The study explores teachers' views on the impact of the English Language Proficiency Programme in Namibian schools that was implemented over a period of five years, from 2011 to 2015. The program aimed at improving teachers' proficiency in English. The summative evaluation was conducted in 2016 in the following five (5) regions: Erongo, Hardap, Khomas, Ohangwena and Omusati, selected on the basis of the level of participation and accessibility. The evaluation focused on the following aspects of the project: program development, program implementation and administration as well as assessment of learning outcomes. The study followed a qualitative approach using document analysis to inform the development of evaluation instruments and a phenomenological design to assess teachers' lived experiences during program implementation. Data was collected through focus group discussions among teachers. The study established that teachers did not appreciate the program as it was ill-planned, irrelevant to their needs and disturbed their daily routines. Nevertheless, a few teachers embraced the program and reported positive benefits in terms of teachers' career development goals. The study recommends the revision of the program in terms of content and implementation procedures. In addition, teachers' support systems, learning materials and the mode of delivery need improvement to effectively enhance teaching and learning in Namibian schools.

No abstract

The purpose of this study was to explore the indigenous knowledge of medicinal plants for treating common illnesses among the Ovahimba of Oukongo village in the Kunene region of Namibia. The coevolutionary theory of sustainable development informed this study as it promotes the anti-hegemonic ecology of knowledge and synchronises traditional knowledge with the modern world. The interview data were analysed using the inductive approach and content analysis. The results show that the Ovahimba community of Oukongo village use plant-based remedies such as roots, leaves, bark, fruits and flowers for the treatment of ailments such as headaches and diarrhoea, high blood pressure, chest pain and syphilis. The remedy preparation follows the process of harvesting parts of a plant, cleaning and breaking it into small pieces or crushing it into powder and then mixing with water or some form of liquid. The process also includes chewing roots, leaves and burning flowers into ashes. The study recommends further research to document indigenous health care practices of the Ovahimba. It also recommends the adoption of the co-evolutionary theory of sustainable development as the basis for the synchronisation of indigenous knowledge with modern health care and thus promote future generations’ access to the rich heritage of ancestral knowledge on health care.

The purpose of this study was to explore the methods that Namibia’s indigenous communities of Kunene and Otjozondjupa regions use to communicate and share health related information, issues and solutions. The socio-cultural theory informed this study as its main idea states that although solitude provide opportunity for learning, the social occasions of conversation, discussion, question and answer, demonstration and joint work play a critical role in teaching and learning. The collected interview data were analysed using a grounded theory approach and content analysis. The results show the Namibia’s indigenous communities of Kunene and Otjozondjupa regions came to know through flexible and simple methods of Show and Tell, Demonstration, Observation, Imitation, Experience and Practice, Trial and Error or Experimentation, and Questioning. The study recommends more research on the documentation of Namibian indigenous health knowledge to afford future generation access to the rich knowledge their ancestors originally had a claim on. The study further recommends for these methods to be considered by stakeholders in education sector so that they can be integrated in educational policies and programmes and applied at the classroom level.

Although schools report a variety of reasons why learners leave school prematurely, these reasons do not reveal the underlying causes, especially multiple factors that influence learners’ attitudes, behaviours, and performance prior to dropping out. In order to understand the underlying causes behind learners’ decisions for dropping out, using a quantitative approach through document analysis this study first analysed the Education Management Information System (EMIS) reports for 2005 to 2009. The findings revealed that Kavango, Kunene and Omaheke regions were the regions with the highest dropout rates in the country. Using a qualitative approach, with a phenomenological design, the researchers interviewed school principals, school counsellors and teachers at randomly selected 20% of schools with the highest dropout rate for each region. This resulted into 58 schools in the Kavango region, 10 schools in the Kunene region and 5 schools in the Omaheke region. At the same schools, and using the snowball sampling procedure, the researchers selected and interviewed learners who have dropped out at some point during their schooling days but came back to school. The study found that, for all the learners interviewed, 50% of learners dropped out due to pregnancy, 20% dropped out due to economic factors, 15% due to system factors, 11% due to lack of parental involvement, and 4% due to cultural factors. On the basis of the findings a number of recommendations are made to mitigate the dropout phenomenon.