Educational Change in South Africa : Case Studies in Large-Scale Education Reform

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1 Part 2 Educational Change in South Africa : Case Studies in Large-Scale Education Reform Jonathan Jansen Nick Taylor Country Studies Education Reform and Management Publication Series Vol. II No. 1 October

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3 Part 2 Table of Contents About the Authors Acknowledgements Acronyms Executive Summary Introduction The Country Context The Education System The Performance of Education Reform since 1994 A Framing Context for Reading Education Reforms in South Africa Case Study 1: Fiscal Equity in Education Context of the Reform Reform Design, Implementation, and Analysis Significant Increases in Education Expenditures Targeted Funding Through the National Norms and Standards Case Study 2: Teacher Rationalization Context Equalization of Salary Scales Equalization of Pupil to Teacher Ratios Teacher Rationalization Policy Stakeholder Views Implementation Analysis Were the Aims Met? Systemic Considerations Case Study 3: Curriculum Reform Context of the Reform Reform Design and Implementation Analysis A Critical Synthesis and Analysis of Education Reform Initiatives in South Africa On the Deep and Wide of Systemic Reform On the Wide of Systemic Reform On the Deep of Systemic Reform Application to the Case SOURCES III V VII I

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5 Part 2 About the Authors Jonathan D. Jansen is Dean of Education at the University of Pretoria. His initial training was in science education (B.Sc., University of Western Cape; M.S. Cornell University), and later in international development education (Ph.D., Stanford University). He remains an active teacher, teaching both first-year students (on race, identity, and education) and doctoral students (on education policy implementation). He also leads three major research programs with teams comprising doctoral students and new academics, on (1) institutional cultures in higher education, (2) educational policy change in marginal schools, and (3) surveillance systems in Third World education. He serves on the editorial boards of several international journals, including Higher Education (Kluwer) and Qualitative Studies in Education (Taylor and Francis), and on international academic councils such as the International Association for the Advancement of Curriculum Studies. He has published in almost every major international journal in education, and his most recent books are Education Policy Implementation (2001, with Yusuf Sayed, UCT Press) and Mergers in Higher Education (2002, with a team of exceptionally smart doctoral students, UNISA Press). Nick Taylor has a master s degree in geology, a postgraduate teacher s diploma, and a Ph.D. in mathematics education. He taught high school math and science for ten years and then spent four years as a mathematics subject advisor working with teachers in Soweto. In 1988 he joined the Education Policy Unit at the University of the Witwatersrand, from where he was seconded in 1991 to run the National Education Policy Investigation (NEPI) under the auspices of the National Education Coordinating Committee. NEPI was an investigation into policy options for a democratic South Africa. In 1993 he was appointed deputy director, and the following year director of the Joint Education Trust (JET), a partnership between twenty of the country s largest corporations and ten community-based organizations. Over the last ten years JET has been active in managing and researching development programs in the areas of school reform, adult education, and workforce development. Nick Taylor has written extensively on school reform. In 1999 he co-authored the book Getting Learning Right. A companion volume, Getting Schools Working, is due for publication in III 5

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7 Part 2 Acknowledgements The authors would like to acknowledge: the secretarial staff who managed the preparation of the manuscript, Yvonne Munro and Marietta Niemann; the doctoral students who assisted in data management and analysis, including Chaya Herman, Margaret Tshoane, and Kathy Stiles; the Department of Treasury who provided access to the original data reported in the Intergovernmental Fiscal Review; the Department of Education who provided access to school-level management and performance data; the many South African researchers, consultants, and government officials interviewed for purposes of this study; in this regard, a special thanks to Duncan Hindle, Deputy Director General of Education, for his insightful and in-depth commentary; Barbara Bruns at the World Bank for this opportunity; the peer reviewers, Luis Crouch and Peter Buckland, who forwarded thoughtful comments; and Akanksha A. Marphatia and Amanda Enayati. This study is one of a series of case studies of education reform in developing countries during the 1990s commissioned by the Education Reform and Management thematic group of the World Bank. The overall research and the publications were generously supported by a grant from the Netherlands Government through its World Bank Partnership Program. The research was commissioned and guided by Barbara Bruns, assisted by Akanksha A. Marphatia, Amanda Enayati, Julie Wagshal, and Chantal Rigaud. V7

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9 Part 2 Acronyms AIDS Auto-Immune Deficiency Syndrome C2005 Curriculum 2005 DOE Department of Education EC Eastern Cape Province ECD Early Childhood Development FET Further Education and Training College FFC Fiscal and Financial Commission FS Free State Province GDP Gross Domestic Product GET General Education and Training GT Gauteng Province HIV Human Immuno-Deficiency Virus JET Joint Education Trust KZN KwaZulu Natal Province LP Limpopo Province MEC Member of the Executive Committee MP Mpumalanga Province MTEF Medium Term Expenditure Framework NC Northern Cape Province NCS National Curriculum Statements NEPI National Education Policy Investigation NNSSF National Norms and Standards for School Funding NQF National Qualifications Framework NW North West Province OBE Outcome-based Education RDP Reconstruction and Development Program SADTU South African Democratic Teachers Union SGB School Governing Body UNESCO United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization VSP Voluntary Severance Package WC Western Cape Province VII 9

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Department: Basic Education REPUBLIC OF SOUTH AFRICA MACRO INDICATOR TRENDS IN SCHOOLING: SUMMARY REPORT 2011

Department: Basic Education REPUBLIC OF SOUTH AFRICA MACRO INDICATOR TRENDS IN SCHOOLING: SUMMARY REPORT 2011 Published by the Department of Basic Education Sol Plaatje House 222 Struben Street Pretoria