Radically re-thinking girls’ education: inclusive and meaningful learning pathways for adolescent girls in Zimbabwe

This paper presents insights from a longitudinal study of girls’ education in Zimbabwe; specifically, the relationship between adolescent girls’ learning experiences and their freedom to pursue aspirations. These adolescent girls had only briefly attended formal school, and some enrolled in a non-formal education programme during the study. The research engaged the adolescent girls in a range of creative, dialogical and story-based research and analysis approaches over five years. It makes an original contribution to the study of ‘girls’ education’ in global development by integrating a sociocultural, story-focussed lens on the emotional connections between learning experiences and valued futures, with an analytical, freedoms-focussed capability framework. This, combined with the longitudinal commitment, enables a unique perspective that challenges persistent, normative agendas for girls’ education. It supports new ways of thinking about the hoped-for and possible futures for adolescent girls who have missed a significant amount of formal school, and how to implement the kinds of learning experiences that are valued in the pursuit of these futures. Finally, the paper demonstrates how the findings are contributing to a radically new policy landscape for non-formal education in Zimbabwe.