Introduction

This chapter shows how the ancient concept is still very much part of the complicated overall provision of education in Africa. Schooling, in the sense of institutionalised induction into the life of society is a comparatively recent development in Africa; education in the sense of initiation into the life of the adult community is a very ancient concept. Since the second world war, institutes and departments of education in African universities have taken the process further in respect of child rearing and education. In the 1960s, indeed, the disillusionment with the quality of life in a scientific and technologically oriented civilisation in some instances resulted in a very roseate view being taken of traditional indigenous ways of life in Africa. Apprenticeship, in fact, highlights the way that it is possible to embody much of the traditional African philosophy of education into modern education.