Indigenous Knowledge Systems in Ugandan Communities

Before the advent of colonialism and missionaries, indigenous communities had their own systems of epistemology.
They included those related to

But less than two hundred years since the west appeared on the scene, Eurocentric thinking and knowing has dominated the stage.

Many societies have tended to give up on their ways of knowing, believing in the superiority of the western scientific world view with its emphasis on certainty, objectivity, predictability and instrumental rationality.

The indigenous perspectives on knowledge and wisdom were relegated to second place only to be drawn upon mainly during times of crisis or ceremony
(Teasdale and Teasdale, 1998)

For local empowerment to take place in the era of globalization, indigenous epistemological perspectives need to be brought into the fore by integrating them in the education of medical health sciences, agriculture, environment, technology and other fields that can contribute to sustainable development . Whereas indigenous knowledge systems have contributed to provide alternative strategies for survival to many communities, still others have lived dangerously due to the lack of its further development, and poor promotion and utilization.

Statement of the problem

Indigenous forms of knowing for long have excluded in the mainstream vortex of interpreting and understanding reality. Consequently, many communities that rely on indigenous epistemologies have been marginalized and some pushed out of the world system due to the uncompetitive ness on the diversity provided by indigenous theoretical and practical perspectives in understanding the world, reality is yet another window of opportunity for survival in a global world that is strongly being shaped by a monolithic outlook. The challenges that constrain the development, promotion and utilization of indigenous knowledge in Uganda and an exploration of alternative possibilities for increasing its role in national development urgently requires such a research project to be undertaken.

Purpose

The purpose of this project is to contribute to the creation of a data base of the available indigenous knowledge systems in Uganda and to explore how this knowledge can historically play a meaningful role both in theory and practice in the development process in a more sustainable and self-reliant manner.
Objectives
The project is guided by the following objectives:

Justification

There is very little work that has been done in the area of indigenous knowledge systems and their utilization in Uganda. Considering that the regimes of knowledge that were introduced in Uganda on the advent of colonial rule and missionaries marginalized and demonized most of the indigenous epistemological frames of looking at reality, it is more than timely to reconstitute the scattered knowledge systems before most of the authorities in certain areas of specialization have past away. It is true that most of these people are long dead. Never the less, the few that are still alive and scattered in society merit consulting so that the information can be put in retrieval form for the benefit of the present generation and future posterity.

It is also worth excavating this reservoir of knowledge so that it can be utilized to form a basis for authentic national development. Unless development is organically linked with the cultural realities of any society, it remains hard for such society to

Quality Assurance in Teacher Education.

Support staff:

Achievements:

The research project was submitted to Makerere University

Project overview: A study of policy and practice at tertiary level
This study investigated the existing policy and practice of Quality Assurance in Tertiary Teacher Education Institutions (TTEI) in Uganda. More specifically the study endeavored to investigate the:
i.) Existing policy for quality assurance in TTEI at national and institutional levels.
ii.) Existing practices in TTEI in relation to quality indicators.
iii.) Existing mechanisms for quality assurance in the TTEI
iv.) Discrepancy between policy and practice of quality assurance in TTEI

The study was carried out in five districts namely Tororo, Mubende, Mbarara, Lira and Kampala. Purposive sampling was used to select three public Universities namely Kvambogo University, Mbarara University, Makerere University and three NTCs; Ngetta NTC, Nagongera NTC and Mubende NTC.
A total of 139 respondents were purposively sampled, these including three key informants from the Ministry of Education Service, 10 administrators from the University Faculties of Education, 36 NTC lecturers, 34 University lecturers and 50 Secondary School Teachers who were trained in the sampled NTCs and Universities.
A descriptive survey methodology was utilised to generate data for this study. Questionnaires, key informant interviews and document review constituent were the instruments utilized. Data was analysed with qualitative analytical techniques.
From the available findings it was concluded that:
The national policy for quality assurance in TTE1 is available but too general to guide implementation. The NCHE is the body responsible for setting and monitoring of standards in Higher Education under which TTEI fall. However the NCHE has not yet started its formal operations. At Institutional level, policy for quality assurance is derived from the national policy and contextualised in the local institutional environment.
TTEI are faced with several challenges with regard to the indicators of quality. The major constraints to quality in UEI are high student numbers giving rise to high lecturer:
Student ratios and heavy workloads for lecturers, inadequate physical and instructional resources.
Discrepancy between policy and practice in TTEI has been noted in admissions, qualification of teacher trainers, lecturer: student ratios and provision of equipment and instructional materials as well as management of school practice. This discrepancy is partly attributed to lack of clear national and institutional policies on quality parameters in tertiary institutions.
In view of the findings it is recommended that:
The concept of quality in relation to inputs, processes and output of Teacher Education be defined and established among stakeholders of Teacher Education
A variety of internal and external quality assurance mechanisms should be identified and institutionalized to maintain quality in Teacher Education. Participation and feed back to concerned parties should be given more focus.
Mechanisms for follow up of graduating teachers are institutionalized to provide feed back about the UEI outputs.