African-European School Dialogue
Teaching about Africa in Europe and about Europe in Africa is based on social and political tendencies of reciprocal misunderstandings. The project will innovate teaching and learning in both contexts
Factsheet
- Lead school School of Agricultural, Forest and Food Sciences
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Institute
HAFL Institut Hugo P. Cecchini
Agriculture - Research unit International Agriculture and Rural Development
- Duration (planned) 01.08.2023 - 31.07.2025
- Project management Dr. Zenebe Uraguchi
- Head of project Dr. Brigitte Kürsteiner
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Project staff
Dr. Brigitte Kürsteiner
Dr. Zenebe Uraguchi -
Partner
Movetia
PH Luzern
Ewong'On Secondary School
Kantonsschule Zug
Naisinyai Secondary School,
Lycée classique de Mfou - Keywords Curriculum development;Knowledge management;Innovation and co-creation of knowledge;Capacity building;Society, policy and rural development;
Situation
As textbook analysis of history, geography and language teaching in the European context has shown (Menrath, 2012; Dei 2009; Andreu-Mediero & Guerra de la Torre, 2021; Bauer, Kniffin & Priest, 2015), the way in which the Global South is presented and talked about is often biased and strongly selective. This leads to an unrealistic and often stereotyped way of teaching about another context. On the other hand, in some African contexts, teaching about Europe has been completely suspended or marginalized and shows biases alike. Such examples lead to distorted perspectives on both sides, which can turn into socially and politically problematic ways of thinking about the other. Thus, the project aims to bring together teachers within secondary school education from Africa and Switzerland as well as scientific experts from both contexts to facilitate a reciprocal dialogue.
Course of action
The overall objective of the project is to frame the methodology within a design thinking approach and to empathise, define the problem, ideate, protoype, and present (Taimur, Onuki & Mursaleen. 2022). In this methodology, different stages engage the teachers in a dialogic, reciprocal, reflective process that is iterative and cyclic in nature. The evaluation of the teaching material and the pedagogical methodologies is also based on a design thinking approach, where the prototype, namely the developed teaching content, is tested out with the users identified in the first stages (secondary II students and teachers).
