Developing as a Professional in Cameroon: Challenges and Visions

Abstract

This chapter describes a professional experience which, albeit personal, is representative of the realities of professional development in Africa. My purpose is to demonstrate from a practical stance that developing within the teaching profession in sub-Saharan Africa is fraught with challenges and realities that shape and are shaped by a teaching/learning culture of power relationships which constantly places the evolving teacher at the crossroads of discourse constraints. To achieve this purpose, I begin with a very brief overview of the transition from a colonial system of education to a modern system developed against a background of colonialism, setting the scene for my exploration of how the discourse patterns of a developing professional are constantly in a flux. Although my narrative is based on my personal experiences working in Cameroon, I am confident that it will raise questions and issues that relate to other African countries, even allowing for the considerable cultural differences among them.¹