Non-governmental organisations have several mechanisms in place to facilitate learning with and f... more Non-governmental organisations have several mechanisms in place to facilitate learning with and from communities they intend to serve, however these do not always realise authentic participation and meaningful programmatic adjustments. In a participatory research in Central-Eastern Uganda we investigated how the community believes collective learning with NGOs could best be shaped. In this paper we present findings as well as reflections on the learning spaces that emerged in the research and how one could assess whether collective learning is a transformative practice. We offer a conceptual framework NGO practitioners can use to enrich their collective learning toolkit as well as to track and trace small shifts and changes happening in learning trajectories in order to lobby for resources to allow collective learning to happen more authentically, through increased presence and informal interaction with communities.
Liberalisation of higher education in Uganda meant opening its provision to the private sector, a... more Liberalisation of higher education in Uganda meant opening its provision to the private sector, and also running a public-private mix model at public institutions. Consequently, the composition and needs of the student population at universities have changed due to flexibility in provision of study programmes and access routes. Students who had previously been excluded are also joining in increasing numbers. This article uses the feminist frameworks to equality and difference, discourses of integration and exclusion, and the concepts of Othering and Other to unpack equality of access, equity and inclusivity spaces of these new types of students. The aim is to contribute towards a learning agenda that promotes quality and sustainable educational development for all. We draw our findings from the voices of non-traditional students at a public university in Uganda. We validate these with voices of other germane actors to understand better the institutional policy and practice environme...
Mission statements of universities in developing countries usually include serving the surroundin... more Mission statements of universities in developing countries usually include serving the surrounding communities. Often this service does not reach beyond lip service. This article puts into context the experience of developing an adult education research program responding to the needs of the surrounding community in a historically disadvantaged rural area. The areas of research were adult education needs assessment and community development, young adults at risk, adult health education, and policy and implementation issues. Globalization, social exclusion, and lifelong learning were key concepts tailored to the specific context of the rural areas in South Africa. The first two authors of the article were personally involved in the program, as a visiting professor from the Netherlands and his South African successor, respectively. The third author worked in a similar program at the Eduardo Mondlane University in Maputo, Mozambique.
Transitioning Vocational Education and Training in Africa
EPDF and EPUB available Open Access under CC-BY-NC-ND licence. This book takes an expansive view ... more EPDF and EPUB available Open Access under CC-BY-NC-ND licence. This book takes an expansive view of vocational education and training. Drawing on case studies across rural and urban settings in Uganda and South Africa, the book offers a new way of seeing this through an exploration of the multiple ways in which people learn to have better livelihoods. Crucially, it explores learning that takes place informally online, within farmers’ groups and in public and private education institutions.
Mission statements of universities in developing countries usually include serving the surroundin... more Mission statements of universities in developing countries usually include serving the surrounding communities. Often this service does not reach beyond lip service. This article puts into context the experience of developing an adult education research program responding to the needs of the surrounding community in a historically disadvantaged rural area. The areas of research were adult education needs assessment and community development, young adults at risk, adult health education, and policy and implementation issues. Globalization, social exclusion, and lifelong learning were key concepts tailored to the specific context of the rural areas in South Africa. The first two authors of the article were personally involved in the program, as a visiting professor from the Netherlands and his South African successor, respectively. The third author worked in a similar program at the Eduardo Mondlane University in Maputo, Mozambique.
This book offers perspectives and challenges for action research in contemporary society with a p... more This book offers perspectives and challenges for action research in contemporary society with a particular reflection on ethics and standards. On the one hand the world is becoming smaller and much more open with tremendous opportunities for international exchange and multi-cultural enrichment. On the other hand the divide between the poor and the rich is deepening, international tensions are growing and the sustainability of the environment is under considerable threat on a worldwide basis. These trends are challenging politicians, civil society and social movements to search for problem solving strategies to deal with the risks of exclusion, poverty, social and physical insecurity and environmental deprivation. The intriguing question is what role action research could play in order to address these challenges? Action research has something to offer because it favours the connection between knowledge production and social change by means of partnerships between researchers, practitioners and a variety of client stakeholders. The focus is on providing the means to improve people's self determination - to empower them in their roles as professional practitioners or citizens in the diverse social domains in which they live and work. Participatory action research and learning processes enable participants to improve the impact of services and programs in education, health care, urban and regional development, business, agriculture, arts, care of the elderly, leisure and many other spheres of social life. The approach of action research, which is rooted among others in the work of John Dewey and Kurt Lewin, covers nowadays a landscape of different concepts such as participatory action research, cooperative inquiry and action learning, to mention just a few. In this book scholars from those divergent concepts of action research present and discuss instructive examples of action research practices from developed as well developing countries. Special attention is paid to the vital issue of how this type of research can be conducted in a participatory, responsible, transparent and scientific way.
International Journal of Educational Development, 2016
Building on the participation model of Schuetze and Slowey, this study contributes to the public ... more Building on the participation model of Schuetze and Slowey, this study contributes to the public discourse on theoretical considerations for guidance of empirical research on participation of non-traditional students (NTS) in higher education in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). Drawing from empirical work at Makerere University Uganda, we found that improving only the institution environment cannot suffice as there are also other factors affecting participation outside the institutional structures. These include family and work environments and context specific factors like perceptions and socio-cultural environment of the Ugandan society. A conceptual model specific to SSA is thus proposed, and the capability approach presented as the most insightful in elucidating the participation realities of NTS in SSA.
This article discusses the current dynamics at African universities concerning the quality of tea... more This article discusses the current dynamics at African universities concerning the quality of teaching, the role of research, the level of community outreach, and the position of higher education in the educational sector as a whole. Points of reference are experiences at the University of the North in South Africa as well as experiences at universities in other African countries such as Uganda, Tanzania, Mozambique, and Ghana. One of our central conclusions is that the system of education in Africa in general, and higher education in particular, is highly dysfunctional, especially in terms of wasted human capacity as well as financial resources. African higher education institutions cannot close their eyes to the immense skills shortage and the frightening percentages of (youth-) unemployment. This leads to the recommendation that the responsibilities of a university concerning the generation of relevant new knowledge, preparing students adequately as active citizens for the challenges in the labour market, contributing to the development of communities, and fostering critical thinking need to be given high priority.
Non-governmental organisations have several mechanisms in place to facilitate learning with and f... more Non-governmental organisations have several mechanisms in place to facilitate learning with and from communities they intend to serve, however these do not always realise authentic participation and meaningful programmatic adjustments. In a participatory research in Central-Eastern Uganda we investigated how the community believes collective learning with NGOs could best be shaped. In this paper we present findings as well as reflections on the learning spaces that emerged in the research and how one could assess whether collective learning is a transformative practice. We offer a conceptual framework NGO practitioners can use to enrich their collective learning toolkit as well as to track and trace small shifts and changes happening in learning trajectories in order to lobby for resources to allow collective learning to happen more authentically, through increased presence and informal interaction with communities.
Liberalisation of higher education in Uganda meant opening its provision to the private sector, a... more Liberalisation of higher education in Uganda meant opening its provision to the private sector, and also running a public-private mix model at public institutions. Consequently, the composition and needs of the student population at universities have changed due to flexibility in provision of study programmes and access routes. Students who had previously been excluded are also joining in increasing numbers. This article uses the feminist frameworks to equality and difference, discourses of integration and exclusion, and the concepts of Othering and Other to unpack equality of access, equity and inclusivity spaces of these new types of students. The aim is to contribute towards a learning agenda that promotes quality and sustainable educational development for all. We draw our findings from the voices of non-traditional students at a public university in Uganda. We validate these with voices of other germane actors to understand better the institutional policy and practice environme...
Mission statements of universities in developing countries usually include serving the surroundin... more Mission statements of universities in developing countries usually include serving the surrounding communities. Often this service does not reach beyond lip service. This article puts into context the experience of developing an adult education research program responding to the needs of the surrounding community in a historically disadvantaged rural area. The areas of research were adult education needs assessment and community development, young adults at risk, adult health education, and policy and implementation issues. Globalization, social exclusion, and lifelong learning were key concepts tailored to the specific context of the rural areas in South Africa. The first two authors of the article were personally involved in the program, as a visiting professor from the Netherlands and his South African successor, respectively. The third author worked in a similar program at the Eduardo Mondlane University in Maputo, Mozambique.
Transitioning Vocational Education and Training in Africa
EPDF and EPUB available Open Access under CC-BY-NC-ND licence. This book takes an expansive view ... more EPDF and EPUB available Open Access under CC-BY-NC-ND licence. This book takes an expansive view of vocational education and training. Drawing on case studies across rural and urban settings in Uganda and South Africa, the book offers a new way of seeing this through an exploration of the multiple ways in which people learn to have better livelihoods. Crucially, it explores learning that takes place informally online, within farmers’ groups and in public and private education institutions.
Mission statements of universities in developing countries usually include serving the surroundin... more Mission statements of universities in developing countries usually include serving the surrounding communities. Often this service does not reach beyond lip service. This article puts into context the experience of developing an adult education research program responding to the needs of the surrounding community in a historically disadvantaged rural area. The areas of research were adult education needs assessment and community development, young adults at risk, adult health education, and policy and implementation issues. Globalization, social exclusion, and lifelong learning were key concepts tailored to the specific context of the rural areas in South Africa. The first two authors of the article were personally involved in the program, as a visiting professor from the Netherlands and his South African successor, respectively. The third author worked in a similar program at the Eduardo Mondlane University in Maputo, Mozambique.
This book offers perspectives and challenges for action research in contemporary society with a p... more This book offers perspectives and challenges for action research in contemporary society with a particular reflection on ethics and standards. On the one hand the world is becoming smaller and much more open with tremendous opportunities for international exchange and multi-cultural enrichment. On the other hand the divide between the poor and the rich is deepening, international tensions are growing and the sustainability of the environment is under considerable threat on a worldwide basis. These trends are challenging politicians, civil society and social movements to search for problem solving strategies to deal with the risks of exclusion, poverty, social and physical insecurity and environmental deprivation. The intriguing question is what role action research could play in order to address these challenges? Action research has something to offer because it favours the connection between knowledge production and social change by means of partnerships between researchers, practitioners and a variety of client stakeholders. The focus is on providing the means to improve people's self determination - to empower them in their roles as professional practitioners or citizens in the diverse social domains in which they live and work. Participatory action research and learning processes enable participants to improve the impact of services and programs in education, health care, urban and regional development, business, agriculture, arts, care of the elderly, leisure and many other spheres of social life. The approach of action research, which is rooted among others in the work of John Dewey and Kurt Lewin, covers nowadays a landscape of different concepts such as participatory action research, cooperative inquiry and action learning, to mention just a few. In this book scholars from those divergent concepts of action research present and discuss instructive examples of action research practices from developed as well developing countries. Special attention is paid to the vital issue of how this type of research can be conducted in a participatory, responsible, transparent and scientific way.
International Journal of Educational Development, 2016
Building on the participation model of Schuetze and Slowey, this study contributes to the public ... more Building on the participation model of Schuetze and Slowey, this study contributes to the public discourse on theoretical considerations for guidance of empirical research on participation of non-traditional students (NTS) in higher education in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). Drawing from empirical work at Makerere University Uganda, we found that improving only the institution environment cannot suffice as there are also other factors affecting participation outside the institutional structures. These include family and work environments and context specific factors like perceptions and socio-cultural environment of the Ugandan society. A conceptual model specific to SSA is thus proposed, and the capability approach presented as the most insightful in elucidating the participation realities of NTS in SSA.
This article discusses the current dynamics at African universities concerning the quality of tea... more This article discusses the current dynamics at African universities concerning the quality of teaching, the role of research, the level of community outreach, and the position of higher education in the educational sector as a whole. Points of reference are experiences at the University of the North in South Africa as well as experiences at universities in other African countries such as Uganda, Tanzania, Mozambique, and Ghana. One of our central conclusions is that the system of education in Africa in general, and higher education in particular, is highly dysfunctional, especially in terms of wasted human capacity as well as financial resources. African higher education institutions cannot close their eyes to the immense skills shortage and the frightening percentages of (youth-) unemployment. This leads to the recommendation that the responsibilities of a university concerning the generation of relevant new knowledge, preparing students adequately as active citizens for the challenges in the labour market, contributing to the development of communities, and fostering critical thinking need to be given high priority.
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Papers by Jacques Zeelen