Abstract
M.Ed. (Educational Psychology)
Most schooling environments are structured in ways that learners are not able to relate
to learning activities and there are no connections between the school building and
the community (Mbembe, 2015). Since schooling and the curriculum was developed
using western metrics, schools were not built with the consideration of the way learning
happens in the community. This shouldn’t be the case (Vygotsky, 1978) “every
function in the child’s cultural development appears twice: first, on the social level, and
later, on the individual level”. Learning from storytelling through community elders
should be initiated and contextualized so that learners can understand and experience
lessons being taught to them. Learning in Africa should be contextualized and
grounded in community experience (Van der Westhuizen & Dunbar-Krige, 2015). For
this experience to be useful and effective, the story telling needs to be grounded in
community knowledge, or their experiences at home (Fataar & Subreenduth, 2015).
The knowledge of the senior citizens in the community have been disregarded or
overlooked (De Valenzuela, 2006) because it has been marginalized by society. This
should not be the case. Prescribed story books that young people learn from at school
should tell stories of cultural history, dance, art, music, tradition and mannerism, story
learning should include practical content (Verran, 1999). Story books should be written
by community elder because their stories bring essence to learning. Story reading at
school should relate to stories in the community and should equip learners in their
daily living, traditions, cultures and believes. Learning needs to make sense in the
world of a youth (Tema, 2002), and learning from stories are a way of achieving this.
Learning from storytelling should not only be for the purpose of the child wanting to
pass a grade, but it should bring a form of mending (Dyson, 1994, p, 18), equipping
and preparing young people for a better South Africa.