Postcolonial Issues, Identity, and Decolonialization Discourses in Education

• In Event: Decolonizing Discourse and Practice: Acknowledging and Addressing Inequalities in Educational Policy and Assessment in the Core and Periphery

Proposal

Postcolonialism requires analysis and action to address the ongoing destructive consequences of the colonial era (Enslin, 2017). Related to education, Caribbean governments fund and manage public education at the primary and secondary level, yet there are differences in the education inputs and processes (Joong et al., 2020). In the postcolonial country of Trinidad and Tobago, early efforts were made to create common institutional spaces such as schools, but evidence suggests that “the four groups [races] were not incorporated into society on an equal footing and so did not equally enjoy direct and equitable access to common public domains such as schools, or to the privileges of society” (Joong et al., 2020, p. 6). The inequity transmitted across the “colonial style of education with an emphasis on social elimination through a rigorous and rigid examination process” (Joong et al., 2020, p. 7). Thus, despite the reforms in education from colonial days to present, there are still issues with inequality and inequity (Esnard, 2021). Human capital theory suggests that an investment in education yields returns of investment (ROI) in terms of earning potential even when the expense of additional education is taken into account (Shields, 2013). While this is beneficial on the individual level, league tables such as the Global Competitivity Report from the World Economic Forum also rank countries based on pillars related to education. Thus, the impetus should be on the state to fund education to increase its competitiveness. Furthermore, modernization theory suggests that one of the preconditions for a country to become industrialized is education (Rostow, 1990). Yet, plantation economies—regardless of whether the state holds proprietorship or subsidiaries of large international concerns, tenants, or families—foster dependency and underdevelopment, and citizens are forced to live in "persistent poverty” (Beckford, 1999). Shields (2013) notes that some countries fail to "take off" to become developed regardless of funding from bilateral or multilateral aid agencies.
This paper examines the purposes of schooling as cultural continuity and cultural change through the major historical phases of education and reform in Trinidad and Tobago. Using a comparative case study (CCS) approach, the paper attends to global, national and local dimensions of case-based research (Vavrus & Bartlett, 2006) to study secondary schooling in the postcolonial society. The research applies horizontal, vertical, and transversal dimensions of the case study approach (Bartlett & Vavrus, 2017). Preliminary results reinforce schooling’s perceived link with upward mobility (London, 1989) that is often conceived within Western tradition from a contest mode and a sponsorship mode (Turner, 1960). Traversing the entire school system and affecting student performance are the issues of inequality and inequity. Intersecting marginalizations within the education system of Trinidad and Tobago are attributed to retained colonial structures, policies, practices, and institutional processes, as well as individual behaviors, beliefs, and expectations (De Lisle, 2019). These are manifested through differential performance by gender, socio-economic status, and race. Finally, culturally responsive, relevant and sustaining descriptions are introduced with suggestions on how they can be included in different levels of the education system.

Author

• Paula Marcelle, Indiana University - Bloomington