Increasingly studies claim that building young people’s vocational interest in agriculture, as a sector of meaningful employment, is a central dilemma of Africa’s education and labour market systems. With Ugandan students’ voices, this article examines some of the methodological dilemmas of agricultural education and training. The article draws from evidence generated through a qualitative case study of a public agricultural college. We undertook the study in line with our conceptual argument for mainstreaming young people’s voices in the search for solutions to improve agricultural education practice. The study explored and analysed students’ experiences and perceptions of the college’s vocational pedagogy. Findings that uncover weak agricultural vocational pedagogy at the case study college are analysed and discussed to inform our recommendation for the embedding of craftsmanship virtues in vocational education practice to optimise students’ achievement.

Amidst the global pressure on education systems to harness youth employability and transition to the world of work, there is increased interest in vocational placements. It is evident that Uganda's tertiary education sector, like others in similar context, is struggling to optimise vocational placements for better students’ learning and labour market outcomes. This article explores the “educative” potential of vocational placements offered as a component of study programmes by a public tertiary agricultural training institution in Uganda. It draws on data generated from a qualitative case study that engaged 70 stakeholders namely students, graduates, lecturers, administrators and workplace supervisors. Undertaken between 2016 and 2019, the study reveals the complexities and prospects associated with the design and delivery of vocational placements in stressed education and labour market contexts. From a social constructivist perspective, we make contextual pedagogical propositions for unleashing the educative power of vocational placements in Uganda and similar contexts.

The reality of the troubles young people encounter in navigating confining social and institutional settings to become productive workers and flourishing citizens in sub-Saharan African countries like Uganda continues to attract all sorts of theoretical and social policy assumptions. One such prominent assumption is the idea that increased young people’s participation in agricultural education and work has the potential to stem escalating youth unemployment. The related narrative that young people are less keen to plunge their learning and work life in agriculture owing to its low social status poses a huge education and labour policy dilemma across SSA and similar contexts. Amid this dilemma are narratives, which seem to underplay the influential social arrangements that structure the education–work trajectories of young people and the perceptions and practice of micro-social actors in the agriculture education and labour markets. Questionable narratives that often attempt to frame young people as authors of their own troubled work transitions abound sections of social policy and development discourse. Moreover, mainstream research and evaluative studies in Uganda and similar contexts do have a traditional focus on macro and meso structures with limited methodological interest into the voices and experiences of frontline social actors. Accordingly, this qualitative study is an in-depth examination of personal and contextual influences on young people’s agricultural education-employment transitions; and exploration of how to improve transition processes for optimising learning and labour market outcomes. The findings reveal unprecedented resilience and volitions of young people to advance their education–work trajectories despite the structural barriers. The study showed a reasonable degree of enthusiasm amongst some micro-social actors in supporting young people on their life transitions though often constrained by confining social and institutional arrangements. The study yielded robust evidence into the difficulties to cause AET system improvements for better student outcomes but also delivered incredible insights for making change possible. Freeing and nurturing the individual agency of Ugandan young people to choose and pursue agricultural education and work aspirations along the constricting pathways enacted as part of societal canalisation is among the core elements of this thesis. The agency freedom and professional autonomy of frontline social actors, especially agricultural educators to enable them to practise craftsmanship, democracy and associated transformative approaches for better preparation of young people to navigate their education and career trajectories is equally a core argument of this thesis.

This article explores the critical role of healthy community-university engagement in fostering transformative development and enhancing institutional vitality. It argues that universities must move beyond transactional outreach to embrace reciprocal, sustained partnerships with communities. Such engagement not only enriches experiential learning and research relevance but also positions universities as co-creators of knowledge and catalysts for inclusive change. The paper conceptualises ‘healthy engagement’ as a dynamic process rooted in mutual respect, shared goals, and epistemic justice, where community voices shape academic inquiry and institutional priorities. The article demonstrates how collaborative models of engagement contribute to community resilience, student empowerment, institutional credibility and the cultivation of humanity.

This chapter examines the unmet education needs of refugees with disabilities in accessing Technical Vocational Education and Training (TVET). Using research conducted in South Africa, Zimbabwe and Uganda, it focuses on education experiences of refugees in Uganda to highlight the significant lack of provision in policy and practice. This situation is particularly alarming in the context of limited education and training opportunities and low school attendance in primary school despite increasing TVET policy and development interventions. The chapter uses critical capabilities theory and lifelong learning to reinforce the dual need to address the compounded barriers faced by refugees with disabilities in TVET and the need to develop learning pathways and educational transitions that support their life goals. In this narrative, we argue that the refugee policy has inherent structural limitations that limit education transition. We propose practical policy adaptations that promote inclusion and lifelong learning. <!----> <!----> <!----> <!---->