Who talks to whom about what? Reflections on some recent experiences in education in Namibia

Abstract

At the heart of the formal educational endeavour lie questions of the nature of that endeavour: questions of the values which a specific educational operation serves and embodies, of the legitimacy of those values, and of the means by which ends may be attained. The purpose of this article is. in part, to reflect on those questions, particularly as they relate to ideology and language, and the realisation of these in education in the present reformist phase of apartheid in the Namibian context. These questions will be mediated through an account of recent events in which I, and the educational institution of which I am a member, the Academy in Windhoek. Namibia, have recently been involved. As a necessary prelude to these reflections, some theoretical perspectives will be presented.