The formal end of apartheid was greeted with optimism and expectations. A new Government of National Unity with Nelson Mandela at its head signaled a new just and democratic social order, including social justice in and through education. Twenty years later, formally desegregated yet class-based educational institutions, continuing disparities and inequities, and poor academic achievement are key features of the contemporary educational order. This article considers how far South Africa has come since 1994 in realizing laudable constitutional and policy goals, especially equity, quality, and social justice in education. It argues, however, that, as a consequence of policy, the doors of learning remain firmly shut to the majority of South Africans. Some key strategies to advance social justice are identified. A failure to act now and with urgency to reform South Africa’s educational approach betrays constitutional ideals and leaves intact the systemic crisis of education that especially affects South Afric...

http://digitalknowledge.cput.ac.za/bitstream/11189/3268/5/Badat-Saleem-Sayed-Yusuf-Post-1994-South-African-Education-The-Challenge-of-Social-Justice-%20The-%20Annals-Of%20-The%20-American%20%e2%80%93Academy-2014.pdf

Post-1994 South African Education The Challenge of Social Justice

The author discusses the evolution of ideas about the relationship between national and international development and educational change since World War II. He critically reviews relevant literature in comparative and international education, focusing on the concept of teachers’ work. The analyses draw on theories of postcolonialism. The author argues that virtually without exception, studies of, and theories about, teaching as work are based on the experiences of the northern hemisphere, particularly developed countries. He calls for qualitative methodologies and fieldwork to analyze teaching and teaching as work in modern South Africa and other subaltern countries. The research agenda seeks to revise existing notions of teachers’ work emphasizing conditions in industrialized countries and to interrogate their utility given the profoundly different conditions in developing countries. It also seeks to make problematic conventional understandings of globalization and glocal development, arguing that these ...

Globalization, “Glocal” Development, and Teachers’ Work: A Research Agenda

The Low Achievement Trap: Comparing Schooling in Botswana and South Africa

The government’s educational reforms since 1994 have focused on equity and redress. Redressing historical imbalances and achieving equity are fundamental policy mechanisms in attempts to restructure South African  education. This aspiration is demonstrated in many education policies including the National Norms and Standards  for School Funding (NNSSF) policy. While inequalities in resource allocation from the state have been removed,  inequalities persist due to the inability of the state to provide free education to all, parents’ inability to pay  user-fees, the unavailability of qualified teachers in rural schools and unfavourable learner-teacher ratios. A  quantitative research was conducted to investigate the implications of the NNSSF policy on equity in public schools in  the Tshwane West District of the Gauteng Province. Based on the three first order factors derived from the first  analytic procedure, namely, “The effective financial management”, “The management of equity issues” and “Access to educational resources”, it was found that despite substantial government interventions in the education system, equity has not been fully realised. Keywords : access, equity, financial management, funding, inequality, National Norms and Standards, no-fee schools, policy, school fees, social justice

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The implications of the National Norms and Standards for school funding policy on equity in South African public schools

In spite of numerous definitions of quality, consensus on what constitutes quality is less clear and contested. Using South Africa as a case study, this paper explores the current conceptual thinking and debates about education quality. Specifically the paper reviews selected South African policy texts to identify how some of the global dimensions of quality map onto South African policy discourse. The paper begins by reviewing some of the conceptual work in the area and concentrates on identifying and exploring some of the dimensions of quality. This is followed by a brief contextualisation of policy development in South Africa leading to an analysis of key issues and debates in discourses about quality present in selected education policy texts. The concluding section identifies, through the South African experience, some of the global challenges and ways forward. The paper notes the many challenges present in South Africa's attempts to balance equity, diversity, right and participation in delivering go...

Education quality in post‐apartheid South African policy: balancing equity, diversity, rights and participation

Through an analysis of recent quantitative data on equity and school funding in South 
Africa, this article aims to explicate the patterns and typology of inequality in post-apartheid 
South Africa, and to deepen our understanding of the construct of equity. It also aims to 
understand the application of equity in the context of public schooling through a 
disaggregated school-level analysis of a key equity indicator, per capita expenditure. This 
approach quantifies inequity and progress towards equality, and establishes a broader set 
of variables and correlates by which to understand school finance equity. It also analyses 
the impact of private contributions on formal basic schooling. The significance of this study 
lies in its contribution to the quantification of finance equity and inequity through a better 
understanding of finance input data analyses that go beyond race-based analyses.

Shireen Motala

Papers

Education Resourcing in Post-Apartheid South Africa: The Impact of Finance Equity Reforms in Public Schooling: Research Article.