The book provides an overview of a teacher’s journey from the USA to Southern Africa, seeking to understand what it means to teach in the spirit of ubuntu. Through an ethnographic study of the teacher’s lived experiences, the author unpacks what ubuntu means in the context of education while showing how the process of cultivating one’s humanity is anchored in transformative learning.
The author explores the ubuntu pedagogy framework and provides an overview of how educators cultivate their cultural competence for teaching. Furthermore, the author offers practical examples that capture the different pedagogical moves when demonstrating an ubuntu-oriented teaching style that affirms and dignifies all learners.
Ubuntu Pedagogy
Becoming An Ubuntu Responsive Educator
Written By Dr. Alecia Blackwood
Ubuntu pedagogy promotes a humanizing classroom environment where every child can learn to their maximum potential. Ubuntu pedagogy is anchored by six components that humanize the teaching and learning process. The six pedagogical strategies of Ubuntu pedagogy are:
- Understanding of self
- Building relationships and setting boundaries
- Unifying the children to work together
- Nurturing the minds of the children
- Teaching from a position of love and care,
- Utilizing evidence-based practices to meet the diverse needs of all students.
What is Ubuntu?
According to the South African Nobel Laureate Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Ubuntu is described in the following way: “It is the essence of being human. It speaks that my humanity is caught up and is inextricably bound up in yours. I am human because I belong. It speaks about wholeness; it speaks about compassion. A person with Ubuntu is welcoming, hospitable, warm and, generous, willing to share. Such people are open and available to others, willing to be vulnerable, affirm others, and do not feel threatened that others are able and good. They have proper self-assurance from knowing that they belong in a greater whole. They know that they are diminished when others are humiliated, diminished when others are oppressed, and diminished when others are treated as if they were less than who they are. The quality of Ubuntu gives people resilience, enabling them to survive and emerge still human despite all efforts to dehumanize them.”
What is Ubuntu?
According to the South African Nobel Laureate Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Ubuntu is described in the following way: “It is the essence of being human. It speaks that my humanity is caught up and is inextricably bound up in yours. I am human because I belong. It speaks about wholeness; it speaks about compassion. A person with Ubuntu is welcoming, hospitable, warm and, generous, willing to share. Such people are open and available to others, willing to be vulnerable, affirm others, and do not feel threatened that others are able and good. They have proper self-assurance from knowing that they belong in a greater whole. They know that they are diminished when others are humiliated, diminished when others are oppressed, and diminished when others are treated as if they were less than who they are. The quality of Ubuntu gives people resilience, enabling them to survive and emerge still human despite all efforts to dehumanize them.”
About the Author
Dr. Alecia Blackwood is a passionate master teacher with over 20 years of experience as an Educator in the public school system and homeschooling arena. She is an International Speaker who has shared her expertise with teachers at the University of Central Florida, the University of Botswana, the University of Namibia, and the University of Johannesburg through lectures and workshops.