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Author ORCID Identifier
N/A
AccessType
Open Access Dissertation
Document Type
dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Education (EdD)
Degree Program
Education
Year Degree Awarded
2015
First Advisor
Gretchen B. Rossman
Subject Categories
International and Comparative Education
Abstract
Within the context of Education for All's (EFA) mandate for universal primary school attendance, the cultural relevancy of education is particularly salient to issues of educational quality. Drawing from the literatures on Indigenous knowledges and education, Culturally Relevant Pedagogy, and mother-tongue based multilingual education (MTB-MLE), the lens of analysis for this study acknowledged that incorporating students' cultures and Indigenous knowledges within formal schooling may contribute to increased learning opportunities and thereby improve student outcomes. The purpose of the dissertation was to focus on the experiences of one Senegalese peri-urban primary school in incorporating students' cultures and realities. Research participants included school personnel, students and community members. Using a compressed ethnographic research design, this study took place intensively over a period of four weeks and utilized multiple data collection techniques, including participant observation, student focus groups, and interviews. The results of data analysis identified a number of promising practices as well as challenges related to increasing cultural relevancy. One of the central findings demonstrated how the public school system's new competency-based curricular model, called le Curriculum, may create openings for integrating students' cultures and Indigenous knowledges. Findings further provided evidence of how Senegalese cultures and national languages permeated school interactions, entering deep within classrooms, and even as major components of lesson content. Lastly, this study also concluded that, despite persistent challenges, schooling in Senegal may be progressing towards greater alignment with students' realities than is often presented in the literature.
DOI
https://doi.org/10.7275/6425080.0
Recommended Citation
Sarr, Karla A., "Integrating Cultures within Formal Schooling: Exploring Opportunities for Cultural Relevancy in Peri-Urban Senegal" (2015). Doctoral Dissertations. 322.
https://doi.org/10.7275/6425080.0
https://scholarworks.umass.edu/dissertations_2/322