Education and training initiatives at the Central Methodist Church Refugee House in Johannesburg
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Date
2013-06
Authors
Pausigere, Peter
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Faculty of Education, University of the Free State
Abstract
Zimbabwean economic migrants and political refugees have been given refuge and provided with shelter
at the Central Methodist Church (CMC) Refugee House, in central Johannesburg. The refugees have
successfully initiated learning and training programmes which resulted in the establishment of a combined
school, namely St Albert Street Refugee School, an adult education programme, a pre-school, an infant
day care, an Adult Basic Education Training (ABET) and vocational training centres for sewing, basic
computer studies and waitering courses. The research presented here was conducted over a period of five
months. It used an ethnographic approach and employed three primary strategies for gathering data:
non-participant observation, interviewing and document collection. Using the theoretical framework
of the Community Based Approach (CBA) to refugee education development, the article explains how
the weekly refugee and School Council meetings served as forums for initiating education and training
programmes and for important decisions that influenced the refugees’ education and training policies and
curriculum guidelines. The Refugee School’s adoption of a modified Cambridge curriculum resulted in
‘Renewed education for repatriation’, whilst the vocational skills centres orientated themselves towards
the ‘Adjusted education for integration’, which prepares adult refugees to integrate into the host country’s
economic communities.
Description
Keywords
Refugee-emergency education, Community Based Approach (CBA), Central Methodist Church (CMC)
Citation
Pausigere, P. (2013). Education and training initiatives at the Central Methodist Church Refugee House in Johannesburg. Perspectives in Education, 31(2), 42-53.