Evaluating ICT for Education in Africa - Royal Holloway, University of ...

potential for pedagogy as a tool for addressing inequality and structuralinjustice rather than simply facilitating economic growth (Unwin 2009).Critical pedagogy promotes teaching in a way that challenges domination andstructures of power and resists oppression (McLaren 2000). The objective ofteaching in this way is to enable students to engage in society with a criticalconsciousness. Paolo Freire (1973, 1970) is the most famous proponent ofcritical or liberatory pedagogy, with the humanising of society the ultimategoal of effective pedagogy (Steiner et al. 2000). This objective is dependentupon viewing educational change as one significant catalyst within a wideraccompanying change „in the social and political structure within whicheducation takes place‟ (McLaren 2000 p.6) with particular emphasis ondeveloping a critical consciousness amongst the poor.Whilst maintaining a less explicit transformative agenda, critical thinking(Paul and Elder 2007) is linked to critical pedagogy in that it aims toinculcate the same form of consciousness and critical processing withinstudents. This encapsulates what is perhaps the most significant negativeconsequence of a rote-based orthodoxy in African education and a widercultural resistance to enquiry from children. The mantra that „children are tobe seen and not heard‟ is deeply ingrained in many African cultures(Nyamnjoh 2004) and as a result in certain contexts it is rare for children tobe asked for their opinion by an adult on any topic. The significantimplications of this cultural resistance to child enquiry became apparentwhilst conducting the field research in Malawi and asking children between 7and 13 years old to explain why they answered the questions they were askedin the way that they did. As noted in my research diary (25/02/08):„I realised that the extent of the struggle the children had withmy questions indicated that they may never have previouslybeen asked a question from an adult that required them toanswer „why‟. The result of this, simply, is a widespreadstifling of critical thinking in education.‟302