Demystifying the Misperceptions and Realities about the Efficacy of Monograde and Multigrade Pedagogies: Africa's Response to Globalisation in Education

Abstract

Following the 'Scramble for Africa' some 250 years ago, the colonial masters transplanted their education system to their newly acquired territories in Africa. This system positioned mono grade teaching as the gold standard of instruction in schools. That strategy was used, partly because the colonial missionaries were familiar with it and partly because educators believed that children's learning progressed through a series of steps that were linked to age. Because learning theories of the time linked learning to age, educators believed that grouping pupils of several grade levels and across the age span and studying different curricula in classes taught by a single teacher was a less effective approach to teaching and learning. This type of grouping is what is generally referred to as 'multigrade teaching' which Berry (2010) defines as 'teaching which occurs within a graded system of education when a single class contains two or more student grade levels' (p. 1) (that are) 'taught by one educator ... during one timetabled period usually in the same classroom' (Pridmore, 2007, p. 16).