**9.2 The moderate perspective of philosophical foundations for a decolonised curriculum and pedagogy**

The views classified under the Moderate Critical Reflections (MCR) highlighted a trend of thought that acknowledges the intercultural influences in the historical colonial society. The views expressed the significance of the recognition of all cultures and heritages of the people in the society. This perspective strives for a multicultural philosophical foundation for the curriculum and pedagogy as the participants insisted addresses issues of mutual respect between all cultures, heritages, and knowledge systems. According to the descriptive statistics, five groups (=34), accounting for 14.7% of participants, expressed views, thoughts and opinions that support a multicultural philosophical foundation to underpin the decolonised curriculum. The participants commented that:

*"In our view as South African, we need to show mutual respect of all cultures, heritage and our indigenous knowledge, and religious beliefs."*

*"Schools and universities should acknowledge the values of diverse heritages and cultural backgrounds. Colonialism developed this kind of attitude of exclusion, discrimination, and high class and lower class."*

*"For example, South Africa is a multicultural society, but we are still learning about discoveries and inventions of other countries and cultures as if South Africans are ignorant. We chose Social constructivism ideas and critical paradigm because these ideas can encourage us all to admire and appreciate our knowledge and diverse cultural backgrounds."*

Statements concerning pedagogical issues identified with this perspective pointed to the danger of political interference in curriculum development and design and the participants alluded that:

*"Education and curriculum should not be decided by the politicians and people of the elite class only. The education that is imposed from the top does not serve the needs of the poor and lower class."*

*"Critical paradigm and social constructivism ideas promote critical thinking about real-life problems than textbook knowledge, which we do not even have interest in. We do not feel part of what we learn; we memorize facts for the sake of test and exam."*

*"The curriculum should equip citizens with technical knowledge and skills to solve the issue of unemployment and poverty. Citizens can learn to be independent and work hard for their livelihood that seeking jobs."*

## **9.3 The neutral critical reflections perspective**

The statistics in **Table 2** indicate a minority representation for the neutral perspective, which is three groups (=34) or 8.8%. However, in this work, this finding is critical because this number represents the views and perceptions that prevail in the colonial society. The neutral trend of thought exhibited in statements that fit neither radical nor moderate perspectives. The views that do not consider decolonisation as an important item in the agenda for transformation in the historical colonial society of South Africa. The participants stated that:

*"Knowledge cannot be anything, but it should be from knowledgeable people because they conduct research and scientific processes to generate knowledge. Just imagine schools without books, what will teachers teach."*

*"In democratic countries, they open schools to everyone, like here we are all competing for better results, but there is no question of who you are and from where you come. The main thing is that we should all learn from experts for us to become experts or intellectuals learn from other intellectuals."*

*"We do not support the social re-constructionist ideas and critical paradigm because they promote freedom in the classroom, and individuals' learners' interests to us that means chaos, lack discipline, and lack of intellectual development. How can learners construct knowledge, and from where do they get intellectual expertise to produce ideas?"*

*"The purpose of education and educating is to make citizens better. For people in society to know, they need to learn from those who are experts and intellectuals. Idealist philosophical ideas encourage people to think and to produce ideas."*

*"Realist philosophical ideas are the best because they encourage creative thinking; citizens must think creatively to improve their economy and living standards. Realist philosophical ideas in our thinking can promote equal citizens."*

#### **10. Discussion**

This section presents a synthesis of the findings regarding the ideas, opinions, and views of the theorists presented in the theoretical and conceptual framework of this research. According to Mezirow [15] the principles of the transformative learning theory assert that adult learners can develop frames of reference from political, social, and economic experiences through various lenses. Thus, they create critical subjective assumptions about change and transformation. In the context of this study, the findings highlighted the trends of thought concerning the fundamental framework to conceptualise the philosophical foundations that ought to underpin a decolonised curriculum and pedagogy for higher education and training. The participants' perspectives identified in this research are based on the frames of reference of colonial socio-political ideological experiences. The three perspectives of the decolonised curriculum and pedagogy were the products of critical reflective thinking and assumptions about a discourse on the colonial curriculum. These are first, the restoration of the indigenous African philosophical foundation called *Ubuntu*; second, the multicultural philosophy to promote unity in diversity in the curriculum; and third, the neutral perspective that resists any interference with the status quo.

Furthermore, the findings allude to the significance of pedagogy that empowers students with knowledge, skills, values, and attitudes. The identified views and opinions were organised into themes in this discussion.

#### **10.1 Theme 1: patterns of thought in support skills-based pedagogy**

The trends of thought which conceptualised decolonisation as the restoration of the indigenous people's image and dignity criticised teaching practices that view learners as recipients of structured and formal knowledge. The argument about formal and structured knowledge was perceived as a tool to prepare a certain kind of people who should think in a certain way. The learner and the outcomes for the structured knowledge are analysed and presented by the designers of knowledge. In the context of pedagogical content knowledge for educating and training teachers, the theories of Pavlov, Thorndike, and Skinner were cited by participants to support this argument about learning as a conditioning of the learners' behaviours and thinking patterns. The colonial and imperialist educationists and curriculum designers drew on principles of knowledge and pedagogy from these theories so that teachers could develop convictions that teaching and learning are tools to develop a particular type of people who should adopt and adapt to prescribed behavioural patterns. The antithesis of this perspective is that research in anthropology and archaeology attests that humankind, regardless of creed and origins, can develop and create meaningful and relevant knowledge to their existence in an environment.

Furthermore, studies on people's heritage and cultural backgrounds also prove humankind adheres and identifies with what they have created and developed; hence protecting and preserving the heritage and cultural achievements are significant. The statements further highlight that skills-based pedagogy is ideal for addressing one-sided or biased narratives about the cultural achievements of people in a former colonial society. The following reasons were provided to substantiate the importance of skills-based pedagogy to a decolonised curriculum:


*Towards the Development of the Decolonized Pedagogy for Higher Education in South Africa... DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.101287*

for preserving culture and heritage should be prioritised in a decolonised curriculum. Promoting all languages is possible by allowing students to express opinions, ideas, and views in their language and through artefacts. Artefacts are languages in that in the designs and shapes and drawings hold meaning; people express their ideas, feelings, views, and interpretations of the universe, relationships in the physical world's systems, and world outlook through these artefacts.

The skills-based pedagogy established from the analysis of the decolonised curriculum in this discussion resonates with Deleuze's rhizomatic theory and its principles of identifying areas of interest from socio-economic and cultural environments and developing new concepts Patton [9]. The rhizome, in this literal sense, means a succulent rod, for example, sugar cane. The sugar cane rod has segments from which the sprouts of a new rod grow. In the context of the interpretation of the ideas and views provided by the study, the sprout could be new terminologies, concepts, principles, and innovations emerging from analytic skills, when students apply deductive reasoning and logic to discover the truth from different perspectives of reality.

Mezirow's theory of assumption advocates that adult learner can develop assumptions about discoveries; in this work, this implies that students in universities should apply analytic skills and skills of empathy to verify knowledge systems in the fields of choice. If this could be a paradigm for teaching, learning, and assessment, the principles of Schulman's theory about pedagogical content knowledge have to change. For instance, the lecture halls are venues of knowledge production rather than a place for students to listen to lecturers imparting themes and topics from the prescribed books and students memorising factual knowledge for tests and exams. The decolonised curriculum and pedagogy perspective promote a view of content that is selected and sequenced by lecturers and students in the classroom to allow diverse views and philosophical beliefs from different students' perspectives. The issue of the language used for communicating ideas is understood to be the tool used by colonisers and colonialists to enforce supremacy through education, which contributed to the subordination of other languages and their complete exclusion. In South Africa, for example, people of African descent have learned through foreign languages, and the disadvantages of this practice have influenced methods and learning styles and the programming of subject content. This research highlighted that learning a foreign language is the main contributor to the high failure rates in schools and universities. The mastery of English in South African universities is the criteria used to select suitable students in the qualification programs. Learning a foreign language was an area of contention in the discussion. However, the view about the seriousness of the negative impacts of enforcing learning through foreign languages to learners from indigenous communities was the most frequently observed. Imposing a foreign language is related to learning through memorisation of facts which add no value to the demands of the real-life experiences of students. Meaningless learning contributes to a high rate of learners dropping out in indigenous communities. The trend of dropping out from school, particularly among young citizens from indigenous communities, is that the education acquired does not improve communities' socio-economic situations. Education only prepares young citizens to be employees and not employers, which results in lifetime subordination.

#### **10.2 Theme 2: decolonised curriculum and pedagogy from the liberation of the mind perspective**

The statements identified from the discussion also indicate a trend of thought that viewed the colonisers' curriculum and pedagogy as a mechanism that was carefully

articulated from the philosophical beliefs of Plato, Aristotle, Kant, and Socrates which target the mind. The purpose of knowledge and learning is to create people who think and reason according to the value systems prescribed by intellectuals and inventors of knowledge. The statements condemned the ancient philosophies for preparing grounds for the oppression of the mind. This perspective argues that the colonised mind is built for timidity, subordination, dependence, and intellectual disability. An example of timidity is the mentality of submissiveness and extreme loyalty, while subordination allows individuals to be used like dogs in Pavlov's theory. The mindset of loyalty describes a situation where someone controls your thinking in terms of instructions and guidance because you cannot think, explore, or design anything. This dependence was insinuated in statements that freedom of thought and practice is witnessed in the way universities and the department of higher education structure content knowledge for their qualification programs. Students are not allowed the freedom to study courses that suit their interests and needs; as a result, the students find themselves in disadvantageous situations. Hence, the issue of unemployed graduates is becoming acceptable and makes a mockery of university qualifications. The strong view in this perspective is that universities are becoming manufacturers of intellectual disabilities. Instead of providing platforms of adventure and innovation, they create a community of young pensioners, meaning those who stay for many years depending on government grants for survival.

The following were the main qualities proposed for the decolonised curriculum for liberating the mind:

*The curriculum should adopt ideas of a free-market ideology: universities should allow students to choose courses based on their aspirations and needs. The students should enjoy the freedom to state the knowledge and skills they require for self-reliance in terms of their job and artisan skills.*

*Real-life situations and experiences of students should drive the curriculum.*

*The liberation of the mind perspective advocates for a curriculum that does not force students to learn knowledge that does not make sense to the needs of their society, as the argument was that some courses should be removed because of the lack of relevance to the world of practice. The ideas articulated around worthless courses highlighted that most of the students who enrol in such courses are from indigenous communities and are the poorest of the poor. The restricted freedom in learning in universities in South Africa supports maintaining the socio-cultural status enshrined in the colonisers' imperialist views of colonialised society.*

*The curriculum should promote equality and social cohesion.*

*Liberation of the mind in this perspective brings in the notion of co-existence, acceptance, respect, and acknowledgment of equality. The notion of Ubuntu described in this perspective is philosophical because it should be the foundational aspiration of individuals and communities in institutions of higher learning. The example used was that ubu, the prefix, means 'being' and ntu, the suffix, means human. Therefore, being human refers to something beyond respect and the acknowledgment of co-existence. Instead, the concept defines nature and its characteristics. In the colonised curriculum, the term being human is context-based, meaning that it depends on who is referred to in terms of location, appearance, and behavioural patterns. These are the main criteria used to classify being human,* 

*Towards the Development of the Decolonized Pedagogy for Higher Education in South Africa... DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.101287*

*and these criteria have created the beliefs of "us" and "them." According to the statements and arguments analysed, students in institutions of higher learning exhibit behaviours that defeat the purpose of social cohesion, equality, and equity in terms of Ubuntu. The divisions based on religious beliefs, race, and language indicate that a decolonised curriculum should target and address these behavioural patterns by opening platforms to debate and arguments about philosophical perspectives regarding 'being human'. The conceptual meaning of humanity advanced in the statements was that humans differ from primates, for example, chimpanzees, monkeys, and baboons because humans reason logically, think critically, evaluate, assess, make decisions, communicate ideas, and invent new knowledge and technologies according to the needs and demands of life. Being human means having qualities such as mutual respect, sharing space and resources with other people, showing sympathy, and demonstrating responsibility, care, and support.*

*Curriculum and pedagogy for self-reliance and freedom of choice.*

*The statements that highlighted the view of self-reliance critiqued the national curriculum of schools for promoting colonial social and economic goals. The elements cited from the national school curriculum were selecting subjects that do not articulate in education and training. The branding of education as "education and training" does not match the content knowledge taught from reception to the exit grade. The branding sounds as if a learner can exit the schooling system with skills and knowledge that learners require to adapt to the country's economic systems. The opposite is the mimicking and emulation of the content knowledge and pedagogic strategies enhancing the memorisation of facts from textbooks. The statements made by participants questioned the training component in the curriculum of the democratic dispensation because all subjects are classroom-based and tests and homework test fact recollection.*

*The proposals made from this perspective are as follows regarding the decolonised curriculum and pedagogical strategies.*

*The amalgamation of training to subject content knowledge*

*The statements indicated the importance of empowering learners in the school system with artisan skills required in their space of work. The view of self-reliance in a decolonised curriculum and pedagogy promotes the importance of differentiated interests and abilities that are entirely not in the scope and agenda of the democratic educational dispensation curriculum. The learners who fail to cope with the abstract textbook are mostly part of the indigenous communities and they continue to be neglected. As a result, the communities of street children, lost generations, and the poorest of the poor created by colonial imperialists grow. Furthermore, the lack of training to empower learners with adequate knowledge and skills creates a disadvantage for university students because they choose careers that require practical knowledge and skills. The experience of failure and the repeating of courses are the attributes seen in students from poor communities who drop out and struggle to survive.*

#### *The freedom of choice*

*The views and opinions classified under this category point to a lack of freedom of choice in the curriculum of the colonial and imperialist education dispensation mimicked by the democratic government. The imposed curriculum and subject content*  *deprive students in universities of their perspectives on the content and pedagogy. Course guides that present the scope of content are forced upon students without room to accommodate different opinions. The prescribed books, in some instances, are taught chapter by chapter, and students underline points which they memorise to pass exams. The content knowledge in some courses is outdated; for example, in accounting, how to fill out a cheque book is still taught in the dispensation of digital technology. The decolonised curriculum and pedagogy should be in favour of the students because knowledge is power and guides students towards freedom and emancipation. The analysis of the views and opinions expressed in the statements regarding the freedom of choice resonate with the profound ideas of Shor [3] on the pedagogy of the oppressed, for example, on the issue of providing a space for students to have a voice in the process of designing and developing program curricula, and the alignment of content with students' perspectives of the world, as well their needs and demands locally and globally.*

*Furthermore, the view of freedom of choice in the decolonised curriculum encapsulates the understanding of the rapid changes in the local and global socio-political and economic system. Thus, the importance of integrating international perspectives and achievement in the decolonised curriculum is emphasised. The sense of a global village was insinuated in the statements of participants; for example, scholarships should open gates for students to interact physically and remotely with various countries beyond European and American spheres of knowledge production. The criticism of American and European books filling up libraries in universities was highlighted to substantiate the importance of encouraging students to explore and navigate the space of knowledge according to their needs and aspirations. The examples cited in the context of knowledge were philosophical ideas generated by scholars of the liberation struggle in Africa, like Julius Nyerere, Lumumba, Nelson Mandela, Steve Biko, and others. The relevance of the philosophical ideas to the freedom of choice, as pointed out in the discussions, provides an informed framework for articulating scholarly principles for research and knowledge production to support African renaissance and Afro-centric views.*

Furthermore, the perception of integrating indigenous pieces of knowledge in the curriculum for higher learning resonates with the ideas of the proponents of the rhizomatic theory, reterritorialising and de-territorialising [8–11], which advocates for the regeneration of new concepts and philosophical ideas relevant to the postcolonial societies' lifestyles and worldviews. Bignall [11] argues that the colonised and the colonisers had been in co-existence for centuries after the European imperial and colonial regimes. Therefore, from the co-existence enculturation-influence of one culture on the others is a reality. According to Bignall [11], the cultural chauvinism of the colonial powers of capturing indigenous people and their cultures and mingling them with European worldviews is socio-culturally and historically accurate. In the same vein, Muller [6] reiterates the importance of the socio-cultural and historical factors in knowledge production for equality and equity in decolonising the curriculum and pedagogy. Ideas and views provided support the argument that students demand decolonised education with a background stemmed from global and local research. The resonance of students' perspectives confirmed Mezirow's transformative learning theory on the abilities of adult learners to develop subjective critical reflective assumptions about issues of injustice in their environment. Students drew on ideas from various local and global perspectives to frame demands for decolonised education. Furthermore, the transformative theory and refection frameworks state that adult students have ideas about change to the decolonised curriculum and pedagogy.

*Towards the Development of the Decolonized Pedagogy for Higher Education in South Africa... DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.101287*

#### **11. Conclusion**

The perspectives revealed by the study indicate the emergence of three trajectories that can be used by future educational and curriculum development researchers to embrace students' voices regarding decolonising education in South Africa and elsewhere in the world. The study concluded that experiences of university education and training from the participant's perspectives require fundamental reform. First, on the issue of curriculum design and development; second, the teaching and learning strategies; and third, the inclusion of students' voices in all the processes. Furthermore, the findings provided the basis for this study to claim that a decolonised curriculum and pedagogy must consider students' perspectives as being at the centre of all developments. The perspective of a decolonised curriculum and pedagogy is that it advocates for freedom of choice and liberation of the mind and expresses concern about the colonial curricular that is rigidly programmed and structured to constrain students' quests to inquire, undertake new adventures, and develop talents during education and training.

In a broader sense, the critique of the confinements and constraints in the current knowledge productions in higher education in the findings confirms the principle of the critical subject reflective assumption that adult learners apply logic and systemic thinking about knowledge. The issue of textbooks and knowledge content raised in the findings indicates an awareness of the promotion of colonial ideas and views that inculcate imperialist values of supremacy and the exclusion of other cultural values systems.

From the perceptions of a decolonised curriculum and pedagogy established from the synthesis of the finding within the framework of the philosophical perspectives of the global and local researchers, this work concluded that decolonisation has different connotations. The first connotation advances the notion of the restoration of the image of indigenous people by integrating their world outlooks, views, and cultural values in the curriculum and pedagogical practices. The proposed mechanism to resolve the exclusion problem is the promotion of pedagogical strategies like problembased and inquiry-based learning.

However, the other perspectives revealed by the research depicted a trend of thought about decolonisation and decolonised curricula and pedagogy which was advanced by the proponents of *Ubuntu*. The views and ideas of replacing Eurocentric philosophical perspectives with Afro-centric ones were interpreted to align with philosophical ideas of political power and education. The historical lesson in colonial societies is that political power and education are intertwined. Political power gives the government authority to enforce the beliefs and aspirations of the dominant political power. The findings highlighted that the radical critical perspectives of a decolonised curriculum conceptualise the transformation of education to be the prerogative of the political power. This implies the assumption of political power by the indigenous liberation movement. Therefore, education should be a tool for promoting indigenous people's cultural dominance. In addition, such a perception expects those in political power to mimic the strategies and policies of the colonial rulers in the current democratic political dispensation. The conclusion from the concept of *Ubuntu* being emphasised in this perspective is that a decolonised curriculum should acknowledge and promote value systems of the indigenous people, which had for many years been excluded and degenerated. Thus, the image of the indigenous people has been fallaciously presented. The narrative of the indigenous people about their worldviews, beliefs and convictions, norms, and behavioural patterns was the subject of research of colonial powers. Thus, knowledge production through intentional cultural chauvinism dehumanises indigenous people. The

concept of the African renaissance, which is the African Union's agenda to regenerate and rebuild the indigenous value system and image of the people of African descent, was destroyed by imperial colonialism. The conclusion drawn from the findings was that there was alignment between the students' perspectives and the views and opinions gathered from the works of local researchers [16–18, 20, 21].

Lastly, the study revealed the patterns of thought held by university students about their role in the conceptualisation and development of the curriculum and knowledge production.
