No longer in the dark

Abstract

Final project within the Teacher Training Program 41-60 points, University of Gothenburg Title: No Longer in the Dark – an essay about becoming literate Authors: Anina Lindmark, Karolina Möller Term and year: Spring semester, 2007 Responsible institution: Institution of Sociology Tutor: Jan Lindström Examiner: Bertil Nelhans Report number: VT07-2450-03 Keywords: Education, Basic education, Literacy, Illiteracy Purpose and questions Our purpose with this project is to explore the knowledge about the effects of education on society and the individual (in our case illiterate women). With this we also want to increase the understanding for the teacher profession and our important mission. We will fulfil this purpose through investigating what previous research has said about the importance of education in general and what education does for a woman’s life in Nigeria in particular. We will explore the effects of education for women in their cultural context. • What has been said about the importance of education for the development of the society and the individual? • How does education affect a Nigerian woman’s view of herself? • What happens in a woman’s life and mind when she goes from being an illiterate person to a reading and writing person? Method We have made six qualitative interviews with Nigerian women who did not get the opportunity to a basic education as children. They are now attending a Christian adult school in Jos, Nigeria to learn how to read and write. Findings The women feel that the education has changed their view of themselves in many aspects. They have developed a higher confidence and are more independent than before. They feel more included in society when they have become literate. They have also got a more significant female consciousness through the education. The school’s Christian approach permeates all the education and the students’ subjective identity strengthens in accordance with the Christian values. We have noticed a difference in how long the women have attended the school and how much they have strengthen their identity through their way of answering our questions. Even though the women have increased their confidence, independence and female consciousness we have also seen a limit for how far this development can proceed. Their view of womanhood is within the frames of patriarchy and therefore the effects of education for these women are also within patriarchy. A conclusion we can draw is that education and the effects of education are highly connected to the context and the culture where it operates. Education’s role in society becomes clearer when investigating it in a society where it is not obvious for all. This has given us a new perspective on education’s role in a society. We have a clearer image about how a society’s values are related to education and reproduced in school. Our expectations are that this essay will make the reader reflect about these processes as well. We believe that the outcome of this essay will help us remember how important our tasks as teachers are.