The role of philosophy of education
African countries adopted particular philosophies of education immediately after independence in efforts to transform the colonial education system. Depending on the commitment of the political leadership to change education for the better, the experts and stakeholders in education were brought together for consultations and inputs.
But the most important educational compass in this case was to follow an educational philosophy.
Njoroge and Bennaars maintain that philosophy of education, which is Westoriented, belongs to two worlds; the world of philosophy and the world of education.
They further stress that philosophy of education is an area of specialisation within the study of education, and shares a concern for education and other matters related to education.
The philosophy of education as subdiscipline of philosophy deals with problems related to education. The types of problems philosophy of education will tackle concern knowledge and values. Barker (1999), on the other hand, defines the concept of ‘a philosophy of education’ as a particular philosophy of a person or a group of people related to education, for example one can talk about a Greek philosophy of education, or Muwana’s philosophy of education.
In philosophy of education, terms like metaphysics, which deals with the nature of reality; epistemology, which is the study of the nature of knowledge; axiology, which deals with values; and logic, which deals with reasoning, are important and key terms. Philosophy of education will ask questions such as: ‘What is knowledge?’ ‘What are values?’
‘What is right and wrong?’ ‘What is reality?’ All these philosophical expressions are debatable, for example what is meant by “truth is reality,” because it could be relative depending from which angle or perspective one looks at it. Akinpelu
(1981) defines philosophy of education as a philosophising process about education, which is speculative, analytic and concerned with the critique of philosophical assumptions of the existing education system and practices from the standpoint of compatibility, consistency and adequacy in the light of the growing body of human knowledge.
It should also be concerned with developing a positive conception of what education should be in the light of much information about man, society and the universe as he can muster from the available areas of experience and knowledge.
Some of the roles of philosophy of education, among others, is to support the prevailing system by providing more philosophical arguments for the dispositions aimed at and methods used.
It also criticises the system and seeks to reform it in light of some more philosophical theory of education arrived at. In a pluralistic society like Namibia, educational philosophers will need to debate on educational issues relevant in schools. Equally, in a society which emerged from colonialism, an educational philosopher may supply a new fully-fledged normative (creating standards) philosophy for its educational system. Philosophy of education helps teachers to become more aware of the implications of the various issues involved in the education system, and look at educational issues more critically and also increase the ability of teachers to influence educational policies. African philosophers hold different views about their philosophies and education, but the commonest is the dignity of a human being.
Whether one speaks of Ubuntu, Kaunda’s Humanism, Nyerere’s Ujamaa, Mobutu’s Authenticity, Senghor’s Negritude, Gyekye’s Communitarianism or Wiredu’s Personhood, all boil down to respecting a human being. One can conclude by saying that Africans have many philosophies in one. Although Africans may not have similar words or concepts, this does not mean that they do not have a philosophy of education. The concept of empiricism, for example, is more explicitly elucidated by the African philosophy of education. Locke maintains that when a child is born, his or her mind is a tabula rasa (blank slate or sheet) and knowledge is acquired through experience, but African midwifes maintain that the first thing a living child will do when born is to cry. The question lingers on as where and when did the child learn the art of crying when he or she was in the mother’s womb?
Empiricism may have concepts in many African languages, for example the Sifwe language equivalent in the Zambezi region, is chibonamensho, meaning the life one goes through and see it through one’s eyes and learn from it. However, Kaphagawani and Malherbe (2002) caution of not making a huge generalisation concerning African cultures, customs, religions, knowledge and beliefs as Africa includes so many diverse peoples from different backgrounds.
Njoroge and Bennaars (1986) also stress that Africa is a vast continent, which has in the past been populated by people living in very different societies and cultures.
Therefore, to generalise African philosophy as one entity will be missing the philosophical point. What should, therefore, be considered is that Africans have the capability to think critically, like any human species around the globe. But coming to the situation in the Namibian education system, what really makes all these thinking learners and teachers fail in carrying out their obligations and tasks? After independence, Namibia embarked on a journey of fixing the colonial education system, which many people felt was not relevant in an independent country.