South Africa’s political settlement preempted any radical reform of economy, society, and education. The new Schools Act legislation ceded considerable power to school governing bodies to determine language policies and enrollment levels of a school.
"I hold a Bachelor's Degree in Arts..." - Nelson Mandela in opening his defense at the historic Rivonia Trial.
"It expresses both an achievement and an ideal worth striving for," explains Jonathan Jansen, internationally renowned South African education expert. In that year, only 298 Africans passed "matric" with university entrance and only 98 had been awarded bachelor's degrees in the previous year. "Even today," continues Jansen, "holding a first degree would distinguish a young South African from disadvantaged communities; in the 1960s, such an achievement would have been stupendous." Equity-focused educational change is Mandela’s legacy and Jonathan Jansen's current work. He seeks to turn around some of the most dysfunctional schools in rural South Africa. Helen Janc Malone also weighs in.
Why didn't Mandela's government force integration in all schools once they came into power?
South Africa’s political settlement preempted any radical reform of economy, society, and education. The new Schools Act legislation ceded considerable power to school governing bodies to determine language policies and enrollment levels of a school. Also, the new government feared that any strong intervention in White schools would cause middle class communities to establish their own private institutions. Many White schools had allowed for gradual racial integration without reaching that tipping point where Black student numbers caused White flight. Where that happened, all White schools became all Black schools overnight.
White Afrikaans schools would often remain White using language rights (Afrikaans) as a shield to defend the status quo. Rural White Afrikaans schools came under pressure to admit Black students from overcrowded township schools; in many cases, this led to parallel English classes for Black students, not without racial conflict. Overall, the march to racial integration in all schools continues, and it is simply a matter of time given the overwhelmingly large number of Black students.
What types of public schools currently exist in South Africa?
The first major differentiator is race. More than 80% of schools are exclusively Black; this is unlikely to change given White racial consciousness and set patterns of residential segregation. The only changes to be expected will continue to be in the minority of White schools where racial integration has been uneven but will, in time, result in Black majority schools as well.
The second differentiator is class. Middle class schools have raised more and more of their school funds from parent contributions as state funding to these public schools declined. The wealthy White public schools are mainly English with smaller numbers of Black students given the exorbitant school fees that exclude Black students. Black schools are further subdivided according to five "quintiles," which reflect different levels of socio-economic need, with the poorest schools receiving more state funding than the rest.
What is being done to create excellent schools for all in South African children?
The primary instrument for governmental action has been state policy. The policies have been largely symbolic statements of anti-apartheid values. In practice, there has been a considerable distance between policy and practice for the following reasons: low levels of capacity for implementation; high levels of corruption; weak accountability systems for teachers; and a strong teachers union, allied to the ruling party.
Also, the policy-driven reforms have focused largely on achievements on test scores, without the same attention given to the sufficiency of adequate resources and the quality of the educational process itself. Finally, reform interventions at the school level, such as new curricula, consistently underestimate the levels of dysfunction in township schools and the low levels of subject matter competence among teachers.
The most successful interventions to reform schools happen outside of government through non-governmental organizations. Most of these focus on improvements in science and mathematics education, and there is demonstrable evidence that without the impacts of these non-state initiatives, the achievements of poor township schools would be even more disastrous. The limitations of such initiatives are their inadequate system-wide impacts; for 29,000 schools you need a government that is committed to educational reform beyond simply increasing the levels of funding to schools.
Helen, what can we learn from South Africa's system level change?
Racial integration is a gradual endeavor in societies with turbulent racial pasts. The call for integration and democracy is not often matched in practice. Racial and socio-economic stratification persists in one form or another and continues to undermine the opportunities for all children to receive quality education.
The challenges facing the South African public education system underscore the need to approach change in a comprehensive way; encouraging public-private partnerships and school-community relationships, focusing attention on improving the teaching force. Access to quality learning opportunities for Black students from lower and middle classes must be at the heart of reform. This is not just a matter of equity; it is critical for the democracy and the prosperity of the country as a whole.
The challenges of South Africa present illustrative considerations for the global community. As many societies struggle to move away from barriers that stifled social prosperity, educational change necessitates fresh approaches that lift up all students and, in particular, the traditionally marginalized, using education as a vehicle for positive social change.
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To read more about Jansen's and Malone's work on equity, see Leading Educational Change: Global Issues, Challenges, and Lessons on Whole-System Reform (Teachers College Press, 2013) at http://store.tcpress.com/0807754730.shtml
Author and Journalist C. M. Rubin's award winning series, The Global Search for Education, brings together distinguished thought leaders in education and innovation from around the world to explore the key learning issues faced by most nations. She is also the author of three bestselling books, including The Real Alice in Wonderland, is the publisher of CMRubinWorld, and is a Disruptor Foundation Fellow.