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Schools as change agents? Education and individual political agency in Uganda

Datzberger, S; Le Mat, MLJ; (2019) Schools as change agents? Education and individual political agency in Uganda. International Journal of Educational Development , 67 pp. 18-28. 10.1016/j.ijedudev.2019.02.007. Green open access

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Abstract

By drawing on the case study of Uganda, we challenge common assumptions about education, gender, regional differences and political agency. Comparing findings from four different regions, we scrutinize whether and how educational institutions empower Ugandan youth to participate in society as active, informed, critical and responsible citizens. Theoretically, we focus on four different aspects of individual political agency that education can foster, namely: understanding of political structures; independent critical thinking; levels of political interest; and political participation. Throughout our analysis, we make use of a survey (N = 497), conducted in 2017 with respondents from secondary schools and universities; and data obtained from 37 qualitative interviews across four regions in Uganda. The aim behind the survey was to move beyond a priori models on how education affects the political agency of individuals. Instead, we offer insights on how Ugandans themselves perceive the politically empowering elements of the education they receive, connecting this to the wider cultural political economy context of Uganda. We find that Ugandan schools make only a very modest contribution towards nurturing an individual’s political agency. While the majority of respondents felt they critically reflected on societal issues in school, their knowledge of national political institutions, and on how they would claim and advocate their rights as citizens was remarkably low.

Type: Article
Title: Schools as change agents? Education and individual political agency in Uganda
Open access status: An open access version is available from UCL Discovery
DOI: 10.1016/j.ijedudev.2019.02.007
Publisher version: http://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijedudev.2019.02.007
Language: English
Additional information: This version is the author accepted manuscript. For information on re-use, please refer to the publisher’s terms and conditions.
Keywords: Political agency, Education, Gender, Regional Differences, Uganda
UCL classification: UCL
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Education
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Education > UCL Institute of Education
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Education > UCL Institute of Education > IOE - Education, Practice and Society
URI: https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10070782
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