Book Review: The Contextualisation of 21st Century Skills Assessment in East Africa, edited by Esther Care, Mauro Giacomazzi, and John Kabutha Mugo. Switzerland: Springer, 2024. xviii + 211 pp. Ebook. ISBN: 978-3-031-51490-6.

Abstract

The world is replete with changes facing youngsters, from readiness to workplace challenges to society’s capacity to address the socio-economic demands of the 21st century. This book review highlights how East African education systems have sought to integrate life skills and values into their policies and curricula. A key limitation, however, is the lack of exploration into teaching strategies that promote these skills, particularly the adaptation of Western frameworks to measure competencies in non-Western contexts. To address this, the Assessment of Life Skills and Values in East Africa (ALiVE) project investigates how collaboration, problem-solving, self-awareness, and respect are understood in Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda. Findings reveal that East African views on personal identity are more community-oriented, thus contrasting with the individualistic approaches typical of Western contexts. Designing assessment tools for East Africa requires careful consideration of conceptual, ethnographic, and epistemological factors, from framework development to data collection and analysis.

Keywords: Education, assessment, 21^st century skills, curriculum, East Africa