Education, citizenship and difference in the South African transition: policy, politics and practice

Abstract

ABSTRACTThe article looks at three approaches to analysing the relationship between education, citizenship and difference that have been evident in the transition to democracy in South Africa. First, it examines the position that education moulds good citizens and overcomes discriminatory differences, which is evident in the South African Education Policy Act. (This position is similar to that expounded in the Crick Report.) Second, it looks at the view that education is an enactment of citizenship and a celebration of difference. This is articulated in the new South African Curriculum 2005, which celebrates the school as just one of a number of learning spaces, but which is only slowly being implemented with considerable difficulty in overcoming deeply entrenched and multifaceted discriminatory views. Third, it looks at the view, articulated in the South African Constitution of 1996, that education is a relatively autonomous space and that in this particular institutional space education, difference and citizenship are in tension. While there is potential for a creative dialogue to emerge in this historically formed space, preliminary research findings indicate how difficult and diffuse the process of transformation is likely to be.