Learners' everyday experiences of violence in English medium secondary education in Uganda

Lizzi O. Milligan, Bebwa Isingoma, Tina Aciro, Dorica Mirembe, Nadia Krause, Expedito Nuwategeka

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

This paper explores how Ugandan secondary school learners experience schooling in English-medium schools where the use of English only is strictly enforced. We conceptualise the ways that the learners sit at the intersection of direct, systemic and cultural violence that in turn impacts their educational experiences. We particularly focus on instances of direct violence through corporal punishment, and the ways that such violence, and associated fear, are part of many learners’ everyday schooling experiences. We demonstrate this through presentation of findings from thematic analysis of individual and focus group interviews with 64 learners at two public and two private secondary schools in the Amuru and Kitgum districts of Northern Uganda. Our conclusions advocate for greater attention to be paid to the ways that changes to enforced English-only policies could support more positive well-being and educational outcomes.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)31-48
Number of pages18
JournalGlobal Social Challenges Journal
Volume3
Issue number1
Early online date6 May 2024
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 31 Aug 2024

Acknowledgements

Education as and for Environmental, Epistemic and Transitional Justice to Enable Sustainable Development’ was a collaborative, multi-country project based on the values of kindness, fun, collegiality, creativity, justice, rigour, transparency and respect. All project outputs represent the collective endeavour of the team. The international JustEd team includes: Tina Aciro (Gulu University, Uganda), Patricia Ajok (Gulu University, Uganda), María Balarin (Group for the Analysis of Development (GRADE), Peru), Mrigendra Karki (Tribhuvan University, Nepal), Daniel Komakech (Gulu University, Uganda), Lizzi O. Milligan (University of Bath, UK), Dorica Mirembe (Gulu University, Uganda), Carlos Monge (GRADE, Peru), Ainur Muratkyzy (University of Bristol, UK), Expedito Nuwategeka (Gulu University, Uganda), Alvaro Ordonez (GRADE, Peru), Mohan Paudel (Tribhuvan University, Nepal), Julia Paulson (University of Bristol, UK), María Fernanda Rodriguez (GRADE, Peru), Paola Sarmiento (University of Bristol), Sushil Sharma (Tribhuvan University, Nepal), Robin Shields (University of Bristol, UK), Ashik Singh (Tribhuvan University, Nepal), Ganesh Singh (Tribhuvan University, Nepal), Nese Soysal (University of Bath), Srijana Ranabhat (Tribhuvan University, Nepal), Alithu Bazan Talavera (GRADE, Peru) and Rachel Wilder (University of Bath, UK).

For more information, please visit our website: JustEd (https://www.bath.ac.uk/projects/justed/) or contact the Principal Investigator, Lizzi O. Milligan at [email protected]. We are also grateful to all the participants in the study and to anonymous reviewers who gave very helpful comments on an earlier draft.

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