Whose Knowledge, Whose Agency?
A Ghanaian Practitioner’s Response to Reconceptualising the Learning Crisis in Africa

In this blog post, which is part of NORRAG’s #TheSouthAlsoKnows blog series, Nana Ama Boa-Amponsem reviews the book Reconceptualising the Learning Crisis in Africa: Multi-dimensional Pedagogies of Accelerated Learning Programmes by Kwame Akyeampong and Sean Higgins and argues that the so-called learning crisis is not just about African children’s deficiencies but also about the failure of “education development” to recognize and build upon existing knowledge, agency, and pedagogical wisdom.

In my years working in education development across Ghana, I have repeatedly confronted three questions that the global education architecture seems to overlook – Whose knowledge counts when we design education systems? Whose agency shapes learning environments? And what approaches genuinely support inclusive learning rather than merely paying lip service to it?

For too long, these questions have lingered uncomfortably in practitioner spaces yet acknowledged in private conversations. Reconceptualising the Learning Crisis in Africa: Multi-dimensional Pedagogies of Accelerated Learning Programmes by Prof Kwame Akyeampong and Prof Sean Higgins confront them head-on. Their book does more than critique the prevailing “learning crisis” narrative, it also offers evidence-based alternatives grounded in what African children, teachers, and communities already know and do. 

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