Journal of Curriculum Studies Research
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Decolonising Minds, Empowering Futures: Rethinking Entrepreneurial Education for University Students in Africa
Full text linkThis paper provides a theoretical synthesis of entrepreneurial education in African universities. It argues that these models are deeply influenced by colonial legacies, which perpetuate disempowerment and dependency. The paper advocates for a transformative decolonial approach, stressing the need to reimagine and restructure entrepreneurial education in a way that aligns it with African realities, values, and aspirations. The paper underscores the importance of integrating indigenous knowledge systems, local contexts, and African philosophies into the educational curriculum. This integration ensures that the learning experience is relevant, contextual, and empowering for African university students. By presenting a range of arguments, the paper establishes a framework for a decolonial approach to entrepreneurial education. It demonstrates the potential of such models to foster innovation, self-reliance, and critical thinking. In conclusion, the paper asserts that decolonising entrepreneurial education in African universities is essential for nurturing a generation of entrepreneurs who possess economic acumen, cultural grounding, and social responsibility. This paper contributes to the existing knowledge by offering a theoretical framework for decolonial entrepreneurial education. It also provides practical insights for implementation and highlights the transformative potential of such education in shaping the future of African nations
The Application of Contemporary Methods According to the Curriculum for the Course of the Albanian Language in Primary Education
Full text linkThe curriculum field "Languages and communication" for primary education enables students to develop simple skills, such as: the difference between literary and non-literary texts, the recognition of the basic language system forms (phonetics, morphology, syntax), the development of expression skills through different linguistic means.This curricular area in primary education, based on the Curricular Framework, contains the following courses: mother tongue, first foreign language (English language, German language). This field also prepares students for functional, clear and substantive communication. Given the importance of using modern teaching methods, we intend to treat this research paper from the point of view of the application of contemporary methods in the Albanian language course, which we consider necessary for the identification of activities that influence the implementation of the curriculum in the course of the Albanian language. In order to carry out the research, we use the qualitative and quantitative method, preparing a questionnaire for the teachers of the Albanian language at the level of primary and lower secondary education, more precisely of grades VI-IX, in the Municipality of Gjilan, Vitia, Kamenica and Ferizaj. We also do a partial observation during the lessons wiin the Albanian Language course. From the findings of the research, we consider that contemporary methods are applied in the teaching of the Albanian language subject in primary education
Building Communicative Competencies for Future Leaders: An Analysis of Public Administration Curricula in Kazakhstan
Full text linkThis study aims to identify issues related to developing communicative competencies among public servants by examining the educational programs, catalogs of academic disciplines, and competency models of graduate programs in Public and Local Administration at universities in Kazakhstan. We analyzed publicly available information from higher education institutions' web pages on training programs, course descriptions, and key competencies in relevant fields. It was revealed that universities in Kazakhstan provide limited information about their programs, thus we referred to comprehensive data from unified higher ed platform from Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Republic of Kazakhstan. The analysis indicates that program administrators often neglect communicative competencies while building curricula. In most cases, they are subject to specific courses such as Governance Psychology and Human Resources, with the content varying considerably from one university to another. The Academy of Public Administration under the President of Kazakhstan is the only institution offering robust courses dedicated to this area. The expected outcomes include skills in public speaking, interaction with the public and media, business correspondence, conflict resolution, and knowledge of organizational culture and ethical behavior. Considering the importance and growing attention to the effect of the communication skills of civil servants for public satisfaction, this study concludes that Kazakh universities should ensure the inclusion of communication competencies into Public Administration programs. Such additions could enhance the preparation of prospective public servants, aiding them in their professional roles and during employment selection processes
The Relationships between Pedagogical and Technological Competence and Digital Literacy Level of Teachers
Full text linkWith the use of technology in education, the integration of digital literacy and technological skills with pedagogy has become one of the important competencies that teachers need to master. Thus, the study investigated the digital literacy, technological and pedagogical competencies of primary school teachers in Kazakhstan on a relational basis. The study was conducted with 223 primary school teachers working in various schools in Almaty. 'Digital Literacy Scale', 'Pedagogical Competence Scale' and 'Technological Competence Scale' were used to collect the data. T and F tests were used to compare school teachers' digital literacy, pedagogical and technological competencies based on gender and professional seniority. 'Multiple Regression Technique' was used to analyze the relationships between the variables of school teachers' digital literacy, pedagogical and technological competencies. The findings revealed that the pedagogical competencies of primary school teachers were high, while their digital literacy and technological competencies were at a moderate level. Pedagogical and technological efficacy and digital literacy of primary school teachers differed significantly based on gender and professional seniority. Male primary school teachers had high levels of technological competence and digital literacy, whereas female primary school teachers had high levels of pedagogical competence. Multiple regression analysis indicated that teachers' digital literacy significantly predicted their pedagogical and technological competencies
A Reflection on Implementation of Posthumanist Pedagogy in Polytechnics in Zimbabwe during COVID-19 Era
Full text linkThe COVID-19-induced lockdown resulted in the closure of learning institutions and subsequent intermittent college attendance as a way of preventing the spread of the virus. In Zimbabwe, the Ministry of Higher and Tertiary Education, Innovation Science, and Technology Development instructed tertiary institutions to adopt online learning in addition to face-to-face learning as a way of ensuring that learning continued during COVID-19 restrictions. There was a shift from exclusively humanist education, where humans have been believed to be the only agents in the teaching and learning process, to posthumanist education, where technology was used as a tool for learning. This study explored the organisational preparedness of TVET institutions to take on board posthuman pedagogy when online learning was blended with face-to-face learning. This was a qualitative study that used observations and in-depth interviews to collect data on the institutional preparedness of two randomly sampled TVET institutions to embrace posthumanist education. Ten randomly sampled lecturers were interviewed to elicit their views and experiences of implementing blended learning, which is largely ingrained in posthuman pedagogy. An observation was made on the suitability of technological infrastructure to support blended learning. Ten randomly selected students from each institution participated in focus group discussions to elicit the organisational preparedness of institutions for blended learning. Results showed that the institutions were not ready for blended learning. Lecturers and students were not equipped or skilled to use online technologies. The infrastructure to drive online learning was inadequate. Inadequacies in the internet infrastructure affected their understanding and acceptance of online learning
Enhancing Self-Efficacy of Beginner Teachers in the Use of E-Portfolio: The Role of a Mentor Teacher
Full text linkThe term “beginning teacher” describes those individuals who have less than one to three post qualification years in a teaching profession and or individuals who are entering the teaching profession directly from university. A need exists for a beginner teacher in their first year of teaching to have a mentor teacher that will assist them to improve their self-efficacy so that they can be able to achieve quality teaching and learning in any learning environment. Recent studies have shown that there is growing concern with beginner teachers’ self-efficacy on how to deal with and manage the realities of teaching in modern classrooms. A mentor teacher is a teacher who has a wealth of knowledge, learned from experience and is willing to share. The aim of this study was to investigate how the use of e-portfolio may enhance beginner teacher’s self-efficacy with support from their mentor teachers. The beginner teachers are faced with challenges in their first years of teaching; hence they need mentoring, support to improve their self-efficacy. An e-portfolio might be a means which can assist in monitoring and evaluating the professional activity of the beginner teachers, their achievements and develop them. E-portfolio provides openness and transparency when mentoring the teachers. Qualitative data were collected through focus group discussions with fifty-six (56) randomly selected Post Graduate Certificate in Education (PGCE) students at a university of technology and thematic analysis was employed. Findings of this study indicated that beginner teachers needed guidance and support from their mentor teachers for beginner teachers to transform and build their self- efficacy positively and improve in their use of e-portfolio. The study recommends that induction support be used as an approach to improve novice teachers’ teaching performance and self- efficacy in the use of e-portfolio
The Enhancement of Pedagogical Capital by Civil Technology Teachers when Engaged with Practical Assessment Task: A Curriculum Transformation Legacy
Full text linkWithin the South African context, there are perennial curriculum reforms of technical subjects, for example civil technology, which is offered from grade 10 to 12 at secondary school level. Amidst these curriculum reforms there is a shortage of technical curriculum advisors to capacitate teachers for the implementation of the revised curricula and a paucity of studies on how to enhance pedagogical capital. This undermines teachers’ efforts in giving learners adequate industrial skills. In this conceptual study, we learn that teachers are now having autonomy to prepare, implement and assess the self-made Practical Assessment Task (PAT) without close pedagogical guidance from their stakeholders. As such, this conceptual study brings strategies that will assist teachers in maximising their pedagogical capital to cope with the recent curriculum change. This study found that indeed there are far too many expectations that civil technology teachers must accomplish before their learners can be adequately equipped with hands-on skills. A pedagogical capital framework was proposed to assist curriculum advisors and implementors to engage positively with PAT whilst upholding a global quality standard. This study recommends that the proposed framework could be applied to other technical subjects like engineering graphics and design, electrical technology and mechanical technology as they are faced with similar pedagogical challenges
Analysis of connectivism as a tool for posthuman university classrooms
Full text linkIn the posthuman era, teaching and learning through technologies are becoming increasingly important, most especially in the university system. Connectivism, a theory of learning that emphasises the importance of connections between people and information, is one of the most influential educational philosophies driving today’s educational dynamism. In a posthuman world, where technology is constantly evolving and becoming more sophisticated, connectivism is argued to provide a framework for understanding how students learn and how can technology be used to facilitate learning. This study argues that connectivism is one of the ways in which classroom stakeholders can be made to prepare for the posthuman era. The study is located within the transformative paradigm to enable the researcher to tailor the argument toward transforming the university classrooms towards developing a new way of thinking about society's present social boundaries by pursuing truth within a postmodern framework. In the same vein, conceptual analysis was adopted to make sense of the argument since it helps to interoperate and dismantle complex and ambiguous concepts toward meaning-making. The analysis begins by presenting connectivism and its potential assumptions. The assumptions were juxtaposed with the posthuman agenda by arguing the relationship between posthumanism and connectivism and lastly, how it prepares classroom stakeholders for building students’ capacity ahead of the emerging interaction between human (students) and non-human (technologies). The study concludes that connectivism viewpoint is one of the unavoidable philosophies of the future
Renewal in Educational Spaces as a Relational Aspect: Making Way for a New Culture of Reasoning Innovation and Sustainability
Full text linkEducational spaces have long been situated in repressive, non-relational and detached conditions that have been damaging to the geopolitical, socio-economic, and environmental balance. The paper reports on the effectiveness of educational spaces when characterised by an ethical relationship between human and nonhuman elements as a collaborative measure to solve earthly problems. The purpose was to highlight the role of education in producing innovative, honest, and critical thinkers who can apply knowledge to navigate relational intricacies. Qualitative data was generated from literature and a purposively sampled respondent group of eight lecturers and twelve students in a South African university, using interviews and focus group discussions. Data was categorised and analysed into themes. It was found that a pedagogical encounter which enabled students to engage in activities that deepened their knowledge of how the world works in totality gave them opportunities to understand the balancing effect of relational aspects when solving problems. This study proposes a renewal in thinking about other beings and things in educational spaces toward understanding the relational interaction brought by scientific and technological advancements that impact on human and nonhuman agents. The implication is that the world needs people to become innovators, think holistically and build a synergy between things and humanity. The study proposes that educational spaces should develop consciousness and ethical behaviour to sustain the relationship between human and nonhuman agents, which has implications for innovation and new practices that will sustain the world
Curriculum enablement and posthumanism: Pathways for creating and implementing a community development curriculum
Full text linkThis article argues that the application of transcendent disciplinarism as a lens for critical inquiry and curriculum enablement is urgent in a posthuman era. The paper asserts that a curriculum must be responsive to societal needs by providing students with a "toolbox" for developing functional and productive societies. The community development degree is pedagogically premised on utilising multiple disciplinary synergies primed for analytically and practically improving the human condition. The article uses critical terms in posthumanism, such as relationality, resilience, and sustainable communities, to evoke a return to the local by analysing the creation and implementation of a responsive community development curriculum. Through pedagogical approaches that infuse collaborative and cooperative learning with active learning strategies, we argue that the community development curriculum should be structured to enhance the capabilities of students to assist communities in adapting and transcending to transformation. This paper followed a systematic literature review of journal articles extracted from SCOPUS, Web of Science, ScienceDirect, and EBSCOhost electronic databases. A final sample of twenty-four articles was reviewed, analysed, and presented using ATLAS.ti flow chart diagrams. The study's findings revealed that posthumanism-inspired transformation normatively conceives the earth as a connected entity and places as entangled and interconnected. The article further interrogates how the posthuman approach can be used to create and implement pathways for curriculum enablement