (2003) noted that surveys are the excellent vehicles for the measurement of characteristics of large population. the design was appropriate because it helped the researcher to obtain information that describes phenomenon by asking individual students about their perceptions, attitudes, behavior or values related to the anthropological methods of curriculum instruction among the abagusii. data collection procedure a structured questionnaire was used as the main instrument of data collection from respondents/students. a total of 400 questions were distributed in ten schools in kisii through stratified random sampling and 380 were returned to the researcher having an aggregate of 95% of the total questionnaires distributed. the data collected were analyzed, summarized and interpreted using simple percentage and chi-square method to measure inconsistency between the observed and expected frequencies and to prove the significance in the stated hypothesis. the responses from the questionnaires were measured using likert scale fiveglobal journal of transformative education (2019) 1 point scale namely: strongly agree (5 points), disagree (4 points), undecided (3 points), disagree (2 points) and strongly disagree (1 point).this is used to register and know to what extent of agreement or disagreement with a particular statement of and attitude, belief or judgments in concept of anthropological methods in curriculum instruction for transformative education. results the following summary describes the data collected from the field survey (2018) applied in the test subject classrooms. (n=380). table 1 indicates that 220 or 57.8 percent of the respondents were males and 160 or 42.2 percent were females. this shows that most of the respondents were males. table 1. gender of respondents gender frequency percentages male 220 57.8 female 160 42.2 total 380 100 table 2 indicates that 180 or 47.4 percent were between the ages of 10-13 while 200 or 52.6 percent of the respondents were between the ages of 14-17 years. this means that the majority of the respondents were over 13 years of age and in secondary schools. table 2. age of respondents age frequency percentage 10-13 180 47.4 14-17 200 52.6 18 and above table 3 shows that 150 or 39.5 percent of the respondents were in primary schools while 239 or 60.5 were in the secondary level of education. this revealed that most of the respondents were in secondary schools. table 3. student level in education system level frequency percentage primary 150 39.5 secondary 230 60.5 okebiro, antropological methods in instruction for learners in informal education. 42 table 4. the anthropological methods applied for corrections or warning scale frequency percentage strongly agree 280 73.7 agree 74 19.5 undecided 6 1.6 disagree 12 3.2 strongly disagree 8 2.1 table 4 shows that 280 or 73.7 percent of the respondents strongly agree that the anthropological methods are applied for corrections or warning students/children, while 74 or 19.5 percent of the respondents are the similar views and agree;6 or 1.6 percent were undecided;12 or 3.2 percent disagree and 9 or 2.1 strongly disagree. obviously, the majority of the respondents believed that anthropological methods in curriculum development have an impact on the student’s transformative education. table 5. learners acquire skills through apprenticeship scale frequency percentage strongly agree 280 73.7 agree 100 26.3 undecided disagree strongly disagree table 5 indicates learners attached to teacher to acquire skills through apprenticeship, thus 280 or 73.7 percent of the respondents strongly agree while 100 or 26.3 percent of the respondents agree. table 6. anthropological methods focused on socioeconomic and environmental locale scale frequency percentage strongly agree 280 73.7 agree 100 26.3 undecided disagree strongly disagree in table 6 anthropological methods were focused on socio-economic and environmental locale, 280 or 73.7 percent of the respondents strongly agree and 100 or 26.3 percent of the respondents agree. this depicts that the locale was the major area used for transformative education when applying anthropological methods in curriculum development in informal education. global journal of transformative education (2019) 1 table 7. anthropological methods applied in natural and human resources for transformation scale frequency percentage strongly agree 230 60.53 agree 144 37.89 undecided 6 1.58 disagree strongly disagree table 7 shows the anthropological methods applied in natural and human resources for transformation and this aspect 230 or 60.53 percent strongly agree,144 or 37.89 percent agree and 6 or 1.58 undecided. this indicates that the environment was the field of study where natural and human resources were available. table 8 illustrates knowledge transfer and knowledge applicable in real life, therefore 280 or 73.7 percent respondents strongly agree;74 or 19.5 percent respondents agree;6 or 1.6 respondents undecided;12 or 3.2 percent respondents agree and 8 or 2.1 percent of the respondents strongly disagree. table 8. knowledge transfer and knowledge applicable in real life scale frequency percentage strongly agree 280 73.7 agree 74 19.5 undecided 6 1.6 disagree 12 3.2 strongly disagree 8 2.1 test of the hypothesis chi-square (x2) tool was used, with an alternative hypothesis stating that there is no significant relationship between the anthropological methods to students in school for transformative education in kenya. the test suggests that the alternative hypothesis should be accepted (p < 0.001, x2 = 411,342, df=16). discussion the study has an enduring transformative change in education system, because the anthropological methods were used in every child and existed for the purpose of strengthening the community and should be used in the modern school for transformative education. the formal instructions were given in the constant corrections and warning the children, in some aspects of domestic work such as herding animals and tending okebiro, antropological methods in instruction for learners in informal education. 43 certain crops, which a transformative agriculture projects done in the formal education. the study challenged the status quo of the traditional ways of teaching and learning where anthropological methods are not applicable. the economic role of the children featured prominently in their training and parents saw their new born babies in economic terms. all this descriptions of early african life make this a close link between education and economics, because within the homesteads and its environments, the parents and older relatives were responsible for the training in economic responsibilities (kabiru & njenga 2009, p. 14). the paper elevates the youth and adult voice and democratic practices in schools and in the society, as sifuna and otiende (2009, p. 151) supports the idea that “a child was expected to learn largely by seeing (observation) and imitating”. in this sense a child was given a formal teaching usually after had made a mistake and when the outcome of the work was found unsatisfactory. the paper serves to create a more equitable and sustainable future because, technical skills were learned on the apprenticeship principle. the learners were attached to the teachers in order to acquire skills. even the teacher-student ratios were small and in some cases it was one teacher to one learner. this should be applicable in the modern schools for transformative education in kenya. the paper focuses on the natural and human resources that are available in the locale or area as the resource such as mountains (ebitunwa), valleys, plains, rivers, grasslands and forests which were used as venues for instruction for the student engagement, which are not applicable nowadays because students are confined in classrooms and go out on breakfast breaks and lunch breaks the paper elicits knowledge transfer and knowledge applicability in real-life contexts since traditional education (informal education) used well-tried anthropological methods for teaching such as games, riddles, legends and acting all related to culture and traditions of the abagusii ethnic group. also sifuna and otiende (2009, p. 151), argue that the informal methods of instruction included involving children in productive work. the learning trough medium of work enabled children to acquire the right type of their masculine and feminine roles in the real-life. the paper encourage student-driven, collaborative project-based learning as the anthropological methods global journal of transformative education (2019) 1 had its structure of responsibility for who taught what was well defined, and the need for different teachers as the children matured were recognized. the children were taught how to cope the environment, how to farm, how to hunt and so on, which was part of focusing on social, environmental and economic problems in the locale or area. methods were used in communalism, collective activity, cooperation and social responsibility were valued and emphasized in traditional education among the abagusii. in this sense, the individuals were to live and serve other people in accordance with the accepted manners, customs, laws, avoidance of taboos and a rigorous code of morality. the paper nurture youth and parent/adult with partnership strategies for effective service learning as the family was recognized as the cornerstone of traditional life and a lot of learning took place at home under the guidance of parents and the extended family members. the paper promotes authentic indigenous knowledge systems and indigenous ways of knowing and doing as the anthropological methods were remarkably comprehensive and holistic, because its main aim was to integrate the child fully into the life of the community. results indicate abagusii have discarded the use of some of anthropological methods in instructing children in the family systems. the commonwealth secretariat of 1993 gives the meaning of the curriculum as a combination of the following perspectives and dimensions. the first perspective is official curriculum: this is a planned curriculum laid out in official documents such as syllabuses, catalogues, and prospectus and so on. official curriculum consists of numerous courses or subject and course or subject combinations. the second perspective is actual or real curriculum. this is the received curriculum or reality of the student experiences for example to say what is actually taught in the educational institutions. the actual curriculum can also be viewed in terms of what individual student study as shown in the transcripts or certificates. the third perspective is hidden curriculum. it is a powerful perspective of the curriculum in institutions of learning. it respects the unplanned experiences and un intended outcomes in the area which students go through and develop as a result of the process of specialization in the institution for example music, athletics, football, drama and so on. the fourth perspective is ideal curriculum. this is a okebiro, antropological methods in instruction for learners in informal education. 44 curriculum that a society aspires to have for it to realize its cherished dreams and ambitions. this forms the basis and directions and provides the guiding framework for the design of the curriculum. the ideal curriculum states the standard by the society’s contexts or what the society would like to have. there are three dimensions on focus as follows: one formal dimension in or out activities that are part of the planned experiences for example syllabus contents, laboratory experiments, field work, agricultural projects, home science projects, computer science projects and so on.two, non-formal dimension planned and guided activities which may be outside the formal syllabuses. it also refers to as co-curricular activities or sometimes in the past it used to be called extra-curricular (not worthwhile planned) examples including games, music, drama and so on. the third dimension is informal. it refers to socialization process through which students acquire certain habits as a result of interacting to the total environmental and the culture of educational institution for the manner of self-dressing, style of speech, styles of movements, self-image, cleanliness, leadership styles and so on. the process of socialization affects students attitudes, growth and behavior, some of which may not be desired. conclusion it is concluded curriculum is viewed as an explicitly and implicitly intentional set of interactions or activities designed to facilitate learning and development and impose meaning on experience. in this sense, the anthropological methods have the explicit intention usually are expressed in written documents denoting (expressing) courses of study for instance syllabuses, course outlines the anthropological included for transformative education. the implicit intentions for anthropological methods are found in hidden curriculum which refer to unplanned learning which takes place as a result of interaction between students and fellow students, between students and the staff of the school and between students and subject matter and finally between students and school facilities. the research paper concludes anthropological methods of instruction were effective and efficient as they are both informal and formal and were practical in nature and the objectives; content is retained for long period in the lifetime of the learners. the anthropological methods were effective in transmissions and preservation of culture, skills, knowledge of the family, clan among the abagusii from one generation to another. global journal of transformative education (2019) 1 the anthropological methods were adapting children into their physical and human environment where they were, in gusiiland. in this sense, the anthropological methods instilled the accepted standards, norms, beliefs and traditions governing the correct behaviors among the children and adults in the society. this created unity and cooperation in the omogusii society, the methods emphasized on collective responsibility, for instance children could be disciplined by any member not only parents particularly. through the anthropological methods, the children acquired practical skills and knowledge which would be useful to the individual child and the omogusii society. intellectual skills such as observation, problem and decision making are quite relevant in the transformative education in the world today. recommendation basing on the conclusion, the paper recommends curriculum developers in the education system, kenya institute of curriculum development (kicd) to incorporate anthropological methods in the curriculum for the teaching-learning process in schools. it recommends for transformative education to be effective and efficient, the integrated approach to curriculum development is required in primary, secondary, tertiary and university levels, therefore, the stakeholders should take action of implementation. it is recommended, in the modern schools, learners should be introduced and made aware of natural features in the neighborhood such as rivers, hills, dams, mountains, lakes and water falls, through the use of anthropological methods, because the features are seen and are within their experiences and learners should learner about their uses for transformative education in kenya. okebiro, antropological methods in instruction for learners in informal education. 45 references bogonko, s. n. (1994). a history of modern education in kenya (1875-1991). nairobi:evans brothers (kenya) ltd. farrant, j. s. (2009). principles and practice of education. malaysia: longman. kabiru, m. & njenga, a. (2009). foundations of early childhood development and education and curriculum development. nairobi: focus publishers ltd. kerr, j. f. (1969). changing the curriculum. london: university of london press. mbiti, d. m. (2009). foundations of school administration, oxford university press: nairobi. mugenda, o. m. and mugenda, a. g.(2003). research methods: quantitative and qualitative approaches. nairobi: acts press. ochieng, e. (2015). social environmental activities, nairobi: longhorn publishers. peiris, k. (1976). integrated approach to curriculum development in primary education in sri lanka. singapore: the unesco press. sifuna, d. n., chege, f. n., & oanda, i. o. (2006). themes in the study of the foundations of education. jomo kenyatta foundation: nairobi. sifuna, d. n., & otiende, j. e. (2009). an introductory history of education. nairobi: university of nairobi press. sifuna, d. n., chege, f. n., & oanda, i. o. (2006). themes in the study of the foundations of education. nairobi: the jomo kenyatta foundation. tyler, r. w. (2000). basic principles of curriculum development and instruction. chicago: the university of chicago press. gilbert nyakundi okebiro (okebirog@gmail.com) is an assistant lecturer in the school of education at turkana university college, turkana, kenya. authors okebiro, antropological methods in instruction for learners in informal education. page 46 of 9 global journal of transformative education (2019) 1 appendix 1 questionnaire anthropological methods in curriculum instruction for learners in informal education for abagusii of south western kenya kindly fill in the appropriate or correct answer to questions using: strongly agree(sa)=5points; agree(a)=4 points; undecided(u) 3 points; agree(a)=2 points; strongly disagree(1 point) 1. gender: male female 2. age of the respondents 10-13 14-17 18 and above 3. level of education/status primary secondary 4 .the relevance of anthropological methods in curriculum development for transformative education factor strongly agree undecided disagree strongly agree disagree the anthropological methods applied for corrections warning students/ children learners attached to teacher to acquire skills through apprenticeship anthropological methods applied in natural and human resources for transformative knowledge transfer and knowledge applicable in real life anthropological methods focused on socio-economic and environmental locale thank for your cooperation for filling the questionnare. god bless you okebiro, antropological methods in instruction for learners in informal education. mccaster, a. l. global journal of transformative education (2019) 1, 46-51. doi 10.14434/gjte.v1i1.25920 open access published by the global insitutute of transformative education (http://www.gite.education) © mccaster, 2019 open access this journal is distributed under the terms of the creative commons attribution noncommercial nonderivative 4.0 international license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction without revision in any non-commercial medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the creative commons license, adult education and dialogue: utilizing project-based education as a method to provide transformative change in both students and teachers antonette l. mccaster abstract knowledge is built upon personal experiences and the information to which we have access. my area of research is in communicating the language of business (accounting) to non-business learners. i have found that both communication and motivation are primary factors in transformational learning. to this end, research has shown that project-based education improves student skills, and transforms the traditional classroom for both teachers and students. combining project-based education with adult dialogue education provides a transformative method of education that encourages student-driven, collaborative project-based learning as well as opportunities for teachers to reflect upon their epistemology and pedagogy. keywords: instructional technology, adult dialogue education, project-based education, stem, transformative instructional approaches full listing of authors and contacts can be found at the end of this article. introduction in order to have an understanding of my theory of learning, i must discuss my epistemology and beliefs about intelligence. i believe that knowledge is relative and it should be evaluated based upon personal experiences and the available information. i define intelligence as the ability to relate new knowledge to existing knowledge in a variety of situations. i believe that intelligence is not fixed and knowledge is not discrete or constant. consequently, i subscribe to the incremental theory that intelligence is changeable and can be improved. my philosophy of education is grounded in my personal beliefs about the nature of people and learning. i recognize that operant conditioning is beneficial for learning basic facts and principles. this is an area in which the use of various methods of instructional technology utilizing authentic activities can accomplish much. liberal education provides practice for our mind to explore connections, which satisfies the social, esteem, and self-actualization needs. learning is a personal experience and knowledge is based upon personal experiences and the information to which we have access. to this end, project-based education allows for authentic learning activities. a liberal education provides new areas from which we can draw valuable insight for problem solving. humanistic education places value in the whole person and underscores how relationships are critical to our development. radical theory wants us to question the existing constructs, dismantle the status quo, and reshape our perceptions of reality. the radical ideas about communication (adult dialogue education) is an area that i continuously analyze in my current practice and have utilized in face-to-face courses. this study looks at prior research on project-based education and its intersection with technology for providing a transformative change in both teachers and students. mccaster, adult education and dialogue 47 what is learning? according to kirschner et al. (2006), learning is defined as “a change in long-term memory” (p. 75). this is in contrast to hmelo-silver et al. (2007), where they indicate the goal of education is to learn content and soft skills; such as epistemic practices, self-directed learning, and collaboration. a broader definition can be gleaned from gagne’s events of instruction; where learning is the process of “getting the student from one state of mind to another” (p.178). the importance of collaboration is supported in merrill (2009) during the application principal. specifically, when learners “actively engage in interaction with one another rather than passively observing the demonstration” (p. 47). a broader definition is needed than what was proposed by kirschner et al. (2006). according to gagne’s events of instruction; learning is the process of “getting the student from one state of mind to another” (p.178). further, the importance of collaboration is supported in merrill (2009) during the application principal. specifically, when learners “actively engage in interaction with one another rather than passively observing the demonstration” (p. 47). this definition supported the hmelo-silver proposed definition for the purpose of education. i define a good learning experience as one in which any of the following activities occurred: • i obtained valuable information that helped me to understand a situation or experience i have encountered in the past either personally, academically, or professionally. • the experience provided tools to better resolve existing issues or presented alternatives of which i was not aware. • the experience created a springboard for learning growth. i define a bad learning experience as one in which: • i received no benefit (including knowledge acquisition of skill development) during the process or afterwards. • that i didn’t understand the purpose of the experience. • the experience did not meet the objectives stated for the experience. included: centrality, diving question, constructive investigations, autonomy, and realism. further, brundiers and wiek (2013) reviewed several articles to posit key features of problem and project based learning. the intersection of these two strategies included six elements; engaging students in real-world tasks, student-centered/small group work, simulate professional situations, use of multiple sources of information, teachers as facilitators and a resource, formative and performance-based peer evaluations. taylor (2017) defined project-based learning in his abstract as “a teaching technique in which authentic, real-world projects are used as the primary vehicle to drive the student’s learning experience” (p.1). nilsson (2012) outlined a method for implementing project-based education called the “working seminar.” it is based on the assumption that groups with a common base of knowledge increase both the group results and the individual learning. the buck institute for education (2015) similarly provided seven design factors that should be utilized for a successful implementation of project based education (see fig.1). teacher transformation even now, the field of accounting and finance is dominated by white males over the age of fifty. as such, aspects of a liberal education such as collaboration, interpersonal skills, and the skill of discernment are integral. i have used the socratic method when students ask questions in the past. especially, when it involves an authentic issue and the group is more than capable of formulating a response and sharing it. a transformation i have made through the use liberal education and adult dialogue included the incorporation of the liberal education model by having several students who have briefly discussed an issue with peers (think, pair, and share) to pull pieces of their understanding and write them with bullets upon the board. then i will call on several other students to sum up what they heard their fellow students say, and add to what’s been bulleted or question further. in the end, i will call for a “vote” using clicker devices to poll all students based on the shared discussion. this represents liberal education in two ways. first, it allows the students to hear stories firsthand and draw their own conclusions about possible scenarios and their implications. second, it lets the learner know that not all knowledge is central but but dispersed throughout a group and can be understood differently. what is project-based learning? thomas (2000) conducted a review of the research on project based learning and outlined five components that he felt were necessary in a project for it to fit under the umbrella of project based learning. these elements global journal of transformative education (2018) 1 mccaster, adult education and dialogue 48 kirschner et al. (2006) take the position that epistemology or how an expert does something is not equivalent to pedagogy or how to learn the field. to support this, they offer degroot’s chess results where it is concluded that it is the extensive experience of professionals stored in long-term memory that enables them to be good at what they do. they conclude by indicating that the shortcoming is due to the differences between behaviors and methods knowns to experts as compared to novices with no foundation to draw from. in examining my assumptions on adult learning, i would like to highlight four that have been discussed extensively in the literature. the first is that adult learners have experiences from which to draw on to support their learning. the second is that adult learners need to understand how the information they acquire relates to what they already know. this allows them to see relevance and improves motivation. third, adult learners have positive and negative self-efficacy in various domains that affect how they approach learning. finally, a “readiness” to learn arises from an experience in which the individual realizes that they don’t have the skill, knowledge, or information to address it. theories that address these assumptions include malcolm knowles theory of androgyny (2012), which posits that there are particular characteristics of adult global journal of transformative education (2018) 1 learners that differ from the way children learn. these assumptions included self-concept, experience, readiness/orientation to learning, motivation to learn and relevance. some critics point out that the perspective of andragogy supports “white middle-class values” and does not include the “relationship between self and society” (sandlin, 2005, p. 27). in contrast, hmelo-silver et al. (2007) indicate that the shift in importance stems from sweeping reforms in education based upon the idea that the purpose of education is to prepare students for the workplace. as such, “content and practice” should be central learning goals. furthermore, the relationship to long-term memory storage is emphasized because there is a direct correlation of the “influence of the learning context on the accessibility of the knowledge for future use” (p. 105). in forming my response to rather project based education should be supported, i considered the results of these issues. project based education should not be categorized like “discovery” and other “experiential” forms of instruction. additionally, the definition of learning used by kirschner et al. (2006) is too narrow and does not fully encompass learning as does the definition of the purpose of education put forward by hmelo-silver et al. (2007). this means i discount that minimally guided instruction is ineffective for student learning, figure 1. pbl design factors (buck institute 2015). 49mccaster, adult education and dialogue due to evidence presented that demonstrates the conditions that it is effective. the decision to use project based education in a course should be based upon the broader definition of learning. kirschner et al. (2006) present compelling evidence as to why the content and timing of the guidance in inquiry based instruction must be scaffolded to be successful. that is to say, in order to reducing working memory overload, scaffolding will keep learning with the proximal development zone. without scaffolding, i would not recommend the use of inquiry-based instruction under any circumstances. student transformation blumenfeld, soloway, marx, krajcik, guzdial and palinscsar (1991) published a study from the university of michigan with the intent of exploring projects and examining difficulties that students and teachers encounter, and describing how technology supports both teachers and students for projects. in summary blumenfeld et al. (1991) posit that projects allow for the integration of both thinking and motivation for students. historically, tasks utilized a programmed instruction approach which has resulted in some students having “poor attitudes toward learning and schooling.” (p. 371). an area of weakness for many students is group work and collaboration. in essence learning to work effectively in groups. bell (2010) discusses how projects provide intrinsic motivation because students can present their best selves through the use of individual learning styles and preferences. hmleo-silver et al. (2007) states that pbl “supports the development of reasoning skills, problem-solving skills and self-directed learning skills” (p. 103). this statement implies that these are skills that can be carried over to other areas. according to vygotsky (1978), article entitled “interaction between learning and development,” learning in one general area will not carry over to another. it referenced the study of adults whereby training on discovering the length of short lines did not improve the participants’ ability to determine the length of long lines. this points to the importance of learning in context. it concluded that “special training affects overall development only whenits elements, material, and processes are similar across specific domains” (p. 83). technology taylor (2017) completed a study to answer several questions regarding the use of technology with projectglobal journal of transformative education (2018) 1 based learning. their study used two web-based surveys to obtain data from participants at georgia tech. one survey was to teachers the other for students; the survey garnered 23 responses from teachers with prior pbl experience and 52 responses from students. although the response rate is low, there were some interesting findings that i used to triangulate with information from other research. of primary interest to this study, was the findings about pbl-specific teaching practices that technology provided the greatest support and overall how integral technology was to the delivery of project-based learning. “nearly 74% of teachers and 63% of students thought that technology tools were either very important or extremely important relative to their successful delivery of project-based learning” (taylor, 2017, p. 7). the results of taylor (2017) suggest that while technology can help support all pbl teaching practices, it is most impactful in three areas: (1) helping teachers to design and plan for the successful execution of their projects, (2) providing teachers with the ability remain in close contact with students throughout the project, as well as providing students the ability to collaborate with each other regardless of location. (3) giving students the creative freedom to explore the topics underlying their projects in ways that are meaningful to them, while simultaneously ensuring they are equipped with the core knowledge needed to stay focused. the need for minimal guidance is also supported by gagne’s events of instruction (as step 5; “providing learning guidance” (p. 162). the authors stated how too much guidance is considered “condescending to the quick learner” (p. 188). the importance of scaffolding is supported in merrill (2009) “first principals of instruction,” with the application principle where the author states that learning is improved when “coaching is gradually withdrawn for each subsequent task” (p. 47). this supported the need for scaffolding in minimally guided instruction. challenges kirschner et al. (2006) refer to pbl and il as having no guidance, they cited these teaching strategies as “unguided” when discussing “research comparing guided to unguided,” the “knowing less after instruction” and the “empirical evidence about science learning from unguided instruction” sections of the article. consequently, the authors use examples of “unguided” research as a basis for their knowledge claim that pbl and il are ineffective for learners. mccaster, adult education and dialogue 50 in contrast, hmelo-silver et al (2007), demonstrate numerous examples that pbl is a guided form of instruction even if minimal; through the use of “scaffolding and guidance to facilitate student learning” (p. 99). the authors included the geier et al research to support this. this research was particularly strong due to the longevity of the study and “observed gains up to a year and a half after participation in inquiry-based instruction” (p. 104). the need for minimal guidance is also supported by gagne’s events of instruction (as step 5; “providing learning guidance” (p. 162). the authors, stated how too much guidance is considered “condescending to the quick learner” (p. 188). further, the importance of scaffolding is supported in merrill (2009), “first principals of instruction,” with the application principle where the author states that learning is improved when “coaching is gradually withdrawn for each subsequent task” (p. 47). discussion in forming my position as to rather or not inquiry based instructional strategies should be supported, i considered the results of the following issues: • how does project-based education improve learning? • how does the role and beliefs of the teacher change with project based education? • how are students’ roles changed as a result of project based education? • what role does technology play in project-based education? project based education improves intrinsic motivation by working with a variety of learning styles and student preferences. the level of autonomy provides a sense of ownership for the results. using project-based instructional strategies requires a transformation in teachers. they must rethink their role in the classroom from dictator to facilitator. the projects selected will not have a right or wrong answer. additionally, teachers must be willing to accept an element of unscripted learning. global journal of transformative education (2018) 1 project based learning requires that students change their approach to the classroom. they must go from the “baby bird” method of receiving knowledge to assuming an active role. many students will need assistance in how to actively listen to others and engage in dialogue that requires negotiation. finally, the ability to synthesis multiple ideas of sources of information into a cohesive thought pattern must be achieved. technology supports learning through the variety of sources and means of gathering information, increased volume of information, and multiple means of delivering artifacts. in conclusion, teacher and student transformations benefit from readily available resources, such as technology, to support them through challenges. . mccaster, adult education and dialogue 51 references bell, s. (2010). project-based learning for the 21st century: skills for the future. the clearing house, 83(2), 39-43, doi: 10.1080/00098650903505415 blumenfeld, p. c., soloway, e., marx, r. w., krajcik, j. s., guzdial, m., & palincsar, a. (1991). motivating project-based learning: sustaining the doing, supporting the learning. educational psychologist, 26(3-4), 369-398. brundiers, k., & wiek, a. (2013). do we teach what we preach? an international comparison of problem-and project-based learning courses in sustainability. sustainability, 5(4), 1725-1746. buck institute for education. (2015). gold standard pbl: project based teaching practices. novato, ca: buck institute for education. gagne, r.m., briggs, l.j., & wager, w.w. (1988). the events of instruction. in (3rd ed.), principles of instructional design (pp. 176-197). fort worth, tx: harcourt brace jovanovich college publishers. hmelo-silver, c. e., duncan, r. g., & chinn, c. a. (2007). scaffolding and achievement in problem-based and inquiry learning: a response to kirschner, sweller, and. educational psychologist, 42(2), 99-107. kirschner, p. a., sweller, j., & clark, r. e. (2006). why minimal guidance during instruction does not work: an analysis of the failure of constructivist, discovery, problem-based, experiential, and inquiry-based teaching. educational psychologist, 41(2), 75-86. knowles, m. s., holton iii, e. f., & swanson, r. a. (2012). the adult learner. new york: routledge. merrill, m.d. (2009). first principles of instruction. in instructional theories and design models volume iii: building a common knowledge base (pp. 41-56). new york, ny: routledge taylor and francis group. nilsson, f. (2012). working seminar a method for proactive learning in project based education. paper presented at lths 7:e pedagogiska inspirationskonferens, 2012, lund, sweden. sandlin, j. a. (2005). andragogy and its discontents: an analysis of andragogy from three critical perspectives. paace journal of lifelong learning, 14(1), 25-42. taylor, j. (2017). study on the best uses of technology in support of project-based learning. arxiv preprint arxiv:1712.06034. thomas, j. w. (2000). a review of research on projectbased learning. buck institute for education. vygotsky, l. (1978). interaction between learning and development. mind and society (pp.79-91). cambridge, ma: harvard university press. antonette l. mccaster (mccaster@indiana.edu) is a senior lecturer in the school of public and environmental affairs at indiana university, bloomington, indiana, usa. author http://www.bie.org/object/document/gold_standard_pbl_project_based_teaching_practices1 http://www.bie.org/object/document/gold_standard_pbl_project_based_teaching_practices1 opiyo, r. global journal of transformative education (2019) 1, 52-67. doi 10.14434/gjte.v1i1.25981 open access published by the global insitutute of transformative education (http://www.gite.education) © opiyo, r. 2019 open access this journal is distributed under the terms of the creative commons attribution noncommercial nonderivative 4.0 international license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction without revision in any non-commercial medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the creative commons license, inclusive practice and transformative leadership are entwined: lessons for professional development of school leaders in kenya rose atieno opiyo1 abstract inclusive education (ie) is arguably a popular discourse in education systems as, not merely a concept that addresses concerns of learners with special needs (lsns) but rather a relatively broad approach looking into how to transform learning environments to respond to diversity.at the heart of human rights movement, education for all (efa) and social equity agenda, ie has lots of educational, social and economic premiums attached to it. increasingly, what slows down the progress towards ie in kenya is documented, but still, less is known about leadership acumen of school leaders yet, the art and science of transformation of the school into an effective inclusive environment squarely lies in the province of school leaders. anchored on the social model of disability , this paper presents results based on an extensive secondary data review . it provides evidence that ie and transformative leadership are closely knit. it urges that all initiatives geared towards supporting effective implementation of ie must interrogate leadership ability of school leaders and develop them as critical ingredients in turning around schools into effective inclusive learning environments. keywords: inclusive education, school leaders, transformative leadership, professional development full listing of authors and contacts can be found at the end of this article. introduction and background international commitment to human rights has not only changed our views about individual’s “disability” but it has also reduced emphasis on deficits in any social context. according to ouane (2008), inclusive education moves beyond understanding, overcoming or tolerating disability but rather, accepting, valuing and demonstrating a broad concern on gender, ethnicity, social class conditions, health and human rights, to encompass universal involvement, access, participation and achievement. arnesen, mietola & lahelma, (2009), pinpoint that ie is not just adding on to existing structures, but perhaps a broad outlook that entailes transformation of societies, communities and institutions such as schools to become diversity-sensitive. ie represents a belief that all students belong and are valued members of their classroom and school communities (council of ministers of education in canada {cmec}, 2008); specht & young, 2010). specifically, blackhawkins, florian and rouse (2007,p. 15) look at it as a process of increasing numbers of students attending mainstream schools, who in the past would have been prevented from doing so because of identified special educational needs.in their recommendations , black and colleagues expressed that promotion of inclusion in regular schools must begin with designing buildings and facilities suitable for lsn. this stance is supported by jill black more (2006) who argues that diversity among learners, whether in linguistic, cultural or disability, is a positive force in educational work. with the above difinitions in mind, inclusion means different things to different groups in different contexts. in disability conversations, inclusive educational practice (iep) addresses the current discourses and dilemma between special education and integration. broadly, the concept suggests a practice where (a) enrolment practice do not discriminate between learners with or without disability (b) school services and facilities are equally accessible to students with or without disability (c) curriculum programs are designed in such a way that learning needs are catered for (d) assessment and opiyo, inclusive education and transformative leadership 53 certification procedures are responsive to the learning targets, goals, and outcomes (e) special services and equipment are supplied for learners to experience success in learning and, (f) school environment is friendly to both teachers and learners. generally, there is convergence of thought that ie is either, a process, an approach or a programme. as an ongoing process, ainscow et al (2006) describes ie as that which has not reached a perfect state but rather is on the move. as a program and an approach, odom (2000) looks at it as setting in which disabled and non-disabled peers benefit from common support services, an approach that entails addressing and responding to the diversity of needs of all learners through increasing participation in learning, cultures and communities, and reducing exclusion within and from education. odom (2000) also adds that as an approach, it looks at teaching strategies or approaches that address the needs of students with a variety of backgrounds, learning styles, and abilities.to the aforementioned authors, ie is such a multiplex concept , basically, all that can contribute to an overall inclusive learning environment, in which students feel equally valued. timmons and wagner (2008) looks beyond the education environments by seeing it as a foundation to an inclusive society since it provides opportunity for all students to be part of school communities to learn and grow alongside their peers. for these two authors, ie encompasses both academic and social life of a school. corbett and slee, (2000) supports inclusion as a philosophy of acceptance: it is about providing a framework within which all childrenregardless of ability, gender, language, ethnic or cultural origincan be valued equally, treated with respect and provided with equal opportunities at school…. is an unabashed announcement, a public and political declaration and celebration of difference which requires continual proactive responsiveness to foster an inclusive educational culture? (p. 134) to diversity by providing appropriate responses to the broad spectrum of learning needs, welcomes diversity reforms not only for special education but rather, reform of both the formal and non-formal education system benefiting all learners (kalambouka, farrell, dyson, & kaplan, (2007). authors holding this view advance the debate on additional support to students within the regular school system, equal access to education or making certain provisions for certain categories of children. suffice to say, it is a never-ending search to find better ways of responding to diversity, living with difference and learning from difference. this way it fits as a more positive stimulus for fostering learning, amongst children and adults (kalambouka, et al (2007). despite potential barriers to inclusion (such as teacher workload issues, a shortage of adequate supports, incomplete training for teachers and principals or legal questions) inclusive classrooms have been shown to benefit all students both socially and academically (canadian council on learning, 2009; cole, waldron, & majd, 2004; crisman, 2008; katz & mirenda, 2002). convincing evidence exists affirming that it provides positive experience for all students .for instance, timmons and wagner (2008) identifies ie as a foundation to an inclusive society as it provides opportunity for all students to be part of school communities to learn and grow alongside their peers. in lieu of the above premiums, authors have continued to express that it should be further broadened to encompass both academic and social life of a school. specifically, timmons and wagner’s study (2008) noted that children who are educated in inclusive settings are healthier, do better in school, enjoy going there more, and interact more positively with peers compared to students taught in less inclusive settings. significant of all, lsns from the study were more exposed to real environment situations with regards to diversity, and their non -disabled peers adopted to positive attitudes and actions towards them as a result of studying together in an inclusive classroom. in determining whether education systems are inclusive three concepts emerge: presence, participation and achievement of all students. “presence” is concerned with whether children are being educated and how reliably and punctually they attend. “participation” relates to the quality of their experiences whilst they are inschool. to determine this, views of the learners must be incorporated. finally, “achievement” is about the outcomes of learning across the curriculum, not merely test or examination results. definitely, this gives features and benefits of inclusive education ie is not a marginal issue on how some learners can be integrated in mainstream education, but rather an approach that looks into how to transform education systems and other learning environments in order to respond to the diversity and improving quality of education for all learners. it addresses and responds global journal of transformative education (2019) 1 opiyo, inclusive education and transformative leadership 54 it the most broad view which urges modifications in content, approaches, structures and strategies, with a common vision to cover all children of the appropriate age range remain a critical responsibility of the regular system as they seek to realization efa goals (kalambouka, et al.2007) in an effort to determine presence, participation and achievement, identification and removal of barriers is critical. this encompasses collecting, collating and evaluating information from a wide variety of sources in order to plan for improvement in policy and practice or using such evidence to stimulate creativity and problem-solving (leithwood & jantzi, 2006). understanding of these barriers enables teachers and school leaders to be alert and to consider the impact the differences can cause. this is because it recognizes and serves many different categories of children who may be excluded from the education for instance : lsn, children of immigrants, child domestic workers, poverty stricken children, children of ethnic, language minorities, street children, children in conflict zones, child soldiers, children of prisoners or imprisoned, and children affected or infected with hiv/aids (department for education and skills {dfes}, 2004) in the ensuing definitions we also appreciate that ie shifts away from integration. while the former views learners as the root cause of difficulties in the school, the latter shares in tenets highlighted in the social model of disability which continues to challenge systems to examine the barriers within the educational system and look for ways in which to promote participation and positive learning outcomes of all learner. terzi points out this in her writing: special needs are not needs that arise in a child with disabilities with regard to a system that is fixed. rather they are needs that arise between the child and the educational system as a whole when the system fails to adopt itself to the characteristics of the child. (terzi 2005, p. 448) primarily, ie aims to (a) bring out the best in the realized by exploring some factors that are always left unexplored in less inclusive setting such as transformative leadership. inclusion and education for all by welcoming every child, inclusion is an essential element of the whole education for all (efa) movement. it is framed within the context of wider international discussions around the united nations organizations’ agenda ,stimulated by the 1990 jomtien declaration. the salamanca statement on principles, policy and practice guiding education of lsns (unesco 1994) not only provides a framework for leveraging policy and practice forward, but is arguably the most significant international document that has ever appeared in ie conversations. in principle, this concept aligns with efa goals as it seeks to provide universal access to basic education of good quality and compels states to create environments in schools or basic education programs in which children are both able and enabled to learn. such an environment must be inclusive of children, effective with children, friendly and welcoming to children, healthy and protective for children and gender sensitive. the development of such child-friendly learning environments has increasingly been an essential part of the overall efforts by countries around the world to increase access to, and improve the quality of, their schools. sharing at a meeting , held in june 2009 at oslo on the results of the work of the oecd on equity in education, a norwegian minister of education (bård vegar solhjell) in an opening speech described ie as a new compelling law on quality and equity for all by stating: inclusion and equity in education is the best long term instrument we have in order to secure economic progress, as well as democracy and social stability…regular schools with an inclusive orientation are the most effective means of combating discriminatory attitudes, building an inclusive society and achieving education for all. ie development movement is anchored on human rights, equity and diversity (riehl, 2000; winzer and mazurek, 2012) and around the right of every individual to education, as stated in the 1948 universal declaration of human rights. in article 26 , ie is not simply taken as a technical or organizational change but as movement with a clear philosophy that speaks to human right to education. it is a dynamic approach that looks at diversity and individual differences not as child, without alienating him/her, (b) provide the child with a warm and enriched environment, (c) assist the child in developing basic skills to cope with day to day challenges, (d) enable a child develop life skills for self-reliance, (e) help a child develop a desirable attitude towards society. for effective assimilation of ie, three key aspects – policies, practices and culture – are important. full presence, participation and achievement of children with disabilitie as well as, respect to childrens social, civil and education rights can be global journal of transformative education (2019) 1 opiyo, inclusive education and transformative leadership 55 problems, but as opportunities for enriching learning. at the core of this conversation is the pronouncement of udhr, 1948 , article 26 which states: everyone has the right to education... education shall be free, at least in the elementary and fundamental stages and shall be directed to the full development of human personality, strengthening of respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms. it shall promote understanding, tolerance and friendship among all nations, racial or religious groups, and shall further the activities for the maintenance of peace. equally, article 2 and article 23 of united nations convention on the rights of the child (uncrc, 1989) support this stance. in part, article 23 stipulates: children with disabilities should have effective access to and receive education, training, health care services, rehabilitation services, preparation for employment and recreation opportunities in a manner conducive to the child’s and to enable him /her achieve the fullest possible social integration and individual development, including his or her cultural and spiritual development. should accommodate all children regardless of their diverse physical, intellectual, social, emotional and linguistic needs (unesco, 1994). the resulting salamanca statement recognized the necessity and urgency of providing education for children, youth and adults with special educational needs within the regular education systems (unesco, 1994). ie puts emphasis on all groups of learners who may be at risk of marginalization, exclusion or underachievement and gives a moral responsibility to families communities and states to ensure that those groups that are statistically most “at risk” are carefully monitored and that, where necessary, steps are taken to ensure their presence, participation and achievement in the education system. based on the above declarations countries of the world inclusing kenya are on the path towards addressing diversity in education environments and realization of inclusive schools. inclusive education in the kenyan context kenya places education as top agenda in both policy and investment by regarding education as one of the inputs to ensure the quality of life of its citizens. every child has the right to education irrespective of age, gender, background, socio-economic status, race, caste, creed, religion and ability. the constitution of kenya (republic of kenya, 2010), section 43 (1), affirms the right of every person to education. further, section 53 (1) (b) states that every child has the right to free and compulsory basic education. the sessional paper no. 1 (republic of kenya, 2005a) provides a policy framework for the education sector in kenya, including the requisite legal context, within which to design, develop and implement inclusive education programs. the constitution outlines policy recommendations for enhancing education access, quality, relevance, equity and efficiency, which are important factors in the overall success of inclusive education. specifically, two special needs education policy frameworks (republic of kenya, 2009; 2012) address a wide range of critical issues impacting on special needs education and provides a comprehensive policy framework that seeks to harmonize education service delivery for lsns and diverse needs in all education subsectors. the polices recognize that our classrooms have children with different experiences, skills, knowledge, values and abilities which are all invaluable ingredients in classroom and takes due consideration in the wake of increasing diversity in the society, success can only be guaranteed to those children who will live in the same document (uncrc, 1989) article 29, articulates central aims of education in the development and nurturing all children to reach their fullest potential in terms of cognitive, emotional and creative capacities. addressing this also is the unesco convention against discrimination in education (1960) and the convention on the elimination of all forms of discrimination against women (1979) as the other key international human rights treaties that not only emphasize the prohibition but also the active elimination of discrimination. a logical consequence of these rights is that all children have the right to receive the kind of education that does not discriminate on any grounds such as caste, ethnicity, religion, economic status, refugee status, language, gender, disability etc. these conventions not only provide measures be taken by the state to implement these rights in all learning environments but demands a rights-based approach to education which is founded upon three principles (a) access to free and compulsory education, (b) equality inclusion and non-discrimination, and (c) the right to quality education, content and processes. guided by the above conventions, united nations members at the world conference on special needs education adopted a guiding principle that schools global journal of transformative education (2019) 1 56opiyo, inclusive education and transformative leadership cooperatively with others. all these frameworks advocate for including all children with diverse background and abilities and all those usually excluded from school and classroom participation and learning for instance children of remote or nomadic population, children from linguistic, ethnic or cultural minorities, girl child, street and working children, children with disabilities, children affected by hiv/aids. the aim is geared towards (a) providing an understanding of the conditions for success for children with diverse needs, (b) achieving equalization of educational opportunity, (c) removing barriers, and (d) attending to the specific needs of those who had been denied so far. in order to ensure that this happens, the kenyan government believes that all learners are entitled to an excellent education that provide them with a genuine opportunity to succeed in inclusive classrooms in inclusive schools. in responding to this vison, mainstream schools and special schools in kenya are adopting policies and practices that are driven by the desire to be providers of high quality education services to all learners regard less of their learning needs. the above framework outlines an explicit ie policy and the role of key stakeholders such as school-heads and general education teachers in the realization of this policy in creating of inclusive and child-friendly schools, while simultaneously focusing on a requisite legal framework to ensure that schools respect diversity and ensure equality of learning for all children.this is because schools leaders are recognized as important ingredients in supporting and setting a higher standard for inclusive practice in schools and in communities. they can do this through strategic resourcing ensuring an orderly and supportive environment promoting and participating in teacher learning and development planning, and coordinating teaching and evaluating curriculum. who supports inclusive education in kenya? it is the responsibility of the ministry of education to ensure that school-accessible and child-centered programs are elaborated, implemented and evaluated. however, teachers, parents, communities, school authorities, curriculum planners, training institutes and entrepreneurs in the business of education are among education actors that serve as valuable resources in support of inclusion in kenya . however, some stakeholders are more than just a valuable resource. they are not only key to supporting all aspects of the global journal of transformative education (2019) 1 inclusion process but they can also provide the right atmosphere for effective implementation of ie both in school and in society at large. according to fullan (2004), progress towards an effective inclusive school culture depends on the willingness and attitude of a number of educational stakeholders in accepting to promote diversity and to take an active role in the lives of students, both in and out of school. acceptance promotes optimal learning environment for ie and depends largely upon the relationship among teachers, parents, other students and society and more specifically the role of school leaders likewise, lindqvist & nilholm (2011) affirms that school leaders’ belief about inclusion, its process and their view about children’s capacity to change and be changed can be reflected in: (a) the way they encourage teacher learning through collaboration, (b) philosophy, inclusive beliefs and practices, (c) the extent to which they collaborate with staff to develop an inclusive philosophy relevant to the schools needs, and (d) the manner in which they actively and personally get involved in developing intervention strategies for atrisk students as they dialogue with parents. as put by clark, (2010) constant collaboration and training has a possibility of changing ideologies and perceptions of school leaders on inclusion and can simultaneous lead to reconstruction of beliefs tow diversity. sergiovanni (2009) believes that school leader’s attitude change influences how we organize school to accommodate diverse needs and acknowledge that all children, irrespective of their race, socio-economic status, gender or disability, deserve quality education. manisfestly, this can be detected in a shift in their value system and support for school based inclusion policy and procedures that ensure sustainability (ainscow & sandill, 2010). conversely, negative attitudes towards inclusion is likely to result into exclusivity .it is associated with lack of planning, lack of resources, lack of knowledge of better practices and limited experiences with special needs students (bobb & early, 2009; sergiovanni, 2009). fortunately, negative attitudes can be minimized when school leaders learn and acquire the knowledge they need to build inclusive schools, more so, in facilitating teacher learning that will produce inclusive classrooms. adequate knowledge will enable school leaders transform school into effective inclusive environment (leithwood & jantzi 2006). this then calls for preparation of school leaders who can (a) stimulate change in the follower’s attitudes and behavior through 57 stimulate thinking and are grounded in understanding the needs of individual teachers rather than controlling them to meet desired outcomes (halliger, 2005). as they seek to influence people by building from the bottom-up rather than from the top down , they become overly concerned with modeling best practices and important organizational values, continuous professional development of teachers, shared decision making and leadership, experimentation, teacher reflection and building relationships with the school community. these are key ingredients for inclusivity. transformative school leaders are also known to hold firmly to key values of democracy, equity, justice, emphasize social justice and equity and are able to live with tension as they display moral courage and activism. based on the above arguments transformative leadership is therefore more likely where schools take on the role of making profound social change where there is great inequality for example in relation to sexism, racism or other forms of profound exclusion. as christiansen, heggen and karseth (2004) share, the job of leaders is to maximize the collective talent and efforts of all those involved in the education enterprise to promote and sustain inclusive cultures, meaning that for sustainability of ie transformative leadership should be our focus. school leaders are the key to the success or failure of educational reform. they have to develop leadership style that meets the demands of educational change which is seen in the manner in which they (a) provide moral direction which gives meaning and significance to the goals of the school, (b) raise awareness, heighten interest of followers and provide support for the group to carry out the full inclusion project, (c) develop projects and assist in overcoming challenges; provides vision and resources necessary to help teachers accomplish change, and (d) provide encouragement and energy to help make the innovation successful and the implementation of full inclusion. significantly, four themes emerge in relation to transformative leadership in effective schools: fostering shared vision, planning and decision-making processes, creating collaborative structures and processes using data to make decisions about curriculum and instruction, and understanding and utilizing policy to create comprehensive school and district wide systems. these themes mirror those identified by waldron, mcleskey, and redd (2014) in their case study of a highly effective, inclusive school. for this research, the themes are crucial because each point to potential areas of opiyo, inclusive education and transformative leadership empowerment, (b) those who can create a global vision (bobb & early, 2009) and (c) reshape corporate culture and works along with the vision towards ie. for this reason, this paper believes that there are complex and interrelated factors undergird the success of schools with effective inclusive education models and that moving towards more inclusive schools and education systems involves a series of leadership conditions both at the macro and the school level, as well as at the level of pedagogical practices (instructional leadership). although the ministry of education in kenya , holds the key responsibility of ensuring inclusion in school, school leaders who are ministry representations and infact ‘the eyes’ of ministry have a huge responsibility in causing this change based on their transformative leadership acumen. transformative leadership that promotes inclusion transformational leadership model is used to meet the current demand for innovation in education systems . indeed current trend in the literature (cristina and ann, 2010) supports the idea that (a) school innovations, such as inclusion, do not occur on their own (b) works when it is thoughtfully developed and (c) can only take place when the school leader who is a transformational leader, in consort with the community and faculty uses collaborative decision-making to develop a full inclusion program. according to precey, (2008), transformational leaders strive (a) build a compelling vision of a better future with others underpinned by high moral confidence (b) inspire others to follow them and offers individualized support (c) articulate a vision and passion can achieve great things and gets things done by injecting enthusiasm and energy(d) establish shared organizational goals and models best practices and important organizational values (e) display high levels of interpersonal engagement with a deep understanding of personal, team and organizational learning (f) demonstrate expectations of high performance (g) provide intellectual stimulation for others and seek best practices (h) create a productive culture with a commitment to community (i) develop structures to foster participation in decision-making and distribute leadership throughout the organization and do have great personal resilience. they are leaders who are motivated by the importance of individualized support that promotes student learning., intellectual stimulation, and personal vision. they support others through competence building to create inclusive classrooms , encourage collaboration to global journal of transformative education (2019) 1 58 by kirtman (2013), fullan (2014) asserts that as the change agent, the school leaders requires these competencies to facilitate the building of personal and organizational capacity for greater leadership success. with these competencies, school leaders are able to (a) challenge the status quo by interrogating common practices, takes risks, and explores innovations with the aim of improving the learning of all students, (b) build trust through clear communication and expectation to ensure improved performance and organizational effectiveness, (c) creates commonly owned plan for success by working to ensure ownership of the plan, monitoring implementation, and making adjustments as appropriate, (d) focus on the team over self by supporting the professional growth of all staff and seeking critical feedback, (e) create a sense of urgency for sustainable by mobilizing people to tackle core issues while matching passion and urgency with requisite skills, (f) commits to continuous improvement for self by seeking learning opportunities and innovative ideas to ensure sustained improvements, and (g) build external networks and partnerships to adequate and sustainable support that makes a positive difference to the organization (fullan, 2014). this paper believes in the sentiments of fullan (2014) who expressed that efficient leadership remains an important indicator of successful inclusive education implementation. he established that most of the leadership issues effecting inclusive education implementation are known but not sufficiently addressed in practice. school leadership and inclusive education school leaders play a critical role in improving learning through four sets of leadership practices. first, they are expected to : set directions by building a shared vision, foster acceptance of group goals, create high performance expectations, and communicate direction. second, they shoud develop staff by: providing individualized support and consideration, offering intellectual stimulation, and modelling appropriate values and practices. thirdly, effective leaders must always seek to: refine and align their organizations when they build collaborative cultures, restructure the organization to support collaboration, build productive relationships with families and connect the school to the wider community.finally, they are expected to improve the instructional program through practices that influence the nature and quality of instruction in classrooms (leithwood & jantzi, 2006). leithwood and colleague opiyo, inclusive education and transformative leadership implications not only for practice but also for focus of and approaches to school leadership development. salisbury and mcgregor (2002) assert that inclusive education has emerged as a school wide improvement approach sharing characteristics of innovativeness, commitment to diversity, and a strong emphasis on school improvement. so school leaders must share common personal attributes such as sharing decision-making power with their staff, leading their school by example, extending the core values around inclusiveness and quality initiatives throughout the school, and actively promoting learning communities. waldron, mcleskey, and redd (2011) acknowledge that strong school leadership is pivotal to effective implementation of inclusive education. their description of the characteristics of effective inclusive schools and the personal attributes of school leader of such schools are consistent with those articulated by corbett and slee (2000). hehir and kartzman (2012) affirm that inclusive schools are dynamic, problem solving organizations. strong school leaders to them is one who creates both a sense of common purpose and internal accountability as well as conditions for high-quality teaching and learning to take place. their stance is that complex and interrelated factors undergird the success of schools with effective inclusive education models. successful inclusive schools embrace comprehensive school-wide approaches, including a clear vision of high expectations and universally designed instructional practices that address both academic and behavioral components of schooling. in order to develop effective inclusive schools, there is need for school leaders to establish collaborative frameworks, collegiality, and a commitment to support diversity among students (kugelmass, 2004). though not explicit to inclusive education implementation,fullan (2014) articulates what he terms the three keys that maximizing a leader’s impact. he suggests that a leader can achieve this by (a) ensuring intense instructional focus and continuous learning are the core work at the school. (b) working with district and system player in order to access the wide range of resources within the system to leverage leadership and inclusion success, and (c) be a change agent to foster school effectiveness and improved student learning and achievement. the conceptualization of the school leaders as a change agent is critical to inclusive implementation and its sustainability. based on seven critical competencies suggested global journal of transformative education (2019) 1 59opiyo, inclusive education and transformative leadership stress that school leaders can no longer function simply as school managers but also double up as instructional leaders (ainscow & sandill, 2010) to be successful, they are also expected to distribute leadership effectively for sustainable educational change and improvement that translates into improved learning outcomes (harris, 2014). this can be achieved through what dufour and marzano (2011) advocate; a shift in focus to efforts aimed at building the collective capacity of educators. the functions of the school leaders discussed above, do not directly address inclusive education but it can be assumed that leadership skills in the critical areas are helpful in leading inclusive schools. according guzman (1997) the core mandate of every school leader is to diagnose his or her particular school’s needs and to meet these needs by utilizing the resources and talents available. purpose of the study the special needs education policy frameworks (republic of kenya, 2009; 2012) embraces inclusive education as the viable option in enhancing education access, equity, quality, and relevance for all children in kenya. the policy documents provide a comprehensive approach, including ways of providing an inclusive education of quality to all children, highlighting the need for teachers to be sensitive to each child’s unique requirements, provide child-centred, socially relevant and equitable teaching/learning and understand the diversity in their social and cultural contexts. based on these frameworks, huge resources (republic of kenya 2005a, 2005c, 2009, 2010, 2012) are channeled in enhancing capacities and developing training of school leaders and teachers. nonetheless, there seems to be insufficient specifics and less clarity on service delivery models. and the roles of stakeholders, including those of school leaders within the inclusive education framework .policies acknowledge monumental challenges in the provision of inclusive education including; high pupil-teacher ratios, overcrowded classrooms, absenteeism, high drop-out rates, high repetition rates, increased number of orphans due to hiv and aids, inadequate infrastructural development, weak governance and financial management, inequitable deployment and weak management of teachers, and gender and regional disparities. however, concerns raised by stakeholders on what shouldbe the unique competencies of school leaders in creating change within inclusive environment has not been given due attention. global journal of transformative education (2019) 1 therefore, this theoretically review presents perspectives of different authors on the potential of transformative leadership ability of school leaders in offering a more inclusive, equitable, and deeply democratic conception of education. specifically, the paper highlights transformative leadership practices of school leaders that are crucial for the implementation of this inclusive practice. theoretical framework this theoretical review is underpinned in the social model of disability which is a way of viewing the world, based on perspectives of disabled people. this approach sees disability as a concept that provides us with an opportunity for raising serious questions about the nature of the existing society we live in and the kind of society we desire or hope for.this is where the critical analysis has to focus and the changes have to take place.it recognizes the centrality of institutional, ideological, structural and material disabling barriers within society that is , systemic barriers, negative attitudes and exclusion by society (purposely or inadvertently) as the main contributory factor in disabling people. the model says that people are disabled by barriers in society, not by their impairment or difference. they believe that unadaptive, unfriendly and hostile set of material conditions and social relations cumulatively contribute to the marginalisation, disempowerment and exclusion of disabled people .barriers can be physical, like buildings not having accessible toilets or they can be caused by people’s attitudes to difference, like assuming disabled people can’t do certain things. the social model helps us recognize barriers that make life harder for disabled people and urges removal of these barriers to create equality and offer disabled people more independence, choice and control such an inclusive outlook permits stakeholders, especially school leaders change makers , to give a holistic view of the education system by embracing inclusive philosophies and ideals of inclusion.this when they are likely to enable teachers and learners to feel comfortable with diversity, see it as a challenge and enrichment of the learning environment, rather than a problem , and significant of all, to take into consideration the concepts of least restrictive environment, home school, and education with peers as important aspects of special education. figure 1 illustrates the social model of disability. figure 1. social model of disability (oliver, 2013). opiyo, inclusive education and transformative leadership 60 discussions inclusion is a principle that is increasingly gaining attention in conversations about transformative education systems as one that cater for the diversity of students’ learning needs and their individual characteristics such as learning motivations, abilities, styles and rhythm. the key element of inclusion is not individualization but the diversification of the educational provision and the personalization of common learning experiences in order to achieve the highest degree of participation of all students, taking into account their individual needs. this implies advancing towards universal design, where the teaching-learning process and the curriculum consider from the very beginning the diversity of needs of all students, instead of planning on the basis of an “average” student and then carry out individualized actions to respond to the needs of specific students or groups who were not taken into consideration by an education proposal based on a logic of homogeneity instead of diversity. the response to diversity , an essential condition to achieve high quality education , is probably the main challenge currently faced by schools and teachers, as it involves substantive changes in the existing conceptions, attitudes, curricula, pedagogical practices, teacher training, evaluation systems and school organization. the role of the school leader is becoming critical in promoting the delivery of equitable education by teachers in an inclusive school classroom setting . first and foremost, it is imperative that the school leader: believes that outcomes can be equitable, whatever the individual starting points of their students, enthuses the staff and students to raise achievement in all students and measures the success of students by more than their academic achievement, school leaders should also be aware of the united nations charter on the rights of the child (1989), a significant driver for embracing diversity that legislates for every member state to provide education for all its children. it is the responsibility of a school leader to lead , promote and nurture inclusive attitudes and behaviours in your school community.this is possible by the school leaders with specific transformative skills. methodology a search of the published literature for this review included several steps. first, personal inquiries and consultations were made with professionals with relevant research and practice interests that is transformative leadership and inclusive education. second, articles, journals and government policy documents and scholarly research reports were reviewed, focusing transformative leadership and inclusive education. third, relevant texts were searched for applicable information. finally, a site search was conducted on the world wide web of organizations, databases, references, and on-line publications. data was collected and synthesized from these secondary sources pertaining to transformative leadership and inclusive education. discussion of issues was bound within the social model of disability which sees an inclusive approach as one that permits a holistic review of the education system having a broader view of diversity as a challenge and enrichment of the learning environment, rather than a problem and takes into consideration the concepts of least restrictive environment, home school, and education with peers as important aspects of special education. the presentation was done thematically focusing on the key transformative leadership indicators that promotes inclusive education as dicussed in subsequent chapters. global journal of transformative education (2019) 1 61 when wedded to a relentless commitment to equity, voice, and social justice, administrators’ efforts in the tasks of sensemaking, promoting inclusive cultures and practices in schools, and building positive relationships outside of the school may indeed foster a new form of practice. (riehl, 2000, p. 71). in support, copland (2003) suggests, that enquiry can be the engine to enable the determination of leadership that is needed in order to foster participation in learning, and the glue that can bind a community together around a common purpose. from literature sources such as leithwood, harris and hopkins (2008), the ensuing discussion identifies special abilities of school leaders that are associated with the success of schools in fostering the achievement of all their students, that is ability to : create inclusive cultures and ethos, develop strong desire for change, strive to build instructional teams and inclusive communities, appeciate active mentorship, embrace a clear philosophy and positive beliefs about inclusive education, nurture better instructional leadership and transformed school leaders and promote teachers learning and staff development as discussed below. create inclusive cultures and ethos school leaders set the ethos that either welcomes or sidelines disabled children and children with sen; and they create a culture where parents are either confident to engage with the school or feel they are a nuisance (lamb inquiry, 2009). suffice to say, transformed school leaders who foster a sense of common purpose and are driven by a strong personal commitment to equal opportunities, seem to be remarkably successful in leading the whole school community – staff, students and parents – in ways that lead to a wholehearted commitment to the principle of educational inclusion. the strong sense of common purpose that provides the basis for the development of practices that take account of the learning of every student and manifested in visible efforts in establishing culture and ethos that emphasises the importance of respecting and responding positively to diversity in all senses. effective school leaders also go ahead to improve student learning by focusing on getting relationships right between themselves, their teachers, students and parents. they are culture builders (halliger, 2010) who opiyo, inclusive education and transformative leadership school leaders’ transformative leadership skills regardless of school type, schools need leadership in seven critical areas. one of these is in the area of instructional leadership, which entails assuring quality of instruction, modelling teaching practice, supervising curriculum, and assuring quality of teaching resources .the second area entails cultural leadership which is about tending to the symbolic resources of the school, for example, its traditions, climate, and history . the third area is managerial leadership encompassing tending to the operations of the school such as, its budget, schedule, facilities, safety and security. the other area is human resource leadership which is concerned with recruiting, hiring, firing, inducting, mentoring teachers and administrators; developing leadership capacity and professional development opportunities. the fourth one is strategic leadership which deals with promoting a vision, mission, goals, and developing a means to reach them external development is the fifth domain of representing the school in the community, developing capital, public relations, recruiting students, buffering and mediating external interests, and advocating for the school’s interests and the last area is micro-political –leadership which entails suffering and mediating internal interests; maximizing financial and human resources (leithwood, harris & hopkins, 2008). it is therefore, encouraging that a review of leadership literature indicates that the issue of inclusion is increasingly seen as a key challenge (west, ainscow & notman, 2003). it is argued, for example, that with increasingly diverse populations schools need to thrive on uncertainty, have a greater capacity for collective problem-solving, and be able to respond to a wider range of learners.this is only possible with school leaders with transformation outlook. the most helpful theoretical and empirical leads, however, are provided by riehl (2000) who concludes that school leaders need to attend to three broad types of task of fostering new meanings about diversity, promoting inclusive practices within schools and building connections between schools and communities . riehl (2000) goes on to consider how these tasks can be accomplished, exploring how the concept of practice, especially discursive practice, can contribute to a fuller understanding of the work of school leaders . in her analysis she offers a positive view of the potential for leaders to engage in inclusive, transformative developments. she concludes: global journal of transformative education (2019) 1 62 towards the organizations desired ends. as summarized by kugelmass (2004), effective inclusive schools are characterized by coherent school cultures in which teachers and school leaders demonstrate high levels of personal responsibility and collective commitments that place students at the center of educational decision making. as a result, school leaders need to be committed to inclusive values and to a leadership style which encourages individuals to participate in leadership functions (dyson, polat, hutcheson & gallannaugh, 2004). practice active mentorship sugai, o’keeffe, horner & lewis (2012), defines a mentor as a single person, whose basic function is to help a new leaders or subordinates. on one hand, moir (2005), stresses that in promoting new innovation like inclusive, education mentors are important in decreasing the isolation of new teachers. when they guide them through their first year of teaching they can quickly get acquainted with their new environment. they do this by providing practical answers, ‘posing important questions to prompt reflection, modelling teaching techniques, observing and offering feedback. have a clear philosophy and positive beliefs about inclusive education one of the foundations for building an inclusive school is to believe that all children, regardless of their social, economic, emotional, physical or cognitive background have the ability to learn. in addition, adequate knowledge of inclusion and its processes can influence school leader’s attitude and will determine the extent of the school’s inclusive practices, regardless of the school context, the emphasis they place on teachers learning and the emphasis they place on the importance of a flexible curriculum. the way a school leader constructs and employs certain leadership characteristics will depend on the changes that are taking place at the school at a given time, the school leaders knowledge regarding the change that needs to be implemented compared to his/ her teachers, and the school leader’s ability to co-operate with others and build teaching teams. moreover, strategies that can effectively facilitate teachers learning include school based collaboration, in-service training and mentorship. however, the strategies that school leaders will use to promote teachers learning will depend on the school’s vision and its inclusive education context. opiyo, inclusive education and transformative leadership influence the school community in embracing inclusive attitudes and mindsets. precey (2008) assert that real and sustained change is achieved by changing the culture of the school, rather than by simply changing the structures of the way the school operates. this means school leaders must seek an understanding of schools’ culture before leading. they have to instructional leaders are viewed as culture builders who foster high expectations and standards for students, as well as for teachers (precey,2008). they must also directly get involved in the teaching culture of the school, work directly with children and classroom teachers and base decisions on educational principles and values . develop strong desire for change implementation of inclusive practices demand school leaders to take critical roles in providing a vision, leadership and administrative authority (sergiovanni, 2009; day & leithwood, 2007) and challenge the norm of traditional approach to teaching, inspire a clear mutual vision of what the school should and could be and simultaneously, empower staff through cooperative team work (ainscow & sandill, 2010). this means the school leaders will first and foremost need to buy in to the philosophy of inclusion, followed by influencing the formation of a school vision that will direct the school towards embracing inclusive goals. they must also seek to reconstruct the school system and commit to the implementation of inclusive processes. build and support instructional or inclusive communities school leaders can no longer function simply as school managers or as instructional leaders .to be successful in this front, they are expected to distribute leadership effectively for sustainable educational change and improvement that translates into improved learning outcomes (rice, 2006). this can be achieved through what dufour and marzano (2011) advocate; a shift in focus to efforts aimed at building the collective capacity of educators. transformational leadership demands social skills of team building and inspiration without dominion. this can be evident in the way he/ she places lots of responsibilities on teams and team leaders. as for halliger (2005) transformational leaders must not provide leadership alone but shares it with teachers. this model is grounded in understanding the needs of individual staff rather than coordinating and controlling them global journal of transformative education (2019) 1 63opiyo, inclusive education and transformative leadership demonstrate strong instructional leadership as instructional leaders, schools where leaders are expected to bring change (webb, 2005). for this reason, instructional leadership would be appropriate in schools that need to accommodate inclusive changes as they promote instructional time, promote professional development; provide incentives for teachers as well as for learning (halliger, 2000). at the same time, instructional leaders are considered to be ‘strong directive leaders’ (halliger 2005) who act as the day to day manager of the school building, are responsible for timetabling teachers and evaluating them accordingly . this implies that when promoting inclusive practices, changes will be based on school and teacher evaluation. they must be well versed with curriculum and instruction, role models and who are not only familiar with the curriculum but also one who practice inclusion for lsn. halliger, 2000) refers to instructional shool leadership as an ability to be hands on, well versed with the curriculum instructions and standards set in the national curricular, knowledgeable about what is happening at the school, and one that evaluates teachers accordingly by providing feedback during meetings. it means that instructional leaders must work with their staff in formulating clear and measurable goals that are focused on the academic progress of students work to transform other school leaders the transformational leadership model enables meeting the current demand for innovation by empowering others through a distribution of leadership (sergiovanni, 2009). they do not provide leadership alone (halliger, 2010), instead they share their leadership responsibility with other teacher, providing leadership for inclusive change, uses the transformational leadership model to share leadership responsibilities with other teachers through delegation of responsibilities to team leaders. they must be grounded in understanding the needs of individual teachers rather than controlling them to meet desired outcomes (halliger, 2010) as they seek to influence people by building from the bottom-up rather than from the top down in addition, they are motivated by the importance of individualized support, intellectual stimulation, and personal vision by supporting teachers through competence building that will enable them to create inclusive classrooms. they are keen in encouraging collaboration to stimulate thinking and promote student learning, demands social skills of team building and inspiration without global journal of transformative education (2019) 1 dominion, concerned with modeling best practices and important organizational values, continuous professional development of teachers, shared decision making and leadership, experimentation, teacher reflection and building relationships with the school community .this is apparent as part of the responsibility to ensure that teaches are doing ‘a good job’ that will promote teaching and learning. her managerial role is also reflected in the way she is involved in different teacher meetings to ensure that she is aware of what is happening in the school (halliger, 2000). promote teacher learning and staff development promotion of teacher learning is important to the inclusion process as it will equip teachers in facilitating inclusive classrooms . deppler (2010) reinforcded the importance of teachers learning when he argued that improvement of schools will depend on the quality of teachers to meet inclusive challenges. it means then that transformative leaders must put more effort and resources to promote teachers learning.a numbers of strategies that can be used to motivate teachers may range from school based collaboration, working with the school community, training and mentorship. bubb & early (2009) affirm that staff development which involves discussing, coaching, mentoring, observing and developing others is highly effective on matters inclusion. therefore transformational leaders must always value teachers learning, but they show it in different ways. for instance, by making suggestions, giving feedback, providing modeling, using inquiry and solicit advice and opinions, and giving praise. a similar study noted other six teacher development strategies that is, emphasizing the study of teaching and learning, supporting collaboration efforts among educators, developing coaching relationships among educators; encouraging and supporting redesign of programs; applying the principles of adult learning, growth and development to all phases of staff development; and implementing action research to inform instructional decision making. significant of all is that, is the development of intellectual, academic and professional capital (sergiovanni, 2006) while empowering and supporting teachers as partners in decision making (leithwood & jantzi, 2006) because there is a thin line between what happens to teachers and what happens to students is direct (sergiovanni, 2006). for example, little collaboration among teachers will result in little collaboration among students. leithwood (2005) states that transformational 64opiyo, inclusive education and transformative leadership leaders help staff development by maintaining a collaborative professional school culture and involving staff in collaborative goal setting (sergiovanni, 2009) conclusions inclusive education is a process of addressing and responding to the diversity of needs of all learners through increasing participation in learning, cultures, and communities, and reducing exclusion within and from education. in spite of the dilemmas that are currently faced in inclusive schools, in many countries like kenya, school leaders have a responsibility in ensuring that that they provide a school for all children. school leaders will need to have inclusive attitudes which will entail an inclusive school vision. part of providing a school for all will also require school leaders to provide school leadership that will bring about inclusive changes; which will in turn affect the practices of classroom teachers. school leaders play an important role in motivating teachers to build inclusive classrooms and will need to influence and challenge teachers thinking by promoting inclusive cultures, in-service training, and enquiry and evidence based collaboration that will go beyond a mere transfer of knowledge to the acquisition of skills that will encourage, nurture and facilitate learning for alltransformative leadership skills of school leadership is critical aspect to the successful implementation of inclusive education. this is particularly imperative considering that the overarching principle of inclusive education is that every child counts. recommendations inclusive education demands new skills and knowledge, not only for an individual teacher, but for the whole staff, as the whole school will need to be competent in order to make inclusion work. as a result, continuous staff development of teachers and all school leaders is crucial. global journal of transformative education (2019) 1 a. a coordinated and multi-pronged action plan to spur requisite policy reforms, system alignments, and funding strategies in order reframe school leadership development. b. specifically, the teachers’ service commission and ministry of education, science and technology should collaboratively develop leadership standards for school leaders in order to spur improvements in leadership programmes’ quality and effectiveness in inclusive setting’s. c. the county education committees should develop inclusive education indicators to be utilized when designing and implementing school development plans. d. moreover, in order to model effective inclusive programmes and practices at least five model inclusive schools should be established in each subcounty through a well-resourced programme implemented by respective subcounty education commmittees. this may act as centers of excellence and models for what leadership models works for inclusive education. opiyo, inclusive education and transformative leadership 65 global journal of transformative education (2019) 1 references ainscow, m., farrell, p. & tweddle, d. 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(2012). school leadership and school-wide positive behavior support. in j. b. crockett, b. s. billingsley, & m. l. boscardin (eds.), handbook of leadership and administration for special education (pp. 3751). new york, ny: routledge. terzi, l. 2004. the social model of disability: a philosophical critique. journal of applied philosophy, 21(2), 141–57. timmons, v., & wagner, m. (2008). inclusive education knowledge exchange initiative: an analysis of the statistics canada participation and activity limitation survey. canadian council on learning. unesco. (1994). the salamanca statement and framework for action on special needs education. paris, unesco. ministry of education, spain. unesco international bureau of education. (2009). international conference on education. inclusive education: the way of the future 28th session geneva 25–28 november 2008. unesco. (2010). http://www.ibe.unesco.org/ fileadmin/user_upload/policy_dialogue/48th_ic e/ ice_final_report_eng.pdf accessed 08/06/2010. paris, france: unesco. unesco. (2009). policy guidelines on inclusion in education. paris: unesco. unesco. (2005). guidelines for inclusion. ensuring access to education for all. paris, unesco, 2005. ed/bie/confinted 48/inf.2 – page 8. paris, france: unesco. united nations educational, scientific, and cultural organization. (1994). final report: world conference on special needs education: access and equality. paris, france: unesco. unesco. overcoming exclusion through inclusive approaches in education. a challenge and a vision. unesco, paris, 2003. unesco. (2001). open file on inclusive education. support materials for managers and administrators. paris, unesco. webb, r. (2005). leading teaching and learning in the primary school: from educative leadership to pedagogical leadership. educational management administration & leadership, 33(69), 129-147. 1 rose atieno opiyo (ropiyo@mmust.ac.ke) is a lecturer in the department of educational psychology at masinde muliro university of science and technology, kakamega, kenya. author open access global journal of transformative education open call for papers the global journal of transformative education (gjte). is an open-access journal that presents to learners, educators and researchers the optimal instructional strategies, transformative leadership, and inquiry methods that lead to better educational and research outcomes for their students and the society. gjte is published by the global institute for transformative education (gite). the editorial board of the gjte invites authors to submit manuscripts relating to research about transformative education, innovative teaching strategies or curricula, policy issues, the role schools have in transforming communities and society, and resources that can help educators and policy makers enact meaningful reforms that contribute to transformative education. gjte publishes at least one issue of the journal each year, and we offer an open call for manuscripts submitted by authors around the world. there are no submission deadlines for our regular issues, and authors may submit manuscripts at any time. special “themed” editions may be produced with guest editors. gjte will post calls for papers on the journal’s website to announce those issues. manuscripts should be limited to about 8000 words, and may include photos, diagrams, tables, graphs and figures. longer manuscripts may be accepted if the content warrants the length. authors should consider the specifications listed in the gjte author submissions page. in addition to images, authors may include hyperlinks to supplemental materials such as lesson plans, assessments, large data files, and 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reviewer. please direct any questions about submissions to the editors: gitemanager@gmail.com michael ndemanu, ph.d. educational studies ball state university muncie, indiana, usa managing editor tom j. mcconnell, ph.d. dept. of biology ball state university muncie, indiana, usa editors in chief serafín m. coronel-molina, ph.d. literacy, culture and language education indiana university bloomington, indiana, usa global journal of transformative education (2020) vol 1 issn 2640-1533s 68 https://scholarworks.iu.edu/journals/index.php/gjte/index https://gite.education/ https://scholarworks.iu.edu/journals/index.php/gjte/about/submissions https://tjmcconnell.weebly.com/uploads/3/7/4/5/37455725/gjte_formatting_guide.pdf https://tjmcconnell.weebly.com/uploads/3/7/4/5/37455725/gjte_formatting_guide.pdf https://tjmcconnell.weebly.com/uploads/3/7/4/5/37455725/gjte_manuscript_checklist.pdf https://scholarworks.iu.edu/journals/index.php/gjte/about/submissions https://scholarworks.iu.edu/journals/index.php/gjte/about/submissions https://scholarworks.iu.edu/journals/index.php/gjte/user/register email:gite18@gmail.com global journal of transformative education (2020) vol 2 issn 2640-1533s open access editorial team gjte invites you to apply to be a member of the editorial board. potential reviewers can register for an account on the gjte website: register for gjte account i global journal of transformative education volume 2, december 2020 published by the global insitutute of transformative education (http://www.gite.education) © gjte. 2020. gjte is a peer-reviewed open access journal produced as part of the iu scholarworks system, indiana university, bloomington, indiana, usa. editors-in-chief michael t. ndemanu, ball state university, muncie, indiana, usa serafín m. coronel-molina, indiana university, bloomington, indiana, usa managing editor tom j. mcconnell, ball state university, muncie, indiana, usa editorial board kennedy n. bota masinde muliro university of science & technology, kakamega, kenya judah m. ndiku masinde muliro university of science & technology, kakamega, kenya wilfridah m. mucherah ball state university, muncie, indiana, usa daniel baron the bloomington project school, bloomington, indiana, usa ernest davis university of cape coast, ghana nuboonyin fokong university of bamenda, cameroon michael fonkem university of wisconsin oskhosh, usa patience fonkem appleton area school district, wisconsin, usa isaac galyuon university of cape coast, ghana carla gull inside outside michiana, elkhart, indiana, usa james hollenbeck indiana university southeast, new albany, indiana, usa seema lasi aga khan university, karachi, pakistan james kigamwa literacy international, newark, delaware, usa maxwell seyram kumah st. teresa's college of education, hohoe, ghana daniel mpolomoka zambian open university, lusaka, zambia maxwell nyatsikor university for developmental studies, tamale, ghana rose opiyo masinde muliro university of science & technology, kakamega, kenya stephanie oudghiri purdue university, west lafayette, indiana, usa jerry parker southeast louisiana university, hammond, louisiana, usa david roof ball state university, muncie, indiana, usa fai wiysahnyuy university of bamenda, cameroon https://scholarworks.iu.edu/journals/index.php/gjte/login global journal of transformative education (2020) vol 2 issn 2640-1533s open access ii published by the global insitutute of transformative education (http://www.gite.education) © gjte. 2020. gjte is a peer-reviewed open access journal produced as part of the iuscholarworks system, indiana university, bloomington, indiana, usa. multiple perspectives on tranformative education transformative education from multiple perspectives: second volume of the global journal of transformative education ............................. 1 serafín m. coronel-molina & michael t. ndemanu, editors-in-chief implications of outdoor environment on children’s learning experiences in public preschools in borabu sub-county, kenya ........................................................................ 4 godfrey nyaoga ayaga & edward khasakhala okaya effect of hands-on science activities on ghanaian student learning, attitudes and career interest: a preliminary control study ............................................... 18 heather beem collaborative teams for self-publishing a model for creating locally relevant educationial books ................................................................................................................. 33 tom j. mcconnell & barbara giorgio-booher classroom democracy and learning outcomes in primary schools in francophone africa ............................................................................................................................... 46 aloysius mom njong transformative learning potentials of trainee health workers in nsukka, enugu state, nigeria ........................................................................................................... 60 evelyn n. nwagu the impact of school locale on pupils’ competencies in selected subjects: does it matter more for specific regions in ghana? ................................................................ 72 maxwell kwesi nyatsikor, winston kwame abroampa, & kweku esia-donkoh education for sustainable development in kenya: rhetoric and reality in basic education ........................................................................................... 86 benard o. nyatuka transformational leadership and wealth creation in education organizations: the case of higher education in cameroon ................................................................................. 99 patience p. teneng open call for papers ................................................................................................................................... 114 gjte editors contents global journal of transformative education volume 2, december 2020 global journal of transformative education (2020) vol 2 doi 10.14434/gjte.v2i1.31758 open access published by the global insitutute of transformative education (http://www.gite.education) © coronel-molina & ndemanu, 2020. open access this journal is distributed under the terms of the creative commons attribution noncommercial nonderivative 4.0 international license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction without revision in any non-commercial medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the creative commons license, transformative education from multiple perspectives: second volume of the global journal of transformative education serafín m. coronel-molina1 & michael t. ndemanu2, editors-in-chief full listing of authors and contacts can be found at the end of this article. the global journal of transformative education (gjte) is an open-source, peer-reviewed journal designed to share high impact educational research and practical applications germane to transformative education worldwide. gjte publishes academic articles on high impact practices in the area of pedagogy, curriculum, learning environment, educational policy, instructional materials, and reviews of educational resources that support transformative teaching and learning in pk-20 institutions and adult education programs. gjte is focused on sharing educational research and research-based practices with all stakeholders in the design and implementation of transformative education. articles are offered as resources for teacher educators, teachers, school leaders, policy makers, community groups, and academic researchers. content may include research articles, lesson plan ideas, assessment and management strategies, book reviews, and discussions about curriculum and connections between schools and communities that are geared toward maximizing educational outcomes for learners. it is becoming increasingly clear that traditional educational models are no longer sufficient to benefit vast sectors of the world’s population; hence the need for new, transformative education models. and it will take transformative research to light the way to these new educational paradigms. most of the articles published in this second volume of gjte were initially reviewed and accepted for presentation at the 2020 world conference on transformative education (wcte) in cape coast, ghana, under the theme, “the future of africa and the role of transformative education.” the conference was postponed to a later date due to covid-19. a call for papers was then sent out for to the would-be conference participants to submit their manuscripts to be considered for publication in the second volume of gjte. all the submissions underwent a rigorous double-blind peer-reviewed process prior to being accepted for publication. out of several manuscripts submitted, eight were found to meet the standards and rigors of transformative education ideals as enunciated on our website, www.gite. education this volume is composed of eight articles that delve into transformative education from multiple perspectives. they focus on diverse topics such as learning spaces, science curriculum and pedagogy, schooling and pedagogy, school and democracy, health education, geography of education, and education and development. the articles included in this volume cover four geographical locations which include kenya, ghana, nigeria, and cameroon. the contributions are relevant to scholars, educators, practitioners, educational policymakers, graduate students, governmental and nongovernmental organizations, academic institutions, and grassroots organizations interested in transformative education across the globe. the first article, titled “implications of outdoor environment on children’s learning experiences in public preschools in borabu sub-county, kenya” is authored by g. n. ayaga and e. k. okaya. their research was impelled by the evident failure of the current competency-based learning paradigm in kenya, particularly for early childhood learners. it is known that environmental quality is key to enhancing learning, so they set out to investigate the implications of an outdoor environment on children’s learning experiences in public preschools. they found that a rich outdoor environment proved beneficial to preschoolers’ learning experiences and development of locomotor and rhythmic movement abilities, as well as to their general academic achievement and development of various social, emotional and https://scholarworks.iu.edu/journals/index.php/gjte https://scholarworks.iu.edu/journals/index.php/gjte coronel-molina & ndemanu, transformative education from multiple perspectives 2 cognitive skills. based on the findings of their study, the authors make recommendations for the incorporation of outdoor play in the preschool curriculum. the second article, “effect of hands-on science activities on ghanaian student learning, attitudes, and career interest: a preliminary control study” by h. beem, focuses on junior high school-aged students in ghana and their participation in stem-focused classes. more specifically, it examines the effect of training the teachers of these students to employ hands-on activities using low-cost, locally available resources on student learning outcomes, attitudes towards learning science, and interest in stem majors or careers. although objective results (e.g., exam scores) were mixed across schools, more subjective measures, such as students’ engagement in class and enjoyment of science, improved significantly. these effects were disproportionately visible among females, who experienced decidedly greater learning gains, increases in engagement, and a shift in interest towards stem majors and careers than their male counterparts. t. j. mcconnell and b. giorgio-booher coauthored the third article, “collaborative teams for self-publishing: a model for creating locally relevant educational books.” realizing that the learning materials are still mostly eurocentric and not culturally responsive in many developing countries, these two authors share a model used to develop a series of books called conservation tales. they developed these books, which were designed to make education more relevant and accessible for children, in collaboration with university faculty, students, and scientists, and leveraged the skills of artists, writers, and content experts from among these groups to provide a rich learning experiences for readers while also offering affordable options for self-publishing. in the article, “classroom democracy and learning outcomes in primary schools in francophone africa,” a. m. njong offers a look at existing data on student performance and indicators of classroom democracy to evaluate the impact of democratic practices in the classroom on learning outcomes. the results show the importance of both teachers and parents in the process of children internalizing democracy in the classroom, and further highlight the importance of preserving and promoting indigenous cultural values, because they facilitate learning achievements. with respect to health education, e. n. nwagu authored “transformative learning potentials of trainee health workers in nsukka, enugu state, nigeria.” in this article, she focuses on health workers in training and the impact of transformative learning and demographic characteristics on their absorption of the material. this was a descriptive study based on self-reporting by the respondents (learners). participants indicated a high degree of transformative learning, with the most frequently selected learning components being field trips and presentations. students felt that such hands-on activities gave them a better understanding of health, illness, and health care. the study demonstrated the importance of discussion and debate in developing critical reflection among learners. in current educational research, the geography of education analyzes the disparity of educational outcomes based on the geographical location of the schools students attend. the urban and rural schools in ghana exhibit that disparity. m. k. nyatsikor, w. k. abroampa, k. esai-donkoh examine the difference between rural and urban environments in “the impact of school locale on pupils’ competencies in selected subjects: does it matter more for specific regions in ghana?” they were specifically interested in student competency on english and mathematics tests at the primary level. results showed statistically significant differences in achievement between rural and urban school pupils both nationally and regionally, with urban schoolchildren outperforming rural ones on both tests. rural school children in the eastern region were the most disadvantaged. the paradigm flipped in northern region, where rural schoolchildren achieved higher average scores than their urban peers. this would suggest that it makes a significant difference in which part of the country a child attends school, and leads to the conclusion that it is necessary for resources for schools and communities to be equitably distributed and effectively utilized in order to provide quality inclusive education for all pupils. in the next article, b. o. nyatuka discusses “education for sustainable development in kenya: rhetoric and reality in basic education.” the importance of sustainable development is becoming increasingly clear, and the role of education in forming responsible global citizens to believe in and engage in such practices cannot be overlooked. the ultimate goal of such education is to foster ideal policies and practices for enhancing the social, economic, and ecological viability of present and future generations. this article offers a review of research on the importance of education for sustainable development (esd), reflecting on its utility for realizing the objectives of kenya’s competencyglobal journal of transformative education (2020) vol 2 coronel-molina & ndemanu, transformative education from multiple perspectives 3 global journal of transformative education (2020) vol 2 based curriculum (cbc), particularly with regard to the acquisition of core competencies like creativity, problem-solving, and self-efficacy. the author presents some of the challenges that esd implementation faces, as well as some of the pertinent pedagogical theories and their implications, and relevant legal and policy frameworks. in the final article, “transformational leadership and wealth creation in educational organizations: the case of higher education in cameroon,” p. p. teneng explores the education industry and the influx of educational subsidiary enterprises created by graduates who have been unable to find jobs upon graduation. most of these enterprises end up failing within five years. this raises the question of what prevents these smalland medium-sized education businesses from thriving, which is the question teneng seeks to answer in this survey study of 210 small and medium-sized educational firms. the findings suggest that a lack of transformational leadership, due in large part to a lack of leadership or wealth creation education, is a major contributor to the failure of these businesses. the author makes recommendations for transformational and strategic leadership education to be a required part of higher education curricula, to introduce students to the business world through meaningful partnerships and quality entrepreneurship courses. invitation to prospective authors we invite authors keen on transformative education from all walks of life to consider gjte as an avenue for dissemination of their ideas germane to curriculum and teaching. gjte accepts submissions for its open call, with no deadlines for submissions, and no publishing fees for authors. the journal’s website includes author guidelines to help prospective authors with formatting specifications, and an online submissions system to help with the submission, review and editing process. new authors are invited to register in the system. gjte also invites readers to join our editorial board of reviewers by selecting the “reviewer” role and indicating content expertise. acknowledgments the global journal of transformative education (gjte) is a singular publication venue since its main objective is to share educational research and research-based practices on transformative education from local and global perspectives. despite the great amount of time and effort we have invested in the conceptualization, development, implementation, production, and publication of this second volume, we could not have done all this by ourselves. the publication of this volume is the result of the hard work and dedication of many people. first of all, our profound gratitude goes to the global institute for transformative education (gite) and its founding members for their sustained sponsorship to make this volume happen. we are deeply thankful to tom j. mcconnell, who provided us with invaluable assistance in his role as managing editor, taking care of the daily operations of gjte. we are also grateful to our colleagues who serve on the editorial board, as well as to institutions, friends, colleagues, and social media networks from around the world for their help in publicizing the gjte website and facebook page widely. we would also like to thank all the contributors to this second volume for choosing gjte to publish their work. many thanks to iuscholarworks for hosting gjte’s website. without the generous assistance and contribution of all these great people and institutions, gjte would never have become a reality. we are equally grateful to our colleagues worldwide who spent significant number of hours reviewing the papers. we thank them for their time and diligence in the review process. we also owe an immense debt of gratitude to fred bay for his continuous generous donations to gite for transformative education conferences, which have been the springboard of gjte. we wish him a long life. 1serafín m. coronel-molina (scoronel@indiana.edu) is an associate professor in the department of curriculum and instruction at indiana university, bloomington, indiana, usa. authors 2michael t. ndemanu (mtndemanu@bsu.edu) is an associate professor of education in the department of educational studies at ball state university, muncie, indiana, usa. gjte is published by the global insitutute of transformative education https://scholarworks.iu.edu/journals/index.php/gjte https://scholarworks.iu.edu/journals/index.php/gjte https://gite.education/ https://gite.education/ https://gite.education/ ayaga, g. n, & okaya, e. k.. global journal of transformative education (2020) vol 2 doi 10.14434/gjte.v2i1.31198 open access published by the global insitutute of transformative education (http://www.gite.education) © ayaga, g. n., & okaya, e. k. 2020. open access this journal is distributed under the terms of the creative commons attribution noncommercial nonderivative 4.0 international license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction without revision in any non-commercial medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the creative commons license, implications of outdoor environment on children’s learning experiences in public preschools in borabu sub-county, kenya godfrey nyaoga ayaga1 & edward khasakhala okaya2 abstract this paper presents results from a study conducted in borabu sub-county in kenya to determine the implications of outdoor environment on children’s learning experiences in public preschools. the major findings suggest that the general state of outdoor environment component was unsatisfactory. it found a positive relationship between the outdoor environment and pre-schoolers learning experiences and ability to perform loco-motor activities and rhythmic movement activities and general academic achievement. the results further indicated that all the four states of outdoor environments (the site, availability, adequacy and effectiveness) combined to explain 35.2% of the variance in the preschool overall learning experiences. the results indicated that a rich outdoor environment has a positive influence on preschool children‘s development of various social, emotional and cognitive skills. the study recommends that teachers and pupils should participate in outdoor play, and governments should enact policy guidelines to increase the availability, adequacy and effectiveness of outdoor activities. keywords: competency-based curriculum; outdoor environment; learning experiences full listing of authors and contacts can be found at the end of this article. introduction the government of kenya recognizes early childhood development and education as an important pillar for accelerating the attainment of education for all (efa, unesco, 2010) and the sustainable development goals (republic of kenya, 2006). to ensure quality education and learning environment during a child’s formative years, efa’s first goal stipulates that it is the responsibility of every government to expand and enhance comprehensive early childhood education where young boys and girls fully develop their competencies which facilitate smooth learning in other advanced levels. according to a 2002 report by the world fit for children conference, it is important for every child to have a good start to life whereby a child receives quality nurturing, care and safe environment (githinji & kanga, 2011). in this regard, many developing and developed nations have been developing and implementing policies that are perceived to improve the state of early childhood education in various countries (kang’ethe, wakahiu & karanja, 2015), this has galvanized many countries, especially in sub-saharan africa (ssa), into confronting their historically low access to quality early childhood education (murunga, 2015). this has brought a remarkable success in attracting many children into schools (unesco, 2010). however, filling the classrooms is not enough in the process of ensuring access to basic education and education for all. the goal is geared towards having positive social and economic returns in which improving the quality of education is the key emphasis. unfortunately, the 2010 unesco report indicate that the quality in terms of pre-schoolers’ acquisition of early year competencies is not satisfactory in many countries and many preschool learning centres have poorly established learning environment in most sub-saharan africa countries kenya inclusive. ideas of early childhood development and education (ecde) can be traced back to 400bc in plato’s book, “the republic”. plato advocated that early childhood education should be made interesting, and attractive through music, plays, number work and geometrical exercises which are implemented better in a rich ayaga & okaya, outdoor environment & children’s learning 5 a rich outdoor environment (njoroge, 2011). similarly, githinji, & kanga (2011) notes that philosophers like jean jacques, rousseau and jean heinrich pestalozzi emphasizes on the significance rich outdoor environment to help children acquire the necessary skills, knowledge and attitudes necessary for holistic development. in particular, a child’s psycho-social development is a long process that requires a critical mass of organized individuals involved in a variety of participatory educational processes and actions to produce cumulative results (lyabwene, 2010). therefore, the children’s interactions with a rich outdoor environment is necessary for the children’s holistic development and acquisition of early year’s competencies. it has consistently been observed by many scholars that for effective learning to take place, children need mental stimulation and plenty of opportunities to exercise and develop their talents through the use of both fixed and movable equipment (lyabwene, 2010). thus, for preschool centres to foster social competencies, prepare children for future interactions and acquiring of early literacy and numeracy skills, the use of adequate, safe and effective outdoor environment is usually regarded. in the last three decades, the use of rich outdoor environments has held a prominent place in the field of early childhood education since its beginning with german educator friedrich froebel’s kindergarten and nursery school movement in the early 1800s (gray & macblain, 2015). the founders of early childhood education emphasized the importance of learning within a well-established outdoor environment. this was in stark contrast to the predominant theory of the day which held that learning was done within classroom (gray & macblain, 2015). these early educators were viewed as radicals as they promoted the theory that children learn through their interaction with the environment. in the usa, children’s playtime has steadily decreased due to limited access to play spaces, changes in the way children are expected to spend their time, parent concerns for safety, and digital media use among young children (bishop, 2013). social changes and new technologies in the country have also impacted negatively on the way children play and the amount of free time they are given because children between the ages 3-11 use most of their free time at school completing homework and shopping with parents (ginsburg, lee, & boyd, 2008). in addition, lovell (2009) observes that children’s playtime continues to decrease in th usa as a result of an emphasis on academic preparation at an early age, 30% of american kindergarteners no longer have recess, 71% of children and teenagers have a tv in their bedroom, and parental perceived risk of play environments and limited access to outdoor play spaces. a study done by nairn and mori (2011), evaluating the lives of children in united kingdom, spain and sweden, pointed out that children in the united kingdom had less chances for pleasurable outdoor activities compared with spain and sweden and that this was a contributor towards reduced well-being and learning in united kingdom. the study further found that the decisions to reduce funding for outdooor play and spaces was disadvantageous for children, particularly those from poor groups of children whose families struggle to find reasonable play provisions. in singapore, early childhood education remains a self-regulated programme as preschools in the country vary in terms of their programme content and overall teaching and learning approaches, catering to different social strata and cultural groups (wentzuo, 2010). despite of the fact that play should be an integral part of the preschool teaching in the country, it remains unclear whether preschool centres incorporate play-based methods of teaching into their practice as recommended under the kindergarten curriculum framework (peng, 2011). in some instances, preschool supervisors in singapore are not advocating or adopting play-based teaching into their curriculum because of parental expectations and the demands of a meritocratic and economically-driven society that perceives education as a commodity to be obtained for financial success and social mobility (wentzuo, 2010). despite the relevance of early childhood education, tanzania is among african countries that has given early childhood development (ecd) program minimal attention in the past three decades (tarimo, 2013). however, in 2001, the government of tanzania adopted an inter-sectoral ecd service delivery initiative resulting in the inclusion of ecd in the national strategy for growth and reduction of poverty (nsgrp). since then, emphasis has been put on use of child-centered teaching methods (cctms) like the use of play as a teaching approach in both indoor and outdoor teaching (united republic of tanzania, 2008). despite the government’s effort, a report by unicef (2007) indicates that more than 95% of young children in the country lack access to early childhood stimulation characterized by rich outdoor environment. global journal of transformative education (2020) vol 2 ayaga & okaya, outdoor environment & children’s learning 6 global journal of transformative education (2020) vol 2 despite the challenges facing early childhood education in many parts of the world, the early years of a child’s life are globally accepted as the most critical years for the lifelong development of a child (kang’ethe, wakahiu & michael, 2015). in this regard, there is evidence of a positive correlation between the child’s quality of early childhood nurturing, health, environment, learning and future holistic development and academic achievement in subsequent grades in primary, secondary schools and colleges (bradbury, 2007). this fact has been emphasized by most founders of early childhood development and education (ecde), especially johann froebel, heinrich pestalozzi and john dewey, among others who consistently indicated that early childhood is a crucial stage of life in terms of a child’s physical, intellectual, emotional and social development. growth of mental and physical abilities progress at an astounding rate and a very high proportion of learning take place from birth to age six (murunga, 2015). to address the problems inherent in early childhood education in kenya, the constitution of kenya (republic of kenya, 2010) establishes government at two levels, national and county governments. therefore, kenya transited from a centralized government to devolved system of government. with the advent of the implementation of the constitution of kenya (rok, 2010), the devolution process heralded the devolution of pre-school among other devolved functions of the county governments. in this regard, article 43 of the constitution says that every person has a right to education including preschool children. further, the education sector is governed by the basic education act, 2013 and the sessional paper no.14 of 2012 on reforming education and training sectors in kenya. the basic education act, 2013, aims at giving effect to article 53 of the constitution, and to promote and regulate free and compulsory basic education. however, this has not been the case because there is no county government in kenya which provides free preschool education. a major landmark in education in early years learning has been a shift from 8-4-4 system of education to competency based curriculum. the 8-4-4 system of education was introduced in 1985 following the recommendations of the 1981 presidential working party on the establishment of the second university in kenya (republic of kenya, 1981). the guiding philosophy of the system was education for self-reliance. several task force reports as well as summative and formative evaluation reports led to curriculum reviews in 1992, 1995 and 2002. however, these reviews only addressed issues of curriculum content, unnecessary overlaps and emerging issues. the reviews have not adequately addressed fundamental issues that would transform society by enhancing the productivity of every kenyan citizen and accelerate economic growth. the summative evaluation of the curriculum (rok, 2006) indicated that the curriculum content and its implementation was academic and examination-oriented. in addition to curriculum overload, most schools were not adequately provided with equipped workshops to facilitate the learning of practical skills and teachers were not sufficiently trained. furthermore the 8-4-4 system of education did not provide flexible education pathways for identifying and nurturing the talents and interests of learners early enough to prepare them for the world of work, career progression and sustainable development. in the same vein, the 2010 report of the task force on the re-alignment of the education sector to the kenya vision 2030 and constitution of kenya 2010 was formed which led to the sessional paper no. 2 of 2015 on “reforming education and training in kenya” (rok, 2015). the sessional paper states that the education sector is guided by the national philosophy, which places education at the centre stage of the country’s human and economic development. the sessional paper recommends reforming the education and training sector to provide for the development of the individual learner’s potential in a holistic and integrated manner, while producing intellectually, emotionally and physically balanced citizens. it recommended a competency-based curriculum; establishment of a national learning assessment system; early identification and nurturing of talents; the introduction of national values and national cohesion and their integration into the curriculum; and the introduction of three learning pathways at senior secondary school level among others. the competency based curriculum framework vision and mission (rok, 2006) are supported by three important pillars: values, theoretical approaches and guiding principles. currently, in many counties, early childhood education programs operate on the basis of partnership, collaboration and networking. however, in 2003, free primary education was introduction in kenyan primary schools. ecde was not included in this setup despite the fact that most components that make a rich outdoor environment are expensive. with the current poverty index in most rural kenyan setting, most preschool centres operate under poor conditions which are perceived to hinder their full participation and full development ayaga & okaya, outdoor environment & children’s learning 7 global journal of transformative education (2020) vol 2 (ngaruiya, 2006). worse still, parents do not understand why primary education should be free and not early childhood education [ece]; they have therefore begun resisting paying ece fees, choking off a vital source of funding. many county governments have devolved early childhood education to bring efficiency in the management of these units of education. there is, however, a small but convincing body of research knowledge which indicates that there are still many challenges in implementation of early years education in most counties (mahindu, 2011) currently there are disparities in the 47 counties on their priorities in the implementation of early childhood education where some counties have set some reasonable funds to support preschool education, while to other counties, ecde is not a priority in their budgetary allocations. this has resulted in diversity of practices by various county government and stakeholders, compromising the quality of service offered at preschool centres. in kenya, mahindu (2011) conducted a study in nairobi and found that many pre-schools had many children learning indoors without outdoor play experiences because some of the pre-schools were located in residential plots with rooms turned into classrooms. hence children stay indoors most hours of school day. mahindu (2011) also found that many pre-schools did not have play items for their pupils and in most cases where pupils were found playing or learning outside, they were left to play and learn on their own without teachers’ supervision and guidance. the researchers are of the opinion that if the issue of outdoor environment and play is not addressed well with the seriousness it deserves, the quality of preschool education will be hampered leading to negative implications in schooling. there was therefore a necessity to undertake a study to assess the implication of outdoor environment on pre-schoolers’ learning experience. statement of the problem the government of kenya initiated competency-based curriculum in the view to enhance skills of learners. a competency-based approach focuses on the skills and talents needed to be able to perform a particular task to a certain standard. early childhood care and education offers a holistic development of a child’s social, emotional, cognitive and physical needs in order to build a solid and broad foundation for lifelong learning and well-being. this eventually shapes young learners’ minds, attitudes and often behaviours. if it is not well managed its likely to compromise holistic development of these pre-schoolers, leading to maladjustment. this calls for proper structuring of pre-school learning environment to foster creativity of learners through play. it is however becoming clear from emerging research that children spend limited time doing outdoor activities. this is against the findings of current literature and theories of child development that advocate for providing appropriate outdoor learning environment that offers a sense of freedom for children to play freely with peers, expand their imagination beyond the restraints of indoor activities, release energy, and explore their senses of touch, smell, taste and motion. an attempt has been made by the government of kenya, to cater to the well-being of young children, by developing service standard guidelines to ensure that quality services are delivered efficiently and effectively at all times in ecde centres. this was envisaged to ensure the provision of adequate, safe and effective outdoor learning environments. despite the kenyan government’s effort to ensure quality and rich outdoor environments, the strategies and efforts have not been effective due to the current condition of the outdoor environment and equipment in most pre-school learning centres, characterized by inadequacy and unsafe fixed and movable equipment. it is against this setting that the proposed study sought to investigate into the influence of outdoor environment on pre-schoolers’ learning experience. research questions the following specific questions guided the study: i. what is the state of outdoor environment in ecde centres in borabu sub-county? ii. how does the outdoor environment affect children’s learning experiences and physical development in borabu sub-county? ayaga & okaya, outdoor environment & children’s learning 8 global journal of transformative education (2020) vol 2 theoretical framework this study was guided by socio-cultural theory. the theory arises from the works of vygotsky (1978) who emphases on the role socio-cultural factors on children’s development and learning. vygotsky (1978) believed that planned learning should be learner-centred and oriented towards activities through which they can construct their knowledge as a result of recognition of one’s experience. vygotsky’s theory supports that learning must not just based on classroom theories of teaching, but with learning to learn, developing skills and utilization of indoor and outdoor learning strategies which make learning experiences relevant and meaningful for the benefit of holistic development. vygotsky argues that enhanced environment, social interactions, and shared outdoor activities assist children attain skills and master various activities, moreover to reason in a meaningful manner. vygotsky proposes that the nature of development and learning in young children takes place in a social environment. vygotsky (1978) believed that young children don’t develop in isolation, but in a social matrix. vygotsky´s socio-cultural theory (1978) has an imperative contribution for studying the environments essential for physical activity and learning. vygotsky´s advancement advocates for modification of varied children’s contexts. in this case, the outdoor environment should offer children with opportunities to experience phenomena that contribute to their meaning making and skill development. the child’s experiences in the outdoor environment give rise to describing things that cannot be experienced indoors (norling & sandberg, 2015). during outdoor activities children use their experiences to perform meaning making in social relationships with peers, grown-ups and their immediate environment. constantly changing outdoor environment expands children’s range of experiences and stimulates their activity level and learning. proponents of the constructivist theory have pointed out that human beings construct all knowledge while participating in different mental and physical experiences. in constructivism, the learner builds a personal interpretation of the world based on experiences and interactions (pierucci, o’brien, mcinnis, gilpin, & barber, 2014). on the other hand , social constructivism suggests that the curriculum should ultimately produce learners who would be able to deal effectively with the modern world. therefore, curricula should not be presented as finished abstractions, but should include the child’s preconceptions and should incorporate how the child views his or her own world (pellis & pellis, 2007). the other learning theory that has shaped and influenced the provision of competency based curriculum (cbc) is the visible learning theory as advanced by john hattie (2012). this theory postulates that fundamental changes in education systems have important implications for curriculum reform. learners need to be able to think about and solve problems, work in teams, communicate through discussions, take initiatives and bring diverse perspectives to their learning. learners also need to demonstrate the impact of the achievement of national goals of education. visible learning means an enhanced role for teachers as they become evaluators of their own teaching. hattie asserts that visible learning and teaching occurs when teachers see learning through the eyes of students and help them become their own teachers (wilson & myers, 2000). literature review historical dimensions of child play there is a considerable body of research which is indicative, relating children’s play and aspects of their learning and development. this evidence includes work in evolutionary and developmental psychology, anthropology, neuroscience and educational studies. however, while researchers in these fields have hypothesized about how play might enhance child outcomes, much of this evidence merely establishes associations rather than firm, causal relationships. in fact, there is little or no conclusive evidence regarding possible explanatory mechanisms. from evolutionary psychology, bruner (1978) argued that as more and more complex animals evolved, the length of immaturity increased facilitating an increased level in learning. (whitebread, 2017). in the same vain, pellegrini & bohn, (2005) in a review of evolutionary play concluded that play contexts allow human beings to engage in exploratory activities. much of research on play in developmental psychology has been advanced by vygotsky (1978). he states that during spontaneous play, learners exercise control over their own activity and set for themselves challenges which lead to their holistic development. a close follower of vygotsky, karpov (2005) carried out an analysis of neo-vygotskian practices and concluded that play allows children to regulate their own behaviour making it a significant factor in their self-regulation. ayaga & okaya, outdoor environment & children’s learning 9 global journal of transformative education (2020) vol 2 importance of play to children much of a child’s early years are spent playing, exploring and testing their environment and own personal boundaries. all of this play has significant and proven benefits for a child’s early development (whitebread, 2017). research has shown that children who regularly engage in play-based learning have better cognitive flexibility, working memory and self-regulation ability (karpov, 2005). school administrators need to build playgrounds, train teachers in how to guide play-based learning and make their own play materials using natural materials. he recommends the involvement parents in the production of play materials there is a steadily growing body of research knowledge on the importance of play (karpov, 2005; pelligrini & bohn, 2005; whitebread, 2017). children behave better in the classroom when they have had the chance to blow off steam and release energy on the playground during the day. playing is a known method of stress release that can help with a child’s emotional welfare. play can help young children become more aware of other people’s feelings and develop empathy. during play, whether it is inside or outside, children must interact and cooperate with each other, as well as share play equipment which requires good communication skills. children can build relationships, learn to resolve conflicts, negotiate and regulate their emotions. play can nurture qualities like self-discipline and attention control, which can be just as vital for school readiness as content knowledge. children with longer attention spans and self-control can focus more on tasks in the classroom (wilson & myers, 2000). this is because when children engage in make-believe play that involves role playing, there are generally rules that they must follow which involves regulating their natural self and behavior (vygotsky, 1978). by practicing this in a safe, fun environment, their self-control is enhanced, which can then be transferred to a classroom setting. there is a growing body of research that shows a link between play and the development of cognitive and social skills that are prerequisites for learning more complex concepts as children get older (oren, 2008). for example, play is linked to growth in memory, self-regulation, oral language, and recognizing symbols (wilson & myers, 2000). it has been linked to higher levels of school adjustment and increased social development. play has also been linked to increased literacy skills and other areas of academic learning (a view held by piagetian and vygotskian theories of child development). children create a pretend scenario by negotiating and talking to peers and usinge props in a symbolic way. children create specific roles and rules for pretend behaviour and adopt multiple themes and multiple roles. when children engage in this kind of play for most of their early years, they learn to delay gratification and to prioritize their goals and actions. they also learn to consider the perspectives and needs of other people. they learn to represent things symbolically and to regulate their behaviours and act in a deliberate, intentional way. today, many children do not have enough play opportunities at home because of tv, videos, and the computer (bodrova & leong, 2015). they interact with toys that are not conducive to building imagination and interesting dramatic play themes. in many instances, pretend play with siblings and neighbourhood children is not available. there are more adult-organized and directed activities than in the past. they tend to be in groups of children of the same age rather than in mixed-age groups, which would include older children who could act as “play mentors.” early childhood classrooms provide a unique setting to foster the kind of dramatic play that will lead to cognitive and social maturity. there are other children to play with, a setting that can be organized to accommodate imaginative play, and adults who can encourage the play, guiding children to play effectively with each other. location of the study the study was carried out in borabu sub-county of nyamira county. borabu sub-county is the largest sub-county in nyamira with an area of 248.3 kilometres square. the population density of borabu sub-county is 296 people per square kilometre. according to monda (2012), borabu sub-county has a poverty index of 48.6. this is an indication that many people are poor. in fact, borabu region is a former white settlement region and even though it is said to be economically stable, pockets of poverty are evident especially among the causal labourers providing labour in the tea plantations and well-to-do homes. although early years of education is devolved, financing is still low, therefore most financing of ecde has been has been left in the hands of communities or parents. studies also indicate that dropout and repetition rates, especially in lower primary, are high in nyamira county which influenced the selection of the location. since the majority of young children spend a significant part of their day at early childhood development and education ayaga & okaya, outdoor environment & children’s learning 10 global journal of transformative education (2020) vol 2 centres, it is therefore imperative to find out whether outdoor experiences provided are positive and supportive enough to enhance physical activity and learning. methods the study employed a mixed method approach (creswell, 2009). this involved the collection, analysis and integration of both quantitative and qualitative research methods within a single research study in order to answer research questions (creswell & plano, 2011). the combination of qualitative and quantitative methods occurred at different phases of the research process, such as formulation of research hypothesis and questions, data collection and analysis (bryman, 2006). mixed methods approach was suitable because it allowed the researcher to validate or corroborate the results obtained from various sources (questionnaires, interview schedules and document analysis) (creswell, 2009). this allowed for a wider understanding of a research problem from different angles, therefore clarifying and comparing quantitative and qualitative data so as to uncover and understand the unexpected findings and potential contradictions from various sources. the approach further fostered scholarly interaction and provided methodological flexibility that were adaptable to a variety of data collection, analysis, and interpretation strategies and procedures that elucidated more information than was not possible to obtain through quantitative or quantitative approach alone, therefore offsetting the weaknesses of quantitative and qualitative approaches when used alone (creswell, 2009). within the mixed method approach, the embedded research design was employed. the purpose of the design was to collect both quantitative and qualitative data concurrently, but to have one form of data play a supportive role to the other form of data. the reason for collecting the second form of data was to support the primary form of data. in regard to this study, the qualitative data were collected to support the quantitative data (creswell, 2009). this approach was appropriate because it enabled the study to gather adequate data that provides a better understanding of the research problem and adequately answers the entire research questions (creswell & plano, 2011). this increases the overall strength of a study by enhancing the validity and trustworthiness of data collected (denscombe, 2010). the design also had the capacity of collecting data concerning the existing position of the problem in which the researcher had no direct control of the independent variables because the manifestation had already taken place during the time of data collection (denscombe, 2008). the design was also more appropriate because it allowed the researcher to gather information from a large number of cases through questionnaires, interviews and document analyses. the study was carried out in borabu sub-county of nyamira county. borabu. the study targeted 50 public pre-schools, 50 primary head teachers, and 50 preschool lead teachers and 1603 final pre-school class pupils. to obtain the required sample the study employed cluster, purposive and simple random sampling design were used to recruit participants. the final sample for the study included 44 primary head teachers, and 44 preschool lead teachers and 309 final pre-school class pupils. the research instruments that were used to collect data consisted of questionnaire, interview schedules and document analysis. validity for various research instruments was also determined. validity is the extent to which the research instrument measures what it purports or intends to measure (cohen, manion & morrison, 2007). the main purpose of ensuring the validity of various research instruments in the current study was to enhance the accuracy and usefulness of the findings by controlling the confounding or intervening variables (creswell & miller, 2000). to ensure validity of research instruments in the present study, face, construct and content validities of the questionnaires, interview schedules and document analysis was determined by presenting and discussing the various items in research instruments with two experts in the area of early childhood education. the experts’ suggestions, together with the findings from the pilot study were used to modify the items in the research instruments. this ensured that the test items were clear, relevant and well organized. the study further adopted the triangulation approach so as to ensure the validity of the research instruments. in other words, the study used multiple methods of data collection: interviews, questionnaires as well as document analysis. by so doing, an area that was overlooked by one method was strengthened and checked by the other method of data collection. the study gathered both quantitative and qualitative data. quantitative data were gathered through questionnaires and document analysis while qualitative data were obtained through the use of interview schedule and document analysis. both descriptive and inferential statistics were used in analysing quantitative data. descriptive statistics such as measures of central ayaga & okaya, outdoor environment & children’s learning 11 global journal of transformative education (2020) vol 2 tendency and percentages were used to describe data. the descriptive statistics allowed the researcher to meaningfully explain the distribution of scores or measurements using a few indices (mugenda & mugenda, 2003). this involved the researcher transforming large groups of data into a more manageable form that was easy to understand and interpret (mbwesa, 2006). inferential statistics, including the pearson’s product moment correlation coefficient, simple and multiple regression analysis were used to test hypotheses. all hypothesis testing was done at α=.05. all these analyses were done with qualitative data, the principles of thematic analysis as proposed by braun & clarke (2006). results and discussion the results were obtained from 42 primary head teacher, 42 preschool lead teachers and 381 final preschool class pupils. availability of components of outdoor environment the results on the availability of various outdoor components in ecde centres are represented in table 1. the results show that several outdoor environmental components were of interest to the current study. the study establishes in general that in almost half (46.44%) of the ecde centres, the components of a rich outdoor environment were not available at all while less than a quarter (22.61%) of the ecde centres had few elements in existence. with a lot of concern, the results further indicated that only 4.19% of the ecde centres in which all the elements required for a rich outdoor environment were available. although the children’s outdoor environment should be equipped with standardized structured such as swings, slides, and climbing structures often installed over asphalt. outdoor environments should be equipped with standardized structured such as swings, slides, and climbing structures often installed over asphalt (frost, wortham, & reifel, 2001). the current findings indicated that the school outdoor environment was typically a part of schools’ playground which had few structures. contemporary playgrounds lacked structures that provided various means for children to explore and develop various skills. this seems not to be in line with the recommendations of the competency based curriculum which aims at nurturing every learner’s potential so that they are fully engaged and empowered in order to develop as ethical citizens. this calls for a paradigm shift in schools to provide play materials that would lead to holistic development of learners. during the interview with the primary school head teachers and pre-school lead teachers on the availability of various outdoor components, majority (76%) of preschool lead teachers in general expressed their concern about the acute shortage of various outdoor components that makes an ideal outdoor environment that facilitate the children’s physical development and ayaga & okaya, outdoor environment & children’s learning 12 global journal of transformative education (2020) vol 2 physical skills. for example, one teacher stated, “in my school, there are no equipment needed for preschool children’s physical development like climbers, slides and swings. this makes it difficult for me to conduct outdoor activities, however there is a large playground with space where kids can run and develop their own ideas (t-12).” effectiveness of outdoor components the study established that on average, 64.97% of preschool centres had effective components that made the outdoor environment. this implies that the remaining 35.03% of centres did not provide effective enabling outdoor environment for preschool children to participate in various outdoor activities. on the other hand, 69.1% of centres had effective physically developed equipment that were adaptable to users’ needs and catered for children’s interests, 66.7% of centres had school gardens that provided an enabling environment for a wide range of stimulating activities, 61.9% had construction areas that were large enough and allowed for a wide variety of activities, and 69.0% had sand pits that enabled children to engage in a variety of stimulating and imaginative activities. this positive finding needs to be emphasized in our kenyan schools because psychomotor and creative activities at pre-primary level enable learners to develop both fine and gross motor skills which are necessary for the control and co-ordination of different parts of the body. these activities also allow children to explore and develop social skills and personal talents and skills as well as appreciate their cultural heritage. the results further revealed that 61.9% of the centres did have loose materials (tyres, bean bags, ropes, balls) that were appropriate for the different age level learners, but 73.8% of the centres did not have water play areas that accommodated a variety of learning styles among learners, and 86.2% did not have a play house that provided opportunities for social interactions among children. this finding is not consistent with the literature reviewed that called upon schools to develop play areas to lead to holistic development of learners (pelligrini & bohn, 2005; whitebread, 2017). this calls for transformative education whereby schools should take initiative and involve all the stakeholders in education to provide basic materials to be used by learners in early years. teachers need to transform their approaches in engagement with parents and community members so that they are actively involved in sourcing materials for learners in pre-school centres. assessing the state of outdoor environment the results affect the state of outdoor environment in terms of the condition, adequacy, utilisation, adaptability, design and appropriateness of various outdoor components in various ecde centres. in this regard, the study established that the conditions of the outdoor components that make a rich outdoor environment were unsatisfactory in 40.48% of the ecde centres. the data establish that the condition, adequacy, utilisation, adaptability, design and appropriateness of various outdoor components in various ecde centres is below average. on considering whether the outdoor facilities in various ecde centres were in good condition, it was found that in majority (47.8%) of the ecde centres the condition of the outdoor facilities were unsatisfactory. it was further established that in 40.1% of the centre the storage facilities for outdoor equipment were insufficient, 47.8 % of the ecde centres the equipment in the outdoor environment were not logically well-designed in a manner that accommodated for integrated activity based systems of learning. in more than half (52.5%) of the schools, the appropriate equipment for various age level activities were inadequate. in almost half (48.2%) of the preschool centres the science activities were not provided with sufficient space and equipment with science materials, and in almost half (47.9%) of the preschool centres the overall design of the outdoor environment was not aesthetically pleasing and appropriate for the different age level pupils. in about two thirds (67.0%) of the ecde centres the outdoor working environment was not sheltered from sun and inclement weather. 54.9% of the ecde centres the outdoor equipment did not provide an attractive colour and texture, 43.1% of the ecde centre the location of outdoor facilities did not enhance the learning climate of the pre-school and in 55.2% of the ecde centre the exterior noise and surrounding environment frequently disrupt outdoor learning. it will be important for teachers and other community members to change their approaches in order to transform the outdoor environment. this may require paradigm shift in contextualising the value of outdoor environment as a precursor to classroom learning. the findings of the study indicates positive correlation (p=0.00) between the overall outdoor environment (availability, adequacy, effectiveness and state outdoor components)and all the three aspects of pre-schoolers’ learning experience (children’s ability to performing various rhythmic movement activities, children’s ability to perform various locomotor ayaga & okaya, outdoor environment & children’s learning 13 global journal of transformative education (2020) vol 2 activities, children’s general performance in various learned activity areas) and the overall learning experience. table 2 further indicates that although a positive correlation was established, the magnitude of the correlation was different between various aspects of pre-schoolers’ learning experiences and the outdoor environment. for example, preschool children’s general performance in various learned activity areas had the highest correlation (r=.687), while children’s ability to performing various loco-motor activities had the least correlations (r=.357) to the outdoor environment. it is also evident that there was a strong positive correlation between pre-schoolers’ general performance in various learned activity areas and general outdoor environment. the correlation was moderate between children’s ability to perform various rhythmic movement activities and general outdoor environment while there was a weak relationship between preschool children’s ability to perform various loco-motor activities and the general outdoor environment in which the children learned. regression of overall outdoor environment and pre-schoolers’ learning in order to estimate the level of influence of the overall outdoor environment (availability, adequacy, effectivenwss and outdoor components) and preschoolers’ learning experience, a coefficient of determination was computed using a regression analysis whose results were as shown in table 3. the model shows that pre-schoolers’ outdoor environment accounted for 35.2% of the variation in the overall pre-schoolers’ positive learning experience, as signified by coefficient r2 of .352. in addition, a linear regression was generated to estimate the actual influence of the overall outdoor environment and pre-schooler’s learning experiences, as shown in table 4. it is evident from table 4 that if the overall outdoor environment (availability, adequacy, effectiveness and stateoutdoor components) was improved by one standard deviation, then perceived scores in the level of preschoolers’ overall learning experience (preschool children’s ability to performing various rhythmic movement activities, preschool children’s ability to performing various loco-motor activities, pre-school children’s general performance in various learned activity areas is likely to improve standard deviation units. on the same note, if the overall children’s ability to performing various rhythmic movement activities, preschool children’s ability to performing various loco-motor activities, pre-schoolchildren’s general performance in various learned activity areas is likely to improve standard deviation units. on the same note, if the overall outdoor ayaga & okaya, outdoor environment & children’s learning 14 global journal of transformative education (2020) vol 2 environment increases by one unit, then the level of the pre-schoolers’ overall learning experience would improve by 3.034 units; this is a substantial effect from one independent variable. in addition, the p-value was 0.000, confirming a statistically significant influence of the overall outdoor environment on the overall preschoolers’ learning experience. during the interview schedules with the primary school head teachers, the study further established that outdoor environment usually facilitated pre-school children‘s physical, social, emotional, and mental development in their various ecde centres. on this note, some of the respondents had this to say: “play gives the child with the opportunities to explore with his/her own world where he or she was free of adult values and external realities.’”(ht-03) “as the preschool children were interacting through play, they developed the feelings of belonging in peer groups, positive feelings for children like enjoyment, happiness, freedom, relaxation, excitement, and entertainment.” (ht-13) on the development of various skills, 39 (92.86%) of the preschool lead teachers noted that rich outdoor environments enabled children to learn about cooperation and collaboration. it was also observed that children from pre-school centres which had adequate and rich outdoor environment generally worked together sharing space and materials amicably, worked toward the same goal and talked with one another as they played, unlike those centres which did not have adequate rich outdoor environment. like in sch19, the preschool children were observed sharing experience that required them to listen to others in order to understand how to work together to achieve mutual goals. as children interacted in the school, they communicated their needs, ideas, feelings, desires, and knowledge to each other, and to their preschool teacher. in sch15, a girl was observed assigning tasks and roles to others, or assumed roles and volunteered for certain tasks which involved inviting other children into their play. in school sch11 children were observed engaging in collaborative problem-solving and at various times, assuming leader and follower roles. as they shared space, materials and plans, they learned to take turns, negotiate, and compromise. when there was conflict, they had the opportunity to practice conflict resolution skills. during the interviews, it was established that a rich outdoor environment facilitated pre-schoolers’ development of early mathematics and problem-solving skills. for instance, in sch06, some boys were observed exploring patterns, the attributes of objects, and shapes. in sch01, some girls were counting as a way to identify and describe their play using a song. children also used counting to convey information to others and to solve problems when there was a disagreement among four girls in sch07. on the development of science skills, children in sch24 were observed exploring nature by trying to discover various parts of the flowers and chancing butterflies. this often involved telling others what they knew about flowers and butterflies. during the researcher’s visit to various preschool centres, it was reported by ht18 that the space and nature of the materials in a rich outdoor environment provided many opportunities for children to purposefully move and use their bodies. it was also observed that preschool who were in school that had rich outdoor environment had better balance and confidence abilities as they manipulated various outdoor equipment than those schools which did not have rich outdoor components. during the observation schedules, it was observed that the space and materials within the outdoor environment were provided multiple opportunities for children to develop construction skills as they engaged in a variety building experiences (evident in more than half 69.05% of the preschool centres). some of the specific skills that were identified during the observations ayaga & okaya, outdoor environment & children’s learning 15 global journal of transformative education (2020) vol 2 included: learning the concept of construction through experimentation; creating enclosures, walls and bridges; emptying and filling, balancing and bracing objects as they experimented with weight and stability. during the interview schedules, a statement was put to the preschool lead teacher with a view to solicit their views regarding the importance of play in learners’ cognitive development. the majority of preschool teachers observed that a rich outdoor environment with adequate and safe playground was important for learners’ cognitive development. in elaborating their answers, the teachers had the following to say: “play develops the children’s sense of reasoning and imagination which also stimulates creativity.”(t-02) “learners enhance their cognitive skills by thinking while enjoying themselves within the outdoor environment.” (t-7) “play develops the child’s brain to think for themselves and find solutions to the challenges they face as they play.” (t-13) “the ability to think critically and solveproblems help in their growth.” (t-22) “play allows children to think critical and coherent.” (t-37) “play develops children’s fine motor skills, reasoning and thinking.” (t-40) implications the findings of the present study are important for the kenyan education system because improving the outdoor environment and pre-school learning experiences will have a positive impact on the long-persisting challenges facing the pre-school education sector in kenya. in addition, the results could serve as a basis for developing a hypothetical model for studying the direct and indirect effects of the fore-mentioned factors on improving the education standards in kenya. in general, these findings could serve as a guideline for teachers, educational practitioners and curriculum developers in developing and utilizing educational policies, methodologies and activities that could help in improving ecde programmes. the study findings finally fill the existing gap in other research carried out to identify the factors contributing to the existing low enrollment and high rates of grade retention in pre-primary schools in kenya. this paves way for more comprehensive national and international research. conclusion the study sought to establish the links between utilization of the outdoor environment and pre-school children’s learning experiences. it has shown that there is general agreement about a positive relationship between use of rich outdoor environment and preschool children’s positive learning experiences associated with development of various skills and competencies. from the study it can be concluded that the ability of pre-school children to perform various loco-motor and rhythmic movement activities is associated to the adequacy, availability, site and effectiveness outdoor components. based on the results of this study, it can be concluded that, despite the many challenges that constrain having a rich outdoor environment, children continue to use the playgrounds as a major component of the outdoor environment. this study undoubtedly exemplifies the significance of children spending time in a well-designed, nature-filled outdoor environment under the support of peers and preschool lead teachers. this outdoor environment is crucial in supporting children’s success and skill development. as educators take charge of outdoor activities, they need to be flexible in their expectations of children in nature-based outdoor classrooms. it is through this expanded freedom that children more fully experience the space, materials and environment, adding to their skill development and to the depth of their understanding of the world around them. lastly, the overarching philosophy of outdoor environments should embrace the value of unstructured play for children, the role of child-initiated activities in learning, and the importance of children spending time outdoors, connecting with nature. all children deserve the rich learning that can occur through opportunities to experience the beauty of nature that spending time in an intentionally designed outdoor classroom can provide. recommendations it is the aim of all educational systems and, indeed, all parents, teachers and all stakeholders in education at all levels, to improve the foundation of their children’s education. based on the findings of this study, the following recommendations are made with the view of improving the state of outdoor environments and pre-school children’s learning experiences while within the pre-schools’ outdoor environment. ayaga & okaya, outdoor environment & children’s learning 16 global journal of transformative education (2020) vol 2 recommendations for policy makers for the head teachers in the field, regular in-service may be necessary so that they are updated with current trends relevant to pre-school education. this will make them aware of the children’s rapidly changing world from which their learning experiences emanate. the government of kenya should have in place policy guidelines to all pre-schools with regard to the availability, adequacy site and effectiveness of outdoor environment. recommendations for head teachers the head teachers should have schools’ policies for monitoring outdoor activities. they should regularly assess and monitor children’s learning and development. recommendations for the ecde teachers the ecde teachers should participate in outdoor play as well as involving all children in outdoor play. they should 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global insitutute of transformative education (http://www.gite.education) © beem. 2020. open access this journal is distributed under the terms of the creative commons attribution noncommercial nonderivative 4.0 international license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction without revision in any non-commercial medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the creative commons license, effect of hands-on science activities on ghanaian student learning, attitudes, and career interest: a preliminary control study heather beem abstract a quasi-experimental study was carried out with 309 form 3 students across 9 public junior high schools in the greater accra region of ghana. the effect of practical education network (pen)’s approach of training stem teachers to employ hands-on activities using low-cost, locally-available resources was studied in terms of student learning outcomes, attitudes towards learning science, and interest in stem majors/ careers. over a 2.5-month period, the science teacher at each experimental school received a weekly training on a hands-on activity and lesson observation by the respective pen trainer. a survey on attitudes towards science and a previous edition of the national exam (bece) were administered to all students before and after the intervention. the mean pre-post differences were compared between the experimental and control schools. the intervention caused an average of 10.9% increase in exam scores (difference-in-differences), but the results were mixed at the school-level. unpaired t-tests and hedge’s g tests were used to determine statistical significance between the two groups. student engagement increased significantly (p = 3 x 10-7, g = 0.85), and student enjoyment of science increased 22% more, on average. the intervention disproportionately affected the females positively, enabling greater learning gains (14.5% vs. 5.3% for the males), greater increase in engagement, and a significant shift in interest towards stem majors and careers, which their male counterparts did not experience. results from this study should inform the design of future studies with longer duration and which account for factors such as school infrastructure quality. keywords: stem, ghana, hands-on activities, attitudes full listing of authors and contacts can be found at the end of this article. introduction in ghana, students use the phrase “chew and pour, pass and forget” to describe their experience of learning in school. this phrase expressively captures how students are asked to “chew” information, repeating facts over and over again, “pour” (vomit) them out on the exams, attempt to pass the exams, and then promptly move on with their lives (blench & dendo, 2006, quansah & asamoah, 2019). the dominance of this phrase in the ghanaian vernacular points to the wide recognition that a shift in pedagogical practice is needed. ghanaian educationists have pointed out the detrimental effects that “chew and pour” has on students’ creativity (haffar, 2016) and ability to translate theory to useful outcomes (adomako-ampofo & kaufmann, 2018). the future world of work in africa is technologybased (world economic forum, 2017). for the growing youth population in africa to rise to these demands, the education system needs to be able to engage students, drive deep learning, and build their interest in stem. ghanaian education stakeholders clearly express that a shift in teaching practice is key to achieving this. the new national curriculum states “ghana believes that an effective science education needed for sustainable development should be inquiry-based” (ministry of education ghana, 2019). interventions that can create enduring, transformative change in stem teaching in ghana should be developed and tested. practical education network (pen) is an ngo seeking to shift the dominant pedagogical mode in west african stem classrooms from rote to experiential. survey data collected from a few hundred ghanaian public junior high school (jhs) teachers reveals that virtually all teachers see the benefit of using hands-on activities, but 80% cite the lack of resources as the main challenge beem, effect of hands-on science activities 19 they face in teaching more experientially. furthermore, less than 5% reported having attended any relevant training towards this challenge within the last year (practical education network, 2016). with minimal resources and training available, most ghanaian teachers feel there are no realistic alternatives to the “chew and pour” approach. pen is tackling this challenge by training science and mathematics teachers to employ low-cost, locally-available materials for the development and deployment of hands-on activities, which are aligned to the national curricula. the aim of this study is to determine the impact of pen’s approach on students in the ghanaian classroom. we hypothesize that regular use of these low-cost, hands-on techniques in the science classroom will improve ghanaian students’ exam scores, attitudes towards learning science, and their interest in pursuing stem in the future. literature review research in science education has established strong positive effects when students are taught using experiential pedagogies. these approaches have been shown to enhance student attitudes (gormally, brickman, hallar, & armstrong, 2009), improve exam scores (abdi, 2014), increase scientific process skills (ergul et al., 2011), and potentially encourage more students to pursue stem-related careers (van den hurk, meelissen, & van langen, 2019). the body of literature has largely been developed in the global north, but a recent study (bando et al., 2019) compiled the results of randomized controlled trials deployed across four latin american countries, assessing the efficacy of the inquiry-based approach across a total of 17k students. their results showed a 0.16 standard deviation increase in science test scores after 7 months of practical science learning. there is a pressing need to understand how to contextualize international best practices for african education, given the low learning outcomes presently being recorded here. in the early 2000’s, ghana began participating in the trends in international mathematics and science study (timms). ghana has continually ranked near or at the bottom of the participating countries (buabeng, owusu, & ntow, 2014). despite ghanaian education stakeholders’ recognition that improvements in learning outcomes are needed, only a few studies have been conducted to determine the efficacy of experiential pedagogies in the local science education context. one study at the senior high school level (aboagye, 2009) compared the effectiveness of a particular constructivist approach (the three-phase learning cycle) with the traditional approach used in ghanaian science classrooms. it was used in the context of teaching one specific topic (direct current electricity). in south africa, kibirige, rebecca & mavhunga (2014) studied 60 high school students, half of which were undergoing three weeks of experimental work (using standard laboratory equipment) and the other half which were undergoing traditional lecture methods. in both cases, they measured improvement on exam scores as a result of the practical sessions. these studies indicate that experiential pedagogies can improve learning outcomes in the african science classroom. more such studies should be done to understand details of implementation, and they should also be carried out at earlier levels of schooling. in ghana, students in senior high school have already chosen a major of study. in order to understand and impact students’ career prospects, interventions and studies are needed at the primary and junior high school levels. even if the efficacy of such pedagogies is established in the african context, the question of how to implement such approaches still remains. in ghana, less than 10% of public junior high schools contain any laboratory equipment (s. mohammed, personal communication, march 2015). for hands-on, experiential lessons to be widely deployed, teaching and learning materials must be low-cost. (davis & chaiklin, 2015) studied the use of classroom objects, such as tables and chairs, as teaching and learning resources for ghanaian students to learn measurement. with over 500 hands-on activities made from materials available locally in ghana (practical education network, 2020), pen’s content is one of the most extensive and relevant resources currently available to the ghanaian science teacher. its alignment with the ghanaian national curriculum also warranted its infusion into the latest revision of the primary school science curriculum (ministry of education ghana, 2019) and the accompanying teacher resource pack’s list of “practical science lesson resources” (national council for curriculum & assessment, 2019). in addition to the content itself, teacher training is a key component in enabling a shift from rote to experiential pedagogies. in ghana, where teachercentered approaches tend to dominate science teaching (buabeng, ossei-anto, & ampiah, 2014), teacher training has been pointed out as a key factor to improving student outcomes (buabeng, owusu, & ntow, 2014). the details of how a teacher implements global journal of transformative education (2020) vol 2 beem, effect of hands-on science activities 20 global journal of transformative education (2020) vol 2 practical content also affects the efficacy of the approach (abrahams & millar, 2008). various teacher training interventions have been successfully carried out in ghana, but they have mostly been focused on literacy and numeracy (aizenman & warner, 2018; johnston & ksoll, 2017). the role of gender as it relates to science education in ghana has been subject to some investigation. (donkor & justice, 2016) sought to uncover the reasons behind the gender gap in students pursuing science in the upper west region of ghana. further research is needed to elicit key mechanisms that can close the gap. the study in south africa mentioned above (kibirige et al., 2014) found no difference in results across gender lines. this study seeks to understand the efficacy of practical education network’s approach, which aims to tackle the aforementioned challenges through its stem teacher training program that equips ghanaian teachers to leverage local materials and carry out hands-on, experiential pedagogies in their classrooms. the research questions are as follows: 1. what effect does pen’s approach have on learning outcomes? 2. what effect does pen’s approach have on student attitudes to learning science? 3. what effect does pen’s approach have on student interest in stem majors and careers? finally, any difference in results across gender and geographical (rural vs. urban) lines are to be elicited. methodology overview a quasi-experimental, quasi-controlled method was employed to measure the effect of training ghanaian science teachers to use practical, hands-on activities in their junior high school classrooms. three pen trainers were selected to lead the intervention. all three are public jhs science teachers who had attended pen’s introduction to hands-on science training program in the past and performed well enough to be invited for a second round of training, the completion of which promoted them to pen trainer status. each pen trainer was enlisted to train 1-2 science teachers in their respective circuitsthe next geographic division below a district and usually composed of 5-20 schools. those teachers were, in turn, prepared to deliver at least one hands-on activity per week in their classroom over a 2.5-month period. the study took place during the 3rd (final) term of the 2016/7 academic year at 9 public schools in various locations within the greater accra region. in total, n = 309 students were involved in the study: 135 from the experimental schools and 174 from the control schools. the trainers solicited and received permission from each participating school to include information on their teachers and students in this study, all school, teacher and student names have been kept anonymous, but select pictures are shown to aid in depicting the intervention. school selection the trainers were asked to select their own participating schoolsboth experimental schools and control schools. they were allowed to choose any schools so long as they were located within their circuit. in all cases, the selection ended up being driven by 1) those which were most easily accessible for the trainers, in terms of distance to travel, and 2) those at which they were positively received by the headteachers. the author’s assumption was that all schools within the same circuit would be similar socioeconomically and in terms of exam performance. the trainers were briefed on the goals of the study, including the intention that both experimental and control schools be similar. they were asked to use their knowledge of the schools to select those they deemed to be comparable. all of the schools are located in the greater accra region of ghana. two of the circuits are located in rural areas (kofi kwei and ashalaja both within the ga south district) and one circuit is in an urban area (kwabenya within the ga east district). the total number of experimental schools is five and that of control schools is four. table 1 provides the code table 1. list of participating schools beem, effect of hands-on science activities 21 global journal of transformative education (2020) vol 2 used to refer to each school in the course of this study, their type (experimental: “exp” or control: “ctrl”), the location of the school (urban or rural), and the total number of students engaged in each school. in each case, all of the students in the final year (form 3) class were engaged in the study. this form was chosen, as their students would be taking the terminal exam for jhs, basic education certificate examination (bece), shortly after the end of the study. tools administered after permission was solicited from the ghana education service (ges) district offices and the schools were selected, a pre-test was administered to the students at all 9 schools (experimental and control). this pre-test was used to determine a baseline for the three main outcomes of interest in this study: student exam scores in science, student attitudes towards learning science, and student interest in stem majors and careers. one tool was used to measure the first outcome and a second tool was used to measure the other two outcomes. the first tool, which was used to assess the first research question, was the full integrated science portion of a previous basic education certification examination (bece). nearly all students write this exam in june, but a second version of the exam is offered in the following february for a small minority of students who require writing it then. the february 2017 version of the bece is the tool which was administered to the students participating in this study. this was at the suggestion of a former examiner for the west african examinations council (waec), the body overseeing the national exams, as he believed that few to none of the students in this study would have seen that particular exam. that person also created the marking scheme used for assessment in this study. the second tool administered was a paper survey, which included the following survey questions (sq): sq1. which of the following subjects do you intend to study in senior high school (shs)? sq2. what job are you most interested in working after you leave school? sq3. how frequently does your science class include hands-on activities? sq4. how engaged are you in the hands-on activities? sq5. how easy is it to learn science? sq6. do you enjoy learning science? sq7. if you do, why? if not, why not? the second research question (students’ attitudes towards learning science) was measured via sq4-7. the third research question (students’ interest in pursuing stem majors and careers) was measured via sq1-2. finally, sq3 was simply used as a check for whether the experimental schools were indeed receiving the intervention. for sq1, all potential subjects that students have as options for their shs “major” were listed. sq2 and sq7 were open-ended responses. options for sq3 included ”never”, “once per month”, “once per week”, and “more than once per week”. sq4 and sq5 were answered on a likert scale from 1 to 7. sq6 was a yes/no question. both the survey and the exam were administered in paper form to the students. pen staff administered the surveys so as to best enable students to provide honest feedback in the absence of their teacher. the trainers administered the exams. at the end of this period, similar tools were administered to the students to serve as the endline. the survey was the exact same as that administered at the beginning of the intervention. the exam administered at the end was, however, a different version. the post-test exam was shorter, composing only part 1 of the two parts composing the bece. it was created by compiling questions from different years’ versions of part 1 of the integrated science portion of the bece. given the short duration of the intervention, only a portion of the syllabus was covered. the selection of past questions ensured that the syllabus topics covered by both sets of teachers would appear on this exam. the selection was done by the research team and checked for fairness by the waec examiner mentioned above. both experimental and control schools completed this endline exam. one intern completed the marking of all exam scripts so as to ensure uniformity. intervention (training + lesson observation) once the pre-test (survey and exam) had been administered at all 9 participating schools, a 2.5-month period of the intervention commenced at the 5 experimental schools. the intervention consisted of the following steps, was repeated on a weekly basis, and is also depicted schematically in figure 1. 1. the experimental school teacher notified pen’s logistics officer of the science curriculum topic they would be treating in the next week. 2. pen’s logistics officer procured locally-available materials for a pen hands-on science activity beem, effect of hands-on science activities 22 corresponding to that topic, and he delivered the materials to the pen trainer. 3. the pen trainer trained the experimental school teacher on pen’s hands-on science activity for that syllabus topic. 4. the teacher delivered the practical lesson to their form 3 students, while the pen trainer observed. 5. the pen trainer provided feedback to the teacher on their lesson delivery. the pen trainer visited the experimental school(s) in their circuit twice a weekonce to train the teacher and once to observe the deployment of the practical lesson. this cycle continued every week in the experimental schools, while the control schools were exempted. figure 2 shows a picture of one of the teacher training sessions and trainer observation of the lesson on heat energy. figure 3 shows the pen activity used to teach the digestive system, as carried out by students at one of the experimental schools after their teacher had been trained on the lesson. data analysis research question 1 – student exam scores: in order to determine the level of effect that the intervention had on the exam scores, a difference-indifferences analysis was carried out between the means of the experimental and control groups. pre-test and post-test exam scores are first presented independently. global journal of transformative education (2020) vol 2 figure 1. the process flow completed weekly over the course of the intervention. figure 2. teacher training and lesson monitoring of a pen activity on heat energy transfer through painting of milo tins. beem, effect of hands-on science activities 23 whose responses were captured in both the pre and post surveys were considered in this analysis. before carrying out the t-test, an f-test was carried out to determine whether each dataset was of equal or unequal variance. the final method was included as an additional measure of the magnitude of difference between the two groups due to its utility in working with smaller sample sizes. the effect size is considered small if g ≥ 0.2, medium if g ≥ 0.5, and large if g ≥ 0.8. for research question 3, the potential responses to the corresponding survey questions (sq1 shs major and sq2 future job interest) were first categorized into stem or non/stem responses. for sq1 (shs major), stem responses were considered to be “general science”, “agric science” or “other” if the response included something in the line of “technical” or “electricals”. for sq2 (future job interest), stem responses were ones such as “engineer”, “doctor”, “nurse”, “technician”, “accountant”, “pharmacist”, “architect”, etc. the survey results were digitized and analyzed in excel. for q6 which has a binary choice of answers, the number of respondents in each category was counted before and after the intervention. the pre-post difference in number of respondents in each category was compared between the experimental and control schools. for the questions which were answered on a scale (q3-5), statistical analysis was done to determine the significance of any difference in the means over time. both the means between the pairs of schools and the means between the experimental and control schools were compared. the schools in the ashalaja circuit (es2, es3, cs2) were excluded from this analysis due to the logistical challenges of the trainer falling ill and not being able to administer the post-survey at all of his schools. the same statistical analyses were carried out with the data disaggregated across gender and geography, with the goal of elucidating any effects that may have been felt more strongly within either the female or male subsets and within either the rural or urban subsets. confirmation of activity implementation in addition to information received from the pen trainers regarding details of the intervention implementation, the results from survey question 3 (“how frequently does your science class include hands-on activities?”) were used to determine whether the hands-on science activities had indeed been delivered regularly at the experimental schools. using the same statistical analyses described for the above (t-test, hedge’s g), the difference in results over the course of the intervention was compared across the combined experimental schools and combined control schools. follow-up school visits after this analysis was done, follow-up visits to the schools were carried out. the results to the study’s research questions were presented to the teachers and trainers involved, and their interpretation of the findings were elicited. quotes were collected and key ones are reported here. logistical challenges the trainer for the ashalaja circuit fell severely ill partway through the study. he was therefore unable to carry out the full intervention at his set of experimental schools. he was also unable to be reached after the study, so the exact number of trainings he ran remains unknown. for this reason, the only results included for the ashalaja circuit schools (es2, es3, cs2) are the pretest (exam and survey). those schools were excluded from all analyses involving a comparison over time. global journal of transformative education (2020) vol 2 figure 3. the pen model of the digestive system, utilizing locally-available resources, constructed by students at es2. the difference in the means over time is presented last, and only includes students who completed both pretest and post-test exams. research questions 2&3 – student attitudes to learning science; student interest in stem majors/ careers: three main methods were used to answer these research questions through comparison of the experimental and control groups: 1) comparison of yes/no responses over time, 2) two-tailed, unpaired t-test to determine the p-value using a 5% significance level, 3) test for effect size using the hedges’ g statistic. only those students beem, effect of hands-on science activities activities 24 results confirmation of activity implementation results from sq3 “how frequently does your science class include hands-on activities?” (scale of 1 to 4) are shown in table 2, with sample size (n) included. overall, the experimental schools reported significantly higher increase (δ) in frequency of including handson activities compared to that of the control schools over the course of the intervention (p = 0.007). a small effect size (g = 0.47) was also measured. this serves as a confirmation that, on average, the trainings were successfully being translated to classroom implementation in the two circuits that this analysis was done on. disaggregation of respondents whose gender was reported shows that both males and females at the experimental schools reported significant increase in frequency of hands-on activities compared to their counterparts at the control schools. the males reported an even higher increase than the females. research question 1 (exam scores) the results of the student scores on the old (february 2017) bece exam administered before the intervention (pre-test) are shown in figure 4 (left). the scores are presented in the form of box-and-whisker plots to capture the average (marked with an “x”), the range of the 1st to 3rd quartile (the box edges), and the overall range (the whiskers). one box-andwhisker plot is shown for each school, and the results are grouped into the three circuits. the experimental schools are marked in red and the control schools are marked in blue. before the intervention, all schools scored between 20 to 39%, on average. on average, the urban schools (kwabenya circuit: es1, cs1) performed slightly higher than the rural schools before the intervention (35% vs. 27%). on average, there was minimal difference in the pre-test results between the experimental schools and their counterparts within their own circuit. in each circuit, the experimental schools scored slightly higher on average (circuit 1 by 8%, circuit 2 by 1%, circuit 3 by 2%). figure 4 (right) shows the student exam scores after the intervention. all schools improved on the exam, with post-test averages at each school ranging from 45 to 72%. the overall range of results increased for most of the schools, indicating a widening of the gap between the higherand lower-performing students. the ashalaja circuit schools (es2, es3, cs2) were excluded from here on. global journal of transformative education (2020) vol 2 table 2. significance of change in sq3 (frequency of handson activities) results. figure 4. school-level pre-test and post-test exam scores. beem, effect of hands-on science activities 25 in order to determine the effect of the intervention beyond any learning that occurred in the normal mode of teaching (as observed in the control schools), the difference between the preand post-tests was calculated for each school. these results are shown in figure 5. each experimental school(s) is best compared to the control school(s) within its own circuit. in the kwabenya circuit, the experimental school (es1) showed a larger improvement in learning than its control school (cs1): 33% vs. 20%. in the kofi kwei circuit, one experimental school (es4) showed a smaller improvement than the control schools (cs3, cs4) (9% vs. 25% average) while the second experimental school (es5) showed a much bigger improvement (48%) than those control schools. the overall difference-in-differences of exam scores was +10.9%, with the experimental schools improving more than their counterparts over the course of the year. the difference-in-difference within circuit 1 alone was +12.8%. circuit 3 had mixed results across the different schools, resulting in an aver age difference-in-differences +4.1% in that circuit. results from the surveys and follow-up visits reveal reasons for the difference in results with in circuit 3. table 3 presents these results, disaggregated across gender. note that gender information was missing for one student, so there is a discrepancy in sample size (n) between the overall value and the disaggregated ones. the female students improved 14.5% more than their counterparts, which is a greater change than the male students experienced (5.3% more than their counterparts). research question 2 (attitudes to learning science) enjoyment of learning science (sq 6-7) the results of the survey question that elicited student enjoyment of science (sq6) are shown in figures 6 and 7 (before and after the intervention, respectively). on average, students in both sets of schools reported similar attitudes before the intervention: 89% of experimental school students responded that they ”enjoy science” as did 84% of the control school students. in the schools that did not receive pen’s intervention, student interest decreased over the course of the 2.5 months. the opposite trend was recorded in the experimental schools. those who reported enjoying science in the experimental schools increased by 7% and their counterparts in the control schools decreased by 15%. therefore, on average, the students who received the intervention experienced a 22% greater increase in enjoyment of science. the open-ended responses to sq7 reveal some reasons why students enjoyed learning science. examples include “the teachers make it interesting,” “the practicals make it more fun,” “helps me to define things in my own words,” “helps me to picture,” “helps global journal of transformative education (2020) vol 2 figure 5. school-level change in exam scores over the course of the intervention. table 3. difference-in-differences of exam scores at experimental schools (es) and control schools (cs). figure 6. pre-test student survey responses on enjoyment of science at the experimental and control schools beem, effect of hands-on science activities 26 give me an idea about the topic,” “helps in making learning easier,” “helps me remember well,” engagement level,ease of learning science (sq 4-5) a summary of the results of changes in student engagement level and ease of learning science are captured in table 4. both questions were answered on a scale of 1 to 7. the mean of the change in values (∆) between all the control schools and experimental schools is shown for each question. the significance of the difference between the two sets is captured through the t-test and hedge’s g test. the sample size (n) of respondents (those from the 2 eligible circuits and who answered both the pre and post surveys) is listed. for sq4 “how engaged are you in the hands-on activities?”, a significant difference and large effect size were measured (p = 3x10-7, g = 0.85). this reveals that the intervention had a significant impact on the level of engagement that the experimental school students felt, compared to their counterparts. there was, however, no significant difference or effect size in the pre-post change between the control and experimental schools for sq5 “how easy is it to learn science?” (p = 0.672, g = 0.07). disaggregation of this data across gender and geography is captured in table 5. both genders experienced a change with large effect size for sq4 (engagement), but the effect size on the females was even higher, nearly reaching a value of 1 (gfemale = 0.92, gmale = 0.77). disaggregation of this data across urban schools (kwabenya circuit) and rural schools (kofi kwei circuit) also reveals two differences of note. for sq4 (engagement), there was a large effect size for the urban schools (g = 0.981) compared global journal of transformative education (2020) vol 2 figure 7. post-test student survey responses on enjoyment of science at the experimental and control schools table 4. significance of change in sq4-5 (level of engagement, ease of learning science) results table 5. significance of change in sq4-sq5 results, disaggregated across gender and geography to a medium effect size for the rural schools (g = 0.528). one of the experimental schools in the rural circuit (es4) only reported a change of 1.33 points out of 7, on average, on this survey questions. the other experimental schools (es5 and es1) had changes of 2.143 and 2.204 points out of 7, respectively. note that es4 is the same school whose students experienced less improvement on their exam scores than its counterparts (figure 5), suggesting that this school may not have implemented the intervention as effectively as the other two experimental schools. for sq5 (ease), the urban schools experienced no effect size (gurban = 0.059) but the rural schools did experience a small effect size (grural = 0.284). beem, effect of hands-on science activities 27 research question 3 (interest in stem majors and careers) results from the final two survey questions are shown in table 6 and are disaggregated across gender. when asked of the shs major they intended to study and the career they were interested to pursue, the males at the experimental schools did not shift their response between non-stem and stem options with statistical significance or effect size (g = 0.07), compared to their counterparts at the control schools. the females at the experimental schools, however, did significantly shift towards both. they shifted towards stem majors with small effect size (g = 0.22) and towards stem careers with medium effect size (g = 0.48), compared to their counterparts at the control schools. follow-up visits to the schools remarks by the trainers and teachers were captured during follow-up visits to each of the sites, except for the schools in ashalaja circuit, due to an inability to establish communication with the trainer. they cited factors that influence the state of the learning environment in each respective school. these are captured in table 7 along with observations made by the data collection assistant, which are categorized as that of the researcher. from these remarks and observations, it is seen that the pair of schools in the kwabenya circuit had comparable key factors in terms of their learning environment. the infrastructure in both schools was similar and both teachers had similar levels of teaching experience. they also did not experience any major attendance issues. hence, in this pair of schools, the intervention was able to be conducted as intended, and with an accurate comparison. for the kofi kwei circuit, the trainer observed that learning gains in his circuit, which is a rural one, would be harder to come by than those achieved in the urban schools. visits to the two experimental schools in his circuit revealed key differences between them. es4 struggled to get regular attendance, due to the school’s poor infrastructure. the infrastructure was of such low quality that the school would not operate during any day in which it rained. also, the students there were global journal of transformative education (2020) vol 2 table 6. significance of change in sq1-2 (desired shs major, career) results, disaggregated across gender table 7. remarks and observations captured during follow-up visits to the schools found to have poor english reading ability. finally, the teacher being trained through the intervention had been placed at the school through ghana’s mandatory national service program, meaning that he was a fresh university graduate, with no prior teaching experience. for these reasons, the es4 students did receive the intended dosage of the intervention. evidence collected in the follow-up visit to es5 revealed that the intervention’s implementation had not only been consistent, but eagerly adopted by the school’s teacher. he appeared to have fallen in love with the science content, as he had gone the extra mile to create science-based beem, effect of hands-on science activities 28 posters to hang around the class. this was not an explicit suggestion in the training provided. the school infrastructure was also of sufficient quality to allow constant attendance during poor weather conditions. the trainers and teachers also made suggestions for improving the intervention next time, and these remarks have been captured in table 8. all agreed that this intervention was helping their students, but they suggested that if further learning gains are desired, then the approach should be intensified. they suggested commencing the intervention with students in earlier year groups, increasing the frequency of the intervention, and increasing the number of resources used, so as to enable smaller group sizes. discussion over the course of a short (2.5 month) period, this intervention enabled significant improvements in ghanaian students’ science education experience, as a result of the introduction of hands-on activities into the classroom. key quantitative results mentioned in the previous section are combined with the qualitative perspectives elicited in the follow-up visits for discussion here. research question 1 (exam scores) overall, the intervention improved the exam scores for students at the experimental schools 10.9% more than the control schools over the 2.5-month period. the comparison between schools was the cleanest at the kwabenya circuit, where both schools are situated in the same cluster and have similar teacher quality. the difference-in-difference of exam scores there was 12.8%. one experimental school (es4) did not improve as much as its counterparts, but this can be attributed to their inconsistent implementation of the intervention. the experimental school who recorded the greatest improvement overall (es5) found the program to be such a significant benefit that their headteacher made a visit to the district education office specifically to thank them for supporting this intervention. directly after this study was completed, they also announced that they had achieved the highest score ever documented in the school’s history on the science portion of the bece that year. the female students across all schools improved their exam scores more than their male counterparts (14.5% vs. 5.3%), revealing the significant finding that this hands-on teaching approach can disproportionately enable learning gains for females. given the widespread theme of males scoring higher than females in science/stem subjects, this result merits further investigation. few approaches in sub-saharan africa have been measured to enable significant improvement in exam scores in stem fields, much less to disproportionately favor learning gains for females. it is also worth noting that the females reported less increase in frequency of hands-on activities experienced in their classrooms than their male colleagues. nonetheless, the females managed to improve their learning outcomes more than the males. the reported lower frequency could be a result of teachers engaging the males more than females in the execution of the activities and/or the male students dominating the activities. these phenomena have been documented in western literature (jovanovic & king, 1998; tobin & garnett, 1987). further studies in ghana should include a specific gender lens in the lesson observation to determine the gender dynamics at play in hands-on activity execution. research question 2 (attitudes to learning science) another substantial result is that while student enjoyment of science decreased (−15%) in the control schools over the course of the intervention, there was an increase (+7%) in enjoyment of science in the global journal of transformative education (2020) vol 2 table 8. remarks captured during follow-up visits to the schools: suggestions for improving the intervention’s efficacy beem, effect of hands-on science activities 29 experimental schools. the inclusion of hands-on activities in the classroom countered the natural loss of enjoyment in science that students experienced in standard classrooms. gains in interest in science/stem likely play a role in enabling gains in the aforementioned exam scores. the level of engagement that the experimental school students reported had a significant increase with large effect size compared to their counterparts. the females reported an even larger increase than the males. this indicates once again that the female students in this study were even more positively affected by this intervention than the males. if the previous explanation for the females’ response to “frequency of activities” is accurate, then female students could stand to benefit from even higher engagement level increases if teachers are guided to involve female students more in the activities. there was no significant improvement in the ease of learning science, either for males or females. longer interventions should be conducted to determine if the gains in enjoyment and engagement captured here can translate into deeper learning of and comfort with science concepts. research question 3 (interest in stem majors and careers) interestingly, although student enjoyment of science improved at the experimental schools, a universally equivalent shift towards selecting a science-based program to study in shs was not measured. the female students did positively shift with a small effect size (gfemale = 0.22), but their male counterparts did not (gmale = 0.07). one teacher in the study offered an interpretation of this: “[the students] think they might not get the required grades to get admission for the science... they have the zeal, but academically they are not good enough to be taken for science...the system tries to inhibit them.” these comments suggest that the ghanaian educational system is not structured to support all students with a growing interest in science. the admission requirements to gain entry into a science program are high, so a student may shut his or her mind to that as a viable option to pursue. it is also interesting to note that females did significantly shift to selecting stembased careers over the course of the intervention (p = 0.04, g = 0.48). the intervention again affected female students disproportionately, this time by opening up their mind to different aspirations for their long-term careers. limitations implementation levels a few inconsistencies in levels of the intervention’s implementation across the experimental schools have been identified. these are summarized in table 9. at the kwabenya school (es1), the trainer and teacher implemented the intervention thoroughly, as evidenced by the high level of change reported by students in their level of engagement in the lessons (table 5, sq4, urban). follow-up visit observations confirm that the students regularly attended and therefore had the intended dosage of exposure to the intervention. the implementation at the ashalaja schools (es2, es3) had begun, but was incomplete, due to the trainer falling ill partway through. finally, the kofi kwei schools (es4, es5) had different levels of implementation. the es4 teacher did not completely implement the intervention, as it was revealed during the follow up visit that students had not regularly attended school during the intervention period. es5, on the other hand, had no attendance issues. their teacher not only implemented the intended intervention, but he appeared to amplify his craft as a result. these levels of implementation quality have been kept in focus for interpretation and discussion of the results. future studies must put stronger measures in place to ensure thorough implementation in all experimental schools. school selection process the school selection process employed did not compare exam results explicitly, but the trainers were tasked to carry out the school selection based on their knowledge of the schools’ general performance. future studies should include a more thorough list of criteria for school selection. this will help both to ensure the schools’ ability to implement the intervention and it will also enable a clearer comparison between the pair of experimental and control schools. global journal of transformative education (2020) vol 2 table 9. assessment of implementation level at each experimental school beem, effect of hands-on science activities 30 programmatic & policy implications a few potential implications for pen’s programming and other african teacher training organizations arise from these results. given the strong correlation between implementation level and learning gains achieved in this study, pen should develop systems to ensure that the methodologies their teachers are trained on get implemented in the classroom. this will involve working even more closely with key stakeholders, such as district education officers, headteachers, and national education bodies to ensure that monitoring activities reinforce the use of hands-on activities and that curriculum standards also encourage teachers to use hands-on activities. given the example of the e5 school achieving its historically highest national exam score in science after going through this intervention, and thanks to the teacher there being enthusiastic enough to take up the new approach, pen should consider identifying motivated teachers and focusing their interventions on them. a focus on intrinsically motivated teachers will likely result in higher learning gains than would be achieved through its current approach of offering training to all available participants. this must, of course, be balanced with the organization’s goal of seeing widescale adoption of hands-on pedagogies. pen and other african stem organizations should consider pursuing a specific gender focus to their programming, since the gains achieved among the female students are strong in both attitudes and learning outcomes . furthermore, pen and other teacher training organizations should consider including a component of its training that guides teachers to reduce any bias they may have in involving male students more than females in the activities. ghana’s government has a goal of seeing 60% of its university students pursuing stem majors. a strong stem pipeline will be achieved by having students first gaining interest in the subject, then electing to study stem subjects, and then pursuing stem careers. this short intervention achieved strong gains in building interest and small gains in shifting future career pursuits. future studies should be carried out to determine the length and type of intervention needed to achieve large gains in shifting career pursuits towards stem disciplines. policymakers should consider the admission requirements and societal perceptions around pursuing science majors/disciplines as they formulate plans to achieve their goal. conclusion a quasi-controlled experimental study was conducted in 2017 with 9 schools in greater accra region to preliminarily assess the impact on ghanaian students when their teachers are trained to carry out hands-on activities with locally-available materials. on average, students undergoing the intervention improved their exam scores by 10.9% more than their counterparts over the course of the 2.5-month period, but discrepancies existed at the school level. these discrepancies are attributable to challenges that impeded a complete implementation of the intervention at select schools. in spite of implementation challenges, the students in the experimental schools still experienced significant shifts in their attitudes and interests over the course of the study. students undergoing the intervention increased in their enjoyment of science 22% more than their counterparts, and their levels of engagement increased significantly (p = 3 x 10-7, g = 0.85). female students experienced greater gains than their male counterparts in terms of exam scores, engagement levels, and interest in pursuing stem majors and careers. and despite the commonly held belief that learning gains are slower in rural schools than urban ones, the school with the highest exam score gains in this study was in a rural area. they even broke their own school record for national exam scores immediately following this intervention. a longer intervention is likely needed to achieve significant gains in student response to the ease of learning science. preliminary evidence for multiple lines of questioning around the role of hands-on activities in the ghanaian context have been brought to the fore in this study. the findings add to a nascent body of knowledge of the effect of hands-on pedagogies in the west african context. the effect of experiential stem pedagogies on student attitudes, career interest, and societal barriers have been uncovered, call for deeper investigation, and merit attention from policymakers. a multitude of factors influence the efficacy of interventions such as this one. in order to accurately assess the role of practical teaching methodologies in the ghanaian classroom, a greater number of these factors should be considered in the school selection process. in particular, the level of infrastructure should meet a certain level in order for the school to be selected. if poor infrastructure prevents the students from coming to school, it does not matter whether their teacher is equipped to teach with practical activities global journal of transformative education (2020) vol 2 beem, effect of hands-on science activities 31 global journal of transformative education (2020) vol 2 that week or not. a refined version of this study was undertaken in the 2017/8 academic year (babb & stockero, 2020) to better control for some of these variables. geographic proximity is no longer being considered as sufficient evidence of school similarity. school infrastructure, teacher background, and students’ prior years exam performance are also now being considered. successful findings must be scaled up nationwide to shift the status quo for stem teaching and learning in ghana. acknowledgements the author would like to thank evans sackitey, peace sampson, and fredrick ohene atta opoku for their contributions to the logistics of this study. thanks to jacob babb for his input in ideating some of the initial designs of this study. dr. anne marshall of mit’s teaching and learning lab was a key resource in the design of the study as well. finally, thanks to the pen trainers, teachers, headteachers, ghana education service officials, and students who enabled this study to be completed. references abdi, a. 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creating new instructional materials that are culturally relevant to local schools. producing new high-quality materials may seem out of reach to educators who lack experience in illustration and publishing or have little access to commercial publishers. we share a model used to develop a series of books called conservation tales in collaboration with university faculty, students, and scientists. the model presents a way for local educators to create books to make education more relevant and accessible for children. the model leverages skills of artists, writers, and content experts to provide a rich learning experience for readers and an affordable option for self-publishing. using this model, a science educator developed books for grades 3-5 with illustrations and photographs. university students developed images, created page layouts and co-authored the stories to suit the target audience. scientists collaborated in the development and review of content for accuracy and education students created learning activities. this article describes the collaborative model with examples and shares the processes for self-publishing of print and digital books via online on-demand print services. we discuss sites that allow authors to create books with almost no overhead budget and share information about the quality of graphics, software for creating files, and distribution of books. keywords: self-publishing, culturally relevant books, collaborative writing mcconnell, t. j., & giorgio-booher, b.. global journal of transformative education (2020) vol 2 doi 10.14434/gjte.v2i1.31233 open access published by the global insitutute of transformative education (http://www.gite.education) © mcconnell, t. j. & giorgio-booher, b. 2020. open access this journal is distributed under the terms of the creative commons attribution noncommercial nonderivative 4.0 international license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/bync-nd/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction without revision in any non-commercial medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the creative commons license, collaborative teams for self publishing a model for creating locally relevant educational books tom j. mcconnell1 and barbara giorgio-booher2 full listing of authors and contacts can be found at the end of this article. introduction “there is no technological reason why all the educational course books, and indeed most of the supplementary ones, at both primary and secondary level, should not be written, edited, designed, printed, and published in africa rather than in london, malta, paris or hong kong.” (nottingham, 1969) at the first world conference on transformative education (wcte) in 2018, discussion touched on ways to help nations in africa and other parts of the world to “decolonialize” their education systems. literature on the topic has described the role of education in the colonialization of africa as one of “killing of other knowledge systems” (hall & tandon, 2017, p. 6), and the role it can play in rebuilding and reclaiming an indigenous culture to support the decolonization of social and government institutions (akena, 2012; mazrui, 2002; mbure, 1997). the literature makes it clear that by controlling educational content, colonial powers molded perceptions among african children about their role in society, the hierarchy of social structure, and even their own intellectual capacity, creativity, and language (asante-darko, 2002). printed materials used in schools present stereotypical characters that portray men and women or people of color with specific roles in communities (khorana, 1998). they reinforce rules about what languages are acceptable, and relative values placed on cultures from africa versus those from europe and north america. one way in which african schools reflect a colonial mindset was described by wilfridah mucherah in the opening plenary session of the 2018 wcte. she questioned why african schools continue to teach reading using primers written from a european perspective – for example, “a is for apple.” she learned to read using this common approach, yet never saw an apple until she attended graduate school in the united states as an mcconnell & giorgio-booher, collaborative self-publishing 34 adult. she proposed that african schools should use resources that reflect african contexts, languages and culture (mucherah & mbogori, 2019). for instance, in communities where avocados are so common, she suggested that reading books for young children could show that “a is for avocado,” using an example that is tangible and relevant to the children’s experiences. pandy and moorad (2003) refer to the same goal when they emphasize that knowledge gained by pupils is dependent on their experiences, culture and language. reformers suggest that if educational materials are developed with this assumption in mind, changes to pedagogies and educational structures may follow (pandy & moorad, 2003; wooman, 2001). throughout the rest of the wcte, participants in concurrent sessions mentioned mucherah’s “a is for apple” example as evidence that african schools need more control over the content of textbooks and supplemental materials (readers) used in the classroom. these discussions made clear the need for new and different educational materials for african schools, developed by african authors and educators for an african audience to reflect african culture, language and historical context. in this article, we present a structural framework for independent publishing that might offer a model for educators, illustrators, graphic designers and scholars in any region of the world. we present the model with the goal of encouraging collaborative teams to pursue the goals articulated by mucherah & mbogori (2019), akena (2012) and many other academicians who share our goal of transforming education around the globe. educational publishing for the african continent the idea of african authors publishing books for an african audience is certainly not new. the quote from nottingham’s 1969 article about “establishing an african publishing industry” makes it clear that scholars and businessmen alike were considering ways to overcome obstacles to publishing in africa half a century ago. there is a significant body of literature about efforts to create just such an industry. these efforts take the form of university-based presses (darko-ampen, 2004), indigenous and multinational publishing houses (edwards & ngwaru, 2012; rosetti, 2013) and non-profit publishing consortia like the african book collective (shercliff, 2016; zell, 2016). early initiatives to establish an african publishing industry were less successful than nottingham had hoped. scholarly journals were usually owned by american or european interests, and maintained the same “traditions” of content and process as their american and european counterparts (darko-ampen, 2004; zell, 2016), including selecting european-language manuscripts based on profitability and their relevance to large industrialized nations (darko-ampen, 2004;dilevko & dali, 2006). it seems clear that an industry that continues to operate using the traditional model has stifled transformation by continuing the status quo of the industry. even so, there may be advantages to publishing books in africa. the list of titles offered by the non-profit african book collective features many titles by and for africans, including a growing list of titles for children that reflect indigenous culture, language and art. frustration with educational publishing controlled by external businesses from non-african countries is not new. the publishing industry in africa has not entirely erased all of the barriers that make it hard for african authors to publish books, but it continues to evolve. nottingham said in 1969 that “indigenous publishing in africa is at the crossroads” (p. 141). indigenous publishing in africa, and around the world, is being transformed by business models that leverage technologies not available in 1969. the doors are open if only a handful of individuals with a vision for indigenous books are willing to step out of the traditional box to take advantage of the opportunities at hand. new opportunities in self-publishing the new opportunities of which we speak involve a model of self-publishing that reduces overhead costs of publication to such a degree that small groups of partners can produce and distribute books with minimal initial investments. for authors writing for relatively small audiences, this is a major advantage. in the traditional model, publishing a book required time, expertise, and significant financial backing. the most cost-effective model for publishing a book required “runs” of 500 or 1000 books, or more. the initial expense of a large run drove publishing houses to avoid ventures that might only reach a small group of readers. independent authors were pushed out of the publishing process altogether unless they could risk spending thousands of dollars for the first (and maybe only) run of a book. self-publishers now have the option of working with “on-demand” print services that eliminate this barrier to the industry. some traditional academics have viewed self-publishing as a less-than-desirable process designed to global journal of transformative education (2020) vol 2 mcconnell & giorgio-booher, collaborative self-publishing 35 global journal of transformative education (2020) vol 2 by-pass the rigorous scholarly process of editorial review. however, self-publishing has grown because of financial considerations and the desire to control copyrights (odendaal, 2008). as digital printing technology made it possible for companies to print and bind small runs of books at low costs, on-demand services have emerged as a growing part of the industry (laquintano, 2016). today’s technology not only allows publishing from anywhere in the world, but also greater collaboration of individuals in different locations. authors can now easily work with illustrators, editors, graphic designers and photographers from around the world. technology also offers new opportunities to create digital books offered as downloadable files for computers, tablets or smartphones. these “ebooks” promise even lower overhead costs, and allow authors to reach a global audience in an instant. with these opportunities in mind, we share our experiences and offer recommendations for creating collaborative teams to publish high-quality culturally relevant books for learning. the model we present is the result of four years of development for the conservation tales project, an immersive learning program at ball state university in indiana, usa. a framework for collaborative book development the conservation tales project began as an idea for a children’s book about wildlife conservation, a niche that was largely unfilled. the initial idea emerged when dr. mcconnell researched books about wildlife for young children. he noticed that the books did not mention conservation issues or teach children how their actions impact the environment. readers can find out more about the book series at the conservation tales website. to date, the project has published eleven unique titles, two “junior” versions revised for younger children, and an education game that teaches skills used by manatee researchers. as the author began outlining the first story of a series of books, he recognized a need for other partners to help produce the book. he inquired about illustration students at his university’s school of art, and a partnership emerged that became a comprehensive team effort. the first partnership included barbara giorgio-booher, a teaching professor in the school of art, and an animation student, sami pfaff, who helped illustrate the first book. bringing an illustrator into the project was an essential step in creating quality reading material for children. graphic design is another key element of a book requiring specialized expertise in graphic design and communications that most authors lack. “both graphic design and graphic communication incorporate words and images to convey data, concepts, and emotions” (shake it up creative, 2018). graphic designers are trained to design work that is effective in projecting ideas and experiences with visual and textual content. graphic designers understand typography, the selection of fonts, and work with images, such as drawings and photographs; they help maintain consistency throughout a story and book series. this includes both digital and printed promotional materials and educational resources. they help in designing a visual identity system to define graphic design standards; including fonts, logos, the relative size, proportion, and position of individual elements, and the selection of a color palette. typography, the selection of fonts, is more important and more complex than most people realize. when writing for young readers, font size and the choice serif versus sans serif font is extremely important, especially when writing for a specific language (nottingham, 1969). including a graphic design specialist will ensure continuity, a high standard of quality, and a clear, consistent identity that appears across all media. potential authors and publishers should keep in mind that this framework is a flexible model. collaborations will be most successful if they base their teams on the availability of participants with skill sets that enhance the quality of the book. the current conservation tales team consists of the following roles: • lead author – author, director, editor of the project. • art director – visual artist to supervise and critique illustrations, photographs, and graphic design to meet certain performance expectations. • graphic designer – team manager who coordinates the team’s progress and sets appropriate deadlines. responsible for cover design and layout of text and images in the final product. • co-author – content or education specialist to assist in researching and writing the story. • two or three illustrators – specialists in illustrating characters, animals, backgrounds and natural environments. • photographer – expert who documents team site visits, contributes and edits photographs, searches for public domain images, and document permissions for third party images. https://conservationtales.com https://conservationtales.com https://www.shakeitupcreative.com/2018/10/22/why-graphic-communication-is-important-for-your-business/ mcconnell & giorgio-booher, collaborative self-publishing 36 recruiting team members the team leaders are ultimately responsible for the creative concept of the book. the project goals are set by these leaders, with input from other team members. the directors must work to create a cohesive team. any group planning a self-published book should identify a small group of two or three directors. for the conservation tales project, a key feature of the pair of directors is a shared vision for the project’s goals. without this, the project may not be sustainable. recruiting other team members is a critical factor in the project’s success. for the conservation tales, these books are created by undergraduate students at the directors’ university. the choice to recruit students dictates the scope of available team members. other projects may choose to include other types of professionals. students were recruited from the major disciplines of visual communication (graphic design), animation, drawing, photography, elementary education, special education, biology and environmental management. this choice affects overhead costs, but the “right team” for your project may include people with extensive experience. the directors implemented a selective recruiting and application process. they advertised for team members with a request for letters of interest, resumés, and portfolios of the applicants’ work. the directors reviewed applications and scheduled interviews. applicants were asked to explain their interest in the project to reveal each person’s motivation to contribute to a children’s book about wildlife conservation. most of the selected team members had strong personal commitments to conservation, animal welfare or education. it is important to first empathize, understand and desire to learn about wildlife conservation. this deep personal connection to project goals influenced the team’s commitment to completing a high-quality final product. it was important to be inclusive and incorporate different perspectives when interviewing team members. we found it valuable to incorporate their perspectives when developing the characters and narratives to better connect with a diverse audience. conservation tales works to depict women, individuals with disabilities, cultural diversity and underrepresented groups as the scientists and children who learn about science. promoting inclusivity with team members can bring together unlikely allies and support transformative change (opportunity agenda, 2017). interviews also revealed areas of overlapping expertise. co-authors on tigers and orangutans were science majors who had some art experience. their contributions extended beyond writing stories. two graphic designers who worked on eight different books also contributed photography for the project. the illustrator for elephants and tigers used her minor in screen writing to help with proofreading and editing of four different books. project directors should consider team members with multiple skills as a way to ensure quality content. this cross-skill connection also improves the team’s communication. collaborations that allow individuals to work across disciplines lead to innovative outcomes with an improved understanding of the issues being discussed (salmons, 2019). individuals selected for the project were asked to sign a formal agreement giving “non-exclusive rights” to the project for materials they contributed. team members in the first year were paid a stipend. later participants earned course credits for their work instead of receiving a stipend. the agreement reflected these policies. the contract gave the project permission to use photos, illustrations, graphic design (logos and visual identity), and text for promotional and online products as well as books. the students retain full ownership of their creative products, giving artists rights to sell original illustrations and photographs. the agreement stipulated the number of books received by each team member and a policy to purchase copies at cost. any project creating a similar collaborative team should consider the terms of “employment” for all team members. if possible, legal council should be consulted for such an agreement. roles of team members the development of teams for the conservation tales project taught us that the team’s success depends on clear definitions of the roles of each member. the current framework includes a set of job descriptions and project expectations. the directors discussed the roles with an experienced graphic designer who served as a “project manager.” their experience on other books helped them understand potential pitfalls in the production process. we recommend that a graphic designer perform a similar role in other collaborations. the designer is likely the last person to handle the assets created by writers, illustrators and photographers before submitting the manuscript for printing. this important role makes it sensible to include the designer in setting a schedule of deadlines. the designer and directors set a final deadline and worked backwards to identify tentative deadlines for global journal of transformative education (2020) vol 2 mcconnell & giorgio-booher, collaborative self-publishing 37 finished illustrations, drafts of text, blackline versions of artwork, storyboards, cover art, and content research. as the leadership team created the schedule, roles of each team member became more apparent. table 1 contains a summary of the key activities performed under each role to complete the books. the project’s goals determined the skills needed to accomplish them and guided the selection of team members. conservation tales teams include three illustrators, with one dedicated to drawing the animals featured in the story to ensure that animals are drawn with scientific accuracy. the other illustrators focus on human characters and settings for the story based on the research the team conducted. this model fits well for our project because most of the illustrators are animation students who learn to collaborate and work in a similar manner. for publication projects with a different audience or a different type of artist design, a single illustrator may be a better choice. some projects may have no need for a photographer, while others might need translators to write multiple versions of a manuscript in different languages. directors need to clearly identify the project’s goals and the strategies needed to accomplish those goals before creating a plan for building a team. directors also need to consider where to find team goals of the project – elementary education, biology and environmental management students. project leaders can contact university instructors and department chairs to see if they can offer course credits for an internship. students in the disciplines we have described are likely to have the skills needed by a publishing project and the desire to gain valuable experience. since students are expected to meet performance expectations at a high level, we suggest working primarily with upperclassmen – juniors and seniors who have enough coursework to have advanced skills in art, design, and technology such as publication software. if the students can use their work with a publication as course assignments or credit hours in their major programs, the project planners and students all benefit from the relationship. team leaders need to beware of creating too large a team. a team with too many people, especially authors and illustrators, will make project management more difficult than with a small team. we recommend that planners streamline the process and select contributors who have skills the team truly needs. work flow for book development the work on the publication begins as team mem global journal of transformative education (2020) vol 2 members. projects to create educational books are likely to be initiated by educators or content experts such as scientists, community health leaders, or historians. finding artists and designers may begin with an internet search for freelance illustrators and graphics experts who advertise their services online. projects that cannot afford to pay professionals may find that universities are a great resource. students in visual communication (graphic design) and the visual arts are often expected to connect with community partners through internships, course projects, and collaborative assignments. these students might be able to participate for course credit or a small stipend, and will likely be eager to gain professional experience and use the books in portfolios to help with job searches. if the project can provide art supplies, this is an appealing incentive to entice student artists. the co-authors we selected were also students in disciplines that matched the mcconnell & giorgio-booher, collaborative self-publishing 38 bers are being selected. the process we suggest is based on a review of the successes and challenges we faced in the early iterations of the conservation tales project. figure 1 offers a general workflow that emerged from our efforts. team leaders usually begin with an initial concept or topic for the book. the authors can then construct a story outline – a general direction that identifies the types of research needed, characters to be developed, and a general plot for the story. our team researched the content by shadowing and interviewing scientists, reading articles and websites about the featured species, and learning about diversity issues relevant to the accurate depiction of children in the stories. research was a key focus in the first weeks of the project, and continued throughout the development process. team members observed and interviewed the consulting scientists depicted in the story to ensure the authenticity of the books. the team communicated with the consultants via email to gather additional information. drafts of the story were shared with the consultants for a review of content accuracy. after returning to campus, the team used on-site sketches, photographs and interviews to create all of the elements of the books. the team’s discussions expanded upon their initial ideas and helped to direct the story development. the entire team used the story outline and research to create storyboards to assist in the design, layout and placement of photographs and illustrations. storyboarding is the creation of a pictorial sketch of the story that creates a more detailed roadmap for the team. storyboards should be revisited regularly to update the plan with details and revised story elements. the storyboard guides authors, illustrators, designers and photographers in their respective roles. one of the first important tasks for illustrators and designers was the creation of a cover for the book. our experience suggests that developing the cover creates a sense of direction and a visual theme that drives the rest of the design process. illustrators used this step to create the first character illustrations and animals as the graphic designer selected fonts and color schemes to establish a theme that was carried throughout the book. illustrators created rough sketches of characters, animals, and scenery that they eventually developed as black-line drawings and full color drawings and paintings through a continual review and critique process by the entire team. at the same time, authors wrote more detailed story elements, incorporating the information collected during research, and creating a story that conveys the concepts that address the book’s goals. the writers worked closely with illustrators and photographers in the storyboarding process to ensure the story and images complemented each other. graphic designers created initial layout examples to test placement of text with initial drawings and photographs. the designers combine the illustrations, photographs and text based on the team’s planning for the story. the graphic designers were responsible for ensuring that the book files were ready for print production. reiterative cycles of review, critique and revision eventually led teams to a full draft of the book. the team then sent the draft to an on-demand print service to produce a proof copy a first rough copy that allowed the team to examine layout design, colors, illustrations and photographs. at the same time, the team shared digital drafts with external experts for review. this external review was extremely important to the quality of the final products. the team shared the drafts with the content consultants who served as the models for the scientists in the stories. we also asked practicing teachers to review books and offer suggestions to ensure that the stories were useful for children and teachers. the addition of elements like captions and author notes was guided by early reviews by educators. team members and external experts also contributed to a detailed proofreading and editing process for the text of the story. global journal of transformative education (2020) vol 2 mcconnell & giorgio-booher, collaborative self-publishing 39 after a thorough review of the proofs, revisions were made to the books. the final step was to submit final versions of the book for printing, followed by the official “release” for public purchase. this process varies depending on the print service used, but the most common processes include online forms to enter titles, authors and illustrators, isbn numbers, pricing information, and other technical details for the book. the team then uploads separate pdf versions of the cover and book interior. most print shops then complete a review to ensure that files meet their technical specifications. once the book is approved by both the printer and the “authors,” the book is almost immediately available for purchase through an online store. the next section describes some key decisions team leaders need to consider in planning a publishing project. some of the decisions focus on business plans and legal issues. others are about artistic style or are more technical in nature. all of these issues are important if the team hopes to create a marketable publication. key decisions for publication projects the workflow (figure 1) gives a simplified description of the process of a book project. however, there are important decisions the team leaders need to consider before and during the process. as professionals in education and the arts, the decisions were new to our team, so this section is offered to help other authors and self-publishers prepare for the challenges we encountered. our team chose solutions based on our goals for the project and the resources available to us. other collaborations may need to choose a different path, but many of the questions that planners will face are the same. business plan when the team has identified the goal and topic for the project, the next step is to think about a business plan. even if the project is a not-for-profit endeavor, we recommend that the project establish certain parameters for the project. the choices described here will influence the process and decisions to be made later in the project. one of the first provisos we offer is that self-publishing is not a path to enormous wealth. a self-published book may earn a modest income, but do not expect to get rich with this project. project goals should address a specific need in schools or in the target communities. even so, the choices described here can help reduce legal liabilities and unexpected expenses that could prevent a publication project from reaching its goal. print vs. digital – an early decision to make is whether the book will be sold as a print version, as an electronic book, or both. today’s technology makes it very easy to create e-books that can be accessed through applications for computers, tablets and smart phones. if the books will be digital, the layout and design need to take into consideration the size of the screen and how a reader advances through the pages. if a print book is the goal, the team will select from a range of book sizes, cover types, color or black-andwhite options, and paper quality. final decisions about these matters are based on the audience, costs of the options and project goals. hard cover books are ideal for libraries, especially for children, but the cost of binding is about three times higher than a paper back cover. color printing is better for young children, but slightly more expensive than black-and-white printing. any on-demand or self-publishing service will allow planners to explore options and adjust settings as the project moves forward. copyright ownership – published materials are the intellectual property of the author and publisher, so protecting the rights to a book is an important initial step. there are many copyright options available to a self-published author. one of the early decisions should be about who will hold the copyrights to the book. first, planners should ensure that no other author owns the copyrights to the title you are considering. it is important to do some homework, and devote time to a thorough search for books of the same title. the conservation tales project considered a few titles that were eliminated because other publishers had copyright or trademark protections that made those titles legally impossible. project leaders who wish to retain copyrights need to find out how to file or establish copyrights in the country in which the book will be published since laws and required forms vary by country. in some places, forms need to be filed and approvals obtained before the publication is copyrighted. in others, a printed work is copyrighted simply by transmitting the work via mail or electronic communication, but a registered copyright may offer more protections for authors. another option is to allow the company that prints, binds and distributes the book to hold the copyright. on-demand and self-publishing services usually offer this option early in the planning stages. the service is most often free or very inexpensive, but the revenue global journal of transformative education (2020) vol 2 mcconnell & giorgio-booher, collaborative self-publishing 40 authors earn will be lower. in this option, the print service assumes the responsibility for marketing the book, but they also retain a larger percentage of the profits and can transfer the copyright without the author’s permission. one way to help establish copyrights is to register an international standard book number (isbn). this is a unique number registered with government agencies, usually through companies that help you submit the formal registration for a fee. the cost of an individual isbn number is about $20 usd. if a project plans to produce multiple books, a more cost-effective option is to create an “imprint” of your own and purchase a “block” of ten isbn numbers at a reduced cost. an imprint is the name of a publishing company or service to which the copyright is assigned. for conservation tales, the author had already established his own unincorporated publishing company under a name selected after the same type of search as for the title. this imprint name is used as the “publisher” for the conservation tales series, and has since incorporated. self-publishing and on-demand services offer authors the option to assign one of their registered isbn numbers to the book they wish to publish. this is a cheaper option than registering one’s own isbn number, but it usually means the authors have assigned copyright ownership to the publishing service. as stated previously, this means a smaller percentage of revenue forwarded to your project. the print service may also offer options for the creation of a barcode on the cover of the book. the print shop may add this, or the author/publisher can insert their own barcodes. barcodes can be created when the isbn is registered for a small additional fee. the decisions about how to handle copyright, isbn registration and barcodes needs to be made with consideration to cost, convenience, and the relative importance of maintaining control of copyrights. authorship – planners need to establish a policy for listing author and co-authors. this may seem like a simple issue, but the order of authors is sometimes important to the parties involved. putting a policy on paper for how authors are listed helps to avoid personal or legal disputes after publication. similarly, illustrators should be listed on the cover and on the title page of a book, so a clear policy for this should be included in the plan. if the project team includes other contributors, we strongly recommend each member of the team should be acknowledged, both on the title page of the book and in a later section. conservation tales books include a “meet the team” page to acknowledge all contributors. while this policy is not a legal requirement for publishing, it is most ethical, and helps to create a strong sense of teamwork and ownership that enhances the quality of the product. distribution plan – project leaders should also develop a plan for how they will distribute the books. most on-demand and self-publication services offer online sales. however, for projects that retain copyrights, marketing of the books may fall on the author or publisher. the print service markets the books if they hold the copyrights, but the amount royalties paid to authors is reduced. authors should anticipate the need to advertise, promote and distribute the books on their own. the developer of a book can usually purchase copies of the title at an “author price,” usually the cost of printing and binding plus a small fee for the printer. shipping and taxes are not included. this offers a way for project planners to purchase copies and sell them directly to customers. purchasing copies requires an expenditure and a financial risk if the team cannot sell enough books to realize a profit. conservation tales keeps a minimal number of copies “in stock,” but keeps enough to sell books at public outreach events, conferences, and festivals. we also have the ability to provide small orders directly to schools and teachers. all other sales take place online either through the on-demand print service, or via a project website with an electronic store. this reduces the effort by our team to handle sales and shipping. when determining the price of a book, planners may want to sell copies at a wholesale price for book stores. booksellers usually double the wholesale price when they sell to retail customers. the retail price should be set high enough to still earn a small profit when selling to retailers at half price. on-demand print services will set the price according to the authors’ instructions, and forward the royalties to the author from online sales. planners need to consider taxes that will be charged for books. in some african countries, tax rates for books may be as high as 14%. tax rates may influence the willingness of customers to buy the books. if the books will be sold in more than one country, this decision might be more complicated. for some projects, this may not be an issue if they plan to use funds from grants or government agencies to purchase copies and distribute to schools for free. global journal of transformative education (2020) vol 2 mcconnell & giorgio-booher, collaborative self-publishing 41 selecting a printing service all of the decisions described in the business plan section should be made early in any project, in part because the answers will shape the choice of a printer/publisher for the book. there are several different services available. companies that offer these services in africa include printivo, 48hrbooks.com and new voices publishing services. some services are only available in specific regions, like digitalprintondemand in south africa. kindle direct publishing, the printer for conservation tales, may be best suited for digital books produced in africa because they currently do not have a print facility in africa and do not offer affordable shipping to the continent. planners should explore these companies and others to find a vendor that provides the right combination of cost, profitability, convenience, technical support and access to customers for the needs of the project. since one goal of self-publishing is to put more control in the hands of local individuals, planners may wish to look for other local companies that can offer services to suit those needs better than the large corporate printing services. project management project management should be flexible, holistic and team-based. an agile approach to project management, like the “scrum” framework (sliger, 2011), allows for shorts bursts of activity as team members continually shape the direction of the project. team leaders begin by articulating goals and outcomes, setting expectations, and providing a means for project evaluation. they introduce teams to important dates and when interactions with scientists will occur. the processes that team leaders need to direct are described in the following sections. artistic style – one of the early discussions with team members should address the artistic vision of the project. team leaders will likely have an idea what type of appearance and artwork they want to include in the book. choices about artistic style depend on the target audience and the goals of the project, but the aesthetic vision of the team members will also impact the final results. questions to address should include the following: • will illustrations be realistic or stylized? • will illustrations reflect a specific art genre? • will text be in blocks or arranged to flow with the artwork? • what color palettes will be used and what kind of medium will be used to create the illustrations? all these choices are important, and ensuring that the team is aware of the themes to guide their work helps to avoid conflicts of style later in the process. target audience – planners should determine who the readers will be. is the book intended for young children just learning to read? does the project target older children in intermediate grades, secondary students, or even adult learners in the community? this is an extremely important decision because the writing style will vary dramatically for different readers. for authors who are accustomed to writing scholarly research papers, this adjustment is difficult. the sentence structure, vocabulary, and length of text on each page need to be appropriate for the target audience. small issues, such as changing passive sentences to active, affect the readability of the text. conservation tales uses tools in microsoft word that provide readability statistics when it checks spelling and grammar. there are many other ways to assess reading level. if the development team does not include age-specific educators, we recommend consulting with a reading specialist for help in assessing and adjusting the reading level of the text to suit the target audience. book developers also have opportunities to publish books in different languages. this issue echoes questions we posed in the opening sections of the books about making books culturally relevant. if the goal of a publishing project is to create educational materials for a specific country or region, the world of self-publication gives authors expanded opportunities to write in the language of their choice. books that teach reading or history in akan, kiswahili, yoruba, iszulu or any of the many tribal languages are much easier to produce through self-publishing than through large international publishing houses. accelere!1 (chemionics, 2020) is an example of a project that produces books for school children in three indigenous languages in the democratic republic of congo. if publishing in an indigenous language is one of the goals of the project, it is important to make sure at least one team member is fluent in both the written and spoken language. the graphic designer should also consult with readers of that language when selecting the best font for the book (nottingham, 1969). external reviewers and editors – the need for external review process may seem like a decision that can wait until late in the project. however, we encourage planners to think about this step early in the process global journal of transformative education (2020) vol 2 mcconnell & giorgio-booher, collaborative self-publishing 42 team leaders should not wait until the story text is finished to begin your search for external reviewers. they should allow plenty of time to communicate with reviewers and editors because these external partners may not be bound to project deadlines. conservation tales sends drafts to external reviews to assess content accuracy, authentic depiction of diversity issues, and the fit for our target audience. we also ask for help from others in reviewing the cultural context of the book’s story and illustrations. it is not uncommon for reviewer feedback to be the last bit of information we receive for the final revisions, so we try to start the process as early as possible to avoid delays in meeting deadlines. requests to reviewers should include target dates that leave the time for the team to finish the book before the final deadline. technical considerations once the team begins work on a book, all members of the team need to be mindful of technical requirements for producing high quality printed material. some of the requirements are dictated by the printing service selected to produce the books. these specifications are based on either the process of printing and binding a book or on the business plan choices described earlier. printing specifications – when a printing service is selected, the company provides a set of specifications for file formats, color standards, and image quality. most companies will offer templates to help plan page layouts and margins. one of the reasons to include a graphic designer on the team is to ensure that files meet these specifications. from the beginning of the project, team members need to have a clear understanding of the images needed for printing. printers require a minimum of 300 dots per inch (dpi) for all images and finished pages. some printers will require even higher resolutions for black-line graphs and diagrams. illustrators on the team need to begin their sketches with this standard in mind. they should plan to create drawings and paintings that are larger than the finished images that will appear in the book. all images will need to be transformed into a digital format, even if created using traditional art media like paints, pastels or colored pencils. if an original illustration is too small, and the designer needs to enlarge it, the result is a grainy image that does not reproduce well in print. color palettes used for illustrations also need to meet certain specifications. if the book will be in print format, all colors needs to be saved in cmyk format. this format is based on the cyan, magenta, yellow and black inks used in the printing process. if the book will be digital, rgb colors will be needed. these work with the red, green and blue pixels that create color images on a computer monitor. if the correct color palette is not used, the colors on the final product may not match what the artists and designers created. printers also set requirements for file types. most of them require pdf files for the cover and the interior. others may ask for images as tiff or eps files. some companies ask for single page layouts, while others ask for a side-by-side book page layout. templates provided by the printer will show margins, gutters, trim, and bleed lines. all text needs to fall within the margins. the gutter describes the area where pages meet, creating a wider margin on the “inner” edge of the page. illustrators and designers need to keep in mind that content falling in the gutter may not be visible in the bound book. trim and bleed lines are features defined by the process of printing, trimming and binding the books. the trim lines show where the pages are expected to be cut. if illustrations and backgrounds will go all the way to the edge, a “bleed” line will be seen outside the trim lines. images meant to be printed all the way to the edge of the page should extend beyond the trim lines to the bleed lines. once the book is printed, pages are cut to size, and a small part of the image will be trimmed off in the process. illustrators and designers need to be aware of this to avoid putting critical information at the edge of the page. this process makes it very important to work with a graphic designer who has been trained to work with these parameters. third-party materials – another requirement is a policy on the use of third-party materials. the most likely example of a third-party resource is an image such as a photograph, illustration, clipart design, a graph or a map. in every case, images from third-parties – any image not created by the team – requires the publisher to get express permission and to properly attribute the image to the source. incorporating copyrighted images usually involves paying the owner for permission. in some cases, the fee is nominal. however, some sources, especially photographs and images from corporations like movie studios, may charge fees that can be hundreds of dollars (usd). fortunately, there are other options. websites that offer public domain or “creative commons” materials are excellent resources for authors and designers. global journal of transformative education (2020) vol 2 mcconnell & giorgio-booher, collaborative self-publishing 43 there are several sources of public domain and creative commons images. links to some of these sites have been provided in the “resources” list at the end of this article. public domain images, often from government agencies, are free for use. legal guidelines do not require attribution of the author (listing the owner and year), but ethical practice suggests including a small caption showing the source on or near the image. creative commons status offers a variety of licensing options, usually labeled as “cc.2.0” or some other numbered license. some materials are free for use with attribution, including a link to the original source. others prohibit use for commercial products like books. owners may also stipulate a small fee to use an image. project planners need to pay close attention the terms and limitations of each type of creative commons license. as educators, it is important to practice ethical use of intellectual process, and it is the “publisher’s” legal responsibility to abide by the terms of the licenses. technical process for team – other technical considerations should address how the development team works on the book. this involves identifying the tools the team will use to produce the text and images in the book. illustrators may wish to paint or draw using traditional media. if the illustrators are paid a stipend, they will often be expected to purchase their own materials. conservation tales used project funds to provide these materials as one of the benefits of being on the team. the team needs to agree on the software for producing text, images and layouts, including the format of the files they save. the industry standard in publishing is the adobe suite of software, creative cloud. this can be expensive, but many graphic designers and artists already use it. the most essential applications in this suite are photoshop, illustrator and indesign. photoshop is one of the leading tools for digital artists, and can help photographers edit images. illustrator and indesign are layout and publishing programs used in the graphic design field. there are other less expensive programs that can be used to carry out the same tasks, so the team should pick tools that are accessible to members. it is important to ensure that the software can export or save files in the formats required by printers, so the team should refer to the technical specifications provided by the print service selected for the final product. the team also needs to select a method for sharing files. each team member will create files for their respective contribution to the book. the graphic designer will eventuall need to access these files to place them in page layouts. cloud storage is an easy option, but it is important to make sure the project has enough storage space for files. images and page layouts will use large amounts of storage space. if the team runs out of storage space, backing up files becomes an issue. the choice of a cloud service should be guided by local availability and ease of access for all team members. conservation tales required team members to save all files in box, with shared folders for each book. managing the many files created by the team was a challenge, so the team created a guide for naming files and locations for storing them. the graphic designers should be involved in guiding the decisions about file names because the designer will be the last person who needs to find the files. in an age of technology, project teams might also collaborate from different geographic locations. if the specialists you need live far away, videoconferencing tools like whatsapp, skype, zoom, and other videoconference applications permit collaborations that can be productive. the conservation tales team was required to complete two books in the spring of 2020 in a virtual environment when the covid-19 pandemic forced the university to close campus. the conservation tales team demonstrated that completing a publishing project from a distance is possible, even when team members use laptops, desktop computers, tablets and even smart phones to connect. for similar needs, a project team should select a common videoconferencing tool that allows team members to “share screens” so they can view samples of artwork and layouts as they review and critique the work. implications for potential authors the process of creating a book as we have described appears to be very complicated, but with the right membership on the team to help with the different tasks, self-publishing is within reach. as nottingham (1969) wrote, “there is no technological reason why” educational books for african learners cannot be written, edited, designed and published in africa. odendaal (2008) described the importance of the publisher: “the academic publisher is a gatekeeper of knowledge and thus controls what appears in print” (p. 52). self-publishing opportunities afforded by current technology and business models have made it easier for indigenous authors to become the “gatekeepers” as they shape the knowledge that appears in print to meet local and regional educational needs. educators who hope to help decolonialize schools and social global journal of transformative education (2020) vol 2 mcconnell & giorgio-booher, collaborative self-publishing 44 institutions in africa – or any other part of the world – have the tools and support systems at their fingertips needed to create materials that can help achieve their goals. authors no longer need to rely on the vision of large publishing companies who are driven by large profit goals and may not share the author’s objectives. the availability of these tools makes it easier than ever for local experts to develop books in indigenous languages, with illustrations and photos that are relevant to indigenous learners, and reflect authentic historical and cultural contexts. a leading publishing professional in south africa, brian wafawarowa, describes the need to facilitate such participation in the publishing industry: “… an ideal publishing sector is one in which people of all races and cultural persuasion have the space to participate in the various aspects of the book sector, a sector where the knowledge pool is enriched by the diversity of the literature that is available and where the population indulges in reading beyond reading for instruction purposes in institutions of learning” (wafawarowa, 2004) the primary barrier to producing locally relevant materials, then, may be a perception by interested individuals that publishing is too difficult or too complex. the leadership team of the conservation tales project faced these same concerns. we discovered that we needed specialists with specialized skills and the willingness to collaborate. we also found that support and interested partners were not hard to find, especially if we were willing to work with university students. their technical skills and openness to try new ideas led to a level of quality that would have been impossible without these key team members. more importantly, their creativity drove the rapid growth of our project and the addition of valuable ideas for developing marketing materials, educational activities, and key features of our books that appeal to our target audience. conclusion as educators consider the need to improve curriculum and educational materials for children in africa, or any other country for that matter, the barriers presented by the control of publishing companies on the available resources is growing less important. we present the example of the conservation tales series as a model for the development of locally-produced, culturally relevant educational materials. the time is right for independent authors, educators, illustrators and others to use their expertise to make the materials they know are needed for schools and communities. we present this goal not only as an educational strategy, but also as a tool for decolonialization. self-publishing authors can take a lead role in transforming schools and society by becoming creators, not just consumers, of the information that presents images intended to shape young and malleable minds. it is clear that building a collaborative team of individual who bring specific skills are helpful to a successful publishing project: authors, illustrators, graphic designers, editors, and educators. such a team can then use the current on-demand, digital and self-publishing resources to produce quality and relevant educational materials available with very little overhead expense. our hope is that the framework for a collaborative team described above can serve as a model that others can adopt, adapt and remold to suit their needs. perhaps more importantly, we hope to inspire the innovation and entrepreneurial spirit that can help our fellow educators become “knowledge creators” (zegeye & vambe, 2006) who produce high-quality, cultural relevant educational resources for schools. as we explained earlier, the doors truly are open if a handful of individuals with a vision for indigenous books are willing to step out of the traditional box to take advantage of the opportunities at hand. resources for self-publishing isbn registration services bowker isbn-us isbn services companies offering on-demand printing in africa printivo 48hrbooks.com digitalprintondemand new voices publishing services kindle direct publishing creative commons & public domain image sources flickr unsplash pexels pixabay creative commons search wikimedia commons global journal of transformative education (2020) vol 2 http://www.bowker.com/products/isbn-us.html https://www.isbnservices.com https://printivo.com/ https://www.48hrbooks.com/ https://www.printondemand.co.za/ https://www.newvoices.co.za/ https://kdp.amazon.com https://flickr.com https://unsplash.com/ https://www.pexels.com/ https://pixabay.tumblr.com/ https://search.creativecommons.org/ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/category:photographs mcconnell & giorgio-booher, collaborative self-publishing 45 references akena, f. a. (2012). critical analysis of the production of western knowledge and its implications for indigenous knowledge and decolonization. journal of black studies, 43(6), 599-619. asante-darko, k. (2002). towards a post-colonial children’s literature for black africa. mots pluriels, 22. chemionics. (2020). accelerating access and learning in the democratic republic of congo. darko-ampem, k. o. (2004). scholarly publishing in africa: a case study of the policies and practices of african university presses. dilevko, j., & dali, k. (2006). the self-publishing phenomenon and libraries. library & information science research, 28(2), 208-234. edwards, v., & ngwaru, j. m. (2012). african language books for children: issues for authors. language, culture and curriculum, 25(2), 123-137. hall, b. l., & tandon, r. (2017). decolonization of knowledge, epistemicide, participatory research and higher education. research for all, 1(1), 6-19. khorana, m. (1998). children’s publishing in africa: can the colonial past be forgotten? contributions in afroamerican and african studies, 187, 1-14. laquintano, t. (2016). mass authorship and the rise of self-publishing. university of iowa press. mazrui, a. m. (2002). the english language in african education: dependency and decolonization. language policies in education: critical issues, 267-282. mbure, s. (1997). african children’s literature or literature for african children? matatu, 17(1), 3-9. mucherah, w., & mbogori, t. (2019). examining child development from an african cultural context. global journal of transformative education, 1(1), 11-17. doi: 10.14434/gjte.v1i1.26140 nottingham, j. (1969). establishing an african publishing industry: a study in decolonization. african affairs, 68(271), 139-144. odendaal, e. r. (2008). an exploration of the state of self-publishing in the academic publishing sector of south africa. doctoral dissertation, university of pretoria. opportunity agenda. (2017). ten tips for putting intersectionality into practice. pandey, s. n., & moorad, f. r. (2003). the decolonization of curriculum in botswana. international handbook of curriculum research, 143-170. rosetti, c. (2013). african books for african readers. publishing perspectives, april 29, 2013. salmons, j. (2019). learning to collaborate, collaborating to learn. sterling, va: stylus publishing. shake it up creative. (2018, october 22). why graphic communication is important for your business. shercliff, e. (2016). african publishing in the twenty-first century. wasafiri, 31(4), 10-12. sliger, m. (2011). agile project management with scrum. paper presented at pmi global congress 2011. dallas, tx. newtown square, pa: project management institute. wafawarowa, b. (2004). ten years of freedom – whither the south african publishing industry? african publishing review, 13(2), 1–4. zegeye, a., & vambe, m. (2006). knowledge production and publishing in africa. development southern africa, 23(3), 333-349. zell, h. m. (2016). african publishing coming of age. logos, 27(3), 52-60. 1 tom j. mcconnell (tjmcconnell@bsu.edu) is a professor in the department of biology at ball state university, muncie, in, usa. 2 barbara giorgio-booher (bgiorgio@bsu.edu) is a teaching professor in the school of art at ball state university, muncie, in, usa. authors https://www.chemonics.com/projects/accelerating-access-learning-democratic-republic-congo/ https://www.chemonics.com/projects/accelerating-access-learning-democratic-republic-congo/ http://www.storre.stir.ac.uk/bitstream/1893/71/18/darko-ampem-thesis-2004.pdf http://www.storre.stir.ac.uk/bitstream/1893/71/18/darko-ampem-thesis-2004.pdf http://www.storre.stir.ac.uk/bitstream/1893/71/18/darko-ampem-thesis-2004.pdf https://www.opportunityagenda.org/explore/resources-publications/ten-tips-putting-intersectionality-practice https://www.opportunityagenda.org/explore/resources-publications/ten-tips-putting-intersectionality-practice https://www.shakeitupcreative.com/2018/10/22/why-graphic-communication-is-important-for-your-business https://www.shakeitupcreative.com/2018/10/22/why-graphic-communication-is-important-for-your-business https://www.pmi.org/learning/library/agile-project-management-scrum-6269 abstract inspired by the un charter on the rights of the child, educational policy makers in africa are requesting schools to implement democratic practices in the classroom. this study attempts to shed light on the effects of classroom democratic practices on cognitive and non-cognitive learning outcomes using cross-sectional data about student performance and indicators of classroom democracy from francophone african countries. to simultaneously account for the cause and effect of democratic practices on learning achievements and the nested nature of the data, use is made of the error components-two stage least squares estimator. the results confirm the endogenous nature of learning outcomes and indicate that teachers and parents are the most important stakeholders in the process of having children internalize democracy in the classroom. it is recommended that teachers develop skills to assign and supervise pupils’ work in small groups in the classroom. education stakeholders should take measures to preserve and promote indigenous cultural values because they facilitate learning achievements. keywords: classroom democracy, educational outcomes njong, a. m. global journal of transformative education (2020) vol 2 doi 10.14434/gjte.v2i1.31205 open access published by the global insitutute of transformative education (http://www.gite.education) © njong, a. m.,. 2020. open access this journal is distributed under the terms of the creative commons attribution noncommercial nonderivative 4.0 international license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction without revision in any non-commercial medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the creative commons license, classroom democracy and learning outcomes in primary schools in francophone africa aloysius mom njong full listing of authors and contacts can be found at the end of this article. introduction francophone africans are familiar with classrooms where the teacher is the principal actor with all attention focused on them. francophone africa includes countries where french is the official language even if not all residents speak french, a result of the influence of historical french colonization. like in many other countries, teachers transmit textbook knowledge to pupils who are encouraged to memorise the course material, perhaps only to reproduce it on demand, usually to pass an examination. in such traditional and authoritarian schools, textbooks and teachers are the main sources of knowledge, and children are hardly encouraged to participate. there is a growing awareness that such teacher-centred and text-book centred instructional approaches produce future passive citizens who fall short of critical thinking, decision-making and socialisation skills (barron & darling-hammond, 2008; nagaraju, madhavaiah, & peter, 2013). given this awareness and inspired by the un charter on the rights of the child, educational policy makers in africa are requesting the enhancement of democracy in the classroom which is more likely to promote children’s social, moral and academic development (un general assembly, 1989). despite this policy directive, very little attention has been paid to the practice of democratic principles in the classroom and the delivery of education in a transformative manner. perhaps research in this area has been hampered by the lack of readily available data, and difficulties in quantifying social education variables (borghans, duckworth, heckman, & ter weel, 2008). the traditional education production function has centred on conventional schooling input-output variables perhaps because these are more easily measurable. non-conventional inputs such as democratic practices have been neglected. as part of classroom democratic practices, i agree with serpell & marfo (2014), bodrova & leong (2007), and mucherah & mbogori (2019) who argue that learning outcomes are influenced by the cultural values and norms of the local setting where children go to school. african countries have cultural values which are specific and diverse and often different from those in developed countries. yet few attempts are made to explicitly 47 njong, classroom democracy and learning outcomes factor in african cultural values in the education production processes. thus, in this study an attempt is made to consider some aspect of african cultural identity as a special dimension of classroom democracy in the modelling, and to show how it contributes to the motivation of children’s educational achievements in francophone africa. in addition to issues of data availability, the focus of the study on francophone african countries is to capture the hangovers of french colonialism on the school curriculum of these countries. there may be some aspects of french colonialism and post-colonialism that interact with other factors to shape schooling realities in postcolonial francophone african countries. as concerns learning outcomes, focus in the literature has been on literacy and numeracy test scores (glewwe & jacoby, 1994; glewwe, 2002; glewwe & kremer, 2006; wamalwa & burns, 2018). non-cognitive outcomes have not been given the attention they deserve, perhaps because they are difficult to measure. the classroom should not only aim to produce individuals who can read and write, but must go beyond to prepare active, sociable, culturally viable and well-behaved citizens of the country. another motivation for this study is at the methodological level. from the foregoing, it is apparent that schooling produces several learning outcomes, such as formal cognitive skills and behavioural skills. these educational outcomes are jointly determined in the learning process and any single equation modelling may not capture the entire picture of interrelationships in the educational process. therefore, i attempt to take into account the simultaneity and interdependence between learning outcomes and inputs, leading to a more realistic formulation of the schooling production function. another important methodological issue is related to the nested nature of the data. ignoring clustering in analysing hierarchically structured data will underestimate standard errors due to the decrease in the effective sample size for explanatory variables defined at the cluster level (baltagi, 2011). it is against this backdrop that this study seeks to establish the causal relationships between democracy in the classroom and learning outcomes in primary schools in francophone african countries. specifically, the study attempts to: i. analyse democratic practices in schools as an approach to classroom management in francophone african countries. ii. determine the effects of classroom democracy on learning outcomes in primary schools across francophone african countries. the study is organised as follows: section 1 explains the context and motivation of the study. section 2 presents the conceptual framework wherein the concepts of classroom democracy and learning achievements are defined and operationalized. section 3 dwells on the methodology which describes the data used, model specification and estimation strategies. section 4 is reserved for results and discussions. section 5 concludes the study with a summary of the key findings, together with educational policy implications. conceptual framework in this section, i define the concepts of classroom democracy and learning outputs in the context of this study so as to establish the causal relations between them. classroom democracy a modern pedagogical approach to classroom democracy focuses on the promotion of self-learning (fearnley-sander, moss, & harbon, 2001). this means that pupils are actively engaged with their own learning. to be more explicit, i consider classroom democracy as a set of classroom practices that put the children at the centre of the instructional process. this requires that each pupil is accepted as a unique personality and shown respect. it also requires that pupils’ opinions be considered in education decision-making. as members of the society make decisions in a democracy, so the pupils who are actual elements in the democratic classroom should actively participate in decision making. for example, the curriculum to be taught and rules to be obeyed at school and in the classroom should be determined together with pupils. democracy comes along with freedom of thinking and expression. consequently, pupils should be given the opportunity to express what they feel and think. the democratic classroom as a way of life is reinforced by the un convention on the rights of the child (un general assembly, 1989) which proposes relationship changes between adults and young children. both parents and teachers are expected to be agents of change in the learning process of the child. in building a democratic classroom culture, the role of the teacher has to change from an authoritative personality to a facilitator. the teacher is no longer that person dictating a lesson as pupils copy and assimilate, but is expected global journal of transformative education (2020) vol 2 48 njong, classroom democracy and learning outcomes to help pupils to cultivate the habit of accessing information by themselves and learning it (maftoon & shakouri, 2012). the teacher is expected to guide the pupils in their learning process, and not force them to learn. the parent is expected to promote processes designed to enable and empower children to learn conveniently. such processes would involve providing children with basic needs such as adequate nutrition, health, and protection against abuse and violence. another dimension of classroom democracy is enshrined in the concept of discipline in schools. it is well recognized that if discipline is not taken into consideration, the classroom/school environment will be unsafe and may disrupt the learning process as well as the academic achievement of the children (mothata & squelch, 1997; levin & nalon, 1991). teachers and school administrators have a major role to play through guidance and counseling of children in order to instill in them a sense of responsibility and curb incidences of disruptive behaviour in schools. every school has a code of conduct which every child is supposed to respect. when the rules are broken, it is expected that disciplinary measures be applied according to the educational regulations in force. therefore, it is important to factor in child discipline as a transformative educational input that will lead to a healthy classroom environment in a democratic manner. another dimension of classroom democracy may be borrowed from social cultural theory which holds that culture and social interactions are essential factors in children’s acquisition of knowledge (okonji, 1971; bodrova & leong, 2007; marfo & biersteker, 2011; marfo, pence, levine, & levine, 2011; mucherah & mbogori, 2019). the african child grows up in a local context where the mother tongue is spoken, traditional music is listened and danced to with formidable dexterity, domestic chores are often distributed among family members, and telling of folk stories are common practices. furthermore, the extended family system which includes, in addition to nuclear family; uncles, aunties, cousins and grandparents is order of the day (degbey, 2012). democracy as a way of living and everyday experiences should not be indifferent to these local contextual factors in which african children are growing. therefore, african socio-cultural values need to be extended to the classroom setting in order to properly motivate children in the learning process in the context. global journal of transformative education (2020) vol 2 learning outcomes learning outcomes are multidimensional and complex. however, to facilitate understanding i divide learning outputs into cognitive and non-cognitive components. according to anderson et al (2001) the cognitive domain involves the acquisition of knowledge and the development of intellectual skills from the educational process. this way of learning encourages pupils to use their brains more effectively, and enables them to think and remember easily. this does not mean that memorisation or repetition is encouraged, it simply ensures that the concepts learnt in class are understood. outcomes from the cognitive learning process usually involve academic achievement tests in reading, language and mathematics. the non-cognitive component is made up of self-esteem and sociability outcomes. according to emler (2001), olsen, breckler, & wiggens (2008) and harter (2012), self-esteem is considered a child’s evaluation of self-worth and acceptance in the classroom. it is a judgment of the self. research results indicate that there is a correlation between self-esteem and children’s development (papadopoulos, metsiou, & agaliotis, 2011). for example, children with high self-esteem show greater motivation and take initiative. they are more prone to express sociable behavior and show more feelings of happiness (baumeister, campbell, krueger, & vohs, 2003). on the other hand, children who have low selfworth tend to treat themselves badly and are more likely to invite bad treatment from their peers (saigal, lambert, russ, & hoult, 2002). the consequences of low self-worth amongst pupils would include unhappiness, symptoms of depression, and difficulties in forming and sustaining friendly relationships with their peers (emler, 2001). the social outcome of the education process revolves around the social learning theory (bandura, 1977). the theory posits that people can acquire new behaviours by observing and imitating the behavioural patterns of other people. the theory further posits that learning would also occur through practices of rewards and punishments. in this way, a behaviour that is often rewarded would persist, while the one that is constantly punished would most likely not be imitated. the classroom is a social setting, and pupils through their interactions with peers and teachers would pick up new patterns of behaviour that are likely to uphold the spirit of team work, cooperation and love for one another. 49 only the items that pass the reliability or internal consistency test in analysis improves measurment of the latent constructs and facilitate the convergence of estimations (wooldridge, 2009). based on the retained items in each construct i built composite indicators using multiple correspondence analyses (njong & ningaye, 2008). in this sub-section i analyse the measured latent variables/constructs of interest in this study. indicators of classroom democracy the main explanatory variable in this study is classroom democracy. drawing from the conceptualisation of classroom democracy in section 2, i build and analyse four composite indicators of classroom democracy. the first is the indicator of group work. this composite indicator is captured based on primary items shown on table s1 (see appendix). table s1 indicates that about 38% of the teachers organised the children to work in small groups. about 67% of the teachers reported they lack the techniques to make pupils work as teams, while 56.3% of them complained that the classroom is inappropriate to organise children in smaller groups. the second construct of classroom democracy is an indicator of children’s rights. the primary items of children’s basic rights retained are displayed on table s2. it shows that about 26.4% of the children attended nursery school, while 64% of them slept under mosquito nets. as concerns health challenges, 17.7% of the children reported having hearing difficulties, and 23% had sight problems. children nutrition seems to be a serious problem because about 57.5% of the children reported always feeling hungry in class. the third construct of classroom democracy is an indicator of child discipline. child discipline was surveyed by getting responses to the statements captured on table s3. it is observed on table s3 that about 38% of the teachers punished or shouted at children in class. the method of punishment ranged from asking the pupils to copy exercises (32%), and /or do manual labour (49%). note that about 5.5% of the teachers did administer corporal punishment although it is prohibited by law in these countries. the fourth construct of classroom democracy is an indicator of cultural identity. the statements that captured cultural identity, and based on which the cultural identity indicator is built, are displayed on table s4. table s4 shows that 22.4% of the children did not speak their mother tongue at home, while 69% of them did so occasionally. only about 18.5% of the teachers used the native language spoken by the children of that global journal of transformative education (2020) vol 2 njong, classroom democracy and learning outcomes methodology in order to understand the causal relationship between democratic classroom practices and learning achievement, secondary cross-sectional data collected by reviewing pasec surveys were used. the pasec survey methodology was a stratified samplying design where schools were first randomly selected, and grade 6 kids were subsequently randomly interviewed from each school. given the stratified nature of the data collection process, multilevel analytical framework is adopted to better unravel the inter-relationships, but before addressing this, a discussion of the data generation procedure is necessary. data since 1960 the conference of ministers of education of francophone countries, better known in french acronym as confemen1, has been making enormous attempts to promote the delivery of educational services and professional training (pasec, 1998). to facilitate this, it pilots a survey called ‘programme d’analyse des systèmes éducatifs de la confemen’ (pasec) to collect data that are used to assess the efficiency of the educational systems of its member countries. the data i use in this study come from the pasec survey conducted across 10 francophone african countries in 2014 (pasec 2017). as part of the pasec survey design information was collected from pupils in grade 6 who are at the end of the primary school curriculum. the information collected from these pupils included reading and numeracy test scores and the pupils’ characteristics. information was also collected from the children’s parents, teachers and head teachers of the various schools relating to knowledge, welfare, pedagogic resources and governance issues. the 2014 pasec design surveyed 31213 pupils in grade 6 nested in 671 schools across 10 countries2. the unit of analysis is the pupil. measurement of constructs apart from the cognitive skills’ construct, the rest of the constructs in the survey data are captured using several items. i subjected the items in each construct to an internal consistency test and retained for analysis only those items with positive inter-items correlations and/or that loaded high on the construct in question. the cronbach’s alpha test was used for 3-4 points likert scales items, while the guttman’s split lambda coefficient was used for yes/no responses. retaining 1confemen is conférence des ministres de l’éducation des états et gouvernements de la francophonie. 2the ten countries are: benin; burkina faso; burundi; cameroon; congo; cote d’ivoire; niger; senegal; tchad; and togo 3in the case of items with mixed scales, i used the cronbach’s alpha test. njong, classroom democracy and learning outcomes 50 locality. above 70% of the teachers did not allow children talk or sing songs in their mother tongue in class. table s4 also indicates that 7784% of the schools did not have textbooks in the language of the majority of the children. dependent variables the dependent variables are learning outcomes which are cognitive and non-cognitive and are considered endogenous, because they are determined within the system4. the cognitive outcomes are standard scores in reading skills and mathematics skills. this is a simple scale of test scores that are continuous from grade 2 through grade 6. the standard scores reported for each of the grade levels ranges from 100 to 400. i compute the mean value of the test scores across the grades for reading and math. these scores indicate that the higher the score, the higher the academic achievement of the child. the non-cognitive outcomes are self-esteem and sociability. the items used to measure non-cognitive skills include measures of friendliness, happiness, self-worth, cooperation with one another, and feeling of security. each child was asked to respond to the descriptive statements measuring self-esteem and sociability captured on a 4-point likert scale as follows: 1) strongly agree, 2) agree, 3) disagree, and 4) strongly disagree. the number of items in the survey that are related to self-esteem and sociability are ten and six respectively. based on cronbach’s alpha analysis, i selected seven and four items that loaded high on self-esteem and sociability respectively (see tables s5 and s6). table s5 shows children’s responses to self-esteem items. it shows that over 83% of the children reported performing well in class. approximately 81% of the children reported hard work to account for their good achievement, while 74% of them attributed the good scores to the fact that class lessons are easy. children reported having low scores for various reasons, for example about 47% of them don’t study enough, and 36% of them consider they are not intelligent enough, while 25% said the teacher insults them. table s6 shows children’s responses to sociability items, where over 80% of them agreed having many friends in school. about 87% of the children were happy being in school because their peers like them. it is important to note that the learning outcome/ endogenous variables are measured in different units. the non-cognitive skills are measured using likert scales in the survey dataset while the cognitive skills are mean test scores. thus, in order to facilitate interpretation of changes on learning outcomes i transformed them into a common unit of measurement using standard z-scores. model specification to determine the effects of classroom democracy on learning outcomes an econometric model is specified. since the schooling inputs jointly produce the educational outcomes, a simultaneous equation modelling approach is deemed appropriate for this study. simultaneous-equation models specify relationships in a system of two or more equations where the dependent variables display an interdependent relationship (wooldridge, 2009; greene, 2011; baltagi, 2011). in a non-recursive model of this nature, the focus is on the relationship among the jointly determined dependent variables in the systems, which are considered endogenous. i argue that these endogenous variables are considered cause and effect in the schooling production process. there is simultaneity or reciprocal causation among the dependent variables. the modelling suggests that certain outcomes could be affected directly by other outcomes of the educational process. what this means is that all the dependent variables are explicitly taken to be endogenous to the system (baltagi, 2011). that is, the endogenous explanatory variables are dependent variables from other equations in the system. given the above, i can specify the following non-recursive system of simultaneous equations: global journal of transformative education (2020) vol 2 4this is explained in greater detail in methodology section. mtsijc=α0+α1icdijc+α2rtsijc+α3isoijc+α4iseijc γxijc+ε1,ijc (1) rtsijc=β0+β1icdijc+β2mtsijc+β3isoijc+β4iseijc+θwijc+ε2,ijc (2) isoijc=δ0+δ1icdijc+δ2mtsijc+δ3rtsijc+δ4iseijc+ gijc+ε3,ijc (3) iseijc=ω0+ω1icdijc+ω2mtsijc+ω3rtsijc+ω4isoijc+πzijc+ε4,ijc (4) where: mts = math test scores rts = reading test scores iso = indicator of sociability ise = indicator of self-esteem icd = indicators of classroom democracy x, w, g, z = vector of control (exogenous) variables α,β,γ,δ,θ,π, ,ω are structural parameters to be estimated ε1,…,ε4 are disturbance or error terms i, j, c represent the ith pupil, the jth school, and cth country respectively the explanatory endogenous variables are correlated with the error terms in the system of equations. all other explanatory variables are considered exogenous to the system and uncorrelated with the error terms. the exogenous variables are considered as instruments for the endogenous variables. njong, classroom democracy and learning outcomes 51 model estimation to estimate a system of simultaneous equations, instrumental variable methods for joint estimation are often proposed. to account for the nested structure of the data due to intra-school correlations that may arise because responses from children in the same school are likely to be similar while those from children in other schools are different, the solution in single equation model is to cluster the errors at the level of the school (fielding, 2010; wamalwa & burns, 2018). to achieve this within a simultaneous equation framework, baltagi & chang (2000) and hsiao (2003) proposed an error components-two stage least squares (ec2sls) estimator to account for the random error component of the system of equations. the ec2sls estimator is implemented on an equation by equation estimation basis (baltagi, 2008)5 to avoid having inconsistent equation estimates for all the equations in the event where any of the equations is mis-specified. pair-wise correlation results table 1 shows the weighted6 pair-wise correlations between the classroom democratic indicators and learning outcomes as defined in this study. table 1 shows some preliminary partial inter-relationships among learning outcomes and classroom democratic indicators. first observation on table 1 is that there is a high positive correlation between the cognitive educational outputs. the correlation coefficient between math skills and reading test scores is 0.845 indicating that pupils who read well report high performance in mathematics as well. second interesting observation is that correlation between non-cognitive outcomes is moderate and positive. for instance, the correlation coefficient between self-esteem and sociability is 0.59, indicating that that children who have high self-esteem are much likely to be sociable. third observation of interest is that the correlation between the cognitive and the non-cognitive indicators are positive but much lower. for example, correlation coefficient between self-esteem and reading is 0.201, while it is 0.155 with math. the correlations among the indicators of classroom democracy are very low. estimation results in this section the regression results of classroom democratic practices on learning outcomes are presented. for convenience, the results for cognitive skills are presented first. table 2 (see next page) displays the estimation results for cognitive skills. the results on table 2 show high positive and significant correlations between both test scores at the 1% level. this result suggests that a child who does well in reading generally will also achieve well in math, and vice versa. the other two endogenous variables; self-esteem and sociability also show significant positive, but much lower correlations with math and reading skills. as concerns the indicators of classroom democracy, the correlations are positive and insignificant, except for child discipline. the results are interpreted in terms of standard deviations (sds). the indicator of group work correlates positively with cognitive skills. this means that a one unit increase in the indicator of group work improves math and reading scores by .073 sds and .065 sds respectively, but the effects are insignificant. the results indicate that when children’s rights increase by one unit, math and reading test scores rise insignificantly by .068 and .052 sds respectively. the indicator of child discipline associates positively and significantly with cognitive skills (.052 sds for math and .083 sds for reading). the indicator of cultural identity indicates that when it increases by one unit, math scores improve by .061 sds; while reading scores increase by .071 sds. of the control variables, the following are positive and significant at least at the 5% level: household size, teacher experience, teacher’s training, community involvement in school management, classroom pedagogic resources, and school infrastructure. the models predict that higher test scores are associated with students who are male, though this finding is insignificant. global journal of transformative education (2020) vol 2 5baltagi's (2008) ec2sls can be obtained by specifying the ec2sls option, after xtivreg in stata. 6the pasec survey provides several types of sampling weights, notably child, teacher, or school weights depending on the level of analysis. since unit of analysis in this study is the child, i use child sampling weights. njong, classroom democracy and learning outcomes 52 teacher absenteeism has negative significant effects on academic achievements. the diagnostics statistics on table 2 show that the variables specified in the models accounted for approximately 27.4% of the total variance of the math scores, and 37.1% of reading test scores, respectively. the between variations (r-sq=56.8% for math; 59.3% for reading) accounted more than the within variations (r-sq=22.1% for math; 32.7% for reading) in explaining the overall variances of the models, respectively. the f-values are statistically significant at the 1% level. this indicates that the regression models fit the data structure. in other words, the estimates of each model taken together are significant. table 3 displays the estimation results for non-cognitive skills. the results on table 3 show a moderately positive and significant association between self-esteem and sociability. specifically, a unit increase in self-esteem improves sociability by .051 sds. this suggests that a child’s feeling of self-esteem is affected by their interest in other children and the reactions they receive in return. the other two endogenous variables; math and reading show much lower positive and significant correlations with self-esteem and sociability skills. as regards the indicators of classroom democracy, the associations are positive and insignificant, except for child discipline. the indicator of group work is shown to associate positively and insignificantly with self-esteem (0.011 sds) and sociability (.057 sds). as concerns the indicator of children’s rights, table 3 shows that a one unit increase in children’s rights improves self-esteem and sociability insignificantly by .013 and .035 sds respectively. the indicator of child discipline associates positively and significantly with non-cognitive skills (.022 sds for self-esteem and .024 sds for sociability). table 3 also indicates that when indicator of cultural identity increases by one unit, self-esteem improves by .026 sds; while sociability ameliorates by .006 sds, though these improvements are insignificant. as concerns the other exogenous correlates, the following relate positively and significantly with the non-cognitive outcomes: household size, socio-economic status, teacher experience-squared, community involvement in school management, and classroom pedagogic resources. the models predict school infrastructure, teacher’s professional training, and experience associate positively though insignificantly with non-cognitive skill. as expected, teacher absenteeism has negative, though insignificant effect on non-cognitive achievements. precisely, a unit increase in teacher absenteeism causes self-esteem to change by -.004 sds, while sociability changes by -.022 sds. the diagnostics tests on table 3 show that the variables specified in the models accounted for approximately 29.1% of the total variance for self-esteem, and global journal of transformative education (2020) vol 2 njong, classroom democracy and learning outcomes 53 discussion the estimation results of this study show positive and significant inter-relationships between the learning outcomes of math, reading, self-esteem and sociability. in an attempt to explain these positive correlations, i draw from the theory of self-determination (deci, vallerand, pelletier & ryan, 1991). according to this theory intrinsically motivated individuals will engage in actions or behaviours because they enjoy doing them. in this case the individual has an internal motivation and feels fully engaged to undertake the action. this contrasts with externally motivated behaviours that individuals may initiate because they expect a reward or want to avoid a punishment. thus, it is expected that pupils who are intrinsically motivated (have high self-esteem and sociability) exhibit higher conceptual understanding (deci, vallerand, pelletier & ryan, 1991). such children are more confident in their capacities and therefore have greater interest for learning. these results corroborate the study by noftle & robins (2007) who found positive association between the personality dimensions of students and their math gpa and verbal test scores. chamorro-premuzic & furnham (2003) have also reported positive significant correlation between personality traits and student academic performance. the estimation results of this study portray positive correlations between all the indicators of classroom democracy and learning outcomes in the context of francophone african countries. however, only the association between child discipline and the learning outcomes is significant, the correlations of the other indicators of classroom democracy with educational achievements are insignificant. the positive association between indicator of group work and educational outcomes means that when pupils are given the opportunity to work in small groups, they are more likely to have higher test scores. the positive association between indicator of group work and learning outcomes corroborates findings from some earlier studies such as feinberg & toress (2001) and lipton & oakes (2003) who found that when pupils participate actively in class and work as teams, their educational achievements are much higher. unfortunately, our positive correlation is insignificant. in the survey about 63.2% of the teachers reported not organising pupils to work in groups. furthermore, about 67.3% of the teachers lacked the techniques to do so (see table s1 in the appendix). children in the african family setting share responsibilities in carrying out household chores such as cooking, taking 29.9% of sociability, respectively. the between variations (r-sq=47.3% for self-esteem; 47.5% for sociability) accounted more than the within variations (r-sq=26.7% for self-esteem; 27.0% for sociability) in explaining the overall variances of the models, respectively. the f-statistics indicate that the regression models fit the data structure. global journal of transformative education (2020) vol 2 njong, classroom democracy and learning outcomes 54 care of babies, fetching firewood and water, and running errands for the elderly. thus at an early age african children are exposed to a ‘team-spirit way’ of living which unfortunately is disrupted in the classroom when the teacher fails to organise them to work in groups. children will learn better in a classroom atmosphere, where children work in smaller groups, feel safe to express their feelings and open discussions are encouraged. therefore, there is need in african countries to move away from the traditional mode of teaching and learning where children listen and teachers speak and dictate notes. the estimation results indicate positive but insignificant correlations between indicator of children’s rights and learning outcomes. as a follow up of the 1989 un convention on children’s right, a special session was held on 22 may 2002 on children during which countries committed to invest in children and adopt policies in the best interest of the child. francophone african countries have several developmental challenges such as low incomes, inadequate access to portable water and sanitation, food insecurity and hunger, and widespread disease that threaten children’s livelihoods (watkins, 2016). given these challenges it is no surprise that 57.5% of the pupils in the survey reported feeling hungry in class, more than 7783% reported having one health impairment or another and 73.6% did not attain nursery school. a further 36% of the children have never slept under a mosquito net (see table s2). these are basic rights of the child. the inability of the children’s families to respect these rights may account for the insignificant nature of the results. it would be a miracle to expect children to achieve significantly when such basic rights are not respected. in tandem with african culture children in poorer families may be required to carry out petty commercial activities, or join their parents in farming so as to help the family survive. in western culture this may be considered child labour or child abuse, but in the african context this is not only a livelihood survival strategy but is often considered a normal activity in line with the household chores distribution plan of the family. thus, i may further argue that differences of this nature in the conceptualisation of children’s rights may also account for the insignificance of the estimation result. the indicator of child discipline associates positively and significantly with learning outcomes. this result is in line with expectations and agrees with bodovski, nahum-shani, & walsh (2013), which showed that higher math scores were registered among us students in a disciplinary school environment. further, ning, van-damme, yang, & gielen, (2013) also obtain a positive and significant correlation between child discipline and reading achievements. furthermore, pasternak (2013) and zhao & kuo (2015) have reported positive and significant relationships between children’s self-discipline and non-cognitive achievements. some unique features of the african traditional society may account for the significance of the child discipline indicator in this study. the extended family system is a powerful tool in parenting and helps to develop a sense of social responsibility, cooperation, and respect for elders in the child’s early years (nsamenang, 2008). another feature in the african traditional society aspect is the telling of folktales. this is another form of parenting which inculcates good morals and discipline in children (degbey, 2012). given these indigenous cultural values, the african child at an early age is more likely to be disciplined and by extension more likely to respect classroom rules and regulations. the indicator of cultural identity indicates a positive but insignificant association with learning outcomes. this finding slightly differs from results of earlier studies, like okonji (1971); bodrova & leong (2007); marfo & biersteker (2011) which find that cultural values have positive and significant effects on children’s academic performance. a close look at the items in the 2014 pasec survey from which the indicator of cultural identity is constructed may provide some explanation for the insignificance of estimation result. only about 18.9% of the teachers expressed themselves in the native language of the pupils where the school is located; 70.7% of the teachers did not allow pupils to speak, and sing in class in their native language and worst still only 8.6% of the pupils speak exclusively the mother tongue at home (see table s4). these attitudes are not of a nature to facilitate learning and ameliorate academic achievements in the african context. mucherah & mbogori (2019) argue that african children will learn better if the native language and french/english are used simultaneously as languages of instructions in school. this will facilitate the use of local examples to introduce the alphabet and counting of objects. unfortunately, francophone african scholars are still caught in the empty pride of using examples from paris, france, during lessons in class. african children may not quickly figure out such examples in their local context. some parents are also still entangled in the web of colonisation, and feel more westernised if their children speak only french/english. african global journal of transformative education (2020) vol 2 njong, classroom democracy and learning outcomes 55 global journal of transformative education (2020) vol 2 educationists have to encourage a shift away from these colonial mental enslavement and practices. conclusion and policy implications conclusion this study attempts to shed light on the effects of classroom democratic practices on cognitive (math and reading) and non-cognitive (self-esteem and sociability) learning outcomes using cross-sectional data from francophone african countries. to capture the inter-relationships inherent in the education production process, a simultaneous equation modeling approach is proposed. in order to estimate the model parameters, an error componenttwo stage least squares-instrumental variable method is used to properly account for the multilevel nature of the data structure. the results confirm the endogenous nature of the learning outcome variables; specifically, they indicate positive and significant correlations among the learning outcomes. as regards classroom democratic practices, the results indicate positive and insignificant associations with the dimensions of group work, children’s rights, and cultural identity. only the indicator of child discipline has positive and significant effect on learning outcome skills in this study. the exogenous or control variables included in the model have significant expected signs, notably family size, socio-economic status, teacher experience, community involvement, and classroom pedagogic resources. policy implications from the findings of this study, it stands out that teachers and parents are some of the most important stakeholders in the process of having children internalize democracy in the classroom. in this regard, the following policy recommendations are made: teachers should initiate and encourage children to work in small groups in the classroom. teachers should develop the habit to invite pupils to always see themselves as capable and valuable. this action will bring out the positive traits and potentials that the children have and help to build their self-esteem which is a strong internal motivation to educational achievement. education stakeholders should take measures to preserve and promote indigenous cultural values because they tend to facilitate learning achievements. education policy makers should devote more resources to revise the curriculum of professional colleges in order to train teachers to: i) develop skills of assigning and supervision of pupils in team work; ii) be culturally responsive in their teaching practices and accommodate pupils who speak their native language, or display their cultural identity in class. therefore, the teacher would be acting like a classroom democratic model. educationists should develop parenting programmes to sensitise parents to speak their native languages with children at home, and how to better prepare children for schooling as regards nutrition, health, and other nurturing issues. the findings also showed that there are variations in achievements within schools and between schools. the implication of this result is that educationists must design multiple teaching strategies. a blind spot in the education system is an attempt to treat all children the same. this certainly is for reasons of equity and fairness, but in reality, children are all different given that they come from diverse backgrounds. njong, classroom democracy and learning outcomes 56 references anderson, l.w., krathwohl, d.r., airasian, p.w., cruikshank, k.a., mayer, r.e., pintrich, p.r., raths, j., & wittrock, m.c. 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(2015). the role of self-discipline in predicting achievement for 10th graders. international journal of intelligent technologies and applied statistics, 8(1), 61-70. doi: 10.6148/ijitas.2015.0801.05 aloysius mom njong (mom_aloys@yahoo.fr) is a professor of development economics at the university of bamenda, cameroon. author https://scholarworks.iu.edu/journals/index.php/gjte/article/download/26140/32308/ https://scholarworks.iu.edu/journals/index.php/gjte/article/download/26140/32308/ https://lirias.kuleuven.be/handle/123456789/428773 https://lirias.kuleuven.be/handle/123456789/428773 https://lirias.kuleuven.be/handle/123456789/428773 https://lirias.kuleuven.be/handle/123456789/428773 https://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:8d71f02f-9698-4453-8ffb-0b40361ac2fd/download_file?safe_filename=characterizing%2bweights%2bin%2bthe%2bmeasurement%2bof%2bmultidimensional%2bpoverty%2b21.pdf&file_format=application%2fpdf&type_of_work=working+paper https://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:8d71f02f-9698-4453-8ffb-0b40361ac2fd/download_file?safe_filename=characterizing%2bweights%2bin%2bthe%2bmeasurement%2bof%2bmultidimensional%2bpoverty%2b21.pdf&file_format=application%2fpdf&type_of_work=working+paper https://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:8d71f02f-9698-4453-8ffb-0b40361ac2fd/download_file?safe_filename=characterizing%2bweights%2bin%2bthe%2bmeasurement%2bof%2bmultidimensional%2bpoverty%2b21.pdf&file_format=application%2fpdf&type_of_work=working+paper https://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:8d71f02f-9698-4453-8ffb-0b40361ac2fd/download_file?safe_filename=characterizing%2bweights%2bin%2bthe%2bmeasurement%2bof%2bmultidimensional%2bpoverty%2b21.pdf&file_format=application%2fpdf&type_of_work=working+paper https://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:8d71f02f-9698-4453-8ffb-0b40361ac2fd/download_file?safe_filename=characterizing%2bweights%2bin%2bthe%2bmeasurement%2bof%2bmultidimensional%2bpoverty%2b21.pdf&file_format=application%2fpdf&type_of_work=working+paper https://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:8d71f02f-9698-4453-8ffb-0b40361ac2fd/download_file?safe_filename=characterizing%2bweights%2bin%2bthe%2bmeasurement%2bof%2bmultidimensional%2bpoverty%2b21.pdf&file_format=application%2fpdf&type_of_work=working+paper https://www.careperinatologia.it/lavori/l52.pdf https://www.careperinatologia.it/lavori/l52.pdf https://www.econrsa.org/system/files/publications/working_papers/working_paper_723.pdf https://www.econrsa.org/system/files/publications/working_papers/working_paper_723.pdf https://www.econrsa.org/system/files/publications/working_papers/working_paper_723.pdf njong, classroom democracy and learning outcomes 58 global journal of transformative education (2020) vol 2 table s1n table s2n table s3n njong, classroom democracy and learning outcomes 59 global journal of transformative education (2020) vol 2 table s4n table s5n table s6n nwagu, e. n. global journal of transformative education (2020) vol 2 doi 10.14434/gjte.v1i2.27424 open access published by the global insitutute of transformative education (http://www.gite.education) © nwagu, 2020. open access this journal is distributed under the terms of the creative commons attribution noncommercial nonderivative 4.0 international license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction without revision in any non-commercial medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the creative commons license, transformative learning potentials of trainee health workers in nsukka, enugu state, nigeria evelyn n. nwagu abstract this study investigated transformative learning and the influence of learning experiences and demographic characteristics of the learners on transformative learning of trainee health workers in nsukka, enugu state, nigeria. descriptive survey design was used for the study. the instrument for data collection was a fixedchoice and open-ended questionnaire. frequencies and anova were computed. thematic content analyses for open-ended questions were done. participants indicated a high degree of transformative learning. programme type, gender, age and level of study had no significant influence on the transformative learning potentials of the students. the most frequently selected learning components were field trips and presentations. students’ responses to the open-ended questions covered themes such as better understanding of health, illness and health care. the study demonstrated the importance of discussion and debate in developing critical reflection among learners. keywords: transformative learning, critical reflection, change, health workers, health, illness, health care. full listing of authors and contacts can be found at the end of this article. introduction worldwide, the transformation and scaling up of health workers’ education and training are important issues of concern. a large proportion of health workers in nigeria and other sub-saharan african countries are trained in post-secondary health institutions and they form the major health workforce in health facilities in many communities in nigeria. while training institutions for health workers in developed nations of the world are undergoing reforms to increase the competencies of health workers trained in such institutions (stubbs, 2015; world bank, 2018), there is a scarcity of information and research about health workers training in sub-saharan africa, particularly nigeria. albeit, there is a need for all health professionals and health workers in all countries to be educated to mobilise knowledge, engage in critical reasoning, and practice ethical conduct so that they are competent to participate in patient and population-centred health systems as members of locally responsive and globally connected teams (frenk, chen, bhutta, cohen, crisp, evans, …zurayk, 2010). the training of health workers should, therefore, give rise to personal and social transformation which is one of the united nations educational, scientific, and cultural organization’s (unesco) five pillars of learning for sustainable development: learning to transform oneself and society (unesco, 2010). literature review transformation is an internal fundamental change in one’s beliefs for action (palinkas, 2013). it is quite different from mere change in behavior. while change uses external influences to modify actions, transformation modifies beliefs so actions become natural and thereby achieve the desired result. change amends the past while transformation creates the future. change and transformation could result from the learners’ experiences. experiential learning has been described as the type of education whereby knowledge and meaning are contextualized in actual experiences (perry, 2011). 61 health workers. communicative learning is born out of a need to understand others and make it easier for interlocutors to understand each other by navigating language, values, beliefs, and feelings (cranton& roy, 2003; mezirow, 1997). the learners, their teachers and the clients within such institutions have diverse values, beliefs, feelings and even languages. interacting with each other in these institutions could bring about reflective reasoning that can trigger transformative learning. experiential learning theory (elt) provides direction as to how we can develop the type of action-oriented experience that is likely to induce transformation. experiential learning involves concrete experience, reflective observation, abstract conceptualization, and active experimentation. concrete experience refers to an actual interaction a learner will have with the environment or a particular learning event. reflective observation provides learners the opportunity to reflect on their experiences from different perspectives. it propels the learners into the abstract conceptualization stage, where the learners integrate their reflections from their experiences into new concepts about their learning experience and make deductions about their experiences. the final stage is active experimentation where the learner takes their newly learned concepts and deductions from the abstract conceptualization phase and applies them in new learning settings. through touching all of these bases, knowledge is constructed and learning achieved (kolb & kolb, 2005). experiential learning associated with health worker training programmes can make a considerable impact on a student’s ability to understand globally complex problems (kiely, 2004). montrose (2002) explains that there is little understanding among providers and administrators of what exactly constitutes experiential learning and how it can be applied to improve programme structure. transformative learning for health workers in communities in lowand middleincome countries (lmic) has the potential of bridging the gap in the formal health services and communities (black et al.; who, 2016). the disparity in the health of individuals living in lmic particularly rural communities raises questions as to beliefs and practices relating to health, illness and the quality of health care in such communities. health workers training programmes have been accused of not producing competent professionals who are able to adequately positively impact the health of the people for whom they care. this lack of competence is largely a result of fragmented, outdated, and static curricula nwagu, learning potentials of trainee health workers meeting new and challenging experiences could lead to the uncomfortable situation described by mezirow (1991) and could lead to a learning outcome. mezirow stated that only through reflection, active learning, and placing ones selves in uncomfortable situations are individuals able to develop their understanding of the world and of themselves, allowing a potential change to their perspectives and frames of reference. strange & gibson (2017) noted that by applying the basis of experiential learning to the potential outcomes of transformative learning, it may be possible to further direct educational programming for the better. experiential and transformative learning are associated with the desired goals of health workers training programmes. it is apt to use them both as frameworks to assess the transformative learning potentials of trainee health workers. experiential learning can, thus, provide guidance in designing health worker training programmes such that they will include activities that are “more hands on.” transformative learning theory (tlt) focuses on the processes involved in changing an individu-al’s frames of reference (stange & gibson, 2017). the transformative learning theory was propounded by jack mezirow in 1978. mezirow asserted that adults make meaning of their experiences and that the specific social structures within which the experience takes place enable adult learners to read meaning into their experiences. where such meanings are found to be dys-functional they change their meaning of them (cranton, 2006; mezirow, 1991; taylor, 2007). the process of evaluating meaning structures starts with instrumental learning, passes through communicative learning and then transformative learning (mezirow, 1998, 2003). these three domains though distinct are interrelat-ed (mezirow, 1981) and they occur through critical reflection and rational discourse (moyer & sinclair, 2016). instrumental learning occurs when the learner manipulates and controls the environment, predicts observable physical and social events, and takes appro-priate actions (cranton & roy, 2003). the environment in training institution for health workers is a source of instrumental learning. students admitted into such institutions are capable of manipulating the environment to an extent that can bring about transformative learning. students can search out information from the internet, interact with other students, get themselves involve in discussions and debates and also interact with clients during the training programme. hence this study explored whether or not transformative learning occur in health workers in institutions of training for global journal of transformative education (2020) vol 2 nwagu, learning potentials of trainee health workers 62 global journal of transformative education (2020) vol 2 (frenk et al, 2010). there is a need for a serious shift in the mindsets of health workers for meaningful and sustainable change to occur (agyepong et al., 2017). this calls for a re-examination of the health care workers’ educational programme, to ensure that the curricula of health workers are able to provide the needed transformation that will help health workers assume and develop their personal, professional, and social roles. results from such studies are essential in planning effective training methodologies and materials to improve the efficacy of knowledge-sharing of health personnel (mbuya, menon, habicht, pelto, & ruel, 2013; mccalman, jongen, & bainbridge, 2017). health workers in training are adults and upon graduation, their health care job is often with adults. adult learning involves critical thinking and reflection on what is already known in order to change and adopt a new way of doing things (gibby, 2013). sharing of knowledge that will produce positive result requires that health workers should believe and be convinced of the right values and practices. there is a need for health workers to drop unhealthy values and socio-cultural norms that do not allow them to actively participate in effective and health-promoting practices. hence there is also a need for the training programme of health workers to give them adequate opportunity to reflect on their previous knowledge, values and practices with a view of transforming them positively. such transformative learning according to renigere (2014) will stimulate trainee health workers to learn to think independently in order to dispose of the knowledge that has at times been acquired as a result of life experience without ever thinking or asking questions. this study, therefore, examined how the students’ learning experiences have influenced their transformative learning. transformative learning is a possible outcome of instrumental and communicative learning when modification of premises, assumptions, and deep meaning structures result in a transformation of action and behaviour (cranton, 2006). therefore, presenting appropriate learning experiences to trainee health workers that will enable them to reflect on any value and meaning they may have had prior to the training may bring about transformative learning in health workers. transformative learning encompasses a life-enhancing change (mezirow, 2003). when learners experience transformative learning, they often become more inclusive, distinguishing, open, reflective and emotionally able to change, ultimately showing higher connectedness to the global environment (mezirow, 2003). educators engaged in teaching health workers should be able to identify ways of promoting students’ ability to find purpose and meaning from their experiences through a variety of learning components (bidabadi, isfahani, rouhollahi, & khalili, 2016). if health workers should develop their personal, professional and social roles, they need to develop their reasoning ability. such reasoning hopefully will give them the opportunity to better understand the lives of other people. for instance, being able to identify the emotional states of their clients and putting themselves in other’s shoes. these will help them to understand others’ beliefs, feelings, experiences and intentions. thus, they become able to think about things from others points of view (lieberman, 2007). nigeria, like many other countries in sub-saharan africa, faces infectious diseases, malnutrition, child and maternal mortality, emerging challenges from an increasing prevalence of chronic conditions, mental health disorders, injuries, and health problems related to climate change and environmental degradation (agyepong, et al., 2017). life expectancy and public health indicators remain low in nigeria compared to that of other middle-income countries in other parts of the world. there is need to find a viable and lasting solution to bridge this gap in health status between individuals of diverse socio-economic statuses in many communities in nigeria. many studies on health care services have looked at the type of services provided by health workers in low-resource communities and only a few have looked at the preparation of health workers for such service (o’rourke, howard-grabman, & seoane, 1998; laughlin, 2004; matare, et al., 2015; lamstein, et al, 2014). if efforts are made in the right directions, nigeria has the potential to improve the health status of its population if the nation will make effective use of its available human resources (adeloye et al., 2017). there is a need for health workers to have a change of approach in the way they view certain things and the way they act. health workers in most rural health facilities and in urban slums in nigeria comprise: community health extension workers (chew), junior community health extension workers (jchew), nurses, midwives and lab technologists. the world health organization (who) (2016) advocated that training of health workers should adopt an approach that is people-centred and inspired by progress and adapted to the country’s specific needs. the basic training of these cadres of health nwagu, learning potentials of trainee health workers 63 global journal of transformative education (2020) vol 2 workers is largely done at post-secondary training institutions, many of which are hospital based. the contributions of community health workers (chws) are globally recognized as capable of closing the gap between formal health services and communities (black et al., 2017; who, 2016). community health workers are among the who global strategy for human resources (maher & cometto, 2016) and they are considered an integral component to reach impact and equity goals (lewin et al., 2010). nurses and midwives have been identified to be actively involved in both hospital and community health practices (adib-hajbaghery, 2013). the basic laboratory services provided by laboratory technicians are very crucial for improving the potential of the primary health centres (phc) as centres providing primary health care. inadequate training of lab technicians has been blamed for the poor laboratory service in phc (george, 2011). the question then arises; are the training programmes in the various institutions of training of these cadres of health care workers capable of producing transformative learning among students trained in these training institutions? purpose of the study the purpose of the study was to investigate the transformative learning potentials of different cadres of trainee health personnel in nsukka, enugu state, nigeria. specifically, this study examined the influence of experiential learning and the influence demographic characteristics of participants on transformative learning outcomes. research questions 1. does transformative learning occur in trainee health workers in institutions of training of health workers? 2. how have learning experiences influenced transformative learning among students? 3. how do the demographic characteristics of age, gender, programme type and level of study influence the transformative learning of trainee health workers? methods design the descriptive survey design was used to measure the degree of transformative learning by trainee health workers. the questionnaire was used to elicit demographic information from the students, their transformative learning as well as the experiential components of their programmes. the primary analysis tools were frequencies, means, standard deviation, percentages, anova, and thematic content analyses of open-ended questions. data collection ethical approval for the study was granted by bishop shanahan hospital ethical review board. data were collected from students in four training institutions for health workers in the area of study. the researcher made contact with the principal of each school to obtain permission for the study. informed consents were obtained from the participants. the questionnaire was distributed and collected on the spot to avoid omission. participants the study population consisted of all trainee health workers in health training institutions in nsukka. the total size of the population was 647 students (students’ class registers for 2017 academic session). a sample of 245 students was drawn from the five health workers’ training institutions in nsukka using the stratified random sampling technique. the stratification was done based on gender, age, level of education and course of study. a random sample proportionate to a stratum’s size was taken from each stratum. the demographic characteristics of the respondents are shown in table 1. table 1. demographic characteristics of respondents variables frequency valid % gender male 18 7.3 female 227 92.7 total 245 100 level of education year 1 102 41.6 year 2 78 31.8 year 3 65 26.5 total 245 100 age in years less than 20 64 26.3 21-30 164 67.5 31-40 15 6.2 total 243 100 course of study nursing 19 7.8 midwifery 30 12.2 jchew 52 21.2 chew 72 29.4 lab technology 72 29.4 total 245 100 64nwagu, learning potentials of trainee health workers instrument the instrument used in this study consisted of a fixed-choice and open-ended response format questionnaire. the questionnaire contained three sections. section one was used to collect the respondents’ demographic information. section two consist of twelve items on transformative learning adapted from strange and gibson (2017) test of transformative learning as shown in table 2. in order to assess whether transformative learning has occurred, brock (2010) noted that it is important to question the learners about any change which they may have experienced in their beliefs or values. the response options for items in this section were dichotomous (yes = 1 or no = 0). section three measured program information and experien-tial learning (see table 3). the open-ended questions addressed the students’ transformative learning experiences and their experiential learning. the open-ended questions consist of the following questions: 1) during your study in this school did you experience a situation that changed your beliefs or values about patient care? please explain. 2) do you think your study in this institution changed your expectations of health care in life? please explain. 3) what was the most important thing you learned about health, illness and health care? 4) what did you learn about yourself? please explain. 5) in what ways do you feel the program impacted your life? please explain. 6) how long is your programme? 6) do you feel that the length of your program is adequate to meet your goals? please explain. 7) did the components in your program impact your learning? how? 8) are there any program components that were excluded that you feel would have been beneficial? the reliability of the instrument was established by pre-testing the instrument on 20 trainee health workers in enugu east senatorial zone who share the same characteristics with the population but are not part of the study. section two of the instrument yielded a relatively high cronbach’s alpha of α = .80. two instructors from each school served as research assistants. copies of the questionnaire were distributed to trainee health workers in the selected health training schools and the completed copies of the questionnaire were collected on the spot. data analysis data were analyzed using ibm spss (statistical package for the social sciences version 21.0). frequencies and percentages were generated for all the variables. homogeneity of variance was verified using the global journal of transformative education (2020) vol 2 levene’s test of homogeneity of variance. the significance of the levene’s test suggested equal variance for the four variables; gender, level of education, age, and course of study (see table 4). anova was therefore used to analyze differences in transformative learning experiences on all the four variables. items not responded to by some respondents were treated as missing data and were excluded from the analysis. thus, some analyses were conducted with smaller sample sizes open-ended questions. the open-ended responses were analyzed to provide an in-depth evaluation of the students’ experiences and transformative learning while in their training programme. thematic analyses of the responses were done. the responses were transferred into a word file and printed out. the printout responses were reviewed and coded to identify initial categories. the open-ended questions were used as a framework for categorizing codes related to each research question. the initial set of codes were expanded and refined to better reflect the common elements that existed across the full data set. patton (2002) asserted that this iterative style of analysis is a recognized characteristic of the qualitative research method. patterns were identified inductively by analyzing codes associated with research questions. further coding refinement occurred when all the codes associated with a particular open-ended question were examined for convergence. the qualitative content analysis was then used to identify themes across the codes. examination of the response patterns across the data sets ultimately led to the emergence and identi-fication of themes. the data for transformative learning (research question one) and experiential learning (research question two) were organized as separate data sets. response patterns were used to complement qualitative data on each research question. results the responses of the students to the transformative learning questions are contained in table 2. “i had an experience that caused me to question my ideas about health and illness behavior and health care received the highest positive responses,” 94.7% participants responded yes. students’ responses to the open-ended questions covered the following themes; better understanding of health, illness and health care; values and beliefs about patients’ health care and patient’s right; and expectations of healthcare roles. changes occur nwagu, learning potentials of trainee health workers 65 with respect to understanding health, illness and health care. some students (18 %) expressed that they now realize that health and illness is a continuum and as such health status is not static. a better understanding of disease causation and treatment were also expressed by 47 % of the students. thirty nine students (16 %) simply answered ‘yes’ to the question, “during your study in this school did you experience a situation that changed your beliefs or values about patient care?” but did not provide any explanation while seven students (3 %) of the students simply answered ‘no’ to the question without any explanation. myths about disease causation and treatment were dropped in 18 % of the students, for instance a second-year jchew student stated “before i came into the school, i use to think that stroke can only be caused by evil people not knowing that sickness like high blood pressure can cause it.” thirty-six percent of the students reported that changes occurred in their values and beliefs about patients’ health care and patient’s rights. for instance, global journal of transformative education (2020) vol 2 one student midwife said “i realized that drugs weren’t all that the patients needed most times but tender loving care.” with respect to patients’ rights, a third-year nursing student has this to say “initially i felt patients have no choice than to abide by the nurses’ opinion always but i have come to know that patients also have rights too.” again, a chew student stated “…i was thinking that a patient that is under your care should follow all your commands but it is not so.” changes in expectation of healthcare roles were reported by twelve percent of the students. one student midwife said “i think i expected so much from providers (health providers) but now i realize that they are just humans capable of doing what they can at a time.” the second research question asks how learning experiences influenced transformative learning among students. table 3 provides the data on the learning components that the students experienced in their programmes. table 2. students’ responses to transformative learning questions yes no f % f % while in this training, i have had an experience that 209 86.7 32 13.3 caused me to question the way i normally act. i had an experience that caused me to question my 232 94.7 13 5.3 ideas about health and illness behavior and health care. as i questioned my ideas, i realized i still agreed with 108 44.4 135 55.6 my previous beliefs or role expectations. as i questioned my ideas, i realized i no longer 130 53.7 112 46.3 agreed with my beliefs or role expectations. i realized that other students also questioned 204 84.0 39 16.0 their beliefs. i thought about acting in a different way from my 185 75.4 54 22.6 usual beliefs and roles. i felt uncomfortable with traditional social 175 72.0 68 28.0 expectations. i tried out new roles so that i would become more 217 88.9 27 11.1 comfortable or confident in them. i tried to figure out a way to adopt these new 217 88.6 28 11.4 ways of acting. i gathered the information i needed to adopt these 216 88.5 28 11.5 new ways of acting. i began to think about reactions and feedback 205 84.4 38 15.6 from my new behavior. i took action and adopted these new ways of acting. 200 82.4 43 17.6 nwagu, learning potentials of trainee health workers 66 global journal of transformative education (2020) vol 2 table 3. learning components experienced by students s/n learning component f % a. essays 164 66.9 b. formal quizzes 112 45.7 c. field quizzes 65 26.5 d. mutiple choice 126 51.4 e. short answer exams 72 29.4 f. essay exams 163 66.5 g. open-book exams 29 11.8 h. debates 69 28.2 i. group projects 157 64.1 j. student led discussions 202 82.4 k. field lectures 105 42.9 l. field trips 58 23.7 m. presentations 200 81.6 n. others (specify) 14 5 the students were asked to tick from a list of learning components the ones they experienced during their training programme. the component that received the highest identification was the student-led class discussion (82.4%), followed by the presentation (81.6%) and experiments (71%). only fewer than half of the students identified the open book exams (11.8%), field trips (23.7%), short answer tests (29.4%), debates (28.2%), field lectures (42.9%) and formal quizzes (45.7%) as learning components in their programme. fourteen students specified other components such as demonstrations, and ward/clinical postings. the students were also asked to comment on how the components available to their programmes impacted their learning. their responses to this question fall under the following themes: boldness in communication, increase in understanding, acquisition of practical skills. about half of the students (48%) commented that student-led discussions, presentations and practical experiences in the health centres impacted them the most. one final year nursing student stated “presentations have made me bold and confident to speak out.” a first-year community health extension worker has this to say “group discussion improve student ability … and make you remember all that the lecturer has taught.” a second-year junior community health extension worker believed field trip impacted her the most. she said “i learnt how to conduct delivery and give injections in my field trip.” a second-year male student lab technician said “they (presentations and student-led discussions) enabled me to conquer stage fright.” one midwifery student had a contrary view, she said “i don’t really like group things, discussions and presentations, but i discover that group discussions help to cover more (referring to class work).” in order to expand on the experiential aspects, students were also asked, “are there any program components that were excluded that you feel would have been beneficial?” ten students made suggestions that include: use of social media for students’ interaction on the topics taught, inclusion of debates to sharpen understanding, and on-the-job supervisions to enhance skill acquisition. there were no significant influence of gender, level of study, age and course of study on transformative learning at .05 level of significance (table 4). discussion the result of this study showed that transformative learning does occur in health professionals’ study programme (research question one). items one (while in this training, i have had an experience that caused me to question the way i normally act. 86.7%) and two (i had an experience that caused me to question my ideas about health and illness behavior and health care. 94.7%) were experienced by majority of trainee health workers. hence their training programmes were able to engender critical reflections in the students that made them aware of their wrong assumptions and beliefs about health and illness thereby producing what mezirow (1991) defined as perspective transformation. mezirow (1991) identified 10 phases of perspective transformation beginning with a “disorienting dilemma” and culminating in “a reintegration into one’s life on the basis of conditions directed by one’s new perspective”. eighty-two point four percent of the students in this study actually took actions and adopted new ways of acting. students’ responses to open-ended questions showed that much of the changes occurred in their understanding of the causation and treatment of diseases. students acquired new knowledge which made them drop myths and fallacies about disease causation and treatment. belief systems were also transformed. many of the students also expressed a change in their expectation of healthcare roles. this finding is consistent with results of similar studies among health workers that have shown different degrees of transformation among health workers with appropriate learning/teaching methods (altobelli, 2017; renigere, 2014). it is however important to note that true transformation takes place only when learners are able to actively take steps that acknowledge their new belief (mezirow, 1997). the study period of three years nwagu, learning potentials of trainee health workers 67 global journal of transformative education (2020) vol 2 may therefore not be enough for transformation to take place. worthy of note is the fact that some students have no evidence of having actually experienced a transformation of their worldview and habits. although the idea of transformation as a major, fundamental change, as opposed to minor, marginal, or incremental change, is widely agreed upon in both research and policy (kapoor 2007; o’brien, 2012), there is little consensus regarding the features that make change in human–environment systems “transformational,” and different from “non-transformational” shifts. in fact, as some have noted (berkhout 2013; issc and unesco, 2013; mustelin & handmer 2013), the wider conceptual bases of transformation, notions of its forms, and processes have been the subject of debate. a logical question for trainee health workers educators therefore should be, “what can i do to bring a student into the realm of transformation?” redefining the experience can make the educators to start thinking of starting the process of change and ramping it up to transformation. the greater the difference between what came before and what took its place, the closer the individual move toward transformation (burrus, 2017). moving from change to transformation may come from a simple question such as: “how can i offer my students the ability to do what they would want to do if only they knew it was possible?” in other words, rather than merely changing or even improving something, what utterly new service would health workers provide if they were aware of it and what it could do for their clients and the health system? rather than looking to change something burrus (2017), advocated that individuals should aim for transformation from the onset. it is, however, worrisome that health care workers’ training programmes are capable of producing transformation yet the quality of care rendered by practicing health care workers in nigeria has been described by many as very deplorable (ephraim-emmanuel, adigwe, oyeghe, &ogaji 2018). the reason for this may be found in the assertion made by mosadeghrad (2014) that factors such as the patient cooperation; leadership and table 4. the influence of the demographic characteristics of gender, level of study, age and course of study on transformative learning (anova) group statistics levene’s test anova variables n mean sd p f p gender .309 male 18 9.67 1.46 female 227 9.40 1.90 variance between groups .337 .562 level of study .341 first year 103 9.45 1.90 second year 78 9.38 2.05 third year 65 9.42 1.60 variance between groups .028 .972 age in years .907 less than 20 64 9.60 2.13 21 30 164 9.38 1.75 31 and above 15 9.33 1.88 40 and above 2 8.50 .71 variance between groups .330 .719 course of study .301 nursing 19 9.21 1.69 midwifery 30 9.73 1.39 jchew 52 9.57 2.42 chew 72 9.15 1.79 lab technology 72 9.50 1.70 variance between groups .762 .551 nwagu, learning potentials of trainee health workers 68 global journal of transformative education (2020) vol 2 management styles in health facilities; collaboration; available referral system; job satisfaction of the health care providers are also necessary for improved quality of health care. addressing the training programmes of health workers alone may not produce the needed result, but rather engaging in a comprehensive restructuring of health system as a whole to improve the health care delivery. practices such as, discriminatory behaviour and attitudes toward patients with certain forms of diseases by health workers (reis et al., 2005) should stop. the findings of this study have shown that trainee health workers learning experiences had influenced transformative learning in different ways (research question two). learning experiences such as student-led discussions, presentations and practical experiences influenced students the most leading to boldness in presenting their owns view and increases in understanding and acquisition of skills. white and nitkin (2014) observed that for transformative learning to occur, learners need to be actively engaged with experiential learning. therefore, using appropriate learning components such as student-led discussions and presentations in teaching such contents as food habits, cultural beliefs and practices, stigmatization and discrimination and other local conditions that have negatively influenced the health of individuals and communities in nigeria (ojua, ishor, &ndom, 2013; olalekan, akintunde, & olatunji, 2014) in teaching trainee health workers is capable of resulting in transformative learning. the trainee health workers will themselves become positively transform and will also be able to guide others to become equally transformed. there were no significant influences of gender, level of study, age and course of study on transformative learning. while some previous studies found significant association between some demographic characteristics and transformative learning, some did not find such associations. for instance, kumi-yeboah (2014) in a similar study found that there were no significant association between gender, age group and programme of study and transformative learning experiences. strange and gibson (2017) also found that there was no statistical difference among program type and the summated transformative learning score. brock, florescu, and teran (2012) however found only age and ethnicity to be the demographic variables to have significant relationship with transformative learning among class standing, semesters completed, age, prior education, gender, and ethnicity. future studies re-examining the influence of age, gender, programme type and level of study on transformative learning of trainee health workers is therefore necessary. the present study however shows that all health workers irrespective of profession, gender, age or level of study are capable of transformative learning. in order to expand on the experiential aspects the researcher also asked “are there any program components that were excluded that you feel would have been beneficial?” ten students made suggestions including: use of social media for students’ interaction on the topics taught, inclusion of debates to sharpen understanding, and on-the-job supervision to enhance skill acquisition. the students’ request for the use of social media as an instructional component to enable interaction on the topics to which they were exposed in the programme is not surprising. extending the instructional component to information technology is an innovation that has great promise of success even in the training programme of health workers. agyepong, et al. (2017) noted that information and communications technologies and social media have been and will continue to be important enablers of africa’s transformation. frenk et al. (2010) also noted that good professional education programmes mobilise all learning channels to their full potential noting that in many professional schools, students with handheld information technology devices are able to double-check in real time the accuracy of a lecturer’s presentation. conclusion this study has shown that transformative learning does occur in trainee health workers in institutions of training. the trainee health workers learning experiences have also been shown to influence their transformative learning in diverse ways. age, gender, programme type and level of study of trainee health workers had no significant influence on their transformative learning. therefore, needed reforms in health workers services can be achieved through appropriate learning experiences tailored to enhance critical reflection and necessary adjustment in the needed areas of their services. discussions and debates on issues pertaining to health should be encouraged in the training programme of health workers. professional educators are key players since they are the ones that will initiate and guide the students through the desired change. the training and education of health workers should focus less on memorising and transmitting facts and more on nwagu, learning potentials of trainee health workers 69 the promotion of the reasoning and communication skills that will enable the health worker to be an effective partner, facilitator, adviser, and advocate (frenk et al., 2010). however, future studies reexamining the influence of age, gender, programme type and level of study on transformative learning of trainee health workers is suggested. also, other factors such as patient cooperation; leadership and management styles in health facilities; collaboration; available referral system; job satisfaction of the health care providers should be investigated since these have be identified as capable of impacting the quality of health care (mosadeghrad, 2014). references adeloye, d., david, r. a., olaogun, a. a., auta, a., adesokan, a., gadanya, m., ... iseolorunkanmi, a.(2017). health workforce and governance: the crisis in nigeria. human resources for health, 15(32). adib-hajbaghery, m. 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(unpublished doctoral dissertation). university of canterbury, new zealand. evelyn n. nwagu (evelyn.nwagu@unn.edu.ng) is a senior lecturer in the department of human kinetics & health education at the university of nigeria nsukka, nsukka, enugu state, nigeria. author reis, c., heisler, m., amowitz, l. l., moreland, r. s., mafeni, j. o., anyamele, c., &iacopino, v. (2005). discriminatory attitudes and practices by health workers toward patients with hiv/aids in nigeria. plos medicine, 2(8). doi.org/10.1371/journal. pmed.0020246. renigere, r. (2014). transformative learning in the discipline of nursing. american journal of educational research, 2, 1207–1210. strange, h., & gibson, h. j. (2017). an investigation of experiential and transformative learning in study abroad programs. frontiers: the interdisciplinary journal of study abroad, 29(1), 85–100. stubbs, e. 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(2016). global strategy on human resources for health: workforce 2030. geneva, switzerland: world health organization. https://www.sv.uio.no/iss/english/research/news-and-events/events/conferences-and-seminars/transformations/proceedings-transformation-in-a-changing-climate_interactive.pdf https://www.sv.uio.no/iss/english/research/news-and-events/events/conferences-and-seminars/transformations/proceedings-transformation-in-a-changing-climate_interactive.pdf https://www.sv.uio.no/iss/english/research/news-and-events/events/conferences-and-seminars/transformations/proceedings-transformation-in-a-changing-climate_interactive.pdf http://irmbrjournal.com/papers/1367572222.pdf http://irmbrjournal.com/papers/1367572222.pdf http://irmbrjournal.com/papers/1367572222.pdf https://www.cioinsight.com/it-management/expert-voices/the-difference-between-change-and-transformation https://www.cioinsight.com/it-management/expert-voices/the-difference-between-change-and-transformation http://www.civitas.org.uk/pdf/trainingournhshealthworkers.pdf http://www.civitas.org.uk/pdf/trainingournhshealthworkers.pdf http://www.unesco.org/education/tlsf/docs/module_4.doc http://www.unesco.org/education/tlsf/docs/module_4.doc http://www.unesco.org/education/tlsf/docs/module_4.doc http://projects.worldbank.org/p131825/vn-health-professional-education-training-project?lang=en http://projects.worldbank.org/p131825/vn-health-professional-education-training-project?lang=en abstract this study examined the impact of rural and urban schools on pupils’ competencies in the english language and mathematics tests. the sample comprised 16,481 primary 3 and 14,495 primary 6 pupils from 448 and 426 schools respectively. the schools were selected using the stratified random sampling technique and the data analysed using a multilevel modelling technique. the study found statistically significant differences in achievement between rural and urban school pupils at both the national and regional levels. compared with urban school children, rural school children on average scored 2 and 4 marks less in primary 3 and 6 english language tests respectively. similarly, rural school children on average earned 1 mark less in primary 3 and 6 mathematics tests. rural school children in the eastern region were the most disadvantaged by scoring 6 and 8 marks less in the primary 3 and 6 english language tests respectively when compared with their urban peers. the only exception was the northern region where the average achievements of rural school children were higher than their urban peers. the findings suggest that it significantly mattered which part of the country a child attends school. this runs counter to the nation’s educational policies and the realisation of the united nation’s sustainable development goal 4. hence, to provide quality and inclusive education for all pupils, resources for schools and communities should be equitably distributed and effectively utilised. keywords: school locality, socioeconomic, competency, regions nyatsikor, m. w,, abroampa, w. k. & esia-donkoh, k. global journal of transformative education (2020) vol 2 doi 10.14434/gjte.v2i1.31174 open access published by the global insitutute of transformative education (http://www.gite.education) © nyatsikor, m. k.. abroampa, w. k., & esia-donkoh, k. 2020. open access this journal is distributed under the terms of the creative commons attribution noncommercial nonderivative 4.0 international license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/ by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction without revision in any non-commercial medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the creative commons license, the impact of school locale on pupils’ competencies in selected subjects: does it matter more for specific regions in ghana? maxwell kwesi nyatsikor,1 winston kwame abroampa,2 & kweku esia-donkoh3 full listing of authors and contacts can be found at the end of this article. introduction numerous studies on school and pupils’ achievement across different contexts have found significant differences between schools serving the more-advantaged urban and the less-advantaged rural localities (çiftçi & cin, 2018; bashir, lockheed, ninan & tan, 2018; ministry of education [moe], 2018; united nations educational, scientific and cultural organisation [unesco], 2018). between countries, evidence from international examinations such as trends in international mathematics and science study [timss] and programme for international student assessment [pisa] show significant differences in the achievement of children from lowto middle-income countries and high-income countries (mullis, martin & loveless, 2016; martin, mullis, foy & hooper, 2016; meyer & benavot, 2013). these achievement gaps are linked to the existing disparities in the social, economic, and educational resources in the nations and schools (bashir, et al., 2018; martin et al., 2016; meyer & benavot, 2013; moe, 2016b). many studies suggest that the effects of the rural-urban dichotomy on academic achievement are evident from the onset of formal schooling (moe, 2018; unesco, 2018; world development report, 2018; hanson et al., 2011). the sustained interest in the achievement outcomes at the primary level of education is reinforced by the fact that the quality of learning at this stage is crucial to later learning proficiencies and life’s opportunities (fredriksen & kagia, 2013; unesco, 2018; bashir et al., 2018; united nations [un], 2015). in the ghanaian context, evidence from the assessment of early and primary grade-levels in national assessments shows statistically significant differences in children from rural and urban schools (moe, 2014; moe, 2016a). consistently, preschool and primary-level children from rural schools underachieve in national examinations when compared with children from urban schools (moe, 2016b; moe, 2018). this study examines the unique impact of the location of schools in rural and urban areas on the achievement levels of ghanaian primary school children in the national nyatsikor, abroampa & esia-donkoh, impact of school locale on competencies 73 education assessment tests in mathematics and english language. school location and pupils’ academic achievement studies and reports across different contexts have, for the most part, concluded that pupils from urban schools achieved higher grades than those from rural schools (destin, hanselman, buontempo, tipton, yeager, 2019; moe, 2016a; bashir, et al., 2018; bofah & hannula, 2015). some studies have suggested the differences in the social-economic characteristics of children from rural and urban schools as the main driver of the existing achievement gaps (ryan, koczberski, curry & germis, 2017; broer, bai & fonseca, 2019). parents of rural school children are generally unable to provide the educational needs for their children because of poverty. this constraint negatively affects the academic potentials of the child as evidenced by prior studies (bofah & hannula, 2017; bofah & hannula, 2015). thus, children from economically disadvantaged households are typically educationally disadvantaged right from the onset of their formal education (bashir et al., 2018; kim, cho & kim, 2019; organization for economic co-operation and development [oecd], 2016). moreover, available data from ghana suggest that many of the rural dwelling parents are semi-literate, hence, unable to assist their children in school or academic-related tasks (ghana statistical service [gss], 2014). for instance, 33.1% of the population who had never attended school live in rural areas in contrast to 14.2% in the urban areas (gss, 2012). other studies have suggested that urban schools outperform their rural counterparts because they tend to have higher expectations and are more likely to have parents who participate in school activities (adeyemi, adediran & adewole, 2018; prasertcharoensuk & tapkhwa, 2016). the achievement gaps between rural and urban schools have also been linked to the differences in the professional characteristics of teachers serving in rural and urban schools (nyatsikor, sosu, mtika & robson, 2020; hill, charalambous & chin, 2019; bhai & horoi, 2019). urban schools are often staffed with teachers who are more experienced and possess higher academic and professional qualifications than teachers in rural schools (moe, 2018; bashir et al., 2018). even though there is a plethora of research showing significant differences in achievement between urban and rural schools, in some cases no significant differences were found. for instance, considine and zappala (2002) found that geographical location does not significantly predict outcomes in school performance in australia. this is because school children in rural australia have access to an adequate number of educational facilities. nonetheless, similar studies from equally developed nations, particularly the usa, reveal stark achievement differences between rural and urban communities (cochran-smith & zeichner, 2005; owens, 2018; reardon, 2011; reardon et al., 2019). though the focus on rural and urban school achievement has caught the attention of researchers and policymakers for decades, this current study extends prior studies by investigating the impact of school location on academic achievement in a methodologically different way. first, an estimation of the unique influence of school location on achievement was done, and secondly, the actual numbers of pupils who achieved or failed to achieve certain levels of competencies using the derived estimates attributed to school location were determined. to achieve this purpose, the following research questions were formulated to guide the study. research questions 1. to what extent do the inequalities in rural and urban schools account for pupils’ achievement in english language and mathematics? 2. how much of the variance in pupils’ achievement can be attributed to schools in different localities of a geographical region? context of the study this study relied on the 2013 wave of the ghana national education assessment [gnea] data. the gnea started in 2005 and it is held biennially by the rti international and the usaid in collaboration with the ghana education service. the purpose of the assessment is to assess primary 3 (in 2016 primary 4 pupils examined) and primary 6 pupils’ competence in mathematics and the english language subjects (moe, 2014; moe, 2016a). the primary 3 (p3) and 6 (p6) pupils were assessed and scored over a 30-item and 40-item test respectively. pupils’ achievement was assessed at three levels but different cut-off points for the two grade-levels. for the p3 mathematics and english language tests, pupils who answered a maximum of 10 items correctly (i.e. below 35%) performed “below minimum competency”. pupils who correctly answered a minimum of 11 and a maximum of 16 items (i.e. 35% 54%) attained “minimum competency” while those who correctly answered at least 17 items or better (i.e. ≥ 55%) were “competent”. in the case of the p6 sample, global journal of transformative education (2020) vol 2 nyatsikor, abroampa & esia-donkoh, impact of school locale on competencies 74 global journal of transformative education (2020) vol 2 pupils who correctly answered up to 13 items (i.e. below 35%) performed “below minimum competency”. pupils who had 14 up to 21 marks (i.e. 35% 54%) attained “minimum competency” while those who correctly answered at least 22 items or better (i.e. ≥ 55%) were “competent” in a subject (see table 1 for performance distribution by subject and grade-levels). the data in table 2 show considerable differences in the achievement of rural and urban pupils in both subjects at the two grade-levels. the percentage of children from urban schools who were competent in both subjects for the two grade-levels was higher than those from rural schools. on the other hand, the percentage distributions of the performances below minimum competency were higher for pupils from the rural schools for both subjects and grade-levels. the percentage distributions of performance levels show significant connections between school locality and achievement. however, it is impossible to determine the unique effect of school location on the performance of pupils. this is because the influence of the location of schools on achievement is confounded by other factors including the characteristics of the pupils (e.g. age and gender), schools (e.g. type and class size), and districts (e.g. resource levels). methodology design, sample, and sampling the study employed descriptive cross-sectional survey design. the study population comprised of primary school pupils from all the 10 regions in ghana (currently there are 16 regions following the re-demarcation of 4 regions). the target population was the p3 and p6 pupils. the p3 sample size was 16,481 pupils [equivalent weighted sample = 93,008] from 448 schools [equivalent weighted sample = 12,734]. the p6 sample comprised 14,495 pupils [equivalent weighted sample = 81,319] from 426 [equivalent weighted sample = 12,393]. the weighted school values are derived by dividing the total number of primary schools (which had a class size of at least ten pupils) in a region by the number of sampled schools from that region. for example, there were 1,821 primary 3 schools in the eastern region out of which 55 participated in the assessment. the sample weight for schools in the eastern region is therefore 33.11 (i.e. 1,821÷55 = 33.11). thus, each school that participated in the assessment from the table 2: performance levels of p3 and p6 pupils by school location nyatsikor, abroampa & esia-donkoh, impact of school locale on competencies 75 eastern region represented 33.11 schools. the weighted pupils’ sample is derived by multiplying the weighted school value for each region by the number of pupils sampled from that region. for instance, the weighted sample (57,312) for the p3 pupils from the eastern region is derived by multiplying 33.11 by the total number of pupils (1,731) sampled from the 55 schools in the region. schools were selected using stratified random sampling. schools were stratified by regions and sorted by district, locality (urban or rural), school type (public or private) and enrolment size within the regions (moe, 2014). schools with less than 10 pupils in the class were excluded. randomly, 55 schools were sampled with equal probability from each region except ashanti and northern regions where 54 schools each were selected because a school from each of these 2 regions was not in session at the time the test was administered. according to the moe (2014), the reliability of the test was determined using spss kuder-richardson-20 (kr20) tests. alpha values of 0.89 and 0.84 were achieved for the p6 mathematics and english language tests respectively. alpha values of 0.82 and 0.84 were achieved for the p3 mathematics and english language tests respectively. the test questions were developed based on the specified topics in the national curricula. the english language test questions covered listening; reading comprehension; and usage (grammatical structure) domains. the mathematics test covered four domains namely: basic operations; numbers and numerals; measurement, shape and space; and collection and handling of data. the return rate for the answered scripts was 100% (moe, 2014). variables independent variable the independent variable for the study is ‘school location’ and was designated rural (0) or urban (1). in ghana, urban localities are those with more than 60% of its residents engaged in non-agricultural activities in addition to having a minimum population size of 5,000. otherwise, it is not urban (gss, 2012). urban schools have relatively better educationally-relevant resources than rural schools in terms of quantity and quality. there are more qualified teachers and better teaching and learning resources in urban than rural schools (moe, 2014; moe, 2018). the availability and quality of social amenities like potable water, functional electricity, , accessible roads, medical care, and internet connectivity are relatively better in urban communities when compared with rural communities (blampied, et al, 2018; united nations international cultural educational fund [unicef] and centre for democratic development [cdd]-ghana, 2019). parents of rural school children are predominantly peasant farmers who live in poverty (gss, 2012; blampied et al., 2018). levels of education, incomes and employment opportunities in the rural areas are significantly low and limited compared with those living in urban areas. as a result, rurality in ghana connotes low socioeconomic status whereas urbanicity is associated with higher socioeconomic status (gss, 2012; moe, 2018; blampied et al., 2018). hence, in this study context, rural schools are used as a proxy for low ses while urban schools are used as a proxy for high ses. according to the gss (2012) approximately 37.0% of children from primary grade 1 to 6 live in rural areas compared with 22.2% in urban areas. in this study, 77.9% of the p3 schools were located in rural communities compared with 22.1% in urban communities while 77.7% and 22.3% of the p6 schools were in rural and urban communities respectively. covariates five variables were controlled to account for their influence on pupils’ achievement. these were pupils’ gender (coded; male = 0; female = 1) and age, class size, school type (coded; public = 0; private = 1) and district type (coded; deprived = 1; non-deprived = 0). dependent variables the two dependent variables are mathematics and english language achievement scores for the primary 3 and 6 pupils who participated in the 2013 wave of the ghana national education assessment test. data screening and management data were analysed using a multilevel modelling technique. two exclusion criteria were applied to arrive at the final sample size. the first criterion was the exclusion of all schools not labelled as either rural or urban. the second criterion, which is based on statistical and methodological considerations was the exclusion of all schools which had less than 10 pupils in a class (see hox, moerbeek, van de schoot, 2017; heck & thomas, 2015). applying these two criteria, data on 100 p3 schools (equivalent weighted sample = 2,843) comprising 2,977 pupils (equivalent weighted sample = 80,004) and 122 p6 schools (equivalent weighted sample = 3,468) comprising 2,952 pupils (equivalent weighted sample = 79,990) from the ten regions were excluded from the analysis. all the variable codes for the dichotomous variables were grand mean centred. global journal of transformative education (2020) vol 2 nyatsikor, abroampa & esia-donkoh, impact of school locale on competencies 76 likewise, the continuous and dependent variables were grand mean centred. the grand mean centred achievement score for each pupil is the difference between a pupil’s raw score and the grand mean achievement score derived from all pupils involved in the study. grand mean centering ensured that the variances of the intercept and the slopes in the regression have a clear interpretation when all explanatory variables are equal to zero (hox et al., 2017). data analysis procedure the first stage of the analysis was to partition pupils’ achievement as a null or intercept-only model to estimate the intra-class correlation coefficient (icc). the outcome of this partitioning helped to determine whether multilevel modelling was required to analyse the data (hox et al., 2017; heck & thomas, 2015). at stage two, the five covariates (pupils’ gender, age, class size, school, and district types) were introduced into the model to quantify their influence on pupils’ achievement. the third and final stage of the analysis was the introduction of the independent variable (school location) into the model to estimate its unique influence on pupils’ achievement. from the estimates derived, the numbers of pupils who attained specific levels of proficiencies in both subjects on merit or as a result of the inequalities between rural and urban schools are determined. the second part of the analysis examined the unique influence of the location of schools on the achievement of pupils in each of the ten regions. achievement for the p3 pupils from rural schools was 11.2 and 11.6 while that for urban schools was 14.0 and 15.9 for mathematics and english language. the mean mathematics and english language achievement for the p6 pupils from rural schools was 14.3 and 16.8 while that for urban schools was 17.1 and 24.0 for mathematics and english language. preliminary analysis of the data using the t-test showed statistically significant (p-value = 0.000) mean differences in achievement between rural and urban schools for both subjects. in supplemental table 1 [use link to view table], the fixed effects estimates show that the p3 pupils who attended rural schools on average, earned 2 marks (b = -2.085, χ2 = 16.8, -2ll = 21, df = 6, p = 0.000) and 1 mark less (b = -1.498, χ2 =16.8, -2ll =16, df = 6, p = 0.000) in the english language and mathematics respectively when compared with those who attended urban schools. the unconditional models for the p3 sample revealed that a greater proportion of the achievement variances in the english language (54.8%) and mathematics (63.5%) remained unexplained by the number of variables investigated. school-level inequalities accounted for 29.7% and 28.4% of achievement differences in english language and mathematics respectively. district level differences also influenced achievement variances in the english language (15.5%) and mathematics (8.9%). in supplemental table 2, the fixed effects estimates show that the p6 pupils who attended rural schools were predicted to have attained approximately 4 marks (b = -3.654, χ2 = 16.8, -2ll = 35, df = 6, p = 0.000) global journal of transformative education (2020) vol 2 results descriptive analysis the descriptive information about the school and pupil characteristics is presented in table 3. the samples from public schools for both grade-levels were at least 5 times more than those from private schools. similarly, the number of rural schools was more than thrice of urban schools. the mean class size for the p3 sample was bigger for urban schools (62.7) than the rural schools (47.2). the respective class sizes for the p6 urban and rural schools were 64.8 and 43.9. the average ages for the p3 pupils from the rural and urban schools were 10.9 and 10.4 respectively. as well, the average ages for the p6 pupils from the rural and urban schools were 13.8 and 13.3 respectively. the mean mathematics and english language nyatsikor, abroampa & esia-donkoh, impact of school locale on competencies 77 and 1 mark less (b = -1.401, χ2 = 16.8, 2ll = 17, df = 6, p = 0.000) in the english language and mathematics tests respectively. the unconditional models for the p6 sample indicated that respectively 54.2% and 70.1% of the variances in achievement for english language and mathematics remained unexplained given the number of variables investigated. school-level differences accounted for 29.1% and 20.5% of the achievement variances in english language and mathematics respectively while district-level differences accounted for 16.7% and 9.4% of achievement variances in english language and mathematics respectively. the next stage of the analysis was to determine the number of pupils who attained or failed to attain specific levels of competency after accounting for the existing inequalities between rural and urban schools. as an example, the estimate derived for p3 english language achievement is used to calculate the number of pupils who attained specific levels of proficiency. from the results, 2 marks are added to the initial scores obtained by each pupil. as a result, pupils who initially scored 0 to 8 mark(s) would now earn between 2 and 10 marks; a performance below minimum competence (see table 1). pupils who initially scored 9 and 10 marks (i.e. below minimum competence) would now earn between 11 and 12 marks to attain “minimum competency”. next, we add 2 marks to the minimum mark (i.e. 11) for attaining minimum competency level to get 13 marks. this means all pupils who initially scored 11 to 13 marks were influenced by the existing inequalities between rural and urban schools. those who scored 14 marks up to 16 marks attained minimum competency on merit. by the same analogy, all pupils who were competent but had between 17 up to 19 marks attained this level of achievement due to specific factors associated with the location of schools. consequently, pupils who correctly answered a minimum of 20 out of the total 30 items in the test were those who achieved competency on merit after accounting for the impact of school location. the same procedure is used to estimate the number of pupils who attained or failed to attain specific competencies in the remaining subjects across both grade-levels as presented in table 4. the existing inequalities in rural and urban schools had cascading effects on pupils’ achievement at all levels of expected competencies in both subjects. controlling for the inequalities in school localities, the results indicated that 2,873 (70.3%) out of the 4,089 and 2,256 (69.6%) out of the 3,243 pupils were meritoriously competent in p3 english language and mathematics respectively. the remaining 1,216 (29.7%) and 987 (30.4%) pupils were competent in p3 english language and mathematics respectively as gains derived from the location of the schools they attended. a total of 3,060 (63.3%) of the 4,837 and 2,424 (42.7%) of the 5,680 pupils attained minimum competency in p3 english language and mathematics respectively as a unique contribution from the location of the schools they global journal of transformative education (2020) vol 2 attended. respectively, 1,777 (36.7%) and 3,256 (57.3%) attained minimum competency in english language and mathematics on merit. a total of 4,869 (64.4%) out of the 7,555 and 6,219 (82.3%) out of the 7,558 pupils performed below minimum competency in p3 english language and mathematics tests on merit. the remaining 2,686 (35.6%) and 1,339 (17.7%) pupils performed below minimum competency in english language and mathematics tests respectively as a result of the deficiencies associated with the location of the schools they attended. in respect of the p6 sample, 3,339 (63.8%) out of the 5,232 and 878 (58.4%) out of the 1,504 pupils were competent in english language and mathematics respectively on nyatsikor, abroampa & esia-donkoh, impact of school locale on competencies 78 merit. the remaining 1,893 (36.2%) and 626 (41.6%) pupils achieved competency level in english language and mathematics respectively as a result of the advantages associated with the location of the schools they attended. similarly, 3,088 (70.5%) of the 4,378 and 2,417 (34.0%) of the 7,117 pupils attained minimum competency in english language and mathematics respectively as an influence from the location of the schools they attended. precisely, 1,290 (29.5%) and 4,700 (66.0%) pupils attained minimum competency in english language and mathematics on merit. likewise, 1,781 (36.5%) of the 4,885 and 4,671 (79.5%) of the 5,874 p6 pupils performed below minimum competency in english language and mathematics respectively on merit. the remaining 3,104(63.5%) and 1,203(20.5%) of the p6 pupils performed below minimum competency in english language and mathematics respectively as a result of the deficits associated with the location of the schools they attended. the second objective of the study was to determine the extent of the influence of school location on pupil’s achievement in each of the regions. the results for both subjects and grade-levels are presented in supplemental tables 3-6. in supplemental table 3, the fixed effects estimates show that the impact of the rural schools on the p3 english language achievement for the ashante (b = -1.004), upper west (b = -1.484), upper east (b = -1.968) and western (b = -.254) regions were less than the national average of 2 marks (b = -2.085). the impact for brong ahafo (b = -2.893), eastern (b = -6.477), greater accra (b = -3.846), northern (b = 3.038), central (b = -2.093), and volta (b = -2.355) regions were greater than the national average. with respect to the p3 mathematics achievement, the fixed effects estimates in supplemental table 4 show that the ashante (b = -.348), volta (b = -.968), upper east (b = 1.191) and western (b = -.481) regions had average values less than the national average of 1 mark (b = 1.498). the remaining regions including brong ahafo (b = -2.259), central (b = -1.838), eastern (b = -5.486), greater accra (b = -2.908), northern (b = 2.219), and upper east (b = -2.279) had greater average values than that of the nation. in respect of the p6 english language achievement the fixed effects estimates in supplemental table 5 show that the ashante (b = -1.376), greater accra (b = -2.769), northern (b = .963), upper east (b = -2.970) and western (b = -.989) regions recorded less average impact than the national average of 4 marks (b = 3.654). the central (b = -4.544), eastern (b = -8.038) and upper west (b = -5.952), brong ahafo (b = -4.474), and volta (b = -4.112) regions had greater mean values than the national average. in supplemental table 6, the fixed effects estimates show that the estimates for brong ahafo (b = -1.962), central (b = -2.321), eastern (b = -3.534), upper west (b = -2.335), volta (b = -2.623) were greater than the national average for p6 mathematics (b = 1.401). the ashante (b = -.243), greater accra (b = -.220), northern (b =.270) and western (b =.130) and upper east (b = -1.036) regions recorded lesser impact than the national average. consistently across grade-levels and subjects, rural schools contributed negatively to pupils’ achievement except for the northern and western (p6 mathematics achievement only) regions where the average achievement of rural schools was higher than urban schools. the eastern and western regions respectively came up as the regions with the most and least variances in achievement attributed to inequalities in rural and urban schools in ghana. the implications of the results are discussed in the next section. discussion of results the unconditional models for both grade-levels and subjects indicated significant differences between school and district-level achievements. for the p3 sample, three of the covariates (i.e. pupils’ age, district type, and school type) contributed significantly to achievement in both subjects (see supplemental table 1). the average achievement for relatively younger pupils was higher than older pupils while schools in deprived districts performed poorer compared with those in non-deprived districts. the types of schools pupils attend had the greatest impact on achievement. children from private schools significantly outperformed those from public schools. gender was significant only for mathematics achievement where boys did better than girls. there was no significant difference in achievement between genders with respect to the english language. the impact of class size on achievement in both subjects was not statistically significant. for the p6 sample, all the five variables that were controlled made statistically significant impacts on pupils’ achievement in both subjects. children from private schools outperformed their counterparts from public schools, boys performed better than girls while relatively younger children outperformed the relatively older peers. moreover, children from deprived schools performed poorer than those from non-deprived schools. relatively smaller class sizes were not global journal of transformative education (2020) vol 2 nyatsikor, abroampa & esia-donkoh, impact of school locale on competencies 79 associated with improvement in achievement. the specific degrees of impact for each of the covariates are presented in supplemental table 2. the advantages and disadvantages associated with the location of schools in specific communities produced corresponding gains and deficits in pupils’ achievement. the results suggested that if conditions and educational resources in rural schools were improved by 1 unit, 2,686, and 1,339 more pupils would have at least attained minimum competency in the p3 english language and mathematics tests respectively. in same vein, 3,104(63.5%) and 1,203(20.5%) more of the p6 pupils would have at least attained minimum competency in english language and mathematics respectively had they attended schools in urban localities. the advantage of attending schools in certain parts of the country is evidenced by the 1,216(29.7%) and 1,893(36.2%) pupils who were predicted to be competent in the p3 and p6 english language tests respectively solely by attending urban schools. likewise, 987(30.4%) and 626(41.6%) pupils were competent in p3 and p6 mathematics solely by attending urban schools. the results suggest that pupils from rural schools achieved less than their peers from urban schools as a result of certain unfavourable conditions associated with attending schools in rural localities. the advantages and disadvantages inherent with urban and rural schools have been explored in many contexts (moe, 2016a; bashir, et al. 2018; çiftçi & cin, 2018; cochran-smith et al., 2012). unanimously, these studies found that pupils from urban schools achieved higher grades than those from rural schools. rural and urban communities serve as different psychological environments for children who share different resources, hazards, and opportunity structures. they may also have different life course options, and patterns of social interactions unique to the school catchment area (bronfenbrenner, 2005; tudge, mokrova, hatfield & karnik, 2009). as aptly observed by rogošić and baranović (2016), the differences in educational success can be attributed to different levels of existing social capital, which is produced in networks and connections of families that the school serves. a significant number of the rural schools in ghana are disproportionately located in districts deprived of basic social amenities (e.g. electricity, internet), educational resources (e.g. less qualified teachers, teaching and learning materials), and economic opportunities to provide regular incomes for parents. parents of rural school pupils are primarily peasant farmers and are characterised by high levels of poverty and illiteracy (gss, 2015). these constraints significantly affect schools, parents and community-wide abilities to support the pro-academic activities of rural school children. the current covid-19 pandemic with its concomitant negative effects on education has further exacerbated the woes of the largely rural communities and schools in ghana. children in rural schools are unable to participate in the various remote digital learning initiatives rolled out by the ghana education service. for the most part, internet connectivity is poor in rural communities and, where connectivity is possible parents are unable to afford data for internet use. unlike urban communities, some rural communities do not have electricity to benefit from the government’s strategy of teaching children via national television stations. the differing opportunities for children living in different parts of the country contribute to the widening of the achievement gaps (nyatsikor et al., 2020; moe, 2016b). the second research question explored the impact of school location on the achievement of pupils within specific regions and the results reveal two important educational concerns. first, rural schools in the northern and western (for p6 mathematics achievement only) regions positively contributed to achievement in contrast with extant literature which suggests otherwise (bashir et al., 2018; moe, 2018). like the rural localities, many of the urban localities in the northern region are equally deprived of basic social, economic and educational amenities that support effective teaching and learning (blampied et al., 2018; moe, 2018; unicef and cdd-ghana, 2016). as a result, school locale becomes inconsequential since school children experience similar challenges and opportunities. though this deprivation is prevalent in many parts of the country, available data suggest it is acute in the northern region (moe, 2016a; moe, 2018, unicef and cdd-ghana, 2016). thus, the communities in which children attend schools serve as achievement opportunities and in the case of the northern region, these opportunities are significantly similar for all schools regardless of their status as rural or urban. in sharp contrast to the northern region, there was a strikingly wide gap in achievement by pupils from rural and urban schools in the eastern region, particularly for english language achievement. consistently, rural children from the eastern region were significantly disadvantaged. the persistent underachievement of rural schools (except for the northern region) suggests global journal of transformative education (2020) vol 2 nyatsikor, abroampa & esia-donkoh, impact of school locale on competencies 80 inherent handicapping conditions associated with rural schools which create a “deficit model” for children’s inability to receive superior education (fan & chen, 2001; hornby & lafaele, 2011). the significant gaps in pupils’ achievement linked to school location may confirm the existence of extreme differences in the characteristics of the factors (e.g. socio-economic and educational resources) affecting school attainment in this part of the country. from the study results, it can be concluded that a major part of the generally low academic achievement among primary school children in ghana is the uneven resources available to rural and urban schools as well as their socioeconomic backgrounds. conclusion the study investigated the impact of school location on primary grades 3 and 6 pupils’ academic achievement and found significant differences in achievement attributable to existing inequalities in rural and urban schools. rural schools are deficient in many resources needed to facilitate effective teaching and learning leading to improved outcomes. rural schoolchildren are characterised by high levels of poverty (low ses) relative to their urban counterparts (high ses). the cumulative impact of the disparities in social, economic and educational resources and opportunities for schools and communities is the achievement gaps between rural and urban school children. the results for the northern region call for a more comprehensive and robust investigation including the assessment of the threshold of indicators (e.g. economic, social, educational, and infrastructural resources) used to classify localities into rural and urban. the gaps in the achievement due to the location of schools in different parts of the country appear to suggest that children’s present and possibly future educational fortunes depend on which part of the country they live in. this may be a testament to suggest that ghana may not be achieving the goal of providing an equitable and inclusive education for all children as required by the country’s educational policy and international goals (united nations, 2015; moe, 2015). with approximately 37.0% of primary school level children living in rural areas compared with 22.2% in urban areas (gss, 2012), it presupposes that more children in rural communities may continue to record low achievements in selected school subjects if the disadvantages associated with attending rural schools are not addressed. ghana may therefore need to invest more resources per pupil to bridge the achievement gap between the rural and urban primary school children. it is imperative to suggest that any attempt aimed at closing the rural and urban achievement gaps must not gloss over the more fundamental preschool level. many studies have found statistically significant connections between the quality of preschools and primary school achievement (bakken, brown & downing, 2017; oecd, 2017). implications of the study the findings from the study have enduring implications for all stakeholders in education. some rural school children failed to be competent, attained minimum competency or performed below minimum competency in both subjects because of the inequalities between rural and urban schools. data from the ghana statistical service provides evidence of the significant differences between the socioeconomic and educational resources and opportunities for urban and rural dwellers. as developing country, majority of the population in the country are characterised by high levels of poverty. however, rural schools and children experience more disadvantages (e.g. educational and economic) and live in higher levels of poverty than their urban counterparts. it is incumbent on stakeholders, therefore, to ensure that the existing disparities between rural and urban parts of the country are bridged to close the achievement gaps between rural and urban school children. limitations of the study this study examined the influence of school location on primary level achievement in mathematics and english language subjects and found significant achievement gaps between rural and urban schools. however, the unavailability of certain data to account for (e.g. pupils’ prior achievement, teacher effect, school attendance history, household wealth, and parental support and community resources) may have overor under-estimated the effects attributed to school location. acknowledgment 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being recognized as a critical element of education systems and facilitator of sustainable development. this is because its ultimate goal is to foster ideal teaching, learning, policies and practices needed to enhance social, economic, ecological viability and well-being for the present and future generations. embracing esd could therefore, facilitate realization of objectives of the competency-based curriculum (cbc) that kenya has rolled out. particularly, the cbc is expected to foster acquisition of core competencies like creativity, problem-solving, and self-efficacy. but, limited understanding, inappropriate pedagogical approaches, and weak collaboration among key stakeholders are some of the challenges that face application of esd. this research review focuses on the pertinent esd aspects to successful implementation of the cbc in basic education in kenya. specifically illuminated are the underpinning pedagogical theories and their implications, relevant legal and policy frameworks, some success stories, challenges and proposed solutions. keywords: basic education, competency-based curriculum, constructivism, education for sustainable development, pedagogy nyatuka, b. o. global journal of transformative education (2020) vol 2 doi 10.14434/gjte.v2i1.31212 open access published by the global insitutute of transformative education (http://www.gite.education) © nyatuka, b. o. 2020. open access this journal is distributed under the terms of the creative commons attribution noncommercial nonderivative 4.0 international license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction without revision in any non-commercial medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the creative commons license, education for sustainable development in kenya: rhetoric and reality in basic education benard o. nyatuka full listing of authors and contacts can be found at the end of this article. introduction given that the world today is experiencing a great level of uncertainty, complexity and rapid change, embracing more sustainable intervention measures, including appropriate education about sustainable development is imperative. according to sterling (2014) and unesco (2011), such global issues as economic instability, climate change, social inequity, loss of biodiversity and migration as well as non-renewable energy sources need to be addressed urgently. it is important to note, however, that sustainability is a highly demanding concept as it calls for changes at the political, social, economic, environmental, educational and decision-making levels, among others. kondur, ridei, mykhailyshyn and katsero (2020) argue that since education for sustainability is evolving on a geospheric, geopolitical and transboundary scale, it can be defined economically, socially, environmentally and educationally. on their part, lampa, greculescu and todorescu (2013) consider sustainable development to be a continuous search for improving our daily lives, while minimizing the negative impact brought about by humans on the environment. this requires active, creative and cooperative citizens who are able to successfully prevent and solve problems, and be ready to combine theoretical knowledge with innovations and practical ideas. as a prerequisite for realizing sustainable development, education systems should be restructured to focus on enhancing the development of creative thinking among the population, promoting tolerance and democratic ideals, making informed decisions and participating in the implementation of relevant cross-cutting plans and issues (kondur, et al, 2020; unesco, 2005a). in the european union, for example, sustainable development is regarded to be the basic principle upon which all policies are anchored. particularly, education service providers should develop programmes for sustainable education that balance future knowledge with traditional lifestyles. however, it should be borne in mind that such education is not aimed at changing nyatuka, education for sustainable development in kenya 87 people’s lifestyles, but empowering and encouraging them to participate in sustainable development, including reflecting on their actions in this field. unesco (2019) stipulates that by 2030, all learners should acquire the knowledge and skills needed to promote sustainable development. and, this is supposed to be achieved through, among others, education for sustainable development, sustainable lifestyles, human rights and gender equality. other means are promotion of a culture of peace and nonviolence, global citizenship and appreciation of cultural diversity. indeed, lampa, greculescu and todorescu (2013) note that education for sustainable development is a broad movement concerned with identifying and advancing the kinds of education, teaching and learning policy and practice to ensure social, economic and ecological viability and welfare, now and into the long-term future. the authors hold that education for sustainable development aims at enhancing consciousness, ensure a coherent way of life with the principles of sustainable development, that is, being more informed, moral and responsible about the ability of future generations to meet their needs. according to ganira and odundo (2018), the overriding theme of education for sustainable development is integration of values inherent in sustainable development into all aspects of curricula to encourage change in behaviour that alloys a just society for all. in addition to moral and ethical values, education for sustainable development has various dimensions, such as peace education, medical education, consumer education, among others (fosnot, 2013; armstrong, 2011). the main task of education for sustainable development therefore, is formation of a value-oriented personality directed towards socially, economically and environmentally significant values. ganira and odundo (2018) observe that integrating sustainable development strategies such as problem-based, inquiry-based, and reflective learning in teaching and learning should motivate learners to become responsible individuals who will solve challenges, respect cultural diversity and contribute to creating a sustainable society. armstrong (2011) contends that skills associated with education for sustainable development are expansive and include collaboration and cooperation, conflict resolution, creativity, imagination, future mindedness, knowledge transfer, meaningful communication and civic engagement. others include interdisciplinary research skills, adaptive learning, contextualization of issues, personal introspection visioning, systems thinking as well as values focused teaching. to achieve these, all those involved in the delivery of education for sustainable development must practice what they preach (fosnot, 2013). thus, education for sustainable development requires approaches that reflect a paradigm shift from manual training of discipline-specific content to a focus on enhancing quality of life that is rich with intellectual and social capital. indeed, the education for sustainable development pedagogy initiated by unesco (2004) highlights a shift towards active participation and experiential learning that engages the learner in thinking and accords them the ability to act responsibly. lampa, greculescu and todorescu (2013) note that education for sustainable development is central to preparing learners for lifelong learning, an adaptive quality that makes the learner more malleable in a time when most societies are experiencing dramatic social, environmental and economic transformation. in armstrong (2011), concepts like deep learning, transformational learning, active learning, service learning and critical emancipatory pedagogy have all been included in pedagogical discussions about education for sustainable development. with respect to kenya, opanda (2013) observes that four main ideas related to education for sustainable development have so far received heightened attention. these are improving access to basic quality education; restructuring of the present educational system; development of public understanding and awareness; and enhancing the quality of the teacher training programmes. in particular, teachers are extremely important drivers of change in the education for sustainable development. ganira and odundo (2018) assert that adoption of education for sustainable development pedagogies into the basic education curriculum requires appropriate teaching and learning methods that motivate and empower learners to modify behaviour and take actions for sustainable development. given that education for sustainable development pedagogies facilitate learning of knowledge, skills, perspectives and values that sustainable societies entail, the researchers emphasize that appropriate pedagogies for sustainable development be used. through sustainable development goal 4 (sdg 4), education for sustainable development provides a cross-cutting mechanism for the achievement of all the sdgs in kenya (ministry of education, 2017). this is in line with agenda 2063 of the african union which calls for action on catalyzing education and skills revolution to build knowledge, human capital, capabilities and global journal of transformative education (2020) vol. 2 nyatuka, education for sustainable development in kenya 88 global journal of transformative education (2020) vol. 2 skills to drive innovations on the african continent. addressing sustainable development challenges requires provision of quality education that offers competencies, values, knowledge and skills for sustainable living and prosperity. as an integral part of life-long learning, education for sustainable development is central to the delivery of quality education and necessary for capacity building of the kenyan society for a green economy. according to wandabi (2019a), the competency-based curriculum (cbc) provides an opportunity to nurture every learner’s potential through quality education. this happens to be the ultimate goal of education for sustainable development. just like education for sustainable development, the cbc seeks to empower learners to take informed decisions and responsible actions for environmental integrity, economic viability and just society for present and future generations, while respecting cultural diversity. republic of kenya (2017) holds that the teaching of values, especially at the basic education level, is expected to facilitate achievement of the curriculum reforms’ vision, particularly with respect to developing ethical citizens. specifically, basic education seeks to build capacities in learners that will enable them to be stewards of the earth, and minimize negative environmental impacts, while learning outcomes are linked to meaningful human, safety, educational, and environmental needs. the cbc endeavours to make learners work on real problems that make academic learning relevant while simultaneously enhancing their social skills, analytical ability, civic and ethical responsibility, self-efficacy, and career development (wandabi, 2019a) the cbc incorporates the pertinent and contemporary issues in society, including the related support materials. education for sustainable development is one of such issues and focuses on environmental education, disaster risk reduction, safety and security education, financial literacy, poverty education, countering terrorism, extreme violence and radicalization, gender issues and animal welfare (republic of kenya, 2017). accordingly, education should include values that support sustainable development such as care, respect, charity, social and economic justice, commitment, cooperation, compassion, self-determination and self reliance. in the college student educators international (2008), change agents should possess such attributes as resilience, optimism, tenacity, commitment, passion, patience and emotional intelligence. others are assertiveness, persuasiveness, empathy, authenticity, ethical self-awareness, competence and curiosity. the cbc emphasizes these attributes as well, as they are known to boost students’ self-esteem (republic of kenya, 2017; lampa, greculescu & todorescu, 2013). in the spirit of finding solutions to the challenges of sustainability of the biosphere and society in the country, the ministry of education has prioritized to focus on emerging gaps in the education sector (ministry of education, 2017). these include developing a relevant policy; transforming teaching, learning and training environments; building capacities of educators and trainers; and accelerating youth empowerment. this is in tandem with aspirations of kenya’s vision 2030 development plan, the global action programme on education for sustainable development and sdgs. through the implementation of the education for sustainable development policy, the ministry seeks to integrate such education into sustainable development policies and strategies of learning environments in training and learning institutions. this includes infusion of education for sustainable development into basic education, teacher training programmes and establishment of relevant youth-led initiatives. despite the efforts being made by the government, there appears to be a vague understanding of the concept of education for sustainable development among many citizens , use of inappropriate pedagogical methods and materials, and low level of collaboration among key stakeholders. on this basis, this research review examines the major aspects of education for sustainable development with intent to enhance their application. these aspects include the relevant pedagogical theories and their implications, legal and policy provisions and some success cases. also, discussed are critical challenges and possible remedies. theoretical framework according to fosnot (2013) and armstrong (2011), education for sustainable development may be better understood by exploring constructivism theories which are characterized by high levels of learner engagement, including active, applied, service and experiential learning. such theories also lay emphasis on social interaction that involves problem-based, inquiry-based, as well as participatory learning. . constructivism theories hold that human beings construct all knowledge while participating in different mental and physical experiences (kalsoom, 2019; republic of kenya, 2017;). thus, constructivism is a supposition about the nature of knowledge and how individuals acquire it. in constructivism, the learner builds a personal nyatuka, education for sustainable development in kenya 89 interpretation of the world on the basis of experiences and interactions. among the proponents of constructivism are dewey’s social constructivism, vygotsky’s social-cultural development theory and gardner’s multiple intelligence theory. others are piaget’s cognitive development theory, bruner’s cognitive development theory and erikson’s theory of psychosocial development (republic of kenya, 2017). tobias (2009) observes that other than extending both behavioural and cognitive theories about learning, constructivism includes contextual issues, like previous knowledge and experience, in the construction of knowledge. in this light, knowledge does not reside only in the mind but is situated in the context of an individual’s past experience, beliefs and values, their cognitive process, and their environment (schunk, 2008). the core assumptions of constructivism are that learner activities lead to the creation of their own knowledge rather than mere acquisition of the same, and that truth is an evolving premise (schunk, 2008; simpson, 2002). schwartz, lindgren and lewis (2009) and tobias (2009) hold that active engagement leads to a higher understanding that may be applied to new and different situations. armstrong (2011) asserts that three primary perspectives underpin constructivism, that is, endogenous, exogenous, and dialectical. endogenous constructivism emphasizes internal cognitive processes, new knowledge being dependent on previously developed mental structures. this perspective connotes a highly active learning environment in which learners are able to explore and experiment through a variety of activities that motivate them to assimilate and accommodate what is learnt. the classroom is active with problem-solving engagements, rather than direct instruction. teachers are discouraged from interjecting outcomes for the learners before they are able to invent on their own, taking a peripheral role until fundamental discoveries are concretized (fosnot, 2013; armstrong, 2011). thus, the teacher’s role is to create an environment suitable for such discovery. likewise, peer interaction is an important means of discouraging egocentrism among the learners (piaget, 1970; tuckman, 1992; wadsworth, 1978). on its part, exogenous constructivism emphasizes the influence of the external world on the construction of knowledge, such as instruction, experience and use of models in the learning environment (kalsoom, 2019; armstrong, 2011; shunk, 2008). it seeks to explain behaviour and the learning environment, including emphasizing the use of impressionistic models. the learner continuously adapts to, as opposed to copying, the structure in the environment and is responsive to contextual issues. the assumptions of the exogenous perspective are that interactions between the learner’s cognition and other personal factors like biology, self-efficacy, and self-regulation, their environment as well as behaviour are reciprocal. also, learning may occur by observing models, live or static, rather than as a result of feedback or behaviour. bandura (1989) advocated for highly knowledgeable and effectual teachers who are able to motivate while also developing important cognitive abilities among learners. dialectical constructivism is positioned centrally between the endogenous and exogenous perspectives, emphasizing the contextual nature of the construction of knowledge. armstrong (2011) and simpson (2002) assert that dialectical constructivism is particularly useful in informing the pedagogical implementation of education for sustainable development. this perspective is especially responsive to the complex, uncertain and values-laden nature of sustainability. both a dialectical perspective of constructivism and education for sustainable development champion for iterative reflection, supporting vygotskys’s (1978) contention that social interaction precedes internal reflective processes, thereby reinforcing cognitive development and learning that happens post-interaction (bonnett, 2003). armstrong (2011) advises that implementing education for sustainable development will remain impossible without the commitment by educators to the new paradigm. wals (2010) notes that learning strategies that emphasize dialogue and cooperative experiences are quite useful in the delivery of education for sustainable development as they promote pluralism and incorporation of prior perceptions with new meaning. in the provision of education for sustainable development, a teacher or educator is a facilitator, collaborator and fellow learner on the journey towards sustainability. such a teacher allows the learner to direct their own learning and guide course content, although this does not necessarily indicate relinquished control or authority. implications of the constructivism theories on esd pedagogy. apparently, the pedagogical approaches used in education for sustainable development are considerably oriented to a constructivist epistemology. among others, it is important to design experiences that match the developmental level of the learner, especially those that encourage learning activities that go just beyond global journal of transformative education (2020) vol 2 nyatuka, education for sustainable development in kenya 90 their capacities (fosnot, 2013; armstrong, 2011). the lived experiences, community, active engagement and collaboration in education for sustainable development strategies assert the belief that there is magic in social interaction with peers, teachers and industry partners. accordingly, some of the common strategies for the development of relevant skills are collaborative activities, systems instruction, multigenerational analysis, problem-based assignments, inquiry and action research (fosnot, 2013). others are stakeholder analysis, role play, offering multiple perspectives in topics, back-casting and scenario building. the approach to education for sustainable development, especially with respect to teaching and learning should focus on students, encouraging them to form and develop their own ideas and values. teachers should consider pupils as being an important and active factor in learning. lampa, greculescu and todorescu (2013) assert that active listening, assuming of responsibilities and solidarity are considered prerequisites to successful relationships based on social cooperation and interaction among pupils and people in general. hence, it is necessary for teachers to develop these competencies during their didactic activity. likewise, educational experiences need to be made interdisciplinary or multidisciplinary with a view to exposing the learner to different social configurations. it should be appreciated that pedagogies like service, participatory and experiential learning are characterized by collective inquiry and problem-solving that require learners to dialogue with others around them, thereby facilitating the discovery of new meanings collectively (fosnot, 2013; armstrong, 2011). capacity building, values development and cooperative relationships are fostered in such an educational environment. learners should be encouraged to be interdependent upon one another to continuously amend the truth with higher degree of precision, inviting emergent outcomes. pedagogical competence should be understood as a synthesis of cognitive, visual, practical and personal experience (kondur, et al, 2020). it is therefore, important to involve teachers in the relevant management processes in order to constantly improve the organization of decentralization of education. future educators need to develop general knowledge of the content of sustainable development, ability to combine content of different disciplines in terms of social and cultural context and learn to overcome uncertainty. on their part, students need to think critically; respond to different situations appropriately; resolve conflicts; work as a team; and, develop responsibility and autonomy. these are all considered to be tools of strategic thinking. since education for sustainable development issues are controversial and complex, learners should be able to manage them as well as the disagreements among themselves and relevant participants. sustainable education encourages both teachers and students to use creative thinking, share ideas, cooperate and make decisions. hence such a school is dynamic, no longer dictated by traditional hierarchical structures. the educational process should be such that even the weakest students are educated in a manner that their actions, present or future, pose no danger to society or even themselves (lampa, greculescu & todorescu, 2013). there is need to rethink educational policies for sustainable development that aim at developing social, economic and environmental knowledge that will ultimately assist students in tackling challenges of modern life. also, there is need for partnerships among institutions to provide teachers with efficient training programmes; ensure multicultural contexts to help them understand diversity and practice tolerance towards others, work closely with parents, colleagues and the community; reflect and improve upon their didactic activity as far as education for sustainable development is concerned (lampa, greculescu & todorescu, 2013; armstrong, 2011). and, to ensure the quality of didactic activity in sustainable development, teachers should acquire and develop competences and abilities based on not only formal, but also informal and non-formal dimensions, and have them officially recognized. this includes identifying each pupil’s specific needs and working towards meeting them by use of a wide range of teaching strategies. it also involves helping pupils to develop professional and cross competences (lampa, greculescu & todorescu, 2013). venkataraman (2009) as well as rode and michelsen (2008) note that the development of assessment methods in education for sustainable development is a substantial area of opportunity. unesco (2005b) makes audible the need for assessments that not only pay attention to knowledge competency, but skills, perceptions, behaviours and values as well. specifically, standardized testing is dissuaded, while methods that speak to a holistic view of the overall quality of education are encouraged. this is in line with the cbc which among others, advocates for assessment that determines the capability to apply a set of related knowledge, skills, values and abilities required to global journal of transformative education (2020) vol 2 nyatuka, education for sustainable development in kenya 91 successfully perform critical work functions or tasks in a defined setting (republic of kenya, 2017). in addition to the above theoretical implications on esd pedagogy, the way forward is highlighted later in this piece of work. legal and policy provisions on esd in kenya key un conferences, acts of parliament and related policy documents have played an important part in mobilizing both the international and local communities towards sustainable development (sterling, 2014; opanda, 2013; unesco, 2011; unesco, 2010; unesco, 2009a). in particular, the united nations conference on environment and development (unced, 1992) called for all countries to develop education for sustainable development strategies and frameworks to reorient education systems and programmes. the major thrusts to foster such education included improving basic education; and to develop public understanding, awareness and training (opanda, 2013). in 2002, the united nations decade of education for sustainable development (desd) was mooted to facilitate implementation of such education (unesco, 2002; unesco, 2003). in 2014, unesco launched a roadmap for implementing the global action plan (gap) on education for sustainable development. based on this, kenya’s ministry of education has made commitment on this initiative through developing an education for sustainable development implementation strategy across all sectors. the strategy is to be guided by three broad objectives, that is, enhance the role of education and learning for equitable, efficient and sustainable utilization of the country’s resources; promote quality education through diverse learning and public awareness for improved quality of life and productive livelihood; and promote teaching and learning that inculcates appropriate values, behaviour and lifestyles for good governance and sustainability. the 2013-2018 national education sector plan presents a strategy for education and training to promote education for sustainable development with reference to the un gap programme. this led to the development of education for sustainable development policy for the education sector in 2017 (wandabi, 2019b). the policy focuses on providing, promoting and coordinating quality lifelong education, training, research and innovation for kenya’s sustainable development. albeit various hurdles, partnerships, collaborations and networks have been formed to enhance education for sustainable development implementation (unesco, 2009b). in tandem with the cbc, the education sector policy on education for sustainable development promotes competencies such as critical thinking, creativity and making decisions in a collaborative way. it is indicated that this is to be realized through integrating sustainable development into education and vice versa (ministry of education, 2017). its implementation is particularly to be done in the different education levels that include basic education; higher education; teacher and technical and vocational training institutions and workplace; lifelong learning and non-formal education. kenya’s vision 2030 development blueprint proposes policy formulation and curricula reviews to address education for sustainable development (republic of kenya, 2007). the national agencies are expected to play a key role in leading as well as supporting learning opportunities for change towards sustainable development across sectors. in kenya, the education for sustainable development national implementation strategy uses capacity-building, advocacy, vision-building, partnerships and co-ordination as key approaches to achieve this (unesco, 2011). the medium-term plan (2008-2012) for vision 2030 requires that all training institutions’ curricula are re-oriented to address sustainable development issues. already, the development of a life skills curricula has been done by the ministry of education while teachers and education officers have been trained and involved in delivering the same syllabus across the country (wandabi, 2019a). among other notable initiatives, the education sector has increased financial support for capacity development activities and strengthened the kenya education management institute, the agency for building capacities for education managers. similarly, the centre for mathematics, science and technology education in africa (cemastea) has been offering pedagogical leadership training to support teachers in implementing effective and innovative classroom practices concerning education for sustainable development (wandabi, 2019b). particularly, it has been sensitizing education and quality assurance officers and other stakeholders on effective management of sustainable and institutionalized in-service education and training of teachers. the environmental management and coordination act (1999), cap 387 provides for effective coordination and regulation of all actions that have a direct influence on the environment in kenya (wandabi, 2019b). similarly, section 69 (2) of the constitution of kenya stipulates that every person has a duty to cooperate with the global journal of transformative education (2020) vol. 2 nyatuka, education for sustainable development in kenya 92 relevant national organizations and other stakeholders to protect and conserve the environment (republic of kenya, 2010). this involves ensuring that an ecologically sustainable development and use of natural resources is promoted. in the national environment management authority (nema, 2008), the kenyan strategy provides status, communication, facilitative and result indicators to monitor the implementation of education for sustainable development at all levels. as a result, awareness on this venture has steadily increased over the years. on its part, section 42(4) of the basic education act focuses on the promotion of environmental protection, especially education for sustainable development (republic of kenya, 2013). sessional paper no.4 of 2012 on reforming education and training in kenya envisaged a curriculum that is competence-based to foster quality education and enhance the integration of education for sustainable development at all levels of education in the country (republic of kenya, 2017). indeed, kenya has already rolled out a new competency -based curriculum for primary and secondary schools. the curriculum has sections that deliberately show how education for sustainable development can be integrated into the curriculum as a pertinent and contemporary issue (wandabi, 2019b). furthermore, the government has developed a green economy strategy and implementation plan (gesip, 2016) to address sustainable development challenges to achieve its long-term development goals as defined in vision 2030 (ministry of education, 2017). this policy is to enhance the implementation of education for sustainable development across sectors to enhance the attainment of the sdgs by improving quality of education, building capacity at all levels and enhancing public understanding and awareness of the sustainable development agenda. accordingly, the 17 sdgs provide the wider context for further up-scaling and mainstreaming education for sustainable development in the country. as a guide to the implementation of the cbc, the government developed the basic education curriculum framework (republic of kenya, 2017). the framework is anchored on values and provides a comprehensive conceptualization of reforms in basic education, including pre-primary education, primary, secondary and inclusive education. this is important since values influence how we feel, act and make choices in life. this thrust is meant to nurture learners who do the right thing at any given time. in spite of the various documents focusing on education for sustainable development, its level of implementation is wanting, especially at the basic education level in kenya. among others, this research review has made a deliberate attempt to consolidate such works for easy reference and application. some success cases of esd in kenya a number of measures have been undertaken by various stakeholders to enhance education for sustainable development, especially in the basic education institutions in kenya. one such initiative is the ecoschools, an international programme founded in 1994 and run by the foundation for environmental education (kenya organization for environmental education, 2020). among others, it sponsors an environmental action-based learning in primary and secondary schools as a tool for development. learning is project-based and promotes creativity, critical thinking and problem-solving. the eco-schools and the foundation are lead partners in unesco’s global plan for education for sustainable development (andreou, 2016). implemented in 60 countries worldwide (kenya organization for environmental education, 2020), its mission is to empower students to be the change a sustainable world needs through fun and action-oriented activities. according to andreou (2016), the programme aims at achieving educational goals as well as sustainable development through schools as entry points to communities. this has been implemented in kenya since 2003, growing from a pilot of 12 schools, to over 1,000 primary and secondary schools across the country as at 2020. the pilot phase was based on five key components of environmental action learning, namely environmental policy; cross-curriculum teaching and learning; micro-projects; school-community partnerships; and networks. funded by the danish international development agency and implemented in partnership with the danish outdoor council, the main focus themes were water, sanitation and hygiene, energy, healthy eating, sustainable agriculture, climate change, biodiversity and waste management. the cross-cutting themes included hiv/aids, global citizenship, entrepreneurship, and disaster preparedness and management (wandabi, 2019b). the kenya organization for environmental education (koee) has produced relevant theme packs for teachers and learners, developed teacher guides, a teacher training manual and a handbook (wandabi, 2019b) ). in unesco (2011), the eco-schools global journal of transformative education (2020) vol. 2 nyatuka, education for sustainable development in kenya 93 programme in kenya seeks to empower the youth, women and the poor; raising public understanding and awareness of sustainability; and training in education for sustainable development. the relevant projects take place through participation of multiple stakeholders, including government, civil society and private sector. in particular, strategies used by schools to boost sustainable development include advocacy, campaigns and vision building, capacity building, teacher training, monitoring and evaluation, and creation of school-community partnerships for purposes of ownership of such activities. andreou (2016) observes that the eco-schools programme provides a framework and standards to help educators integrate sustainability principles throughout their schools. these principles are to ensure that participants are: engaged in the learningteaching process; empowered to take informed decisions and actions on real life sustainability issues; encouraged to work together actively and involve their communities in collaborative solutions; supported to examine their assumptions, knowledge and experiences in order to develop critical thinking; and to be open to change. other principles are to encourage participants to be aware of cultural practices as an integral part of sustainability issues; encourage sharing inspirational stories of their achievements, failures and values to learn from them, and to support each other; continuously explore, test and share innovative approaches, methodologies and techniques; and ensure continuous improvement through monitoring and evaluation of the programmes. the programmes offer methodological tools for schools and communities to evaluate their own challenges; assess risks and develop the solutions. most importantly, the schools are guided to re-orient existing curricula around sustainable development themes, and work collaboratively with their local communities to develop practical projects. the indian ocean programme is a regional framework to integrate themes of sustainable development, climate change and risk reduction into national education systems, and strengthen cooperation to address the unique vulnerabilities of the region (andreou, 2016). it involves 72 eco-schools, with a population of at least 25,000 students. activities at school include food production, rainwater harvesting, soil stabilization, sanitation and waste management. it is reported that the most successful schools are those that have built strong partnerships between governmental institutions, ngos, and the private sector. among others, this is particularly important in addressing the damaging day-to-day effects of climate change that include rise in sea level, soil erosion, flooding, water shortages and high frequency of natural disasters. the eco-schools programme in kenya particularly responds to the green economy agenda through promotion of green enterprise development in schools and community (wandabi, 2019b). initiated by the kenya organization for environmental education and other partners, the project seeks to transform schools into models of sustainability for communities. its main objective is to inculcate a greening culture to youth in schools by mentoring and engaging them in hands-on green growth initiatives for sustainability of communities. the project has been implemented in a dozen primary schools from kwale, makueni, embu, kirinyaga, bomet and kisumu counties. a teacher’s guidebook on green enterprise development for schools in kenya was developed in consultation with teachers from schools participating in the schools green challenge project, the ministry of education and the royal danish embassy in kenya. similarly, the kenya organization for environmental education has implemented a sustainable water, sanitation and hygiene (wash) project under the eco-schools programme in vihiga county. the goal is to improve access and reliable safe water in schools and community (kenya organization for environmental education, 2020). the project entails sinking simple wells to enhance provision of water to ensure accessible safe water in schools; installing water harvesting tanks in the schools to have a water harvesting system; building the capacity of school communities by installing a hand wash point in each of the participating schools; and building capacity of communities to practice sustainable water management, sanitation and hygiene through training. the eco-schools litter less campaign project aims at reducing waste and foster long-term positive behaviour change among the youth (kenya organization for environmental education, 2020). over 45 schools, 3,000 students and 200 teachers have so far been involved in the campaign in kenya. the main objective is to raise awareness of the effect of litter on the local environment and wider community, increase student knowledge and practical skills in preventing and managing litter. it also seeks to enhance collaboration with other schools to promote education for sustainable development and influence others by communicating with them through multimedia platforms and other global journal of transformative education (2020) vol. 2 nyatuka, education for sustainable development in kenya 94 channels. the relevant campaign activities include waste management within and around the schools involved; community action days for schools to showcase their work to the surrounding community; and joint communication campaigns by schools through social media platforms to create awareness on issues of waste management. more recently, the kenya organization for environmental education has teamed up with other partners to promote plastic recycling through ecoschools (wandabi, 2019b). also, the eco-schools programme introduced a value-based approach to promoting education for sustainable development, and as a measure to enhance sustainability as a whole (kenya organization for environmental education, 2020). among others, it aims at delivering quality education that imparts knowledge, skills, attitudes and values from religious teachings. these are considered as instruments for entrenching faith-based values into education for sustainable development in schools, while promoting action for the environment with faith as the motivation. to date, a total of 50 schools have been involved in the initiative. the project produced a faith-based education for sustainable development teachers’ toolkit for schools that illustrated an approach of solving a society’s development issues using faith. according to the republic of kenya (2017), the country has been putting emphasis on approaches that promote whole institution development of education for sustainable development. the eco-school programme is considered to be an effective whole institution approach in mainstreaming sustainability into all aspects of the learning environment. in conjunction with mashav, a hebrew acronym for israel’s agency for international development cooperation, kenya’s ministry of education and the kenya secondary schools heads association established a joint project directed towards the promotion and implementation of education for sustainable development, to become an integral element in curricula of learning institutions (mashav, 2013). the ultimate goal of the joint project is to establish a national network of education for sustainable development in the country, including setting up demonstration centres which will serve as a source of training for the remaining school. one of the principles is ‘think global, act local’, meaning that awareness of the global crisis is important but action should be taken at the local level. the model provides schools and the community with the necessary tools for assessing their actual needs and existing resources. this model was launched in august 2013 at the joel omino secondary school in kisumu county. it includes teaching as well as learning technology, science, history and democracy, among others. this has successfully been applied in water purification; organic agriculture; economics and entrepreneurship, including establishment of an organic bakery; knowledge of building traditional houses; and utilizing recycled materials for art work. the wwf-kenya organization has made effort to integrate sustainable development into teaching and learning in basic education institutions by inculcating participatory pedagogical methods (wwf-kenya, 2020). in particular, the organization’s marine programme works with schools in the country’s coastal region to promote education for sustainable development. interactions are through discussions, lectures, presentations and mentorship. the successful projects implemented by schools include establishment of school gardens, tree planting and engagement in community service, for example, beach clean-up exercise on both the world environment day and international coastal clean-up celebrations. in addition, the organization continues to offer scholarships for girls from poor backgrounds within the islands surrounding lamu county and its environs. furthermore, the wildlife clubs of kenya have published an environmental education resource book for teachers and learners of primary and secondary schools, while nature kenya has produced an education for sustainable development resource book for both students and teachers called ‘learning for sustainable living in kenya’ (wandabi, 2019b). apart from these organizations, many ngos are involved in offering skills-focused training for community-based innovations involving marketing, product sales and sustainability. the african fund for endangered wildlife in kenya provides training to school children, teachers and community groups on environmental conservation. but, given that only a few primary and secondary schools have made laudable efforts with respect to embracing education for sustainable development means that much more requires to be done by the various stakeholders to bring the rest of the institutions on board. indeed, making such a move is quite crucial in order to achieve the objectives of this pedagogical paradigm shift as well as the competency-based curriculum, especially at the basic cycle of learning in kenya. in the following section, an elaborate discussion on challenges facing education for sustainable implementation in kenya, as well as possible solutions is made. global journal of transformative education (2020) vol. 2 nyatuka, education for sustainable development in kenya 95 challenges facing esd and proposed solutions. although sound education for sustainable development serves as a panacea for most of the pedagogical, environmental and socio-economic issues we contend with today, there are many challenges that require to be addressed so as to realize the desired outcomes. armstrong (2011) opines that education for sustainable development offers a renewed vision for educational policy and practice fully in tune with the needs and issues of the 21st century. unfortunately, the concept of education for sustainable development is yet to be fully understood by many stakeholders in kenya (wandabi, 2019a), leave alone the few experts in this area to facilitate the appropriate processes of teaching, learning, creating awareness and understanding education for sustainability (unesco, 2019). due to this, the development of adequate and relevant materials still remain a challenge. this calls for the various networks of experts as well as interested groups to enhance and strengthen the capacity-building processes. according to sterling (2014), the key role in realizing sustainable development is often ignored, downplayed or under-estimated. often, it is viewed in isolation from the other instruments of change. in the sustainable development debate therefore, embracing appropriate education should always be emphasized. despite the success of the international initiatives in this front, there are instances where much sustainable development discourse and policy underplay the role of education, and vice versa.. essentially, sustainable development should be embedded in basic education such that there is both mutual benefit and accelerated positive effect, sufficient to win breakthrough towards an economically secure, ecologically stable and socially just society. opanda (2013) asserts that the limited progress in the provision of education for sustainable development is partly due to lack of vision, awareness, policy framework and funding. notably, there is little effort that has been strategically made to mainstream sustainable development in teacher education programmes, especially at the basic education level. hence, there is a gap in both the body of knowledge and actual practices of many teacher educators in this area. yet, the contribution of teacher trainers is key in the delivery of the same. according to armstrong (2011), pedagogical innovation has been slower to develop. this calls for appropriate intervention measures. wandabi (2019b) notes that there is little evidence of attention or investment in the capacity-building of educators, facilitators or curriculum developers with regard to education for sustainable development. armstrong (2011) observes that this scenario is worsened by the nature of integration of education for sustainable development that is often complex, while the curricula is examination-oriented and overloaded with content as well as learning outcomes. thus, the weak integration of education for sustainable development, especially in basic education needs well designed pre-service and in-service teacher training programmes. ganira and odundo (2018) observe that emphasis is often given to the cognitive domain rather than the affective and psychomotor ones, thereby undermining the purpose of education for sustainable development. additionally, unesco (2011) holds that whereas sustainable development has been partially embedded in the formal education institutions, there is little attention being paid to the non-formal and informal curricula. also, the pedagogical approaches used in the different educational settings are often inappropriate. the lack of synergy between education for sustainable development activities sometimes leads to duplication of certain initiatives like teacher training and inefficient use and development of relevant resources (unesco, 2011). again, innovations from the community-based organizations and other small groups in society do not always get adequate support for their projects. partially, this is a result of government bureaucracy and lack of resources in implementing this kind of education. furthermore, unesco (2011) reports that most community-based organizations have not been able to influence policy in the country due to lack of education for sustainable development awareness and commitment. other challenges are to do with bridging the gap between what happens at home and what is taught in schools; pressure on teachers within the workplace; linking infrastructural change to the mindset change and strengthening community engagement (milne, 2019). in particular, kenya’s competency-based curriculum, which considers education for sustainable development as a critical contemporary issue, has experienced challenges to do with its implementation. these range from inadequate teacher training through poor infrastructure to huge budgetary implications. worth noting is that some of these challenges revolve around poor governance, corporate irresponsibility, lack of accountability, inefficient and wasteful production systems. such challenges usually lead to unsustainable utilization of the natural resources, resulting into their global journal of transformative education (2020) vol. 2 nyatuka, education for sustainable development in kenya 96 degradation (wandabi, 2019b). milne (2019) argues that there is need to have ethos in schools that openly and enthusiastically support education for sustainable development. clearly, this partly goes down to the curriculum that schools follow, and the interest and effort shown by the senior management in promoting such integration. milne (2019) concludes that to attain education for sustainable development, there should be both the physical as well as mindset changes. the physical change involves examining how schools, households and businesses can reduce, say, their waste, conserve water and energy and focus on more sustainable responses in general. on the other hand, the mindset change involves raising environmental understanding, awareness and action programmes through workshops and cross-curricular activities meant to give employees and learners a voice. indeed, taking such relevant steps will go a long way towards strengthening the provision of esd in basic education. the way forward to create a world that is more just, peaceful and sustainable, all individuals and societies must be equipped and empowered by knowledge, skills and values as well as heightened awareness to drive such change. this includes learning to respect others and appreciating the environment, as well as giving back to society. this could be achieved through relevant seminars, workshops, resources and activities, whether at home, school or community. to enhance the success of such initiatives, preparation of carefully designed action plans to facilitate application of esd, particularly in basic education is paramount. since teacher education is a critical aspect to be considered, there is need to bolster inclusion of sustainable development in the teacher education programmes. such training should include appropriate content, pedagogy as well as development and acquisition of the necessary resources. milne (2019) emphasizes that with trained and motivated teachers, it is far easier to inspire and motivate learners. critical thinking, imagination, learning to learn, communication and collaboration, are among the core competencies emphasized in the basic education curriculum in kenya. although the cbc is designed to achieve these, there is need for strong partnerships and more participatory evaluation mechanisms to enhance the quality of education for sustainable development programmes. conclusion like the rest of the countries in the globe, sustainable development issues in kenya are complex, dynamic and interlinked. embracing sustainable development and global citizenship education are considered to be the main solutions to these challenges. the latter entails peace and human rights education, intercultural education and education for international understanding. in particular, these should include the aspects of shaping the quality of training of specialists and humankind, using formal, non-formal, inclusive and democratically oriented models of education and science (kondur, et al, 2020). accordingly, countries should promote the availability of educational tools, teaching aids and textbooks for sustainable development to all who need them. but to achieve this, synergy among the initiatives taken as well as greater support from the various stakeholders is paramount. indeed, sterling (2014) advises that unless the various stakeholders, including policy-makers, legislators, businesses, the media and civil society are involved in learning processes, the sdgs cannot be achieved. education can enhance the effectiveness of each of these instruments through developing informed engagement, agency and empowerment among all the affected stakeholders. it can also build lasting change, because it is owned by the learner and touches both the heart and mind. although kenya has made some milestones in rolling out a competency-based curriculum in the basic education institutions, there are still many challenges that need to be addressed in order to successfully implement it. these include producing the relevant education for sustainable development pedagogical materials, enhancing professional capacities, promotion of research, strengthening cooperation, communication and partnerships and the establishment of monitoring and evaluation processes. 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http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0014/001410/141019e.pdf http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0014/001410/141019e.pdf https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/content/documents/924unesco7.pdf https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/content/documents/924unesco7.pdf https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/content/documents/924unesco7.pdf https://sdg4education2030.org/the-goal https://koeeorg.wordpress.com/2019/06/12/kenyas-new-curriculum-mirrors-education-for-sustainable-development/ https://koeeorg.wordpress.com/2019/06/12/kenyas-new-curriculum-mirrors-education-for-sustainable-development/ https://koeeorg.wordpress.com/2019/10/07/education-for-sustainable-development-in-kenya/ https://koeeorg.wordpress.com/2019/10/07/education-for-sustainable-development-in-kenya/ https://www.wwfkenya.org/education_for_sustainable_development.cfm https://www.wwfkenya.org/education_for_sustainable_development.cfm abstract education is a trillion-dollar industry, with a growing population thirsty for knowledge. there has been tremendous influx of graduates in this industry, seeking self-reliance because obtaining a decent job upon graduation remains a nightmare in developing countries. consequently, the surroundings of state and private universities in cameroon are overcrowded with educational subsidiary enterprises created by graduates. most of these enterprises intend to metamorphose into giant self-reliant enterprises while mitigating the problem of graduate unemployment. this rarely happens as most of the enterprises end at ground level, while others close down in less than 5 years. a question arises: what prevents these small and medium-sized education businesses from thriving? this study surveyed 210 small and medium-sized educational firms selected through clustering technique. the swot analysis technique was used to determine the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats to these firms. results revealed little or no leadership or wealth creation education as a major weakness, that threatens these businesses from thriving. the multiple regression further confirms the absence of transformational leadership education as a statistical predictor to setbacks in these firms. key recommendations call for mainstreaming pragmatic transformational and strategic leadership education in higher education courses, using the case of the faculty of education of the university of yaoundé i. learners should be introduced to the world of business through meaningful partnership with the world of work and quality entrepreneurship courses. keywords: strategic leadership, transformational leadership, wealth creation, educational enterprises teneng, p. p. global journal of transformative education (2020) vol 2 doi 10.14434/gjte.v2i1.31229 open access published by the global insitutute of transformative education (http://www.gite.education) © teneng, p. p. 2020. open access this journal is distributed under the terms of the creative commons attribution noncommercial nonderivative 4.0 international license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction without revision in any non-commercial medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the creative commons license, transformational leadership and wealth creation in educational organizations: the case of higher education in cameroon patience p. teneng full listing of authors and contacts can be found at the end of this article. introduction education is more than a trillion-dollar industry which is booming, maybe because of a growing global population with a keen thirst for knowledge. but the question of how well today’s universities prepare students for an uncertain future of work constitutes the prime concern for this industry. the nature of the education industry is extremely specific as compared to other tangible and non-tangible commodity markets. this is so because human beings are at the center of every action, constituting the major input, being at the center of the processing, and as end products as well. thus, a school cannot be managed like a super market. individuals intending to, or already into the supply of education and training are required to possess relevant entrepreneurial skills in educational leadership. the european commission (2013) views this type of leadership as educational experts with the ability to concieve, design, plan and operate an educational project with significant impacts on participants. these experts should be skilled to significantly link education and the economic development of the nation as well. they should hold profiles of teachers, planners, inspectors in education, school curriculum designers, school administrators, managers, educational leaders, to name a few. the success of every business, including educational enterprises, requires the possession of entrepreneurial skills. among these skills are wealth creation skills which are crucial for a well-grounded and sustained growth of enterprises. in this connection, the rapid rise and fall of small and medium-size enterprises in most countries around the world has been blamed on leadership lapses. this was confirmed in a study by the canadian government in 2001 cited in rowe (2001), which revealed that two important reasons why small and medium size firms become bankrupt and close down are poor overall management skills and imperfect capital structures. the poor management skills include lack of teneng, transformational leadership and weath creation 100 knowledge, lack of vision, and poor use of outside advisers. the imperfect capital structures result from either institutional constraints or lack of experience in management. the same study concluded that the way forward is effective leadership skill courses comprising of wealth creation skills, financial training and strategic leadership skills. a study carried out by the national institute of statistics (2019) between 2009 and 2016 showed that the problem is compounded in cameroon, revealing shocking figures on the premature sinking of small and medium-sized enterprises. according to this report published in march 2019, 96% of sinking enterprises are small and medium-sized as against 04% of huge firms, with a total of 2, 316 enterprises that disappeared in this period. however, the report did not extend its reach to capture statistics on specific domains which could perhaps provide information on the state of education enterprises. an important note by this report was that only enterprises formally registered were sampled amidst an explosion of unregistered firms, particularly around the urban cities. alternatively, this paper investigates private (non-government) formal and non-formal enterprises alike which are specifically involved in education and training activities (general teaching, technical and vocational training, writing, consulting enterprises, those in charge of preparing individuals for competitive entrance exams into public service jobs, study abroad issues, and language proficiency tests). the study by the national institute of statistics (2009) also highlighted aspects of human capital (education and training, experience, age and sex), which are of prime interest in this paper. field statistics in this paper demonstrate high lapses in leadership skills (entrepreneurship, management, wealth creation skills) by those running these small and medium-sized education businesses in yaoundé. simply put, a considerable number of ceos, administrators, and personnel running these small education enterprises confirmed to have acquired university education with no relevant entrepreneurship programs embedded. graduates with certificates in education revealed that their involvement in educational business does not tie with their initial career objectives to occupy positions in public service, because of the prevailing unemployment situation in the country. according to ngu & teneng (2020), 4.2% of the active labor force is currently unemployed. the underemployment situation is estimated at 7 on 10 individuals (71.75%). this is more acute in rural areas with 78.8% and 57.4% in urban centers (cameroon, 2010, 44). these authors also held that even though the public service has been able to absorb over 500,000 cameroonians in the past years, the problem of graduate unemployment continues to be a call for concern because of the overwhelming number of unemployed graduate youths. the billion and one-dollar question is: what will become of these ready-to-work graduate youths in the face of limited job opportunities in the country? most of them resort to the creation of educational enterprises for subsistence with the hope of growing them to bigger firms. yet their efforts are short lived because their enterprises cannot stand the test of time. as these enterprises close down, their owners complain that their university education did not equip them with graduate skills for wealth creation or finding work in the private sector. the consequences are glaring as these entrepreneurs affirmed that their businesses are limited to the provision of daily bread, and nothing more. others only operate seasonally when competitive entrance exams into public service jobs are launched. this is a peak period for such businesses when many candidates come seeking for preparatory classes in order to succeed in these exams. during interviews with the owners of these businesses, they revealed that majority of their businesses die off within a year. based on such a morose situation, non-educational business men with very little or no mastery of the dynamics of the education sector have hijacked the educational enterprise for their capitalist gains. this demonstrates the failure of education faculty in higher education to impart the right skills for their learners to become strategic/transformational leaders in the educational enterprise. this is happening at a time when the future of education seems to be undergoing a paradigm shift into the fourth industrial revolution where technology is transforming how we live, work, play and think, making the problem of lack of skills more serious. according to (world bank, 2019), a wide range of occupations will require a high degree of cognitive abilities, such as creativity, logical reasoning and problem sensitivity as part of their core skill set. more than half of these do not yet do so today or only to a much smaller extent. today’s education systems should equip youths with quality skills to thrive in tomorrow’s world. any continuous failure by today’s educational systems to arrest this disastrous situation wil permanently allow education into the hands of these capitalists whose global journal of transformative education (2020) vol 2 101 global journal of transformative education (2020) vol 2 teneng, transformational leadership and weath creation main objective is monetary gains, there by returning the status of human beings to machines as was the case at the heart of the 18th century industrial revolution. in cameroon for example, most schools in the private sector are owned by non-educational businessmen, who sometimes employ teachers with tertiary certificates in education to teach in the classrooms, and sometimes serve as administrators for minimal wages. this raises the question of why educators are not leading in the educational enterprise? why have they simply remained employees and not employers in the educational enterprise? the small and medium sized educational businesses created by some educators such as capacity building training centers, rural education networks, evening schools, multi-education services and consulting firms have remained at ground levels. as a result, the economic condition of this category of persons has remained wanting. this work set out to investigate the extent to which education and training at the faculty of education in the university of yaoundé i equips graduates with strategic/transformational leadership skills that can lead to wealth creation and sustainably enhance the growth of the education industry. to do this, the following research questions have been formulated to guide the study: research questions: 1. to what extent does a university teaching(policy) influence the existence of a well-grounded wealth creation plan in educational enterprises in cameroon? 2. to what extent does university curriculum content influence strategic/transformational leadership of graduates (wealth creation skills) in educational enterprises? 3. what is the relationship between teaching-learning models and graduates’ strategic/transformational leadership skills (wealth creation) in educational firms? 4. what is the impact of mainstreaming modes of entrepreneurial education model in the faculty of education on leadership in educational firms? conceptual literature leadership the concept of leadership has been a crossroad of intellectual and pragmatic flexing among ceos, researchers, writers, politicians, civil society activists, and the list is inexhaustable. some experts believe leadership means making a difference and transforming situations that seemed impossible, (rowe, 2001). to others like fonkeng and tamanjong (2009), it is the ability of a manager to influence subordinates to voluntarily make efforts towards achieving organizational goals. these authors insist on the fact that personal skills and social attributes are crucial for leaders to succeed in an organization. according to farant (1980), the use of the concept ‘leadership’ without tying it to a specific domain or activity seems more confusing. this author explains that leadership skills are quite specific to context, though some common variables can be observed relating to the overall success of the organization. in this light, we can make mention of a religious leader, political leaders, ceo of a car manufacturing industry, the leader of a development and cultural association, the school principal, and the list is long. in relation to the leadership type that concerns this study (strategic/ transformational leadership in education or educational leadership), bush and glover (2012) define it as: “… a process of influence, leading to the achievement of desired purposes. it involves inspiring and supporting others towards the achievement of a vision for the school which is based in clear personal and professional values”. however, the concept of leadership has evolved based on the functions, actions, risk taking, scope of interactions, and the targets they are expected to meet with specified time limits. based on this, various conceptualizations like strategic leadership, managerial leadership, visionary leadership, transformational leadership, and transactional leadership have taken center stage in this debate. a clearer explanation of these concepts is presented below. managerial leadership these are leaders concerned with the day-to-day running of the organization. to fonkeng and tamanjong (2009), managerial leadership simply means getting things satisfactorily done with a tactful use of available resources. this means that managers are more concerned with the manipulation of existing resources (human, material, and financial) so as to meet organizational goals. in the same light, rowe (2001) asserts that managerial leaders may influence just the actions and decisions of those with whom they work. to him, they possess expertise in the operational and functional areas of the enterprise. however, they may make decisions that are not value-based. this does not mean that they are not 102 with a tactful use of available resources. this means that managers are more concerned with the manipulation of existing resources (human, material, and financial) so as to meet organizational goals. in the same light, rowe (2001) asserts that managerial leaders may influence just the actions and decisions of those with whom they work. to him, they possess expertise in the operational and functional areas of the enterprise. however, they may make decisions that are not value-based. this does not mean that they are not ethical and professional, but that they are rather under pressure to meet performance standards, thus limiting their scope of action. the observation in the past years is that managerial leadership has failed woefully in their tasks, as poor management decisions have rather destroyed organizational resources. this is true for the educational industry in cameroon as small and medium sized educational firms have hardly survived a five years’ infancy span, (national institutes of statistics, 2019). this discourse does not imply that this type of leadership is not needed in an enterprise. it is to rather inform readers that competent managerial leaders can only maintain existing wealth in a firm, but can hardly create any. visionary leadership in recent years, visionary leadership has been touted to be a preferred leadership option for most firms, including educational institutions. it is concerned with future orientations and risk-taking of the firm. in this direction, rowe (2001) contends that this type of leadership maintains organizational control via socialization and fixed set of norms. it follows that visionary leadership deals with the inspirational component of transformational leadership. this confirms the fact that visionary leadership, though considered by some as mare dreaming for the future, is required for the future viability of the firm. however, an enterprise under such leaderships without strong managerial leadership accompanying it is liable to a down to earth failure. in this light, some experts posit that education leaders are not visionary, for they may be unable to provide even a fiveyear plan for their schools. this means they are limited to managerial leaders. thus, they may need to consult the expertise of visionary leaders in order to better position themselves for future trends and threats amidst the absence of a grounded strategy to arrive at longterm or future targets. to say that visionary leaders may forecasts the future correctly, but lack a pragmatic realization strategy to meet these future challenges. teneng, transformational leadership and weath creation ethical and professional, but that they are rather under pressure to meet performance standards, thus limiting their scope of action. the observation in the past years is that managerial leadership has failed woefully in their tasks, as poor management decisions have rather destroyed organizational resources. this is true for the educational industry in cameroon as small and medium sized educational firms have hardly survived a five years’ infancy span, (national institutes of statistics, 2019). this discourse does not imply that this type of leadership is not needed in an enterprise. it is to rather inform readers that competent managerial leaders can only maintain existing wealth in a firm, but can hardly create any. visionary leadership in recent years, visionary leadership has been touted to be a preferred leadership option for most firms, including educational institutions. it is concerned with future orientations and risk-taking of the firm. in this direction, rowe (2001) contends that this type of leadership maintains organizational control via socialization and fixed set of norms. it follows that visionary leadership deals with the inspirational component of transformational leadership. this confirms the fact that visionary leadership, though considered by some as mare dreaming for the future, is required for the future viability of the firm. however, an enterprise under such leaderships without strong managerial leadership accompanying it is liable to a down-to-earth failure. in this light, some experts posit that education leaders are not visionary, for they may be unable to provide even a five-year plan for their schools. this means they are limited to managerial leaders. thus, they may need to consult the expertise of visionary leaders in order to better po-sition themselves for future trends and threats amidst the absence of a grounded strategy to arrive at long-term or future targets. to say that visionary leaders may forecasts the future correctly, but lack a pragmatic realization strategy to meet these future challenges. but a major lapse with these leaders is that they are more disordered in maintaining present financial stability of the firm. strategic and transformational leadership managerial leadership these are leaders concerned with the day-to-day running of the organization. to fonkeng and tamanjong (2009), managerial leadership simply means getting things satisfactorily done global journal of transformative education (2020) vol 2 teneng, transformational leadership and weath creation 103 but a major lapse with these leaders is that they are more disordered in maintaining present financial stability of the firm. strategic leadership comes from the greek word strategos, meaning a general in command in the army, which later evolved by 450 bc to include managerial skills, leadership, oratory and power. by 350 bc, it evolved to mean the ability to employ forces to defeat opposing forces, and to develop a unified system for global governance, (rowe,2001). this concept is used in this study to have the same meaning as transformational leadership. this author further explains that strategic leadership is the most preferred type by most organizations today, as it has repeatedly resolved the lapses contained in other forms of leaderships including transactional leadership, managerial and visionary leaderships alike. strategic leadership maintains shortterm operations and financial stability, while devising a grounded strategy for success in future bargains. this means that the strategic leader understands the emergent strategy process considered very important in organizational performance as compared to planning. it is also referred to as entrepreneurial leadership in education in this study and is used to describe individuals who have been equipped with relevant skills in the domain of education to be able to initiate, create, and run education businesses with commendable success. according to burns (1978), cited in odumeru & ifanyi (2013), transformational leadership has been recently introduced. these authors further maintained that: “transformational leadership enhances the motivation, morale, and performance of followers through a variety of mechanisms. these includes connecting the followers’ sense of identity, and self to the project, and collective identity to the organization; being a role model for followers that inspires them, and makes them interested; challenging followers to take greater ownership for their work, and understanding the strengths and weaknesses of followers, so the leader can align followers with task that enhance their performance”. (odumeru & ifanyi, 2013, p. 356). to robins and coulter as cited by odumeru & ifanyi (2013), a transformative leader is someone who creates positive change in followers, and in the organization. they pay attention to developmental issues of the organization, stimulate and inspire followers to approach old problems in a new way. they have the continuous appetite to take the organization to another level, and giving it a better look as before(transform). strategic leadership and transformational leadership have the same goals to meet, to take the organization to another level, and prepare it to overcome future challenges. it is for this reason that both leadership styles aim to perform above expected standards, maintain the present state of the firm, while working for heavy future achievements. however, transformational leadership slides a bit from strategic style in that it is strongly tied to totally changing both the inner and outer look of the organization, whereas strategic leadership may be satisfied with an internal sustainable growth of the firm. transformational leadership works more with followers transformed by the leaders themselves to hit defined targets, while strategic leaders better manage existing human resources to hit defined targets. however, the domain of education needs more of transformational leadership, since the inputs, machines, and outputs are human beings. therefore, significant transformation is required, so to prepare key, and support staff to meet organizational goals more than expected. transformational leadership and wealth creation the concept of wealth creation in enterprises simply means securing sustainable financial resources, quality human and innovative infrastructural resources that will keep the enterprise growing in an upward trend for the present and for the future. linking this to leadership can better be understood via the paradox of leading and managing per se. rowe (2001) contends that wealth creation is at its best in enterprises with transformational leadership because these leaders make appropriate investments for viable future bargains, while maintaining the present financial state appropriately. these leaders have the skills to influence a critical mass of managers and personnel to make essential decisions that enhance stability in the daily operations of the enterprises, and for future viability as well. on the side of pure visionary leadership, the creation of wealth is faced with much difficulty as there is lack of an emergent strategy, or what is known as a pragmatic plan towards future viability of the firm. this type of leadership is poised with significant disorder in maintaining present stability of the firm. it falls squarely with the logic that “a vision without transformative strategy makes no sense, unlike a strategy without action is worse than zero.” some schools of thought confirm the above, maintaining that enterprises can still flourish global journal of transformative education (2020) vol 2 teneng, transformational leadership and weath creation 104 with managerial leadership given they are well trained with transactional and transformational skills. authors like bass & bass bernard, (1985) and yuki, (1994), think that transactional leaders manage, while transformational leaders lead. thus, transaction and transformation are two sides of the same coin: to manage and to lead. in this light, transactional leadership means ensuring the day-to-day running of the enterprise through the motivation, reward and punishment of workers, whereas transformational leadership prepares strong grounds for the enterprise to face future challenges. however, transformational leadership has evolved a lot in relation to wealth creation since all other forms of leadership or leadership characterizations are inherent. transformational leadership is thus a contingency model as it encompasses all other forms of leadership as seen above. in the educational domain, as in this study, most of the graduates who own businesses are the ones running their institutions. the sluggish growth, stagnation and probable closure of these enterprises demonstrates lapses in their higher education training, which surely failed to equip them with transformational leadership skills. related literature transformational leadership in higher education educational institutions have always craved for adaptive changes in order to respond to the demands of the job market. this phenomenon dates back from the industrial revolution, when industries dictated and controlled education and training dynamics to their benefit. it was in this light, davies & davies (2004) insisted on the urgent need for transformational educational leaders as they explained in a 9-point memorandum which encompasses organizational abilities and individual abilities as seen below: 1. strategic leaders have the following abilities: be strategically oriented translate strategy into action align people and organizations determine strategic intervention points develop strategic competencies 2. strategic leaders have the following personal characteristics: dissatisfaction, restlessness for the present absorptive capacity adaptive capacity wisdom this author concludes that any other leadership components are incorporated in the scope of strategic leadership, hence making it the ideal type needed by schools to survive and sustain the turbulence of today’s environment. also, davies & ellison (1997) explained that the dynamic of the 21st century knowledge economy poses great fears for an uncertain future, as the world is moving into the fourth industrial revolution. school leaders must anticipate this uncertainty and device strategic action plans to train graduates to face the future volatile labor market. in relation to this study, starters and administrators of small education businesses need such skills so as to think and act big for a sustained growth of their enterprises. this will significantly step up livelihoods, employment, and the economy. theoretical considerations a multitude of leadership theories have animated the discourse about which is the best to be used in what type of organization? also, the debate of how to train in higher education for graduates to be equipped with specific leadership skills has been central as well. theories like bureaucracy, administrative management, the concept of team spirit, systems and structural views, behavioral approach, motivational approach and management by objectives have been center stage in the debate. henry fayol (1951); frederick taylor (1911); macgregor (1960); elton mayo (1946); bernard and simon (1940); kreitner, (1995); as cited by fonkeng and tamajong (2009), believe that educational leaders are required to be cultured on various theoretical foundations of leadership to be able to influence leaders to graduate with the same skills. in addition to the above theoretical foundations of leadership, burn’s theory of transformational leadership has been considered as an overhaul of traditional approaches to current trends. this theory states that the leadership process is based on the mutual help of the leader and the subordinates for motivation and to increase their morale. his theory is believed to be consistent with present democratic norms, and most essentially as it emphasizes on the moral and educative nature of relationships between the leaders and the followers. burn described transforming leaders as those who work to positively change followers to become leaders for the growth of the organization. to him, transforming leaders strive for cultural change in an organization, which is not the case with transactional leaders. thus, transforming leaders are exemplary models who work for the team/group, global journal of transformative education (2020) vol 2 teneng, transformational leadership and weath creation 105 organization and for the community (burns, 1978). burn’s transformational leadership is based on three themes, which are: power and motive: this calls for the control of power since they are dealing with humans. to burns, the purpose of power should be to uplift subordinates and customers, and not crushing them. leadership as mutual purpose: transformational leaders are required: power should be used for a clear human purpose, and not for an individual purpose or to resolve self-interest. transformational leadership as a moral attempt: these leaders are required to demonstrate the following qualities: humbleness, morality, excellent communication skills, positive attitude, forgiveness, peace-oriented, powerful presence, clear vision, focus, determination, patience, hopeful, inspirational… (egli, 2019). burns also contends that transformational leaders are of various types which are: reformists: transforming a huge number of subordinates for high moral values. intellectualists: using intellectual values to transform people. revolutionists: leaders who sacrifice, and transform the whole aspect of a society. charismatic or charming: role models. the work of burns was extended by bernard m. bass (1995), who explained the psychological mechanisms that underlie transformational and transactional leaderships. to him, transformational leadership could be measured based on the influence on and motivation of followers to perform in attaining organizational goals. he asserts that when followers feel trust, admiration, loyalty and respect for such leaders, they work harder than expected. bass (1995) presents the qualities of a transformational leader as follows: individualized considerations: responding to followers’ personal needs via coaching, motivation, mentoring, empathy, support, and push for self-development and intrinsic motivation for task realization. intellectual stimulation: considering follower’s ideas in decision-making. this encourages creativity, learning and some degree of self-confidence by followers. it is however a high-level risk for the leader. inspirational motivation: the extent to which the leaders communicate the vision and mission of the organization to followers determines their engagement. transformational leaders communicate missions, and tasks with absolute optimism, and offers something more than just conventional gains to followers. idealized influence: works as a role model, instills pride, high ethical behavior, respect and trust. however, this theory was criticized for being more an idea than pragmatic. some schools of taught slammed the theory for not being well suited for complex and emergency situations. (bass & avolio, 1994a & 1994b). implications of the theory leaders of small and medium sized educational enterprises are required to subscribe to this trend of action. this is justified by the fact that wealth creation can be a success only if transforming skills are possessed and demonstrated. such leaders must have a sense of power and purpose, leadership and morals values which give high credibility and reputation to an enterprise, there by attracting wealth in other forms such as finances, more clients, partnership with big organizations, and individual donors, and experts. leaders of these businesses are required to use their power with human purpose: skilled development, education and training of leaders. using this power to intimidate others will yield no fruits. nelson mandela is a perfect example as he used his power for the growth of the south african society. and finally, these leaders are required to harnesses humility, patience, hopefulness, positive attitudes, so as attract responsible partners, more clients, and subsequently wealth creation in terms of reputation, values, finances, human relations, and logistics. but if these leadership skills are not demonstrated by higher education leaders in terms of administrative and teaching staff, graduates will not be able to have and use these skills for self-reliance in their private start-ups for wealth creation when employment with the government cannot be found. methodology study design and instruments the study used a survey design which permitted the perfect management of a heavy population (210 respondents), and the use of an exhaustive 15-item global journal of transformative education (2020) vol 2 106teneng, transformational leadership and weath creation carefully designed swot work sheet to collect data on the strength, weaknesses, opportunities and threats to these firms. this data also permitted us to ascertain the link between transformational leadership skills and wealth creation, using the case of the faculty of education (the university of yaoundé i). secondary data was obtained through documentary reviews, with most documents accessed online. population: the population under study constitutes cohort graduates of between 2014-2019, of the faculty of education, the university of yaoundé i, who own and run, or are former owners of small and medium-sized educational firms in and around university campuses in the city of yaoundé. sampling methodology: these graduates were traced through the snowball technique, then grouped into clusters for easy data collection. data analysis technique: the data was analyzed with swot analysis and multiple regression analysis techniques. results the swot analysis was used to analyze data collected and is written in full as: swot: s = strength, w = weaknesses, o = opportunities, t = threats. the objectives for using swot analysis in this study was firstly to verify the swot of the enterprises and secondly to find out if leadership is conscious, and has the capacity of carrying out a swot for their firms, so as to prepare a strategic plan of action for the growth of their firms. the swot matrix (table 1)presents a report on some 10 small and medium sized educational firms. the swot matrix in table 1 summarizes the responses provided by some enterprises in relation to leadership and wealth creation. looking at this table, we realized that these enterprises possess very little strengths with regards to wealth creation and sustainable growth. these firms demonstrate heavy weaknesses, which are strongly tied to leadership issues, organization, and management. however, the enterprises are surrounded by golden opportunities, which strong leadership can transform to wealth. added to these weaknesses are threats which can cause the firms to short down if leadership is not improved. global journal of transformative education (2020) vol 2 teneng, transformational leadership and weath creation 107 descriptive statistics table 2 shows the codes and gradients as to the likert scale used on the questionnaires. the number 1 represents strong denial to the statement, whereas the number 2 represents normal denial. the number 3 represents normal acceptance, whereas the number 4 represents strongest acceptance. item 1 on table 3 reveals more respondents’ strong denial for the fact that higher education policy reforms established significant orientations towards entrepreneurship education and wealth creation, rated at 61.0%. this adds to 22.4% who agreed as well, thus amounting total disagreement to 83.4% as against 16.6% who adhered. item 2 equally scores strong denial for the statement that higher education policy has specific targets on the educational industry, rated 66.2%, and supported by 21.9% simply agree, amounting to 88.1%, as against 11.9% agreeing. the same is true for for item 3, as the denials have 71.9% and 13.8% strongly, and simply agreeing respectively. all three items demonstrate statistical weakness of higher education reforms to hone relevant skills towards wealth creation. item 1 of table 4 indicates that a larger percentage of respondents making 96.2% strongly disagree on the fact that content conception guarantees prospects for transformational leadership skills. the rest 3.8% disagreed as well, whereas no respondent simply agreed or strongly agreed to this item as shown in columns a and sa. on its part, item 2 scored 88.6% and 11.4% strongly and simply disagreeing on the statement that content specialty is tailored to develop wealth creation skills. however, no respondent agreed or disagreed on this item as shown in columns a and sa. in item 3 of the same table, 85.7% of respondents and 10.5% strongly disagreed and agreed respectively on the statement that the content is rooted in leadership theories and practice, whereas only 3.8% simply agreed on. the tendency illustrated by these statistics explains the predicted pattern that content dynamics in higher education are weak regarding transformational leadership and wealth creation. global journal of transformative education (2020) vol 2 teneng, transformational leadership and weath creation 108 ted via hands-on approaches to familiarizelearners with real world circumstances. item 1 on table 6 shows that all respondents strongly disagree with the fact that entrepreneurship courses are transversal in all departments. unlike in item 1, item 2 indicates a high percentage (91.9) of respondents who disagree with the statement that the dose of entrepreneurship courses is significant in terms of start-ups, organizational leadership, wealth creation, and business management. the remaining 8.1% simply disagreed as well, whereas, no respondent agreed or strongly agreed as indicated by the “0” in the two columns in the right. for item 3 all respondents disagree that volunteerism education is being mainstreamed in the curriculum. however, the observation from these statistics explains the inference that entrepreneurship education is offered the least important place in the education and training of higher education graduates. this may explain why they lack skills to successfully run their businesses. item 1 of table 5 indicates that the teaching models used in higher education are not apprenticeship-based as strongly disagreed by 88.6% of the respondents. 10% equally disagreed, whereas only 1.4% agreed. 94.8% of respondents strongly disagreed with the statement that industrial stakeholders significantly participate in career orientation workshops, and leadership motivational discourses during the degree program. the survey revlealed that 5.2% disagreed as well, while no respondents agreed or strongly agreed. looking at item 3, we noted that 53.3% and 8.6% of the respondents strongly agreed and agreed respectively on the university–industry partnership in teaching. however, 25.2% agreed, while only 12.9% strongly agreed. judging from the observation, we infer that the bulk of the respondents have underscored that teaching methods are not geared towards developing skills for transformational leadership and wealth creation.this has a strong link with the problem under investigation as entrepreneurship skills are required to be transmit global journal of transformative education (2020) vol 2 teneng, transformational leadership and weath creation 109 item 1 on table 7 probes into the availability of strategic business plan which permits businesses to obtain significant funding from donors. field statistics show that 59.9% and 22.4% of respondents strongly disagree and disagree respectively. however, 9.5% agreed, whereas 9.0% strongly agreed. looking at statistics from item 2, we noted that 83.3% of the respondents strongly disagreed that their firm has entered into meaningful partnerships that allows essential interactions involving financial exchange, training exchange, scholarships, policy issues, leadership expertise and growth tactics. the data also show that 15.2% adhered to this statement, while only 1.4% agreed. data in item 3 indicates that 82.9% of the sample strongly disagreed that their firms were growing sustainably, while 12.4% disagreed. on the other hand, an extremely small portion 4.8% simple agreed, whereas no respondent strongly disagreed. the meaning that can be made out of these data may explain the struggling circumstance which these firms experience. they struggle to thrive, as most even closed down before 5 years. inferential statistics to test the hypotheses, the data were analyzed using a multiple regression anlaysis to confirm a correlaction between several variables captured in the survey data. the data were then analyzed using anova methods to identify the relationship between the variables. multiple regression analysis. table 8 suggests that there is an extremely high correlation r (0,996) between transformational leadership and wealth creation in educational enterprises by graduates. this high correlation coefficient signify that transformational leadership skill is highly significant for any good performance in educational firms. otherwise, the mal-performances observed in educational enterprises around the city of yaoundé is strongly linked to poor leadership skills by it owners. this finding is reinforced by another key statistics on the same table 8, r-square or r2 (0,992) shows indicating that 99,2% of poor wealth creation in educational firms can be explained by lapses in transformational leadership skills, whereas, the remaining 0.8% is explained by factors out of the model. on a more specific level, table 8 equally suggests that r-adjusted (.992) indicates a very good variable-fit of all sub variables. hence, higher education policy, transformational leadership curriculum, wealth cre-ation teaching-learning models, modes of mainstream-ing entrepreneurship education in faculty teaching significantly fit and strongly predicts wealth creation in educational firms by graduates. this mean that worry-ing lapses exist at specific variable levels of university training (see tables 3, 4, 5, and 6). global journal of transformative education (2020) vol 2 teneng, transformational leadership and weath creation 110 table 9 shows that the overall regression model is a good fit for the data. this table indicates that transformational leadership skills statistically significantly predicts wealth creation in educational firms by graduates. (f(4,205)= 6,273.073, p<0.0005). this means that the poor wealth creation situation in educational firms by graduates is highly explained by the lapses in transformational leadership skills embed by faculty teachings. the scatter-plot graph (figure 1) demonstrates a significant concentration points around the straight line. this indicates a significant relationship between transformational leadership skills and wealth creation. the correlation coefficient is 0.957, approaches 1, therefore strongly supports the hypothesis. discussion of results graduate unemployment has reached preoccupying levels in cameroon, thus appealing for every bit of reflection on measures to tackle the problem. it is for this reason that the surroundings of educational milieus are filled with graduates operating small and medium sized enterprises. this study initially set out to investigate the extent to which graduates of the faculty of education are equipped with transformational leaderships skills, for them to thrive in these enterprises. in this light, 210 firms were sampled for questioning, whereas some went through a swot analysis. this permitted the researcher to bring out the strengths and weaknesses of these enterprises, and to determine the degree of prediction on wealth creation by transformational leadership lapses in the enterprises. this was demonstrated by the results obtained after running the multiple regression test (f(4,205)= 6,273.073, p<0.0005, r2 = 0.992). this test permitted us to confirm all four predictors: higher education policy model towards wealth creation plans, transformational leadership curriculum, wealth creation teaching-learning models, modes of mainstreaming entrepreneurship education in faculty teaching as statistically significant towards wealth creation. this is justified by descriptive statistics, where respondents strongly disagreed with the fact that higher education policy reforms in cameroon have established strong orientations towards entrepreneurships education and wealth creation in enterprises. as a matter of fact, 61% strongly disagree, while 22.4% also disagreed, thus aligning to this thesis. the 2016 report by the national institute of statistics held that a key strategy to fight the premature collapsing of small and medium sized enterprises is establishing strong human capital training policies. to rowe (ibid), the leadership of enterprises must receive essential skills for the task at hand. global journal of transformative education (2020) vol 2 111 82.9% of respondents strongly disagree their enter-prises are growing sustainably in terms of reputation and credibility, candidates, human resources, logistics, and financial capital. this falls squarely with the re-formist and idealized qualities of a transformational leader by bass (1995), who thinks that wealth creation means transforming every aspect of the organization. however, when we look at the unexploited opportunities which could help sustain these firms, we conclude that there is need for strong transformational leadership skill for these owners of the businesses. some opportunities include: existence of multiple funding opportunities by non-governmental organizations, and some government initiatives such as the recent presidential funding for graduates’ start-ups, leadership workshops organized by the british council, and business organizations, strategic location of the businesses around the university campus, a heavy population thirsty for knowledge, and existence of trained teaching staff. this means that the need for transformational leadership is imperative so as to transform these opportunities into strength towards wealth creation in these firms. conclusion this study set out to investigate the bearing of transformational leadership education in universities on graduates’ wealth creation. the wealth creation skills acquired by graduates will be a signal as to whether their business start-ups succeed or fail. possession and use of these skills in small and medium sized enterprises opened by graduates of the university of yaoundé i are therefore determinants of the lifespan, growth and profitability of these businesses. based on swot and regression tests, findings revealed lapses in programs, government policy and teachings methods. given the grim picture of employment in the country, it will be high time transformational leadership skills are embedded in higher education curricula as a whole to equip graduates with skills that can enable them have a smooth transition to the volatile labor market and to keep afloat in the tense competition therein. another concluding note in this paper is in this paraphrase by victor hugo in axford (1969), that nothing is truer than the power of an idea when its time has come. but that idea must be borne by people with vision, leadership and moral fortitude to recognize the validity of the idea andinstitutionalize it. it is therefore time transformational leadership education teneng, transformational leadership and weath creation moreover, 66.2% and 21.9% strongly disagreed and disagreed to the statement that education reforms targets are quite specific with regards to various domains. this has specifically taken care of the realities of the educational industry. the observation in the faculty of education indicates the absence of transformational leadership courses as obligatory teaching units, as well as the absence of a specific entrepreneurship content. statistics indicates a 100% of respondents strongly disagreeing to the presence of domain specialization in leadership courses, and the presence and an obligatory leadership and entrepreneurship education. this position is supported by the european document on entrepreneurship leadership in education recommends high level mainstreaming of this type of education in educational policy, curriculum and teaching approaches. the world document for 2019 on leadership which makes mention of the need for intellectual skills as critical to the success of educational leaders. in this light, bass & bass (2009) talk of intellectual stimulation as a key quality of transformational leaders. these authors explained that transforming leaders is a great deal of having the intellectual capacity to get followers into creativity and innovation. however, this cannot be done without having acquired relevant leadership skills. things become more serious as 91.9% of respondents strongly disagreed that the dose of entrepreneurship courses are significant in terms of start-ups, organizational leadership, wealth creation, and business management. this is followed by 100% of respondents disagreeing that voluntarism is being encouraged during training. the european entrepreneurship leadership in education posits that strong educational leaders cannot be produced when field acquaintances are excluded during training. the document upholds key modes like meaningful partnerships between faculty and industry in curriculum design and delivery, and a significant mainstreaming of volunteerism culture in our system. the degree of weaknesses presented by these enterprises is a vivid indicator of the absence of transformational leadership skills in these firms. these weaknesses range from limited infrastructure to no partnerships, lack of a strategic plan, but to name a few. in addition to this, a close look at the at the threats such as lack of operation license, illegal location, an increase in e-marketing, increase in ict integration in the teaching-learning process, poor organization, no strategic business plan, weak leadership strongly justify the premature shoot-down of these businesses. these weakesses are visible in wealth creation statistics as global journal of transformative education (2020) vol 2 112 suggestions for further research the following suggestions for further research are made based on the believe that no research work can be all encompassing and that research is continuous. it will therefore be proper to open up and cast a glance into future research interests which could emanate from this one or build on it. the same research topic could be carried out with a larger population and sample, covering more african countries selected for comparability and best practice. other research interest could focus on the comparability of private and public universities in terms of graduate employability in cameroon. another study could also focus on the demand and supply of entrepreneurship education and the effects on economic growth. finally, these suggested areas of research could be carried out for longer peri-ods of experimentation and with larger sample sizes to enhance the degree of reliability. teneng, transformational leadership and weath creation gained its place among the professions, especially within the profession of education in cameroon. it has too long been peripheral and marginal. government and other education stakeholders must start thinking of how this can be woven into the educational fabric of our country, so that it can play its own role; that of providing sustainable self-employment to graduates when government fails to. recommendations the following recommendations could greatly lead to improvements in the quality of education and catalyze wealth creation for graduates. there should be reinforcement of policy implementation in higher education through commensurate quality control measures by putting in place a higher education planning team who should seek to understand the needs of all stakeholders in the higher education domain. this team will be in charge of carrying out a need analyses of all stakeholders in higher education periodically in order to inform curriculum designers. the team will advise the minister of higher education on issues of curriculum reforms by producing periodic reports on evolving global trends in the higher education arena, so as to address quality and respond to the demands of the 21th century knowledge economy. this will partly solve cameroon’s pressing need of producing more market ready graduates who will not fall into the unemployment trap. secondly, promotion of entrepreneurship education should be one of the topmost education reforms in the country so as to encourage the creation of enterprises which can absorb the growing number of unemployed graduates. final year students should be placed in enterprises for internships or volunteerism to develop work experience as required prerequisites for finding first graduate employment or creating one. finally, with regards to government policy, there is need for an in-crease in public spending on higher education in terms of updating dilapidated infrastructure such as labo-ratories, and installing modern technological and ict gadgets in order to professionalize teaching and evalua-tion in a bid to enhance practical knowledge acquisition which is indispensable in wealth creation. global journal of transformative 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(1994). leadership in organizations (3rd ed.). toronto: prentice hall. patience p. teneng (patience.bame@yahoo.com) is a lecturer in the department of curriculum & evaluation at university of yaoundé, yaoundé, cameroon. author https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/1048984395900217 https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/01900699408524907 https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/01900699408524907 https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/13632434.2011.642354 https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/13632434.2011.642354 https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/13632434.2011.642354 https://www.worldcat.org/title/gesp-growth-and-employment-strategy-paper-reference-framework-for-government-action-over-the-period-2010-2020-august-2009/oclc/838061147 https://www.worldcat.org/title/gesp-growth-and-employment-strategy-paper-reference-framework-for-government-action-over-the-period-2010-2020-august-2009/oclc/838061147 https://www.worldcat.org/title/gesp-growth-and-employment-strategy-paper-reference-framework-for-government-action-over-the-period-2010-2020-august-2009/oclc/838061147 https://www.researchgate.net/profile/brent_davies/publication/226463098_developing_a_strategic_leadership_perspective/links/5417fe820cf203f155ad7b45/developing-a-strategic-leadership-perspective.pdf https://pefnet.mendelu.cz/wcd/w-rek-pefnet/pefnet19-extended_abstracts_web.pdf#page=39 https://pefnet.mendelu.cz/wcd/w-rek-pefnet/pefnet19-extended_abstracts_web.pdf#page=39 https://www.diariodellaformazione.it/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/k2_attachments_entredu-manual-fv_en.pdf https://www.diariodellaformazione.it/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/k2_attachments_entredu-manual-fv_en.pdf http://article.scieducationalresearch.com/pdf/education-8-9-13.pdf http://article.scieducationalresearch.com/pdf/education-8-9-13.pdf http://article.scieducationalresearch.com/pdf/education-8-9-13.pdf http://article.scieducationalresearch.com/pdf/education-8-9-13.pdf http://www.academia.edu/download/37688994/1371451049.pdf http://www.academia.edu/download/37688994/1371451049.pdf http://www.academia.edu/download/37688994/1371451049.pdf https://www.academia.edu/download/57236598/creating_wealth_in_organizations.pdf https://www.academia.edu/download/57236598/creating_wealth_in_organizations.pdf https://reports.weforum.org/future-of-jobs-2016/skills-stability/ editorial board. global journal of transformative education (2020), vol 2 open access global journal of transformative education open call for papers the global journal of transformative education (gjte). is an open-access journal that presents to learners, educators and researchers the optimal instructional strategies, transformative leadership, and inquiry methods that lead to better educational and research outcomes for their students and the society. gjte is published by the global institute for transformative education (gite). the editorial board of the gjte invites authors to submit manuscripts relating to research about transformative education, innovative teaching strategies or curricula, policy issues, the role schools have in transforming communities and society, and resources that can help educators and policy makers enact meaningful reforms that contribute to transformative education. gjte publishes at least one issue of the journal each year, and we offer an open call for manuscripts submitted by authors around the world. there are no submission deadlines for our regular issues, and authors may submit manuscripts at any time. special “themed” editions may be produced with guest editors. gjte will post calls for papers on the journal’s website to announce those issues. manuscripts should be limited to about 8000 words, and may include photos, diagrams, tables, graphs 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ndemanu, ball state university, muncie, indiana, usa serafín m. coronel-molina, indiana university, bloomington, indiana, usa managing editor tom j. mcconnell, ball state university, muncie, indiana, usa assistant managing editor luis eduardo orozco, ball state university, muncie, indiana, usa assistant editors isaac k. a. galyuon, university of cape coast, ghana regina j. giraldo-garcía, ball state university, muncie, indiana, usa christina l. romero, indiana university kokomo, kokomo, indiana, usa emma clare bonham, indiana university, bloomington, indiana, usa editorial review board daniel baron the bloomington project school, bloomington, indiana, usa kennedy n. bota masinde muliro university of science & technology, kakamega, kenya teresia mbogori ball state university, muncie, indiana, usa wilfridah m. mucherah ball state university, muncie, indiana, usa judah m. ndiku masinde muliro university of science & technology, kakamega, kenya edward ansah university of cape coast, ghana godfrey nyaoga ayaga masinde muliro university of science & technology, kakamega, kenya sarah haisley ivy tech community college, muncie, indiana, usa james kigamwa literacy international, tulsa, oklahoma, usa shuning liu ball state university, muncie, indiana, usa issac nuokyaa-ire mwinlaaru university of cape coast, ghana george areba ngwacho kisii university, west mugirango, nyamira, kenya mathieu nongni université de ngaoundéré, cameroon maxwell kwesi nyatsikor university of developmental studies, tamale, ghana benard omenge nyatuka kisii university, kisii, kenya david roof ball state university, muncie, indiana, usa william shu university of buea, cameroon osundwa f. wanjera pratt institute, brooklyn, ny, usa cover image prof. rofela combey, university of cape coast (2024), by permission. https://scholarworks.iu.edu/journals/index.php/gjte/login global journal of transformative education (2024) vol 4 issn 2640-1533s open access ii published by the global insitutute of transformative education (http://www.gite.education) © gjte. 2024. gjte is a peer-reviewed open access journal produced as part of the iuscholarworks system, indiana university, bloomington, indiana, usa. transformative education for innovative educational practices articles transformative education for innovative educational practices: fourth volume of the global journal of transformative education .............................. 1 michael t. ndemanu & serafín m. coronel-molina, editors-in-chief the role of ethics education in the fight against corruption ............................................. 4 judah m. ndiku, joseph w. nasongo, & monicah a. odero market orientation for a contextual professionalization of higher education in africa: state of art ........................................................................................................... 14 carole v. kamdjo, & henri rodrigue njengoue ngamaleu the transformative nature of graduate education .................................................................. 24 elizabeth contreras, laurie bedford english as foriegn language (efl) teaching and learning in cameroon: decolonizing francophone teachers’ minds ............................................................................... 32 clement kouam translations as a transformative form of language support to english additional language speaking students at a south african university ......................... 44 venicia mcghie, karen dos reis the impact of story: one preschool’s experience using story cubes as a culturally relevant oral language strategy ............................................................................... 57 laura strong, michelle amodei the transformative development potential of higher education in the 4th industrial revolution: a strategic innovation ecosystem approach for technological development and knowledge transfer in the 21st century. ............... 65 joel n. bafon, adolphe m. tanyi, carole v. kamdjo, marcelline t. djeumeni students’ use behaviors of e-learning management systems in ghanaian public universities: what do thedemographics say? ............................................................... 77 daniel amadiok, winston kwame abroampa, eric opoku osei transitioning hands-on stem teacher training in ghana from an in-person to online modality .................................................................................................................. 88 mawuena a. hanson, heather beem open call for papers .................................................................................................................................. 105 gjte editors contents global journal of transformative education volume 4, month 2024 ndemanu, m. & coronel-molina, s.. global journal of transformative education (2024) vol 4 pp 1-3. doi 10.14434/gjte.v4i1.38829 open access published by the global insitutute of transformative education (http://www.gite.education) © ndemanu & coronel-molina. 2024. open access this journal is distributed under the terms of the creative commons attribution noncommercial nonderivative 4.0 international license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction without revision in any non-commercial medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the creative commons license, transformative education for innovative educational practices: fourth volume of the global journal of transformative education michael ndemanu1 and serafín coronel-molina2 full listing of authors and contacts can be found at the end of this article. the global journal of transformative education (gjte) is an open-source, peer-reviewed journal designed to share educational research and practical classroom applications germane to transformative education worldwide. gjte publishes academic articles on high-impact practices in the broad areas of pedagogy, curriculum, educational management and leadership, learning environment, educational policy, instructional materials, and reviews of educational resources that support transformative teaching and learning in pk-20 institutions and in adult education programs. gjte is focused on sharing educational research and research-based practices with all stakeholders in the design and implementation of transformative education. articles are offered as resources for teacher educators, teachers, school leaders, policymakers, civil society, students, and researchers. content may include research articles, lesson plan ideas, assessments and management strategies, book reviews, and discussions about curriculum and connections between schools and communities that are geared toward maximizing educational outcomes for learners. it is becoming increasingly clear that traditional educational models are no longer sufficient to benefit vast sectors of the world’s population, hence the need for new transformative education models. it will take transformative research to light the way to these new educational paradigms. a good number of the articles published in this fourth volume of gjte were initially reviewed and accepted for presentation at the 2023 world conference on transformative education (wcte) at the university of cape coast, in cape coast, ghana, under the theme, “the future of africa and the role of transformative education.” a call for papers was sent to conference participants to submit their manuscripts to be considered for publication in the fourth volume of gjte. all the submissions underwent a rigorous double-blind peer-reviewed process prior to being accepted for publication. out of several manuscripts submitted, eight were found to meet the standards and rigors of transformative education ideals as enunciated on our website, www.gite.education. this volume is composed of nine articles that delve into transformative education from multiple perspectives. they focus on diverse topics such as professionalization of higher education programs, decolonization, communication competency, stem teaching, and e-learning. the articles included in this volume cover the following five geographical locations: cameroon, ghana, nigeria, south africa, and the united states. the contributions are relevant to scholars, educators, practitioners, educational policymakers, graduate students, governmental and nongovernmental organizations, academic institutions, and grassroots organizations interested in transformative education across the globe. the first article, titled “the role of ethics education in the fight against corruption,” is authored by ndiku et al. their paper examines the place of ethics education in secondary school education to curb corruption in africa. guided by the deontological theory, the authors utilized secondary sources through document analysis where review of related literature on ethics education and corruption was done. the study argues that corruption is a major problem in society and concludes that there is need to fight corruption through ethics education at grassroot levels beginning with schools. it recommends that educators enhance the teaching of life skill education that fosters ethics. the second article, 1 ndemanu & coronel-molina, transformative education for innovative educational practices 2 “market orientation for a contextualized professionalization of higher education in africa: state of art” by kamdjo et al. focuses on the concept of market orientation in higher education and how it can be used to achieve goals of contextualized professionalization of university programs. they argue that the implementation of a market-oriented culture can pave a way for higher education to offer a response adapted to the expectations of society through five points summarized as: orientation toward policymakers, enterprises orientation, competition orientation, teachers and students’ orientation, and inter-functional coordination. contreras and bedford co-authored the third article, titled “the transformative nature of graduate education.” this is a reflective paper on the transformative experience of a doctoral education. it explores transformational learning theory in the real world, providing helpful strategies to apply the theory to the doctoral education experience to help doctoral students embrace their own transformation. in the third article, kouam, in his contribution, titled “english as foreign language (efl) teaching and learning in cameroon: decolonizing francophone teachers’ minds,” argues that francophone efl (english as foreign language) teachers’ mindset needs to be decolonized so that they can teach the mainstream cameroonian english to cameroonian students without trying to sound british or american. his findings and recommendations also constitute a good material for innovation in efl teacher education and classroom practice. considering most african students learn in a language that is not their mother tongue, mcghie & reis, in “translations as a transformative form of language support to english additional language speaking students at a south african university,” conducted a pilot study on an innovative translation intervention to students in a historically black university in south africa. their findings show that the translations in the students’ home languages assisted the students in comprehending the instructions and course content. in so doing, it levelled the playing field and enabled the students to perform optimally, resulting in an increased pass rate in the subject. strong and amodei, in their article, “the impact of story: one preschool’s experience using story cubes as a culturally relevant oral language strategy,” posit that storytelling is a universal practice which can be traced back to the beginning of human existence. their article describes a study conducted at a trilingual preschool. four preschool teachers and 60 prek students ages 3-5 years participated in the study designed to explore the use of story cubes in their classrooms as a culturally responsive and reflective strategy. in “the transformative development potential of higher education in the 4th industrial revolution,” bafon, et al. discuss the sustainability of socio-economic development of cameroon which requires a robust national and regional innovation ecosystem in which higher education plays an important role in value and wealth creation. they assert that the transformative potential of higher education is evident through development of technological knowledge networks, innovation/knowledge clusters, and transformative digital governance in enhancing transformative learning. they recommend that higher education institutional leadership should consider these transformative development indicators as institutional benchmarks for higher education quality assurance, responsiveness assessments, and governance practices. amadiok et al. in their article, “students’ use behaviors of e-learning management systems in ghanaian public universities: what do the demographics say?,” advocate for an intense training for students who underutilize e-learning management systems. in their study, they found that social science majors and female students in ghana’s public universities showed low use behavior of e-lms. they recommended that female students, in particular, and social science students, in general, should undergo enhanced training on using the e-lms platform. in “transitioning hands-on stem teacher training in ghana from an in-person to online modality,” hanson and beem discuss how, during covid-19, in-person training content was converted into videos and powerpoint presentations accessed asynchronously together with synchronous zoom sessions for discussions. their findings show that teacher confidence and views about the feasibility of implementing hands-on activities increased with statistical significance and large effect size for both in-person and online training offerings. hence, even with minimal technology, teachers across africa could be trained online and experience meaningful learning. global journal of transformative education (2024) vol 4 3 invitation to prospective authors we invite authors keen on transformative education from all walks of life to consider gjte as an avenue for disseminating their ideas germane to curriculum and teaching. gjte accepts submissions for its open call, with no deadlines for submissions and no publishing fees for authors. the journal’s website includes author guidelines to help prospective authors with formatting specifications, and an online submissions system to help with the submission, review and editing process. new authors are invited to register in the system. gjte also invites readers to join our editorial board of reviewers by selecting the “reviewer” role and indicating content expertise in their user profiles. acknowledgments the global journal of transformative education (gjte) is a singular publication venue. despite the time and effort invested in the conceptualization, development, implementation, production, and publication of this fourth volume, we could not have done all this by ourselves. the publication of this volume is the result of the hard work and dedication of many people. first of all, our profound gratitude goes to the global institute for transformative education (gite) and its founding members for their sustained sponsorship to make this volume happen. we are deeply thankful to tom j. mcconnell, managing editor; luis eduardo orozco, assistant managing editor; and isaac galyon, assistant editor, who provided us with invaluable assistance in their respective roles, taking care of the daily operations of gjte. our heartfelt thanks also go to the assistant editors, christina cooper and emma bonham for copy-editing the revised submissions. we are also grateful to our colleagues who serve on the editorial board of reviewers, as well as to institutions, friends, colleagues, and social media networks from around the world for their help in publicizing the gjte website and facebook page widely. last but not least, we would like to thank all the contributors to this fourth volume for choosing gjte to publish their work. many thanks to iuscholarswork for hosting gjte’s website. without the generous assistance and contribution of all these great people and institutions, gjte would never have become a reality. 1 michael ndemanu (mtndemanu@bsu.edu) is an associate professor in the department of educational studies at ball state university, muncie, indiana, usa. 2 serafín coronel-molina (scoronel@indiana.edu) is the director of the center for latin american and caribbean studies and a professor in the school of education at indiana university, bloomington, indiana, usa. authors ndemanu & coronel-molina, transformative education for innovative educational practices ndiku, j.m., nasongo, j.w., & odero, m a.. global journal of transformative education (2024) vol 4 pp 4-13. doi 10.14434/gjte.v4i1.36656 open access published by the global insitutute of transformative education (http://www.gite.education) © ndiku, nasongo, & odero. 2024. open access this journal is distributed under the terms of the creative commons attribution noncommercial nonderivative 4.0 international license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction without revision in any non-commercial medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the creative commons license, the role of ethics education in the fight against corruption judah m. ndiku,1 joseph w. nasongo,2 & monicah a odero3 abstract education has an integral role in inculcating morality in learners, producing responsible persons who can be trusted to promote the well-being of society. according to julius nyerere, an educated individual is one ready to serve the masses and recognize themselves as part of the society. unless corruption is eliminated within and through the education system, society will continue to be captive of corruption, since it has overlooked the prime duty of imparting knowledge of morals to its citizens, thus resulting in the growth of citizens whose morals are in question. corruption can be dealt with when people come into agreement and understanding of their place, the place of others, and the need to address the common good; that is, public resources. this position paper examined the place of ethics education in secondary school education in curbing corruption in africa. guided by the deontological theory, the authors utilized secondary sources through document analysis where review of related literature on ethics education and corruption was done. the study argues that corruption is a major problem in society and concludes that there is need to fight corruption through ethics education at grassroot levels in schools. it recommended that educators enhance teaching of life skill education that fosters ethical education. keywords: education, ethics, morality, corruption full listing of authors and contacts can be found at the end of this article. ethics and ethics education ethics is a branch of philosophy that involves systematizing, defending, and recommending concepts of right and wrong conduct, often addressing disputes of moral diversity. the term comes from the greek word ethos, which means “character.” the cambridge dictionary of philosophy (1995) states that the word ethics is “commonly used interchangeably with ‘morality’ and sometimes it is used more narrowly to mean the moral principles of a particular tradition group or individual.” ethics is more important than morality in creating a functioning society. according to varkey (2021), ethics is a broad terminology that entails the morals and the effect of moral choices. ethics influences the way we make decisions and the way we perceive things. ethics entails normative ethics which tend to answer the question of moral ethical principles which are just for society. the norms and the ethical variations may occur due to the differences in culture, ethics, and society. the ethical norms are applicable in the areas of specialization and protection of the interest of one in their profession. ethics entails various fundamental principles such as autonomy, justice, beneficence, and no maleficence. the principle of benefice and no maleficence are traceable back to the ancient times of hippocrates. the beneficence branch advocates that the physician has an obligation to act right in the conduct of supporting the patient’s rules of morality and preventing harm to others while no maleficence is the obligation of the physician not to carry any harm to the patient. ethics education entails all educational dimensions and processes directly or indirectly interconnected to the ethical extent of an individual’s life that can otherwise be planned, designed, guided, or monitored with the right educational methods and tools that remain unconscious, unexamined, or unintentional. ethical education’s main focus is on value and ethics promotion in terms of justice, equality, dignity, inclusiveness, and human rights among others as an entity of education to nurture individuals who are respectful in attitudes towards fellow human beings and the society. it is also a form of education that will inculcate its member’s positive character, and reflective and informed moral 4 ndiku, nasongo, & odero, ethics education in fight against corruption 5 judgment that puts individual’s beliefs and values into practice. this is because education is not only an inherently value-laden process but it also enhances its consequences in terms of educational outcomes and relationships formed in the context of education (strahovnik, 2016). ethical education also plays a fundamental role in nurturing individuals who are autonomous, caring, and resilient and who can contribute globally and locally. ethical education strives for the following goals: • to aid ethical thinking, accommodation, autonomy, and responsibility in children and the community at large established in a given educational setting; • to help children examine and understand important ethical principles, ideals, values, and virtues, and to furnish them with intellectual and moral abilities relevant for responsible moral judgment and decision making; • to direct children to examine diverse values, moral justifications that they can merge into guiding unity; • to give direction to children on commitment in values that are recognized and regarded as key aspects of life; • to enable children to overcome any prejudices that may come in their lives at various stages of life, to promote ethical behaviors, for character development among children that will facilitate the ancient ideal of eudemonia and finally for persons to situate themselves into a local and global society (globokar 2018, strahovnik, 2016). the above inclinations of what ethics education was coined in the heart of john dewey that serves as the goal of education in general that sums to form a cultivated and effectively functional valuable judgment or trial to respect with admirable aesthetics, accepted intellectually and approved morally (dewey, 1980). ethical education helps people to formulate values that are relevant to, for, and in their own lives socially. it is also pegged on the deontological theory of ethics which according to immanuel kant states that nothing is good without qualification except a good will, and a good will is one that wills to act in accord with the moral law and out of respect for that law rather than out of natural inclinations. to act ethically therefore should be according to the moral law which is against any acts of corruption. autonomy and justice are the widely used principles of ethics. autonomy is traceable to the philosopher immanuel kant as an acceptable ethical principle (taylor, 2005). the principle advocates that each person has a unique value and purpose and should be given a chance to make rational decisions. autonomy can be applicable in advocating for the moral issues in the society. however, the principle is limiting since it doesn’t give a chance to persons of unsound mind in decision-making. this shows that persons have no right obligation to the decision on their behalf. lack of a person’s decisions on an issue due to the mental or physical disability has a consequence on the practices of the legal determination of the patient. the principle of autonomy can limit decision-making and deny people the right to making their own informed consent decisions. people have a right to be told the truth and their issues are guarded with confidentiality as evident with the health professionals. on the other hand, the justice principle is interpreted as the equity, fairness, and treatment of people in an appropriate manner. in a societal setting, governance is the basis of economic growth. this applies to the family setting, community, institutions, or even the country. if human rights are violated, justice is not served. the main infringe of justice in today’s society especially the developing countries is corruption that is taking away the rights of individuals. in the health sector, for example, justice is applicable in the fair distribution of healthcare resources and equitably in justifiable norms. the ethical principles have contradicting obligations. appropriate application of the principles can help curb the problems faced in today’s society especially corruption. education is a basic human right. ethics education is considered as part of the human right. the purpose of ethics education is not only its study but also mobilizing the knowledge body to develop cognitive ability. the cognitive ability helps individuals apply ethical principles in fields such as economics, medicine, and policy in decision making. ethics education also helps one to develop the critical thinking that helps them to guide their actions in the influence of others. ethics education revolves around one’s moral actions and the ability of one to respond to moral reason. in essence, ethics education plays significant role in the process of becoming human by inculcating cardinal values that strenghthens responsible actions and interactions. corruption and its manifestations in society the word corruption originated from the latin word rumpere, meaning to break or to rupture. the latin word corruptus means consequence of of dishonest conduct or behavior, described as perveted, morally global journal of transformative education (2024) vol 4 6 global journal of transformative education (2024) vol 4 corrupt, and broken. it thus means to break someone or force him or her to change the attitude of a certain principle or former opinion. from latin, corruption is definable in two terms: issues of bribery or damage. corruption is attracting a lot of attention around the world. several attempts have been made to define corruption by different scholars differently. even though it may be difficult to define, it is generally not difficult to recognize when observed. corruption is popularly defined, by the world bank as the abuse of public office for private gain (langseth & stapenhurst, 1997). this, however, is not an indicator that corruption cannot exist in the private sector. applied to large private enterprises, it manifests itself through procurement or even hiring. the abuse of public power is not necessarily for one’s private benefit but it can benefit one’s party, class, tribe friends, and family, among other beneficiaries (kaufmann & siegelbaum, 1996). corruption can be defined neutrally as intentional non-compliance with an arm’s length relationship aimed at deriving some advantage from the behavior for oneself or related for individuals (tanzi, 1995). rendtorff (2009) defines corruption as a controversial, illegal, and unethical because it is an act that goes against or challenges established and well-defined conceptions and laws of justice. it is the use of the government office for personal or private gains (hallak & poisson, 2007). from the definitions, corruption is not a new phenomenon globally. what is new are the ever-mutating forms it is taking and the harm it is wrecking to the prosperity, security, reputation, and integral well-being and survival of our nations. secondly, institutions have been set up and allocated resources to fight corruption, but corruption is getting worse and more widespread indeed, it is endemic. corruption is an outcome of the society (svensson, 2005). it reflects the nature and quality of a country’s legal, economic, cultural, and political institutions. it also indicates the general moral quality of a people and their dominant values and priorities. corruption has diverse effects on economic development and is very dangerous. it leads to a loss of resources. according to the world economic forum, the global cost of corruption is at least $2.6 trillion, or 5% of the global gross domestic product (guteres, 2018). it leads to political instability, poverty and unemployment, high crime rate and insecurity, increased cost of goods and services, increased poverty, injustice, and negative international image. all over the globe, corruption is evident in all sectors of the economy and society even among professionals, for instance doctors, police, and even traders (akdemir & yeşilyurt, 2023). in the institutions of learning, corruption is also evident. teachers take bribes from their students to facilitate the passing of examinations. in the institutions, the issuance of fake certificates and degrees as a result of corruption is also evident. selling educational skills illegally destroys the market and the skilled labour force. many countries exhibit corrupt acts. corruption can be administrative, political, and bureaucratic. administrative corruption is manifested when the politicians are forced to sell their votes to the political parties. administrative corruption occurs when those in administration accept bribes to facilitate tax evasion (hallak & poisson, 2007). for bureaucracy corruption, hiding files or slowing down the investigations is an act of corruption. corruption entails a variety of issues such as funds embezzlement, bribe issuance, and nepotism, among other issues. the acts can be legal or illegal depending on the context. in asia, corruption is defined as unjust and unlawful acts. the acts may include soliciting funds from the public for unjust practices. a boundary can be drawn between the level of corruption ranging from minor issues to more complex issues. major corruption can include ghost workers, wrong tender issuance for the school constructions, supply, and the manufacture of books (hallak & poisson, 2007). parents bribing the school heads to secure their children’s admissions and get promotions to the next grades is a minor form of corruption. corruption is an injustice and classification as a minor or major issue should never be a matter of concern. teacher’s appointments through corruption can delay administration and promote misbehavior. the determination of corruption varies from one state to another. in some countries, the issue of gifts to students in schools or public officers is unethical. they consider it as an act of bribery and punishable by the rule of the law. some societies however accept the act of issuance of gifts for students and bets personal agents. they define corruption as western belief that is in contradiction with reality. they see that a gift of low monetary value does not attract anything in return while that of high monetary value attracts something in return (hallak & poisson, 2007). research indicates that persons share direct variations on what is ethical and what is unethical depending on the environment. the issuance of the gift can be narrowed to the education centers of learning, some argue that a teacher offering private tuition is unethical while some can ndiku, nasongo, & odero, ethics education in fight against corruption 7 argue that it is ethical. the quantification of the claim is justifiable by the ultimate end of the quality of education. therefore, for higher education institutions, private tutoring can be considered a legal act. if students who fail to meet the required grades are offered private tuition by the higher education institutions through their funding then the case is ethical. omar (2005) avers that the trend of the corruption rate is more prevalent in african countries than the western countries, with asia having the highest rate of corruption. as years progress the rate of poverty in asia declines while that in africa increases rapidly. the increase in corruption rate in africa is to blame for the high rate of poverty. in a report by transparency international (2015), growth for the rich is seen to be increasing while that of the poor declining. corruption makes citizens lose the trust of the political parties and even leaders. lack of trust raveges learning institutions. if children are permitted to cheat in their exams, the higher institutions of education will lack trust in the credibility of the grades the students attain. research shows that kenya is one of the countries where bribery is likely to be issued. kenya is ranked as one of the most corrupt countries in the world. in 2022, it was ranked at position 123 out of 180 countries of the world (annan, 2022). the level of bribery is shown to have risen as the years progress. the level of bribery increase shows that those who cannot afford to bribe cannot attain services and the basic amenities in life. according to odinga (2004), the level of bribery in parliament requires a commission for the disposal. if the mps are corrupt and they are the key holders of the budgetary determination mandate, then the cost of living is likely to rise and children from poor families will not get the chance to have funding from the government for their studies. adverse examples of corruption cases in kenya have been categorized into five by mohamed noor (2018). the goldenberg scandal which he states to be a long-lasting saga between 1991 and 1993 where goldenberg international company owned by a kenyan tycoon businessman kamlesh pattni, would export jewelry and then get compensation from the central bank of kenya for foreign exchange earnings. from the look of things, this scandal cost kenyan taxpayers money around us dollars 600 (bbc news, 2004, cited by noor, 2018). the anglo-leasing scandal came second involving a public procurement deal, a two-decade scandal with a series of corruption sagas in it. this scandal involved a series of dubious international financial transfers that related to government security contracts among other corruption cases. the third was the national youth service scandal that suffaced between 2015-2017. here, officials discharged various contracts of procurement to companies but never delivered even though full payments were disbursed to each company. the fourth was the rio games scandal in 2016 when the spirit of kenyan athletes for the rio olympic games was shattered when money that was meant for their catering and comfort was stolen. there was also overpricing of return air tickets for the players. lastly, kenya experienced a national cereal and produce board scandal that was affiliated with no genuine transaction records or receipts . with this and to blind kenyans, the government of kenya tried to react to these cases in court battles but the perpetrators were left free. the cases are still ongoing with no desirable fruits. this has resulted in mistrust of the government by the public. these are some of the cases of high-level corruption cases reported in kenya. from the above assertions, corruption has adverse effects not only on the government and institutions but also on the society at large. it has led to unfavourable economic conditions, political instability, poverty and unemployment. among the citizens, according to mohamed noor (2018), corruption has led to crime and insecurity, increased cost of goods and services, increased poverty, injustice and negative international image. role of ethics education in the fight against corruption the purpose of ethics education in general, is to build values and develop the knowledge, skills, and attitudes necessary to shape students’ civic stance against corruption (cam, 2016). the key to successfully fighting corruption is to change the culture among the young generation. globally, corruption is an area of interest that has persisted to exist despite several attempts to stop it. the united nations office on drugs and crime (unodc) is trying to lead the anti-corruption academic initiative (acad), which is a collaborative project that seeks to encourage teaching and research of anti-corruption issues by institutions of higher learning. the initiative acts as a central hub for anti-corruption education worldwide. its role is to bring together professors globally and regionally offering free online resources on possible mitigation online. the unodc has also fought for “education for justice” that seeks to control crime and promote a culture of legitimacy through education activities at all global journal of transformative education (2024) vol 4 ndiku, nasongo, & odero, ethics education in fight against corruption 8 levels of education. it is therefore believed that this will help the next generation better understand vices of illegality and how best to overcome them. this however has not put forth or clearly shown the need and role of ethics education in curbing corruption. the world economic forum estimates the global cost of corruption is at least $2.6 trillion, or 5 percent of the global gross domestic product (guteres, 2018). the un convention, for example, emphasizes the need for being transparent and accountable for the actions that we undertake. the call for the eradication of the bribe issuance and receiving gives individuals equal opportunities to acquire education. education being the social equalizer helps society to understand appropriate acts and thus enables them to have a clear understanding that corruption is an act of injustice to human rights. if children are denied the rights to acquire education since they cannot bribe, the whole cause of humanity is triggered. in rwanda, the government has a mandate to promote accountability and transparency. the advocacy for transparency is an act of human rights (sikhosana & nzewi, 2019). it helps bridge the gap of corruption and the possible loopholes that can be incurable in society. analysis of the cash flow and the fiscal budget helps eliminate the issuance of bribes since no money is left to be looted withoutbeing traced. enforcement of transparency and accountability will release the much needed resources to the targeted development projects and help limit the poverty levels in the society. a corrupt free society gives all children equal opportunities in the educational centers of learning and eradicating poverty. the effect of corruption ranges from the individual, society, and country up to the global perspective. in nigeria for example, the effect of corruption is deeply rooted in the society affecting its individual (okunlola & obadare, 2016). the effect of corruption manifests from the economic perspective to the educational systems. corruption being a global problem affects the citizens of various nations leading to the reduction in the moral fabric with the inclusion of academia. however, corruption is common in the underdeveloped or the developing nations. according to okunlola and obadare (2016), the world bank report showed that the economies of the developing countries are more prevalent with corruption cases. nigeria as an example shows high levels of poverty among the citizens with only a few individuals meeting their basic needs. the employers not being able to meet the employees needs such as salary payments and students’ ability to access education due to the poor facilities is a manifestation of the corruption depth. generally, corruption has adverse effects in any society. some scholars have discussed various aspects and effects of corruption in various fields such as the economy and education. they however assert that even a small incidence of corruption can become dangerous to the normal functioning of the society and any institution of learning (dreher & herzfeld, 2005). indeed a corrupt education system is the beginning of all problems to the society. for example, if students cheat in exams, the outcome is production of poor skilled personnel who cannot deliver in the economy as well as making the job market flooded with mediocrity and underperformance. the lack of qualified personnel makes it difficult to enhance economic productivity. in a more corrupt society or institutions of learning, there exists a moral dilemma. individuals in such environments tend to collaborate in matters of corruption and as such, nobody can stand still in promoting ethics education (hallak & poisson, 2007). ethics education plays a vital role in non-materialistic costs of corruption which is dangerous in the erosion of democratic values, human rights, and freedom which in turn may lead to the loss of human lives. ethics education should hence be enhanced in all centers of learning ranging from the basic educational institutions to tertiary instituitions to generate a morally upright society. though this might be a tall order, it is the way to go in the process of training the mind of all children from their formative stages in life. like many other countries, kenya is one of the countries immensely affected by corruption. in the fight against this vise the country has developed institutions that are responsible for its eradication. there exists an approach of a legal and institutional framework through the enactment of laws and the establishment of institutions to fight this menace. for example, the ethics and anti-corruption commission (eacc) has yielded some positive breakthrough towards the fight against corruption. there has been also an attempt by transparency international kenya (ti-k) to initiate integrity clubs for students in ethical and integrity learning in schools (2015). this has been made possible by supporting and strengthening the activities of 80 integrity clubs across the country. however, only three counties were taken care of; 30 in trans-nzoia county, 29 in kisumu county, and 21 in kwale county to improve discipline and responsibility among students. all global journal of transformative education (2024) vol 4 ndiku, nasongo, & odero, ethics education in fight against corruption 9 this however hasn’t brought much positive change and the emphasis on ethics education as a criterion to curb corruption is imperative. the initiatives being made through the educational reforms as the country embraces competency based education and introduction of life skills and fanning of moral education of values will impact the lives of the future generations. however, as it is now the little or no effort in the reduction of corruption cases can be attributed to the fact that some people who should serve as examples in society are the perpetrators of the vice. kadida (2016) in his study ascertained that the chief justice and the president of the supreme court of kenya was reported to have confessed that corruption networks in kenya have penetrated even oversight institutions that are tasked with the role of fighting corruption. this in itself is an indication that there exists little moral leadership in kenya at the top most the hierarchy which is expected by the public to be independent of such vices. this has pushed the need for a paradigm shift in the implimetation of life skills, values and moral education espoused in the competency based education from the norm which is the ethics education perspective to addressing ethics through the multiple learning dimesions: formal, informal, and non-formal processes to bring about ethical reasoning and virtue formation. the educational reforms instituted through the competency based education in kenya have made progress in a number of ways. there is the mainstreaming of pertinent contemporary issues (pcis) to train the young ones on the evils of corruption in learning areas around global citizenship, life skills and values where life skills, values and moral education are articulated (kicd, 2017). this form of education is an all-round system that requires contribution from all dimensions. the school being a formal institution that acts as a foundation where teaching and learning of all kinds can easily be executed remains the most ideal place for ethical values to be incurlcated now and in the future. the several constructive activities that take place during teaching and learning in a formal setup creates a fertile ground for the transmission of ethical education in all aspects of life during and after childhood. this includes learning through association, imitation, and interaction. if utilized well at this stage of life to its learners, there is a likelihood to produce citizens who are sound and responsible for their various actions in life, the workplace, and in society at large. it is hoped the initiatives through implimetation of competency based education will impact the student soft skills to navigate daily issues of life with ease. ethically grounded persons from school will shun and condemn acts of corruption regardless of the influence they may encounter in the line of duty. the continuous education or creation of awareness on corruption helps to mitigate the possible ways for its elimination. understanding that corruption is a form of injustice is the first ethical way for its eradication. ethics education in itself is an enemy of corruption since corruption requires individuals to perhaps take bribes for them to be served in any organization or institution. this form of education requires the same individuals to practice what is right and shun away from wrongdoing by all means regardless of the good things that come with it. the application of educational ethics will demand more transparency from the organizations be it vertical or horizontal. ethics underscores doing what is right and instils the the will to speak against the vices in society, corruption included. the determination of its effects also drives the push for the anti-corruption commissions to help fight the vice. ethics education enhances the awareness creation of the benefits of good morals such as good governance accompanied by transparency. it is in the same vein some civil society organizations, advocate for the fight against the corrupt practice. international civil society calls for transparency that enhances the good governance of its member states around the globe. the perception of the corruption index rate produced annually makes the member states debate on the issues regarding corruption. despite, the lack of trust in the annual reports need for transparency by countries is no issue to bargain as the issue of corruption is hitting up. the address of corruption by countries helps investors build trust in a certain country and facilitate its eradication. reinforcing what governments and civil society do to fight against corruption through ethics education will to a great extent contribute to sustaining the war against corruption. theoretical foundation of ethics education to eradicate corruption the underpinning theory encompassing the discussion in this paper is the deontological theory of moral obligation. the word deontology derives from the greek words for duty (deon) and science (or study) of (logos). in contemporary moral philosophy, deontology is one of those kinds of normative theories regarding which choices are morally required, forbidden, or permitted. in other words, deontology falls withinthe domain of global journal of transformative education (2024) vol 4 ndiku, nasongo, & odero, ethics education in fight against corruption 10 ational institutions concentrated on academic excellence fanned by the push for good academic grades at the expense of morals and values training sometimes effectively achieved through informal and nonformal learning. ethics education content concerning corruption ethics define the principles that morally control someone’s behavior in any activity. ethics is a philosophical branch that revolves around the analysis and concepts of moral interactions that helps identify the right or wrong. the ethical analysis helps us define ethics education which aids in the determination of pedagogical requirements through the analysis and conceptualization of behavior morally. ethics education aims to assemble a knowledge body for its purposes rather than only studying ethics. teaching ethics in schools helps children approach the life challenges they encounter. educational ethics is considered a human right because it aids in making people free. according to dewey, the introduction of democracy in teaching helps in the application of new methods in teaching and teaching (dewey, 1980). in education, four major ethical considerations takes the center of the pedagogical training. the ethical considerations include truth, dignity, act of fairness, and freedom. the ethical issues help one to grow with self-responsibility of determining what is right and what is wrong. dignity and truth dignity in ethics education is defined as the respect for human dignity (parandeh, khaghanizade, mohammadi, & mokhtari-nouri, 2016). students need to respect everyone including the younger ones. this is not only applicable to the students alone but also the teachers to respect others regardless of their ethnic background, age, religion, and opinions, and treatment of people justly. dignity and ethics education are strongly related and they can help regulate corrupt practices. on the other hand, truth aims at regulating the teachers’ activities by helping them steer the students to move through life activities and environment for others. truth helps in transparency, the transparency can range from the government activities to the administrative agencies. transparent administrative ways in the educational centers of learning can help curb the corrupt practices in society. they reduce the ways and channels of corrupt activities. moral theories that guide and assess our choices of what we ought to do (stanford encyclopedia of philosophy, 2024). for deontologists, what makes a choice right is its conformity with a moral norm. such norms are to be simply obeyed by each moral agent. the assumptions in the deontological theory is that society has developed clear rules, laws and norms that define the moral duty of individuals to act right and shun wrongdoing. society employs education to transmit and inculcate morality in children. as such, the contents of moral education and the educational process should ensure that learners have a clear sense of what is right and wrong, good and bad, and be willing to choose right actions. in essence, if education is properly undertaken, then learners will be clear in their minds that corruption is wrong, evil and should be shunned by all. rationale and content of ethics education in combating corruption since education is considered the basic pillar of any society, different stakeholders are actively reinforcing ethics education around the world, for instance, unesco initiated a program in 2004 where it supported its member states in initiating and supporting teaching programs and professional ethics education. this is approached by ten have (2008), in his work addressing the influence of unesco in ethics education programs in schools. also, the european union has encouraged its member states to incorporate ethics education in their school curricula. they stress that students who are equipped with ethical norms at early stages will easily understand that there are diverse conceptions, principles, and perceptions and have an improved ability to substantiate their moral judgments (cam, 2016). in the us, ethics education became part of most us institutions of higher education between 1980 and 2015. over time, ethics education has been attributed to playing a role in enriching students moral capacities and reinforcing community standards (keohane, 2006). ethics education in the us has produced consistent results and has provided structured opportunities for students to develop values associated with morality. traditionally, the african society took upon itself to produce ethically upright generations. after the introduction of formal education, the responsibility of inculcating ethics in children was left largely to schools (mwanzia, 2019). this to a great extent has led to the erosion of the training in morals and values as educ global journal of transformative education (2024) vol 4 ndiku, nasongo, & odero, ethics education in fight against corruption 11 virtues training virtues training entails the lifelong skills that help an individual live rightfully in society through association with others. virtues are related to ethics education as they advocate for rightful practices such as honesty, fairness, and freedom (melé, 2005). fair treatment of individuals stipulates that all people must be treated without discrimination. fair treatment of individuals in society is arrived at fair practices in the school, as the school is a social organization that guides the activities of the society, if students are trained in the right way through virtues training, the students will acquire the rightful skills to employ in their daily dealings with others, through the implication of virtues at a tender age in education, hence, human justice is attained which is also advocated for by human rights. approaches in ethics education to eradicate corruption the approaches in ethics education to reduce corruption include instructional approach. according to mulhearn et al., (2017), instructional approaches in ethics facilitates content delivery, the delivery method, processes, and activities. the instructional method is effective in the acquisition of the skills and knowledge of the learners. the acquired knowledge helps the students acquire appropriate skills that promote heathy living through corruption eradication. corruption is the key element that affects the current society. improvisation of the appropriate ways of its elimination helps equity in society. instructional training helps the learners identify how corruption is carried out. the possible ways of evading them are identified in the instructional training (mulhearn et al., 2017). the use of instructional methods such as video presentations of corruption being undertaken helps students identify the need to be just and practice fairness to others. if a teacher gives illegal marks to a student, for example, the other learners will be offended. the appropriate ways of elimination is through the application of relevant approaches. the second approach to the study of ethics in education is the utilitarian approach. the utilitarian approach seeks that all people in society be treated fairly. it seeks that any action taken should strive to bring happiness to all the people in the society. if the action offends others, then the act should be eliminated. the use of the utilitarian approach in learners’ education helps them learn how to live socially and justly in society. since corruption denies members of the society who cannot practice in the act of injustice fair treatment, they are denied the rights and freedoms of association with other members of the society. instilling of fair practices among learners at an early age through ethics education helps eliminate them. according to armstrong, ketz & owsen, (2003), accounting students can invoke methods of cost to discuss it in varied topics. the utilitarian idea argues that “the end justifies the means,” this argues that people should engage in activities that are beneficial to all. advocating for fair practices helps reduce corrupt practices in society. virtue approach can also be used in ethics education to address corruption. virtues approach aids in virtues development. the method is rooted in the philosophical account for the conduct morally and the aim in education. according to carr & steutel (2005), the virtues approach aims at virtue promotion and instillation to the students. a teacher can practice morality by acting as an example to the students. practicing a good role model is also a way of helping students acquire moral knowledge. if the teacher refuses to receive or issue a bribe, the students will learn that the act is a vice and they should not engage in it. the virtues approach aims at instilling values that are admirable to the learners (carr & steutel, 2005). if students grow up with moral values they will not engage or they will speak out against the vice. the virtues approach can well be addressed by the teachers by introducing it into the school curriculum. the government can chip in by providing the available resources to aid the virtues approach instilled in the learners. conclusion corruption has been found to be a serious challenge globally, internationally, and regionally. the cases of corruption range not only at individual level but also at groups, institutions of learning, and the government at large. several efforts to curb this vice have produced little or no fruits. with the involvement of the government bodies in corruption, it becomes difficult to overcome this vice, however, there is a need to instill ethical education at grassroots levels in schools to produce future generations who are corruption-free and that will be commited to reduce the cases of corruption at all levels. it is due to this that this study sought to analyse the role of ethics education in the fight against corruption. the study was guided by the deontological theory of ethics whose main concern is on how individuals are expected to behave with respect to the moral duties they are entitled to. it is enshrined in the statement, “duty for global journal of transformative education (2024) vol 4 ndiku, nasongo, & odero, ethics education in fight against corruption 12 global journal of transformative education (2024) vol 4 duty’s sake”. meaning that individuals who have encountered ethics education will be obligated to obey rules and laws on the right actions and shun vices like corrupt acts. the sources were extracted from literature with emphasis on secondary sources. the study used document analysis as qualitative paradigm was employed to arrange, locate and assess the information gathered. recommendations the authors recommend the following: there is a need for education stakeholders to foster ethics education in school curriculum. thus ethics education is to be made a compulsory subject in all stages of education. the ethics education process should emphasize the deontological theory of moral obligation such that learners adhere to rules and principles laid down at all times. additionally, ethics education should promote rational reasoning in the way that individuals will critically reflect on how their actions might affect others, undermining their dignity and the common good, and strive to respect fellow humans by shunning corruption. references akdemir, t., & yeşilyurt, ş. 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(2021). principles of clinical ethics and their application to practice. medical principles and practice, 30(1), 17-28. ndiku, nasongo, & odero, ethics education in fight against corruption 1 judah m. ndiku (jndiku@mmust.ac.ke) is an associate professor of educational administration & management at masinde muliro university of science & technology, kakamega, kenya. 2 joseph w. nasongo (jwamoch@mmust.ac.ke) is an associate professor in the department of educational foundations at masinde muliro university of science & technology, kakamega, kenya. authors 3 monicah a. odero (moniodero@gmail.com) is a researcher at masinde muliro university of science & technology, kakamega, kenya.. https://www.theseus.fi/bitstream/handle/10024/169763/corruption%20in%20kenya.pdf?sequence=2 https://irbackend.kiu.ac.ug/server/api/core/bitstreams/404ef951-47d8-4a7d-98f1-c5b23ac25e75/content https://irbackend.kiu.ac.ug/server/api/core/bitstreams/404ef951-47d8-4a7d-98f1-c5b23ac25e75/content https://irbackend.kiu.ac.ug/server/api/core/bitstreams/404ef951-47d8-4a7d-98f1-c5b23ac25e75/content https://plato.stanford.edu/ https://pubs.aeaweb.org/doi/pdf/10.1257%2f089533005774357860 https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/0090591705278397?casa_token=6xxs4mh_alqaaaaa:j3-v1nsvlovla-wi5vz-sfdsb6tw3c0cxhzyts4tf43xrcfmh7gemqrofp74gqlpjpmmyfs-nou https://www.tikenya.org https://www.tikenya.org kamdjo, c.v. & ngamaleu, hrn. global journal of transformative education (2024) vol 4 pp 14-23. doi 10.14434/gjte.v4i1.36662 open access published by the global insitutute of transformative education (http://www.gite.education) © kamdjo & ngamaleu, 2024. open access this journal is distributed under the terms of the creative commons attribution noncommercial nonderivative 4.0 international license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction without revision in any non-commercial medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the creative commons license, market orientation for a contextualized professionalization of higher education in africa: state of art carole vanessa kamdjo1 & henri rodrigue njengoue ngamaleu2 abstract market orientation is a managerial philosophy governing the behavior of all actors in an organization to create greater value for the benefit of all stakeholders. considered in the field of education, this managerial culture presupposes questioning and involvement of the various stakeholders (students, companies, university competitors, etc.) allowing consideration of educational actions for the benefit of all these actors. the professionalization of teaching has been one of the major challenges of african educational systems for several decades. to meet this need, african governments have imported several education systems, the latest of which is the bachelor-master-doctorate (bmd) system. we aim in our paper to posit that africa was not ready for a world uniformization of diploma as bmd subsystem implemented. in this review of the literature, we compare publications to present the concept of market orientation, its conception in higher education and how it can be used to achieve goals of contextualized professionalization, using the thirty glorious years and that of china’s period of industrialization to support understanding. this review finds that implementation of a marketoriented culture can allow higher education to offer a response adapted to the expectations of society through five points summarized as 1) orientation toward policy-makers; 2) enterprises orientation; 3) competition orientation; 4) teachers and students orientation; 5) inter-functional coordination. keywords: market orientation, professionalization of teaching full listing of authors and contacts can be found at the end of this article. introduction the professionalization of higher education is a need for africa’s governments independence. it could help to link education to economic needs and reduce poverty. for education systems, professionalization will help to enhance external effectiveness of higher education. professionalization of programs can improve the graduates’ outlook in the job market. to achieve the goal of professionalization, higher education has imported several educational systems, the latest and currently used being the bachelor-master-doctorate system. this system aims to professionalize higher education and its effectiveness remains mixed, as demonstrated by many authors. indeed, the reforms have taken place, but do not achieve the expected results in terms of improving employability (bouba, 2014), enhancing personal and professional qualities (bomda, fozing and mgbwa, 2022) or even the overall situation of unemployment and underemployment (avom & nguekeng, 2019). criticisms against this system have been made in other countries on the continent, notably in algeria (ghouati, 2022) and senegal where its cancellation is being considered. this inadequacy is seen in an increasing underemployment rate. indeed, according to economists, sub-saharan africa remains the region of the world most dependent on its agricultural sector, but the low competitiveness of traditional agriculture and struggle for access to natural resources have contributed to accelerating the massive continuous migration of peasants towards the cities (nkuitchou, 2022). this is why african cities have seen their population multiply by more than ten times during the 20th century (banque africaine de développement [bad], 2020). this strong mismatch between the need for skills and the quality/level of education has harmful effects on employment conditions (bad, 2020) and consequently on economic growth. the objective of this article is to propose some axes for building and implementing a higher education 14 15 system that meets the contextual needs of the economies of african countries. to achieve this, the author’s research group has developed a documentary analysis that allows them to specify the definition of the concept of professionalization adapted to higher education, return to the conceptualization of the concept of market orientation and subsequently detail the axes of structuring and implementing a system of professionalization of higher education in a market-oriented logic. without the pretension of completeness, at different stages, they enlighten their objectives by using two examples: the thirty glorious years and the china experience. conceptual framework the meanings taken by the word “professionalization” closely depend on the conditions of its appearance and its use (wittorski, 2008; boussard, 2014; ghouati, 2022). the authors retain three specific meanings. firstly, it concerns the professionalization of an activity understood as “the process by which an activity becomes a liberal profession driven by an ideal of service” (wittorski, 2014, p. 16). secondly, comes the professionalization of training or employment, which consists of promoting the development of knowledge and skills through processes of learning, acquisition and development of skills that transform a learner into a professional (wittorski, 2012; boussard, 2014). finally, comes professionalization understood as the evolution of an organization or a function (functional service) of the organization towards the production of organized and efficient work through the development of the flexibility of people at work (wittorski, 2012). this last typology is based on current developments within organizations which are: work planning; the transition to a logic of results; as well as the transition from a centrally controlled system to a certain decentralization of responsibilities. in higher education, the authors mostly retain two conceptions of the professionalization concept. firstly, the professionalization of the teaching activity consists of giving the teaching activity the character of a profession. secondly, the professionalization of training consists of creating a link between training and the labor market (abdourhaman, 2018, ghouati, 2022). professionalization of teaching activity the professionalization of teaching activity is inspired by the work of sociologists who were first functionalists, then interactionists and finally conflictualists on the dynamics of professions (abdourhaman, 2018). according to the latter, “professions” present a certain number of criteria such as autonomy, peer control, the ideal of service and a higher degree of university education. the contemporary issue of teacher professionalization arises from a manifest desire to recognize the long-scorned teaching body. but does the tribute to teaching activity really comes with the temporary professionalization revolution? the tribute to the teaching profession is very old. it goes back almost to the depths of human civilization. historically justified initially in the satire of khety’s satire of the trades written around 1940–1900 bce. the teacher is described as an official and high dignitary of the egyptian kingdom (marshall, 2016). the aim of education was to train “scribes” who could subsequently specialize in various fields such as medicine, veterinary science, architecture, mathematics, astronomy, theology, law, painting, diplomacy, or translation (mounier-kuhn, 2020). however, the authors demonstrate that this profession subsequently deteriorated when it reappeared in greece between the 16th and 18th centuries as part of protestant reforms and catholic counter-reforms. mainly carried out by women, the teaching activity is then linked to a certain vocation, a subjective impulse through which we feel called to fulfill an essential mission: that of teaching. the lack of training for these candidates was justified by the promotion of feminine virtues such as love of children, devotion, obedience, and the spirit of service and sacrifice. the working conditions of a profession were not there either. women teachers were required to fulfill their mission regardless of their material condition, even in the most miserable conditions. developments in teaching activity in western history will also be initially marked by the rise of the first public and secular school networks and the integration of teachers into the public service. normal schools are created and gradually become compulsory (tardif, 2013). the “age of the profession” corresponds to the constitution of a professional identity of the teaching body, perceptible by external signs such as the training, swearing-in, solemn presentations of diplomas, special outfits, etc. (maingari, 1997; abdourhaman, 2018); but also perceptible by internal methodological rigor such as the definition of a pedagogical profile of the teacher as well as the definition of a knowledge base for the teaching profession (tardif, 2013). thus, the meaning of the professionalization concept in the logic of the global journal of transformative education (2024) vol 4 kamdjo & ngamaleu, market orientation for professionalization of higher ed in africa 16 global journal of transformative education (2024) vol 4 professionalization of teachers is mainly inspired by the definition of a professional group. it is indeed a question of changing the status of teaching from a trade to a profession as in the anglo-saxon sense. this evolution implies a university education of high intellectual level, the definition of a scientific and specific knowledge base allowing teachers to be considered as pedagogical specialists (tardif 2022), as well as professional autonomy, or at least recognition, both legal and social, that the professional is best positioned to decide on the actions one must take in any professional situation (wittorski, 2014). professionalization of training the conception of professionalism of training in higher education comes to complete the conception seen before. indeed, among the criticisms made of higher education to demand its professionalization, its external effectiveness figures prominently. the current variation of professionalization suggests aligning traing training with employment. in a narrow vision, this conception would reflect the idea of “professional training” (boussard, 2014; wittorski, 2014) and in this logic, professionalization would use teaching as it would have used other organizations involved in training. however, in a more globalizing vision, and especially in connection with the problem of external inefficiency of higher education, it is rather a system for promoting employment responding to the social quest of states to fight against unemployment, underemployment and, by extension, poverty (abdourhaman, 2018) supposed to link training to a specific need of the labor market. in other words, professionalization conceived as a particular system for promoting employment, can be conceived on the one hand as the implementation and acquisition of a base of skills (knowledge, know-how and interpersonal skills) by learners (vocational training) or elsewhere in a more global way as a mechanism for regularizing education in order to produce graduates in quantities and numbers useful to the economy of a given region. by summarizing, two complementary concepts emerge from what precedes the professionalization of teaching activity as a process of revalorization the profession of teaching and the training professionalization as a mechanism for improving the external efficiency of the higher education system. we use these conceptual bases to analyze articles and works relating to the implementation of the concept of market orientation in higher education. our basic hypothesis is that the impimplementation of market orientation would indeed provide better operationality to the professionalization process. methodology the context described above led us to undertake qualitative review of the literature based on the analysis of a series of articles and books. the authors suggest that africa was not ready for a world uniformity of diploma as a bmd subsystem implemented. in professionalization of higher education, many african countries need to link higher training to political and economic needs. the authors also aim to support the professionalization goals of african countries. as a profession, educators need to construct a higher education subsystem that is market oriented. to verify this claim, the authors use a data collection and analysis strategy which is explained in this section. data gathering the authors have previously constituted a corpus of text to study relating to the synthesis of the concept of market orientation to provide a synthetic presentation. the authors then deepened the research by bringing together as many documents as possible relating to the adoption of market orientation in higher education. this research has mainly extended over the past ten years, providing the most updated information on the subject. but also, this choice is dictated by the relative recency of the use of the concept in higher education even if the literature reveals however that the implementation of the related techniques was introduced to higher education much earlier. as readers need to have more information about the educational subsystem for economic growth, the authors end chose some documents relating to the economic growing in some other regions in the world especially during “the thirty glorious years” and the china experience. data analysis we submitted all the documents to a content analysis by proceeding to a complete reading of each document beforehand to determine the objectives and results obtained when it was a scientific study (article), but also, to determine the quintessence of the conceptual evolutions on the subject through the book chapters. the researchers share their interpretation of the patterns in the literature as they relate to implementation of market orientation in higher education. kamdjo & ngamaleu, market orientation for professionalization of higher ed in africa 17 market orientation and its implementation into higher education the concept of market orientation finds its foundations in the work of kohli and jaworsky (1990) and narver and slater (1990). it is then considered as “the implementation of the marketing concept” (kohli & jaworsky, 1990, p. 5). the latter designates “a philosophy which postulates that the long-term profitability of a company is better ensured by focusing its activities on satisfying the needs of the consumers who make up one or more target segments” (p. 5). thus, its initial conceptualization is based on three essential dimensions: customer orientation, competition orientation and inter-functional coordination (narver and slater, 1990). however, the concept of market orientation differs from that of traditional marketing in the sense that the concept of traditional marketing is solely customer-oriented and is generally confined to the marketing department, while the concept of market orientation is oriented towards the key players in the market and is seen as a cross-cutting culture that challenges all company functions at all hierarchical levels (khan, khan & rafique, 2023). initially made up of the components of customer orientation and competition orientation in its founding definitions, reflections on market orientation will be based on fundamental theories of organizations such as stakeholder theory and agency theory in order to evolve towards the birth of two new theoretical propositions. firstly, the question of the consideration of dimensions of market orientation was reconsidered by the progressive integration of all the stakeholders of the organization (bugandwa, 2013), secondly, the market orientation has been understood from its foundation as an organizational culture solely guided by a principle of defensive management (ngatno, 2019). this translates into a reaction to the non-completely satisfied needs of customers. however, organizational performance strategies will also translate into anticipating competitive decisions and forecasting markets (schulze, townsend & talay, 2022). the integration of a proactive logic and by extension of an offensive management, thus makes it possible to define the concept of market orientation in a more complete and more structured way. this is why the concept of market orientation will be defined more globally like a managerial philosophy governing the behavior of all actors in an organization for the creation of greater value for the benefit of all stakeholders (khan, khan & rafique, 2023). a pure transposition of the market orientation model from the for-profit field (customer orientation, competition orientation, inter-functional coordination) to higher education raises great controversy. however, several studies have simply limited themselves to it (hammond, webster, & hammond, 2020), while others have still made a real adjustment to take into consideration the specificities of the education markets in general and especially in the higher education field. the authors will first proceed with a presentation of the criticisms brought to a pure transposition of market orientation in higher education to better support the concept, before succinctly presenting the implementation model they support for market orientation adapted to higher education. criticisms of pure transpositions of market orientation to higher education the criticisms made of the transposition of market orientation into an educational context are of two complementary orders and stipulate that teaching has no commercial scope; therefore, the student cannot be considered a customer. the first criticisms of the importation of techniques and tools from commercial companies to educational institutions consist of the consideration that educational institutions would be considered more as non-profit institutions and therefore non-market (dwyer, 2022). a non-profit organization can be defined as an organization established for altruistic, moral, social, educational, religious, philanthropic, health, etc. purposes and whose activities must not provide any economic advantage to its members and donors. it can be safely said that heis falls under the non-profit sector since educational institutions in general and especially higher education institutions (heis) serve the public good. the second criticism arises from the fact that in market orientation considerations, the students are generally assimilated to the customer. this consideration is recurrent in anglo-saxon works due to the high tuition fees that completely cover the cost of education (e.g.: webster, hammond and rothwell, 2017). however, most students and practitioners in french-speaking countries reject this consideration for two reasons. the first is conceptual and clearly poses the question: “is the ‘customer’ concept semantically the right one to design students?” (bugandwa, 2013, p. 70). drawing on stakeholder theory, supporters of market orientation in higher education will conceptualize a more digestible model adapted to higher education. global journal of transformative education (2024) vol 4 kamdjo & ngamaleu, market orientation for professionalization of higher ed in africa 18 this managerial culture presupposes the questioning and involvement of various stakeholders (students, companies, universities competitors, public policy etc.) (dwyer, 2022), allowing planners to think about educational actions for the benefit of all these actors (bugwanda, 2013; hammond, webster, & hammond, 2020). actions can follow by cross-functional coordination which ensures the dissemination of resolutions and the creation of synergies within educational institutions (mokoena, 2019). these practices are described by the expressions such as student-driven, competition orientation, enterprises and investors orientation, orientation towards policymakers, cross-functional coordination and responsiveness (bugwanda, 2013; dollinger & vanderlelie, 2020). thus, a good implementation of a market-oriented culture makes it possible to generate an educational system that meets the envisaged contextual need. in this part we briefly present what each of the approaches to market orientation refers to according to the current literature and for each we have taken care to verify its application in the two economic growth models chosen as examples. namely in particular the period of the thirty glorious years and the chinese growth experience. orientation towards policymakers orientation towards policymakers is supposed a perfect correlation between the needs of economic growth plans and educational goals (dwyer, 2022). firstly, the literature generally gives fundamental importance to the donors of non-profit organizations such as the government and government agencies, volunteers, etc. the public authorities, as the main financial provider of heis, it is important presumably to consider their interests which are generally of a societal nature. in the medium term, the objective of higher education must be centered on the production in number and quality of graduate profiles corresponding to the planned needs of the economy. indeed, according to the authors of the theory of human capital, we must invest more in education to stimulate and converge toward long-term growth (moulin, 2022). in addition, public investment in education is accompanied by other positive effects since more educated people are healthier and have a longer life expectancy. the french and canadian experience of the thirty glorious years period (1945-1975) shows an “economization of higher education.” a “welfare state” was quickly formed in both countries (doret & manifet, 2017; bongrand, 2021). indeed, according to the authors, it is a matter of “promoting education as a lever for economic policy.” in france, we are witnessing vast transformations in higher education, marked first by the democratization of higher education, which was once elitist. this “democratization” is thus inseparable from the economization of the educational institution. in fact, the reform attempts to adjust the structures and operating methods of the public education service to the anticipated evolution of needs for qualified personnel. it is in this perspective that the berthoin decree of january 6, 1959, the official kick-off of the reform, urges “investment to full benefit” in school, presented as an instrument capable of converting “human expansion” of the baby boom in “economic expansion 21” (bongrand, 2021). this movement led at the end of the 1960s to the equating of training with employment in administrative nomenclatures. the more recent chinese experience (1980 to the present) is not an exception, in fact professional higher education has become “a pragmatic strategic choice which aims to take into account the main national characteristics”. the government ensures its management and promotion. to this end, we note the launch of the construction of 100 professional higher education establishments in 2006 following a decision by the state council. training is therefore oriented by the planning of the economy, and its design with industrial and commercial players as co-actors. (yang and lin, 2016). indeed, professional higher education constitutes an exceptional alternative to higher education. it even tends to replace the latter by displaying an access rate of more than 50% of all national students in 2020 and constantly increasing. student-driven or student orientation students’ orientation will be defined as the degree to which universities try to consider the current and latent needs of their students (current and potential, and in a more extensive sense, their parents). consistent with the malcolm baldridge criteria for education and based on the roles stated above, this orientation implies both the learning process and students’ satisfaction. students are the most cited stakeholders in the literature (eg: bugandwa, 2013; hammond, webster, & hammond, 2020; dollinger & vanderlelie, 2020; muya, & tundui, 2023). they play a vital and complex role in the existence and functioning of higher education institutions (hammond, webster, & hammond, 2020). first, students constitute the raw material when they are admitted to higher education. educators should then global journal of transformative education (2024) vol 4 kamdjo & ngamaleu, market orientation for professionalization of higher ed in africa 19 use training and practice to produce well-trained and virtuous citizens. at this level, students’ satisfaction is not a valid measure, because the end customer is society (public and private companies, educational institutes, hospitals, etc.). thus, customer orientation applies here is not for the student but to other stakeholders who intend to use the students’ skills (aghajari, & varij, 2023). furthermore, students are actors in learning and co-producers of knowledge because they combine their efforts with those of the institution and those of the trainers to produce a particular finished product themselves (dollinger & vanderlelie, 2020). in addition, they participate in the training process through their skills, and through the training previously acquired, and through their diligence. from the previous analysis, the complexity of the role of students in their relationship with higher education institutions clearly emerges. however, it has the advantage of showing us that student orientation takes on meaning in higher education and can be conceptualized both in terms of students’ satisfaction and in terms of improvement of learning (meia, stumpf, & garessus, 2021). little attention paid to students’ requests reflects an asymmetry between training staff and learners (serres, escalié and magendie, 2019). according to the literature, everything suggests that student orientation was not a priority for higher education systems during the “thirty glorious years” period. one of the justifying reasons can be found in the fact that the revolution in professional training was first carried out by young people, particularly in the departmental circles of young farmers aged 15 to 30 for whom young people must become apostles of knowledge, that is to say, “make training desirable” (bongrand, 2020, p 40). knowledge is then considered by the latter as the pivot of tomorrow’s agriculture. indeed, according to the chinese vocational training system, a modern vocational training system is not only one aligned with economic development but also one that “prioritizes student-centered development” (yang and lin, 2016, p. 148). however, this trend is quite recent, since around 2016, the training system was previously centered on the national strategy for balanced development. it therefore initially relied on the regional growth policy, the industrialization plan as well as small and medium-sized businesses in rural areas or booming activities in thirdand fourth-tier cities (jiang, 2015). enterprise orientation the role of companies in heis is perceived according to the literature in three main points: they are the first users of higher education products (training and research). they can be considered clients of these institutions through research contracts and lifelong training (aghajari, & varij, 2023). they are players in training thanks to internships in companies and the growing development of professional sectors which require their expertise. thus, relations between higher education establishments and businesses go beyond simple financial relations, which means that companies are considered undeniably important stakeholders (bugwanda, 2013). for the two examples of development illustrated in this work, business orientation is an important dimension of professionalization in higher education. during the “thirty glorious years,” the transformation of the social role of school and the functionalization of the latter resulted firstly from increased investment on the part of industrial and agricultural circles (bongrand, 2020). for companies in the 1950s, it was then a matter of integrating the “training within industry” principle from the american economy. this principle is the basis of current life-long training. in china, businesses are the second pillar of vocational training after national development policy (jiang, 2015). in 2014, president xi jinping reiterated this again in these terms: “we must continue the integration of production and education, cooperation between enterprises and establishments, the combination of work and study and the unity between knowledge and action, but also lead the community, especially industries and enterprises, to actively support vocational training and strive to build a vocational training system with chinese characteristics.” (yang and lin, 2016, p. 149). competition orientation the opening of education to the private sector as well as the globalization of education have brought with them the birth and growth of the concept of competition within higher education. educational paths for an increasingly large proportion of students include an experience abroad (moulin, 2022). these recent and profound transformations in higher education have the effect of fueling increased competition between students, between establishments and between national higher education systems. this competition, according to the authors, can be identified along three axes. global journal of transformative education (2024) vol 4 kamdjo & ngamaleu, market orientation for professionalization of higher ed in africa 20 first, competition between higher education institutions in the same geographical area mainly linked to the democratization of higher education (bongrand, 2021). second, competition between national higher education systems and between institutions on an international scale. indeed, with the globalization of higher education and especially the harmonization on an almost planetary scale of educational systems as promoted by the lmd system, educational paths are marked, for an increasingly significant part of students, by an experience abroad. universities must now demonstrate their performance (university ranking) to attract the best minds or recruit internationally. competition on an international scale therefore takes the form of rivalry sometimes in terms of performance (best rankings on a regional or international scale), sometimes in terms of marketing tactics to attract new recruits (awareness raising, promotional recruitment policies, etc.) (bugandwa, 2013). the final form of competition is competition in the virtual market. it takes shape with the evolution of information and communication technologies (ict). it mainly targets the continuing education market. competition orientation therefore requires full awareness of this state of competition between universities and between national higher education systems. the competition orientation is perceived in terms of competition between national higher education systems. a large part of the literature on the chinese higher education system reports that chinese professional higher education constitutes a unique contribution to the global education system (jiang dayuan, 2015). this professional education then constitutes an “inimitable source of vitality” for higher education (yang and lin, 2016). for the period of thirty glorious years, the question of institutional competition resulted only in the concern for the various governments to keep their workers in regional growth zones (bongrand, 2021). employees orientation the importance of employees in creating superior market values has been demonstrated in traditional market orientation literature (khan, khan & rafique, 2023). employee satisfaction is defined as an organization’s intention to serve the interests of its employees and meet their needs. (yau et al., 2007 cited in bugandwa, 2013). in all organizations, especially service organizations, employees represent the cornerstone of the success of any strategy. to improve the quality of education, universities must encourage staff interinteractions with students. the satisfaction of the latter may also depend on the way in which non-academic staff organize their services in the different departments. the importance of teaching staff in higher education has been demonstrated along at least two lines. first, the quality of training depends mainly on the teachers and employees of an establishment. indeed, several studies on student satisfaction and the qualitative perception of training have shown a correlation between the latter and the well-being of administrative staff and that of professors in an establishment (serres, escalié and magendie, 2019). this result is, however, tempered because other studies affirm that students say they are satisfied with a teacher when the teacher pays attention to their difficulties and makes efforts to help them assimilate the course (dollinger & vanderlelie, 2020). students’ perception of academic performance then depends on the relational climate with the teachers and staff of the establishment. doctoral research carried out on students from 11 tunisian universities demonstrates that organizational commitment has a significant impact on perceived quality (bugandwa, 2013). indeed, according to these authors, organizational commitment is an antecedent of perceived quality in higher education. inter-functional coordination cross-functional coordination involves a clear understanding and smooth flow of information about key stakeholders’ expectations and organizational beliefs, culminated by communicating these expectations through formal and informal means (meetings, brainstorming, etc.) to all members of the organization (bughanda, 2013). this assumes that the process of creating stakeholder value is not the work of a single function, but rather the entire organization. this consideration is very clearly in line with that of kohli and jaworski (1990). ultimately, it is about improving the way in which the educational organization is supposed to respond to its market. it also refers to the sense of shared values and beliefs and their relationship to achieving organizational goals. cross-functional coordination involves the degree to which information about stakeholders and the macro environment is shared across the organization. global journal of transformative education (2024) vol 4 kamdjo & ngamaleu, market orientation for professionalization of higher ed in africa 21 global journal of transformative education (2024) vol 4 responsiveness this last dimension of market orientation in education is not really a dimension. it corresponds to the culmination of the first six dimensions and consists of the response, in terms of training architecture and the higher education training system, to the needs of society represented by the main stakeholders (dwyer, 2022). as presented in the literature, this last point refers to the dimension of responsiveness as defined by kohli and jaworski (1990). higher education can no longer evade its essential mission of responding to the needs of society (bughanda, 2013). furthermore, it is necessary to clarify that, more than any other organization, higher education institutions should not limit their actions to responding to external pressures. instead of being subjected to such pressures and suffering the consequences, they are encouraged to act proactively in their environment. this is particularly important for higher education institutions, as students and other stakeholders may misunderstand their needs (aghajari & varij, 2023). higher education should strive to change the behaviors of stakeholders, such as explaining to students the quality requirements in higher education, helping them understand their role in the learning process, etc. they can then base their initiatives on the vision of overall national policies in terms of medium-term needs of the national labor market. in summary, the response to the professionalization of higher education in a logic of adequacy between training and employment is mainly driven by the national vision of the human capital needs of the various economic sectors. the two examples taken for this work confirm this reflection. conceptually, this first position can be seen as an orientation towards political decision-makers. this initial orientation toward political decision-makers makes it possible to specify the areas of activity to be prioritized in the professionalization strategy as in the case of china (yang & lin, 2016). it will be followed by orientations towards the other stakeholders mentioned above (enterprises orientation, educational staff orientation, competition orientation, student orientation) in order to support and improve the content of the programs and use of appropriate pedagogy. functional coordination will determine the capacity to distill the objectives pursued within all the actors and at all functional levels and to generate an adequate response at all levels of the overall training structure. are we ready for global harmonization of higher education? we have theoretically analyzed what the professionalization of higher education refers to. in short, it is about adapting to one’s political and economic environment. for some, it is about the economization and functionalization of higher education (bongrand, 2021). for others, it is about preparing students by integrating production, teaching and research in the service of development and employment (yang & lin, 2016). nkuitchou (2022, p.518) further demonstrated that we cannot talk about the same human capital in two environments where the stages of economic development and the growth objectives are different. ultimately, african countries would benefit from working on defining a higher education system representative of its values, culture, and economy. conclusion since independence, the main mission of higher education for sub-saharan african countries has been the response to personnel needs as determined by public policy. however, with a view to aligning with international developments, this primary vocation of african universities has been qualified by a certain number of logics which are however not necessary for the economic and social construction of our nations. throughout this article we have argued that, in fact, in a logic of growth as expressed by most countries of sub-saharan africa, higher education has remained a tool for the construction of human capital necessary to achieve societal objectives. the ambition for professionalization, as stated by the educational authorities, finds its full meaning. however, it lacks implementation in the daily experience of higher education institutions. the concept of market orientation as stated above lays some foundations. overall, the implementation of a market-oriented culture within professionalization objectives, involves: 1. understanding national development objectives and their translation in terms of human capital needs; this first step is qualified as orientation toward policy makers. 2. selection and integration into the definition, implementation, and monitoring of training content of companies whose activities are close to national priorities which can be call enterprises orientation. kamdjo & ngamaleu, market orientation for professionalization of higher ed in africa 22 global journal of transformative education (2024) vol 4 3. the popularization of the quality of training planned or implemented to captivate and retain students name competitor orientation. 4. the promotion of the teaching staff as well as the progressive and controlled integration of comments from students and their parents seen as teacher and student orientation. 5. all this is supported at each stage by excellent inter-functional coordination. the examples used in this work without pretension of exhaustiveness contribute to demonstrating that a synergy of actions as defined above will allow higher education to offer a response adapted to the expectations of society. as economists point out, african economies, mainly in sub-saharan africa are mainly made up of informal businesses which create significant obstacles to the continent’s development challenges (nkuitchou, 2020). this dissonance is supported by chronic under-industrialization, a still rudimentary agricultural system. faced with these economic issues, should the professionalization system adapt to its informal economic environment? or should it be aligned with growth planning which is sometimes limited to the sole description in documents? references abdourhaman, i. 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https://revue-isg.com/index.php/home/article/view/860 https://revue-isg.com/index.php/home/article/view/860 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/s001985012200058x?via%3dihub https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/s001985012200058x?via%3dihub https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/s001985012200058x?via%3dihub https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/s001985012200058x?via%3dihub https://doi.org/10.4000/trema.3066 https://doi.org/10.4000/trema.3066 http://journals.openedition.org/ripes/58 http://journals.openedition.org/ripes/58 contreras, e. & bedford, l. global journal of transformative education (2024) vol 4 pp 24-31 doi 10.14434/gjte.v4i1.34388 open access published by the global insitutute of transformative education (http://www.gite.education) © contreras & bedford. 2024. open access this journal is distributed under the terms of the creative commons attribution noncommercial nonderivative 4.0 international license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction without revision in any non-commercial medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the creative commons license, the transformative nature of graduate education elizabeth contreras1 and laurie bedford2 abstract doctoral education is a complex and sometimes intimidating process. however, it is also transformative. transformational learning theory, developed by mezirow in 1991, helps to explain how graduate education is transformative through embracing education in a cognizant and reflective way. transformational learning theory states that learners change the perception of their experiences and interpret it differently as they progress in their learning. by helping students connect with the school community, their professors, and their own metacognitive process, transformational learning theory helps explain the evolution students go through as they progress through doctoral programs. written as a personal reflection on the transformative experience of doctoral education, this article explores transformational learning theory in a real-world, practical manner, providing helpful strategies to apply the transformational learning theory to the doctoral education experience, helping doctoral students embrace their own transformation. keywords: transformational learning, graduate education, doctoral students, growth mindset, discoursereflection cycle. full listing of authors and contacts can be found at the end of this article. what does it mean to earn a doctorate? does it mean to develop expertise in one specific, narrow area of a dissertation study? does it mean to grow as an academic and evolve in one’s academic acumen? does it mean to contribute to the scholarly community and join the discourse of researchers in the world of academia through unique research that fills gaps in the overall intellectual knowledge base? does it mean to acquire more qualifications that enable the progression to university professor or academic? put simply, the doctoral experience and the process of earning a terminal degree is a combination of the answers to each of these questions and because of this is naturally transformational. i knew as a child that i wanted to earn a ph.d., but it was not until thirteen years into my career as an educator that i finally achieved this ambition. what i discovered is that at its core, the doctoral journey is one of transformation. i began my journey with one interpretation of what it meant to be earn a doctorate and when i finished, i realized it was a much deeper experience than i had expected. my intention in this article is thus to examine and evaluate my experience in the doctoral journey and true growth that came once i embraced the transformational nature of the doctoral journey. in this article, i will relate my own experiences and reflection as a doctoral candidate. i will examine the discourse-reflection cycle, the need for community, and the best practices that assisted me in transforming from an educator with a master’s degree to a doctor with a ph.d. by juxtaposing my experience with the transformational learning cycle, i will endeavor to help the novice doctoral candidate understand that the doctoral and dissertation process is transformational in nature and how to best embrace this philosophy. transformative learning theoretical framework transformative learning developed by mezirow (1991, 1998) is the process of evolving assumptions and interpretations of a student towards their learning and is based on the experiences the learner goes through. transformational learning according to 24 contreras & bedford, transformative nature of graduate education 25 mezirow (1998), evolves as a series of frames of reference that change based on the experiences of the student. the theory is based on the idea that students interact with their professors and fellow students in a discourse reflection cycle that helps inform the student’s understanding of their learning. this is encapsulated in the transformational learning process (mezirow, 2000). according to mezirow (2000) in the beginning of the process, students experience a disorientation phase in which they may feel confused or overwhelmed. when the student becomes self-aware, they progress to self-examination, assessment, recognition, and exploration. once these stages are complete, the student’s interpretation of their experience changes and they enter into a more proactive stage of planning a course of action. once complete, the student begins to actively, and consciously acquire knowledge and begin to try out different roles. this leads to the stage of developing self-confidence. finally, the student reintegrates into the process as they start a new stage in their development and the process begins all over again. this process helps the student to grow and transform as they progress from a stage of disorientation to self-confidence. this process, according to mezirow (2000) is best facilitated when students engage in a discourse-reflection cycle. this involves interacting with professors and classmates productively and using their feedback to reflect on the learning experience. such community connections help to form the basis of an inquiry process in which the student actively participates in meaningful research and reflection. through the community connections, discoursereflection cycle and inquiry process, students develop a growth mindset. this mindset helps them to become conscious of how their interpretations of their experiences have changed and the transformative process is complete. transformational learning cycle to begin, i will review my path to the doctoral program to establish a foundation for how the doctoral process was transformative.. i earned my master’s degree in history in 2004 at the age of 22. i decided to start working as a teacher instead of continuing my education. ten years later, i determined that it was time to go back for my doctorate. however, the ten-year furlough in my education was long enough that when i went back, the systems had changed. instead of a faceto-face program, i determined an online program worked best for my needs and i had to adjust to the unique nature of online learning. between finishing my masters and starting my doctorate, the nature of education had changed, and i had changed as well. my interpretation of what i needed in a program had transformed from wanting a face-to-face program as in my masters to deciding on an online program for my doctorate. so too, i found the writing and citation format of apa instead of chicago, the nature of research, and even the generally acceptable sentence structures were vastly different from what i was accustomed to coming from the world of history. i entered my doctoral program with a master’s in history, and as an accomplished educator but realized that i was very much a novice researcher. my interpretation of where i was, as mezirow’s (1998) theory illustrates, had altered. i quickly recognized i would need to grow, evolve, adapt, and change. in simple terms, to be successful, i would have to transform. when i realized this, my progress in the doctoral program increased and i found it highly rewarding. it was clear that the feedback from professors on papers, the assignments i completed, and every interaction was part of the transformational process, taking me from accomplished educator and master historian to scholar and academic. through their feedback, i was able to grow and my interpretation of what i needed changed to one of seeing every interaction as a constructive one and part of my process of growth. transformative learning, according to mezirow (1998), is based on the evolving interpretations and assumptions of the student as they progress through the program. it is for this reason that the transformational learning theory is so important for doctoral candidates to understand. transformational learning theory, developed by mezirow (1991) is based on the idea that learners’ interpretations of their learning experiences evolves and changes as they progress through their educational journey. it helps to explain the nature of doctoral education as a process of evolution and metamorphosis. thus, before examining how it relates to the doctoral process and my own journey, it is essential to understand what transformational learning theory is and how it helps to shape the doctoral process. transformational learning theory was developed by mezirow in 1991. based on a constructivist paradigm, transformational learning theory provides insight into the process that doctoral candidates go through in that it helps explain how developing expertise, growing as an academic, and global journal of transformative education (2024) vol 4 contreras & bedford, transformative nature of graduate education 26 global journal of transformative education (2024) vol 4 taking the important step of entering the world of university research are evolutionary processes (craig et al., 2001; king, 2002). in this lens, doctoral education is viewed as the process of gaining professional knowledge and skills that the individual can use to enhance their practice and the discipline. in other words, the doctoral candidate transforms from a master in their respective field to a scholar-practitioner by absorbing new ideas, information and experiences. their interpretation of what they need and how they view themselves in the process grows and changes. the transformational nature of the doctoral program, is therefore, inherent in the doctoral journey. however, beyond the cognitive experiences, doctoral education should also result in a personal transformation that includes shifts towards expanded consciousness and professional emotions (stevenslong, et al., 2012). this means that as the student progresses in the doctoral process, their interpretation of what they need and how they see their journey changes. while there are many macrostructures that define the doctoral and dissertation process (anderson, alexander, & saunders, 2020), such as enrollment and writing proficiency requirements, a primary consideration is that while doctoral candidates may conduct and publish a formal study in their dissertation, the process is what facilitates transformation. the doctoral candidate is in a state of evolution or transformation, learning the processes necessary to become a contributing member of the academic community and in this process interpreting and reinterpreting how they view their experience. the doctoral candidate, upon entering the doctoral program, or even when defending their dissertation is not expected to be perfect. what is essential is not the flawlessness of the journey but how the process of working conducting research that culminates in a completed dissertation helps the doctoral candidate build the skills necessary to practice at a higher academic level. the dissertation process, like doctoral course work and the experience as a whole, is a training process meant to assess how adept the doctoral candidate adapts to circumstances, meets challenges, and solves complex problems. it is the ability to adapt, evolve, and respond that is both evaluated and at the center of the transformative process because it helps students to grow (steven-long et al., 2020). when doctoral candidates understand this, they can reflect on the learning process and become conscious of how their interpretations of their growth has changed (mezirow, 1997), ultimately making the transition from apprentice researcher to advanced scholar (garcia & yao, 2019). discourse reflection cycle when i began to consciously evaluate how my interpretation of my experience was changing, and was thus able to see the doctoral process as one of transformation, i was able to make real gains in my own knowledge base and develop a perspective that enabled me to grow. when i was younger, getting my master’s degree, i was wedded to the words of my thesis and each time my chair gave me advice and constructive criticism, i was offended and felt that he was judging the merits of my paper and my worth as a scholar and writer. however, when working through the doctoral program, it was clear, after ten years as an educator, that my professors, in providing me feedback were not judging my academic merit or criticizing my worth as a scholar but were instead attempting to guide me through constructive criticism to hone my understanding. this epiphany helped me to understand this as transformative experience. my interpretation of the writing process transformed as per the transformational learning theory. i realized that if i were to reflect upon the feedback and discourse with professors, i could grow and develop competence in my ability to conduct rigorous academic research. this discourse-reflection cycle, when viewed through the lens of transformative learning as described by mezirow (1991), assisted me in making the most of the discourse with my professors and assisted me in gaining the skill set and foundation necessary to embark upon my dissertation research. without this frame of mind, my outlook would have stayed fixed and while i may have successfully completed my dissertation, i would not have made the gains necessary to join the academic community. but, by becoming conscious of my the transformative nature of my experience and by embracing feedback and using it to grow, my mind was open to change, and evolution was inevitable. not only did i complete my dissertation, but i absorbed a wide variety of ideas, techniques, and methods from my various professors and developed a strong knowledge base from which to start my life as a professional at the doctoral level. therefore, what is the discourse-reflection cycle and how it is informative to the doctoral candidate and fit into transformative learning theory? as candidates begin in the doctoral program, they are often unfamiliar 27 with academic processes. to help them become conscious of how their experiences inform their interpretation and reinterpretation of their learning and transform into scholars capable of conducing strong research, support from faculty is essential. discourse and guidance from professors help doctoral candidates to successfully learn the research procedures and processes as well as write and present their findings in the way deemed acceptable by the academic community. the discourse-reflection cycle can happen when doctoral candidates converse through email, virtually or in-person with professors. it can also take place with other members in the university community. the key is that the initial interaction is followed by reflection about those conversations. the intent is for the doctoral candidate to take the advice and critiques provided and use them to reflect on where they are and where they need to go in their doctoral journey. through communication and reflection, doctoral candidates draw on previous experiences to make meaning of new practices through constructivist discourse and reflection. during this process, doctoral candidates learn from the guidance of professors as well as their peers. by interacting with other doctoral candidates with shared needs and common goals, the doctoral candidate finds support, guidance, and inspiration. this can act as a catalysis for doctoral candidates to engage within the discourse reflection cycle and to internalize the meaning of each new experience and by doing so the student’s interpretation of their learning process and their experiences as a student transforms (swaggerty & broemmel, 2016). the key, however, is that communication is a purposeful and conscious reflection embedded in the process (swaggerty & broemmel, 2016). if the doctoral candidate does not value the feedback of professors and reflect upon it, the discourse reflection cycle may not occur, and transformation may be stymied. reflection must focus on what is gained and how it helps the student to grow and change. thus, emphasis on purposeful communication and thoughtful-conscious reflection are key to doctoral candidates being able to successfully complete the discourse reflection cycle and use it as part of their transformational process. as related previously, embracing the discourse reflection cycle helped me embrace the transformational process. when i realized that the feedback was constructive in nature and that conversations with tutors, members of the irb, and professors could help me to better understand not only the expectations but also the mechanisms at my disposal to complete my program, i was able to make great gains in my doctoral journey. by viewing each conversation as an opportunity to grow and useful to my development, my reflection was purposeful and deliberate. i took notes on feedback suggestions and used those notes early in the program for my next assignment and later in my dissertation as my guide for what i needed to do and include in my research. by using the discourse reflection cycle in this way, i was aware of how my interpretation of my learning and growth. this made the transformation from competent educator with a master’s degree in history to a doctor of education. however, beyond the credential, i learned the process of researching and writing on the doctoral level, something that is and will continue to be a benefit in my journey as it continues into the world of academia. the need for community connections as intimated above, an integral part of the transformational process and an imperative aspect of the discourse reflection cycle is the need for community connections. whether in a face-to-face or online program, doctoral candidates must become part of the university community. according to cranton (2016) humans are by nature communal and developing strong communicative knowledge helps people within a community to understand the social norms, values, and code of beliefs within the community. once graduated, doctors join a much larger academic community of fellow doctors and researchers, and this understanding of the importance and value of this community is essential to a successful doctoral program and dissertation process (dowling & wilson, 2017). having a community helps doctoral candidates and new doctors to make purposeful connections. these connections help the individual to grow and change, this transformation, especially when deliberate and thoughtful changes the interpretation of the individual towards their experience. many doctoral candidates, like myself, are enrolled in online doctoral programs (garcia & yao, 2019). in my experience, the connections made through the university community were not only integral but an essential aspect to my success in the program. however, the unique nature of online learning can create barriers to participation in this community and can lead some doctoral candidates to not realize that a community exists. because of the barrier of time and distance, online doctoral candidates can feel a disconnect between themselves and their professors global journal of transformative education (2024) vol 4 contreras & bedford, transformative nature of graduate education 28 and other classmates (sekulich, 2020). the ability to engage with professors and other doctoral candidates may be limited. this then disrupts the discoursereflection cycle since the doctoral candidate is not as easily able to engage in dialogue with others in the academic community. this lack of connection can undercut the efficacy of the reflection process. the doctoral candidate may begin to garner a negative self-perception of themselves as a student and their transformation can progress in a negative manner. while the doctoral candidate may still be able to reflect on their journey, without the ability to see how fellow doctoral candidates are experiencing the doctoral program, online doctoral candidates can lose the social connections and the perspectives those provide that are a natural part of the traditional brick and mortar university. as cranton (2016) explained, when students and professors communicate regularly, students feel more empowered and are better able to make use of the skills, knowledge, and information they need in order to be successful. however, professors often expect online doctoral candidates to initiate contact, while doctoral candidates feel a greater need for support (sekulich, 2020). this discrepancy can leave doctoral candidates feeling unsupported in their efforts (ray, et al, 2019). such feelings of social isolation, while often more pronounced for international doctoral candidates, can impact all doctoral candidates, resulting in negative academic and personal learning outcomes (ray et al., 2019). subsequently, these experiences may interfere with a doctoral candidate’s ability to successfully experience a positive transformational process and result in stagnation as a beginning scholar (swaggerty & broemmel, 2016). therefore, in the online environment, allowing time for both synchronous and asynchronous collaboration is helpful in bridging this gap and helping the doctoral candidate to feel the support needed (swaggerty & broemmel, 2016). when virtual interactions take place, doctoral candidates are better able to engage in critical reflection since they can broaden their perspective and help them become aware of their changing interpretations. they also learn from other doctoral candidates and benefit from the knowledge of their peers and professors. the discourse, although virtual is key to a successful online program. according to swaggerty and broemmel (2016), when doctoral candidates work closely with professors, whether in an online or traditional program, they are better able to understand the process and their sense of self-efficacy increases. they also can better engage in reflection, deepening their own connection with their learning and broadening their perspective. cranton (2016) also explained that students in an asynchronous online discussion setting often are able to engage with peers in a more meaningful and personal manner in an online setting, allowing them to be more forthcoming with their struggles or feelings since they are not talking to people face-to face. cranton (2016) referred to this as the “stranger on the train” phenomena and explained that because students in an online setting do not know their classmates and cannot see their face, they may be more likely to share information that they would otherwise keep private. this freedom to explore topics and feelings in a more open manner leads to greater reflection and can help students embrace the transformative process. through interaction their interpretation and reinterpretation of their learning grows, leading them through the process of change inherent to the transformational learning theory. doctoral candidates additionally benefit from opportunities to engage with other doctoral candidates and professors in synchronous face-to-face meetings and asynchronously through community forums, emails, or discussions boards, (alexander et al, 2013). this ability to connect with and find mentors in professors can help the doctoral candidate in the discourse reflection cycle as well as the transformative process. ultimately, when doctoral candidates work with professors in a mentoring relationship, they are more likely to experience holistic success since they can share ideas, discuss and evaluate their dissertation journey as a transformative process (sekulich, 2020). by proactively seeking opportunities for community engagement, doctoral candidates can better develop a sense of meaning in their research and develop a strong sense of self-efficacy. this enables them to reflect in a meaningful manner and embrace the transformational nature of the program. as their interpretation of the process becomes reflective, they are better able to make meaningful gains in their academic progress. reflecting on my own experience, it took some time for me to realize that a virtual community existed at my university. i found, as sekulich (2020) intimated, that my professors, while sending an automated welcome email and providing a welcome video on the homepage of the course, waited for me to reach out and establish contact. in the earlier courses, i did not engage with my professors or other doctoral candidates in any real meaningful way and my connection to the experience global journal of transformative education (2024) vol 4 contreras & bedford, transformative nature of graduate education 29 was limited. however, by my second semester, i had realized that a community forum existed in the form of online discussion boards. i also discovered that professors and other school personnel held regular webinars and the tutoring center was available to assist with most any question from statistical analysis to writing help. when i started taking advantage of these outlets, my growth as a budding doctoral candidate became more substantial and i was able to better reach out to professors, engage with them, ask questions, and then use those interactions to help strengthen my own knowledge base. i became part of the virtual community and especially when writing my dissertation, this community was an integral part of my success since it enabled meaningful discourse and reflection which enabled true transformation. by becoming part of the community, i changed from simply going through the motions to being aware of how my interpretation of my experience was changing as part of the transformational learning theory. strategies for success in order to help facilitate the transformational process and find success in a doctoral program, in addition to what has already been discussed, doctoral candidates need to be aware of certain strategies or best practices to help facilitate their learning. the first of these are research skills. dowling and wilson (2017) explained that when research skills are the focal point of a doctoral program, doctoral candidates are better able to hone their researching skills and develop the skill set necessary for successful completion of the dissertation. it is helpful when the program focuses on helping doctoral candidates understand how to write research questions, develop strong hypotheses, write up findings, and craft a strong literature review. arsianari, et al. (2017) explained that doctoral candidates are more successful when research skills are the focus early in the doctoral program and carried throughout until the dissertation. this enables the student to grow and their understanding of the writing and research process changes. this change is an inherent element of the transformational learning theory. therefore, when choosing a doctoral program, doctoral candidates should find programs that emphasize the research skills necessary to help them develop the skill set needed to complete their dissertation. however, if already committed to a doctoral program that may or may not focus on such skills, doctoral candidates can use each research assignment and project as an opportunity to develop their research abilities. by engaging with every assignment as if it were the dissertation, putting the same level of care and detail into it, doctoral candidates can, as the adage goes, practice as they play and thus when they arrive at the dissertation are better able to understand the task before them and can progress through it easier and more successfully. to enable research to be effective, time management is also an essential tool. time management is, in my opinion, the single most important aspect of a successful doctoral program. as alexander, et al. (2013) asserted, developing a worklife balance can be difficult for doctoral candidates. the doctoral program is rigorous, demanding and can consume a great deal of time. oftentimes, doctoral candidates can become overwhelmed by the process and devote too much time to it, neglecting self-care and burning out early, or they procrastinate the important tasks needed to complete a successful program and draw it out indefinitely. to alleviate either extreme, developing a work-life balance and good time management skills are necessary. in my case, i completed my doctoral program while still employed full time. i could not, therefore, devote the entire workday to my doctoral studies. as such, i set aside the first two hours of everyday to my doctoral studies. upon waking each morning, i spent two hours working either on my course work or my dissertation. while during the execution of my study for my dissertation i spent more time in the field conducting surveys, i kept very strictly to this two-hour time frame. when the two hours ended each day, i saved my work and closed it. key to this, however, was that during those two hours, i did not focus on anything else. i closed off email, silenced my phone, and concentrated only on my doctoral studies. this hyper-focus allowed me to work efficiently while internalizing the information needed to grow and transform as a doctoral candidate. i did not deviate from this strict routine and because of it, i finished my doctoral program in three and a half years. by making a conscious routine, i was aware of how the routine impacted my progress and changed it accordingly. effective time management can, therefore, relieve stress and change the interpretation of the doctoral process from one of stress to one of growth. this is a key element to the mezirow’s (1991) ideas. within both strategies introduced here, key to both was support from professors and reflection. mentoring, according to dowling and wilson (2017) and alexander global journal of transformative education (2024) vol 4 contreras & bedford, transformative nature of graduate education 30 et al. (2013) is key to helping doctoral candidates develop strong research skills and time-management skills. when professors share with doctoral candidates their strategies in both areas, doctoral candidates are better able to reflect on their own needs, strengths and areas of growth and can make the necessary adjustments to become successful researchers who can manage their time effectively. added to this, reflection is key. when doctoral candidates engage in the discoursereflection cycle to facilitate their development of an effective study schedule and research regimen, they are better able to see where they are successful and where they still need to grow. honing one’s skills as a researcher and paying attention to time management are inherent parts of the mezirow’s (1991) transformative process and help budding doctoral candidates to be successful. conclusion circling back to the opening questions, what does it mean to earn a doctorate? does it mean to develop expertise in one specific, narrow area of a dissertation study? does it mean to grow as an academic and evolve in one’s academic acumen? does it mean to contribute to the scholarly community and join the discourse of researchers in the world of academia through unique research that fills gaps in the overall intellectual knowledge base? does it mean to acquire more qualifications that enable the progression to university professor or academic? when considering what it means to become a doctor and what it means to traverse through a doctoral program, transformation is inherent. in my experience, the transformative process was propelled by seeking out connections within the university community and engaging in active, conscious, and critical discourse and reflection. this was assisted by developing strong time-management skills and balancing the demands of the doctoral process in a way that maximized my time spent studying and enabled me to make the critical steps necessary to transform from an educator with a master’s degree to a doctor. what is key, however is that this process of transformation, once discovered is evident in every step forward as an academic. to answer the opening questions progressing through the doctoral process should be done through open and conscious reflection. the candidate should be aware of how their interpretation of their progress is evolving and changing. if they do this, they can better reflect on the process and grow as a professional. once entering the post-doctoral world, the new doctor continues to transform. i have found the transformational learning theory especially helpful in describing this. transformation does not end with graduation but defines every new development and evolution that one undergoes as one grows as a doctor. by embracing the doctoral experience as one of transformation, i have been able to continue to consciously evolve and transform in my post-university life and will continue to do so. by examining the doctoral journey as one of transformation born through community engagement, discourse and reflection and strong research and time management strategies, one can become successful not only within the confines of the university and its program but afterwards as well. global journal of transformative education (2024) vol 4 contreras & bedford, transformative nature of graduate education 31 references alexander, p., harris-huemmert, s., & mcalpine, l. 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(2017). authenticity, relevance, and connectedness: graduate students’ learning preferences and experiences in an online reading education course. the internet and higher education, 32, 80-86. doi:10.1016/j. iheduc.2016.10.002 1 elizabeth contreras (econtreras@dccd.edu) is a professor in the school of law and public service at dallas county college, dallis, texas, usa. 2 laurie bedford (lbedford@ncu.edu) is a professor in the department of education at northcentral university, denver, colorado, usa. authors contreras & bedford, transformative nature of graduate education https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/1360144x.2013.817333 https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/1360144x.2013.817333 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/s1475158519303509 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/s1475158519303509 https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/s11528-018-0308-3.pdf https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/s11528-018-0308-3.pdf https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/s11528-018-0308-3.pdf https://www.researchgate.net/profile/maureen-coady/publication/307893770_editor's_notes/links/5f919cfc299bf1b53e3d46b3/editors-notes.pdf#page=45 https://www.researchgate.net/profile/maureen-coady/publication/307893770_editor's_notes/links/5f919cfc299bf1b53e3d46b3/editors-notes.pdf#page=45 https://journals.healio.com/doi/full/10.3928/0148-4834-20011001-06 https://journals.healio.com/doi/full/10.3928/0148-4834-20011001-06 https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/14703297.2015.1058720 https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/14703297.2015.1058720 https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/14703297.2015.1058720 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/s1096751618300903 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/s1096751618300903 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/s1096751618300903 https://www.researchgate.net/profile/kathleen-king-4/publication/222545395_educational_technology_professional_development_as_transformative_learning_opportunities/links/5accd1a80f7e9b1896542da1/educational-technology-professional-development-as-transformative-learning-opportunities.pdf https://www.researchgate.net/profile/kathleen-king-4/publication/222545395_educational_technology_professional_development_as_transformative_learning_opportunities/links/5accd1a80f7e9b1896542da1/educational-technology-professional-development-as-transformative-learning-opportunities.pdf https://www.researchgate.net/profile/kathleen-king-4/publication/222545395_educational_technology_professional_development_as_transformative_learning_opportunities/links/5accd1a80f7e9b1896542da1/educational-technology-professional-development-as-transformative-learning-opportunities.pdf https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/074171369804800305 https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/0158037x.2018.1532405 https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/0158037x.2018.1532405 https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/0158037x.2018.1532405 https://www.dkgnj.org/uploads/2/2/3/1/22313516/2020_jour_86-5_theevolvingnatureofschooling.pdf#page=17 https://www.dkgnj.org/uploads/2/2/3/1/22313516/2020_jour_86-5_theevolvingnatureofschooling.pdf#page=17 https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/0741713611402046 https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/0741713611402046 https://d1wqtxts1xzle7.cloudfront.net/53926494/authenticity_relevance_online_swaggerty_broemmel-with-cover-page-v2.pdf?expires=1663780362&signature=t9v0rargznkfl3fwmf4jba5wj0sqvvejdadj3ar-twxzdd4gkz0qfl8pmxqsmal~zhnhnp6f6yjacuwenghwzdsjvkcok5m774-p9q0djqzdl2n6enrvwnwdlhd4vfw0avbeb87ybchvuk30ti9yvwxvee7yi5wk1yswcdidumixwuv8pgx5ap9piqdxs3k4hamc1n10bvz4-ubdnurub-8sb-awstwh9uqcy89mlqmnno44d1jixp1gtdx~wwd5fnutdlzova67se68gpf1ezk2t6ywsswr2egguler0qw0qzdkhgqfkaiuummvam7q4uqh4sjxpylhgpqi8taqxq__&key-pair-id=apkajlohf5ggslrbv4za 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https://d1wqtxts1xzle7.cloudfront.net/53926494/authenticity_relevance_online_swaggerty_broemmel-with-cover-page-v2.pdf?expires=1663780362&signature=t9v0rargznkfl3fwmf4jba5wj0sqvvejdadj3ar-twxzdd4gkz0qfl8pmxqsmal~zhnhnp6f6yjacuwenghwzdsjvkcok5m774-p9q0djqzdl2n6enrvwnwdlhd4vfw0avbeb87ybchvuk30ti9yvwxvee7yi5wk1yswcdidumixwuv8pgx5ap9piqdxs3k4hamc1n10bvz4-ubdnurub-8sb-awstwh9uqcy89mlqmnno44d1jixp1gtdx~wwd5fnutdlzova67se68gpf1ezk2t6ywsswr2egguler0qw0qzdkhgqfkaiuummvam7q4uqh4sjxpylhgpqi8taqxq__&key-pair-id=apkajlohf5ggslrbv4za https://d1wqtxts1xzle7.cloudfront.net/53926494/authenticity_relevance_online_swaggerty_broemmel-with-cover-page-v2.pdf?expires=1663780362&signature=t9v0rargznkfl3fwmf4jba5wj0sqvvejdadj3ar-twxzdd4gkz0qfl8pmxqsmal~zhnhnp6f6yjacuwenghwzdsjvkcok5m774-p9q0djqzdl2n6enrvwnwdlhd4vfw0avbeb87ybchvuk30ti9yvwxvee7yi5wk1yswcdidumixwuv8pgx5ap9piqdxs3k4hamc1n10bvz4-ubdnurub-8sb-awstwh9uqcy89mlqmnno44d1jixp1gtdx~wwd5fnutdlzova67se68gpf1ezk2t6ywsswr2egguler0qw0qzdkhgqfkaiuummvam7q4uqh4sjxpylhgpqi8taqxq__&key-pair-id=apkajlohf5ggslrbv4za kouam, c.. global journal of transformative education (2024) vol 4 pp 32-43. doi 10.14434/ gjte.v4i1.36723 open access published by the global insitutute of transformative education (http://www.gite.education) © kouam, 2024. open access this journal is distributed under the terms of the creative commons attribution noncommercial nonderivative 4.0 international license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction without revision in any non-commercial medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the creative commons license, english as foreign language (efl) teaching and learning in cameroon: decolonizing francophone teachers’ minds clement kouam abstract this article makes an argument for francophone efl (english as foreign language) teachers in cameroon to recover from the ‘ukolonia’ syndrome (bokamba, 2011) and to use the indigenised variety of english as the model for teaching and learning instead of continuing to target the standard british english accent. the study shows that the attempt to use an inner circle accent as a model leads to hypercorrection and limited fluency on the part of the learners. on the other hand, the use of the indigenised variety as a model by a few anglophone efl teachers results in better proficiency. the arguments are supported by (1) a questionnaire survey of 50 franchophone efl teachers, (2) classroom observation carried out in ten efl classes five of which were conducted by anglophone teachers and the other five by francophones, and (3) the analysis of curriculum documents for teacher education. the study is underpinned by bokamba’s (2011) ukolonia theory and kachru’s (1985) world englishes framework. the paper argues that a decolonization of francophone efl teachers’ mindset and the replacement of standard british english by mainstream cameroon english can enhance the efl teaching/learning process significantly. the findings and the recommendations provided also constitute a good material for innovation in efl teacher education and in classroom practice. keywords: cameroon, cameroon english, received pronunciation, efl teaching/learning full listing of authors and contacts can be found at the end of this article. the sociolinguistic context of cameroon cameroon is a multilingual country with 273 living indigenous languages (eberhard, simons, & fennig, 2023) and numerous foreign languages, two of which (french and english) are colonial legacies inherited from the franco-british colonial rule. located at the intersection between west and central africa, the republic of cameroon is a blend of former east cameroon (french colony from 1916 to 1960) and former west cameroon (british colony from 1916 to 1961). while the former has remained essentially francophone, the latter continues to be a dominantly english-speaking area. although cameroon had for long been a german protectorate (1884-1916) before the taking over by france and britain following their victory over germany during the first world war, the impact of the german language in the country is insignificant as compared to that of french and english. besides being the most important lingua francas for both intranational and international communication, they are the only of ficial languages of the country. in the partitioning of the war trophy, britain obtained one-fifth of the cameroonian territory composed of two discontinuous strips of land along the nigerian border while france acquired the remaining four-fifths (echu, 2003). the two colonial powers adopted different modes of administration in their colonies. interestingly, many current developments in english in general and in attitudes and pedagogic concerns in particular are still a reflection of the colonial systems that were practised. for instance, despite the current scramble for english in the french-speaking part of cameroon, francophone efl (english as foreign language) teachers’ attitude still clearly shows their preference for the far-fetched standard british english accent to the detriment of the more attainable cameroon english model. though other factors (e.g., variation in curriculum content for efl and esl teacher education) may come into play in accounting for this attitudinal behaviour, the french colonial system of indirect rule that attempted to create an idealised europeanised african appears to be one of the tangible explanations. 32 kouam, efl teaching & learning in cameroon 33 training and specificities of efl and esl teachers in cameroon most cameroonian teacher training colleges devote two series to the training of secondary and high school teachers of english, namely the english modern letters series and the bilingual letters series. while the former is overwhelmingly dominated by student teachers with an anglophone background, francophone students dominantly constitute the latter. upon completion, graduates from the bilingual unit are transferred to secondary and high schools to teach english and french as foreign languages (efl/ffl). on their part, those from the purely english division serve as esl (english as a second language) teachers. however, given the extremely large number of the francophone student population, some esl teachers are often solicited for the teaching of efl. the observation stage of the study showed that while esl teachers’ efforts are geared towards the upgrading of learners’ communicative skills through indigenized cameroon english, most of their francophone efl colleagues waste precious time, energy and resources targeting near-native english speech appropriation by the francophone learners. unfortunately, their efforts do not yield the expected results as they themselves do not master the native accent they want the learners to acquire. in other words, francophone efl teachers jeopardise the efl teaching and learning process with hypercorrection, resulting from their unattainable goal to sound british or american. this paper seeks to explain the strong attachment of francophones to native english speech, examine the consequences of this phenomenon on the efl teaching and learning process and suggest solutions to the problem. there seems to be a close relationship between the colonial modes of administration in the two parts of cameroon and the attitude of english users towards english. while the french system of assimilation exposed francophone cameroonians to standard french, the british policy of indirect rule rather promoted an educational policy that deviated anglophone cameroonians from standard english. this is confirmed by simo bobda (2004) who equates the british policy to “linguistic apartheid’’ and bokamba (2011) who notes that the french, unlike their belgian, british and german counterparts who appeared to be largely circumspect regarding their assimilation objectives, were very explicitly eloquent, with education as the means par excellence for achieving them. thus, the attitude to accent in teaching french in cameroon might have been transferred to the teaching of efl. language policy in cameroon although advocacies for linguistic decolonization have been receiving favourable echoes in many african countries (e.g., botswana, burundi and even nigeria) where local languages now have official and other important statuses (bokamba, 2011), the language policy in cameroon is still geared towards the sole promotion of colonially inherited languages. the current language policy itself tends to be, to a great extent, a reproduction of colonial practices. language policies in the colonial era the correlation between the language policy that held sway in east cameroon during the colonial period and the yearning for the native english accent by francophone teachers of english in cameroon is obvious. this myth of the native speaker dates back to the french colonial period where the policy of assimilation prepared the indigenous people to target the colonial master’s speech model. this contrasted significantly with the system of indirect rule applied by britain in its colonies, former west cameroon included. the aim of the french policy was to replace the indigenous languages, cultures and civilization with the french one. echu (2003) reports that barely one year after taking over cameroon from the germans, france instituted a special subvention for schools that used french as the language of instruction and those that taught in indigenous languages were closed. thus, 47 schools opened by sultan njoya in the bamun region were all closed down and his printing press destroyed. many other schools (e.g., those run by the american presbyterian missionaries, and in which bulu was the language of instruction later suffered the same fate (echu, 2003, 36). this policy quickly paved the way to the creation of many french-medium schools before independence (e.g., lycée leclerc, lycée joss douala and lycée manengouba nkongsamba). the french and trained cameroonians ran such schools to acquire a native-like command of the french language. looking at the drastic nature of the measures undertaken to promote the french model of education, one can logically suspect that such actions were aimed to serve a hidden agenda. it won’t therefore be an exaggeration to conclude with bokamba (2011) that the colonial culture assimilatory or brainwashing objectives were well elaborated and “touched on the means to achieve more important and fundamental objectives: cheap african global journal of transformative education (2024) vol 4 kouam, efl teaching & learning in cameroon 34 global journal of transformative education (2024) vol 4 labor and other economic benefits for france.” on their own, the british governed through cameroonian traditional authorities. the use of indigenous languages (bafut, duala, kenyang, mungaka, etc.) as languages of instruction was a common phenomenon. pidgin english, rather than standard english, was promoted alongside these local languages (echu, 2003). for simo bobda (2004), the british seem to have thought that pidgin english was more suitable for africans than standard english and at the same time a way to keep africans away from their privacy. kachru (1986) confirms this, noting that the acquisition by africans of native-like proficiency in english made them suspect. looking at the two colonial systems, it readily ensues that francophones, through the system of assimilation, were moulded to look up to the native speech model, contrary to anglophones who were trained to prioritise the communicative value of english rather than to long for standard british english. the language policy in postcolonial cameroon french became the official language in french-speaking cameroon upon independence in 1960 and english enjoyed the same status in the english-speaking area following its independence in 1961. at reunification on 1 october, 1961, official bilingualism was instituted in the new federal republic. cameroon, like many other former african colonies, obviously opted for this foreign language option in order to avoid a language conflict arising from the choice of an indigenous language on the one hand and the financial and material cost on the other (bokamba, 2007; echu, 2003). to promote the official bilingualism policy, the government made the teaching of english and french compulsory in the two subsystems of education inherited from colonisation. since then, french has mainly been operating as a foreign language in the anglophone subsystem. english has also been enjoying the same privilege in the francophone subsystem. the following excerpt from the constitution of 18 january 1996 better captures the current language policy in cameroon. the official languages of the republic of cameroon shall be english and french, both languages having the same status. the state shall guarantee the promotion of bilingualism throughout the country. it shall endeavour to protect and promote national languages. (article 1, paragraph 3) despite constitutional provisions which make clear that french and english have the same status and constitute the backbone of the country’s language policy, it is obvious that french remains the main official language. the numerical advantage of french-speaking cameroon (eight regions out of ten and seventy-five percent of the national population) favours this situation which has caused a lot of harm to national unity. anglophones have long complained about linguistic marginalization and the posting of francophone monolingual administrators, magistrate and teachers to their regions is often cited as one of the main reasons accounting for the anglophone crisis which has been going on since 2016. hopefully, the new trend consisting of francophones rushing for english is likely to reduce french dominance over english in the future in both public and social spheres. as for the hundreds of cameroonian languages, they continue to be relegated to the background even though more efforts are now made to promote them through formal education. but even here, they compete with other imported languages such as spanish, german, chinese, russian, italian and even the fading latin. also, even though it is not uncommon for public workers to speak their local language with collaborators or users of the same linguistic community, this practice is frequently denounced, and its promoters accused either of tribalism or of taking the administration hostage to the benefit of their village people. bokamba (2011) warns against such a neglect of local languages in favour of policies that privilege the colonial master’s language, observing that if africa is to reclaim its destiny and emerge from its “downward spiral” of missteps and misfortunes of the last fifty years or so, the utilization of key african languages in public domains represents not only a major rectification in the development trajectory, but also invaluable tools towards its advancement. the time to engage this process is now, and we, africans alone, are its captains and navigators. as argued in bokamba (2007), if the ukolonia behavior discussed here, which is a curable syndrome via civic/cultural education, is not reversed, africa will suffer a deeper level of marginalization, and it will certainly be trampled over by the ever-encroaching globalization of english, french, and portuguese through multinational companies that are aggressively seeking unfettered access to african natural resources. (pp. 162-163) indeed, english as a global language has penetrated cameroon so profoundly that francophones are increasingly neglecting local languages in favour of english. as a result, more and more kids grow up in the kouam, efl teaching & learning in cameroon 35 french part of the country without the knowledge of their mother tongues. english in francophone cameroon it was not until the early 1990s that francophones started developing real interest for english, the language that had become the first international language and the language of business and professional opportunities. mbangwana (2004) depicts the unprecedented rush of french-speaking cameroonians for english in the following terms: francophones who never bothered learning english through the bilingual training programme in the university, which was free of charge, started looking for money after graduating from universities to register for language courses, whether they were private language institutes such as the b & k language institute, british council, or the american cultural center. all of these efforts were for acquiring the language that served like a passport to study or work abroad around the world. (p. 25) the passion of francophone cameroonians for english has led to a situation where they are now massively represented in efl teaching in secondary education nationwide. this zeal for the language has even led to the emergence of a new variety of english known as cameroon francophone english and abbreviated as camfe (atechi, 2015; ngefac, 2022; safotso, 2018; simo bobda, 2013). due to this new brand, the label cameroon anglophone english (camae) is now supplanting that of cameroon english (came) in referring to the english of anglophone cameroonians. although camfe still necessitates an in-deph linguistic description, it is fast gaining ground. the exceptionally rapid growth of cameroon francophone english (which is normally an efl variety) is also due to its proximity and even its co-existence with cameroon anglophone english (which is an esl variety). the place of camfe and camae within english-speaking communities english-speaking communities across the world obey to specific classifications. crystal (2003) distinguishes between enl (english as a native language), esl (english as a second language) and efl (english as a foreign language) communities. kachru (1985) introduces the terminologies inner circle, outer circle and expanding circle in the place of enl, esl and efl, respectively. kachru’s classification pays close attention to the types of spread, the patterns of acquisition and the functional domains in which english is used across cultures. it highlights, for instance, the difference between traditional native speakers (found in countries which represent the traditional seats of english) and the functional native speakers (who are those that speak english as from birth in outer circle countries). however, both classifications share significant similarities. crystal and kachru both present the first community (enl community/ inner circle) as including settings where english is mostly used as mother tongue and unique language by the population. such countries comprise the united kingdom, the united states of america, australia, canada and new zealand. the second group (esl countries/ outer circle) includes former british colonies. in this circle, english enjoys a prestigious status because it is generally one of the official languages if not the only one. it occupies a preponderant position among the two or numerous languages which make the speakers’ linguistic repertoire. here, english often exists alongside many other languages and is significantly indigenised. it is generally assigned a very high status (official or co-official language). it is used as a medium of instruction and a language of administration. countries which belong to this circle include anglophone cameroon, nigeria, india, malaysia, singapore, ghana, kenya, hawaii and south africa. the third group (efl countries/expanding circle) includes the rest of the english-speaking world. in this circle, english is used mainly for international communication. in such contexts, the english language is simply a subject in the curriculum and is used only for specific purposes. francophone cameroon, france, south korea, china, tunisia, egypt, indonesia, saudi arabia and russia are some of the countries which belong to the expanding circle. francophone cameroonians’ attitudes towards cameroon english in spite of the fact that francophone cameroonians are now passionate about the english language and the english subsystem of education, they prefer native englishes, especially british english, and reject indigenised came which they view as’pidginized.” however, research has shown that targeting native english in cameroon is unattainable. kouam (2022) shows that the attempt by franchophone cameroonians to articulate native english features only results in hypercorrec global journal of transformative education (2024) vol 4 kouam, efl teaching & learning in cameroon 36 tion, defined by labov (1966) as the tendency whereby speakers strive to articulate standard linguistic features, but end up producing features that are neither those of the standard variety they are targeting nor those of the mainstream variety spoken by members of their speech community and which they were trying to avoid. this phenomenon seems to be greatly compromising elt efforts in the country’s efl context. while postcolonial theorists such as wa thiongo (1986) and bolton, kachru, kachry, and nelson (2006) advocate linguistic decolonization and a pronounced preference of indigenous african languages in education to enable the africanisation of the educational industry, it is difficult to understand the preference of francophone cameroonians for native english models and the rejection of the indigenised accent which has the advantage of portraying the identity of the postcolonial user to a great extent. this attitude is a clear indication that the french colonial system of assimilation still holds sway in the minds of francophone cameroonians. it totally contradicts the aspirations formulated in decolonization voices. for bolton, kachru, kachry, & nelson (2006, 230), learners should “target pronunciation which is easier to learn because it is more attuned to the phonology of their mother tongues, without forfeiting intelligibility,” instead of struggling to produce the mannerisms of an idealised native speaker of english. these scholars encourage the promotion of pronunciation models with which speakers of the new englishes are familiar and which are attained through formal education to ensure international intelligibility. bolton, kachru, kachry, and nelson (2006) corroborate kramsch’s (1999) recommendation that each variety of english must cater for both intranational and international communication. in the same connection, firth (1964) recommends that second language learners of english be equipped with the educated variety of their local accents. he views “educated english” as follows: by educated english we must not understand standard english. educated english shows a wide range of permissible variations. speakers of this kind of english do not necessarily submerge all signs of social or geographical origin. their accent is often unmistakably local or characteristic of a class. educated english is spoken by all the classes of people all over the english-speaking world. this is the only kind of english that has the remotest chance of universality even in great britain itself. (firth, 1964, 196) the quote above shows that targeting strict american and british accents in postcolonial settings to the detriment of the educated varieties of the local englishes is a futility. firth’s (1964) view is shared by achebe (1965) who opines that non-native speakers of english should passionately espouse their local english models and avoid useless emulations of native speech forms. he declares: so my answer to the question ‘can an african ever learn english well enough to be able to use it effectively in creative writing?’ is certainly yes. if on the other hand you ask ‘can he ever learn to use it as a native speaker?’ i should say, i hope not. it is neither necessary nor desirable for him to be able to do so. the price a world language must be prepared to pay is submission to many different kinds of use. (achebe, 1965, 29) achebe (1965) thus sees indigenized varieties of english as hallmarks of the african identity and as varieties which africans should go for. unfortunately, the myth of the native speaker continues to be present and is sometimes encouraged by elt professionals as is the case with simo bobda (2004, 25) who points out that “the educational and professional survival of the ambitious african at the beginning of the third millennium still largely depends on how well he or she accommodates to inner circle englishes”. he upholds that it is a truism that school curricula in africa must seek to promote this accommodation. the cameroonian scenario is perfectly in line with this recommendation. ngefac (2011, 40) observes that “in most english language textbooks used for the teaching of english in cameroon, drills on standard british english accent abound and no drills are provided for educated cameroon english pronunciation.” although the situation has improved a little bit now, with more and more literary works and a few teaching materials designed based on came, most current english language textbooks, if not all (e.g., interactions in english) still reflect inner circle english norms. methodology fifty (50) francophone and five (5) anglophone efl teachers from ten (10) secondary and high schools in three french-speaking regions of cameroon were recruited as participants for this study. they were selected among seventy-four efl teachers who made up the efl teaching staff of the ten schools. the regions selected included centre, littoral and west. different global journal of transformative education (2024) vol 4 kouam, efl teaching & learning in cameroon 37 research tools were used to collect data. a short questionnaire was designed to thoroughly identify teachers and elicit their claims about the english accent they promote for educational practices. it was given to francophone efl teachers exclusively. a survey of the curriculum was also done to check if student teachers from both the bilingual letters series (future efl teachers) and the english modern letters series (prospective esl teachers) are subjected to the same english language courses during their training. the purpose was to subsequently find out if there was any correlation between pronunciation choice in the classroom and the content of the curriculum that served for their instruction. in other words, is there any relationship between pronunciation practice in the elt classroom and the nature of the courses taught at the teacher training school? an observation of five efl classes conducted by francophone teachers also helped to determine the extent to which the pedagogic model practised by francophone efl teachers reflects their claims in the questionnaire. this model was then compared to what obtains in the efl teaching situations conducted by the five selected anglophone teachers. as concerns theoretical considerations, bokamba’s (2011) ukolonia theory and kachru’s (1985) world englishes model are the perspectives from which the study was carried out. bokamba (2011, 161) defines ukolonia as “a psychological syndrome that obfuscates the rational thinking of a patient in a postcolonial society and causes him/her to evaluate himself/herself in terms of values and standards established by the former colonial masters’ culture(s)’’. this reflects francophone cameroonians’ attitude towards cameroon english; an attitudinal tendency that clearly reveals the internalized colonial mentality that characterizes these english users. as for the origin of this slave mentality, bokamba (2011) explains: ukolonia resulted from the long-term brainwashing that characterized the explicit or implicit policy of assimilation of africans to western cultures, especially through education, religious practices, and administrative practices. through these agencies, african customs and cultures were viewed as inferior to their western counterparts, and thus devalued and stigmatized as “backward”; while, in contrast the western modes of life were valued, promoted, and incentivized as worthy of emulation. (p. 161) from the above description, it is clear that ukolonia remains a widespread practice in cameroon. even the school curricula seem to serve the needs of the west more than those of cameroon. concerning kachru’s (1985) world englishes model, it acknowledges the irreversible indigenisation process undergone by english out of its traditional seats, and establishes the new englishes as autonomous varieties with characteristic features. therefore, it contrasts with frameworks such as error analysis, which view all deviations from traditional native englishes as errors and, consequently, as uninvited guests in any elt situation. in this perspective, it is actual communication and intelligibility which are the watchwords, and not necessarily how much a speaker can twist their tongue to approximate native speech models. besides, the model denounces the monopole that inner circle englishes still have in many non-native environments. for kachru (1985), inner circle speakers cannot continue to be the exclusive norm-setters in a context where the english language has transcended many national, international and continental boundaries to emerge as a global lingua franca. in this development process, ngefac (2012, 169) points out, english has significantly embraced the contextual realities of postcolonial contexts, due to the process of nativisation through which each new english setting “has acquired new norms of correctness, which very much reflect the twists and turns the language has undergone in such contexts”. many outer circle countries and even some expanding circle ones are claiming their englishness, thereby manifesting their wish to move from norm-depending to norm providing english settings. this can only be made possible through frameworks such as the present ones. data analysis and findings the analysis of the data collected yielded interesting findings. representation of francophones in efl teaching one of the issues which need to be surveyed accurately in the efl teaching sector in cameroon is that of ‘who teaches english as a foreign language in cameroon’. the answer to this question is likely to shed more light on the speech orientations millions of francophone cameroonians trained in secondary and high schools receive every year. in other words, if efl teachers are mostly anglophone cameroonians, the learners will obviously tend to be accustomed to cameroon anglophone english. on the contrary, if the efl teaching staff is dominated by francophones as preglobal journal of transformative education (2024) vol 4 kouam, efl teaching & learning in cameroon 38 dicted in this study, there is a likelihood that cameroonian learners from the francophone sub-system of education will be adepts of cameroon francophone english, which also entails that their likelihood to exhibit hypercorrection in their english speech will be very high. this is because camfe has been observed to be a variety with a great deal of hypercorrect features. not having the means to carry out a large-scale survey to determine the exact percentage of francophone efl teachers serving nationwide, we could, at least, do this verification from the ten schools we consulted for the investigation. in each efl department (commonly referred to as anglais department), the number of teachers was determined. then a distinction was made between those who had a francophone background and those with an anglophone background. the table below provides a picture of the representation of francophones in the ten efl departments that were visited. as shown in table 1, efl teachers are mostly francophones (up to 67.5% of the efl teachers that were met in the schools that were sampled). the overall teaching staff of the ten efl departments that were visited was made up of seventy-four (74) efl teachers. out of this number, up to 50 had a francophone background. while in some departments we could have a fair number of anglophones (e.g., 4 out of 10 teachers met in government bilingual high school obala), in others (e.g., government technical high school nkometou-centre where 6 efl teachers could be found), all were francophones. these figures clearly denote the predominance of francophone teachers in the teaching of english to francophone cameroonians. as mentioned earlier, a questionnaire was administered exclusively to the fifty francophone teachers. this aimed at eliciting their preferred english accent for elt. francophone efl teachers preferred english accent teachers were expected to choose their preferred english accent for educational practices out of the three options that were proposed, namely (1) the standard british english accent, abbreviated as sbe and also known as received pronunciation or rp, (2) the cameroon english (came) accent and (3) a mixture of sbe and came accents. the table below displays their choices. table 2 indicates that up to 38 (76%) of the teachers went for the native accent (standard british english). while 9 (18%) were in favour of a mixture of native and cameroon english accents, only 3 (6%) showed a preference for the indigenised cameroon english accent. these figures are very indicative of francophone cameroonians’ very negative attitude towards cameroon anglophone english and their strong attachment to western speech models. given that there is often a gap between what one prefers and what they actually have or do, it was considered suitable to seek to know what they think they teach. their claims are displayed in table 3. it is quite interesting to note that as many as 28 francophone efl teachers (56%) out of 50 claimed they teach nothing but the standard british english accent. this claim makes one wonder if what these teachers claimed they are teaching was actually what they taught. such a preoccupation could only be addressed through classroom observation that was carried out at a later stage of the data collection process. nineteen (38%) acknowledged that they teach a mixture of native and came accents and only 3 (6%) recognized that they teach the indigenized cameroon english accent. from all indications, teachers’ claims are not genuine but simply a way for them to show that they abide by the official recommendations to promote traditional native english norms. kachru (1986, 117) thinks it’s not only useless but impossible to implement inner circle english standards in postcolonial environments. that is why he disagrees with non-native speakers who boldly claim they speak received pronunciation. the scholar makes it clear that “no member of the outer circle speaks rp,” and upholds global journal of transformative education (2024) vol 4 kouam, efl teaching & learning in cameroon 39 that “even if he could, he would lack those mannerisms distinct of a native speaker”. in the same vein, todd (1982, 289) had earlier observed that “virtually no african speaks rp.” it should be noted that even in britain, rp features are now very scarce as research shows that less than 3% of the british population now uses rp in its pure form. despite this literature contradicting teachers’ statement that they teach standard british english, it was important to seek empirical evidence through classroom realities. the efl teaching scenario in cameroon classroom observation involved ten efl classes, five of which were conducted by anglophone teachers and the other five by francophone teachers. it ensued from the ten classes attended that levis’ (2005) nativeness and intelligibility principles are two paradigms holding sway in the cameroonian english language teaching industry nowadays. it was so obvious to note that english language teachers with an anglophone background are mostly guided by the intelligibility principle and insist on the local came while those with a francophone background are mostly guided by the nativeness principle, despite on-going signals that the promotion of native english models in cameroon is not yielding the expected fruits. anglophone efl teachers’ focus an appraisal of what constitutes the target in efl teaching situations for each of the two categories of english language teachers that were observed showed that anglophone efl teachers’ efforts are aimed at developing learners’ communicative skills through a pedagogic model which enables them to understand and to be understood by other english-speaking users. these are teachers who are basically trained to serve as esl teachers. they proved to be more attuned to the promotion of educational practices that favour a realistic, pragmatic and attainable speech model to the learners. without forfeiting intelligibility, they train learners to speak english as naturally as they speak their cameroonian first languages. francophone efl teachers’ focus these are francophones trained in bilingual series to teach english to other francophone cameroonians. classroom observation demonstrated that their objective is geared towards the attainment of native or native-like speech. they pretend to be teaching nothing but native english. however, observation showed that their attempts to approximate these inner circle englishes rather lead them to hypercorrection. for instance, (instead of ) was provided by a francophone efl teacher as the american english pronunciation of module one. in the same vein, (instead of ) was brandished by another francophone efl teacher as the sbe rendition of reject. the phonological rendition of th in words such as this and mathematics are other glaring examples that were observed, as the sequence was hypercorrectly articulated by francophone efl teachers as /v/ and /f/, respectively, to the detriment of their sbe counterparts /ð/ and /θ/ and their came forms /d/ and /t/. this is further evidence that the increasingly high percentage of hypercorrect speech features in cameroon francophone english is as a result of francophone efl teachers’ ukolonia mindset which vividly depicts neo-colonialism as it cherishes and idealises what is foreign but despises and rejects what is local. general observations while anglophone efl teachers simply ensure that their learners speak english in a way that is intelligible to the listeners, their francophone colleagues are interested in ensuring that the learner articulates words following standard british english and american english patterns. interestingly, the pronunciation model provided by the teachers themselves does not, in most cases, reflect the variety they are struggling to teach. the learner finally does not gain much because the efforts to sound british or american limit their fluency significantly. this could explain why francophone cameroonians are very good at english grammar but avoid speaking due to the fear to make mistakes (safotso, 2022). in fact, they are very often interrupted by their francophone efl teachers who constantly come in to “correct” their english pronunciation. it also transpired from classroom observation that francophone students trained by francophone efl teachers are far less fluent in english and, consequently, less officially bilingual than the few trained by anglophone teachers, whose target is actual communication. a palpable example came from a speech exercise done in two première classes in gbhs obala where learners were expected to say the sentences aloud stressing the words in bold so as to give the sentence the rhythm or cadence it deserves. while the premiere d1 learners, taught by an anglophone efl teacher, could easily and fluently repeat the sentences following their teacher’s global journal of transformative education (2024) vol 4 kouam, efl teaching & learning in cameroon 40 local english accent, those of premiere d2 found it very difficult arriving at a pronunciation their francophone trainer was imposing on them. in most cases, francophone teachers’ speech was flawed by hypercorrection due to their unsuccessful attempts to respect sbe segmental and suprasegmental rules. at the same time, learners, whose speech organs could not get rid of the sound systems of french and their mother tongues, could not afford to emulate the teacher whose own efforts to sound native were actually fruitless. for the sentence, it would be great if all cameroonians could have access to the internet, (interactions in english 1eres, p. 258) for instance, the francophone efl teacher provided the following as reference pronunciation: it would be if all access to internet. on the other hand, the digest cameroon english pronunciation the anglophone efl teacher provided to her learners enabled the latter to repeat with a high degree of fluency. the glaring contrast characterizing the teaching approaches used by francophone and anglophone efl teachers led to the scrutiny of their training programmes. the syllabus for teacher education the syllabus used in training efl teachers in cameroonian higher teacher training colleges shows some significant differences from the one used to train esl teachers. the main contrast arises from the fact that while esl student teachers have all their courses in english from level one to level five (except one french course that is supposed to upgrade their french proficiency), their efl counterparts have 50% of their curriculum content constituted of french subjects and the other 50% being made of english subjects. looking at the english subjects, both esl and efl student teachers have in common a course entitled english speech and usage, which focuses on sbe. but unlike their esl mates, efl student teachers are not taught a key course entitled world englishes, which aims at exposing the learners to the different varieties of english. the course promotes indigenized englishes, contrarily to english speech and usage, which only provides drills on standard british english and, to an extent, american english. no drill on came or any other local variety is thus provided to prospective francophone efl teachers. the correlation between the course entitled world englishes and the acceptance or rejection of the new englishes such a cameroon english cannot be belaboured. it is a course which values the new englishes and highlights their place within the world englishes arena. consequently, the course contributes to build self confidence in new englishes speakers, thereby making them proud of the indigenized englishes. such a course is likely to help francophone efl student teachers get rid of the ukolonia (slave) mentality (bokamba, 2007, 2011) which highly characterizes them. needless pointing out that while in secondary and high school, most of the present student teachers acquired from their own francophone efl teachers what was fallaciously presented to them as native english. the same fallacy is, unfortunately, reinforced through exposure to the course entitled english speech and usage whose sole aim is to acquaint prospective efl and esl teachers with inner circle english norms. the presence of this course in the curriculum serving in the training of english language teachers is due to the fact that it is a traditional native english variety, namely standard british english, which continues to serve as reference model for english language teaching practices across cameroon despite the fact that researchers have been raising an alarm to denounce a policy which promotes a language variety which is not at the reach of cameroonians and cannot actually convey cameroonian experiences. from the numerous research endeavours carried out to assess cameroonians’ familiarity with the british variety of english, it occurs that they significantly lack the mastery of this model. even teachers who are called upon to teach it have proven beyond any reasonable doubt to be ignorant of it. this has led to publication titles such as when the blind lead the blind: the fallacy of promoting standard british english in cameroon (ngefac, 2012). the absence of efl teachers’ exposure to world englishes can only lead to the situation prevailing in the francophone english-speaking community in cameroon nowadays, where speakers twist their tongues to sound british or american in their english speech and make clear attempts to avoid uttering features that associate them with the local cameroon english. unfortunately for them, it is so obvious that even when they successfully articulate some isolated words or sentences in accordance with traditional native english norms, difficulties handling aspects such as intonation and connected speech quickly expose their masquerade and reveal to the limelight that they are simply trying their hand in something their speech organs are unfamiliar with. the decolonization of francophone efl teachers’ linguistic mindset thus appears as a necessity. global journal of transformative education (2024) vol 4 kouam, efl teaching & learning in cameroon 41 the urgency of decolonising francophone efl teachers’ mindset francophone efl learners in cameroon are paying a huge price for the colonial linguistic indoctrination subtly led by such enemies of indigenised englishes as prator (1968), quirk (1985) and honey (1997), who saw the promotion of the new englishes as a heresy. looking at the current english language scenario, how sustainable can quirk’s (1985) call for the use of a “single monochrome standard form that looks as good on paper as it sounds in speech’’ actually be today? what would honey (1997) think of his own declaration that if speakers of english in the new nations create their own standard, they are likely to be excluded from the global scene because they cannot exercise the same level of competence as other members of the world english-speaking community? these advocates of a new englishes genocide thought they could continuously impose inner circle english norms all over the world. it is left to outer and expanding circle users to realise that they outnumber the traditional native speakers by far and this numerical advantage must permit them to set and follow norms which capture the cosmology of the specific non-native english-speaking countries. unfortunately, some non-native speakers (e.g., francophone cameroonians) continue to be at the forefront to combat the englishes that carry the colours of their sociocultural realities. the following report by platt, weber & ho (1984, 170) is a clear indication that the decolonisation of many non-native english speakers’ linguistic mindset is a matter of utmost importance. the scholars indicate that in a workshop on the english language in singapore, a speaker with a conspicuous singaporean accent passionately affirmed: “i speak rp.” surprisingly, his statement rather provoked laughter and protest from the british audience. such behaviours make one wonder why speakers of the new englishes undervalue the varieties of english that they speak and rather want to identify themselves with foreign models. ngefac (2012) attempts an explanation to this state of affairs, hypothesising that the reason which has influenced some cameroonians to change their black skin using chemical products in order to look white like their ex-colonial masters is the same reason at the base of their negative attitude towards the languages that are rooted in the sociocultural and sociolinguistic realities of their country. he upholds that such people believe the greatness of cameroon lies “in the ability of cameroonians to prove that they master ex-colonial languages as much as, or even more than traditional native speakers of the languages” themselves. when will africans actually realise that “when an african speaks american english, the credit goes to america,” as rightly pointed out by micheal ndemanu in may 2023 during the second world conference on transformative education held in ghana? there are many anglophone cameroonians who successfully carry out their daily activities worldwide using their indigenised came accent. just like no language can portray one’s identity better than their mother tongues, no english variety can depict the sociocultural realities of a new english setting or express the ways and thoughts of its users better than the local variety. it is equally obvious that it is only through their native or indigenised languages that individuals can actually showcase their highest degree of creativity, self-confidence and performance. what can justify the persistence of colonialist visions like simo bobda’s (2004) equating the language policy applied by the british in cameroon during the colonial period to a linguistic apartheid, and advocating “not just english per se, but standard british english” in cameroon? this is a vision which takes on the british administration for keeping africans away from “good english”. for its author, the british should have drilled africans on standard british english. africans in general and francophone cameroonians in particular should stop seeing native english speech as more prestigious, correct and intelligible than their local varieties. doing so is ignoring kachru’s (1992, 67) call on all english users around the world to “realise that this new role of english [as an international language] puts a burden on those who use it as their first language, as well as on those who use it as their second language.” that is to say, it is not the duty of non-native speakers alone to speak english in a way that ensures international intelligibility. francophone efl teachers in cameroon should be acquainted with this and should equally think of some powerful declarations from such postcolonial thinkers as achebe who were able, as far back as in the 1960s, to perceive indigenized varieties of english as real forces to reckon with. they should be aware that the english language has become a global resource and the possession of every community that in any way uses it regardless of what any other individual or community may feel or think about the matter (mcarthur, 1999). in a world dominated by the west, africa must strive to get its own share through fights of various global journal of transformative education (2024) vol 4 kouam, efl teaching & learning in cameroon 42 natures, including linguistic struggles. it is no news that language is power. american imperialism has been very successful thanks to the spread of the english language. if africa cannot totally rely on indigenous languages to face the rest of the world, its indiginised english varieties can play a major role. kouam (in production) strongly believes that cameroonian and african natural resources are appealing enough to america and europe. if the indigenised african varieties of english appear to be the sole means of communication through which discussions regarding these resources can be held, the western world will not resist. they will embrace indigenised african english models. francophone efl teachers’ mindset, as it stands, is contrary to african transformative development initiatives and visions. it must be reshaped through decolonisation. the best method to deconstruct and reconstruct francophone efl teachers’ english linguistic mindset in cameroon remains the teaching of the course entitled world englishes to efl student teachers. the teaching of such a course will definitely influence their attitudes towards indigenised english varieties. fewer and fewer studies now brandish traditional native speakers of english as sole norm-providers and non-native speakers as followers of the established norms. instead, most works (e.g., levis, 2005) require that the nativeness principle, which used to prevail in the teaching of english pronunciation in both native and non-native contexts, should now pave the way to the intelligibility principle, which best addresses all contexts of second or foreign language teaching/learning. francophone efl teachers in cameroon should follow this principle which simply requires learners to be intelligible. therefore, language policy makers in cameroon should recommend mainstream cameroon english for both esl and efl teaching to the detriment of standard british english. studies have shown that camfe contains many features of came and very few features of sbe even though camfe speakers paradoxically display a very negative attitude towards came and a very positive one towards sbe. the codification process of came is far advanced. the legitimate features of its educated variety as well as features that can be considered as mistakes and excluded are well known. more textbooks need to be designed based on its educated variety to enable a smooth teaching of this local english model. conclusion although english is mainly a colonial heritage for cameroonians and other africans, postcolonial nations should develop pride for its local varieties, as they are emblematic of our sociocultural realities. as for now, there is almost no alternative to english as a global lingua franca. it would be fallacious to think that a cameroonian indigenous language can guarantee the instrumental role that english fulfils today. the issue is thus that of the variety that should be promoted. in the cameroonian context, came should be the target in elt rather than standard british english. if the cameroonian efl teaching stakeholders (who are mostly of a francophone background) emulate their fellow anglophone colleagues in the teaching of an accent which is at the reach of the learners and is rooted in their sociolinguistic and sociocultural realities, francophone cameroonian learners will develop greater competences in oral communication. the exposure of prospective francophone efl teachers to world englishes, as is already the case with esl teachers, can seriously play in favour of this. the present situation which is characterized by the unattainable objective of approximating native englishes ignites frustrations in the students, as they remain unable to communicate actively in the language. also, embracing came rather than sbe can only reinforce national integration. there is thus a necessity to join wa thiongo (1986) in his call for a decolonization of the mind. levis’ (2005) intelligibility principle should also be the watchword in the cameroonian efl teaching industry nowadays given that the nativeness principle which has so far been followed by francophone efl teachers simply leads to hypercorrection, a phenomenon which was observed to be compromising francophone learners’ ability to speak english naturally and fluently. references achebe, c. (1965). english and the african writer. transition, 4(18), 27-30. atechi, s. n. (2015). english and french in cameroon today: revisiting a previous statement. international journal of language studies, 9(1), 75-90. issn: 2157-4898; eissn: 2157-4901. bokamba, e. g. (2007). multilingual policies in african public domains. in achimbe, e. (ed.): identity construction in postcolonial multilingual spaces. newcastle: cambridge scholars publishing. bokamba, e. g. (2011). ukolonia in african language policies and practices. in selected proceedings of the 40th annual conference on african linguistics, (pp. 146-167). cascadilla proceedings project. global journal of transformative education (2024) vol 4 http://www.lingref.com/cpp/acal/40/abstract2572.html http://www.lingref.com/cpp/acal/40/abstract2572.html kouam, efl teaching & learning in cameroon 43 bolton, k., kachru, b., kachru, y., & nelson, c. l. (2006). the handbook of world englishes. varieties of world englishes, 289-312. blackwell publishing. crystal, d. (2003). english as a global language, (2nd ed). cambridge: cambridge university press. echu, g. (2003). the language question in cameroon. linguistik online, 18, 19-33. 1/04 issn 1615-3014. eberhard, d. m., simons g. f., & fennig, c. d. (2023) ethnologue: languages of the world, [21st ed.]. sil international, usa. firth, j. r. (1964). the tongues of men and speech. london: oxford university press. language and language learning series. honey, j. (1997). language is power: the story of standard english and its enemies. london: faber and faber. kachru, b. (1985). standards, codification and xociolinguistic realism: the english language in the outer circle. in r. quirk & widdowson, h. g. (eds.), english in the world: teaching and learning the language and literatures (pp. 11-36). cambridge: cambridge university press. kachru, b. (1986). the alchemy of english: the spread, function and models of non-native englishes. oxford: pergamon press. kachru, b. (1992). world englishes: approaches, issues and resources. language teaching, 25(1), 1-14. kouam, c. (2022). hypercorrection in cameroon francophone english speech. in ngefac, a. (ed.), aspects of cameroon englishes. cambridge scholars publishing. pp157-173. kouam, c. (in press). the linguistic mindset of anglophone and francophone users of english in cameroon. in ngefac, a., neba, d. c. and ndemanu, m. t. (eds.). language, literature and education for the development of postcolonial africa. bloomsbury publishing kramsch, c. (1999). global and local identities in the contact zone. in gnutzmann, c. (ed.), teaching and learning english as a global language: native and non-native perspectives (pp. 131-143). tubingen: stauffenburg-verl. labov, w. (1966). the social stratification of english in new york city. washington, d. c.: center for applied linguistics. levis, j. m. (2005). changing contexts and shifting paradigms in pronunciation teaching. tesol quarterly, 39(3), 369-377. mcarthur, t. (1999). english today. cambridge: cambridge university press. ndemanu, m. t. (2023). opening remarks from the chairman. the 2nd world conference on transformative education, cape coast, ghana, may 27, 2023. ngefac, a. (2011). when the blind lead the blind: the fallacy of promoting standard british english accent in cameroon. journal of language teaching and research, 2(1), 40-44. ngefac, a. (2012). from skin colour mutilation to tongue rejection: cameroonians’ attitudes towards their local tongues. in echu, g. (2012). fifty years of official bilingualism (1961-2001). harmattan: paris, 163-191. ngefac, a. (2022). introduction: aspects of cameroon englishes. in aspects of cameroon englishes. cambridge scholars publishing. pp1-14. platt, j., weber, h. and ho, m. l. (1984). the new englishes. london: routledge and kegan paul. prator, c. (1968). the british heresy in tesl. in j. a. fishman, c. a. ferguson, & gupta, j. d. (eds.), language problems in developing nations. new york: john wiley. quirk, r. (1985). the english language in a global context. english in the world: teaching and learning the language and literatures, 16, 17-21. safotso, g. t. (2018). a study of the phonological features of cameroon francophone english. saabrüncken: scholars’ press. safotso, g. t. (2022). cameroon francophone english in public speeches and on audio-visual media. in a. ngefac (ed.). aspects of cameroon englishes. cambridge scholars publishing, 148-156. simo bobda, a. (2004). linguistic apartheid: english language policy in africa. english today, 77, 20 (1), 19-26. simo bobda, a. (2013). the emergence of a standardizing cameroon francophone english pronunciation in cameroon. in nils-lennard johannesson et al. (2013 ed.), of butterflies and birds, of dialects and genres. stockholm: us-ab, pp. 289-301. todd, l. (1982). the english language in west africa. in bailey, r. & görlach, m, (eds.), english as a world language (pp. 281-305). ann arbor: michigan press. wa thiongo, n. (1986). decolonising the mind: the politics of language in african literature. heinemann education. clement kouam (kouamclement@gmail.com) is a parttime lecturer at the university of yaounde i in cameroon. author mcghie, v. & dos reis, k.. global journal of transformative education (2024) vol 4 pp 44-56. doi 10.14434/gjte.v4i1.35408 open access published by the global insitutute of transformative education (http://www.gite.education) © mcghie & dos reis 2024. open access this journal is distributed under the terms of the creative commons attribution noncommercial nonderivative 4.0 international license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction without revision in any non-commercial medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the creative commons license, translations as a transformative form of language support to english additional language speaking students at a south african university venicia mcghie1 and karen dos reis2 abstract this paper reports on an innovative translation intervention strategy piloted in the first semester of 2017 in the business faculty at a historically black university in south africa. the pilot study covered the implementation and monitoring of translating instructions, questions and explanations into two of the students’ first languages in the formative assessments in the first-year management 131 subject. the pilot project was situated within a qualitative, interpretive research paradigm. the research design used for the pilot project was a case study design. a total of 259 first-year students (both english home language and additional language-speaking students) completed a survey. the findings show that the translations in their home languages assisted the students in comprehending the instructions and course content. in so doing, it levelled the playing field and enabled them to perform optimally, resulting in an increased pass rate in the subject. additionally, the english-speaking students felt the intervention was a much-needed innovation. also, other additional language-speaking students requested translations to be done in their home languages as well. the findings provide evidence that students who are english additional language speakers need innovative and transformative language interventions to succeed in their respective degree programmes at post-secondary institutions. the implication is that other colleges and universities should consider doing the same for their students to increase the retention and success rates of undergraduate students in higher education. keywords: first-year students; english additional language; translations; language support, intervention strategy; academic success. full listing of authors and contacts can be found at the end of this article. introduction the south african constitution recognises eleven official languages for its multi-racial and multi-cultural population (department of basic education, 2013; republic of south africa, 1996). isizulu (one of the eleven languages) is the most spoken language, with 11.58 million speakers (23%), followed by isixhosa, 8.15 million (16%), and afrikaans, 6.85 million (13.5%). english is spoken by 4.89 million people (10%), followed by sepedi with 4.62 million (9.1%), and setswana with 4.07 million (8%) (census, 2011; south africa information, 2018). however, based on south africa’s colonial past, english, as the fourth most spoken language in south africa, is perceived as a ‘global language’, and hence, it is the preferred mode of communication and interaction in academia, trace, the economy and technology (brenzinger, 2017; hurst & mona, 2017; xue & zuo, 2013; xuyen & trang, 2021). consequently, english is used as the medium of instruction in primary schools (from grade 4 onwards) and most high schools and post-secondary institutions in south africa (council on higher education, 2014; department of basic education, 2013). the preference for english as the medium of instruction in schools and tertiary institutions in south africa is problematic on at least three accounts. firstly, it goes against the language policy and developmental plan for south africa because it does not promote mother-tongue education. globally, much research has been done on the issue of having to learn and construct new knowledge in one’s home language versus in an additional language (bada, 2017; brock-utne, desai & qorro, 2006; gentry, 2022; mgqwashu, 2011; xuyen & trang, 2021). the research findings show that 44 mcghie & dos reis, translations as language support 45 learners who learn and construct new knowledge in their home language achieve a greater degree of academic success than learners who are english additional language speakers (bada, 2017; hoxha & sumner, 2021; hurst & mona, 2017; mgqwashu, 2011). secondly, the multilingual language policy is hindered by public funding constraints and a lack of educational resources (such as a lack of libraries and technological equipment in some schools) (brenzinger, 2017; heugh, 2013). hence, not adhering to and implementing the approved language policy makes it contradictory as the intention is “praiseworthy,” but action is lacking. more recently, the education policy debate has gradually shifted from access to schooling to improving the quality of learning and teaching at post-secondary institutions because more students are failing nationally than succeeding in their respective degree programmes (council on higher education, 2014; 2016; masino & nino-zarazua, 2015; pather, 2018). thirdly, it is also about social justice imperatives because the emphasis on english, which is the colonial language, is to the detriment of developing the indigenous languages in south africa (hurst & mona, 2017; masino & nino-zarazua, 2015; mgqwashu, 2011). from a social justice perspective, the authors advocate for the liberation and empowerment of the poor and marginalised groups in society and for the provision of quality education that could lead to economic emancipation and development for all (council on higher education, 2014; 2016; leibowitz, 2009; masino & nino-zarazua, 2015). it was for the above reasons, among others, that the post-apartheid government in 1995 embarked on a transformation process to eradicate the inequalities of the past through the acknowledgement of eleven official languages (ministry of education, 2001). however, while the intention was good in theory, the status quo remains three decades after democracy. the 2015 and 2016 student protests highlighted the need for decolonisation, and the #rhodesmustfall movement specifically foregrounded the language issue and the fact that the colonial language still dominates the medium of instruction at most higher education institutions in south africa. the authors argue that transformative learning theory principles should be applied in post-secondary education in south africa. transformative learning is based on the premise that human beings interpret their experiences uniquely and that how they see the world results from their perceptions and experiences (cranton & taylor, 2012). it is a process of examining, questioning, and revising those perceptions, so critical thought and self-reflection are part of it. the goal should be to teach students to become self-aware and critical, to question norms and perceptions and, in the process, to be transformed (cranton & taylor, 2012). based on the above context, this paper reports on a pilot project conducted during the first semester of 2017 in the business faculty at a historically black university in south africa. the pilot project covered the implementation and monitoring of translations as an innovative intervention strategy that aimed to provide language support to new first-year students who were additional language speakers of english in the faculty. hence, the paper attempts to fill the gap of english additional language speaking students’ challenge to construct meaning in a language that is not their mother tongue (landsberg, 2005; mgqwashu, 2011). while much research has been done on the challenges that these learners face in the learning process, not many studies focus on providing intervention strategies to assist them (bada, 2017; heugh, 2013; hurst & mona, 2017; pather, 2018). the authors contend that these students need language support to succeed at post-secondary institutions in their respective degree programmes. the innovative translation support intervention strategy discussed in this paper is one such attempt. context of the pilot project the university where the pilot project was conducted is one of four institutions of higher learning in one province in south africa. the apartheid government established the university to provide for the higher education needs of the coloured population in south africa. the university’s language of learning and teaching was afrikaans, one of the eleven official languages. however, because this university was directly involved in the struggle against apartheid, it became known as the “university of the left” (walker & badsha, 1993) and opened its doors to african and asian students as well (letseka & maile, 2008; volbrecht, 2002). most of these students came from working class communities and under-resourced public schooling (mcghie, 2012; mgqwashu, 2011; venter, 2020). to accommodate the african students who had different home languages, the university changed its language policy to a bilingual one with afrikaans and english as the languages of learning and teaching (academic development centre, 1998). global journal of transformative education (2024) vol 4 mcghie & dos reis, translations as language support 46 global journal of transformative education (2024) vol 4 as a result of a steady increase in the number of african students over the years, there was a gradual move to english as the only language of learning and teaching at the university, but it was not without disparities and concerns among the university staff and management (academic development centre, 1998; volbrecht, 2002). in order to resolve the issue, the university management accepted a multilingual approach at its council meeting held in june 1992 that reads: “regarding the lingua franca to be used particularly by students, it was generally agreed that students be encouraged to write in the language they feel comfortable with” (volbrecht, 2002, p. 217). despite this decision, the university moved overwhelmingly to english as the only language of learning and teaching by the end of 1992. according to dyers (1996), the reasons for the shift to english were: • most lecturers perceived english as the most viable academic lingua franca at that point in history; • the majority of the lecturers were english-speaking or bilingual (english and afrikaans), and only a small minority of the lecturers were isixhosa-speaking; • most students at the time were isixhosa-speaking (44%), and surveys conducted among students suggested that most isixhosa-speaking students preferred receiving instruction in english rather than in isixhosa. english as the official language of instruction and communication meant that only english was used in lectures and tutorials, tasks, assignments, tests and examinations, and written material and learning resources used by staff. ironically, the language of the colonisers and the oppressors who instigated discrimination and injustice became the language of teaching and language at this university and still is to this day. this situation poses language learning challenges for the students (hurst, e. & mona, 2017; landsberg, 2005; mcghie, moodley & naidoo, 2015). since 1993, students who are additional language speakers of english have to learn and construct meaning in english at an advanced level. it is no wonder, then, that the overall throughput rate of the university’s students is below the national south african benchmark mark of 29% (council on higher education, 2016; 2017). it is against this backdrop that the authors advocate that transformative learning should take place where the status quo is challenged and students be empowered through the use of language support interventions in their home languages. such interventions can provide students with extra assistance to understand better the content of their different subjects and the instructions, questions and explanations they receive for tasks, assignments and tests. in this way, they will know what is required to complete these assessments correctly and, as a consequence, strengthen their chances of passing their assessments and their subjects well. moreover, first-year students need more academic support than senior students, as they also have to deal with transitional and adjustment challenges (council on higher education, 2017; letseka, cosser, breier & visser, 2010; pather, 2018). aim and objectives the aim of the pilot project was two-fold. first, the authors wanted to provide translations as a transformative intervention strategy in the students’ home languages to aid new first-year students’ understanding of instructions, questions and explanations in their assignments so that they would know what and how to do their assignments correctly. secondly, by implementing the intervention strategy, the authors wanted to strengthen first-year students’ chances of succeeding academically. the objectives were to: • legitimise the other two official languages used in the province (afrikaans and isixhosa) in order to strengthen students’ understanding and academic integration; and • increase students’ academic performance and success in their different subjects. to achieve the aim and objectives, the main research question was: can the provision of translations as a transformative intervention strategy enhance students’ academic success? literature review the student movements, #feesmustfall and #rhodesmustfall in 2015 and 2016, were outcries from the students to south african universities’ management and the department of higher education to adhere to the bill of rights in the south african constitution and the language policy (republic of south africa, 1996). tinto (2009, p. 2) explains, “to be serious about student retention, universities would recognize that the roots of student attrition lie not only in their students and the situations they face, but also in the very character of the educational settings in which they ask students to mcghie & dos reis, translations as language support 47 learn, namely the classrooms, laboratories, and studios of the campus.” this quote implies that university management and staff should be mindful of the learning contexts they create for their students and the institutional culture and practices that could alienate them. it means that university management should place the students first and provide the necessary resources and support to assist students’ social and academic integration into the university environment (tinto, 2006, 2009). the authors agree with tinto that student success does not happen by chance (tinto, 2009). according to him, student success results from an intentional, structured and proactive set of coherent, systematic, and carefully aligned strategies, with the first year of university studies as the most critical period to make it happen (tinto, 2009). as a consequence of this commitment, providing translation as a transformative language intervention strategy to english additional language speaking students is one form of language support that could increase students’ pass rates. cummins (2007, 2008) explains that a minimum of five to seven years is needed for english additional language learners to catch up academically, that is, to acquire the language proficiency needed in english to succeed at the tertiary level. cummins (2007, 2008) distinguishes (based on research that was conducted into the role of language proficiency and bilingualism in academic achievements) between conversation proficiency (what he used to term bics – basic interpersonal communicative skills) and academic proficiency (formerly termed calp – cognitive academic language proficiency). cummins (2008) further explains that language proficiency in a social situation (bics) is characterised by interpersonal interaction and requires only basic interpersonal language proficiency from the communicator. meaning is negotiated by the participants in the conversation and conveyed through language. the context within which the communication takes place supports conveying meaning. interpretations are embedded in the situation and often associated with non-verbal clues. he explains that calp is usually language in its primary and written form, and it is not, for example, possible to obtain additional information from non-verbal clues (cummins, 2008). he argues that more advanced language skills than those required for an informal, personal conversation are needed to read or write a scientific report or academic assignment (cummins, 2008). as such, the shortcomings in additional language speaking students’ language skills would inhibit their achievements in academic tasks much more than it would in the case of interpersonal communication (cummins, 2007, 2008). for this author, academic language proficiency refers to an absolute concept of expertise in understanding and using the specific language employed in an educational context and required to complete academic tasks (cummins, 2008). consequently, he argues that academic language proficiency means that one has ‘the language knowledge together with the associated knowledge of the world and metacognitive strategies necessary to function effectively in the language of communication and instruction at the university level (cummins, 2008). an inference can be made from cummins’ explanation of what ‘knowing a language means’ that english additional language speakers have a demanding and daunting task ahead of them when they embark on the learning journey at the post-secondary level. most of these students have difficulty achieving good grades in their subjects, not because they are ‘dumb’ or ‘weak’ or ‘lazy’ (labelling terms often ascribed to these students by some academics), but simply because english is not their home language (gentry, 2022; hoxha & sumner, 2021; masino & nino-zarazua, 2015). hence, the english language proficiency of additional language speaking students is not developed sufficiently to enable them to perform well in their different subjects, which is why they need transformative and innovative language intervention support. methods the pilot project was situated within a qualitative, interpretive research paradigm (creswell & creswell, 2018; yin, 2014). there were two reasons for this choice. the first was based on the fact that the authors wanted to assist english additional language-speaking students in their daily lived experiences of having to study and construct meaning in english, which is referred to as their ‘natural setting’ (babbie & mouton, 2010; creswell & creswell, 2018; yin, 2014). the second reason was that qualitative research acknowledges that reality is socially constructed, as people’s experiences happen within personal, cultural, historical and social contexts (babbie & mouton, 2010; hennink, hutter & bailey, 2011). the students’ meaning-making process happened within a colonised set-up where they had to acquire and construct advanced knowledge in english. this meant that their own personal,cultural, global journal of transformative education (2024) vol 4 mcghie & dos reis, translations as language support 48 historical and social contexts had to be replaced with a ‘foreign one’ as they had to learn the english language and the associated knowledge and metacognitive strategies necessary to function effectively, as cummins (2008) explains. these principles are also in line with transformative learning theories – that meaning is negotiated and should be questioned and critically analysed to effect change and allow students to use their agency (cranton & taylor, 2012). the research design used for the pilot project was a case study design (stake, 2006; yin, 2014). a case study design assisted in understanding and gaining insights into first-year, english additional language speaking students’ language needs, and in decolonising the usage of english as the medium of instruction at the university (stake, 2006; yin, 2014). the authors’ approach to decolonising the usage of english through the provision of translations was based on le grange’s (2016) notion that decolonisation is the phenomenon that encompasses providing language support to first-year students. thus, the authors propose that the provision of translations as a language support intervention strategy for english additional language speaking students can be used as an initial step towards the decolonisation of the use of english in higher education institutions in south africa and globally. the pilot project was rolled out in all the first-year subjects in the university’s business faculty at the beginning of the first semester in 2017. the lecturers teaching first-year subjects were invited to send their instructions, questions and explanations of their different tutorial assignments (which form part of the formative assessments during the course of the semester) to the teaching and learning specialist who coordinated and facilitated the translation thereof into afrikaans and isixhosa (the two dominant languages spoken in the western cape province where the university is situated). notices were placed on the university’s online student learning platform inviting the students to download the translated assignments. announcements about this service available to the students were also made in the different lectures during the semester. the teaching and learning specialist sent the tutorial assignments to a team of translators recommended by the subject lecturers and selected based on a proficiency test. regular meetings with the translators and the different lecturers were held to ensure that the translations were on par with the english versions. in addition, there was ongoing email communication between the teaching and learning specialist and the lecturers to monitor and quality assure the process. lecturers from six different departments in the faculty participated in the process. at the end of the semester, a report was drawn from the students’ learning management system that indicated how many students downloaded the translations in the six departments. the report reflected that the most downloads (782) occurred in the management (man 131) first-year subject. based on the fact that the most downloads occurred in this subject, the authors decided to use the information of all the first-year students who were registered for man 131 as data for this paper. the results are divided into five data sets. data set 1 consists of a breakdown of how many isixhosa-speaking students and how many afrikaans-speaking students downloaded the instructions in the man 131 subject. data set 2 presents a breakdown of the students’ home languages, and data set 3 gives an account of the two tutorial assignments, which were translated into isixhosa and afrikaans. finally, two surveys were conducted towards the end of the first semester to establish the students’ and academics’ views and experiences of the language support intervention strategy. in keeping with ethical principles, the staff and students were invited to participate voluntarily in the survey. the surveys were sent to all the academics and first-year students in the faculty. for this paper, only the students’ responses are analysed and discussed. the responses of the staff will be discussed in another paper. a total of 259 first-year students (both english home language and additional language speaking students) completed the survey. the students had to indicate if they were english home language or additional language speaking students. however, only 100 of the students answered all the questions and provided explanations for their answers. thus, only the 100 responses (23 english home language and 77 additional language speaking students) were analysed and reported on in this paper. four questions were asked in the student survey. these ask whether or not students: 1. were aware of the language support programme; 2. downloaded the translated instructions, questions and explanations of the tutorial assignments from the university’s student learning management system; 3. thought that the translated instructions, questions and explanations in the tutorial assignments improved their understanding of the content of their subjects (they had first to tick a box, (yes or no), global journal of transformative education (2024) vol 4 mcghie & dos reis, translations as language support 49 and then explain their answers); and 4. whether they thought there was a need for such an intervention (again, they had to tick a box (yes or no) and then explain their answers). the students’ responses to the four questions were quantitative (yes/no answers) and were entered into excel software to present the number of similar and different responses visually. these responses are referred to as data set 4. the students’ explanations to the last two questions were qualitative in nature and analysed through content analysis, using a three-stage, open coding process (henning, 2004). the first stage involved a general reading and noting of the explanations on a word document. the second stage involved a second, closer reading where similar responses were categorised under main themes and entered on another word document. the last stage of the open coding process involved a further reduction of the responses into sub-themes on a new word document. the authors worked through the responses carefully and requested another colleague to check and verify that the responses were correctly documented on the three word documents. these explanations are referred to as data set 5. results the results from the four quantitative data sets are presented first and, after that, the themes and subthemes identified in the qualitative data set. data set 1: downloaded isixhosa and afrikaans translated tutorials in management 131 as stated in the previous section, 782 downloads were made. of these, 263 downloads were made by the isixhosa-speaking students for tutorial assignment 1 and 243 for the second tutorial, while the afrikaans-speaking students made a total of 164 downloads for tutorial 1 and 112 downloads for tutorial 2. table 1 reflects the downloads in percentages. the percentages for the isixhosa downloads are more or less on par with the number of students who reported that isixhosa is their first language (refer to data set 2). this, however, is not the case for the number of afrikaans downloads made, as only 47 students declared that afrikaans was their first language (refer to figure 1). possible reasons for the discrepancy are discussed in the next section. data set 2: language distribution of registered first-year students in management 131 a total of 735 first-year students was registered in management 131 in the first semester of 2017. of the 735 students, 47 indicated on their registration information that they were afrikaans-speaking students (6.39%), 252 isixhosa-speaking (34.29%), 280 english (38.10%), and 156 other language speakers (21.22%). figure 1 gives a visual presentation of the percentages. figure 1 shows that 61.90% (that is 6.39 + 34.29 + 21.22) of the students registered in management 131 were english additional language speaking students, and 38.10% were english home language speakers. this finding reflects the university’s general trend of language distribution (institutional planning office, 2017). data set 3: comparison of students’ performance in the two tutorial assignments figure 2 illustrates the students’ performance averages in the two tutorial assignments translated compared with the english-first-language-speaking students’ average results. the results indicate that the afrikaans-speaking students’ average was 78.6%, the isixhosa-speaking students was 71.90%, and the english mother tongue students’ average was 76.21%. global journal of transformative education (2024) vol 4 mcghie & dos reis, translations as language support 50 data set 4: quantitative responses from the students’ survey table 2 reflects the 100 students’ responses to the four questions asked in the survey. the results show that 71 students (71%) were aware of the language support programme, while 29 said they were unaware. thirty-nine of the 100 students downloaded the translated tutorials, and 61 did not. one can infer that the 23 english home language students were part of the 61 who did not download the translations because there was no need to do so. hence, the remaining 38 were english additional language speaking students, which could mean that they considered downloading the instructions as ‘extra work’ and decided not to download the translations. alternatively, it could have been some other language-speaking students who did not download the translations as they were not in their first languages. however, it should be noted that the other afrikaans downloads (see table 1) could have been made by some of the remaining 159 students whose responses were omitted, as explained in the methods section. the results further reflect that the students who used the translated assignments’ instructions, questions and explanations indicated that the translations assisted them in better understanding the work covered in the module. lastly, most students (92%) thought there was a need for such an intervention, and they provided reasons for their stance in data set 5. data set 5: students’ explanations of the answers given to the last two questions two main themes were identified from the students’ explanations for their answers to questions 3 and 4: (i) positive explanations and (ii) challenges identified. four sub-themes were identified under the first theme and two under the second theme. these are described below. theme 1: positive explanations. sub-theme 1: better understanding of the subject matter the thirty-nine students who downloaded the translated assignments explained that it assisted them in understanding the content of the subject better. below are examples of pertinent responses received: • it helps me a lot as i did not understand at first. • it helps because i understand the work better. • i understand the work much better. thus, the fact that students felt that the translations assisted them in better understanding the content of the subject could be one of the contributing reasons why the afrikaans-speaking students’ performances in the two tutorial assignments were better than the english mother tongue students’ performance. sub-theme 2: receiving translated assignments was advantageous thirty-two students responded positively and said receiving the assignments in their first language was ‘great’. below are specific sentiments expressed by the students: • the program is doing a great job! • the translated tutorials are a good idea. • this is a great service and students are lucky to have this service available. these comments imply that the students were satisfied with the intervention. in addition, the third response implies that the students did not think of the intervention as a right they had. instead, receiving the global journal of transformative education (2024) vol 4 mcghie & dos reis, translations as language support 51 global journal of transformative education (2024) vol 4 tutorial assignments in isixhosa and afrikaans was perceived as ‘being lucky’, which could be inferred as ‘being privileged’. an inference can be made that the students did not expect to receive translations in their first language as they knew that the university used english as its medium of instruction. also, language support interventions in the form of translations are not standard practice at the school level (the policy does not require schools to implement such interventions), which could be another reason why the students regarded it as a ‘privilege’ (department of basic education, 2019). sub-theme 3: empathy showed by english home language speaking students another positive response was that the 23 english home language speaking students who completed the survey showed empathy towards students who were additional language speakers of english. they explained that having the tutorial assignments translated into isixhosa and afrikaans was an innovative idea because these students would better understand what the assignments were about, which could assist them in doing better in their modules. certain students provided the following recommendations for the way forward: • i feel it will benefit second language students tremendously. • i think the translated tutorials do assist students, as english is not their first language. • basically, i think translated tutorials are good because some students struggle to understand in english. moreover, one student felt that this initiative could lower the dropout rates. an inference can be made that the student was aware that learning in english is challenging for additional language speaking students and that it could be one of the reasons why many students fail and do not complete their degree programmes on time. thus, the student thought that receiving the tutorial instructions and explanations in afrikaans or isixhosa would aid the students’ understanding and strengthen their chances of passing their subjects, which correlates with the aim and objectives of this paper. sub-theme 4: creating equality one student noted: • i think they are a good venture, they create a sense of equality. the comment from the student implies that he/she thought that the translations levelled the playing field. that is, students who were additional language speakers of english could make sense of and understand the tutorial assignments better because it was in their mother tongue (similar to students who received it in english and who were english home-language speaking students). in this instance, an inference could be made that this response alluded to decolonising the curriculum and breaking the dominance of english in the classroom, on the one hand, and providing these students with an equal opportunity to pass their respective subjects, on the other hand. theme 2: challenges identified sub-theme 1: a need to translate the assignments into other languages nine students suggested that the assignments’ instructions, questions and explanations should also be translated into other languages and not only into isixhosa and afrikaans. below are some of the students’ suggestions: • isizulu must be catered for. • i think all 11 languages should be catered for. • consider adding other languages. these students’ responses indicate a need for language support and that isixhosa and afrikaans speaking students benefited from the support, but they did not. it thus provides evidence for the argument in this paper, which is that english additional language speaking students need transformative language support interventions to improve their understanding of instructions, questions and explanations given in tutorial assignments, tests and examinations in their different subjects. sub-theme 2: not making use of the translation provided seven students indicated that they did not download the translated assignments because they were “lazy” and thereby not “creating more work” for themselves. the students concurred with the response below: • i was too lazy to download the translations. this response is not uncommon, as there will be students who do not want to make the extra effort to help themselves. at least they were honest in explaining why they did not use the support provided mcghie & dos reis, translations as language support 52 global journal of transformative education (2024) vol 4 discussion the analysis in the previous section focuses on three main issues, namely: 1. the language distribution of the first-year students who were registered for the management 131 subject; 2. the results of the students in the two tutorial assignments that were translated, and 3. the students’ survey responses, which can be grouped into three findings: first, the translations aided the students’ understanding of the content in the module. second, it was an innovative transformative idea to provide language support in the form of translations to english additional language speaking students. third, translations of the formative assessments should also be provided to students who speak other south african languages. figure 1 shows the language distribution of the first-year students registered for the management (man 131) subject in the first semester of 2017, where most of the downloads occurred. however, if one compares this finding with the results in table 1, it is only the isixhosa finding that correlates with the number of students who reported isixhosa as their first language. table 1 reflects that only 47 students indicated that afrikaans is their first language, but 163 afrikaans translations were downloaded for the first assignment and 112 for the second. a possible reason for the discrepancy in the afrikaans downloads could be that the same students could have downloaded the translations more than once. it could also be that some of the students who indicated that they were english home language speakers downloaded the translations as well because they came from afrikaans-speaking home environments. this inference points to the dominance of english and the fact that it is regarded as the ‘language of choice’ (bada, 2017; heugh, 2013; xue & zuo, 2013). moreover, both students and their parents regard english as ‘superior’ to the other indigenous languages, as it is seen as the ‘global language that can open doors’ and as a result, parents would intentionally use english to communicate with their children so that the children can become fluent in the english language (dyers, 1996, 2001; xue & zuo, 2013). that is why the children, when they come to university, regard english as their first language, despite their parents speaking afrikaans (dyers, 1996, 2001). it could be argued that the preference for the english language is one of the reasons why the other indigenous languages in south africa are not further developed and strengthened (masino & nino-zarazua, 2015; matsinhe, 2004; mgqwashu, 2011). however, this inference also speaks to cummins’ (2008) division of bics and calp and his explanation of language proficiency in a social situation (bics), which is characterised by interpersonal interaction and requires only basic interpersonal language proficiency from the communicator because meaning is negotiated by the participants in the conversation and is conveyed using language. as such, students who come from an afrikaans-speaking background and switched to english only will have bics that is better developed than their calp. as a result, they will think that they have mastered the english language and will regard themselves as english mother tongue students. however, when it comes to calp, they will need assistance, which could be why more afrikaans downloads were made (163 and 112) than the number of students (47) who reported they were afrikaans-speaking. the second finding that emerged from the data is the results presented in figure 2. the results reflect that the afrikaans-speaking students’ performance (78.6%) was higher than the english-speaking students (76.21%), followed by the isixhosa-speaking students’ performance (71.90%). thus, the results validate what the students reported in the survey – the translated tutorial assignments improved their understanding of what was required of them and, in so doing, enhanced their performance in the two assessments. in addition, the fact that their results compared favourably to the results of their english counterparts is further proof that the transformative translation intervention strategy produced the desired result. when students are empowered to understand better instructions, questions and explanations given in formative assessments, they could perform close to, or better than, the english mother tongue students, as the results showed. this finding is also in line with what cummins (2008) argues for that english additional language speaking students require language support to succeed academically since they have to learn the language of instruction and, at the same time, learn the academic content. it also speaks to an element of transformative learning in that the students were provided with the opportunity to read and understand the instructions in their own language, and not in the colonial language. however, the authors are mindful that other factors (such as having sufficient time to complete the tutorial assignments and consultation with the lecturer and mcghie & dos reis, translations as language support 53 global journal of transformative education (2024) vol 4 tutors) could have also contributed to the students’ good performance. also, since this was a pilot project, there were no previous findings that could be used to compare or benchmark the students’ performance. the only comparison that could be made was with the overall pass and failure rates of the man 131 subject in 2016, where there was a 74.2% pass rate and a 25.8% failure rate. the pass rate of man 131 in 2017 was 89.5%, and the failure rate was 10.5% (department of management, 2017). this means that there was an increase of more than 15% in the pass rate in 2017. the authors propose that the provision of translations in the students’ mother tongues contributed to the increase in the pass rate in the module in 2017. lastly, the fact that the english home language students and the students who downloaded the translated assignments felt that the intervention strategy was an innovative and much-needed step, underscores the need for students to be taught in their native language as it will improve and enhance their understanding of what they read and learn (cummins, 2008; department of basic education, 2018, 2019; whiteside, gooch & norbury, 2017). this need for mother-tongue education is further highlighted by the nine students who indicated that translations into their first languages should also be provided since they spoke some of the other eleven languages. smith (1999) and chilisa (2012) advocate that the concepts of “deconstruction and reconstruction” question that which is understood as “the norm” in order to rewrite history so that indigenous people’s norms, traditions and cultures rightfully be acknowledged as legitimate and valid. similarly, transformative learning pedagogy emphasises the need to question and challenge experiences and perceptions from a colonial nature. these should be critically analysed, and students should be empowered and encouraged to exercise their agency in a transformative manner. in this regard, the additional language-speaking students exercised their right to construct meaning in their home languages, which form part of their culture, values and traditions. they were pleased that they were provided with the opportunity to receive the instructions, questions and explanations of the tutorial assignments in their mother tongues. therefore, the translation intervention strategy validated the students’ knowledge and lived realities, which is what gentry (2022), hurst and mona (2017) and cranton and taylor (2012) also argued for. equally important is the comment by another student “…they [the translated instructions, questions and explanations] create a sense of equality.” the two responses (an innovative idea and equality) drive the message home – that indigenous languages should be acknowledged, respected, and embraced so that transformative learning can occur. the authors propose that students and the broader communities in south africa and elsewhere should be allowed to practise their right to be taught in their home languages. if that is not feasible (as is the current situation in south africa), transformative language support interventions should be in place to assist these students, which is what tinto (2009), cummins (2007, 2008), strydom and mentz (2010) and whiteside et al. (2017) (amongst others) suggest should happen. conclusion and recommendations three overall findings could be inferred from the analysis and discussion of the data collected for this pilot project. • there are still more students who are english additional language speaking students in the business faculty at the university than those who are english mother tongue speakers; • the translation intervention strategy aided the english additional language speaking students’ comprehension of the instructions, questions and explanations received in the tutorial assignments. in so doing, it levelled the playing field and enabled them to perform optimally, which increased the pass rate in the management 131 subject. • the acknowledgement from english-speaking students that the intervention strategy was an innovative idea, together with the additional language speaking students who suggested that it should be done for their languages as well, is a strong indication that there is a need for transformative language support for students whose first language is not english. therefore, it is recommended that more language support interventions be created and implemented for additional-language-speaking students of english to assist them in better understanding the content of their different subjects. a second recommendation is that the faculty and the university management attempt to provide more financial support so that translation interventions are also offered to students who speak the other official languages. mcghie & dos reis, translations as language support 54 global journal of transformative education (2024) vol 4 the last recommendation is that the translation support intervention should also be extended to second and third-year students so that they, too, can benefit from an enhanced understanding of instructions, questions and explanations in their assignments and be able to perform as well as the english home language speaking students and even better, as was the case for the afrikaans-speaking students. the authors acknowledge that this was a pilot project, and they did not have a control group or a pre-and post-test to compare the results. however, the fact that the students passed the two assignments well, none of them failed, and the overall pass rate in the module increased by 15% demonstrates that language support interventions are essential enablers for students who are not mother-tongue speakers of english at post-secondary institutions. therefore, the findings discussed draw attention to the fact that higher education institutions globally should take the lead in supporting and advocating for language support interventions in the form of translations for both formative and summative assessments for their students who are non-native speakers of english. in so doing, undergraduate students’ retention and success rates would increase. finally, providing innovative translations as a form of language support will instil a sense of equality among all students regardless of their home languages. such provisions will assist with the quest for transformative education. references academic development centre, university of the western cape. 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(5th ed). california: sage publications. 1 venicia mcghie (vfmcghie@uwc.ac.za) is an associate professor in the faculty of economic and management sciences, university of western cape, cape town, south africa. 2 karen dos reis (kdosreis@sun.ac.za) is a research associate as the university of stellenboch, stellenbosch, south africa. authors https://www.insideeducation.org/featured/south-africa-high-drop-rate-first-year-university-students/ https://www.insideeducation.org/featured/south-africa-high-drop-rate-first-year-university-students/ https://southafrica-info.com/arts-culture/11-languages-south-africa https://southafrica-info.com/arts-culture/11-languages-south-africa abstract storytelling is a universal practice which can be traced back to the beginning of human existence. research on language development indicates that storytelling strategies are beneficial for supporting oral language development in young students (kennedy, 2016). story cubes, used as a reflective, culturally relevant instructional strategy, is highly motivating because they encourage students’ personal, relevant contributions while addressing the language needs of dual language learners. when acquiring a second language, these students face unique challenges in overall acquisition of literacy skills (amodei & strong, 2019). this article describes a study conducted at a trilingual preschool. four preschool teachers and 60 prek students ages 3-5 years participated in the study designed to explore the use of story cubes in their classrooms as a culturally responsive and reflective strategy. accomplished through small and large group engagement with story cubes, researchers collected qualitative and quantitative data using observational field notes, likert scale questionnaire responses and narrative interview transcript responses. keywords: storytelling, early childhood, oral language, culturally relevant strategies, ell/dll, story cubes strong, l. & amodei, m. global journal of transformative education (2024) vol 4 pp 57-64. doi 10.14434/gjte.v4i1.36882 open access published by the global insitutute of transformative education (http://www.gite.education) © strong & amodei. 2024. open access this journal is distributed under the terms of the creative commons attribution noncommercial nonderivative 4.0 international license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction without revision in any non-commercial medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the creative commons license, the impact of story: one preschool’s experience using story cubes as a culturally relevant oral language strategy laura strong1 and michelle amodei2 full listing of authors and contacts can be found at the end of this article. miss ana takes a colorful object out of the basket and rolls it on the carpet in front of the thirteen preschoolers in her trilingual classroom. they lean forward expectantly, waiting for the cube to stop tumbling so they can see which side faces upward. “love”, miss ana whispers softly, crossing her hands over her heart. the children wiggle around and scoot closer to inspect the brightly colored hearts on the top of the cube. “how can you show someone you love them?” miss ana asks, observing the thoughtful gazes and raised hands. “give them a million presents!” emilio shouts. “tell them ‘i love you,’” nedra adds. after a few more children volunteer to share their experiences, miss ana rolls the cube again. this time, the upward facing facet depicts a different emotion: “scared”. “what is another word for scared? was there a time when you felt scared? can you tell us a story about that?” miss ana prompts. amir states anxiously, “when i thinked there was a monster in my closet, i said to my dad to come and get it out...”. one by one, students share stories describing their emotions, including “excitement” and “happiness”. the teacher ends their sharing time by promising to use the cubes again later, after snack time. oral stories, like the ones in the vignette above, have been shared universally across cultures for centuries, regardless of social class, languages spoken, or knowledge and skills of the people. sharing stories has been essential to the development of humankind as far back as can be traced by historians (del negro & kimball, 2021; zipes, 2012). storytelling encourages both receptive language learning (listening and understanding) and expressive language learning (gesture and talk). it provides an opportunity for language learners to develop listening skills prior to production of expressive language, and then offers a low-stress environment in which to practice oral language (bateman, et al, 57 strong & amodei, the impact of story 58 2017). it is well-established that oral language skills in a person’s first language (l1) are a significant contributor to the development of second language (l2) knowledge and skills (tabors, 2009). young dual language learners (dll), therefore, face specific challenges when learning a second language because their home language is not yet fully developed. teachers of young dll students must possess and implement a variety of instructional tools that are meaningful, engaging, culturally responsive, tactile, and have the capacity to allow students to make personal connections. theoretical framework two theories the theoretical lenses through which this study is framed include culturally responsive pedagogy (ladson-billings, 1994) and transformative learning theory (mezirow, 2003). according to the literature (lynch, 2016), culturally responsive pedagogy is a student-centered approach to teaching and learning. this theory aligns with pedagogical approaches which seek to empower students through strategies which include “concepts that are related to the personal interests and experiences of students” (howard, 2010, p.4). as outlined in the culturally responsive elements of teaching (howard, 2010), the first principle states that “students are affirmed in their cultural connections” (p. 4). teachers serve as the “cultural liaison” between students’ cultures and the school’s culture. teachers are tasked with building a “communication bridge” by which equitable opportunities are made available to students and fosters development of bicultural citizenship (howard, 2010). fusing both the elements and strategies described as culturally responsive pedagogy, the participants (teachers) in this study were able to use storytelling and story cubing strategies to support building that communication and cultural bridge for dual language learners. teachers and students mutually benefitted from the implementation of these studentcentered strategies. the second theoretical framework’s central construct includes reflection, a critical component of transformative learning theory (mezirow, 1990). though his original work focuses more on adult learning, mezirow (1990) posits “the most significant learning experiences…involve critical [reflection]— reassessing our own orientation to perceiving, knowing, believing, feeling, and acting” (p. 13, as cited in taylor, 2017, p. 77). in this study, teachers implemented storytelling and story cubing strategies which targeted these specific opportunities for students. the practical activity of reflecting on their own individual orientations to their cultures, their worlds, their beliefs, and feelings provided outlets of expression, oral communication practice, and connections to their peers and the classroom community. young dual language learners who faced challenges due to language barriers improved oral language skills embedded in the reflective storytelling and story cubing approaches. oral traditions oral traditions exist in every culture around the globe. in many african countries, elders pass along the stories of their ancestors through weekly tribal meetings. youngsters eagerly anticipate their role in the stories they have become familiar with hearing and look forward to the chance to be included in the performances (tuwe, 2016). in several latino communities, students are taught very early the importance of remembering and maintaining the heritage of their people. through storytelling, families share the rich culture and traditions of historically significant events and triumphs they have faced. these stories are woven into the fabric of their lives (mccabe, 1997). these cultural practices are significant components to the modern, developmentally appropriate, early childhood classroom because they are a natural motivator, and complement a culturally responsive pedagogy. mcadams (1996), explains that “stories create a shared history, linking people in time and event as actors, tellers, and audience” (p. 28). young dll students benefit from opportunities to practice oral language, and engaging in storytelling activities is one meaningful way to provide this practice. second language learning young students who are learning a language in addition to their native one will develop needed language and literacy skills differently from their peers who are not learning an additional language. most often, students who are three years of age and older learn a second or additional language through the process of sequential acquisition (tabors, 2009). sequential acquisition of a language occurs when a person already has a dominant home language. the process of learning that new language will be different than exposure to a native language from a young age, particularly in the area of vocabulary skills and interpersonal communication (hammer et al., 2014). the use of storytelling strategies global journal of transformative education (2024) vol 4 59 global journal of transformative education (2024) vol 4 can be highly effective for learning new vocabulary, understanding new contexts, and according to isik (2016), help students to feel connected to their social environment. the ability to create stories or narratives plays a significant role in a dll’s language acquisition because they enable those social connections students need in classroom settings (demir & goldin meadow, 2015). sorting through the complexity of second language acquisition in the early childhood classroom can be made easier when there is an intentional focus on encouraging young students to practice speaking and listening in both l1 and l2 (limlingan et al., 2020). when students have opportunities to practice oral language in both their home and emerging languages, they are at a distinct advantage as they progress into elementary school where the cognitive demand is higher as they are expected to read and write with fluency in their acquired language (tabors, 2009). research indicates that when young students can create and articulate narratives competently, they are more likely to experience future academic success (kennedy, 2016). to this end, teachers of young students need strategies that are engaging, meaningful, and flexible to support students in creating and sharing their narratives about a variety of topics and themes. story cubes as an instructional strategy story cubes offer teachers and students multiple ways to engage in language development that is interactive and meaningful. storytelling using cubes is highly motivating because the student’s contributions are personal and relevant. in the seminal educational work by montessori with young learners at the turn of the twentieth century (as cited in stapleton, 2014), the use of hand-held objects allowed them to excel and learn language. educators who provide their students with such manipulatives and hands-on learning experiences are really helping to reinforce concepts and instruction that is delivered visually and auditorily (copple & bredekamp, 2009). the benefits of story cubes as a storytelling tool are wide-ranging. they are an effective, creative tool used by educators to serve a variety of students and purposes, especially by educators who subscribe to constructivist learning approaches in early childhood classrooms. from all linguistic and cultural backgrounds, students benefit from the broad possibilities story cubes offer. al-hazza and bucher (2008) believe that story cubes, which are based upon arab students’ literature, can help bridge the gap between cultures. according to golsteijn and den hoven (2013), communication can be strengthened by photo cubes, which is a variation of story cubes. townsend (2011) wrote that rory’s story cubes has become one of the most popular games purchased on amazon. other products, such as: roll-a-story, foam story starter cubes, wooden blocks, and wipe-off marker/foam blocks are available from multiple sources. simply searching a few key words online will yield several sources where these items can be accessed or purchased. research questions two questions guided the research study: 1. in what ways can story cubes enrich the oral language development of dual language learners (dlls), ages 3-5 years? 2. how can teachers implement story cube strategies to mediate the relationship between dlls’ social engagement and experiential story telling practice to increase oral language production? methodology participants because the study required a linguistically diverse population, demographic location was a primary consideration for choosing this population to sample. located in a diverse, urban area, each of the 4 classrooms consisted of approximately 85% dual language learners. four female teachers, one of whom was bilingual in spanish and english were the respondents to the study. four pre-k classrooms in a trilingual urban preschool were the sites of the study, within which 42 students, ages 3-5 years, engaged with story cubes. research design this triangulated mixed-methods study was designed by equally weighting both quantitative and qualitative data concurrently (gay et al., 2006) to determine how preschool teachers at a trilingual early childhood program use story cubes as a language development tool with their dll students, and to assess the effectiveness of these practices. the quantitative tool used was a five-question survey using a 5-point likert scale (appendix a). additionally, qualitative data were collected using three open-ended questions (appendix b), and a template for observational field notes (appendix c) collected by two principal investigators. teachers received resources on strategies for using story cubes with their students, and the researchers spent time in their classrooms observing activities that strong & amodei, the impact of story 60 included using them. teachers were supplied with materials including cube templates on card stock and booklets with suggested activities and instructions for use of the cubes. procedures co-investigators conducted a preliminary overview and training with a group of six preschool teachers and the director of the school, four weeks prior to data collection. the training booklet consisted of eight suggested strategies designed by the co-investigators and grounded in research for developmentally appropriate practice with young language learners. teachers were encouraged to choose a few strategies or feel free to implement their own creative ideas using the story cubes. site approval for collecting data was obtained prior to visiting and observing the four preschool classrooms. of the six, four preschool teachers agreed to include the use of story cubes as part of their small and large group activities. permission was granted in writing by the participating program for the principal investigators to observe and collect photographs and field notes while students engaged in the activities. on two separate occasions occurring four weeks apart, co-investigators visited the classrooms to observe teachers implementing strategies and preschoolers engaging with the story cubes. co-investigators collected observational data through field notes as preschool teachers and students interacted with the story cubes and engaged in various storytelling activities. teachers were given a list of suggested activities for engaging with students in story cubes; however, teachers were also encouraged to be creative and implement original uses. a standardized template served as an observational protocol tool; this was used by each investigator to increase inter-rater reliability. following each field observation of data collection, principal investigators conducted in person interviews with preschool teachers. the interviews consisted of 5 likert scale questions which measured the degree of satisfaction for increasing oral language production using the story cubes. additionally, three open-ended questions were asked which prompted teachers to provide narrative descriptions of their experiences. measures, data collection, & analysis familiarization of the data from field notes and narrative interview transcript responses enabled the researchers to code the qualitative data and identify emerging themes to conduct thematic analysis of the data. quantitative results obtained from the likert-scale questionnaire were also used to reinforce the relevance of identified themes. co-investigators tested the hypothesized model in which storytelling cube implementation mediates the relationship between engagement with social and experiential hands-on storytelling practice and oral language production. data analysis principal investigators combed through multiple data sources. familiarization of the data from field notes, and narrative interview transcript responses enabled the researchers to code the qualitative data and identify emerging themes to conduct thematic analysis of the data. qualtrics was utilized to summarize qualitative data from interviews; additionally, this software was useful in synthesizing quantitative results. quantitative results obtained from the likert-scale questionnaire were also used to reinforce the relevance of identified themes. findings the likert scale results indicated teachers’ high regard for the use of the cubes with a range of 3 to 5 on individual statements with 1 being ineffective and 5 being highly effective. in addition, analysis of open-ended questions resulted in preliminary thematic threads: 1. increased engagement of students. 2. more complex use of oral language. 3. heightened social connections among students and teachers. 4. intentional use of open-ended prompting that enhanced oral language production. open-ended interview questions yielded insightful responses from the preschool teachers’ experiences. t1 indicated that intentional teacher prompting seemed to encourage an increased amount of oral language production. specifically, she mentioned that dual language learners who were usually more reluctant to speak had global journal of transformative education (2024) vol 4 strong & amodei, the impact of story 61 an increase in production when using the emoji cubes strategy. also, more complex use of oral language was linked to teacher prompting with story cubes. t2 described students’ resulting oral language use as, “… using more background knowledge when describing”, and that they moved beyond “yes or no” answers when viewing pictures on the cubes. overall, all teachers indicated an increase in the engagement level of the preschoolers, noting that some strategies using the cubes were more “popular” than others. in addition to the strategy highlighting emotions, students told stories about “community helpers” such as firefighters, police officers, doctors, etc. and demonstrated an increase in social connections as a result. conclusions and discussion overall, principal investigators observed multiple positive outcomes. students were engaging in oral language with increased frequency. students interacted with peers and teachers to share creative stories, built communication bridges, and reflected on the world through their own unique cultural lens. as teachers reflected on the implementation of the culturally responsive strategies, they indicated they enjoyed using the story cubes, and students were highly engaged. consistent results across data collection methods indicated that students benefited socially from engagement with others as they participated in the story cube activities, and that oral language production was increased as they participated in the reflective storytelling and story cube activities. while data analysis revealed emerging themes of increased engagement, complex use of oral language, increased social connections and intentional teacher-prompting which resulted in increased oral language production, the researchers believe further investigation is needed that considers language learners of varying ages from infancy through elementary school-aged students, and additionally, utilizes larger sample sizes. due to limitations of the study, such as small sample size and individual location which contributes to lower generalizability of results, the researchers are confident that a larger sample size at multiple locations could improve validity and reliability of study results. possible implications for future study include increasing the number of participants, selecting both rural and urban locations for comparison of implementation and outcomes, and developing an observation protocol which measures preand postoral language production as part of the quantitative measurement. the goals of this study were to learn how the use of story cubes could benefit young dual language learners and how their teachers could implement those culturally responsive strategies. throughout this project, researchers not only documented benefits of oral language usage, but also gained new insights to the multifaceted ways in which young students in the observed classrooms were able to make enhanced social connections with their peers and teachers. story cubing strategies show potential for impacts on young students’ language development, but also for their social/emotional growth. based upon the study results, researchers believe that providing young students and their teachers with a variety of story cubing strategies will increase oral language usage and provide opportunities to explore culturally relevant, meaningful, creative, and reflective ways of self-expressive communication. references al-hazza, t., & bucher, k. t. (2008). building arab americans’ cultural identity and acceptance with children’s literature. reading teacher, 62(3), 210-219. doi:10.1598/rt.62.3.3 amodei, m.l., & strong, l. j. (2019). story cubing strategies: a culturally responsive practice for young dual language learners. in keengwe, j., & onchwari, g. (ed.), handbook of research on assessment practices and pedagogical models for immigrant students (pp. 92-108). igi global. doi:10.4018.978-15225-93485ch006 bateman a., carr m., gunn a.c. (2017). children’s use of objects in their storytelling. in gunn a.c., hruska c. (eds.) interactions in early childhood education – recent research and emergent concepts. singapore: springer. copple, c., & bredekamp, s. (ed.) (2009). developmentally appropriate practice in early childhood programs: serving children from birth through age 8. washington d.c.: national association for the education of young children. del negro, j., & kimball, m. (2021). the why of storytelling. in j. m. del negro (ed.), storytelling: art & technique (5th ed.) (pp. 3-16). abc-clio inc. demir, o., e., & goldin-meadow, s. gesture’s role in learning and processing language. in g. hickok & s. small (eds.), neurobiology of language (pp.275283). elsevier, 2015. gay, l. r., mills, g. e., & airasian, p. (2006). educational research: competencies for analysis and applications (8th ed.). upper saddle river, nj: pearson. global journal of transformative education (2024) vol 4 strong & amodei, the impact of story 62 golsteijn, c., & den hoven, e. (2013). facilitating parent-teenager communication through interactive photo cubes. personal and ubiquitous computing, 17(2), 273-286. doi:10.1007/s00779-011-0487-9 hammer, c.s., hoff, ef., uchikoshi, y., gillanders, c., castro, d. c., & sandilos, i.e. (2014). the language and literacy development of young dual language learners: a critical review. early childhood research quarterly, 29, 715-733. doi: 10.1016/j. ecresq.2014.05.008 heath, s.b. (1983). ways with words: language, life and work in communities and classrooms. cambridge, ma: cambridge university press. howard, g. (2010). culturally responsive teaching. gary howard institutes, 4(18-28). l isik, m.a. (2016). the impact of storytelling on young ages. european journal of languageand literature studies, 2(3), 115-118. kennedy, j.l. (2016). narrative development in dual language learning latino preschoolers. dissertation abstracts international, 76, 10-b(e), psycinfo. ladson-billings, g. (1994). the dreamkeepers: successful teachers of african american children. san francisco: jossey-bass. latta, l. (2019). learning to listen: supporting dual language learners/ language acquisition and learning identities (voices), young children, 74(1). limlingan, m.c., mcwayne, c.m., sanders, e. a., & lopez, m.l. (2020). classroom language contexts as predictors of latinx preschool dual language learners’ school readiness. american educational research journal, 57(1). 339-370. doi: 10.3102/0002831219855694 lynch, m. (2016). what is culturally responsive pedagogy? the edvocate. mcadams, d. (1996). the stories we live by: personal myths and the making of the self. new york: guilford press. mccabe, a. (1997). cultural background and storytelling: a review and implications for schooling. elementary school journal, 97(5), 453–473. doi-org. proxy-sru.klnpa.org/10.1086/461876 mezirow, j. (1981.) a critical theory of adult learning and education. adult education quarterly, 32(1), 3-24. mezirow, j. (1990). fostering critical reflection in adulthood: a guide to transformative and emancipatory learning. san francisco: jossey-bass. sibierska, m. (2017). storytelling without telling: the non-linguistic nature of narratives from evolutionary and narratological perspectives. language & communication, 5447-55. doi:10.1016/j.langcom.2016.10.005 tabors, p. o. (2008). one child, two languages: a guide for early childhood educators of children learning english as a second language (2nd ed.). baltimore, md: brookes. taylor, e. (2017). critical reflection and transformative learning: a critical review. paace journal of lifelong learning, 26, 77-95. townsend, m. (2011). story cubes. bloomberg businessweek, 42, 93. tuwe, k. (2016). the african oral tradition paradigm of storytelling as a methodological framework: employment experiences for african communities in new zealand. in african studies association of australasia and the pacific (afsaap) proceedings of the 38th afsaap conference: 21st century tensions and transformation in africa. deakin university. zipes, j. (2012). the irresistible fairy tale: the cultural and social history of a genre. princeton university press. 1 laura strong (laura.strong@sru.edu) is an instructor in the department of curriculum, instruction & educational leadership at slippery rock university, slippery rock, pennsylvania, usa. 2 michelle amodei (michelle.amodei@sru.edu) is an associate professor in the department of curriculum, instruction & educational leadership at slippery rock university, slippery rock, pennsylvania, usa. authors strong & amodei, the impact of story https://www.ghequityinstitute.com/keynotes/keynote_main.htm https://www.theedadvocate.org/what-is-culturally-responsive-pedagogy/ https://www.theedadvocate.org/what-is-culturally-responsive-pedagogy/ 63 appendix a global journal of transformative education (2024) vol 4 strong & amodei, the impact of story 64 global journal of transformative education (2024) vol 4 strong & amodei, the impact of story appendix b abstract strategic innovation ecosystems have complex forces for the transformative development of human society through higher education. the sustainability of socio-economic development of cameroon requires a robust national and regional innovation ecosystem in which higher education plays an important role in value and wealth creation. the challenge with cameroon’s higher education is a transition from the traditional rigid bureaucratic system to a more dynamic performance-based management ecosystem that can mainstream resilience and recognise excellence. the study adopted the innovation ecosystem approach to explain the transformative potential of higher education, using correlational research design. we selected nine advanced schools of technology, engineering, and management from public and private sectors across four regions of cameroon, including a purposive and simple random sampling of 370 respondents. spearman correlational ranking tested our three hypotheses. all three hypotheses were significant at pv=0.000 or 95% with the predictive coefficient of 59.7%, 55.8% and 71.3% respectively. we concluded that the transformative potential of higher education is evident through development of technological knowledge networks, innovation/knowledge clusters, and transformative digital governance in enhancing transformative learning. we recommend that higher education institutional leadership should consider these transformative development indicators as institutional benchmarks for higher education quality assurance, responsiveness assessments, and governance practices. these can ensure the emergence of the clustered innovation ecosystems and competitive intelligence at the national and regional university environments that contribute to sustainable socio-economic development of cameroon and africa. keywords: strategic innovation ecosystem, technological transfer, transformative development, fourth industrial revolution, competitive intelligence, strategic institutional governance bafon, j.n., tanyi, a. m., kamdjo, c.v., & djeumeni, m. t. global journal of transformative education (2024) vol 4 pp 65-76. doi 10.14434/gjte.v4i1.36663 open access published by the global insitutute of transformative education (http://www.gite.education) © bafon, tanyi, kamdjo, djeumeni, 2024. open access this journal is distributed under the terms of the creative commons attribution noncommercial nonderivative 4.0 international license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction without revision in any non-commercial medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the creative commons license, the transformative development potential of higher education in the 4th industrial revolution: a strategic innovation ecosystem approach for technological development and knowledge transfer in the 21st century cameroon joel n. bafon,1 adolphe m. tanyi,2 carole v. kamdjo3, marcelline t. djeumeni4 full listing of authors and contacts can be found at the end of this article. introduction the sustainability of socio-economic development in africa requires a robust national and regional innovation ecosystem. higher education plays an important role in mainstreaming the national and regional development agenda through knowledge production and open innovation ecosystems (yan, wang, yan & zhai, 2020). in this light, the challenge with cameroon’s higher education is a transition from the traditional rigid system to a more dynamic knowledge society and value creation ecosystem. over the years, there have been many policy innovations at system level since 2005 leading to new institutional governance (njebakal, & teneng, 2017). however, there exist institutional discrepancies in building a robust institutional knowledge actualisation and crystallisation for higher education innovation ecosystem (fagerberg, 2015). there have been many limitations to research and development in fostering technological innovation and relevant core competencies that respond adequately to competitive leverage of the fourth industrial estate (fagerberg, 2015). the fourth industrial revolution is marked by indicators such as virtual reality, the internet of things, artificial intelligence, and block-chain innovations. these variables have had significant but disruptive contribu65 bafon, tanyi, kamdjo, & djeumeni, transformative development potential of higher education 66 tions to knowledge management, pedagogic innovation, quality assurance and strategic institutional governance in higher education today (igel, ullrich, & kravcik, 2018). the transformative development in education in africa and in cameroon, in particular, requires an endogenous knowledge and competencies built on competitive intelligence as means of guaranteeing new technological transformation for a sustainable and inclusive growth (arbeiter, & buča, 2021). these innovative processes need well-developed pre-incubators, incubators, science parks, clusters and international research collaboration networks in scientific knowledge sharing and exchange (ablaev, 2018). therefore, adopting the cluster innovation ecosystem, transformative digital governance, digital knowledge networks and strategic-competitive intelligence in innovation development and knowledge provide strategic institutional capabilities of higher education to contribution to sustainable socio-economic development of cameroon and africa (bell, 2016). theoretical framework strategic innovation ecosystem “the innovation ecosystem is defined as groups of symbiotically interacting ‘players’ which include companies and other players such as the providers of knowledge, resources, and ‘rules of the game’. it is the companies which constitute the economic ‘engine’ of the ecosystem since they create value for consumer-users, output, and employment.” (fransman, 2014, p. 5). the higher education innovation ecosystem will integrate pedagogical innovation research systems, community development systems, and institutional governance systems. the symbioses of these complex transformative systems provide avenues for knowledge distillation and valorisation (johansen, 2018). according to godin (2015) the early history of the the term “innovation” gives a pejorative connotation to the concept. to him, the term was first used by anthropologists and sociologists, and it has been popularised by economists and the management world. “everyone agrees that innovation is crucial for the performance over time of both companies and countries. however, there is far less agreement regarding two key questions: how does innovation happen? how can we make innovation happen?” (fransman, 2014, p. 5) innovation therefore is an important indicator in the transformative development of knowledge economy through higher education. this concept deals with the creation and development of ideas, products, organisations and quality management (spinoglio, 2015). the implications of globalisation through the development of information and communication technologies demands organisations to be more innovative to be competitive in the local and global knowledge environments (fransman, 2014). in this line, the “strategic innovation” is crucial to aligning organisational processes and ensuring the success of its managerial operations (palmer & kaplan, 2007). bridging the ecosystem and strategic innovation framework will give an organisation a sustainable strategic performance in the organisational management in the disruptive knowledge ecosystem. the university as a non-profit organisation in the 21st century must adapt to new knowledge changes in order to be relevant to its environment. the effective and efficient deployment of resources depends on institutional innovation strategic ecosystems (reichert, 2019). according to kotsemir, abroskin, and dirk (2013), the traditional reading of innovation from the schumpeterian concept see innovation as “a historic and irreversible change in the production of thing and creative destruction.” (p. 4) our faculties and departments still lack the disruptive and creative destruction potential because there are no practical sites for innovation especially from the organisational configuration standpoint. university knowledge production should be able to build an irreversible change that brings values and wealth creation to the community (brennan et al 2014). innovation is the “establishment or enlargement of organisation processes, methods assimilation, and exploitation of novelty” (spinoglio, 2015, p. 5). newness and change are the driving forces of innovation which can be manifested in organisational structures or processes. but when institutions are hostile to innovation, rigidity will continue to plague its effective functioning (lawal, 2017). innovation is also seen as “incremental.” this is the process in which new products emerge. so, as total quality management in educational reforms are built on the strategic innovation, it is then the responsibility of strategic leaders at the corporate level to design the development of strategic innovation (palmer & kaplan, 2014) as well as, foster the development of an innovation ecosystem (reirchart, 2019). these approaches are more pragmatic in skills and competency development. the ecosystem reinforces the university global journal of transformative education (2024) vol 4 67 global journal of transformative education (2024) vol 4 capacity in knowledge production and dissemination and the interconnected knowledge networks and collaboration. the concept of innovation has received varied scholarly attention since the dawn of the 20th century. most scholars used innovation and creativity interchangeably, but from the onset they were never use as related terms (godin, 2015). innovation is perceived by some scholars as an extension or the modification of invention and production of new ideas (godin, 2015). this definition is very applicable in knowledge production and dissemination when it concerns research and development. to improve university teaching, curriculum innovation in africa is key in the production of relevant content and not the duplication of the western norms. lotz-sisitka, (2015) notes that innovations bring competitiveness to the organisation. also, distinctive innovation deals with development and re-engineering of knowledge, content methodologies and approaches, and disruptive innovation. the term also includes assimilation, transformation, exploitation, and translation of new knowledge in the practical context (godin, 2015). “innovation ecosystem as co-innovation networks, in which actors from organizations concerned with the functions of knowledge production, wealth creation and norm control interact with each other in forming co-evolution and interdependent relations (both direct or indirect) in cross-geographical contexts, and, through which new ideas and approaches from various internal and external sources are integrated into a platform to generate shared values for the sustainable transformation of the society.”(cai, ma, & chen, 2020, pp.) alkhanbouli (2022) explored the typology of innovation ecosystems based on the university innovation ecosystem in the united arab emirate universities. the study explored university incubators and research centres with entrepreneurial mentality. in this typology. the research identified six innovation ecosystems: corporate innovation ecosystem, digital innovation ecosystem, city-based innovation ecosystem, high-techsmes centre ecosystem, hyper-local innovation ecosystem, and university-based innovation ecosystem. in the context of cameroon all these typologies of the ecosystem can be applicable. these micro innovation ecosystems are interconnected in building the macro higher education innovation ecosystem. cai, ma, and chen (2020) outlined the overarching framework of higher education and innovation ecosystem. knowledge economy ecosystem, new knowledge and technologies employs an ambidexterity in the exploration and exploitation of knowledge. in the knowledge innovation ecosystem, system relation to the university and economic development are very important. in this way, higher education become a driving engine of economic growth in the macro innovation ecosystem (fagerberg, 2015). tierney and lanford (2016) think that these new trends in public life demands knowledge, innovative frameworks, and social intelligence competences in institutional knowledge management (viviers, saayman, muller, & calof, 2002). yan, wang, yan, & zhai (2020) examined the open innovation ecosystem of higher education. in their research, they suggested that the higher education open system concerns the university capability to create open sources of knowledge that contribute to innovation outcomes. the open innovation ecosystem enhances the flow of ideas knowledge, information and data. the open innovation provides opportunities, efficiency in research transformation and valorisation as well as commercialisation. knowledge-driven innovations in internationalised environment create avenues for the organisational competitive advantage and institutional visibility. the study concluded that the open innovation ecosystem could have a positive effect on the development of higher education. this kind of innovation provides auto-financing strategies and wealth creation opportunities for the universities to fulfill their third mission through knowledge and technological transfer. the research also found that the university innovation ecosystem influences a student’s creative potential as they navigate the innovation ecosystems with creative ideas and exchange avenues (bocket et al 2020). ansgar, bernardo and gerhard (2016) examined the role of innovation in public policy. even though innovation has been perceived as more of a business concept, the concept is well-rooted in public policy and corporate governance. disruptive environmental changes and extensive globalisation informs innovations in public policy. the sustainability and relevance of public policy today relies on the continuous strategic innovation processes in institutional governance. higher education public policy has equally undergone the innovation processes. the knowledge driven fourth industrial estate demands incessant innovative strategies which mutually build strategic innovation ecosystems for the university in the effective implementation of public policy and bafon, tanyi, kamdjo, & djeumeni, transformative development potential of higher education 68 university contribution to national and regional economic development. in the innovation ecosystem, sustainable strategic management is one of the driving forces of imaginative thinking in policy development. in this view, balancing production and governance innovation are some ambidextrous strategies that an institution may harness in order to remain responsive to external environmental exigencies (akin ,2016). vlasov (2021) analysed the influence of massification on internalisation and state funding on higher education on innovation development. the internalisation of funding leads to infrastructural development which can mitigate massification challenges, creativities, and innovative competences for the fourth industrial revolution (nakano & wechsler, 2018). stukalenko, et al, (2016) analysed innovation technologies of learning in the modern education teacher’s professional preparedness. higher education innovation ecosystems enable stakeholders to build clusters and incubators which enhance pedagogic transformative proficiency and professional preparedness for the fourth industrial complex (lawal, 2017). rashidi, azma, sami, and sobhoni (2020) note that universities in disruptive advanced technologies knowledge-based organisations can only adapt to national and regional economies by reinforcing national relation with industries. they set out to develop a value creation university framework based on higher education innovation indicators. they employed exploratory and taxonomical approaches. the result of the study showed that financial and pragmatic strategies have positive effects on university adaptability. also, social outcomes and intra-organisational platforms equally have positive effects. value creation and higher education have positive impacts on institutional change and competitive intelligence (pellissier & nenzhelele, 2013). lappalainen, markkula, and kune (2015) focused on finished construction clusters on building a regional innovation ecosystem. this study involves action research methods, digital modelling, co-development process parallel research, development and innovation, pathfinders, prototype development, radical innovation, human development, and leadership. these are key ecosystem indicators in a knowledge-based economy. in this perspective, brito (2018) explored deeper understanding and the dynamics of the university as a promoter of the development of innovation ecosystems. in this setting, universities are perceived as leaders and integrators into this ecosystem. their contributions are in three-dimensions: knowledge, transformative talent of the university, and university industrial linkage as well as long-term relation strategy. however, the cameroon higher education institutions still need much resource deployment and policy effectiveness for this structural transformation to take place. institutional leadership in higher education in cameroon must consider these new strategic innovation approaches to ensure sustainable structural configuration and system innovation. there is also a need for the integrators of diversity of actors’ resources and competences. from this approach, we urge that the university role in the innovation ecosystem be adaptive, complex, and dynamic in order to ensure sustainable strategic innovation and knowledge valorisation processes. this strategic management dimension can guarantee sustainable social economic development, specifically in cameroon and in africa in general (cabeza-pullés, fernández-pérez, & rodán-bravo, 2020). statement of research problem cameroon, and, in general, africa, are still facing many challenges in embracing the fourth industrial revolution due to the lack of digital infrastructure that adequately ushers in this industrial estate. the consciousness of african governments and higher education institutions is crucial in this direction. this is kind of industrial estate needs a digital technological cluster, a security cluster, knowledge management clusters, and high levels of digital governance to inform decision-making through data analyses. the combination of these variables will morph into a robust strategic innovation ecosystem. therefore, to what extent does transformation potential of higher education from the strategic ecosystemic approaches respond to technological development and knowledge transfer in the emerging fourth industrial complex in cameroon? research objectives i) to examine the relationship between digital technological knowledge networks and transformative learning in cameroon’s higher education. ii) to examine the relationship between innovation/ knowledge clusters and transformative learning in cameroon’s higher education. iii) to examine relationships between transformative digital governance and transformative learning in cameroon’s higher education. global journal of transformative education (2024) vol 4 bafon, tanyi, kamdjo, & djeumeni, transformative development potential of higher education 69 research questions i) what is the relationship between digital technological knowledge networks transformative learning cameroon higher education? ii) is there a relationship between innovation/knowledge clusters and transformative learning in cameroon’s higher education? iii) is there a relationship between transformative digital governance and transformative learning in higher education in cameroon? research hypotheses i) ha1: there is no significant relationship between digital technological knowledge networks and transformative learning in higher education in cameroon. ii) ha2: there is a significant relationship between innovation and knowledge clusters and transformative learning in cameroon in higher education. iii) ha3: there is no significant relationship between transformative digital governance and transformative learning in cameroon in higher education. significance of the study this study is important in that it highlights the current technological and economic changes that are affecting higher education in cameroon. the adoption of an innovation ecosystem approach to explain digital technological knowledge networks, innovation/knowledge clusters, and transformative digital governance demonstrates the importance of these variables in the fourth industrial revolution. this variable addresses the needs of transformative education at the higher education level. it is necessary for universities in cameroon to build innovation ecosystems that will create avenues for wealth and value creation, knowledge management and technological infrastructure, as well as human capital. there is need for continuous development of new skills and competences such that higher education can adapt to the complex-dynamics of digital innovations. research methodology in this study we used the quantitative approach with correctional research design sampling procedures this study was conducted in nine public and private higher education institutions across four regions of cameroon. the target population was students in public and private higher education institutions from four regions of cameroon. these regions include the northwest, southwest, littoral and the centre regions. table 1 presents the accessible population comprised of 10,185 students. the respondents were selected through simple random sampling and purposeful techniques that allowed every member of the target population to be selected. in this regard, research students were more involved in pedagogical, administrative, and research activities. in this study, only colleges of technology and engineering were considered. statistics were drawn from the 2021 higher education annual statistics. we worked with a sample size of the 370 respondents. after administering 435 copies of questionnaires, 370 questionnaires were submitted with a retention rate of 85.52%. therefore, 370 respondents were engaged in the study, of which 224 (60.5%) of the respondents were males and 146 (39.5%) of respondents were females. data collection instrument the instrument used for data collection was a questionnaire that was analyzed to measure the relationships between variables. the questionnaire was operationalised into four sections containing the construct of the study. these constructs had seven items each. after the development of the questionnaire, it was submitted for expert evaluation of content validity, clarity, and coherence were confirmed. we also administered the questionnaire to ten students within the target population of the students at 0.85. the questionnaire was shown to be consistent and reliable for our study. global journal of transformative education (2024) vol 4 bafon, tanyi, kamdjo, & djeumeni, transformative development potential of higher education 70 reliability of the instrument after one month of pretesting the questionnaire, it was redistributed to the respondents. from obtaining the copies of the questionnaires, the responses were computed into the spps software in which we obtained a reliability coefficient stability score of 0.86. the coefficient showed the coherence and reliability of the instrument after recurring tests. data presentation and interpretation relationship between digital technological knowledge networks and transformative learning table 2 shows patterns in respondents’ views on digital technological knowledge networks in higher education in cameroon. the seven items designed to measure digital technological knowledge networks had a mean above 2.5. in the first item, 349 (94.6%) of the respondents generally agreed that “your institution promotes digital collaboration and knowledge networking ecosystems.” the second item shows that 348 (94.1%) of the respondents generally agreed with the statement, “there exists open access to digital knowledge sharing opportunities and talent development in your institutions”. for the third item, 333 (90.0%) of the respondents generally agreed that. “there exist continuous or digital lifelong learning programmes in your institution.” in the fourth item, 321 (86.7%) of the respondents agreed that their institution promotes the development of regional digital knowledge ecosystems. in the fifth item, 224 (60.5%) of the respondents generally agreed with the view that their institution promotes the development of regional digital knowledge ecosystems. the sixth item shows that 277 (74.4%) of the respondents agreed on the opinion that their institution creates an attractive environment for digital investment. finally, in the seventh item, 323 (87.3%) of the respondents generally agreed that there are digital opportunities for the commercialisation of research findings. from the results of the research question one, the majority of the respondents generally agreed at an overall percentage of 84.7% that digital technological knowledge networks have significant relation with transformative learning in higher education with a cutoff mean of 3.1 and with a standard deviation of 2.4, which is above a normal cutoff mean of 2.5. digital technological knowledge networks have significant influence over transformative learning capabilities in higher education. relationship between innovation/knowledge clusters and transformative learning table 3 presents the results from the respondents’ views on innovation/knowledge clusters in higher education in cameroon. among the items are ones designed to assess innovation/ innovation clusters in higher education in cameroon. all seven items had a mean above the normal cut off mean of 2.5. in the first item, 284 (76.8%) of the respondents generally agreed that their institution encourages entrepreneurship and start-up ecosystems. the second item shows that 319 (86.2%) of the respondents generally agreed with the statement, “there are emerging technological-based ventures.” for the third item, 327 (98.3%) of the respondents generally agreed with the statement, “there is accessibility to funding and mentoring in innovative research.” the fourth item indicated that 189 (51.1%) of the respondents agreed that “there are knowledge brokers and accelerators within the innovation clusters.” the fifth item shows that 267 (72.2%) of the respondents generally agreed with the view that “there is the concentration of knowledge and expertise within global journal of transformative education (2024) vol 4 bafon, tanyi, kamdjo, & djeumeni, transformative development potential of higher education 71 global journal of transformative education (2024) vol 4 clusters.” the sixth item shows that 255 (66.9%) of the respondents agreed with the opinion that “there is the concentration of knowledge and expertise within clusters and knowledge clusters have industrial-relevant skills and competences.” finally, in the seventh item, 288 (78.0%) of the respondents generally agreed that “your institution ensures the stimulation of local economic growth through research and cooperation programmes.” for research question 2, findings portrayed that the majority of respondents generally agreed (75.6%) that innovation/knowledge clusters have significant relations with transformative learning in higher education, with a cutoff mean 2.9 and with a standard deviation of 2.1, which is above a normal cutoff mean of 2.5. innovation knowledge clusters have significant contributions towards building a transformative learning capability in cameroon’s higher education. relationship between transformative digital governance and transformative learning table 5 describes respondents’ perceptions on transformative digital governance in higher education in cameroon. in the seven construction items to measure transformative digital governance, six of the seven items have means above 2.5 which is a normal distribution. in the first item, 275 (74.3%) of the respondents generally agreed that there is availability up-to-date and quality digital infrastructures in their institutions. the second item shows that 187 (50.5%) of the respondents generally agreed with the statement that “there is effective steering of electronic management systems in the internal management processes.” for the third item, 218 (64.3%) of the respondents generally agreed with the view that their institution fosters data analytics for informed digital decision making. the fourth item, 213 (80.3%) of the respondents agreed that there are facilities for content personalisation and mobility. in the fifth item, 253 (68.4%) of the respondents generally agreed with the view there is online dashboard/ or portal for institutional change management. the sixth item shows that 288 (87.8%) of the respondents agreed on the opinion that there is a digital framework for transparency and accountability in institutional management performance. in the seventh item, 276 (74.6%) of the respondents generally agreed that there exist digital collaboration and engagement in soliciting feedback, ideas and suggestions for the best institutional management performance. drawn from the results of the research question three, the majority bafon, tanyi, kamdjo, & djeumeni, transformative development potential of higher education 72 global journal of transformative education (2024) vol 4 of the respondents generally agreed at an overall percentage of 71.4% that transformative digital governance has a significant relationship with transformative learning in cameroon higher education with a cut off mean 2.8 with standard deviation 1.87 which is above a normal cut off mean 2.5. transformative digital governance has significant contribution in building transformative learning capabilities sin higher education. table 5 presents respondents’ views on transformative learning capabilities in cameroon higher education. based on the items designed to measure this variable, all the 7 items have a mean which is above the normal cutoff mean of 2.5. this implies that the respondents generally agreed on the importance of transformative learning in cameroon’s higher education in the fourth industrial revolution. in the first item, 298 (81.2%) of the respondents generally agreed that there is a higher need for an open knowledge sharing process. the second item shows 286 (77.3%) of the respondents generally agreed with the statement that “continuous curriculum development and innovation is a requirement in knowledge transfer.” for the third item, 260 (70.3%) of the respondents generally agreed with the view that project-based and experiential learning approaches foster knowledge creation. the fourth item, 253 (68.5%) of the respondents agreed that problem-solving and strategic thinking competences promote the development of products. in the fifth item, 168 (61.6%) of the respondents generally agreed with the view that knowledge resources mobilisation enhances efficiency in knowledge development and transfers. the sixth item shows that 310 (83.7%) of the respondents agreed on the opinion that strategic monitoring and evaluation ensure quality and incremental innovation. in the seventh item, 315 (85.2%) of the respondents generally agreed that the creation of effective communities of practice facilitate knowledge transfer. the findings of the of the dependent variable shows that, the respondents generally agreed at an overall percentage of 75.4%. more so, all the items designed to measure transformative learning in cameroon’s higher education with a cutoff mean of 2.8 with a standard deviation of 2.04, which is above a normal cutoff mean of 2.5. this implies that higher education stakeholders should foster transformative learning capabilities in higher education. hypotheses testing h01: there is a significant relationship between digital technological knowledge networks and transformative learning in cameroon’s higher education. h02: there is a significant relationship between innovation/knowledge clusters and transformative learning in cameroon’s higher education. h03: there is a significant relationship between transformative digital governance and transformative learning in cameroon’s higher education. table 6 shows a significant correlation between digital technological networks and transformative learning capabilities in higher education in cameroon. (r=0.597, p = 0.00, =0.005). the correlation coefficient signifies that a unit increase of digital technological networks influences transformative education capabilities at 59.7%. therefore, the spearman’s rank correlation coefficient suggests that an improvement in digital technological knowledge networks will lead to an exceptional increase of transformative education capability in cameroon’s higher education. institutional managers should strive to promote the development of digital technological networks by means of boosting transformation in learning. table 6 also shows the correlation between innovation/knowledge clusters and transformative education bafon, tanyi, kamdjo, & djeumeni, transformative development potential of higher education 73 global journal of transformative education (2024) vol 4 capabilities in higher education in cameroon. (r=0.558, p=0.00, =0.005). this implies that there is statistically significant relationship between innovation/knowledge clusters and transformative learning in cameroon’s higher education. the spearman correlation coefficient signifies that innovation/knowledge clusters impact transformative learning capability in cameroon’s higher education correlated at 55.8%. therefore, the spearman’s rank correlation coefficient indicates that an incremental unit of development in innovation knowledge clusters should yield a corresponding increase in the transformative education in capabilities in cameroon’s higher education. the third block in table 6 shows the correlation between transformative digital governance and transformative education (r=0.713, p=0.00, =0.005). there is a statistically significant correlation between transformative digital governance and transformative learning in cameroon’s higher education. the correlation coefficient means that transformative digital governance has an influence on transformative learning capability in education at 71.3%. therefore, the spearman’s rank correlation coefficient reveals that the effective implementation of transformative digital governance may lead to an extraordinary impact on transformative education capabilities in cameroon’s higher education. discussion digital technological knowledge networks digital technological knowledge networks have an important role in cameroon’s higher education in knowledge transformation and economic growth. the findings of the study revealed at the level of descriptive statistics that the respondents generally agreed at 84.7% on the different measurements of technological knowledge networks (reirchart, 2019). these findings were shown to corroborate sivasankaran and karthikeyan (2021). this signifies that the promotion of digital collaboration and knowledge networking ecosystems, open access to digital knowledge sharing opportunities, talent development, continuous or digital lifelong learning programmes, institutional promotion of the development of regional digital knowledge ecosystems, and an attractive environment for digital investment are indispensable in the sustainability of an institutional technological knowledge network and transformative learning capabilities in higher education in cameroon (sivasankaran & karthikeyan, 2021). also, the inferential statistics revealed that digital technological knowledge networks have a significant relationship with transformative learning in cameroon’s higher education with a predictive coefficient of 59.7%. our study corroborates with akan (2020) which focused on developing hyper-local innovation ecosystems (yan, wang, yan, & zhai, 2020). findings demonstrate that higher education in the regionalisation and decentralisation processes work with regional and local authorities in developing a robust and completive innovation ecosystem. findings also show that digital technological knowledge networks in the innovation ecosystem will facilitate value creation (cai, ma, & chen, 2022). therefore, higher education has a transformative potential in the emerging fourth industrial revolution. innovation clusters innovation/knowledge clusters in higher education stimulate entrepreneurial initiative and build a robust innovation ecosystem. from our findings, innovation and knowledge clusters have a significant relationship with transformative education capabilities in bafon, tanyi, kamdjo, & djeumeni, transformative development potential of higher education 74 global journal of transformative education (2024) vol 4 cameroon’s higher education. this relationship affects transformative learning capabilities at 55.8%. clusters and incubators are the building blocks of a national and regional innovation ecosystem. higher education institutions are motors that drive these ecosystems through innovation production and dissemination (reirchart, 2019). these results show the positive effect of innovation clusters on knowledge and competences development (yan, wang, yan, & zhai, 2020). therefore, entrepreneurship and start-up ecosystems, emerging technological-based ventures, accessibility to funding and mentoring innovative research, knowledge brokers and accelerators within the innovation clusters, concentration of knowledge and expertise within clusters and industrial-relevant skills, competences and the stimulation of local economic growth through research and cooperation are indispensable indications of innovation clusters in the micro-meso-macro innovation ecosystems. these findings are supported by bocket et al, 2020. to further confirm these innovation ecosystem benchmarking indicators, the descriptive statistics show that 75.6% of respondents generally agreed that innovation/knowledge clusters have a significant relationship with transformative learning in higher education in cameroon, which is above a normal cutoff mean. innovation knowledge clusters have significant contributions towards building a transformative learning capability in cameroon’s higher education (sivasankaran & karthikeyan, 2021). knowledge and innovative cluster promote knowledge and technological transfer (bocket et al, 2020). transformative digital governance the integration and sustainable appropriation of transformative digital governance strategies is central to transformative education capabilities in the fourth industrial revolution in cameroon’s higher education. the findings of our study reveal that transformative digital governance has a predictive coefficient of 71.3%. these results implied that, availability of up-to-date and quality digital infrastructures, effective steering of electronic management systems, internal management processes, data analytics for informed digital decision making, content personalisation and mobility, online dashboard or a portal for institutional change management, a digital framework for transparency and accountability in institutional management performance and digital collaboration, and engagement in soliciting feedback, ideas and suggestions for the best institutional management performance are key digital governance assessment methodology indicator(vlesov, 2021). the development and provision of digital infrastructures in an institution of higher education improve efficiency and cost-effectiveness in the institutional resource-based management. moreso, the respondents generally agreed at an overall descriptive score of 71.4% that digital transformative digital governance has a significant relationship with transformative learning capabilities in higher education. transformative digital governance strategies will foster tremendous transformative learning capabilities in higher education (lotz-sisitka1 et al, 2015). digital governance indicators in higher education are primordial in shaping research development, pedagogical innovation, knowledge flows, and institutional steering for quality assurance and community outreach (brito, 2018) conclusions this paper evaluated the relationship between transformative development in the fourth industrial revolution and transformative education capabilities in cameroon’s higher education as a means of fostering technological development and knowledge transfer for the strategic innovation ecosystem approach. at a more in-depth level, the paper focused on digital technological networks, innovation/knowledge clusters, transformative digital governance, and transformative education capabilities. the strategic innovation ecosystem theory demonstrated that higher education is a major stakeholder in the leading national and regional innovation ecosystems through decentralisation and regionalisation in cameroon’s higher education (reirchart, 2019). the promotion of digital collaboration and knowledge networking ecosystems in the community and at inter-university levels fosters ecosystem development, open access to digital knowledge sharing opportunities just as talent development creates transformative communities of practice, and continuous or digital lifelong learning programmes. these also foster entrepreneurship and start-up ecosystems, emerging technological-based ventures, and accessibility to funding and mentoring innovative research. knowledge brokers and accelerators are innovation opportunities that build students’ communities and create a competitive knowledge environment, as well as promote excellence in research and development. further, they offer developing data analytics tools for informed digital decision making, harnessing contentpersonalisation and mobility frameworks. also crucial bafon, tanyi, kamdjo, & djeumeni, transformative development potential of higher education 75 global journal of transformative education (2024) vol 4 are an appropriation of online dashboard/or portal for institutional change management, a digital framework for transparency and accountability in institutional management performance pragmatic digital approach to transformative education. we therefore conclude that higher education knowledge and innovation practices from an exosystemic approach have indispensable contributions to transformative education in cameroon’s higher education. consequently, institutions of higher education must develop transformative digital governance, technological knowledge, and benchmarking frameworks to ensure continuous improvement, sustainability, competitiveness, visibility in knowledge production, and commercialisation in cameroon’s higher education (njebakal, & teneng, 2017). recommendations policies makers and institutional administrators should consider concentrating investments on technological infrastructures that pay attention to the realities of the emerging fourth industrial estate while equipping human resources with digital capabilities through knowledge networks and innovation clusters that create a competitive leverage for universities in the global knowledge society. also, providing students with up-to-date digital tools resources which are fundamental to the formation of the responsive human capital is a crucial component. that said, effectiveness, efficiency, transparency, and equity of institutional governance also depend on the appropriation and crystallisation of digital technology into a university management system. this digitalised infrastructure will facilitate data analytics, which could greatly contribute to informed decision-making in higher education. institutional administrators must continuously improve their knowledge infrastructures and network ecosystems for a transformative education. new perspective this study focuses on technological knowledge networks, innovation and knowledge clusters, transformative digital governance in higher education in the emerging fourth-industrial revolution. a future study has the possibility of extending the research to artificial intelligence (ai) and its implications in transformative education in africa or in cameroon’s 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https://scholar.google.com/scholar?output=instlink&q=info:rgepw-foqyuj:scholar.google.com/&hl=en&as_sdt=0,15&scillfp=17682712855549347981&oi=lle https://scholar.google.com/scholar?output=instlink&q=info:rgepw-foqyuj:scholar.google.com/&hl=en&as_sdt=0,15&scillfp=17682712855549347981&oi=lle https://scholar.google.com/scholar?output=instlink&q=info:rgepw-foqyuj:scholar.google.com/&hl=en&as_sdt=0,15&scillfp=17682712855549347981&oi=lle amadiok, d., abroampa, w.k., & osei, e.o. global journal of transformative education (2024) vol 4 pp 77-88. doi 10.14434/gjte.v4i1.36683 open access published by the global insitutute of transformative education (http://www.gite.education) © amadiok, abroampa, & osei. 2024. open access this journal is distributed under the terms of the creative commons attribution noncommercial nonderivative 4.0 international license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction without revision in any non-commercial medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the creative commons license, students’ use behaviors of e-learning management systems in ghanaian public universities: what do the demographics say? daniel amadiok,1 winston kwame abroampa,2 & eric opoku osei3 abstract it is crucial to identify and offer intense training to groups of students who underutilize e-learning management systems. this study used a quantitative research methodology to evaluate demographic differences in students’ use of e-lms in ghanaian public universities. a questionnaire was used to collect data from 531 students. the techniques for data analysis included independent t-tests, mean computation, percentage estimation, and standard deviation estimation. based on age and educational level, the results showed that there were no statistically significant variations in how students used e-lmss. nevertheless, a statistically significant variation in their use behavior with regard to gender and academic major was established. particularly, social science majors and female students in ghana’s public universities showed low use behavior of e-lms. therefore, it is recommended that students majoring in social sciences and those who are female undergo enhanced training on using the e-lms platform. keywords: demographic characteristics, e-learning management systems, use behavior full listing of authors and contacts can be found at the end of this article. introduction it is impossible to overestimate the importance of technology in education, particularly in higher education, where it has become an absolute necessity rather than an option. technology integration has become crucial for every educational organization in the twenty-first century (alshehri, 2020). when compared to conventional classroom approaches, technology has a number of benefits for education that greatly speed up the teaching and learning processes (aldowah, ghazal, umar, & muniandy, 2017). with the use of digital tools, educators may more quickly and effectively impart knowledge, look for answers to students’ learning problems, and offer assistance. technology also gives teachers the tools to interact with students who may be dispersed across various geographical regions. additionally, technology helps students study more efficiently and gives them the tools they need to take charge of their own education. through digital tools, students have access to a wide range of educational resources, enabling them to customize their learning to meet their unique needs. due to the crucial role that digital tools play in the administration and delivery of higher education, numerous educational institutions throughout the world have made significant investments in digital technologies to assist teaching and learning. the e-learning management system is one such piece of technology that is essential to many academic endeavors (kasim & khalid, 2016; wichadee, 2015). e-learning management systems are comprehensive software solutions created for the creation, management, and dissemination of educational information to students (lang & pirani, 2014). these systems are referred to by a variety of titles in the academic community, including virtual learning environments, course management systems, and learning content management systems (ghilay, 2019). the varied names associated with these platforms naturally reflect their main objectives, which center on course management and learning facilitation. numerous studies also offer various viewpoints on e-learning management systems. they are frequently portrayed as self-contained online learning platforms with storage capabilities that enable instructors to create and distribute educational content while also keeping track of student involvement (tseng, 2020). they also function as centralized hubs for uni77 amadiok, abroampa, osei, student use of elearning mgmt systems 78 versities, enabling academic institutions to efficiently plan and manage online teaching and learning (nicholas-omoregbe, azeta, chiazor, & omoregbe, 2017). as sharma, gaur, saddikuti, and rastogi (2017) suggested, these systems can also distribute instructional information through the internet, enabling flexible lesson planning to accommodate students who are spread out geographically. e-learning management systems are web-based solutions that encourage teacher-student interaction and collaboration, foster the dissemination of knowledge, and strengthen the learning process. colleges use these systems to perform both synchronous and asynchronous e-learning activities, as well as hybridized deliveries, giving online education a flexible and all-encompassing approach. the variety of e-lmss used in higher education institutions is expanding because of the development of information and communication technologies. because there are so many alternatives, different institutions choose particular systems (xhaferi, bahiti, & imeri, 2015). notable e-learning management systems include moodle, ecollege, canvas, sakai, and webct (annamalai, ramayah, kumar, & osman, 2021; matarirano, jere, sibanda, & panicker, 2020). these e-lmss provide a wide range of functionality, such as discussion forums, gradebooks, announcement tools, and file management capabilities, to help students and educators navigate virtual learning environments (biney, 2020). additionally, some of the applications might include extra functionality, including content creation, delivery, management, assessment, email, chat, list servers, instant messaging, and discussion forums (akay & gumusoglu, 2020). through e-learning management systems, educators have access to a variety of big data like never before. to incorporate learning analytics into the teaching and learning process, these systems automatically generate enormous amounts of data, which are subsequently examined using statistical tools (ismail, hamid, & chiroma, 2019; matsebula & mnkandla, 2017; lenar, jamila, ego, & rustem, 2019). predictive algorithms and forecasting tools that draw on data from educational institutions are used in e-learning management systems. institutions can better understand students’ learning patterns and forecast their chances of success by carefully evaluating the data kept in log files within these systems (yu & jo, 2014). importantly, in these learning environments, several elements, including study time, peer relationships, adherence to study schedules, and frequency of downloads, have a significant impact on students’ academic development. dashboards in e-learning management systems track and assess students’ academic progress over time, producing important metrics including completion rates, involvement in the e-lms, attendance data, and the likelihood of academic success. these indicators give educational authorities the ability to glean important insights into the growth and achievement of their students. institutions use the data collected from teacher and student actions inside these systems to improve and hone their pedagogical strategies. the broad adoption and effective implementation of e-learning systems in educational institutions depend on their acceptance by three crucial stakeholders: educational institutions themselves, teachers, and students (edumadze et al., 2014). however, it is crucial to acknowledge the notable discrepancies in students’, instructors’, and administrators’ readiness to use e-lmss (ansong, boateng, & boateng, 2016). the level of e-learning system use in higher education institutions is determined by elements like the educational content’s quality and the accessibility of necessary resources like chat platforms, forums, and collaborative features. several studies (ayouni, menzli, hajjej, maddeh & al-otaibi, 2021; kuadey et al., 2022; mtebe, 2015; juhanak, zounek & rohlikova, 2019) have confirmed the widespread adoption of e-lmss at institutions of education and universities around the world. they also highlighted the growing adoption tendency in both well-resourced and under-resourced institutions. the high adoption of e-lmss has failed to transfer into proportionate students’ use behavior of the platforms in sub-saharan africa (dampson, 2021; mtebe, 2015). while studies (dampson, 2021; tagoe & cole, 2020; asamoah, 2020; sahoo, odame, reddy & khan, 2020) acknowledge the general underutilization of e-lmss in public universities in ghana, there is a dearth of knowledge and empirical findings on the influence of demographic factors on the overall non-use of e-lmss by students. therefore, it is necessary to thoroughly examine various demographic groups to determine those contributing to the underutilization of e-lmss within ghana’s public universities. in fact, analyzing student usage behavior based on demographic categories can give university administrators insightful information that will help them customize support programs to meet the specific requirements of these groups. furthermore, a thorough comprehension of the variations in students’ use of e-lmss has enormous promise for developing applicable regulations and enhancing training methglobal journal of transformative education (2024) vol 4 79 global journal of transformative education (2024) vol 4 ods in higher education. thus, the research questions this paper sought to answer are: 1. what are students’ use behaviors of e-learning management systems? 2. what statistically significant differences exist in students’ use behaviors of e-learning management systems based on their demographic characteristics? to add contextual knowledge to the research questions, the ensuing section presents a review of studies related to the themes extracted from the research questions. students’ use behavior of e-lms the words “use behavior,” “actual use,” or “actual usage” are widely used interchangeably in numerous studies in the field of information systems. these phrases jointly express the idea of a firm commitment to using a certain technology or information system (black, 1982). students’ usage behavior of e-learning management systems in the specific context of education serves as a visible indication of their persistent dedication to utilizing these educational platforms (yakubu & dasuki, 2018). the importance of behavioral intentions and perceived behavioral control in determining the actual use of information systems is stressed by theoretical frameworks like the technology acceptance model (davis, 1986), the theory of planned behavior (azjen, 1991), and the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (vankesh, thong, & xu, 2016). these theories stress that people’s intentions and perceptions of their level of control over their behavior are the primary forces behind their actual interactions with technology. assessment of students’ use behavior of the teaching and learning platform is a crucial component of this study. such an assessment not only clarifies the degree of their contact with the systems but also provides priceless information about the platform’s overall influence on their academic endeavors. as a result, a thorough examination of students’ actual use behavior serves as a vital benchmark for determining the usefulness and efficacy of the platform in improving the educational experience of students. numerous studies have acknowledged students’ actual use behaviors of e-lmss in advanced countries as extremely high. however, these same studies have pronounced that the application is underutilized in the sub-saharan african context (dampson, 2021; tagoe & cole, 2020; asamoah, 2020; mtebe, 2015). some groups of students are the cause of the underutilization and must be identified. gender segregation in e-lms use in several studies examining students’ uses of technology, the influence of gender as a demographic element has been examined. according to cai, fan, and du’s (2017) research, the gender gap in technology use has only minimally closed, indicating that there is still a significant gap between males and females. in a similar vein, mumporeze and prieler’s (2017) study indicated that women utilize technology on average less than men do, and qazi et al. (2021) discovered that men are more likely to use icts than women. additionally, alshorman and bawaneh (2018) found that men tend to have more positive sentiments toward their use of technology than do women. men utilize learning management systems more actively than women, according to borokhovski, tamim, pickup, rabah, and obukhova (2019). in addition, lim et al. (2020) used factorial invariance analysis to distinguish between how men and women use e-learning management systems. dahlstrom & bichsel (2014) reported that men and women use technology equally, which is in opposition to these findings. they asserted that inequalities in attitude are to blame for the disparities in technology use. dahlstrom and bichsel’s (2014) assertion is supported by the studies (alshorman & bawaneh, 2018; yalman, basaran, & gonen, 2016). there are few studies that prove the distinctions between male and female students’ uses of e-learning management systems in ghana’s public universities. thus, this current study proposes the hypothesis: h01: there is no statistically significant difference in students’ use behaviors of e-learning management systems based on their gender. age segregation in e-lms use numerous studies have shown that age can have a variety of effects on how people use technology. researchers (scherer, siddiq, & teo, 2015; john, 2015; guillén-gámez, lugonesb, & mayorga-fernándezh, 2019) have noted that age influences how people utilize technology. according to cabero and barroso’s (2016) research, younger males tend to excel at technology and utilize it more frequently than their older counterparts. this assertion was supported by a similar study by gudmundsdottir and hatlevik (2018), which emphasized that younger students have better technology usage abilities than older people. guilléngámez, lugonesb, and mayorga-fernándezh (2019) backed up the conclusions made by the studies (cabero amadiok, abroampa, osei, student use of elearning mgmt systems 80 & barroso, 2016; gudmundsdottir & hatlevik, 2018) by emphasizing that younger students use technology more frequently than their older peers. furthermore, onyeaka, romero, healy, and celano (2020) discovered that younger students engage with a larger variety of technologies than their older counterparts and have more expertise in using technology. in contrast, john (2015) found that those over the age of 30 had more favorable opinions about their usage of technology than people under that age. despite these diverse findings, only a small number of studies have looked at how age affects how students use e-learning management systems. particularly, there has not been much coverage of the higher education scene in ghana. consequently, to investigate this assertion, the following hypothesis has been formulated: h02: there is no statistically significant difference in students’ use behaviors of e-learning management systems based on their age. educational level segregation in e-lms use students are normally divided into two groups in universities all around the world: undergraduates and postgraduates. there are differences between how these two groups of students use technology. several studies have examined these student groups’ perspectives on how they use e-learning management systems. for instance, postgraduate students exhibit a high level of proficiency when utilizing e-learning management systems, according to buthelezi and wyk’s (2020) research. postgraduate students, on the other hand, exhibit little involvement with e-learning management systems (kite et al., 2020). according to dahlstrom and bichsel’s (2014) research, undergraduates did not show a lot of enthusiasm for using e-learning management systems in practice. in contrast to sahoo, odame, reddy, and khan’s (2020) finding that undergraduates are skilled at using these systems, firat’s (2016) study emphasized distinct usage habits with regard to undergraduates’ use of e-learning management systems. it is clear from reading these studies that we still don’t fully grasp the differences between undergraduates and postgraduates in terms of how they use e-learning management systems. to address this gap, the following hypothesis has been formulated: h03: there is no statistically significant difference in students’ use behavior of e-learning management systems based on their educational level. academic major segregation in e-lms use academic majors are split into two groups in binyamin’s (2019) taxonomy of university courses: science and social science. according to binyamin, science students concentrate on fields like medicine, applied sciences (like computer science and engineering), and natural sciences (like biology, physics, and chemistry). in contrast, social science students focus on the humanities (such as history, religion, education, languages, and management). ngah et al.’s (2022) study pointed out that there are variances in how students use technology. students studying pure science outperformed those studying social science in terms of technology use. this occurrence was explained by the fact that students studying pure science are engaged in practical activities and want to employ technology. despite this categorization, a limited number of studies have explored the variations in technology usage based on these divisions. consequently, this study aimed to investigate the disparities in students’ use behavior of e-lmss based on their academic major. to examine this assertion, the hypothesis below has been formulated: h04: there is no statistically significant difference in students use behavior of e-learning management systems based on their academic major. methodology all students enrolled in ghanaian public universities who had used their institution’s e-learning management system (e-lms) for at least a year comprised the study’s target population. the accessible population involved three public universities in ghana because of their use of structures that enable students to collect data for academic purposes. however, saunders, lewis, and thornhill (2019) advise using a multistage random sample strategy, which the researchers did because of the geographically scattered distribution of students within the universities. the faculties, along with their corresponding departments, made up the study’s natural clusters. the sampling procedure was conducted in stages, with the first stage involving the selection of one faculty (within a specific division in a college) from each of the three universities using the lottery method. the second stage involved choosing one department from each of the three faculties selected using the lottery technique once more, without replacement. in the final stage, student participants were selected using simple random sampling with the randomizer software as suggested by creswell and creswell (2018). global journal of transformative education (2024) vol 4 amadiok, abroampa, osei, student use of elearning mgmt systems 81 the accessible population, which included 4,002 students, consisted of those from the three universities that were selected during the initial sampling phase. using a chart created by krejcie and morgan in 1970, a sample size of 825 was determined. after a thorough assessment of the literature, a paper-based questionnaire was created and given to the respondents. this decision was because, as binyamin (2019) suggests, print versions have a higher response rate than online distribution. a five-point likert-type scale was used to rate the adapted questionnaire items. three ict lecturers reviewed the questionnaire items to make sure they were valid. the questionnaire’s pre-testing produced a reliability index for cronbach’s alpha of 0.957. the respondents were given a total of 825 questionnaires; however, only 598 of these were filled out and returned. sixty-seven questionnaires were declared unsuitable for further analysis after a preliminary evaluation because of missing values and suspicious patterns. consequently, 531 questionnaires, accounting for 64.4% of the total, were included in the final analysis. research question 1, which was descriptive, involved looking at frequencies, percentages, averages, and standard deviations. contrarily, an independent t-test was used to analyze research question 2, which was inferential in nature. data analysis demographic data the study elicited students’ gender, age, educational level, and academic major as demographic data. table 1 presents the demographic data of the respondents. data in table 1 show that males and females made up 54.4% and 45.6%, respectively, of the total number of respondents. the mean age of the respondents was 23.82. students below the mean age and students above the mean age were (302) 56.9% and (229) 43.1%, respectively, of the total respondents. undergraduates were 449 (84.6%), whereas postgraduates were 82 (15.4%). students who had science as their academic major were 197 (37.1%), whereas those with social science as their academic major were 334 (62.9%). in summary, the analysis of table 1 suggests that, firstly, there were more male respondents than female respondents. secondly, the number of students below the mean age exceeded those above the mean age. thirdly, undergraduates outnumbered postgraduates. lastly, there were more respondents with a background in the social sciences compared to those with a pure science background in this study. students’ use behavior of e-lms frequency, percentage, mean, and standard deviation were computed from the data on students’ use behavior of e-lms. table 2 depicts the results. global journal of transformative education (2024) vol 4 amadiok, abroampa, osei, student use of elearning mgmt systems 82 the data in table 2 show that students agree (m = 3.43; sd = 1.149) that they use their university’s e-lms frequently. again, the data in table 2 show that students were unsure (m = 3.28; sd = 1.179) that they depend on the university’s e-lms for their studies. moreover, from the table, students agreed (m = 3.71; sd = 1.043) that they tend to use their university’s e-lms for as long as is necessary. finally, the data in table 2 show that students were unsure (m = 3.43; sd = 1.061) of the fact that they tend to use many features of their university’s e-lms. summarily, table 2 shows that students were unsure (m = 3.46; sd = 1.11) of their use behavior of their university’s e-lms. it is, thus, deduced that in public universities in ghana, students are unsure of their usage behavior of e-lmss. students’ use behavior of e-lms in terms of their demographic characteristics the results of the analysis of students’ use behavior of e-lmss based on their demographic characteristics are presented in this section. the demographic characteristics are gender, age, academic level, and academic major. the results are shown in table 3. table 3 reveals a statistically significant difference (p = 0.004; = 0.05) between males and females in their use behavior of e-lms. the table indicates that the mean of males (m = 3.567; sd = 0.9309) is higher than the mean of females (m = 3.336; sd = 0.9257). thus, h01 was rejected. it is, therefore, imperative that males have a higher use behavior of e-lms than females. also, there was no statistically significant difference (p = 0.690; = 0.05) between below-mean age and above-mean age in terms of their use behavior of e-lms. thus, h02 was accepted. a look at the mean scores in table 3 shows that the mean score of students below the mean age (m = 3.476; sd = 0.9326) is similar to the mean score of students above the mean age (m = 3.443; sd = 0.9395). it can, thus, be deduced that students with their ages below the mean age have use behavior of e-lms similar to that of students with their ages above the mean age in ghanaian public universities. table 3 further shows that there was no statistically significant difference (p = 0.312; = 0.05) between undergraduate and postgraduate students in terms of their e-lms use behavior. thus, h03 was accepted. a look at the mean scores in table 3 shows that the mean score of undergraduate students (m = 3.444; sd = 0.9431) is similar to the mean score of postgraduate students (m = 3.558; sd = 0.8874). thus, it indicates that undergraduate and postgraduate students have similar use behaviors of e-lms in ghanaian public universities. finally, table 3 indicates that there was a statistically significant difference (p = 0.01; = 0.05) between students in the sciences and social sciences in terms of their use behavior of e-lms, so h04 was rejected. table 3 shows that the mean score of students with an academic major in science (m = 3.643; sd = 0.942) is higher than the mean score of students with an academic major in social science (m = 3.355; sd = 0.915). thus, it implies that students in the sciences have a higher use behavior of e-lmss than those in the social sciences in ghanaian public universities. discussion the study revealed that students were unsure (m = 3.46; sd = 1.11) of their use behaviors of their university’s e-lms. this result corroborates the studies of dampson (2021), tagoe and cole (2020), asamoah (2020), and mtebe (2015), which revealed that students underutilize e-lmss in universities in the sub-saharan context. these findings are attributable to a specific subset of students who either demonstrate a limited level of engagement with e-lmss or, in some. global journal of transformative education (2024) vol 4 amadiok, abroampa, osei, student use of elearning mgmt systems 83 cases, do not engage with them at all. it also became known that there was a statistically significant difference (p = 0.004; = 0.05) in students’ use behavior of e-lmss based on their gender. this result aligns with studies that claim that there is a gender imbalance in the use of e-learning systems and that males use e-lmss more frequently than females. the study by li, wang, and campbell (2015) found that male students use e-lms more regularly than females. moreover, alshorman and bawaneh’s (2018) study found that males have higher attitudes toward technology than females. contrary to this study, alblassi’s (2016) study revealed that e-lms use among males and females was the same. likewise, dahlstrom and bichsel’s (2014) study found that males and females have the same abilities for utilizing information technologies. moreover, the study by cai, fan, and du (2017) found a reduction in the gap between men and women in terms of technology utilization. this finding of the study is in congruent with most studies regarding information technology utilization. the result indicates that female students in ghanaian public universities need more training on e-lmss to build optimal utilization behavior. this result might have occurred because males are more tech-savvy than females and would want to use more technology in their activities (dahlstrom & bichsel, 2014). the study also found that there was no statistically significant difference (p = 0.690; = 0.05) in students’ use behavior of e-lms based on their age. this result is inconsistent with most of the studies (cabero & barroso, 2016; gudmundsdottir & hatlevik, 2018; guillén-gámez, lugonesb, & mayorga-fernándezh, 2019) in this research area. these studies found that younger students tend to use e-lmss more than older students. the findings of this current study seem to have occurred because the age differences among respondents was small. all ages in the 21st century have equal access to various kinds of technologies and skill development, which may be influencing their use behaviors of e-lms, hence this result. it was realized that there was no statistically significant difference (p = 0.312; = 0.05) in students’ use behavior of e-lms based on their educational level. this result indicates that undergraduates and postgraduates have the same use behavior for e-lms. several studies (sahoo, odame, reddy, & khan, 2020; buthelezi & wyk, 2020; firat, 2016) in this research area have considered students use of e-lmss based on either undergraduates or postgraduates. however, this study compared both groups use of e-lmss. the result might have occurred because both undergraduate and postgraduate students are subjected to e-lms use in the same way. the study further found that there was a statistically significant difference (p = 0.01; = 0.05) in students’ use behavior of e-lms based on their academic major. this finding indicates that students with an academic major in science have a higher use behavior of e-lms than students with an academic major in social science. this corroborates the study of ngah et al. (2022), which revealed that there was a statistically significant difference between pure science and social science students in terms of their usage of technologies. pure science students utilize technologies that offer them more firsthand practical activities than social science students. this finding is not surprising in the ghanaian higher education context because science students tend to be more practice-oriented and prefer to use technologies in their studies than social science students. science students have specialized ict tools for modeling, data analysis, and simulations in their course areas. in summary, there was no difference in students’ use behaviors of e-lmss in terms of age and educational level. however, there was a difference in students use behaviors of e-lms based on their gender and academic majors. female and social science students underutilize e-lmss; therefore, enough training on e-lms usage should be offered to them. the management of public universities in ghana should give special attention to females and social science students when strategies and policies on e-lms are being applied to them. it is imperative that the capacity of all students, irrespective of their background, be developed to enable them to conveniently use lms. the potential limitation of this study is that it relied on a self-reported survey. however, respondents were informed of the ethical conditions under which the study was being conducted, to encourage genuine responses to the questionnaire. conclusion the purpose of this study was to examine the demographic differences in students’ e-lms usage behavior. according to the study’s findings, neither students’ age nor educational level significantly affected how they used an e-lms. however, there were noticeable differences in how students used the e-lms based on their academic major and gender. as a result, global journal of transformative education (2024) vol 4 amadiok, abroampa, osei, student use of elearning mgmt systems 84 global journal of transformative education (2024) vol 4 we suggest that e-lms usage regulations and procedures be applied consistently to all students. however, special attention should be given to female students and students majoring in social science areas. it is significant to emphasize that the generalizability of this study is constrained to ghana’s traditional public universities. further research involving technical and private universities is advised in order to have a more thorough picture of e-lms usage patterns across all universities in ghana. this increased research effort would provide a more comprehensive viewpoint on e-lms use behavior within the ghanaian higher education sector. acknowledgement dr. partrick swanzy, the entire staff, and the entire student body of the department of teacher education at kwame nkrumah university of science and technology are all acknowledged and thanked for their encouragement, which has led to this paper. references akay, d. e., & gumusoglu, e. k. 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https://www.hrpub.org/journals/article_info.php?aid=3943 https://www.hrpub.org/journals/article_info.php?aid=3943 https://www.hrpub.org/journals/article_info.php?aid=3943 87amadiok, abroampa, osei, student use of elearning mgmt systems global journal of transformative education (2024) vol 4 hanson, m. a, & beem, h. global journal of transformative education (2024) vol 4 pp 88-104. doi 10.14434/gjte.v4i1.36705 open access published by the global insitutute of transformative education (http://www.gite.education) © hanson & beem. 2024. open access this journal is distributed under the terms of the creative commons attribution noncommercial nonderivative 4.0 international license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction without revision in any non-commercial medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the creative commons license, transitioning hands-on stem teacher training in ghana from an in-person to online modality mawuena a. hanson1 & heather beem2 abstract covid-19 provided an avenue for teaching and learning to be done remotely, hence practical education network (pen), a nonprofit organization in ghana, took advantage of this to transition from an in-person to online training mode. this study aimed to determine how the efficacy of hands-on stem teacher training in ghana compared between fully in-person and fully online modalities as well as the best practices that can be elucidated from a ghanaian training provider’s transition between the two. in-person training content was converted into videos and powerpoint presentations accessed asynchronously together with synchronous zoom sessions for discussions. between 2020-2021, two hundred and twenty (220) teachers who teach science, math and ict were selected from 10 regions of ghana to participate across five (5) cohorts. relying fully on locally available materials, pen successfully implemented an online training on hands-on content, which is arguably a “pandemic-proof” approach. results showed that teacher confidence and feasibility to implement hands-on activities increased with statistical significance and large effect size for both in-person and online training offerings. hence, even with minimal technology, teachers across africa could be trained online and experience meaningful learning. the key difference between the two modalities was the time involved, as the online offering was spread out over a longer period of time. this work can motivate other african education providers to pursue online offerings, as they are lower-cost, and can still be effective, despite contextual challenges. keywords: stem, teacher training, in-person training, online training, locally available materials, hands-on full listing of authors and contacts can be found at the end of this article. introduction the vast majority of education providers in africa have traditionally relied exclusively on in-person offerings (crawfurd, evans, hares, & sandefur, 2021). the covid-19 pandemic triggered a need for education and learning opportunities to be made available remotely. closure of schools in the wake of the pandemic implied that innovative strategies needed to be employed for teaching and learning to continue while students were home. this was necessary to avoid disruptions in the educational sector (addae, amponsah, & gborti, 2021). this presented a significant obstacle to be surmounted, given contextual challenges with online learning such as poor internet connectivity, low digital literacy levels, and the familiarity with in-person engagements for establishing connection. existing teacher training landscape in africa teacher professional development is a necessary component of the provision of quality education. to be effective and remain relevant, teachers need to have periodic in-service training. however, an insufficient proportion of teachers in ghana and africa at large are afforded the opportunity to engage in this regularly (sanyal & unesco, 2013). several teacher training service providers operate in africa, however most of them focus on general pedagogical practice. only a few utilize digital modalities for training delivery, even after the pandemic. and even fewer focus on the unique needs that stem teachers have. ghana is a rapidly developing economy, and the country is actively implementing a number of education reforms. nonetheless, the same gaps mentioned in africa’s teacher training landscape hold in ghana: few of them leverage digital approaches or provide stem-specific content. the digital education interventions that exist in ghana are generally directed at students, such as studying past questions for the national exams (ecampus, 2023) or learning to code (suacode. ai, 2023). almost no digital interventions in ghana focused on teachers prior to the pandemic. the center for national distance learning and open schooling 88 hanson & beem, transitioning stem teacher training to online modality 89 (cendlos, 2023)and ghana society for educational technology (gset, 2023) are two exceptions. the edtech readiness index (marin, cobo, cloutier & lambert-porter, 2021) shows six pillars on which a country’s readiness to adopt edtech could be founded. many african countries will score relatively low on this. stem-specific training content is highly needed in ghana, given that those subjects are known to be most effective when taught in an experiential manner. the lack of hands-on learning is something that is often lamented amongst ghanaian education stakeholders, utilizing the phrase “chew and pour” to describe the rote approach that pervades practice (owusu-acheaw, 2014), especially in stem subjects. the traditional approach tends to encourage memorization and reproduction of facts, limiting learning outcomes (nugba & quansah, 2020). regarding hands-on learning in ghana, a small number of training providers include it in their offerings, mostly approaching it from a play-based learning approach, albeit not in stem (foundation first, 2023; sabre education, 2023; right to play, 2023). in addition to the ghana association of science teachers (gast), practical education network (pen) is one of the few stem teacher training providers in ghana, and its program will be the subject of this study. pen’s approach of in-person training of teachers to leverage low-cost materials to teach hands-on activities in stem subjects has had a significant impact on student attitudes and learning outcomes in ghana (babb & stockero, 2020; practical education network, 2020). the african and ghanaian education landscapes experience a gap in training offerings for teachers both in the digital modalities and in a pedagogical approach targeted at hands-on learning. there is a need to scale up existing interventions that are effectively filling the gap. response of education stakeholders to covid-19 in africa the disruption of education due to covid-19 called for the development of innovation that could help the delivery of education remotely (mukute, burt, francis, & de souza, 2020). most governments around the world called on their teachers to ensure continued learning in the pandemic, but few african governments were able to offer training or specific support for them to do so (vegas, 2020). nonetheless, several interesting interventions emerged on the continent. they can be categorized into those that facilitated passive learning and those that facilitated active learning. african governments launched several educational programs, and largely passive learning approaches such as leveraged television and radio to do so (edtech hub, 2020). countries like nigeria, tanzania and sierra leone broadcasted lessons on tv (osman, & keevy, 2021). radio emerged as a popular tool for remote learning during the pandemic. sierra leone’s ministry of basic and senior secondary education turned to “education radio” (government of sierra leone, 2020), “rising on air,” an initiative from rising academies, was adapted for use in more than 10 countries (flood, 2020), and yiya airscience in uganda supported remote and outof-school children (kisakye, 2020). challenges with radio include its ephemeral nature, the difficulty of monitoring its use, and the minimal interactivity levels it facilitates (damani & mitchell, 2020). a few interventions emerged for active learning on the continent. zoom and other video conferencing were some of the most popular online platforms for teaching and learning during the pandemic (erna, genisa, muslaini, & suhartini, 2022). lower bandwidth options like whatsapp were also used for running teacher training, as led by nigeria’s cchub (tijani, madu, falade, & deleajayi, 2021). in sierra leone, phone calls were used for live tutoring (crawfurd, evans, hares, & sandefur, 2021). more active approaches, such as these, should be considered as preferred options for learning. the role of the teacher is important for roles such as facilitating two-way dialogue, addressing misconceptions and increasing engagement (munna & kalam, 2021). to the authors’ knowledge, no african service providers developed a digital offering for teacher training, and which facilitated a hands-on approach. response of education stakeholders to covid-19 in ghana ghana’s national education response in the covid-19 pandemic centered around the ministry of education’s production of a tv broadcast of lessons for students (dome & armah-attoh, 2020) and a radio reading program (us embassy in ghana, 2023). for the tv program, each class for primary and jhs had 35 minutes of content, whereas each class for shs had 60 minutes of content per day (ghana education service, 2020) as mentioned earlier, this platform facilitates passive learning, which has inherent limitations. highend private schools were able to transition to fully remote offerings so as to enable a more active approach. this, however, only benefited a small minority of the population. most students in ghana found themselves largely devoid from structured learning from march to global journal of transformative education (2024) vol 4 90 global journal of transformative education (2024) vol 4 december 2020. at the grassroots level, a few other interventions also emerged, such as a radio program in the western region. these did not, however, attempt to cover hands-on learning, and focused on delivering content knowledge. methods employed by hands-on education providers to transition online/remote globally, prior to the pandemic, most online courses lacked significant hands-on components (eisenberg & fischer, 2014). enabling hands-on content online is a challenge that most education providers had not tackled until the covid-19 pandemic provided a strong impetus. efforts to transition hands-on learning online can generally be grouped into three categories. 1) materials kits for each student. several universities adopted this approach, packaging kits and shipping them to students (halpern, 2021; hart et al, 2021; leung & chu, 2020; mcquate, 2020; travaglini, sheppard, chen, & nittali, 2021; wu et al, 2020). 2) remote labs where students either observe a lab technician/teacher conduct an experiment or remotely control a pre-made experimental setup (yeung, 2020). 3) virtual labs using computer-based representations or simulations, usually involving animations (advanced tools for e-learning, 2023; pivot interactives, 2023; university of colorado boulder, 2019). these can be programmed for pre-determined modes of interactivity. some of these virtual labs had been around for decades prior to the pandemic. papers comparing all of these approaches (bishop et al, 2021; fox, 2020; wijenayake et al, 2021) reveal challenges such as equitable distribution of materials and cost of implementation. using or adapting any of these three approaches to the african context presents a few challenges. with the first approach, the cost of shipping materials is high. at the onset of the pandemic, ashesi university in ghana adopted this approach to send engineering kits to all students (ashesi university, 2020) but the cost prohibited its continued use. the cost involved in delivering materials to the “last mile” in rural africa is significant. the need for using readily available materials has been mentioned (larson & farnsworth, 2020). a few educators developed innovative approaches for guiding their students to use materials they had around them, such as using a smartphone to measure focal length (girot, goy, vilquin, & delabre, 2020). with the second and third approaches, remote and virtual labs evade the tactical experience that facilitates deeper engagement, flexibility to test variations beyond the guided prompts and therefore greater connection to each individual’s existing knowledge and constructs. remote labs are more difficult to carry out given the generally low bandwidth and therefore short duration that video connection can be maintained in a group. virtual labs inherently present a layer of artificiality to lab work which, in the authors’ opinions, continues to evade the goal of engaging in real experiences students are craving. also, these tools have not necessarily been designed for mobile usage, which is the dominant platform that african teachers would be using. there is a need for developing approaches to deploying hands-on learning remotely in a manner that is contextually appropriate for the african continent. practical education network (pen) is a ghanaian ngo with a mission to enable every african child to learn by doing. pen’s core programming is a hands-on stem teacher training program, which builds capacity to leverage low-cost, locally available materials (practical education network, 2024). pen’s definition of hands-on learning comes from the constructivist approach and necessarily utilizes physical materials to facilitate learning. pen leaned into the challenges presented by the covid-19 pandemic and successfully translated its hands-on teacher training from a fully in-person to a fully online offering. this paper highlights aspects of this translation, key lessons learned in the process, and the effect of the online training. two research questions are explored in this paper. rq1: “how does the efficacy of hands-on stem teacher training in ghana compare between fully in-person and fully online modalities?” rq2: “what best practices can be elucidated from a ghanaian training provider’s transition from in-person to online modalities?” the translation process and resultant learnings are presented in this paper, with suggestions for how this model can be employed by other training providers on the continent to similarly transition to online modalities. methodology covid-19 challenged pen to translate its purely in-person training into a fully online mode. hence its content was converted into videos and powerpoint presentations for participants to access asynchronously. this was complemented with live training and discussion sessions held on zoom as well as assignments hanson & beem, transitioning stem teacher training to online modality hanson & beem, transitioning stem teacher training to online modality 91 offered in google classroom, a learning management system (lms). to have an effective and successful online training, inclusion criteria were set. teachers who had a good internet connectivity, access to a smartphone, laptop or desktop computer, and who were motivated and committed to completing an online training were included in the online training. teachers’ commitment to completing the training included attending all live training sessions, completing and submitting assignments. the assignments were in the form of watching videos and replicating hands-on activities in their classroom and uploading these videos on the lms. figure 1 shows the process involved in implementing pen’s in-person and online training modes. although both begin similarly, the online modality has a few additional elements that facilitate its delivery over a period of time. in the online training, a whatsapp group was formed to facilitate communication between the organization and the participants. then the same content was broken down into short modules completglobal journal of transformative education (2024) vol 4 hanson & beem, transitioning stem teacher training to online modality 92 ed over time. a cycle of live zoom sessions and assignments on an lms was repeated multiple times. the zoom session served to first orient teachers to the program and then later served as a platform for experience sharing based on what they completed as their assignments. short instructional videos on how to conduct each hands-on activity were shared on the lms, the teacher was guided to gather the local materials in their own locality, reproduce the activity on their own, and upload a short video of them conducting the activity. over the period of 2014-2019, the in-person training program was rolled out for several cohorts across ghana. in 2020-2021, this training program was rolled out fully online and for five different cohorts. details of the online training cohorts are captured in table 1. these covered various districts and regions within ghana, some being urban, some peri-urban and some rural. the funder type also varied. in all cases, ghana education service (ges) was closely consulted in the implementation. the cohorts will be referred to by their abbreviated names henceforth in this paper. baseline information a presurvey, a digital literacy and access to it equipment survey, and a consent form, developed as google forms, were administered prior to the training to collect baseline data. the pre-survey was used to assess teachers’ teaching practice and knowledge of teaching using hands-on methods. the digital literacy and access to it equipment survey collected data on the digital literacy levels of teachers prior to the intervention, whereas the consent form was used to officially seek the consent of teachers to participate in the online training. however, data analyzed to obtain baseline information was from the digital literacy and access to it equipment survey. data such as teachers’ usage of video conferencing tools, participation in an online course before the training, access to digital devices and challenges faced while using the internet was collected and analyzed using simple descriptives. the survey had closed-ended questions which were analyzed quantitatively. the categories of questions asked sought to find out about teachers’ proficiency in the use of video conferencing tools, challenges teachers faced while using the internet, teachers experience with taking courses online, among others as shown in the appendix. the questions asked included “have you taken an online professional course or class before, and likertscale questions on teacher confidence and feasibility of conducting hands-on activities in their classrooms. endline information a post-survey in the form of a google form was also used to collect data on the impact of the training on teachers. the course completion rate of the training compared to other massive open online courses (moocs) and challenges teachers faced while participating were determined at the end of the online training. the course completion was calculated as the percentage of teachers who completed pen’s online training divided by the percentage of teachers who signed up for the training. this figure was compared to that of other online courses. both pre and post surveys asked the same close-ended questions on confidence and feasibility. these were analyzed quantitatively using simple descriptives. sample questions asked included: “i can now carry out stem-related hands-on activities in my classroom,” “i know what to do to increase my students’ engagement during a science lesson,” “i am confident i can global journal of transformative education (2024) vol 4 hanson & beem, transitioning stem teacher training to online modality 93 teach my students using a hands-on approach today,” “i am confident that i can address most of my students’ concerns during science lesson using a hands-on approach.” pre-post comparison of teachers’ confidence levels and feasibility to carry out hands-on activities during their lessons was done to determine change in teacher skills and attitudes over the course of the training. paired t-tests, to determine p-values for statistical significance (p < 0.05) and hedge’s g test, to determine the effect size were done. the effect size was considered to be small if |g| >0.2, medium if |g| >0.5, and large if |g| >0.8. these compared the change in confidence and feasibility levels from both the in-person versus online training modes. learning gains were also determined for both online and in-person teacher participants. teachers’ learning gains per unit time were calculated as the difference in average scores of confidence and feasibility indicators, before and after the training, divided by the amount of time spent with each training cohort. figure 2 illustrates the key components of the training format, namely providing instructional video content that the teachers could watch asynchronously, teacher replicating the activities themselves and uploading a video as evidence, and finally a group zoom session used to share experiences on the hands-on activities they carried out. field visits and interviews after the training program was complete, pen staff followed up on some teachers who were randomly selected from the greater accra western and ashanti regions of ghana. the selected teachers in the greater accra region were visited in their schools and those in the western and ashanti regions were interviewed on the phone six months after being trained. pictures of teachers and their learners were taken, and the beneficiary teachers were also interviewed face-to-face during the field visits. teachers in other regions outside accra, were interviewed via phone calls. all interviews were transcribed verbatim, and stories were developed out of them. results participant demographics in total, across the five cohorts, 220 teachers who teach science, math and information and communication technology (ict) were selected from 10 out of the 16 regions in ghana to participate in pen’s online teacher training in the use of hands-on methods to teach stem subjects. they were between the ages of 18 and 50 years. 57% of the teachers were males and 43% were females. baseline information figures 3 to 8 capture key results obtained from the baseline data. these help to create a picture of teachers’ access to digital devices as well as their digital literacy levels prior to the training. figure 3 shows teachers’ exposure to selected video conferencing tools. teachers surveyed across five training groups were generally not exposed to using video conferencing tools. however, teachers were more exposed to zoom compared to other video conferencing tools. comparing teachers who had never used zoom to those who had before the training, data collected showed that many teachers described themselves as being very good at using zoom. 40% of the teachers were very good at using zoom compared to 10% who had never used it. these exposure levels that teachers reported did not differ significantly whether they were based in rural or urban areas. figure 4 details the percentage of teachers who had taken any online course before the training. baseline data collected before the online training. baseline data global journal of transformative education (2024) vol 4 hanson & beem, transitioning stem teacher training to online modality 94 collected before the online training showed that teachers were not used to or exposed to doing online courses or training. about 73% of the teachers had never done an online training prior to pen training. generally, teachers in all the training cohorts had a low level of exposure to taking an online course prior to the training. however, teachers from nzema east which is a largely rural district had a relatively higher value (56%) for percentage of exposure to online training. this could be attributed to lower reliability, given that the nzema east cohort had the smallest sample size. percentage of teachers who had access to a digital device prior to the training is shown in figure 5. this data reveals that smartphones are by far the device which are most accessible to this teacher population, and therefore they will be relying mainly on them to engage with the online training. only 6% of teachers owned desktop computers and 27% of them owned laptops. figure 6 shows the percentage of teachers who reported generally facing challenges while using the internet before the training. in aggregate across the five training groups, about 55% of the teachers surveyed said they faced challenges using the internet. generally, the five cohorts reported similar responses, except for nzema east, which again is likely attributable to the low sample size in that cohort. global journal of transformative education (2024) vol 4 hanson & beem, transitioning stem teacher training to online modality 95 figures 7 and 8 show the type of challenges teachers faced while using the internet prior to the training. the types of challenges faced include cost of purchasing internet data, poor internet connectivity, faulty device, and inability of device to download certain apps. cost of data was the major challenge faced, with 44% of the teachers attesting to that, followed by poor internet connectivity (34%), inability of device to download certain apps (14%) and faulty device (8%). endline information in figure 9, the percentage of teachers who successfully completed the training program is presented. teachers in the secf training cohort had the highest percentage (85%) of teachers completing the training. ahanta west training cohort had the least percentage (14%) of teachers completing the training. across all cohorts the online training had an overall course completion rate of 48%. global journal of transformative education (2024) vol 4 hanson & beem, transitioning stem teacher training to online modality 96 table 2 shows the p-values of t-tests conducted on teachers’ confidence and feasibility levels (scale of 1 to 5) before and after pen’s in-person and online hands-on training. the increase in teacher perceptions was statistically significant (p < 0.05) for both teachers participating online and in-person, and with large effect size (|g|>0.8). teachers who participated in either online and in-person training all increased significantly in confidence and feasibility levels in the use of hands-on methods to teach stem subjects after the training. the learning gains achieved were higher per unit time in-person than they were online as presented in table 3. on average, in-person training had 7.2 times higher learning gains per week than the online version, based on the feasibility metric. global journal of transformative education (2024) vol 4 97 table 4 shows that on average, in-person training had 8.1 times higher learning gains per week than the online version, based on the confidence metric. delivering the same training content online required a longer interaction time. hence, although both modalities resulted in significant gains and with large effect size, the online modality required a longer time. it should be noted that the participants differed between the in-person and online cohorts, hence there is a limitation on how directly comparative this analysis can be. nonetheless this highlights the main point that both offerings are effective, however, the online offering likely requires a longer time to achieve the same learning outcomes. field visits and interviews staff from pen visited a few of the training participants in their respective schools six months after finishing the online training. the following three stories from the field and quotes capture some ways in which the online training was seen to have made an impact on teachers and students. these teachers shared staggering testimonies about the positive effect of the training. they testified about the significant knowledge and skills they have gained to help improve the teaching and learning of stem subjects. madam ama (pseudoname) teaches primary 5 in one of the public basic schools in accra. after receiving pen’s training, she now uses hands-on methods to teach science, and this is empowering her students. this was very evident in the confidence with which her learners answered science questions asked them during our visit. as seen in figure 10, the students happily showed some innovations they created out of their experiences with hands-on teaching and learning. they went beyond the curriculum and decided to apply the hands-on approach to creating designs of ideas they generated. madam ama informed us that all the students in her class, even those who previously were not doing well in science, gained more interest, became innovative and performed better in their science tests. global journal of transformative education (2024) vol 4 hanson & beem, transitioning stem teacher training to online modality 98 madam efe (pseudoname) says that before attending this training, when she needed to teach her learners about temperature, she would walk to a nearby hospital to borrow a thermometer. but after being exposed to the possibility of using everyday materials in our environment, she now uses her own plastic bottles, alcohol, and straws to demonstrate the concept. she has seen that her students understand concepts better than before and do not easily forget them. moreover, her students always inquire about what the next topic to be treated is, so that they can help look for the associated local materials and bring them for their next science lesson. madam efe even noted that truancy levels reduced because her students have become more engaged in her lessons. figure 11 shows an example set of local materials that a teacher and their students gathered to facilitate this type of learning. madam helen (pseudoname) is a primary 5 teacher in the greater accra region of ghana. she is a class teacher who teaches subjects including science in a public school. madam helen mentioned that prior to the intervention, most of her students were not interested in science, hence were not doing well in it. however, when we visited the school, we clearly observed learners who were actively engaged in their science class. madam helen testified of a particular learner of hers who was originally quite disinterested in science and math, but now had become proactive and eager to engage in lessons, whenever practical activities were involved. she testified of yet another learner in her class who surprised her with a significant positive change. even that learner’s mother noticed the changes in her attitude towards learning, since before she saw her as being duller than her siblings. however, that learner now eagerly volunteers to act as secretary for her group and contributes during lessons. previously, she did not like doing assignments that were given her work was mostly incomplete but she now does well to complete them. the quotes below exemplify some of the feedback received from teachers when they were interviewed. “thank you. what i have to say is that this training is not only teaching us practical science. we have also learned educational technology using the phone. with this new curriculum, we can see that most of the topics need it in teaching the children.”female (maths and science teacher-greater accra region) “we came in empty but now we can say that we are full because there is a change in behavior. learning has also taken place. sometimes when it is time for science lessons, it becomes so dull especially with the new curriculum because we do not have any approach to get the practical way of teaching this lesson. but this time it is not that.” female (science teacher-greater accra region) global journal of transformative education (2024) vol 4 hanson & beem, transitioning stem teacher training to online modality 99 “i personally enjoyed it because i am not the science type. but this has given me courage to teach my kids. it has boosted my confidence to teach a science topic and i never regretted joining the course.”female (science teacher-western region) “with the aid of pen, i have learned how to improvise with available materials for my science practicals.”male (science teacher-western region) “previously, i taught science using the ‘lecture method’ where i just talked and talked. we had limited teaching aids, and my teaching was mainly me standing in front of the class and just talking. my headteacher recommended me for this training and i must say this training has expanded my horizon. i will say, i had a holistic experience. first, we started off learning how to use zoom and google classroom. this was a plus for me as i am now literate in the use of these tools.” female (science teacher-ashanti region) the teachers who benefited from pen’s training shared very positive feedback about the impact of the training, revealing it to be a unique offering within the ecosystem and highly effective in spite of the online nature. they testified of significant improvements in their teaching, increases in their students’ interest, and improvements in their students’ learning outcomes in stem subjects, even highlighting “turnaround” cases for specific learners. discussion and conclusion an online version of a hands-on stem teacher training offering was successfully created and implemented across five training cohorts in ghana. this offering fills a unique gap in the african education landscape and opens up possibilities for what other service providers can similarly do. leveraging its focus on the use of locally available materials, pen has arguably created a “pandemic-proof” model of its training. by relying fully on the use of items that can be procured or gathered in one’s own environment, hands-on education can continue to be offered. moreover, this offering was successfully deployed in a landscape where the use of digital tools has been relatively nascent. this fact should also challenge education providers to lean into this in order to scale impactful interventions on the continent. in answering research question 1, the evidence suggests that the fully online modality of this handson stem teacher training in ghana had equally strong outcomes on participating teachers as those who participated in the fully in-person version. for the two key metrics measured regarding outcomes at the teacher-level, confidence to teach using a hands-on approach and feasibility of teaching with a hands-on approach, both in-person and online participants experienced statistically significant gains and with large effect sizes as a result of this training. this indicates that regardless of the modality, the training offering is impactful. the key distinction between the two offerings is the duration of time required. in translating the training content to an online modality, the material was broken down into short components so as to enable the participants to go through the material without demanding too much data at a time and without experiencing digital fatigue. this meant that while the same training (introduction to hands-on science) was covered during a one day in-person session, it required being spread out over several weeks when offered in an online format. in answering research question 2, two best practices are put forward. one is to leverage the use of locally available materials so as to enable hands-on, experiential education. even in a remote learning setting, one need not ship materials to each participant nor set up a virtual lab in order to ensure that practical learning takes place. second is to translate existing training content into short videos that can be accessed asynchronously and provide specific instructions. this ensures that participants are engaged in the digital setting and that they also are guided on specifically what they can practice. this online training can be considered as a strong alternative along different dimensions. first, it is comparatively cost-effective especially with the use of locally available materials which are readily available in each person’s respective environment. the use of pre-recorded videos makes watching and/or downloading them more feasible than streaming live videos, both from a cost and flexibility in time standpoint. the completion rate for this online training based on data collected was 48%. this is relatively higher than the completion rate of most moocs. a study conducted in indonesia saw 100% completion rate of a teacher training in-person or hybrid, but only a 31% completion rate when offered online (burns, 2013). again, the average global journal of transformative education (2024) vol 4 hanson & beem, transitioning stem teacher training to online modality 100 completion rate of courses offered at university of pennsylvania through coursera ranged from 2-14% (perna et al, 2013). persistence levels through the training varied by cohort. a separate study investigated the factors at play in the course completion rate for these cohorts (hanson & beem, 2022). it revealed that the majority of teachers who made it to the onboarding stage, persisted through to course completion. the largest drop-off was between signing up (enrolling) and attending the first zoom session (onboarding). hence, the level of sensitization to the concept of online training may be one of the most significant factors to address to improve persistence. for most teachers, if they commenced the training, their individual motivation and drive saw them through to the end. although it is easy to fall on the dominant narrative that poor internet connectivity is the key factor in inhibiting digital modes of education from sticking in this context, other factors such as the motivation level of the participant and the commitment level of the field partner should be considered. in spite of the expected challenges associated with delivering an online training in this context, many teachers persisted to complete the training, and those who did benefited tremendously. based on field visits to some of their schools and phone interviews with others, multiple stories and anecdotes were shared of how this training impacted their teaching and their learners’ learning. this study can serve as an example to other african education service providers to lean into the opportunities that translating their content into digital modes can provide. global journal of transformative education (2024) vol 4 hanson & beem, transitioning stem teacher training to online modality 1 mawuena a. hanson (mahanson@ practicaleducationnetwork.com) is a research, monitoring, evaluation and learning officer at practical education network, accra, ghana. 2 heather beem (hbeem@ashesi.edu.gh) is a senior lecturer at ashesi university, and ceo of practical education network, accra, ghana. authors 101 references addae, d., amponsah, s., & gborti, b. j. 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(select all that apply) ο laptop ο desktop computer ο smart phone 11. what is/are your preferred social media channel(s)? (select all that apply) ο whatsapp ο instagram ο twitter ο facebook ο linkedin hanson & beem, transitioning stem teacher training to online modality 104 global journal of transformative education (2024) vol 4 12. do you have challenges when using the internet? ο yes ο no 13. if yes, what are the challenges you face when using the internet? (select all that apply) ο i cannot afford the cost of buying data continuously ο the internet connectivity is poor at my location ο i have a problem connecting to the internet with my device ο the specification of my device makes it challenging to download apps ο other………………………………………………………………………………….. 14. what best describes your proficiency/usage level in using any of these video conferencing tools? (range = very good never used it) 15. have you ever used the google classroom? ο not at all ο very little ο to some extent ο a lot 16. what days of the week will be most favourable to participate in live sessions? ο monday ο tuesday ο wednesday ο thursday ο friday ο saturday ο sunday 17. what time of the day will be most favourable to participate in live training sessions? ο 9-11am ο 12pm 2pm ο 3pm 5pm 18. have you taken an online professional course or class before? ο yes ο no 19. how has covid-19 affected your professional development? ……………………………………………………………………………………………………… hanson & beem, transitioning stem teacher training to online modality editorial board. global journal of transformative education (2024), vol 4 open access global journal of transformative education open call for papers the global journal of transformative education (gjte). is an open-access journal that presents to learners, educators and researchers the optimal instructional strategies, transformative leadership, and inquiry methods that lead to better educational and research outcomes for their students and the society. gjte is published by the global institute for transformative education (gite). the editorial board of the gjte invites authors to submit manuscripts relating to research about transformative education, innovative teaching strategies or curricula, policy issues, the role schools have in transforming communities and society, and resources that can help educators and policy makers enact meaningful reforms that contribute to transformative education. gjte publishes at least one issue of the journal each year, and we offer an open call for manuscripts submitted by authors around the world. there are no submission deadlines for our regular issues, and authors may submit manuscripts at any time. special “themed” editions may be produced with guest editors. gjte will post calls for papers on the journal’s website to announce those issues. manuscripts should be limited to about 8000 words, and may include photos, diagrams, tables, graphs and figures. longer manuscripts may be accepted if the content warrants the length. authors should consider the specifications listed in the gjte author submissions page. in addition to images, authors may include hyperlinks to supplemental materials such as lesson plans, assessments, large data files, and video or other media. for more detailed formatting instructions, authors can download the gjte formatting guide and gjte manuscript checklist. gjte does not charge authors a publication fee. authors retain ownership of the content of the article that will be published under a creative commons 4.0 by-nc-nd license. submitted manuscripts undergo a double-blind review process, and authors may be asked to revise text or images before final publication. communications about submitted articles will be managed through gjte’s author submissions system. call for reviewers authors and other individuals are invited to apply to be reviewers. reviewers may be asked to read and assess submitted manuscripts as part of the peer review process, and will be listed as members of gjte’s editorial review panel. this panel is an important part of a rigorous publication process, and we invite a diverse group of reviewers from a variety of relevant areas of expertise. click here to register as a reviewer. please direct any questions about submissions to the editors: gjtemanager@gmail.com michael t. ndemanu, ph.d. educational studies ball state university muncie, indiana, usa managing editor tom j. mcconnell, ph.d. biology ball state university muncie, indiana, usa editors-in-chief serafín m. coronel-molina, ph.d. curriculum and instruction indiana university bloomington, indiana, usa 105 https://scholarworks.iu.edu/journals/index.php/gjte/index https://gite.education/ https://scholarworks.iu.edu/journals/index.php/gjte/about/submissions https://tjmcconnell.weebly.com/uploads/3/7/4/5/37455725/gjte_formatting_guide.pdf https://tjmcconnell.weebly.com/uploads/3/7/4/5/37455725/gjte_formatting_guide.pdf https://tjmcconnell.weebly.com/uploads/3/7/4/5/37455725/gjte_manuscript_checklist.pdf https://scholarworks.iu.edu/journals/index.php/gjte/about/submissions https://scholarworks.iu.edu/journals/index.php/gjte/about/submissions https://scholarworks.iu.edu/journals/index.php/gjte/user/register email:gite18@gmail.com 