Browsing by Author "Namuddu, Katherine"

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    Gender Perspectives in African Higher Education
    (University of Zimbabwe (UZ), 1992) Namuddu, Katherine
    This paper discusses three main issues, namely (a) some basic facts on the access of females and males to higher education in Africa (b) participation of men and women with higher education in the labour market particularly, in the civil service, higher education and in entrepreneurial activities; and (c) some of the reasons why there is disparity in the percentages of men and women who have access to higher education. These issues are explored with emphasis on the social and cultural impediments, and the dis-empowering effects of the curriculum and methodology of education. Emphasis is placed on what takes place in the home at primary and secondary school, and during higher education. It is concluded that once females have overcome the cultural and social impediments at the household level, education itself becomes a stumbling block in their progress through school. This is because the curriculum and methodology at all levels of the system teaches technical knowledge and skills without ensuring that students acquire basic skills in social justice and developmental work.
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    The Status of Educational Research and Policy Analysis in Sub-Saharan Africa
    (IDRC, Ottawa, ON, CA, 1993) Namuddu, Katherine; Tapsoba, J. M.
    Although building a functional and credible research capacity is a costly enterprise, donor agencies as well as policy makers recognize more and more that if universities in Africa areVto play a positive role in the development process, an effort should be made to build aV"critical mass of professional African analysts" (World Bank 1990a: 1) through investment in human capital and in key institutions, as well as in a mobilization of resources to implement programmes of action. A chief motivating factor is the realization that after two or three decades of development activity, most sub-Saharan African countries, instead of experiencing the expected expansion and consolidation of their educational systems, have suffered a decline since the early years of their independence. Researchers argue that the acuteness of the perception of this decline is related to the faith placed in education as a key to economic development (Wright 1981). In some countries loss of faith in the educational system can be used to explain cuts in budgetary provisions for education in general and higher education in particular. In others such cuts have more to do with general economic decline. Whatever the cause, researchers have suggested that one of the direct consequences of budgetary restrictions has been a decline in research capacity. This, in tum, has marginalized universities in their quest to produce knowledge from research and data that can influence their societies (Kinyanjui 1991).
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    Teaching and Learning Biology in Secondary Schools in Kenya
    (Studies in Science Education, 1989) Namuddu, Katherine
    This paper presents two case studies of teaching and learning biology in 2 secondary schools in Kenya. The data were derived during a 3 year study (1982-1985) whose goal was to understand the nature of the teaching-learning process. A theoretical framework from interpretive research (Erickson, 1973, 1980 and 1986), was used, with data collection and analysis centred on exposing and clarifying teachers' and students' everyday meanings of their actions and events in the teaching-learning processes. Data were collected through participant and non-participant observation, interviews, self-reports by teachers and students and reflective discussion with teachers based on reviewing audio and video classroom lessons. The basic assumption was that participants assess the quality of the social environment in the school and classroom and, using their perspectives as individuals and as group members, devise short and long term strategies for participation in the teaching-learning process. Therefore, what is learnt and how it is learned may or may not be concordant with stated goals of teaching and learning biology.