Developing countries hostages of educational globalization

The implementation of student-centred learning at the Eduardo Mondlane University, the major and oldest public university in Mozambique, depends on the availability of good educational infrastructure, the development of human resources and less hierarchical communication at the university. This is the conclusion of a thesis by Marta Mendonça, Umeå University.

– The Eduardo Mondlane University, UEM, is an example of how universities in developing countries often have to implement new learning systems as a condition for receiving financial aid from the West. What happens is they often find themselves to be hostages of educational globalization, says Marta Mendonça of the Department of Science and Mathematics Education, Umeå University. They feel compelled to implement something they don’t really know.

Her interviews with teachers and students at UEM revealed that teachers do not feel ownership of the pedagogical reform. Tensions and conflicts of interests were revealed in relation to the implementation of student-centred learning. Students also appear to be unclear about their role in the learning process and show lack of knowledge about the value of the new pedagogical approach. Moreover, classroom observations showed that contextual factors such as a high number of students in the classroom, poor infrastructure, traditions of hierarchic communication, and inadequate educational resources are also inhibitors of the pedagogical change.

Student-centred learning lays the responsibility of learning more in the hands of the students themselves. This system involves students more in decision-making processes and they learn by doing, rather than just listening and performing meaningless activities which often have nothing to do with their reality.

–In a student-centred learning approach, the knowledge is not transmitted, but constructed in the mind of the students in an active process, resulting from personal experiences and interpretation of the knowledge, and also through active collaboration between teachers and students and among students, says Marta Mendonça. Sociocultural and material conditions are crucial for the implementation of the pedagogical innovation.

Today international donors are challenging developing countries to adopt a student-centred learning approach in their curriculum in exchange for funding educational systems. However, Marta Mendonça shows in her thesis that this can be problematic.

– For example, research in student-centred learning in sub-Saharan Africa report that most of the implementation happens with little regard to available capacities or resources, she says.

Link to the thesis

For more information, please contact:

Marta Mendonça, Department of Science and Mathematics Education, Umeå University
Phone: +46767695563
E-mail: marta.mendonca@umu.se

High resolution photo for downloading

About the public defence:

On Thursday October 30, Marta Mendonça, Department of Science and Mathematics Education, Umeå University, defends her thesis entitled: Developing Teaching and Learning in Mozambican Higher Education: A Study of the Pedagogical Development Process at Eduardo Mondlane University. Swedish title: Att utveckla undervisning och lärande i högre utbildning i Mozambique - En studie om pedagogisk utveckling vid Eduardo Mondlane universitetet.

The public defense takes place at 10.00 in N410 Naturvetarhuset, Umeå University. External examiner is Prof. Emeritus Staf Callewaert, University of Copenhagen, Sociology of education.