By Edwin Naidu

There’s no shortage of information on the remarkable happenings in education, science and technology, for good or bad, in South Africa or Africa. 

If one considers social media platforms the best place to brag about who has received the latest accolade for doing their job, you would think that South Africa and the continent would be in far greater shape. 

Addressing unemployment, tackling poverty, fighting climate change and dealing with food security should be handled more effectively, considering the great brains in our midst. 

Just flip through the amazing content on LinkedIn shared by the National Research Foundation, and you will be amazed at the top-notch quality of our scientists’ work. Many are making their mark in unique collaborationsthroughout Africa and globally.

A situational analysis of the state of the education research field in Africa report by Education Sub-Saharan Africa (ESSA) and social development consultantsSouthern Hemisphere recently sketched the opportunity and state of play in sub-Saharan African countries. 

The figures reported mainly from desk research draw on data from key informant interviews and group discussions. They aim to promote education research for academic progression and to impact local education policies and practices.

Their work addresses the disconnect between researchers and decision-makers by promoting collaborations between education researchers and government agencies.

They also seek to address the minimal public funding opportunities for education research.

While encouraging donors and development partners to provide funding and support for government-led education research priorities, thus promoting local agendas, they also advocate for promoting inclusion, gender equity, capacity-building programmes and South-South peer learning networks.

The study says educational research in Africa presents a small yet promising landscape, characterised by the dedication of its actors and the rapid growth in research publications observed over the last two decades across most countries.

Unfortunately, Africa’s contribution to global education research is estimated at around 2.13%. More than 90% of the study was published after the year 2000. Some countries, including South Africa, Nigeria, Kenya and Ghana, dominate the field. 

Even in these countries, few institutions dominate the landscape regarding knowledge production.

African researchers face similar challenges in securing funding and conducting high-quality research, and there is a lack of opportunities for regional and international networking and collaboration. 

However, in education research, these challenges are much more pronounced. For instance, the study found that only 10% of African education research publications are funded, with partners outside providing up to 90% of the existing funding.

These challenges and potential solutions are also highlighted in the Action on Funding for Africa-led Education Research conference and the Forum for Education Research in/for/by Africa. Building on theseevents, the Enhancing Education Research in Africa (EERA) project aims to identify what is needed to create a vibrant and sustainable field of education research in Africa.

The study on the situational analysis was undertaken to ensure that the proposals from the EERA project aregrounded in the current reality of education research in

Africa, and builds on what is already underway.

The analysis uses the field-building framework to assess five main characteristics of education research in Africa: Knowledge base, resources (funding), field-level agenda, actors and infrastructure.

Knowledge base: Data collected through key informant interviews, desk reviews and group discussions revealsstriking insights into the Strengths, Weaknesses,Opportunities and Threats (SWOT) in the African education research ecosystem. 

Resources: While growing research outputs aligned with emerging priorities are observed, severe resource constraints and limited funding affect the quality and quantity of most publications, leading to limited utility for decision-makers and impact.

Field-level agenda: International organisations are crucialin funding education research on the continent. However, this heavy reliance on external funding, and therefore external agendas, often creates a gap between the research produced and the knowledge that decision-makers need.

Emerging partnership initiatives between government and education researchers give birth to a shared vision about countries’ education research priorities. However, this is the case only in a few countries. Moreover, the lack of funding remains a threat in contexts where such an alignment exists.

Actors: Although they are diverse and committed, the field of education research seems fragmented in most countries due to the lack of a shared vision and communication, insufficient collaboration among stakeholders, and the absence of a robust research culture including early career and women researchers.

Some education research networks and thematic groupsemerge across all regions. Institutional repositories and dissemination platforms are also actively raising the profile of African education research and researchers. 

Infrastructure: Threats to these emerging infrastructure elements include poorly curated dissemination and data-sharing platforms, difficulties accessing data, low-quality and predatory journals, and inadequate institutional support.

While a more equal female-male gender ratio is observed among academic staff in sub-Saharan Africa, huge disparities appear at the country level for education researchers.

Taking advantage of the strengths and opportunities identified in this illuminating report on the education research landscape, the EERA project plans to launch atheory of change process. 

Initially, long-term outcomes will be developed by leveraging stakeholders’ visions for the field of educationresearch and their expectations for an enhanced landscape. 

Building on lessons from this analysis, a Pathways of Change process involving a steering committee and other education research stakeholders will be initiated to propose tailored interventions and projects to enhance education research on the continent.

One hopes that such insights can be used effectively to boost research on the continent so that researchers’ work is indelibly linked to a better life for all. 

Edwin Naidu is the Editor of Inside Education.