Culturally Relevant Education and (Bottom Up) International Social Welfare
The role of education is central to the MDGs’ and EFA, as it is crucial for both social and economic development initiatives both abroad and at home. Education plays a central role in international social welfare as it holds an ability to foster socialization, citizenship and nation building processes (Novelli, 2010.) Paulo Friere, a Brazilin educator, believed that education could lead to social justice and self-empowerment. Friere’s sought to empower people through education by helping individuals narrate their own experiences. He believed that these narrations could help people overcome their social histories and feelings of social injustice by learning that they are people who consciously lived within and played a part in creating their own histories, and that there experiences and values are important (Newman, 2003). For Freire, education can serve the oppressed if it emphasizes "the practice of freedom." That is, education must be taught from the pedagogy of the oppressed, which emphasizes an individual’s own practical consciousness, as shaped by their material conditions, prior to the prescriptive process of a grand- narrative. In other words, pedagogical techniques can act as means to promote social justice if the educational process allows for and emphasizes democratic dialogue between teachers and the students (Mocomba, 2005). Education can act as a tool for building international social welfare, as if can help people find value from what is culturally relevant to them, not what is relevant to the dominate ideology.
Friere’s notions of education and social justice can play a central role in the involvement of NGOs within education initiatives. NGOs (should ideally) play a growing role in the education sector as they work at the “community-level,” thus affecting social change where others cannot. NGOs can represent and act as a catalyst for “civil society” engagement in education initiatives (an element many consider critical for sustainability and democratization). In theory NGOs’ are simply more “efficient” in meeting the educational needs of the community that they serve, as (ideally) their agenda's and goal's are being formulated at the grassroots community level through a culturally relevant lens (Miller-Grandvaux et Al, 2006). Therefore NGOs can contribute to creating culturally relevant educational pedagogy’s that enables a society to meet their own developmental needs.
Friere’s notions of education and social justice can play a central role in the involvement of NGOs within education initiatives. NGOs (should ideally) play a growing role in the education sector as they work at the “community-level,” thus affecting social change where others cannot. NGOs can represent and act as a catalyst for “civil society” engagement in education initiatives (an element many consider critical for sustainability and democratization). In theory NGOs’ are simply more “efficient” in meeting the educational needs of the community that they serve, as (ideally) their agenda's and goal's are being formulated at the grassroots community level through a culturally relevant lens (Miller-Grandvaux et Al, 2006). Therefore NGOs can contribute to creating culturally relevant educational pedagogy’s that enables a society to meet their own developmental needs.
Cultural relativism has been used as a tool to counter colonialism. In the 1900s anthropologists questioned cultural superiority and emphasized that each culture has value in itself. In cultural relativism, all points of view are equally valid, and any truth is relative. That is the truth belongs to the individual or her or his culture. All ethical, religious, and political beliefs are truths related to the cultural identity of the individual or society (Reichert, 2006). This idea resonates with "Pedagogy of the Oppressed" themes. Using education as a tool for development should provide a culturally and globally sensitive education, where both the intellectual and social characteristics of the learner are considered (Ngaga, 2009).
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UNESCO complied statistics of school life expectancy for children around the world; the World Bank also complied similar statistics that can be seen on Human Development Network website. What is clear about both sets of statistics is that there is still stark contrast between enrollment, school life expectancy and completion of primary education between the Global North and the Global South. Even more apparent are the stark contrast between the educations of women vs. men in the Global South. These statistics empirically suggest that the current education initiatives are not meeting the needs of the poor, or women (Aikmen, et Al, 2005; Kakuru, 2008; Kuenzi, 2005; 2008; Novelli, 2010, Pillay, 2010; Rose, 2010; Strutt & Kepe, 2010).
Achieving gender equality in education for the enhancement, inclusion, and participation of all girls would mean that educational quality must be accompanied by broader changes in society. The MDGs and EFA goals must deliver change to allow women to achieve the freedoms to which they have a right, and the kind of life that they value (Aikmen et Al, 2005). That is, education must be culturally relevant to women, girls and the society where they live. Currently many primary school girls have no opportunity to be heard. Their voices are mute (Kakuru, 2008). Attempts to make schools more gender relevant will involve challenging the ethos of authority, hierarchy, and social control that pervades the majority of schools, and developing ways of engaging with rights, empowerment, agency, and the voice of the learner (Aikmen et Al, 2005).
Achieving gender equality in education for the enhancement, inclusion, and participation of all girls would mean that educational quality must be accompanied by broader changes in society. The MDGs and EFA goals must deliver change to allow women to achieve the freedoms to which they have a right, and the kind of life that they value (Aikmen et Al, 2005). That is, education must be culturally relevant to women, girls and the society where they live. Currently many primary school girls have no opportunity to be heard. Their voices are mute (Kakuru, 2008). Attempts to make schools more gender relevant will involve challenging the ethos of authority, hierarchy, and social control that pervades the majority of schools, and developing ways of engaging with rights, empowerment, agency, and the voice of the learner (Aikmen et Al, 2005).
Improved education quality and enrollment can occur if pedagogies are enhanced through culturally relevant programming that seeks to include wider local societal considerations over a focus on the formal western educational systems (Aikmen et Al, 2005). Culturally relevant education that forms from the grassroots can validate indigenous culture and language, drawing upon and reinforcing local knowledge and capacities (Aikmen at Al, 2005; Kakuru, 2008; Kuenzi, 2005). The process of formulating education needs and goals from the bottom up can encourage individuals to interact with others, bridging and linking social capital, and provide opportunities for a dynamic exchange and collaboration of ideas (Kuenzi, 2005). The process of the grassroots engagement of culturally relevant educational programming can help to create a legitimate forum for those who are traditionally excluded from policy and development agenda’s to contribute and participate.
Culturally relevant education that is developed from the "bottom up" should not have such poor global educational statistics; it should wield positive affects on international social welfare and development. However, the current way of conceptualizing development discourages any belief in the integrity and the validity of indigenous society and offers the notion that Global South societies can find validity only in their transformation. That is, development initiatives inherently force indigenous societies to see themselves as having no use on the global stage and in order to have value they need to transform to western ways of life (Kakuru, 2008; Kuenzi, 2005). This conceptualization of development has been an underlying assumption of many of the development programs and formal educational systems in the Global South (Kuenzi, 2005) and they are clearly seen in the next section of this website.