Transformative Curricula, Pedagogies and Epistemologies : Teaching and Learning in Diverse Higher Education Contexts

This book presents useful insights on the regeneration of curricula and pedagogies with a particular focus on universities in South Africa and Africa in general. Transformative Curricula, Pedagogies and Epistemologies: Teaching and Learning in Diverse Higher Education Contexts further explores the state of teaching and learning in different contexts, together with the emerging challenges and responsibilities that African higher education in the twenty first century is faced with. The analysis is put in light of the assumptions borrowed from the West, for Western epistemologies and pedagogies are still dominant. Instead, the book presents a case on the need for rethinking pedagogies and epistemologies within African higher education that include African culture, values, ethics, and indigenous knowledge. The new obligations of inclusive education, decolonisation, transformation, and academic and professional experiences are of paramount importance for contemporary higher education.

Valuable ideas about practices and policies in epistemological and pedagogical transformative mechanisms are discussed which can be used to inform a decolonised teaching and learning curriculum most suitable for an African higher education system. Above all, the book goes beyond mere narratives, as it explores decolonisation strategies suitable for transforming pedagogical and epistemological practices that include the education system as a whole.

Michael Cross is founder and Director of the Ali Mazrui Centre for Higher Education Studies at the University of Johannesburg. He is also a co-founder and co-editor of the book series on African Higher Education. He has published books and scholarly journals.

Caroline Long was appointed professor in the Department of Childhood Education, University of Johannesburg, on the Soweto campus in 2016. Her publications are on mathematics education, assessment and Rasch measurement theory, and professional teacher agency.

Sibonokuhle Ndlovu holds a PhD in inclusive education from the University of Witwatersrand. Her research interests are in disability in higher learning, inclusive education, inclusion in higher learning, transformation in higher learning, teaching and learning of disadvantaged learners in rural contexts, and decoloniality.

Phefumula Nyoni holds a PhD in Anthropology from the University of Witwatersrand. His research interests include education transformation, quality assurance and curriculum design, medical and socio-economic experiences for marginalised groups, human rights, community development, artisanal mining, gender and entrepreneurship.