Editors:
- Is the most up-to-date and authoritative account of schooling in post-apartheid South Africa
- Brings together thirty leading South African scholars of education
- Offers an interdisciplinary review with rigorous statistical and qualitative analyses
- Proposes compelling and policy-relevant alternatives for the future
Part of the book series: Policy Implications of Research in Education (PIRE, volume 10)
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Table of contents (19 chapters)
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Front Matter
About this book
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, RTIKeywords
- learning attainments in South African schools
- South African government investment in education
- Underperformance in South African education
- State of education in South Africa
- Academic achievement in South Africa
- Post-apartheid education
- Education in South Africa
- inequality and education
- educational funding
- schools and inequality
- literacy in South Africa
- educational equity
- apartheid and schooling
Reviews
“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)
Editors and Affiliations
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Department of Economics, Stellenbosch University, Cape Town, South Africa
Nic Spaull
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Faculty of Education, Stellenbosch University, Cape Town, South Africa
Jonathan D. Jansen
Bibliographic Information
Book Title: South African Schooling: The Enigma of Inequality
Book Subtitle: A Study of the Present Situation and Future Possibilities
Editors: Nic Spaull, Jonathan D. Jansen
Series Title: Policy Implications of Research in Education
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-18811-5
Publisher: Springer Cham
eBook Packages: Education, Education (R0)
Copyright Information: Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2019
Hardcover ISBN: 978-3-030-18810-8Published: 14 November 2019
Softcover ISBN: 978-3-030-18813-9Published: 14 November 2020
eBook ISBN: 978-3-030-18811-5Published: 05 November 2019
Series ISSN: 2543-0289
Series E-ISSN: 2543-0297
Edition Number: 1
Number of Pages: VIII, 384
Number of Illustrations: 49 b/w illustrations
Topics: Schools and Schooling, Educational Policy and Politics, Social Structure, Social Inequality, Curriculum Studies, Administration, Organization and Leadership