Abstract
Imagination is supposed to act as a means by which one’s mind is freed from the often contextual limitations to which one becomes accustomed. But what if imagination, in the instance of already marginalised learners serves to limit their thoughts, in particular their abilities to imagine the possibility of attaining success? The need for substantive equality is highlighted in this paper as such equality focuses on the degree to which individuals have been disadvantaged when determining the level of support required at present. Through the use of narrative inquiry, learners were given a platform from which to express their individual experiences of inequality and their imaginings of themselves in the future. From this, we were able to fathom the degree to which learners’ imaginations of success were limited by experiences of inequality. Findings suggested that mere formal equality was insufficient to aid the emancipation of these learners and therefore a sort of substantive equality was required. A shift in policy is thus necessitated so as to provide teachers with a different tool to address such limited abilities to imagine.
Highlights
In the instance of already marginalised learners serves to limit their thoughts, in particular their abilities to imagine the possibility of attaining success? The need for substantive equality is highlighted in this paper as such equality focuses on the degree to which individuals have been disadvantaged when determining the level of support required at present
Spaull (2015) goes on to claim that the vast majority of South African learners are exposed to a school world somewhat different from the one that caters for wealthier learners
Upon analyzing the data gathered for this paper, we discovered that imagination, in the instances of some marginalised learners tended to be limited by context and experience
Summary
This was evident with learners who had constantly been exposed to instances of marginalisation through existing in structures which forced upon them a school world in which performance was generally poor and success was seldom achieved Remaining cognisant of these already existing structures we set about gathering data in a manner which allowed participants to imagine freely whilst having the opportunity to word and reword their imaginings. Unlike with formal equality, in the instance of substantive equality an unequal application of rules is often necessitated It becomes apparent, that when taking into consideration the different degrees of disadvantage to which learners have been subjected, to merely rely on policy, which forms a type of formal equality, is insufficient and falls short of truly achieving equality. As argued by Ntho-Ntho and Niewenhuis (2016) such is not the case in South Africa’s contemporary education system
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