Voices of divergence: resistance, contestation and the shaping of Namibia’s teacher education, 1990- 2010

Abstract

This paper reports on an aspect of a broader study that investigated teacher educators’ uptake of learner-centred pedagogy in post-apartheid Namibia. The paper shares part of the study that illuminated the path traversed by Namibian teacher education policy from 1990 to 2010, two decades into the country’s post-apartheid self-rule. It argues that, far from being smooth sailing, teacher education reform in post-apartheid Namibia has been characterised by severe turbulence with divergent forces wrestling over the philosophical and epistemological orientations of the new teacher education. The paper concludes that these forces, voices of divergence, criticisms, resistance or contestations were a significant feature that helped define and shape post-1990 teacher education for basic education to its present-day state.