Africanising the curriculum: an exploratory study - MM Botha

This research was undertaken in the light of the strong call to Africanise the curriculum at higher education institutions in South Africa and the need for an African approach to internationalisation in higher education. The aim of this research was to investigate the need, nature and extent of Africanising the curricula and syllabi of programmes in a Faculty of Education at a South African university. The objectives were to determine whether academics believe Africanisation of the curriculum should take place; if so, what the nature and extent of such Africanisation should be and whether xenophobia would have an influence on such Africanisation.
A brief overview of the concept Africanisation is presented and some viewpoints on Africanisation in higher education and of the curriculum, as gathered from the literature.
The research approach was qualitative in nature. A questionnaire was used to collect the data - this is not conventional in this type of research, but justification for the choice is provided. The sample focused on maximum variation and information richness. Data was analysed using qualitative content analysis and hence global analysis; by identifying network themes, this made integrated analysis possible.
The findings uncovered a number of themes and recommendations for further research on each of the themes are made in the article.
From: SAJHE 21 (2) 2007, pp. 202-216