Christian National Education (CNE) and People’s Education (PE): historical perspectives and some broad common grounds.
A recognition of the legitimate origins of the idea of Christian-National Education in a people’s struggle for freedom does not mean endorsing the idea as such. Especially in its later development, it seems that the ChristianNational idea has taken on wholly unacceptable features...For those who identify with the people’s education movement, the Christian-National idea will be a symbol of the system of oppression against which they now struggle so that it will be difficult for them to appreciate its origins in an earlier struggle against oppression that closely parallels their own... 1
A Relevant Education for African Development: Some Epistemological Considerations
This paper argues that education in Africa is the victim of a Western epistemological export that takes the form of science as ideology and hegemony. Under the Western epistemological export, education in Africa and/or for Africans has been like a pilgrimage to the Kilimanjaro of Western intellectual ideals, the tortuous route to Calvary for alternative ways of life. Sometimes, with rhetorical justification about the need to be competitive internationally, the practice has been for the elite to model education in Africa after educational institutions in the West, with little attempt at domestication. Education in Africa has been and mostly remains a journey fuelled by an exogenously induced and internalised sense of inadequacy in Africans, and endowed with the mission of devaluation or annihilation of African creativity, agency and value systems. Such cultural estrangement has served to reinforce in Africans self-devaluation and self-hatred and a profound sense of inferiority that in turn compels them to ‘lighten their darkness' both physically and metaphysically for Western gratification. The paper argues that the future of higher education in Africa can only be hopeful through a meticulous and creative process of cultural restitution and indigenisation even as African scholars continue to cooperate and converse with intellectual bedfellows in the West and elsewhere. If Africa is to be party to a global conversation of universities and scholars, it is only appropriate that it does so on its own terms, with the interests and concerns of ordinary Africans as the guiding principle. Resume 
Le present article pose comme postulat que l\'education en Afrique est victime d\'une exportation epistemologique qui presente la science comme ideologie et hegemonie. Conformement a cette logique d\'exportation epistemologique occidentale, l\'education en Afrique et/ou pour les Africains est comparable a un pelerinage au Kilimanjaro des ideaux intellectuels du Nord, comme le chemin tortueux du calvaire, a la recherche desesperee de moyens de survie. Parfois, sur la base d\'une rhetorique justificative quant a la necessite d\'etre competitif sur le plan international, la pratique pour l\'elite a toujours ete de calquer l\'education en Afrique sur le modele des institutions educatives de l\'occident, sans le moindre effort d\'adaptation. L\'education en Afrique a toujours ete et demeure largement un parcours alimente par un sens d\'inadequation induit et interiorise de maniere exogene chez les Africains, avec pour mission d\'annihiler le sens creatif, le dynamisme et les systemes de valeur des Africains. Cette alienation culturelle n\'a servi qu\'a cristalliser chez l\'Africain le sentiment d\'auto devaluation et de haine contre soi-meme, ainsi qu\'un profond sentiment d\'inferiorite qui a son tour l\'oblige a «eclaircir sa noirceur» tant physique que metaphysique pour faire plaisir a l\'occident. Cet article soutient que l\'avenir de l\'enseignement superieur en Afrique ne peut etre prometteur que s\'il subit un processus de restitution et d\'inculturation culturelle meticuleux et creatif, bien que les intellectuels africains continuent de collaborer et de converser avec des collegues intellectuels du Nord et d\'ailleurs. Si l\'Afrique souhaite participer au debat mondial des universites et des intellectuels, il n\'est que convenable qu\'elle le fasse en ses propres termes, avec pour principe directeur les interets et les preoccupations de l\'Africain ordinaire. Africa Development/Afrique et developpement Vol.XXIX, No 1, 2004: 161-184
School Principals and Education Law: What do they know, what do they need to know?
Principals now work in complex and challenging environments where uncertainty and change are the hallmarks of their roles and responsibilities. As such, the knowledge and capability demands on principals have expanded, including those related to education law. While these matters attracted some research interest a number of years ago, there has been little recent work in the area of principals and education law. This article reports on an exploratory study into aspects of the legal knowledge held by Tasmanian government school principals, particularly concerning non-sexual physical contact between teachers and students. The research was undertaken using a small-scale, mixed-methods research design, which required principals to respond to various legal scenarios. Three key findings emerged from the study. First, principals used two different levels of working knowledge about education law  one related to legal problems, and the other to legally-related routine activities. Second, on the particular topic of physical contact, some knowledge held by principals was not legally accurate. Third, for major legal issues, participants indicated that they acquired access to information from legal experts. The situation for routine legal matters was less clear, although in-service training and practical experience were identified as potential sources of knowledge. Participants recognised the importance of a sound knowledge of education law, especially for dealing with security and safety issues and preferred to access further information through in-service training. Notably, the findings of the study are broadly consistent with those from earlier Australian and international research, suggesting that much remains to be done in the area of principals’ education law knowledge.