Education for sustainable development in the postcolonial world : towards a transformative agenda for Africa

Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) lies at the heart of global, regional and national policy agendas, with the goal of achieving socially and environmentally just development through the provision of inclusive, equitable quality education for all. Realising this potential on the African continent, however, calls for radical transformation of policy and practice. Developing a transformative agenda requires taking account of the ‘learning crisis’ in schools, the inequitable access to a good quality education, the historical role of education and training in supporting unsustainable development, and the enormous challenges involved in complex system change. In the African continent, sustainable development entails eradicating poverty and inequality, supporting economically sustainable livelihoods within planetary boundaries, and averting environmental catastrophe, as well as dealing with health pandemics and security threats. In addressing these challenges, the book: * explores the meaning of ESD for Africa in the context of the ‘postcolonial condition’ * critically discusses the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as well as regional development agendas * draws on a wealth of research evidence and examples from across the continent * engages with contemporary debates about the skills, competencies and capabilities required for sustainable development, including decolonising the curriculum and transforming teaching and learning relationships * sets out a transformative agenda for policy-makers, practitioners, NGOs, social movements and other stakeholders based on principles of social and environmental justice. Education for Sustainable Development in the Postcolonial World is an essential read for anyone with an interest in education and socially and environmentally just development in Africa. Education for sustainable development (ESD) lies at the heart of global, regional, and national policy agendas, with the goal of achieving socially and environmentally just development through the provision of inclusive, equitable quality education for all. Realising this potential on the African continent, however, calls for radical transformation of policy and practice. Developing a transformative agenda requires taking account of the ‘learning crisis’ in schools, the inequitable access to a good-quality education, the historical role of education and training in supporting unsustainable development, and the enormous challenges involved in complex system change. In the African continent, sustainable development entails eradicating poverty and inequality, supporting economically sustainable livelihoods within planetary boundaries, and averting environmental catastrophe, as well as dealing with health pandemics and security threats. In addressing these challenges, the book • explores the meaning of ESD for Africa in the context of the ‘postcolonial condition’; • critically discusses the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as well as regional development agendas; • draws on a wealth of research evidence and examples from across the continent; • engages with contemporary debates about the skills, competencies, and capabilities required for sustainable development, including decolonising the curriculum and transforming teaching and learning relationships; • sets out a transformative agenda for policy-makers, practitioners, NGOs, social movements, and other stakeholders based on principles of social and environmental justice. Education for Sustainable Development in the Postcolonial World is an essential read for anyone with an interest in education and socially and environmentally just development in Africa. Cover 1 Half Title 2 Series 3 Title 4 Copyright 5 Dedication 6 Contents 8 List of abbreviations 13 Acknowledgements 15 Foreword 16 1 Setting the scene 18 Introduction 18 The ‘postcolonial condition’ 19 An overview of global and regional policy agendas 20 The SDGs 21 The education SDG 23 Agenda 2063 34 Continental education strategy for Africa 40 Global and regional agendas and the ‘learning crisis’ 42 Aims and summary of main arguments 43 Conclusion 47 2 Introducing complex systems 51 Introduction 51 Why complexity theory? 51 General characteristics of complex systems 53 Understanding and researching complex systems 59 Conclusion 63 3 Towards a framework for conceptualising education for sustainable development 66 Introduction 66 The meaning of ‘sustainable development’ in global and regional policy agendas 66 The meaning of education for sustainable development 69 The meaning of social and environmental justice 71 Defining transformative SD and ESD 74 Reconceptualising a transformative ESD 75 Conclusion 76 4 Globalisation and the postcolonial condition 79 Introduction 79 The nature of complex globalisation 79 Domains of development 81 Power in global governance 84 Africa and the global economy 87 The postcolonial condition and the environment 89 Changing patterns of global governance 90 Global governance and colonialism 90 Global governance in the era of ‘development’ 92 The influence of global civil society on global governance 93 Regimes of global governance 96 Africa and developmental regionalism 97 Transformative regionalism 98 The postcolonial state in Africa 99 Conclusion 101 5 Africa and the global governance of education 107 Introduction 107 Conceptualising global and regional education policy 107 The emergence of education for all as global regime of education governance 109 The increasing complexity of global and regional governance of education 116 The aid regime 117 The human rights regime 119 Trade and security regimes 119 The MDG regime 120 The emergence of the SDG regime 121 Emergence of the ESD regime 122 Conclusion 122 6 The regional and national governance of education 126 Introduction 126 Developmental regionalism and education policy in Africa 126 The emergence of CESA as part of a regional regime of governance-in-the-making 127 CESA and changing patterns of governance at a national level 130 Changing patterns of control over the governance of education 130 Education governance after independence 131 Civil society, the state, and education governance 132 The privatisation of education and training in Africa 137 CESA, privatization, and the future funding of education and training 140 The state and political socialisation 142 Global citizenship education 143 Education, the state, and violence 143 Conclusion 146 7 From colonial education to the SDGs: changing discourses on skills for development 150 Introduction 150 Skills for economic development: changing priorities 151 Skills formation under colonialism 151 Skills formation and ‘modernisation’ 154 The rise and rise of human capital theory 155 Skills formation, knowledge economies, and twenty-first-century skills 156 Skills formation and lifelong learning 157 Skills formation and regional agendas 158 Framing regional skills agendas: agenda 2063 and ‘inclusive growth’ 158 Skills formation and CESA 159 CESA and basic literacy and numeracy 159 CESA and STEM-related skills 160 Technical and vocational education and training 161 CESA and the cultural basis of skills formation 162 CESA, skills, and the environment 163 Towards a sustainable approach to skills formation 164 Beyond ‘inclusive growth’ 164 Skills, competencies, and capabilities for sustainable development 166 Complex capabilities 168 Conclusion 175 8 Decolonising the curriculum: education for an African cultural renaissance 179 Introduction 179 Decolonising the curriculum 180 Decolonising the curriculum and the sociology of knowledge 181 Decolonising the secondary school science curriculum 190 The burning language question in African education 198 The instrumental approach 199 The rights-based approach 200 Language-in-education policy, theory, and research 201 Creating an enabling environment to support the development of linguistic capability 203 Conclusion 206 9 Towards a transformative pedagogy 210 Introduction 210 The progressive approach 212 The formalist approach 216 Towards a transformative pedagogy for Africa 220 Complexity and learning 221 Conclusion 225 10 Towards a transformative agenda 227 Introduction 227 Towards a counter-hegemonic movement for transformative change 228 Building a broad-based coalition for change 228 Articulate the causes of unsustainable development and of the learning crisis 229 Develop a counter-hegemonic vision for ESD 233 The role of intellectuals in developing a counter-hegemonic vision 234 Realising complex change through developing sustainable education and training systems 235 Placing an ontology of learning at the heart of system reform 235 Developing systemic responses to the learning crisis 236 Facilitating system leadership 236 Investing in educators as agents of transformative change 237 Democratising the governance of education 238 Creating learning systems 239 Moving out of the dependency trap 244 Conclusion 245 References 248 Index 271 "Education for sustainable development (ESD) is at the heart of global development agendas and aims to ensure inclusive, equitable quality education and to promote life-long learning opportunities for all in order to achieve economic and social sustainable development. The focus of the book is on the African continent and makes the case that ESD needs to be relevant to the African context, inclusive in addressing inequalities, democratic in encouraging debate and contributing to global citizenship and embedded in education systems that are sustainable and linked to sustainable development priorities. It draws on a wealth of research evidence and examples to illustrate key points"-- Provided by publisher