This article draws data from two complementary studies in sub-Saharan Africa to highlight the problem of religious misrepresentation in (multi-faith) Religious Education (RE) at school in Malawi and Ghana. Employing Michael Apples' conception of selective tradition, the article is critical of the confrontational disputation inherent in the RE in the two countries. The misrepresentation is analysed under themes related to classroom discourse and the nature of religion. It argues that RE could actually be counter-productive and thus end up misrepresenting religions instead of promoting them. Unless there is a radical shift in the areas identified, the subject will continue to present a distorted picture of religion and thus fail in its civic responsibility as a curriculum area that is perhaps best placed to inculcate pro-social values towards citizenship in a world of religious diversity.

This study investigated users’ perceptions of the University of Education, Winneba (UEW) Learning Management Systems (LMS) based on SWOT. The study adopted the explanatory sequential mixed methods which sampled 3272 students and 20 lecturers by using the stratified and purposive sampling techniques, respectively. The study used questionnaires and semi-structured interview guides to collect quantitative and qualitative data. Quantitative data were analyzed using Means and Standard Deviations, Independent Samples t-test, and ANOVA. The qualitative data was analyzed thematically. The study found that UEW LMS is perceived to have elements of weaknesses and threats as well as strengths and opportunities. The study further found that the users of LMS differ in their perceptions in terms of SWOT based on students’ age. The students, however, did not differ significantly in their perceptions of SWOT based on gender. The study recommended that the management of UEW LMS need to educate both lecturers and students about the benefits that LMS offers to its users. Management of the UEW should make the usage of the LMS compulsory for teaching and learning while taking into consideration the age, level as well as the programme of study in the design and implementation of subsequent online platforms for students and lecturers.

With the unfortunate abundance of religious conflicts in the world, it is important that attention is devoted to how students position themselves in relation to religions they do not associate with. On this score, a section of scholarship in social studies education has examined students making meaning of religio-historical and contemporary happenings. Yet, questions relating to students’ representation of “other” religions remain underexplored. From the Ghanaian context where this study is situated, official curriculum mandates teaching about religion, however, little to no evidence exist to support a claim that students’ attitudes change after learning this curriculum. To explore the disconnect, a qualitative study of six Ghanaian elementary schools were conducted for a three-month period. Through interviews, observations focus groups and document analysis, students’ representation of “other religions” were examined. Research outcome revealed that, students mediate their lessons on religion through the lens of their own experiences and metanarratives of their individual faiths. Consequently, they hold two forms of knowledge – authentic official knowledge used for examination purposes and secularized cultural knowledge used in practice. It is concluded that, the vestiges of colonialism and emergent imperialism are deeply implicated in students’ discourses around religion. Therefore, the missing link between content knowledge and attitudinal change may be explained by the failure of pedagogy to acknowledge the impact of contextual happenings on the realization of curriculum objectives. A solution to this conundrum will be for educators to connect academic knowledge to the out-of-school socio-cultural experiences of students

Situated in social capital theory, the purpose of this mixed-methods study was to investigate the relationship between African-born immigrant parents’ educational level, income status, family structures, and academic performance of their children in the United States (U.S.). To that end, 205 African-born immigrant parents from a metropolitan city in the U.S. were surveyed using the modified Longitudinal Immigrant Student Adaptation Questionnaire. The participants’ (N= 205) responses to the questionnaires were analyzed using Chi-square tests and the participants’ (n = 45) interview responses were analyzed using ATLAS.ti qualitative analysis software. Findings from the quantitative data showed relationships between parents’ income, educational level, family structures and academic performance of their children. Interview findings revealed that hard work and resilience to succeed, parental expectations and academic goals, parental support and investment in education, parental involvement, parent-teacher interactions, and parental educational experiences influenced parents to support their children’s education. The authors discuss the implications of these findings for teachers who are tasked to render better educational settings for African immigrant students to succeed in United States schools.

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