The teaching profession in Uganda, 1877-1972
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Date
1975
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University of Dar es Salaam
Abstract
This thesis is an analytical study of the policies which have directed the teaching profession in Uganda from 1877, the year when the European missionaries first came to Uganda to 1972. The research was exploratory and it involved the collection, compilation and interpretation of historical data about the teaching profession and the policies which have governed it during the period discussed. This thesis, therefore, gives a detailed account of the policy changes which have taken place in the teaching profession and presents a documented discussion of how and why these policy changes took place and what their results were. The aspect of teachers for exclusively European or Asian schools was not directly investigated. In order to give meaningful interpretation to the data collected, the development of the entire education system in Uganda between 1877 and 1972 and the relevant areas of the country's social, political and economic systems were also studied. In this study, the term 'education' is used in reference to both Western education which was introduced by European missionaries and to the African indigenous education or "traditional education" which was present in Uganda before the arrival of the European missionaries. Formal education as introduced by the European missionaries was basically evangelical and aimed mainly at converting the "pagans" into literate Christians who assisted the colonial government by performing clerical and other junior occupations. The introduction of western education in 1877 is crucial in the educational history of Uganda and forms the starting point for the investigation of this study. However, as a background to this study, certain aspects traditional education in Uganda during the precolonial period have been investigated. African indigenous education was not only a process of transmitting culture from one generation to the next but it also covered every aspect of life and equipped young people with specific skills for an active and relevant role in their changing society. It was organised both in an informal general way and in a formal way. Although western education discouraged traditional education, some elements of the latter are still practised in many parts of the country. Since the missionaries introduced Western education in Uganda, the colonial government, and later the Uganda Government, have periodically introduced education policies aimed at providing solutions to political, social and economic problems. These education policies have provided recognisable stages which follow one another chronologically and constitute the basis on which the thesis is divided. ARRANGEMENT OF CHAPTERS The thesis is divided into seven chapters: CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION: The first part of this chapter is an outline of Uganda's main features and the second part is a summary of the structure of the country's education system in 1972. The main part of the chapter is a theoretical background to the thesis discussing the pressures which made it necessary and possible for changes to take place in the teaching profession.CHAPTER TWO: MISSIONARY EDUCATION 1877-1972 .The first part of this chapter deals with ''teachers'' of African indigenous education during the pre-colonial period. The second part deals with the early missionary period which starts from 1877, the year when the Christian missionaries from Europe first arrived in Uganda. It examines the historical background and the interplay between the European and the Ugandan cultures and the resultant conflicts. which led to bloodshed in the 1880's. Then it discusses. the methods, the successes and the failures of the Christian missionaries in the field of education in general and in teacher education in particular; analysing the role of the European missionary as a church teacher and as a school teacher, first training the indigenous people to assist him and later to act on his behalf. The chapter also highlights the gradual decline of the role of the traditional teacher and the systematic replacement of traditional education by the Western education. CHAPTER THREE: COLONIAL EDUCATION POLICIES: 1925-1952: This chapter covers the period during which the British colonial government formalised its control of education. It examines the background of the AngloAmerican cooperation in the Phelps-Stokes Commission (1922 and 1924), the 1925 Memorandum on Education Policy in the British Tropical Africa. and the government Department of Education which was formed in Uganda in 1925.In 1951, the achievements of the years 1925 -1950's were reviewed by the Nuffield (Binns) Commission of 1951 which led to the appointment of the locally based De Bunsen Committee of 1952. The changes which took place in the teaching profession as a result of various policy decisions between these periods discussed. CHAPTER FOUR: THE PRE- INDEPENDENCE PERIOD: 19531962: This chapter covers the immediate pre- indepe-ndence period. It deals with he developments following the De Bunsen Committee report (1953) which recommended several changes involving the re-organisation of primary, secondary and higher education. Inevitably, these changes called for changes in the training of teachers. This chapter also deals with the effects of the 1961 Addis Ababa Conference on African Education which recommended many changes considered suitable for meeting the challenges of the newly independent African countries and for those that were about to be independent. It also examines the recommendations of the 1961 Lawrence Report on teachers' salaries and other conditions of service. CHAPTER FIVE: THE FIRST DECADE OF INDEPENDENCE: 1963-1992: This chapter covers the developments in the teaching profession in Uganda's first ten years of independence. It deals with velopments following the Castle Commission report (1963) which recommended further changes in Ugandas' education and in the training and the conditions of service for teachers. This chapter also analyses the Uganda Education Act (1970) which defined more clearly the em of the teacher.CHAPTER SIX: PROFESSIONALISM IN TEACHING - deals with teachers' conditions of service, status and unions. It examines the teachers' strugg e, through unions, to improve their status and conditions of services. CHAPTER SEVEN: CONCLUSIONS and suggestions based an the findings reported in chapters ONE to SIX.
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Keywords
Teachers, Uganda, Education
Citation
Tiberondwa, A (1975) The teaching profession in Uganda, 1877-1972, masters dissertation, University of Dar es Salaam. Available at (http://41.86.178.3/internetserver3.1.2/detail.aspx?parentpriref=)