Through the lens of an anticolonial (as opposed to postcolonial) analytical framework, this conceptual paper examines decolonising efforts (and failures) in Religious Education (RE) as a school subject in post-independent sub-Saharan Africa. It critiques the missionary/European epistemological hegemony that continues to render RE a colonial rather…

During the 1930s there was a significant shift in the debate about African colonial education. Above all, somewhat discreetly hidden behind the formal language of the educational documents, is the question of the challenge presented to the traditional literary/religious missionary curriculum, or even to the "adaptationist" debate about…

This paper is the second in a set of two on the extent to which Catholic and other faith-based schools are serving the poor well. Catholic and other faith-based schools reach millions of children who live in poverty, yet this does not necessarily mean that they are serving these children well enough. The paper considers two separate issues. First,…

During the first years of the twentieth century, Christian missionaries tried to improve their efforts to bring the message of the Gospel to areas such as British Tropical Africa. The process stemmed from the World Missionary Conference in 1910 in Edinburgh, Scotland, where conference organisers used the then popular method of social surveys to…

Colonizers' educational system produced new seeds for cultivation of new culture. This reproduction effected the British colonies culturally and religiously especially to Arica and South Asia. The natives of two continents transformed slowly and gradually through the western education system. The Britain opened new schools in colonies to teach the…

In this article I analyze some of the cultural factors that have determined and influenced the teaching profession and its evolution in African countries. Firstly, I use an historical approach to review conceptual issues on teachers, teaching and learning; secondly, I examine salient features of the idea and practices of teachers and teaching in…

The chapters in this volume do not represent the whole of the Middle East and North Africa, as such a collection would have been too large for one volume. Rather, the selection here is intended to present different perspectives on a range of educational issues, relevant to a particular focus or country, or common to a number of countries in the…