Continuity and change in the development of moral education in Botswana

Abstract

This article traces the development of moral education (ME) in Botswana from pre‐colonial times to the present day. It shows how during this time ME has undergone three distinct phases of development, each emphasising a particular ideology. In pre‐colonial times ME was offered as part of indigenous education in the home and community, both formally and informally, directly and indirectly. During the missionary/colonial period (1870s–1966) and in the first three decades of Botswana’s independence (1967–1998), ME was taught in the formal school curriculum as an aspect of religious education. During this period religious education was confessional, using Christian moral values as a yardstick in exploring the material content of the syllabus. Since the national educational reforms of the 1990s, ME has undergone a paradigm shift, whereby it has become disengaged from religious education and secularised as a stand‐alone subject in the junior secondary curriculum. This paper examines each of these three phases of development, and concludes by offering an assessment of the efficacy of the current phase, given the religiosity of Botswana as a country and the consequences of previous teacher training with ME having been located within religious education.

Acknowledgements

With sincere thanks to Sharlene Swartz, two anonymous referees and three staff members in the Religious Education Department at the University of Glasgow—Roisin Coll, Leon Robinson and Leonardo Franchi—for their constructive comments and editorial suggestions which have considerably improved this paper. However, all errors and omissions are mine.

Notes

1. These are the BaKgatla, BaKwena, BaLete, BaNgwato, BaNgwaketse, BaRolong, BaTawana and BaTlokwa.

2. So‐called ‘minor’ tribes include BaHerero, BaSarwa, BaHambukushu, BaYei, BaKalanga, BaKgalagadi, Afrikaner, BaTlharo and BaHurutshi. This classification is resented by members of these tribes who are actively campaigning for a repeal of a law justifying this classification (Nyati‐Ramahobo, 2008).

3. As part of the consultation process the SNCE used a number of methods to collect opinions and ideas. These methods included institutional visits, analysis of written and oral submissions on the proposed reform guidelines, reading of published research and policy studies and educational visits to a number of countries both within and beyond Africa.