International and Africa-Based educators got to talk
On Saturday 11th June 2022, took place the 4th annual Africa Learning International (ALI) conference hosted by The Association of International Educators and Leaders of Colour (AIELOC). The theme of this year was: ‘Africa in the Curriculum: Africanize, Indigenize, Decolonize’.
In this free access online event aimed at providing professional development to African and international educators, the sharing of passion and perspectives created a vibrant atmosphere. It is a beautiful thing to see African and international teachers engaging and learning together.
As per the title of the conference, there were multiple opportunities to think about decolonising, africanising and indigenising education. Dr. Sosthene Meboma and Dr.Thomas Julio Ekoto explained how in africanising the curriculum, amending approaches to teaching matter more than bringing new topics in. Then curriculum experts Natasha Haque and Clare McMinn Mitchell gave the participants practical examples on how to handle this challenge. The role of story-telling in countering harmful dominant narratives came up in the presentations of Kwame Sarfo Mensah , Christopher Clyde Green and Estelle Bougna Fomeju. From perspectives on precolonial Africa offered by Dr. Philemon Moubeke to discussions on historical terminology initiated by Nigerian author Tamkara Adun, the conference allowed African educators to change the perspectives of international colleagues and vice versa.
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Understandably, the theme of inclusion was a centerpiece of the conference this year. Boniface Massah, human rights activist from Malawi presented on how to support children with albinism at school. Nnane Ntube, a Cameroonian teacher working in remote areas explained how she has used the arts and particularly theater and literature to create spaces of tolerance and differentiation in her classroom and beyond. Rama Ndiaye,Proserpina Dhlamini Fisher , Fidelis Nthenge and Ariane Baer-Harper all shared inspiring presentations around the theme of leadership and inclusion, certainly one of the highlights of the conference this year.
Last but not least, ALI conferences are in French and English in the perspective of nurturing multilingualism. Sessions in both languages were equally attended. As the conference will soon be shared on Youtube, the ALI and AIELOC teams are hoping to extend the impact of the conference to the educators who were not able to attend live. As the founder of ALI, I am deeply grateful for the collaboration of AIELOC this year and the quality of the expertise shared during the conference. A big thank you goes to all our sponsors: voluntary-paying participants, Innustame , MiniPD, ISC Research , iDEIJ Continuum , Educational aspirations , Identity Talk , Tissi Consulting and EPT Sierra Leone .