Mobile phones and education in sub-Saharan Africa: from youth practice to public policy

Robson, Elsbeth; Abane, Albert; Bango, Andisiwe; De Lannoy, Ariane; Gunguluza, Nwabisa; Hampshire, Kate; Mashiri, Mac; Milner, James; Munthali, Alister; Porter, Gina; Tanle, Augustine

Abstract

Young people’s use of mobile phones is expanding exponentially across Africa. Its transformative potential is exciting, but findings presented in this paper indicate how the downside of mobile phone use in African schools is becoming increasingly apparent. Drawing on mixed-methods field research in 24 sites across Ghana, Malawi and South Africa and associated discussions with educational institutions, public policy makers and network providers, we examine the current state of play and offer suggestions towards a more satisfactory alignment of practice and policy which promotes the more positive aspects of phone use in educational contexts and militates against more damaging ones.

Citation

Robson, E., Abane, A., Bango, A., De Lannoy, A., Gunguluza, N., Hampshire, K., Mashiri, M., Milner, J., Munthali, A., Porter, G., & Tanle, A. (2016). Mobile phones and education in sub-Saharan Africa: from youth practice to public policy. Journal of international development, 28(1), 22-39. https://doi.org/10.1002/jid.3116

• Acceptance Date: May 7, 2015
• Online Publication Date: Jun 11, 2015
• Publication Date: Jan 1, 2016
• Deposit Date: Jul 28, 2015
• Publicly Available Date: Jul 28, 2015
• Journal: Journal of international development
• Print ISSN: 0954-1748
• Publisher: Wiley
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 28
• Issue: 1
• Pages: 22-39
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/jid.3116
• Keywords: Mobile phones; Education; Youth; Malawi; Ghana; South Africa
• Public URL: https://hull-repository.worktribe.com/output/376904
• Publisher URL: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/jid.3116/abstract;jsessionid=90D15304136084A7DACC2A7B5B1EC328.f01t03
• Additional Information: © 2015 The Authors. Journal of International Development published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
• Contract Date: Jul 28, 2015