South African Education System Research Articles

How well is the South African education system preparing students for the Fourth Industrial Revolution?

How well is the South African education system preparing students for the Fourth Industrial Revolution?

Is Transition from Secondary to Tertiary Education Less Likely among Black South Africans than their Non-Black Counterparts in the Democratic Dispensation?

Education provides the building blocks for skills development for acountry’s labour market. Investment in education is hence an importantdeterminant of economic growth and has been associated with various economicbenefits. However, non-transition to tertiary education is a common phenomenon.This study examined the probability of a specified age cohort transiting to tertiaryeducation in South Africa and compared Black South Africans with otherpopulation groups considering environmental and individual factors. Usingcross-sectional data from the 2016 South African Community Survey, the studyrevealed that the difference in the probability of transition to tertiary educationbetween Whites and Blacks was not statistically significant. The findings will beuseful to policymakers in formulating strategies to improve the quality of thelabour market, and thus South Africa’s economic competitiveness.Key words: Transition to tertiary education, South African education system,apartheid education, post-apartheid education, economic development

Can Decentralisation of Structures and Devolution of Governance Power Enable an Effective Response to COVID-19 Disruptions? Lessons from the South African Education System

Can Decentralisation of Structures and Devolution of Governance Power Enable an Effective Response to COVID-19 Disruptions? Lessons from the South African Education System

Decolonization of Higher Education in South Africa

Abstract Western education still dominates the education terrain across Africa. For some people, the dominance is nothing but ‘academic imperialism,’ which is believed to have relegated African scholars to mere conduits of knowledge through which European and American scholarship and interests are protected and promoted. Consequently, a dissident voice is resonating in the African educational system, particularly South African education system, demanding the recognition of ‘home-grown’ knowledge to solve home-grown problems. This article engages the debate about decolonization of higher education in South Africa and asks the fundamental question of whether or not it is possible to achieve a fully decolonized curriculum in a society that is already cloaked and engulfed by capitalism and Western ideologies.

The influence of parental demographics on school choice decision-making in Western Gauteng, South Africa

Major political changes since 1994 have initiated the pace of change in the South African education system. Parents’ values, traditions and practices that served in the past were no longer relevant in the new dynamic educational environment. Parental school choice and “the right to choose” movement has subsequently come to the fore. The purpose of this article elucidates findings regarding the demographics of active school choice engagement among middle class parents in Western Gauteng, South Africa. The study, situated in the Gauteng province, South Africa, followed a conclusive research design with a post positivist paradigm. Parent questionnaires were distributed to different types of urban schools to establish the perceptions of parents regarding the factors, anxieties, aspirations and strategies influencing school choice decision-making. Findings reveal that language, income and education not only have a definitive influence on active school choice engagement but also affect the level of importance attached to specific school choice factors. Education in South Africa can thus be viewed as a unique complex system embedded in a political, cultural and economic context.

Ubuntu pedagogy – transforming educational practices in South Africa through an African philosophy: from theory to practice

Education in South Africa, and Africa at large, has always been construed from Eurocentric perspectives despite Africa being rich with indigenous philosophies and knowledge systems such as the Ubuntu philosophy. In this paper, we bring forth the viability of Ubuntu pedagogy, which draws from the indigenous Ubuntu philosophy, for the promotion of co-existence, social cohesion and inclusivity in education. Drawing from the Collective Fingers Theory, we examine the extent to which the principles of Ubuntu philosophy can cultivate and restore African indigenous values and cultures in diverse educational settings. We draw from literature to position Ubuntu pedagogy within educational practices. Themes emerging from the subject literature are: Collective Fingers theory, Ubuntu philosophy, principles of Ubuntu pedagogy. As a transformative approach, Ubuntu pedagogy, when embraced with the understanding and dignity it deserves, has a potential not only for reconnecting students with their indigenous values, heritage and cultures, but it also has a capacity to cultivate Ubuntu social values of solidarity, co-existence, respect and cooperation among students. We recommend Ubuntu pedagogy as a transformative and decolonial approach that promotes inclusion and social justice. The paper provides principles that guide the possible and effective implementation of Ubuntu pedagogy in diverse educational settings and implications for practice. The paper contributes to the ongoing debates on the decolonisation of education and the role of Ubuntu philosophy in the restoration of African values in the South African education system.

Power in pedagogy: legacies of apartheid in a South African school

ABSTRACT This paper explores the profound connection between race, gender, and culture in post-apartheid education at a public Afrikaans dual-language school in South Africa. Illustrating how the residues and remnants of apartheid legacies propagate arcane constructions of whiteness through interwoven racial and gendered stereotypes, this research maps the dynamic motility of local regimes of power that erase students’ individuality, discipline their agency, and influence their identities through their everyday school experiences. Using a critical race theory approach, Foucauldian theoretical frameworks and Bourdieu’s notions of cultural capital, this critical ethnographic case study draws on observations and interviews with students and teachers. Written from the positionality of a US researcher, with the critically reflexive view of an outsider to the Afrikaans culture and the South African educational system, this paper considers the power of remaining constructions of whiteness to dominate, reproduce and fortify demoded and baneful gender regimes and racial hierarchies in educational spaces.

The integration of technology in supporting progressed learners in English First Additional Language comprehension

This study aims at finding the impact of information and communication technology (ICT) as an intervention tool for progressed learners in teaching and learning of English first additional language (FAL) comprehension in the intermediate phase. With learner progression proving a challenge facing the South African education system, the aim of this qualitative descriptive study was to investigate the extent to which first additional language educators employ ICT as an intervention tool to assist learners who are progressed. Data collection strategies used in this study were semi-structured interviews and documentation such as lesson plans, progression tracking tools and support policies used at selected schools. The study population was eight intermediate phase English FAL educators from two Tembisa schools. Tembisa is a township north of Kempton Park on the East Rand, in Gauteng, South Africa. In selecting these participants, purposive sampling techniques were used. Data was analysed using ATLAS.ti and presented in a descriptive and graphical way. There is limited research in South Africa on the impact of ICT for progressed learners or a progression policy, as this policy is a relatively new phenomenon. The findings from this study indicated that the use of ICT in a classroom to support progressed learners yields positive results. The findings further indicated that ICT has a potential to reduce failure rates that ultimately minimises the number of learners who need to be progressed without meeting promotional requirements.

Teaching Mathematics during the COVID-19 Lockdown in a Context of Historical Disadvantage

The COVID-19 global pandemic widely affected education across the world and engendered unprecedented scenarios that required expeditious responses. In South Africa, the pandemic came on top of pre-existing inequalities in the education system. Using a qualitative research method of exploratory and descriptive nature, this study engaged a social justice framework to explore the teaching and learning of mathematics during the COVID-19 lockdown in a context of historical disadvantage. A sample of twenty-three Grade 12 mathematics teachers at various public secondary schools in Gauteng, South Africa was used in the study. The teachers were selected through purposive sampling. A Google-generated open-ended questionnaire and follow-up telephonic interviews were used to collect data. Data were analysed thematically in five steps. The findings revealed that the WhatsApp platform is a valuable tool that can support the teaching and learning of mathematics beyond the classroom in the contexts of historical disadvantage. The findings also provided insights into how mathematics teachers became learners themselves during emergency remote teaching (ERT) as they had to adapt to digital teaching, find solutions to unfamiliar problems and acquire knowledge from a larger mathematics education community around the globe. The article discusses these findings and teachers’ challenges of transitioning from traditional face-to-face classrooms to ERT and how they were addressed. At the time of publishing the article, most learners in South Africa had started going to school on a rotational basis. Nonetheless, the study reported in this article is of importance as ERT in the context of historical disadvantage has foregrounded issues of inequality in the South African education system that must be dealt with urgently.

Institutionalized inequities and the cloak of equality in the South African educational context

The spread of neoliberalism in the South African education system provides a template for ways that regimes co-opt the values of excellence and equality while implementing policies that contradict these values. Specifically, South Africa’s education system is “cloaked” in equality, although institutionalized inequality persists long beyond the end of the Apartheid system. Neoliberal education policies legitimize the expectation that “excellence” (i.e., quality) and “equality” are synonymous, which is what leads to the development of a “cloak of equality.” But, in practice, these equivocations become mutually contradictory, as the South African context suggests. This paper examines selected elements of neoliberalism as they are embedded within the South African education system and connects those elements to the development of a symbolic “cloak of equality” that masks institutionalized inequities within the broader system.

The implementation of the progression policy in secondary schools of the Limpopo province in South Africa

Globally, policy implementation in the education system has been found to be a challenging area of development. The South African education system is no exception to the ineffective implementation of policies. For example, in South Africa, the progression policy was introduced by the Department of Education in 2013 for the purpose of minimising school drop-out rates. It was intended particularly for learners who had been retained for more than 4 years in a phase. However, progressed learners have been said to be contributing to the decline of Grade 12 national results in 2015 and 2016. We argue that due procedures in the implementation of this policy could have affected the performance of progressed learners, and in turn the overall matriculation results. A qualitative approach was followed and a descriptive case study design was adopted in the study reported on here. Data were collected through document analysis and semi-structured interviews from 2 secondary schools in the Dimamo circuit, Limpopo province. We found that the progression policy was not implemented according to the stipulations. Communication breakdown, negative teacher attitude, overcrowded classrooms, a lack of knowledge and support were found to be contributory factors in the ineffective implementation of the policy.

Gender, Age and Grade Level Differences in Psychological Factors among Immigrant Francophone Adolescent Learners in the South African School Setting

Psychological factors are important for boys or girls, depending on age and grade level. This study examines emotional regulation, aggressiveness, empathy, and sympathy, as psychological factors to peer interaction, manifest in adolescence. Eighty-three participants were conveniently and purposively selected at South African schools (N= 83, 52 girls and 31 boys, aged between 14 and 19 years). A psychological factors scale was purposively employed as a data collection instrument. The chi-square results partially confirmed previous results, namely, aggressiveness and sympathy, by gender and age. However, this did not apply to emotional regulation. This study recommended that the South African education system consider aggressiveness a psychological factor, playing a critical role in violence at schools among young adolescents.

AN EXPLORATION OF THE PROGRESSION POLICY AND ITS EF

This article examines the Progression Policy and its effects on learner achievement in the Further Education and Training Phase (Grades 10 to 12) amongst five underperforming public secondary schools in Pinetown. Since the adoption of the Progression Policy, the pass rate noticeable declined between 2014 and 2016. Thus, the Progression Policy is used in this study as an analytical framework, whilst the qualitative research design was used to gather data. The faceto-face semi-structured interviews, as well as focus group discussions with educators and principals, served as data collection methods. This study emphasized challenges attributed to the implementation of the Curriculum and Assessment Policy Statement and the Progression Policy in the Pinetown District. The study further revealed that the South African education system, from the Foundation Phase level all the way up, is plagued by serious challenges. The identified challenges include a lack of parental support, learner absenteeism, learner indiscipline, learner demotivation, resource allocation, and teacher-learner ratios. The results also revealed that the socioeconomic environment contributes to a dysfunctional condition in schools, which has a negative influence on the teaching and learning experience amongst educators and learners. Thus, the study proposes the reconfiguration of the Progression Policy alongside practicable and relatable recommendations inconsonance to study.

CHALLENGES IN DEVELOPING AND SUPPORTING ENTREPRENEURSHIP EDUCATION: A CASE STUDY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF ZULULAND

Entrepreneurship education is broadly considered an important factor in promoting an entrepreneurial culture among higher education students. Considering the importance of entrepreneurship with regard to economic growth, job creation and poverty alleviation, there is a need to train entrepreneurs and to equip them with an entrepreneurial culture that promotes entrepreneurship. However, the South African education system is lacking when it comes to entrepreneurship education. The education system seems to promote the white-collar jobs rather than self-employment, and the methodology that is used to teach entrepreneurship studies, focuses more on the theory of entrepreneurship than on its practice. Against this background, this study sought to identify the challenges to develop and support entrepreneurship education by focusing on the University of Zululand as a case study. The researcher used primary data for this study. The study adopted a qualitative approach, where data was collected using interview schedules from 11 heads of departments of the university’s faculties. The results from the study show that the development of curriculum, inexperienced educators, and the methodology used to teach entrepreneurship education, are some of the challenges that are hindering the promotion of entrepreneurship education. A policy implication that arose from these findings, is that there is a need for the development of entrepreneurship-based curriculum to promote entrepreneurship. The policymakers were also encouraged to employ educators who are qualified and experienced in teaching entrepreneurship. The development of incubation centres for grooming entrepreneurs at higher learning institutions was also recommended.

How language challenges affect the behaviour of immigrant learners in the Foundation Phase at three schools in Gauteng, South Africa

Background: The education of immigrant children is influenced by many factors that emanate from global socio-economic and political issues. In the South African education system, teachers do not have guidelines on how to include immigrant children from diverse linguistic and cultural backgrounds. The question that arose was ‘what effect does poor language proficiency have on immigrant learners’ psychosocial development?’ Aim: This study focused on how language challenges experienced by immigrant children influence their relationships with themselves and others in the learning environment. The second objective was to find out how teachers are coping with immigrant learners. Setting: Learners were purposively selected from former Model C Foundation Phase classrooms in three selected schools in Gauteng province, South Africa. Former Model C schools are schools that accepted only white children prior to the early 1990s. Methods: This study uses an interpretive research paradigm with thematic analysis of data from focus group interviews and individual interviews. Participants were 48 Foundation Phase learners, 24 female educators and three school principals. Results: The results suggest that language barriers create a vicious cycle of negative emotions and unhealthy interactive patterns between immigrant and local children. Immigrant learners experience cognitive and social inhibition, isolation and bullying by the local learners. Conclusion: There are implications for the integration of psychosocial content in teaching a language. This could empower Foundation Phase teachers with guidelines for teaching English to all second language learners in a way that fosters positive adjustment of immigrant children and prosocial behaviour in the learning environment.

The relationship between teachers’ professional wellbeing and principals’ leadership styles to improve teacher retention

Challenges and changes in the South African education system could have an impact on teachers’ professional wellbeing, which, in turn, results in changes in teacher retention rates. The leadership of the school principal directly influences teachers’ experience of professional wellbeing. Some research focuses on teacher wellbeing, and much research focuses on principals’ leadership and leadership styles; however, no research that tries to find a link between these two variables was found. In this research, the main aim was to explore the relationship between the principal’s leadership style and teachers’ professional wellbeing. The research design was a quantitative survey design embedded in the post-positivist paradigm. Two standardised instruments – the Institute of Work Psychology Multi-Affect Indicator and the Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire – were used to collect data among teachers from 20 selected schools in the Kenneth Kaunda District of the North-West Province of South Africa. Descriptive statistics were used to analyse the data. The results showed a clear relationship between different leadership styles and wellbeing. Transformational and transactional leadership styles positively contribute to teachers’ professional wellbeing, whereas laissez-faire leadership has a negative influence on their professional wellbeing. The use of transformational and transactional leadership styles results in teachers reporting positive job-related affective wellbeing, which can, in turn, influence teachers to remain in the profession due to their experience of enhanced professional wellbeing.

Critical Entrepreneurship Education in General Education and TVET: Two Concepts of Practice in a South African Township

Abstract This paper examines the dominant approach to entrepreneurship education in the South African education system regarding the crisis of youth unemployment. It draws on the case of the public-school sector, in conjunction with the technical vocational education and training (TVET) subsector of the post-school education sector. The comparison of the entrepreneurship education sector plan for public schools with the discourse on TVET reform shows that entrepreneurship education similarly follows the čskills perspective’ with a dominant focus on the formal economy, which is informed by a human-capital based and productivist approach to education. The authors argue that this understanding of entrepreneurship education employs a too narrow perspective on youth unemployment as it overlooks individual capabilities and agency and can contribute to an experience of youth unemployment as individual failure. The authors expand this argument by suggesting a critical entrepreneurship education approach, which is outlined based on two programmes at primary-school and post-school education (TVET) level in a poor urban area. The authors argue that a critical entrepreneurship education approach contributes to learning for capabilities, social justice and democratic citizenship.

School governance and funding policy in South Africa: Towards social justice and equity in education policy

Equity and redress, in and through education, are fundamental commitments of the new South African democratic government that ensued in 1994 after a brutal and protracted history of colonial and apartheid segregation and oppression denied the majority black population the fundamental right to equitable and quality education. A raft of ambitious and far-reaching policies were put in place to achieve these laudable goals. Yet more than 26 years after the ending of colonial and apartheid rule, the South African education system, and society in general, remain, far from equal – made apparent by the current COVID-19 pandemic. In this paper we take a critical (re)look at South African education governance and funding policies, considering why the South African Schools Acts (SASA) and the National Norms and Standards for School Funding (NNSSF), first promulgated in 1997 and 1998 and subsequently amended, have not delivered as expected on the promises of equity, redistribution and redress. The paper advances conceptual flaws, operational failures and implementation naivety as to why these promises have not been realised, advocating for an alternative social justice model for school governance and funding.

Learner performance in the 2009 to 2014 final Grade 12 mathematics examination: A quantile regression approach

The South African education system bears evidence of fluctuations in the final Grade 12 mathematics marks occurring across different learner profiles. This study reflected on the National Senior Certificate (NSC) mathematics results from the Western Cape Education Department for the years 2009 to 2014, the period just after the introduction of the NSC in 2008 and including the updated NSC introduced in 2014. Accordingly, this study aimed to examine the learners’ performance by socio-economic school quintile and education district for the period of 2009 to 2014, for learners in the Western Cape. Instead of the ordinary regression model, we adopted the quantile regression approach to examine the effect of school (national) quintile (NQ) type and education district at different quantiles of learner performance in the mathematics examination. The results showed that there is a significant school quintile type and education district effect on learner performance in NSC mathematics examinations for learners in the Western Cape. In some years, there were no significant performance differences between learners from NQ2 and NQ4 schools in the different quantiles. Similarly, learner performance differences for NQ3 and NQ4 schools were not significant. As we moved from 2009 to 2014, the performance difference between the lower school quintiles and the upper school quintiles narrowed, although the performance differences remained significant. These differences were smallest in 2013. This is a good sign, as it indicates that government efforts and policies, designed to narrow the historical social disparities manifested in the schools, have been somewhat successful. The identification and scrutinising of school quintile type and education district where the gap is wider will assist the government to review policies and interventions to accelerate the transformation.

The Impact of Using Code Alternation in Teaching Life Science to English First Additional Language learners in South African Schools

The study aimed at investigating the extent to which English is used as a medium of teaching and learning Life Sciences in a South African rural high school. As the government has given recognition to the country’s multilingual, multi-ethnic and multicultural composition, School Governing Bodies are mandated to choose any of the eleven official languages as a medium of instruction (RSA, Act 108 of 1996), but the power of deciding which language to use as a medium of instruction has been taken by teachers to shield their own shortcomings. To be able to explore and understand the prevailing situation, the researchers employed a qualitative design which translated into researchers observing classes, evaluating learners’ written texts and interviewing the teachers as methods of collecting data. The findings are that: first, learners’ and teachers’ proficiency levels in English are very low, as such, the English language is not a pivot of learning and teaching in the South African education system. This emanates from the fact that although in theory the majority of the South African schools have adopted English as a medium of instruction, in practice, this is far from the truth as teachers employ code alternation in the form of code switching, code mixing and sentence translation as viable means of scaffolding the learning of content subjects.