Experiences of Teaching Transformative Pedagogies for Peace-building across Selected Institutions of Higher Learning in South Africa

Abstract

The primary objective of this study was to report on a series of workshops that were held in three institutions of higher learning on resilience, peace-building and prevention of violence using transformative pedagogies (TP). This progressive approach to teaching and learning is known as an activist approach and it is a reaction to the traditional approach to teaching and learning which perceive teachers as the people who control the teaching and learning process. The study was a mixed method and was premised on transformative paradigm. Data was collected using evaluation survey from participants and reflection from facilitators on the feedback and experiences in the delivery of the workshops in the three institutions. The participants in the series of workshops were the lecturers, student teachers and members of students’ representative council (SRC). The workshops aimed at equipping the participants with the skill to be peace-builders by articulating how the issues of peace and violence manifests and intersect in the South African contexts and beyond. Furthermore, the participants were expected to identify strategies for enhancing education for peacebuilding in their own contexts using transformative pedagogies. The results revealed and provided feedback not only on the effectiveness of the project but also assisted in illuminating the effectiveness of the use of transformative pedagogies in the classrooms and change learners and students to be peace ambassadors.