South African Schooling: The Enigma of Inequality: A Study of the Present Situation and Future Possibilities

by Nic Spaull (Editor), Jonathan D. Jansen (Editor)

Overview

This volume brings together many of South Africa’s leading scholars of education and covers the full range of South African schooling: from financing and policy reform to in-depth discussions of literacy, numeracy, teacher development and curriculum change. The book moves beyond a historical analysis and provides an inside view of the questions South African scholars are now grappling with: Are there different and preferential equilibria we have not yet thought of or explored, and if so what are they? In practical terms, how does one get to a more equitable distribution of teachers, resources and learning outcomes? While decidedly local, these questions resonate throughout the developing world.

South Africa today is the most unequal country in the world. The richest 10% of South Africans lay claim to 65% of national income and 90% of national wealth. This is the largest 90-10 gap in the world, and one that is reflected in the schooling system. Two decades after apartheid it is still the case that the life chances of most South African children are determined not by their ability or the result of hard-work and determination, but instead by the colour of their skin, the province of their birth, and the wealth of their parents. Looking back on almost three decades of democracy in South Africa, it is this stubbornness of inequality and its patterns of persistence that demands explanation, justification and analysis.

"This is a landmark book on basic education in South Africa, an essential volume for those interested in learning outcomes and their inequality in South Africa. The various chapters present conceptually and empirically sophisticated analyses of learning outcomes across divisions of race, class, and place. The book brings together the wealth of decades of research output from top quality researchers to explore what has improved, what has not, and why."  

Prof Lant Pritchett, Harvard University

 

“There is much wisdom in this collection from many of the best education analysts in South Africa. No surprise that they conclude that without a large and sustained expansion in well-trained teachers, early childhood education, and adequate school resources, South Africa will continue to sacrifice its people’s future to maintaining the privileges of the few.”

Prof Martin Carnoy, Stanford University

"Altogether, one can derive from this very valuable volume, if not an exact blueprint for the future, then certainly at least a crucial and evidence-based itinerary for the next few steps.”

Dr Luis Crouch, RTI

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9783030188115
Publisher:	Springer-Verlag New York, LLC
Publication date:	11/05/2019
Series:	Policy Implications of Research in Education , #10
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
File size:	9 MB

Table of Contents

1. Equity: A Price Too High to Pay?; Nic Spaull.- 2. Educational Outcomes in Post-Apartheid South Africa: Signs of progress Despite Great Inequality; Servaas van der Berg&Martin Gustafsson.- 3. Pursuing Equity Through Policy in the Schooling Sector 2007-2017; Martin Gustafsson.- 4. Educational Funding and Equity in South African Schools; Shireen Motala&David Carel.- 5. Early Childhood Development in South Africa: Inequality and Opportunity; Michaela Ashley- Cooper, Lauren Jayne&Eric Atmore.- 6. Curriculum Reform and Learner Performance: An Obstinate Paradoxin the Quest for Equality; Johan Muller&Ursula Hoadley.- 7. How Language Policy and Practice Sustains Inequality in Education; Nompumelelo Mohohlwane.- 8. Still Falling at the First Hurdle: Examining Early Grade Reading In South Africa; Nic Spaull&Elizabeth Pretorius.- 9. Mathematics Achievement and the Inequality Gap: TIMSS 1995-2015; Vijay Reddy, Andrea Juan, Kathryn Isdale&Samuel Fongwa.- 10. Teachers’ Mathematical Knowledge, Teaching and the Problem of Inequality; Hamsa Venkat.- 11. Learner’s Written Work: An Overview of Quality, Quantity and Focus in South African Primary Schools; Paul Hobden&Sally Hobden.-  12. Gender Inequality in South African Schools: New Complexities; Linda Zuze&Unathi Beku.- 13. Teacher Development and Inequality in Schools: Do we now have a Theory of Change?; Yael Shalem&Francine De Clerq.- 14. Inequalities in Teacher Knowledge in South Africa; Nick Taylor.- 15. Race, Class and Inequality in Education: Black Parents in White-Dominant Schools after Apartheid; Tshepiso Matentjie.- 16. School leadership and Management: Identifying Linkages with Learning and Structural Inequalities; Gabrielle Wills.- 17. How can Learning Inequalities Be Reduced? Lessons Learnt from Experimental Research in South Africa; Stephen Taylor.- 18. Taking Change to Scale: Lessons from the Jika iMfundo Campaign for Overcoming Inequality in Schools; Mary Metcalfe&Al Witten.- 19. Inequality in Education: What is to be Done?; Jonathan Jansen. 

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

“If you require an update on the conditions of equity and access in contemporary South African schools, then this volume is a must-read. Jansen and colleagues have pulled together a multidisciplinary team of top-notch researchers and scholars to not only educate us about about complex economic, educational and social problems but also to enlighten us about some directions to effective practices and solutions.” (Prof Prudence Carter, University of California, Berkeley)

“The South African education system plays a central role in reproducing our extreme inequality and yet it will have to become a cornerstone of any set of policies designed to break these persistent processes. This is a cruel and paralysing counterposition. The editors and the scholars of the chapters in this book have done us all an immense service in confronting the prevailing realities in each part of the education system, distilling what needs to be changed and proposing how to do so.” (Prof Murray Leibbrandt, University of Cape Town, South Africa)

“Spaull and Jansen ought to be commended for putting together an invaluable contribution to our understanding of complex education reforms in post-apartheid South Africa. Not only does the volume point out the educational challenges, it also provides provocative ideas for potential amelioration of these education inequities in this young democracy.” (Bekisizwe S. Ndimande, Associate Professor of Curriculum and Instruction, The University of Texas at San Antonio, USA)

“The persistent inequalities in South Africa’s education system, 25 years after democracy, are laid bare in this volume of critical research and analyses by leading educational researchers. This book will be an invaluable source of information on the multiple dimensions of this fundamental challenge impeding the development of South Africa, and its aspirations for its people. It will shed light on the issues to be addressed by policy makers, school leaders, teacher educators and educational researchers, amongst others, in this next important phase of our development as a nation. It is a ‘must read’ for all those seriously interested in education, and working for educational equality, in South Africa.” (Prof D M Zinn, Deputy Vice-Chancellor: Teaching & Learning, Nelson Mandela University, South Africa)

“This book is a critical addition to publications on inequality in education in South Africa. Most probably the first of its kind, the book addresses the inequality issue in education in South Africa from multiple perspectives. What emerges from reading the contributions is that inequality in education in South Africa is entrenched, complex and seemingly intractable. But as Jansen observes in the concluding chapter, with the right politics, policy and planning, the inequality can be addressed.” (Prof Richard Tabulawa, University of Botswana, South Africa)

“Having observed and participated in South Africa’s education sector for decades, I found this volume uplifting, though I was fully prepared to find it depressing. South African scholars tend to be hard on themselves and on their country. The book foregrounds issues such as the importance of language, the importance of the foundation skills in reading and maths (and their relationship to home language), the problems with “tick-box” approaches to curriculum coverage, and many, many others, which, taken together, present a coherent view of how improvements could be made. Careful editorship and opening and closing chapters also help. Altogether, one can derive from this very valuable volume, if not an exact blueprint for the future, then certainly at least a crucial and evidence-based itinerary for the next few steps.” (Luis Crouch, Senior Economist)