Social Studies Teachers’ Conceptualizations and Practices of Democracy in Upper Classes in Primary Schools in Botswana
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.14738/assrj.31.1748Abstract
The purpose of this study was to interrogate the social studies teachers’ conceptualizations and practices on democracy in upper classes in primary schools in Botswana. The study was undertaken in upper classes in six primary schools in Botswana for a period of three months. The theoretical underpinnings of my study are based on what Asante (2010) refers to as Afrocentricity, which basically focuses on relocating the African people historically, socially, economically, politically and philosophically in an effort to decolonize their minds. For its methodology, the study was qualitative in nature and used the naturalistic inquiry paradigm. Data were collected through interviews, participant observations and focus group discussions. Data were analyzed using the constant comparative technique. The findings of the study revealed that even though teachers conceptualize democracy from a liberal point of view, they seem to be moving the center as they also take into account the contextual and socio-cultural factors. The conclusion drawn from this study is that teachers have a deep understanding of democracy, however, lack pedagogical content knowledge of democracy. The study recommends that teachers be constantly in-serviced on how to develop practical skills when teaching topical issues like democracy as they contribute directly towards they type of citizens they produce.References
Asante M.K. (2010). Afrocentricity: The theory of Social Change. http://multiworldindia.org/wcontent/uploads/2010/05/Afrocentricity.pdf . Retrieved 15 December,
Bradshaw, Y. & Ndegwa, S.N. (2000). The uncertain promise of Southern Africa. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.
Chachange, (2001). Nation building and ethnicity: Towards a ReOconceptualization of democracy in Africa. UTAFITI(New Series) Special issue, 4, 151O178
Chief Linchwe II. (1989). The role a chief can play in Botswana’s democracy. In J. Holm and P. Molutsi (Eds). Democracy in Botswana: The proceedings of a symposium held in Gaborone, 1O5 August 1988, pp.99O 102. Gaborone: Botswana Society.
Crick, B. (1989). Keynote speech: on democracy. In J. Holm and P. Molutsi (Eds). Democracy in Botswana: The proceedings of a symposium held in Gaborone, 1O5 August, 1988, pp. 13O23. Gaborone: Botswana Society
Glesne, C. (2006). Becoming qualitative researchers: An introduction (3rd Ed.). New York: Pearson.
Harber, C. and Serf, J. (2006). Teacher education for a democratic society in England and South Africa. Teaching and teacher education, 22, 986O967.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democracy_Index Retrieved: 9 July, 2015.
LadsonOBillings, G. (1994). The dreamkeepers: successful teachers of African American Children. San Francisco: JosseyOBass
LeCompte, M.D. & Preissle, J. (1993). Ethnography and qualitative design in educational research. New York: Academic press.
Lincoln, Y. & Guba, E. (1985). Naturalistic inquiry. Beverly Hills CA: Sage
Maundeni, Z. (2003). Democracy and democratization in Botswana. Seminar paper, Department of political and administrative studies, Gaborone: University of Botswana.
Mautle, G. (2000). Social studies in Botswana. In M.B. Adeyemi (Ed). Social studies in African education, pp. 157O168. Gaborone: Pyramid.
Merriam, S. (1998). Qualitative research and case study applications in education. San Francisco: JosseyO Bass.
Merryfield, M.M. (2008). Decolonizing social studies and global education. In A.A. Ali andG. Richardson(Eds).Decolonizing Democratic Educationpp. 87O95: TransODisciplinarydialogues. Rotterdam: Sense publishers.
Mhlauli, M.B. (2010). Social studies teachers’ perceptions and practices for educating citizens in a democracy in upper classes in primary schools in Botswana. PhD dissertation. Columbus: The Ohio State University. https://etd.ohiolink.edu/ap/10?0::NO:10:P10_ACCESSION_NUM:osu1291140441
Mhlauli M.B. and Muchado, J.A. (2013). Teacher talk versus practice: Contradictions and dilemmas in social studies classrooms in Botswana. International Journal of Asian Social Science 3 (4), 1043O1062)
Ndegwa, S.N. (2001). A decade of democracy in Africa. Journal of Asian and African studies, 36(1), 1O17.
Nnoli, O. (1989). Democracy in Botswana: a PanOAfrican perspective. In J. Holm and P. Molutsi (Eds). Democracy in Botswana: The proceedings of a symposium held in Gaborone, 1O5 August 1988, pp. 266O 272. Gaborone: Botswana Society.
Nyamnjoh, F.B. (2006). Insiders & Outsiders: citizenship and xenophobia in contemporary Southern Africa. New York: Zed books.
Nyamnjoh, F.B. (2003). Chieftaincy and the negotiation of might and right in Botswana democracy. Journal of contemporary African studies, 21: 2, 233O250.
Patterson, S. (2006). Economic growth in Botswana in the 1980’s: A model for SubOSaharan Africa. Tenton, New Jersey: Africa world press.
Patton, M. Q. (1990). Qualitative evaluation and research methods (2nd Ed). Newbury Park: Sage.
Republic of Botswana (1977). National Commission on Education (Education for Kagisano). Gaborone: Government Printer.
[26] Sebudubudu, D. and OseiOHwedie, B. (2006). Pitfalls of parliamentary democracy in Botswana. Afrika Spectrum, 41 (1), 35O53
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2016 Advances in Social Sciences Research Journal
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
