Teachers’ and custodians’ views and dilemmas arising thereof regarding the integration of indigenous knowledge in the primary school

Abstract

Indigenous Knowledge is largely neglected in the primary school curriculum, yet it espouses the history, art, nature, and traditions of the community from which students come. This study explores the views of six custodians and six teachers on the integration of Indigenous Knowledge in the primary school curriculum in Zimbabwe. Indigenous standpoint theory and participatory research methodology framed the study. Data were generated through focus group discussions with Indigenous Knowledge custodians through individual interviews with teachers. The custodians’ views confirmed that Indigenous Knowledge was significant to their identities, but they were concerned with the loss of their culture due to modernization. Most teachers acknowledged the wisdom of Indigenous Knowledge custodians, welcomed their contributions, but some teachers were sceptical about custodians teaching formally in the classrooms. Several dilemmas arose from the views of participants, which have implication for the integration of Indigenous Knowledge in primary schools.

Keywords

indigenous knowledge primary school custodians curriculum decolonization

Introduction

Indigenous Knowledge (IK) is local and cultural knowledge unique to a given culture or society. Indigenous Knowledge Systems (IKS) are fundamental for the survival of indigenous and rural communities because of the multidisciplinary, holistic, and systems approach that has evolved, on which community practices in agriculture, health care, food production and preparation, education, conservation management, and so on have evolved. However, through colonization, urbanization, and globalization, such knowledge is disappearing. Nevertheless it could still greatly enrich society in general, and education in particular, if properly accessed, resourced, and managed. While research is increasing across the world including Africa on how to redress the negative effects of apartheid, colonialism, and subjugation of IK, the institutionalizing and integration of IK into education has been rather sluggish and problematic (Hatcher, 2012; Msila, 2007; Van Damme & Neluvhalani, 2004). Pioneering studies reveal that there is an enormous storehouse of diverse IK embedded in IKS, but it need to be transformed for urban contexts and educational classroom practices; such transformation must necessarily involve IK custodians (Foley, 2006; Govender et al., 2013).

An important aspect of IK education is the active and equitable engagement of IK custodians in the formal education sector, but progress in education structures and policies has been stifled by views and dilemmas of the community needing to first be identified. Jacob et al. (2015) add that crucial to this process “is the involvement and empowerment of indigenous peoples in every facet of the policy planning and implementation processes” (p. 39). Of critical significance, IK also constitutes a significant part of the students’ cultural capital, but little of this is recognized as having educational value in schools (Phiri, 2008; Shizha, 2010; Teaero, 2002). IKS also has enormous potential to contribute to students’ moral upbringing, their environmental education, and create an awareness of climate changes, among other aspects. Education is a powerful agent for change, and community participation in the school curriculum could enable teachers and students to re-value indigenous cultural practices that were once denigrated by western-Eurocentric powers. This perspective resonates well with the views of Serote (1998), who argues that science and technology are not the exclusive property of modernized societies, which supports the idea that indigenous people are also creative, are inventors of technology and so contribute to aspects of science, for example, in their knowledge of medicinal plants. Notwithstanding these achievements, the knowledge, worldviews, and perceptions of Africans and other indigenous communities have often been vilified as irrational and obsolete by colonial powers (Shizha, 2006). Emeagwali (2003) also argues that IK, including indigenous teaching aids and strategies, has been part of the knowledge that was swept aside and denigrated by the colonialists, being considered unempirical and superstitious. Quigley (2009) argues that, in both development and scientific circles, IK continues to be assigned a lower status than western-based science and technology. In Zimbabwe, V. Mpofu (2016) emphasizes that classroom science still remains western-oriented and disconnected from the lives of indigenous Zimbabweans, even 35 years after colonial independence. As a result, IK is still largely neglected in the primary school curriculum, even though it espouses the history, art, nature, and traditions of the community from which the students come (Mapara, 2009; Teaero, 2002; Thomson & Hall, 2008). Insights and contributions from both custodians of IK knowledge and teachers are important for successful implementation of IK in schools. Given the neglect of these stakeholders’ views in the primary school science curriculum, the following research questions are pertinent in this study:

What are custodians’ and teachers’ views of IK that can be integrated in the primary school science curriculum?

What dilemmas emerge from custodians’ and teachers’ views of teaching IK in science classrooms?

How can these dilemmas be overcome?

Indigenous standpoint theory

The theoretical framework underpinning this study emanates from Indigenous Standpoint Theory (IST). IST is modelled in terms of three broad epistemological stances; namely, the physical world (resistance), the sacred world (indigenist voice), and human world (political integrity) (Foley, 2003, p. 49). IST directs researchers to unravel the lived experiences, ideas, traditions, dreams, aspirations (views of indigenist voices) and struggles (dilemmas and political integrity) of the custodians of IK. IST also explores how power through politics and institutionalized colonial education stifles IK development and obstructs IK polices and their implementation. If primary school teachers’ and custodians’ IK are recorded and their views and dilemmas researched and published by academics, it would expose the complexity of ways of knowing, the implicit knowledge relations and forms of knowledge to be preserved. Through IST, debate on policy development in IKS for transformative actions can be furthered. As indigenous epistemology is a form of knowledge that has been suppressed by colonialists, the curriculum can address how IKS can emerge from the notion of “subjugated knowledge” (Foucault’s concept), as encountered in African and developing countries. In this regard, IST is useful when engaging in the constant and dynamic battle to legitimize IK and methodologies as valued components of academic research, through critical community engagement (Moreton-Robinson, 2013). As IST draws from indigenous feminist standpoint theory in countering racial oppression and addressing women’s underrepresentation in society, indigenous women who are capacitated with sacred skills of keeping and teaching IK can be privileged in the curriculum. Foley (2003) adds that IST is strengthened by the indigenous researchers who undertake the study, not only in fulfilling academia’s mission, but also in involving local community participation in education and self-enhancement. In this study, a PhD student, who was a practitioner with an indigenous background and was from the Zimbabwean Mtasa indigenous community carried out the research, largely for the benefit and involvement of the community. As part of IST, and in keeping with oral tradition and indigenous practices, in the study focus group discussions with custodians are carried out in the traditional Shona dialect, Chimanyika, as the first format for recording. In this format, indigenous researchers provided an “indigenous dialogical space” for the custodians to participate and speak (take a stand) from their own cultural standpoint without subjugation through hegemonic colonial systems affecting their knowledge systems and lives. The dialogical space provided an authentic opportunity to assist participants in both the cultural preservation of local IK and in presenting their own views and dilemmas. Furthermore, and as the researcher was an “insider,” trust within the community was created. In this regard, Foley (2006) adds that IST “enables Indigenous researchers to speak from their own cultural standpoint, assist in cultural maintenance and present their own epistemological ‘truth’ in an attempt to produce a more inclusive and therefore more complex form of knowledge” (p. 25).

Literature on IKS curriculum

Over a decade ago, Shizha (2008) expressed a deep concern that despite the end of colonialism, Zimbabwean school teachers still found themselves “trapped in the colonial pedagogic practices that undervalue the importance of rural school children’s experiential knowledge in science” (p. 80). With the decolonization agenda being an urgent priority in Africa, scholars in IK have renewed their focus on the school curriculum in Africa, in relation to the epistemological nature of IK (Mavhunga, 2017) and pedagogical issues of teaching of IK (Govender, 2012; Hewson & Ogunniyi, 2011). In particular, there has been a focus on governmental and academic research on IK and related policy developments (Hoppers, 2001; Shizha & Abdi, 2013), curriculum issues the training of preservice and in-service teachers for integration of IKS (Govender, 2009; Le Grange, 2008; Naidoo & Vithal, 2014; Ogunniyi & Hewson, 2008), the Africanizing and integration of IK in the school curriculum (Hewson & Ogunniyi, 2011; Nhalevilo, 2013; Zengeya-Makuku et al., 2013), and the holding of IKS conferences (Seehawer, 2018). These scholars argue that teaching and learning in schools must be inclusive, by tapping into the IK present in their communities and so integrating it into the school curriculum. However, Owuor (2008) adds that

unless disciplines taught and methodologies adopted reflect genuine commitment to the integration of indigenous knowledge, acceptance of multiple perspectives of knowledge in the curriculum, and encouragement of local community inputs, school knowledge will continue to be abstract, and irrelevant to African students’ needs. (p. 34)

Emeagwali and Dei (2014) support a transformed curriculum together with the support of custodians’ knowledge, as teaching will involve a strong organizational structure that would form an ‘integrated teaching-learning space’; that is, connecting what learners learn from home and their community with the school curriculum. In this regard, a study (Cameron et al., 2016) involving community involvement reports that teachers saw value in school-community dialogue, wherein custodians could contribute ideas on how they could contribute to IK integration, and more creativity about contextual teaching methods using local resources. Indigenous scholars also suggests that integrating IK using local languages into the current colonialized school curriculum would enhance curriculum relevance and bring about an improved understanding of concepts (Mufanechiya & Mufanechiya, 2011). However, Shizha (2008) noted a concern that, first, the primary school curriculum in Zimbabwe is still largely western-based and, second, that teacher attitudes and colonized identities can act as a barrier to integrating indigenous languages and IK into the curriculum. Elaborating on identities, in a PhD study conducted by Gilgen (2016) in New Zealand about primary school teachers’ personal and professional identities as Māori, the teachers’ narratives that emerged revealed that their being raised within urban cities and educated in schools that excluded their culture, had impacted and shaped their Māori identities. Furthermore, they added that their teaching experiences within their English-medium primary classrooms were “culturally isolating and destructive, and largely unsupportive of the diverse realities that exists for some Māori teachers” (Gilgen, 2016, p. i). It is likely that many of the experiences of indigenous teachers in the colonized world would parallel those of the Māori teachers. In a recent South African study, five primary school teachers and one German researcher were involved in practical activity to decolonize and integrate IKS in the curriculum in a participatory action research (PAR) (Seehawer, 2018). The researcher surmised that while the South African curriculum explicitly invites knowledge integration, it hardly contains any IK. There are no generally available teaching materials and some of the teachers were not IK literate. Seehawer confirmed, nevertheless, that integration was possible in these contexts and cited examples where the students’ communities had been used, without difficulty, as resources in identifying suitable topics.

While several Zimbabweans scholars have indicated the need to integrate IKS in the school curriculum, they do not explicitly suggest how this could be implemented at primary school level (Shizha, 2013; Zengeya-Makuku et al., 2013). In this regard, the inclusion of IK pedagogy offers several methods of imparting content knowledge, for example, valuing observation skills, story-telling, poetry, improvisation, indigenous games and use of specialist resource persons who can also manufacture artefacts with knowledge of technology and art using indigenous concepts (Mavhunga, 2017).

The literature review indicates the little research worldwide, particularly not in Zimbabwe, on how to contextualize the primary school curriculum and establish relevance between school knowledge, indigenous custodians’ experiences and students’ worldviews (Thondhlana & Makawa, 2018). However, there may be views and dilemmas that, unless understood, could thwart sincere attempts to integrate IK. Hence, the value of this study.

Methods

The study was located in the Mtasa district of Manicaland Province of Zimbabwe. The study site is in a largely undisturbed rural forest environment locality, among the Manyika people, about 46 km north-east of the city of Mutare. The villagers mostly engage in small-scale agriculture for domestic consumption. The study adopted a participatory research methodology (PRM) in engaging with participants in their local environment. This was accomplished by transferring the power and knowledge centre from academic institutions to the marginalized communities in supporting transformation and restorative justice (Chilisa, 2011; Gaudet, 2014). PRM created trust and ownership and sought an equitable power equilibrium between the researchers, teachers, and custodians (Gaudet, 2014). In this case, the school curriculum did not espouse the IK of the community and neither had the custodians and teachers been actively involved in co-creating the primary school curriculum. The field researcher, a PhD student, had to fulfil obligations of both western university requirements and ethics involved in working with indigenous communities. At the start of the research permission was sought from the university and the Zimbabwe Department of Education. In addition, for the community aspect, permission was sought first from the village head.

Data were generated with six purposefully sampled community custodians in Mtasa, who had been identified with the support of the village head, who then made it possible to access the custodians. As the village head could not read and write, oral communication was used. The ethical requirements were explained in Shona and oral permission for the research was requested. The researcher then met the custodians and informed them of the aims of the study. These custodians had IK experiences and, after each had been informed of the purpose of the research, volunteered to participate in the focus group discussions. They were orally informed of the particular day and venue for the group discussion. A semi-structured interview protocol guided the researcher in asking questions to generate open-ended discussion related to the study. For example, the IK custodians were asked how effective herbs were in treating various ailments in their livestock, which then stimulated a discussion of the different types of herbs to treat wounds and eye problems and so on. During the discussions, the IK custodians spoke in their dialect, Chimanyika.

Further, data were generated with six teachers who had also been purposively sampled. A purposive sample is one that is selected based on characteristics of the population (those who hold some knowledge of IK) and the goals of the study (the views of the sample on IK integration in curriculum). The individual interviews with the teachers took place at the school site. The teachers spoke in English as they were not confident speaking Shona. The interview protocol for teachers was a semi-structured questionnaire focusing on their views, based on the research questions. The views of teachers were sought on the IK topics that could be included in the primary school curriculum and whether IK custodians from their community could be actively involved in sharing their IK with students and teachers. A contentious question raised with teachers was whether and how the custodians could participate in the formal classroom instructional processes so that they could directly impart their heritage to the younger generation.

Data analysis

All the audio data were recorded with the permission of the custodians and teachers and were transcribed. Analysis was accomplished by listening to and reading the transcriptions of the data several times. The analysis of data involved translating the discussion conducted with the custodians from Shona to English, which was done by the indigenous researcher (the PhD student). To identify, significant views of custodian and teachers, content analysis was carried out on both sets of data, which entailed searching for significant themes by first using initial descriptive statements. These statements were then matched for validity against the data. For example, for the theme in Table 1, IK if integrated in school will synchronize with community’s culture was matched against evidence present in the data, specifically, the modern methods taught to youths are not as effective and consistent with our rural livelihoods. The categories of themes were then finalized for each research question as the results of the study and are presented in Tables 1 to 5. The results were validated by reviewing this process. Only pertinent examples of the interview data that address the relevant research questions are presented in this paper due to space limitations.

Table 1.

Custodians’ views of IK integration in curriculum.

IK is not integrated in schools because of the view by youth that it’s outdated.

IK if integrated then students will learn from nature and survive.

IK if integrated in school, it will synchronize with community’s culture.

IK if integrated will provide experiences for students to learn conservation practices.

IK: Indigenous Knowledge.

Table 2.

Teachers’ views of IK integration in curriculum.

IK can be integrated but a little due to education department regulations.

IK can be integrated by custodians as teachers lack some IK knowledge.

IK can be integrated but concern that teachers are westernized.

IK should not be integrated as it’s not science but cultural.

IK: Indigenous Knowledge.

Table 3.

Custodians’ list of topics on IK to be integrated in the curriculum.

Culture	Religion	Conservation	Political
Cultural heritage. Religious medicinal practices. Rainmaking as a cultural practice.	Religious practices	Forests conservation. Conservation of sacred places. Traditional medicine. Animals and livestock care.	Subjugation of IK.

IK: Indigenous knowledge.

Table 4.

Teachers’ list of content areas of IK to be integrated in the curriculum.

Culture	Religion	Conservation	Education
Traditional medicine. Ethics, respect, and sharing. African Dances and Crafts.	Religious practices	Medicinal plants Agriculture (composting). Local conservation.	Indigenous games and mathematics. Teaching of protection of plants and animals. Weather patterns.

Table 5.

Dilemmas of custodians and teachers.

Custodians	Teachers
They are concerned with loss of their traditional medicine and culture as it is not integrated in schools.	Economy of state stifles custodian’s employment.
They are concerned that their IK is demonized because of Christian influence.	Ethical practices are being eroded, hence custodians must be involved in some teaching.
They hold a dilemma about youth rejecting IK as outdated.	They are stifled by department policy and regulations for IK integration.
-	There is limited knowledge of assessment in IK.
-	IK is not science and should be excluded in school.

IK: Indigenous Knowledge.

The data for research questions 1 and 2 are presented, followed by the results for research questions 1 and 2 and then the results for each research question are discussed in depth together with findings from the literature.

Data for research question 1

For research question 1: What are custodians and teachers’ and views of IK that can be integrated in the primary school science curriculum? When addressing the custodians, the title of Mbuya [grandmother] and Sekuru [grandfather] or uncle indicate position of and respect for custodians in the community.

Data from custodians

Researcher to the entire group: Why do you think IK is important to be included in schools? Mbuya Kag replied, Chivanhu chedu chine zvizhinji zvisinga zivikanwi nevana vamazuva ano. Chikonzero ndechekuti izvi havazvidzidzi muzvikoro mavari kuswera vari. Ukada kuti uvadzidzise voti chinyakare. [Our culture has a lot which the young generation does not know about. This is because this is not taught in the schools where they spend most of their time. If one tries to engage them in these cultural practices, they say they are out-dated.].

Sekuru Dzi added that Kana zviri zvemakwenzi havatozivi, havadikuzvinwa! Asi woona munhu achitambura neurwere zvichinzi tashaya mishonga muzipatara iyo mishonga yakazara mumasango umu! [They do not want to hear about traditional medicine but you find someone suffering from an illness saying there is no medication in hospitals and clinics yet medicines are plentiful in the forests here!]

Sekuru Kati added: Masango aya anotichengeta kwazo. Tinowana miriwo, michero ne mishonga pasina mari inodikanwa. Chinodikanwa ruzivo. Isu taigara nevakuru vaitidzidzisa kuti chikwenzi ichi chinorapa izvi; tora mashizha kana makwande acho woita izvi. Pasina nguva chipfuyo kana munhu atonaya pakare (with indignation). [We derive our livelihood from these forests. We get relish, fruits and medicines without any need for money. What is needed is knowledge. We got this knowledge from our custodians who showed us and taught us how to use the shrubs and trees, using the leaves, roots and bark. Within no time, your livestock or a person would be fine.]

Sekuru Dumisane was equally passionate about being “a teacher” to impart natural resources conservation ideas to the youths. He added, Zvekuchengetedzwa kwemasango nemichero nezvimwe zvierwa hazvichanyanyo kosheswa. Hongu vangapihwe zvavo ruzivo rwamazuva ano asi tinongoona zvichingoparara nokuti hazvina kuringana nemararamiro edu. [Conservation of natural resources through taboos was strongly enforced by our custodians. The modern methods taught to youths are not as effective and consistent with our rural livelihoods].

Researcher: Can you talk about the value of indigenous conservation? Like how plants are preserved. Mbuya Kagurira retorted: Moyo wangu unorwadziwa zvikuru panotsva masango! Hapana muti musango umu usinga rapi, vanhu nezvipfuyo. Masango aya anoda kuchengetedzwa zvikuru. Vana ngavadzidziswe nzira kwadzo dzekuchengetedza masango (A sad expression on her face). [My heart bleeds when I see veld fires. There is no tree or plant in the forest that has no value. Each of them can cure some ailment both in humans and livestock. We really need to protect and preserve the forests. Children should be taught effective ways of preserving the environment].

Researcher: Are places dedicated to certain natural resources preservation? Mbuya Zvinoita said: miko ikateedzerwa sezvataiita, masango nezvierwa zvino chengetedzeka. [Taboos used to be very effective when we grew up. Maybe if these taboos could be reinforced, our forests and natural resources and sacred places could be preserved].

Data from teachers

The data were then obtained from in-depth individual interviews conducted with six teachers.

Researcher:

Will you be able to include IK in the current primary school syllabus?

Aron:

Yes, we can but for a short time only. Because of the prescriptive nature of the syllabi, we pay more attention to the modern ways of knowing and doing things, and this is the knowledge on which learners will be tested and not on the IK custodians’ experiences. Our salary depends on the department of education directives.

Researcher:

What about learners getting direct IK knowledge from the custodians and real life experiences in school?

Carol:

Resource persons such as custodians of IK are good for the school and community. The problem is sometimes we teachers pretend we know everything when we do not have data on some topics. There is nothing wrong with inviting resource persons from the community, some of them have a lot of knowledge which I as the teacher may not possess. I will also learn about respect, sharing, crafts, dances and agriculture.

Researcher:

Can teachers teach the IK?

Duma:

Yes, few can but most are westernised and might not like to include IK in class then it means that only some teachers who are specialized in IK can teach it but it will solve the problem of finance for custodians’ salary.

Researcher:

What about IK and our indigenous cultural practices to be integrated in schools?

Frara:

IK is not science and it’s only cultural . . . only for home and social activities. There are too many superstitious beliefs and unnecessary rituals like rain-making.

Data for research question 2

Research question 2 is: What dilemmas emerge from custodians’ and teachers’ views of teaching IK in the science classrooms?

Dilemmas identified by custodians

Researcher:

What concerns you about Indigenous Knowledge if to be included in schools? Mbuya Kag replied: Kana zviri zvekurapa zvirwere izvi, vanaoti kwava nemishonga muzipatara. Naiwo machechi ndiwo mamwe aparadza chivanhu chedu achiti vanhu vasashandise zvechivanhu! [Concerning medicinal practices, they say modern medicines are available in the hospitals and clinics. This is also because some churches discourage people from using traditional medicines!].

Sekuru Dzi added that:

Tsika dzechivanhu mazuva ano dzavakutarisirwa pasi. Vana hava-china tsika, voti toita zvamazuva ano. Kana ndizvo zvavari kudzizdiswa muzvikoromo nemachechi anoti chivanhu chakan’gora mheno! Toziva zvipi? [Our culture these days is looked down upon. These youths have lost direction, they have lost their culture because of modernisation. Maybe it is what they are taught in schools and churches that our cultural practices are demonic! What can one say? (Sighs)].

Mbuya Zvinoita said:

Zvino vana havachazvikoshesi nezvavave kudzidziswa muzvikoro mazuva ano. [The challenge is that taboos and sacred places are no longer valued as children are being taught other things in schools].

Dilemmas presented by teachers

Researcher:

But will you as Indigenous Knowledge custodians teach students if allowed to?

Aron:

Indigenous Knowledge custodians could only be invited on exceptional grounds of their “expertise”. Definitely, yes, but for a few lessons as it involves my culture and practices and so it will boost our confidence as Africans in Zimbabwe where now it is taught in the class.

Researcher:

For example, when?

Aron:

They can explain about medicinal plants and maybe weather patterns and some things like composting in farming.

Researcher:

Would you include IK and IK custodians in class to teach IK aspects?

Duma:

Yes, but economics is an important factor. It’s not fair to ask someone to come and do your job, you are paid at the end of the month. But can they leave their jobs for nothing?

Researcher:

What if there are no obstacles for custodians to come into schools?

Duma:

In my case, I really do not know much about which indigenous practices the community values as we largely western. So I would not mind if the custodians come to teach their children on their important cultural practices. At the end of the day I will also be learning. There are a lot of indigenous practices that can be included, agricultural practices, traditional medicine, games like nhodo [games of pebbles] in mathematics. You know many learners fear maths saying it’s a difficult subject. Indigenous games can help pupils to master concepts, and this can dispel the myth that maths is hard.

Researcher:

Will you invite IK custodians to teach IK in class? Emam: Ahh, there is nothing wrong in inviting resource persons from the community to come to the school. Some of them have a lot of knowledge like protecting plants and animals in the wild which I as a teacher may not possess. It is good to invite them.

Researcher:

Will you support the inclusion of IK custodians in class and what can they contribute?

Frara:

No, they should not be invited as they are not trained teachers and what about how we will include them in class teaching. No. . .it’s too difficult. We can find information from them and teach our children ourselves.

Results

The results are presented as themes and IK content area for RQ 1 in Tables 1 to 4.

Table 3 highlights the different IK content areas that custodians can contribute in primary school such as cultural heritage, religious practices and Table 4 for teachers.

Results for research question 2

For RQ 2, the summary in Table 5 shows the results from data analysis regarding the dilemmas of custodians’ and teachers’ concerning their views of IK in teaching in science classrooms.

Discussion

For RQ 1: The views of the custodians and teachers on integrating IK in schools are synthesized in Tables 1 and 2 and the IK content areas selected are given in Tables 3 and 4.

The themes that emerged from the custodians are discussed as follows:

i). IK is not integrated in schools because of the view by youth that it’s outdated

The custodians were of the view that there was little link between home and school as the school did not foster the community’s activities such as games and so on. Their concern echoes that expressed by Mawere (2012) in his book on indigenous games in Zimbabwe, where he noted that colonialization and globalization through TV, cell phones, social media and western sports and so on. have replaced and marginalized indigenous games, even to the point of extinction. Other researchers (Phiri, 2008; Shizha, 2010) have also expressed a loss of “cultural capital” when students are exposed to only westernized education at schools. Nyota and Mapara (2008) maintain that traditional children’s games and songs have value in stimulating children’s curiosity, as well as “The virtues and values learnt are varied and practical. Some of them are good behaviour, hard work, competition, handling success and failure and leadership” (p. 189), skills that become valuable in their life. Encouragingly, there has been an introduction of IK games and sports in some countries that has shown promise in youth cultural development and re-valuing their IKS (Bogopa, 2012).

ii). If IK is integrated then students will learn from nature and survive

Students learn about food in their homes and community where people use local indigenous ways of cultivation for indigenous crops. They also learn about food from school but such knowledge is not often integrated with knowledge of indigenous cooking and crops. The custodians are of the view that if indigenous foods are introduced in schools, the student will become more food literate and hence stand a better chance of survival, given recent global climatic changes, droughts and so on. In this regard, Gartaula et al. (2020) add that “students have potential to enhance food literacy in the schools, provided the schools create supportive space for experiential learning that weaves community-based Indigenous knowledges of local foods” (p. 77).

iii). IK if integrated in school will synchronize with community’s culture

Custodians, expressed the importance of continuity of their culture through schools. In the book edited by Hall et al. (2000), several authors also lament the loss of cultural identities and indigenous ways of knowing. For example, McIsaac argues that the knowledge and interpretations of the community custodians cannot be in an academic framework that does not also include their indigenous experiences. Furthermore, Idemudia argues that among those still practising their art, IK of Africans contributes to the formation of their identities. Also in Webb’s (2016) South African study, teachers and custodians identified the value of cultural identity for “restoring dignity and for protecting a heritage which has been demeaned in the past” (p. 184).

iv). IK if integrated will provide experiences for students to learn conservation practices

The custodians report that the youth are losing IK culture because they view it as outdated as many prefer to trust and use modern medicines and evidence-based science and technology. They claim that knowledge of conservation of natural resources using traditional practices and experiences is much more effective than modern practices of conservation. They also added that taboos were a valuable way of conservation. For example, taboos protect some edible animals and plants because it is “taboo for one to eat his or her totem animal; one risked losing teeth or some catastrophe would befall him or her for violating this taboo” (Duri & Mapara, 2007, p. 106). Mapira and Mazambara (2013) explain that totemism facilitated selective rather than indiscriminate hunting, thereby preserving endangered species and promoting environmental sustainability. Mapira and Mazambara (2013), from an IKS survey among 200 Zimbabwean citizens, argue that although it is not possible for the country to revert to the pre-colonial past, policy makers can draw some lessons from and incorporate IKS in their quest for sustainable development. In addition, Mashokod (2014) concurred that, in Zimbabwe, local knowledge of indigenous plants found by the community could be harnessed for teaching in schools.

The themes emerged from the teachers are discussed as follows:

i). IK can be integrated but a little due to education department regulations

Teachers indicated the curriculum is restrictive as it is westernized and highly content based. They have to follow the outcomes and assessment of the westernized curriculum as they are monitored and regularized. Mothwa (2011) adds that teachers in the new South African curriculum too were given very little guidance on how IKS should be taught even though the curriculum aims supported IKS. However, the largely western-based content of the curriculum was well described.

ii). IK can be integrated by custodians as teachers lack some IK knowledge

A significant aspect of IKS is language of the indigenous people as it embeds and transmits culture, values, history as part of communication. Custodians are traditionally the language holders, especially in the oral tradition. In its 2013 constitution, Zimbabwe officially recognizes 16 languages, including previously marginalized languages, but existing studies confirm the dominance of Shona and Ndebele in the public domain and the subtle subservience of previously marginalized languages (P. Mpofu & Salawu, 2019). Roy-Campbell (2019) adds that local languages are the “repositories of the indigenous knowledge base of societies. Marginalization of certain languages is a form of devaluing not only the languages but the knowledge and culture embodied in those languages” (p. 27). Accordingly, schools and teachers need to ensure that learners are given equal opportunities to become proficient in their mother-tongue language, and in this regard custodians can be a tremendous source for indigenous language development, especially in developing and sustaining orality aspects of some possibly marginalized languages. It was observed in this regard, the teachers were unconfident in Shona, and the custodians and the village head used a local Shona dialect.

iii). IK can be integrated but concern that teachers are Westernized

The data from interviews with teachers revealed that most of them conceded that they were not well versed in the indigenous practices that are valued by the surrounding community, as their previous education had been largely westernized (Zimbabwe was a British colony until 1980). They are aware of IKS and confirm that these can be appropriately included in the school curriculum if barriers were identified and removed. Inclusion of IK sports and games would result in teachers also going back to their own cultural roots and these games could be integrated with some modern games like cricket.

iv). IK should not be integrated as it’s not science but cultural

Teachers also raised epistemological issues in the idea: “IK is not a science.” Many researchers have raised this issue from philosophical, methodological and practical perspectives (Ogunniyi & Hewson, 2008). Webb (2016, p. 187) has developed a useful heuristic model for teachers to map IK against science, technology and “other” knowledge and in such a space it can be determined how to negotiate with each knowledge item. For example, in science, lightning can be explained from electrostatics concepts (tested science) but lightning used for witchcraft is categorized as faith and mysticism and so cannot be explained in the same space. The question arising from this mapping is “does this process then undermine IK practices?” or will it lead to an improved understanding of the nature of different knowledge systems, leading to an historical and complex view of how and whose knowledge gets due recognition. Such practices can imbue teachers with a critical perspective when they encounter the “subjugation” of IK even in research and further stimulate the decolonization debate.

For RQ 2: The dilemmas for the custodians and teachers are summarized in Table 5 and discussed as follows:

i). Dilemmas of the custodians include the dominance of westernized education, the loss of their traditional medicine and environmental conservation practices and their culture not being integrated in schools. Teachers added that IK custodians and IK inclusion affirmed their Africanness and highlighted previous colonization influences that were implicit.

ii). A dilemma is experienced concerning religious conflicts and practices because IK is demonized due to a Christian influence. While some churches have integrated African traditional beliefs, the custodians are anxious that recent evangelization by western churches has been to the detriment of the indigenous cultures. Manala (2013) argues that while there are benefits to Christianity, it has also “led to the demise of the African customs, which it viewed as pagan and evil; the religion also led to the implementation of apartheid (to which it gave its theological support), and undermined the leadership role of women” (p. 285).

iii). They have a dilemma of youth rejecting IK as being outdated and using only modern medicines while rejecting traditional medicinal practices. A study by Mashokod (2014) in Zimbabwe concurred that local knowledge of plant medicine could be integrated into school science teaching, and concepts such as fermentation, food preservation, could be taught in classes based on the IK of medicinal plants.

For the teachers, the dilemmas arising out of their views were economic—that is, custodians will need to paid, ethical unhu/ubuntu [humanity]—it is not ethical for the custodians to volunteer freely their services, policy—department regulation is strongly prescriptive of the implementation of western curriculum, assessment—IK is not assessed and performance of schools is based on the standard curriculum leaving teachers under severe scrutiny for not completing the prescribed syllabus, and a dilemma of IK is not science and so it should not be taught at schools. Overall a positive attitude towards IK integration was displayed by five out of six teachers, if the financial constraints of employing custodians could be removed.

Due largely to westernized-Eurocentric colonization and missionary programmes, most young and middle age people including science teachers have lost their cultural roots. Some teachers were rather sceptical about IK custodians’ active involvement in the classroom teaching and learning process reasoning that the custodians were not “professionals” as they were not trained to teach. In addition, there would be a timetable overload leaving no room to accommodate IK and IK custodians during school hours. Also, because IK is not part of the prescribed syllabus, assessment of it through examinations would be limited and their learners’ IK knowledge would not count towards school performance. Teaching IKS could then be a waste of effort.

For RQ 3. How can these dilemmas be overcome?

Some suggestions are drawn after reviewing the analysis of custodians’ and teachers’ narratives, with the summaries presented in Tables 1 to 4, and of the participants’ dilemmas (Table 5) and from current research in IKS. These are discussed as follows:

The dilemma of loss of IK, language, and culture is not integrated in schools due to westernization and colonization: The study findings imply that teachers who are largely western trained lack IK experiences. They should be exposed to coursework, discussion workshops, field trips (to sacred places) and resources (artefacts, forests etc.) in IKS so as to acquire appropriate IK content and pedagogy. From the research literature, IK practices were also identified by a large case study of 294 participants, 73 of whom were science teachers from the Eastern Cape in South Africa whose first language was isiXhosa (Webb, 2016). The participants identified indigenous technology activities, health and witchcraft, traditional views of lightning, and cultural heritage as valuable content for schools.

The loss of language can be addressed by employing custodians with language expertise together with language teachers. The indigenous language must be taught first in the first few years of primary school and then concurrently with other languages like English. This requires a language policy change in some African countries. Language is an issue in many countries, but especially in Africa where multilingualism and the influx of migrants results in a complex potpourri filled with social and politically engineered agendas (Kadenge & Mugari, 2015), which could add further disputes to language policies and practices.

IK organizations, communities, politicians, researchers, educators and the leaders of the western churches and traditional healers need to form joint forums where “dialogical spaces” are formed, thereby promoting discussions in addressing African philosophy, African ethics (ubuntu/unhu), decolonization issues, and the subjugation and negative perceptions of “superstitious” practices. In this way understanding, tolerance and harmony can be fostered in communities. This dilemma needs further research if IK is not to be further marginalized by African teachers who have been exposed to only western culture and the Christian religion.

The dilemma of only western education in schools: The findings suggest that officials in the Department of Education, IK academia, and relevant organizations debate and transform the curricula to include IKS and facilitate its integration into the formal curriculum. The Department of Education should recognize and certify IK custodians who wish to participate in formal schooling as this would give legitimacy and status to them as community teachers and facilitate payment for their services. Custodians could be initially be employed on a short-term basis for a pilot project, which, if successful, could then be extended to full-time employment. For effective inclusion of IKS, a transformed curriculum needs input from education departments, teachers, and the community at the planning stage. Unless teachers value the IK made explicit in the curriculum, they will not put in the effort and energy required to promote IK. In this regard, Mashokod (2014) adds that planners need to include some forms of traditional medicinal knowledge into school curriculum for teachers to build upon what learners already know, after exploring the teachers’ views on the use of traditional medicines. The teachers in this study seem to advocate the “incorporationist” approach. Such an approach brings selected IK into science by seeking how “best IKS fits into science” (Naidoo & Vithal, 2014) and involves the custodians when needed to highlight a particular feature or concept in the curriculum, for example, cultural dancing when teaching creative arts. On a positive note, the teachers were eager to learn, together with their learners, about IK from its custodians. This “insight” augurs well for future curriculum development and workshops for custodians’ involvement in delivery of the curricula.

The dilemma of youth rejecting IKS: The findings suggest that the youth be part of conservation, agriculture and environmental groups or clubs where IK conservation and agricultural practices could be taught and practised. Conservation entities and local farmers could take a leadership role in these clubs, which would also boost apprenticeship training and employment in this sector. These initiatives can begin in primary schools. With regard to inclusion of agriculture, the teachers in this study value the relevant IK practices and other studies (Mapira & Mazambara, 2013; Pedzisai, 2013) confirm that that the inclusion of IK in the curriculum would foster sustainable development and revitalize food production and oppose colonial denigration of indigenous agricultural practices. However, Muchena (1990) and Pedzisai (2013) argue that including IK when teaching about agriculture is challenging, as until now it has relied on oral tradition. Nevertheless, with increasing research in agricultural IK agriculture, climate change issues can be addressed by, for example, growing drought resistant plants such as the indigenous herb Amaranth (Cernansky, 2015). Due largely to westernized-Eurocentric colonization and missionary programmes, most young and middle-aged people, including science teachers, have lost their cultural roots. The evidence of this comes from Webb’s (2016) study, in which shows that not all African teachers endorse the inclusion of IK, so there is tension between their personal beliefs and the proposed integrated IK curriculum, which would need to be resolved.

Implications of findings

The findings of this study have important implications for integration of IK in primary schools, for curriculum development, for teacher professional development as well as for future research in IK methodologies and epistemic debates involving the role of custodians in the integration of IK in schools. For analytic purposes, the implications are categorized into the following themes: Epistemic debates, Power and Social Justice, Collaboration in curriculum development, Curriculum Integration, and Enhancing IK research methodologies.

Epistemic debates, Power and Social Justice: The community, particularly the custodians, have highlighted the tensions between western and IK and this conflict has historical links with colonization, hegemony, and explicit or subtle enforcement of western languages and philosophy, which impacts their culture and way of life. They take a standpoint that the curriculum should also focus on relevance of knowledge, thereby addressing the important context of survival, food, peace, and employment. Therefore a decolonized curriculum should have a philosophical base that address issues of inclusivity, human rights (unhu), social justice, and democracy, thereby shifting the present curriculum from exclusively westernized content. The community members have taken an indigenist standpoint, as is reflected in the Indigenous Standpoint Theory (IST) discussed earlier: they have vociferously expressed concern that the loss of their IK would result in the demise of their language, IK and culture. An analysis according to IST can provide insights into the multiple links in this education enterprise. Engaging IK custodians on instructional matters is a positive step towards acknowledging the role and value of IK to indigenous learners. Such a move would be a practical way of indigenizing the school curriculum, which would enhance the cognitive development, academic achievement and success of learners (Shizha, 2013). Most teachers did allude to the power of the Department of Education in planning and implementing a solely westernized curriculum and in excluding IK custodians from formal education. Nevertheless, for curriculum transformation to occur, the notion of the power behind political systems, which permeates through education requires deeper cognition and awareness. Culture is not transmitted genetically or passively, hence, it has to be consistently learned and fostered, so the process of explicit integration of culture offers this transformation of the curriculum with all stakeholders participating in a dialogical framework. In this regard, Odora Hoppers (2009) asserts that the integration of IK in education offers a transformation and a rethink of the link between “democracy and epistemology,” thereby extending concepts of “enfranchisement and cognitive justice” (p. 176). While there are now many community activists, researchers, and international organizations fostering the agenda of including indigenous and cultural knowledge and exposing how western knowledge has resulted in the “epistemicide” of other knowledges (Hall & Tandon, 2017; Hoppers, 2001; Medin & Bang, 2014), there needs to be stronger local community and national political platforms to effect any significant transformation. But the question of how to dismantle the power hold of westernization in education, so that it includes a decolonized and indigenous curriculum, is complex. The dismantling would require a concerted effort through collaborative praxis that uses and builds on existing research skills and political-administrative infrastructures so as to engage the participation of departmental officials, teachers, custodians, parents, community experts, academia, and children in all aspects of the community’s life (Shizha, 2013). This study, while involving limited groups of custodians and teachers, implies that there should be collective and ongoing engagement among custodians and education personnel geared to formalizing the political-administration structures towards curriculum transformation.

Collaboration in curriculum development: Studies like that of Shizha (2007) have found that the problems of IK in a curriculum were largely “attitudinal, institutional, and systemic” (p. 302), where conservative teachers exhibited negative attitudes towards IK and supported only western science. In this study, most teachers supported IK in school but were concerned about administrative control and policies. This study has highlighted the power of collaborative knowledge construction involving custodians and teachers in primary schools. Although IK differs from westernized school content, the community (teachers and custodians) do have several ideas about how local knowledge could contribute to primary school education at a local level. The community input from this study implies that a curriculum should display sensitivity to issues of local concern such as local language development and sustainable environmental knowledge. In this regard, the custodians’ experiences can provide opportunities for deeper levels of creativity in the classroom when using relevant community spaces espousing context-based knowledge, artefacts, and skills. Teachers could then incorporate inquiry and problem-based teaching and learning strategies, which are based on authentic issues and local community-based problems as they would now have access to natural and physical resources and support from the custodians. For example, learners could investigate how to preserve diversity of flora and fauna and use local names to identify them. There is evidence of community design interventions elsewhere; for example, to boost performance in STEM among indigenous native Americans (Bang et al., 2010) an intervention involved a number of teaching and learning partnerships through which students could “engage with the concept of biodiversity, community-based views about all things being connected and having a role to play” (p. 576).

Enhancing IK research methodologies: This study has contributed to the body of research on integration of IK into the primary school curriculum, based on evidence for transformative participatory methodologies. The study, through its openness in dialogical community engagement, has thus opened up spaces for networking with custodians in a creative and transformative approach to education. One of the custodians acknowledged that: “The modern methods taught to youths are not as effective and consistent with our rural livelihoods.” In this regard, students do enjoy outdoor and nature-based activities, and the custodians do welcome the sharing of their IK knowledge. As an integral part of the school system, Hall et al. (2000) suggest that local communities, parents, chiefs and custodians should be accorded space as co-creators of knowledge. This study confirmed the potential of aligning research practices with indigenous research ethics and collaborative methodologies, whereby participants are empowerment through renewed thinking about the wise use of resources rather than focusing on deficits of IK, as perceived through western methodologies. Participatory curriculum development, where relevant stakeholders and experts are involved, contributes to a better, richer and healthier curriculum that prepares the learners for sustainable development of not only their immediate community but the whole country. Islam and Banda (2011) propose that that such an IK partnership provides several opportunities for traditional and local leaders and the community to get involved in the field of IK research in schools in their areas, for example, through cultural and museum projects. This could be mutually beneficial, as this partnership could have a strong “influence on the interpretation of policy and have a sense of ownership of projects and developmental agendas brought about by findings from such bottom-up research efforts” (p. 67).

Curriculum Integration: Teachers are the key to effective learning and provision of good quality relevant education, not only for sustainable development of communities but also for holistic development of learners for global competitiveness. Unfortunately, the learners are often inadequately prepared and so constrained by the system that they become too parochial in their operations to think “outside the box”. The teachers should be empowered to interpret the national syllabi, adapting and contextualizing the contents and pedagogic strategies so as to include local practices that are valued by the community in the schools’ immediate vicinity, and with which learners are familiar. However, curriculum integration of IK can take different forms, such as inclusion of certain topics, integration within topics and separate incorporation of topics (Naidoo & Vithal, 2014). All these formats can be used according to the local resources and the topic. This process necessitates the professional development of teachers be focused on re-skilling teachers for IKS integration. This study has shown that some knowledge is disappearing, particularly that which involves practical skills like natural resource management, basket making, production of artefacts, and cultural customs like rain-making. The findings from this study reveal several niche topics suited to integration in primary school curricula, such as agriculture, preservation of forests, sustainable environments, artefacts in technology, and languages (see Tables 1 to 4). In such ways, the experiences and knowledge of custodians could be appropriately incorporated and applied in the classroom in diverse ways and on cultural occasions. The study implies that more, ongoing and systematic curriculum development and implementation must take place with a view to including culture as an indigenous philosophy, with indigenous concepts (e.g., totems) to be integrated into existing concepts and topics, and including activities that embed culture and language, along with the access to and use of resources (books, internet) in establishing an integrated curriculum. By these means teachers would also improve their IK acumen.

Conclusion

The study has explored the views of primary school teachers’ and custodians’ on the integration of IK in the school curriculum thereby exposing the dilemmas arising from their views. Through dialogue and discussions, their plight, concerns, and contributions towards the integration of IK in the primary school curriculum have been highlighted. The custodians were of the view that they possess a storehouse of cultural knowledge and skills that should be shared with teachers and learners before these are annihilated and so were willing to support the curriculum integration process in schools. Through indigenous education, they wanted their youth to reaffirm their African identity and culture and to challenge the status quo of only western knowledge being taught in schools through a decolonizing curriculum. Most teachers welcomed and would like to learn from the valuable local experiences and skills of custodians. These include the oral base of indigenous languages, environmental diversity and sustainability, cultural and custom-based practices, and resources such as artefacts, stories and totems. However, teachers were of the view that it was not practical for custodians to teach at school permanently due to both financial constraints of state funding and their not being formally trained as teachers. Nevertheless, a few teachers argued that IK is not science according to the curriculum, which confirms these teachers’ colonized positions.

The study findings imply that even teachers who are highly westernized, and the indigenised custodians were willing to collaborate in re-organizing their curricula so as to address the practical implementation of IK in the classroom and address local problems around preserving and disseminating IK. The study findings have several implications, such as integrating African ethics (unhu), enhancing indigenous methodologies through dialogue, identifying topics for curriculum integration and collaboration among stakeholders. This study provides an authentic perspective of custodians and teachers’ views on IK integration in primary school curriculum and of associated dilemmas arising from it. Accordingly, they must be considered seriously when integrating IK into the curriculum.

Footnotes

Acknowledgements

The financial assistance of the National Research Foundation (NRF) of South Africa and the National Institute for the Humanities and Social Sciences—Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa (NIHSS-CODESRIA) towards this research is sincerely acknowledged. Opinions expressed and conclusions arrived at are those of the authors and should not in any way to be attributed to the NIHSS-CODESRIA. This paper is a tribute to my PhD student, Mr Godfrey Mutendera, who passed away towards the end of his study.

Declaration of conflicting interests

The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Funding

The author(s) received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

ORCID iD

Nadaraj Govender

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