Tuesday 18 November 2025, 13:00-14:00
Speakers: Professor Kwame Akyeampong, The Open University; and Dr Sean Higgins, University College London Institute of Education
This seminar presents the new book by Professor Akyeampong and Dr Higgins, offering a powerful, post‑colonial rejection of the so‑called global ‘learning crisis’. The authors argue that this concept offers deficit models of the experiences, knowledges, identities and relationships of African children, eroding their agency and dignity and undermining their learning opportunities and potential.
Three case studies of accelerated learning programmes for out‑of‑school and lower-achieving children in Ethiopia, Liberia and Ghana illustrate multi‑dimensional models that re‑envision the purposes and pedagogies of basic education, reconnect with the lived experiences of African children and teachers and promote the role of communities in improving children’s learning.