Engaging with teachers’ knowledge: promoting inclusion in Zambian schools

Abstract

Current efforts to ensure that every child completes a full cycle of primary education are hampered by chronic poverty and prolonged conflict in the South. It is estimated that 75 million children of primary age are out of school and that one‐third are disabled. This paper contrasts the exclusionary impact of the global digital and communication divide with the international rhetoric of Education for All. Access to information has increased in our brave new world, but inequitably. In this paper insights are explored from a study carried out by the Enabling Education Network in schools in Northern Zambia, in which reflective writing played a role in generating locally relevant teachers’ knowledge. Although there was only minimal evidence of the benefits of the digital revolution, the Zambian teachers successfully developed a problem‐based approach to including disabled children in education as part of their commitment to child rights.

Keywords:

• inclusive education
• Education for All
• teachers
• Zambia

Notes

1. I will use the term ‘South’ to denote income‐poor countries in the world, which are also often referred to as ‘developing’ countries and sometimes as the ‘majority world’.

2. The ‘digital divide’ is a term used to emphasise differences in access to electronic communication between countries. The ‘communication divide’ is a wider term which incorporates various forms of communication, such as telephones and postal systems. At the time of EENET’s inception in 1997 access to telephones and computers was very limited in many Southern countries.

3. Funding was obtained from the UK’s Department for International Development (DfID) to carry out this study entitled, ‘Learning from difference: Understanding community initiatives to improve access to education’, 2001–2003.

4. Basic schools cater for children aged 7 to 15 in Grades 1–9.

5. ‘Child‐to‐Child’ is an approach to health education and primary health care promoted by a worldwide network of health and education workers and coordinated by the Child‐to‐Child Trust, which is based in London. The objective of the Trust is to protect and preserve the health of communities worldwide by encouraging and enabling children and young people to play an active and responsible role in the health and development of themselves, other children and their families. See www.child-to-child.org/about/index.html (accessed 16 January 2009).

6. Participatory photography involves the taking of pictures by community members in order to tell their stories and inform policy‐makers about issues of concern.

7. Patrick Kangwa was an invaluable member of the research team. He was a natural facilitator who was deeply committed to child rights.