This paper provides a broad overview of the economic dimensions of the educational situation in South Africa a decade after the political transition. An important question is whether changes since the transition have substantially ameliorated the role of race in education. Census and survey data show that quantitative educational attainment differentials (years of education) have been substantially reduced, but qualitative differentials remain larger. Despite massive resource shifts to black schools, overall matriculation results did not improve in the post-apartheid period. Thus the school system contributes little to supporting the upward mobility of poor children in the labour market. The persistence of former racial inequalities is reflected in extremely poor pass rates in mainly black schools (the majority of schools), with high standard deviations. Regressions of matriculation pass rates from school level data show that racial composition of schools--as proxy for former school department--remains a major explanatory factor besides socio-economic background (as measured by school fees set by school governing bodies) and educational inputs (measured by teacher--pupil ratios and teacher salaries as proxy for qualifications and experience). Furthermore, remarkable differentials in performance among black schools cannot be accounted for by socio-economic background or teaching resources, pointing to the importance of school management. The malfunctioning of large parts of the school system appears largely a problem of x-inefficiency rather than allocative efficiency. This requires urgent attention to the functioning of poorly performing schools, to permit continued upward mobility of the largest part of the workforce as well as to support sustained economic growth. Copyright 2007 The author 2007. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Centre for the Study of African Economies. All rights reserved. For permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org, Oxford University Press.

/pdf/apartheid-s-enduring-legacy-inequalities-in-education-3qav9nmglu.pdf

Apartheid's Enduring Legacy: Inequalities in Education

This paper examines and questions the predictions found in the academic and policy literature of social breakdown in southern Africa in the wake of anticipated high rates of orphanhood caused by the AIDS epidemic Analysis of the logic underlying these predictions reveals four causal relationships necessary to fulfil such dramatic and apocalyptic predictions: High AIDS mortality rates will produce high numbers of orphans These orphans will become children who do not live in appropriate social environments to equip them for adult citizenship Poor socialisation will mean that children orphaned by AIDS will not live within society's moral codes (becoming, for example, street children or juvenile delinquents) Large numbers of such ‘asocial’ or ‘antisocial’ children will precipitate a breakdown in the social fabric Evidence for each of these steps in the argument is scrutinised using available data from southern Africa and other regions that have moved further through the epidemic's cycle The paper finds 

/pdf/predicting-the-social-consequences-of-orphanhood-in-south-54duld2mpz.pdf

Predicting the social consequences of orphanhood in South Africa

The weak quality of education received by most poor children in South Africa places them in permanent disadvantage relative to those attending the mainly more affluent and better performing schools. This document draws from a large number of studies undertaken for a major project and summarises this evidence, which illustrating that low quality schools act as a poverty trap.

Low quality education as a poverty trap

The needs to find ways of lifting people out of poverty and to transform the existing patterns of inequality in South Africa are high on the country’s development agenda. Much hope is often vested in education as an opportunity for children from poor households to overcome the disadvantage of their background and escape poverty. The logic of this is often conceived of in terms of the human capital model, according to which education improves an individual’s productivity, which in turn is rewarded on the labour market by higher earnings. However, there is a circularity in the relationship between socio-economic status (SES) and education, in that it is well known that a student’s SES has an important influence their educational achievement. Drawing on data from the recent Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS 2006), this paper investigates the extent to which SES affects educational achievement in the case of South Africa, and moves on to consider the implications of this for the ability of the education system to be an institution that transforms existing patterns of inequality rather than reproducing such patterns.

The importance of socio-economic status in determining educational achievement in South Africa

[T]here is not one distribution of income but many: income is distributed across racial groups, income classes, present and future generations, and so on. Moreover, a given distribution is not a one-dimensional magnitude: it has as many dimensions or components as there are relevant “classes” (Bromberger 1982, p. 166).

/pdf/current-poverty-and-income-distribution-in-the-context-of-1atp5ga03v.pdf

Current poverty and income distribution in the context of South African history

Returns to education in south africa: a retrospective sensitivity analysis of the available evidence

How important is education for getting ahead in South Africa

What prevents the unemployed in Khayelitsha, South Africa from trying self-employment? Perceptions of a small group of academic economists are presented and compared to the perceptions of unemployed Khayelitsha residents themselves. The largest differences in view-points are that a) academics believe that the general business skills of residents hold the unemployed back substantially while residents perceive it as a minor issue; and b) compared to academics, residents of Khayelitsha give much more weight to jealousy within the community and to the continual vulnerability to business failure as barriers to trying self-employment.

/pdf/economists-versus-the-street-comparative-viewpoints-on-2ev7ds482f.pdf

Laura Poswell

Papers

Returns to education in south africa: a retrospective sensitivity analysis of the available evidence

How important is education for getting ahead in South Africa

Economists versus the Street: Comparative Viewpoints on Barriers to Self-employment in Khayelitsha, South Africa

Economists versus the Street: Comparative Viewpoints on Barriers to Self-employment in Khayelitsha, South Africa