Education for Holistic Transformation in Africa

Book excerpt: Research has revealed ineffectiveness among university graduates in Africa. Some possible causes include a lack of transformative teaching and learning methods. Most of the learning methods used in Africa today were installed by colonial educational systems, often reducing the learner to an empty container waiting to be filled with lecture after lecture. As a result, there is a cry throughout Africa for an education that can empower the learner to think critically, to love both God and others, and to bring change in his or her community. This is what education for holistic transformation is all about. This book came about as a result of a doctoral study conducted in Kenya, which featured both Christian higher educational institutions and public universities in a unique comparative analysis that will be helpful to educational leaders on both sides. Readers will learn that transformation is a discovery that takes place through change of perspective. As this research reveals, this new perspective is triggered by a new revelation, a new truth, a provoking thought, a shocking observation, or a new testimony. Thus, the process of holistic transformation takes place through divine revelation, self-reflection, written material, and "the other."