Why Team Hope Should Keep (Its ‘Resources’ About Africa) Out of Irish Classrooms

On Tuesday, the 12th of October, Team Hope launched its annual Christmas Shoebox Appeal; a Christmas Shoebox Appeal Week will also take place from 9th - 15th November.

As part of the Christmas Shoebox Appeal, Team Hope has stated on its website that it also “provides a range of free lesson plans and online resources for schools”.

The subject identified in the Primary Curriculum is Social, Personal and Health Education (SPHE); more specifically, the Myself and the Wider World Strand (Developing Citizenship: National, European and wider communities Strand Unit) is the focus area of this subject (please, see below).

It is not clear why Team Hope made the decision to produce materials about Africa for schools; it is worth pointing out, however, that the Myself and the Wider World Strand has been designed and specified for fifth and sixth classes pupils only. 

It is, therefore, difficult to understand why and how Team Hope would have produced materials for pre-school junior infants pupils.

Perhaps, the Team Hope education team might like to consult the NCCA guidelines to confirm the specified age to introduce the study of a non-European context if its objective is to go into the production of educational materials for primary schools? 

Third class (eight year-olds) is the NCCA’s specified class and age, by the way.

The following might also confirm the NCCA’s rationale?

Included in the materials to be found on the Team Hope website are stories about Leah from Kenya, Elimia (sic) from Malawi and Phoebe from eSwatini (Swaziland).

Below, are examples of the ‘resources’ Team Hope has produced for schools:

So, Team Hope thinks the first thing four and five year-old Irish children should be taught about the DR Congo (if they can get their little minds around where DR Congo is in the first place) is that "people live in huts made of mud".

I will arise and go now, and go to Innisfree,

And a small cabin build there, of clay and wattles made;

William Butler Yeats, Lake Isle of Innisfree

It might be worth noting that Yeats referred to “clay and wattles”, not ‘mud’ as the building materials for his “cabin”.

Whether consciously or not, the words and images we use about a place or people evoke powerful feelings in those they are meant to apply, and the reaction of Professor Plastow’s son is an illustration of this.

Team Hope lists eight African countries, with an estimated total population of 211.5 million people, in which it has a presence. This represents 21% of Africa’s estimated population of one billion. Two of these countries are also Irish Aid Key Partner Countries.

St. Mark’s Primary School, Mbabane 

One of the countries Team Hope has a presence in is eSwatini (Swaziland). The story of St. Mark’s Primary School (below), including the subjects the pupils have to study, might be more interesting for Irish pupils, as well as being more relevant to the learning process? 

St. Mark's Primary School, Mbabane. Founded in 1910

The classroom is the place where learning (including, about places and peoples in other lands) is expected to take place.

So, how does Team Hope's ‘online resources‘ contribute to positive learning about the world around us and, in particular, about the selected African countries?

Having examined the ‘resources’ on the Team Hope website, one can only conclude that these contribute nothing to learning anything useful about Africa.

Indeed, they are not ‘resources’; they are information materials which reinforce negative age-old pre-conceived views about Africa and should never be allowed in classrooms here in Ireland.

At this crucial time in our history, when negative attitudes towards people of African descent are supposed to be addressed, introducing young Irish minds to materials which only add to reinforcing negative perceptions of Africa can only be described as unhelpful?