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Educational policies in early childhood education programs in Kenya and Nepal: Challenging unjust binary mindset around curricula practices


Abstract Educational policies and practices in the current age of heightened globalization are increasingly grounded on unjust binary curriculum approaches that favor educational designs from Minority-World countries at the expense of epistemologies of indigenous people in Majority-World nations that are typically deemed culturally inferior (Gupta, 2015). Essentially, those opposing binaries promote neocolonial and neoliberal ideologies while disregarding lived cultural contexts of people in Majority-World countries (Lee, 2012). To grapple with this conundrum, this ethnographic study examined how educators in Kenya and Nepal (N = 26) contested, constructed, and transformed educational practices in contexts of globalization, neocolonialism, and neoliberalism. Qualitative data from four schools in Kathmandu, Nepal (16 participants) and two schools in Kenya (10 participants) revealed that educators struggled with issues of intellectual imperialism. Therefore, they strived to deconstruct the existing unjust binary curricula policies by embracing pluralist educational discourses essential to sustaining indigenous languages and dialects. In doing so, those educators focused on advancing local cultural values, rights, and ideologies without antagonizing influential stakeholders from Minority-World nations.
Authors Lydiah Nganga University of WyomingORCID , Samara Madrid Akpovo ORCID , John Kambutu University of WyomingORCID , Sapna Thapa ORCID , Agnes Muthoni Mwangi
Journal Info SAGE Publishing | Policy Futures in Education , pages: 147821032311765 - 147821032311765
Publication Date 5/17/2023
ISSN 1478-2103
TypeKeyword Image article
Open Access closed Closed Access
DOI https://doi.org/10.1177/14782103231176587
KeywordsKeyword Image Multicultural Education (Score: 0.547792) , Education Policy (Score: 0.541065) , Comparative Education (Score: 0.523373)