Abstract
M.Ed.
Originally the aim of the study was to detemine the role of the African educator at
home as well as at school. It was felt that this person has an extremely difficult task
to accomplish, especially in view of the violence and the problems just before the
1994-elections. However, as the study progressed, the African concept, Ubuntu,
proved to be an interesting topic and it was thought to be a possible solution to a
country riddled with unique problems in education and the violence in particular.
The term Philosophy of Life was briefly discussed, as it is always embedded in the
way one educates one's child. Education as a concept was studied, in particular in
the way it teaches a child to become more human. The Philosophy of Life that
seemed of great importance is Humanism. Universal educational principles that seemed relevant, were identified to be used as criteria for the rest of the study. The term, human, and all the others related to it were analysed. Western Humanism, both Traditional and Neo-humanism, were studied. The educational implications of Western humanism were discussed, using the identified criteria for education as guidelines.
In chapter four the African humanism, Ubuntu, was, via a literature study, analysed
in great depth. There are as many versions of this term as there are people, but the
most common characteristics of Ubuntu were identified. After a general discussion,
the connotations usually given to the charateristics were listed. Afterwards the
educational implications of Ubuntu were discussed. In chapter five an educational evaluation of the implications of African Humanism was undertaken. This study does not claim to be complete. It was merely an attempt to get a better grasp on reality. A literature study proved sufficient for this purpose, as very little was actually written about the concept Ubuntu, when the research was started. However, much has been said and written since.