4. contents
introduction 5
chapter one 7
I want to change the world
chapter two 10
children born to poor parents remain
trapped in an inferior education
chapter three ??
persistent inequalities: how resources
effect the curriculum, teaching & learning
chapter four 21
heroic deeds under difficult conditions
chapter five 31
awakening sleeping consciences
5. 5
Sometimes a kind of glory lights up the
mind of person. It happens to nearly every-
one. You can feel it growing or preparing
like a fuse burning toward dynamite. It is a
feeling in the stomach, a delight of the
nerves, of the forearms.The skin tastes the
air, and every deep-drawn breath is sweet.
Its beginning has the pleasure of a great
stretching yawn; it flashes in the brain and
the whole world glows outside your eyes.A
man may have lived his whole life in the
gray, and the land and trees of him dark and
sober.The events, even the important ones,
may have trooped by faceless and pale.
And then - the glory - so that a cricket
song sweetens her ears, the smell of the
earth rises chanting to his nose, and dap-
pling light under a tree blesses her eyes.
Then a person pours outward, a torrent of
him or her, and yet he is not diminished.
And I guess a human's importance in the
world can be measured by the quality and
number of his glories. It is a lonely thing
but it relates us to the world.
It is the mother of all creativeness, and it
sets each person separate from all other
people.
introduction
A place of P ossibility
And this I believe: that the free, exploring mind of the individual
human is the most valuable thing in the world.And this I would
fight for: the freedom of the mind to take any direction it wishes,
undirected.
John Steinbeck 1952
7. 7
Teaching in South African classrooms
today often raises questions around
whether changes in education since
democracy, and the promise of equali-
ty in education has truly translated into
practice. Country reports and the
media are fraught with warnings of a
failed education system and much
effort is directed towards “fixing” the
curriculum. However, as Rudd ques-
tions in the quote above, should the
focus be on “teaching the curriculum”
or should it be about “teaching and
educating the person.” In exploring
this very dilemma a group of student
teachers at NMMU embarked on a
journey. Using photography as a lens,
they captured the reality of lives, and of
living, of resilience and of truths that
more than 80% of SouthAfrican children
live with in their homes, communities
and classrooms. Throughout this
journey the students deepened their
understandings of curriculum by com-
paring their theoretical understandings
with the practical reality of contexts in
which they are doing their student
teaching practicum. Meaning making
through this experience culminated in
various forms of expressing their
developing understandings of the
curriculum as it is lived in South
African schools today, one being the
writing of this book.
chapter one
I WANT TO CHANGE THE
WORLD
“I want to change the world.The classroom is truly a place of
possibilities.Too often we become caught up in teaching the
curriculum instead of teaching and educating the person…”
Roland Rudd 2012
8. In aligning with the NMMU Faculty of Education's
Mission of “cultivating, passionate, engaged, knowl-
edgeable, effective and compassionate, teachers,
researchers and leaders who are critical thinkers and
agents of hope, change and social justice,” this body
of work can be viewed as a demonstration and illus-
tration of a consciousness to the realities of South
African education that is critical for all teachers to
have.2
Hence, the pages ahead are neither a collec-
tion of photographs placed merely for aesthetic
enhancement nor are they simply an enhanced aca-
demic account of student thought and research.
They are designed to guide through picture and
text, imploring a closer more informed look of what
reality is and what it means to educate a human
being in South Africa today. In exposing these reali-
ties, this book also beckons for an acknowledgement
of inequality and argues for a contextualised
approach to education in South Africa. In doing so,
it puts forward the classroom as a “place of possibil-
ity” where teachers can function as agents of hope.
Perspective and paradigm changes are required as
this group of students discovered for the successful
development of human potential - that of learners
but also of the teachers themselves.The chapters that
comprise this book have been developed from some
of their conclusions that had been reached through
engagement in this project to understand the cur-
riculum in context. Through this project, they
arrived at deeper understandings, having undertaken
their own critical thinking around the kind of edu-
cation required for the successful transformation,not
only of education but of South African society as a
whole.
In the second chapter an attempt is made to cap-
ture the reality of education in South Africa
today. It stimulates the reader to return to the same
question that the students often found themselves
returning to, namely,“Has education in South Africa
changed?” They engaged with Spaull's (2012)3
description of the dualistic nature of the South
African education systemwhich exposes the reality
that national averages shroud severe inequalities that
plague all elements of South African life.
In doing so, the students concluded that “the value
of our contribution as teachers should be measured
in terms of the enhanced capacity we open out to
our children so that they are equipped to determine
their own future.”4
Chapter three delves into an
exploration of social contexts that are a reality for
the majority of South African children. It considers
the “context of disorder” described by Fataar and
Patterson5
and describes the conditions of the com-
munities that surround the majority of the country's
schools often characterised as dysfunctional. The
poor socioeconomic conditions, disrupted family
life, lack of educational support structures, high lev-
els of unemployment etc. contribute to learners dis-
counting the value of school. It is these conditions
that can be seen to create a lack of motivation, con-
tribute to disruptive behaviour and set the stage for
the lack of a teaching and learning culture in the
schools. Students in this project concluded that
“poor socio-economic conditions have a direct
impact on the academic performance of children.”6
They also concluded that “schools cannot work
alone to overcome the impacts of economic disad-
vantage”7
and that “even in dire conditions the
community contains rich resources and sources of
agency and hope which teachers can use to trans-
form the classroom and school environment.”8
Chapter four considers the possibilities that a con-
textualised approach to education can bring to a
school. It explores transformation of the school con-
8
9. text by partnerships where the school or classroom
“is a participant in a development process that is
community driven, community led and community
owned.”9
The students embraced the notion that
“school reform is community reform”10
and active-
ly engaged in the debate, arguing that new strategies
for the development of human capital are required
before a sustained social and economic renaissance
can be expected.Students concluded that transform-
ing schools by creating a series of strategic partner-
ships between schools, businesses, universities, clin-
ics, social services and a series of community-based
service organisations enhance the social capital of
students and their families.They advocate that pro-
viding schools with substantial increases in external
support is the most cost-effective means of deliver-
ing the resources and support they need which ulti-
mately leads to greater accountability, better func-
tioning schools,and higher levels of student achieve-
ment.
The last chapter unifies their collective understand-
ings and develops into a call for action towards ways
in which their discoveries and conclusions could be
shared, digested and used by all those concerned
with education in South Africa.
The chapter engages in a provocative approach
towards a future vision by asking how can educators
be assisted in making the necessary paradigm shifts,
how can the school become a part of the communi-
ty embracing its own agency and how can future
teachers be educated to embrace work with and
within the “contexts of disorder” and willingly be a
part of contributing to the much needed transforma-
tion in South Africa today.
Notes
1. Rudd, R. I want to change the world. Mail and Guardian (12
November 2012). Retrieved from http://mg.co.za/article/2012-11-
20-i-want-to-change-the-world retrieved 6 December 2012.
2. Zinn, D. (2012). Faculty of Education Newsletter. November 2012
edition
3. Spaull, N. (2012). Poverty and privilege: Primary school inequali-
ty in South Africa. Int. J. Educ. Dev. . http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ije-
dudev.2012.09.09 accessed by K Adam 17 December 2012
4. Student response in a focus group held on the 02 November 2012
5. Fataar, A. and Patterson, A. (1998). Teacher's moral agency and
reconstruction of schooling in South Africa.Unpublished paper deliv-
ered at the World Conference of Comparative Education Societies.
University of Cape Town
6. Student response in a focus group held on 02 November 2012
7. Student response in a focus group held on 02 November 2012
8. Student response in a focus group held on 02 November 2012
9.Student response in a focus group held on 02 November 2012
10. Student response in a focus group held on 02 November 2012
9
10. In interrogating the current state of affairs with
respect to education in South Africa, students in this
project voiced a general awareness of the notion that
post-apartheid education is failing the majority of
South African youth. However, through these dis-
cussions, a moment of clarity arrived when in a class
activity related to life-histories a number of students
in this project confessed that the impact of being
poor on achievement in education had not been
something they had given much thought to.
This being the case, despite a large body of “research
available which confirms that children from poor
socioeconomic conditions face enormous educa-
tional challenges in South Africa” (Timaeus,
Simelane & Letsoalo, 2011) . They did however
show an awareness of media reports related to matric
exams and the Annual National Assessment (ANA)
exams.
In delving into country and media reports, they
found for example that “…in 2001 just over 1.1 mil-
lion learners started Grade 1 but in 2011 only 511 152
learners wrote the matric exams. Of these only 377 829
passed.” In other words “7 out of 10 'born-frees' did
not make it to matric.” Through these experi-
ences, students in the project discovered that
statistics released in country and media reports
related to education, needed to be viewed with
“caution” and “within context” as there are
“often underlying factors that are not immedi-
ately apparent.”
10
chapter two
CHILDREN BORN
TO POOR PARENTS
REMAIN TRAPPED
IN AN INFERIOR
EDUCATION
“Apartheid fault-lines remain stubbornly
in place in our education system. Children
born to poor parents remain trapped in an
inferior education…pushed out of the
schooling system before they reach
Grade 12.”
Zwelenzima Vavi 2012
11. Deeper engagement around education statistics led
to an engagement with the study by Nicholas Spaull
(2012) entitled Poverty and privilege: Primary
school inequality in South Africa in which he criti-
cises government reporting and econometric mod-
eling of the country's education data. In this paper,
Spaull reworks the country's education data and
shows that “when modeling student performance
separately for the wealthiest 25% of schools on the
one hand, and the poorest 75% of schools on the
other, there are stark differences in the factors influ-
encing student performance which are large and sta-
tistically significant.” He goes on to describe the
“dualistic nature of the primary education system in
South Africa,” with his findings showing that “pre-
dominantly White schools under apartheid remain
functional, while Black schools continue to remain
dysfunctional in a democratic South Africa.”
Students own engagements confirm the findings of
Spaull (2011) that a socio-economic divide persists
with “approximately 90% of South African poor
being Black.”Van der Berg (2007) also shows that
the links between affluence and educational quality
in South Africa can partially explain this outcome
since the poor receive a far inferior quality of edu-
cation when compared to their wealthier counter-
parts. Students came to the conclusion that “despite
political transition,an apartheid legacy still continues
to have a profound impact on South African society
with race remaining the sharpest distinguishing fac-
tor between the rich and the poor.”
THE IMPACT OF POVERTY ON THE
EDUCATION OF THE POOR
Despite remarkable progress since democracy, crush-
ing poverty still affects many South Africans.Around
68% of children from poor families live well below
the international 'dollar-a-day' poverty line. The
Gini coefficient for South Africa is 0.70, ranking it
as one of the most unequal societies in the world.
Mahajan further elaborates that, “a South African
child born in poverty not only has to work harder
to overcome disadvantages at birth due to circum-
stances, but having done so, finds that these re-
emerge when seeking employment as an adult.”
Students also found through their own work that
“the motivation to study is just not there in this kind
of environment.There is substantial pressure to find
work, earn money even if it is menial.”
As part of the project students discovered that one
response to poverty by the Department of Basic
Education was the development of no fee schools
and a National School Nutritional Programme
(NSNP). However, in a panel discussion students
discovered that in practice this may not always work
according to plan as parents and teachers com-
plained of “food disappearing from the schools” and
in some cases “corruption and theft by people pro-
viding the food” had been reported. Hence, children
do not always receive all the food that is officially
allocated. In many areas there appeared to be no sys-
tem of accountability to the parent body and many
11
13. caregivers claimed that they do not know whether
their children receive food regularly. To make mat-
ters worse, it is reality that “at some point tens of
thousands of learners were going hungry because
the NSNP in the Eastern Cape was stopped due to
lack of funds.” In contrast, a March 2008 report on
the NSNP indicates a successful NSNP in the
Eastern Cape and Limpopo. From these findings,
students in this project concluded that “the conflict-
ing reports negated the reality of hungry children at
school who are expected to perform in classrooms
and take the same national tests.”
Continuous interruptions of services and service
delivery protests was also another factor considered
by students in this project to be important when
understanding how poverty affects the education of
children. “The Walmer Riots” and “Shack fires
wreak havoc due to gale force winds in Port
Elizabeth” featured in News Headlines during the
duration of this project. Students in the project were
fortunate to be exposed to first-hand accounts of the
two events (Labuschagne, 2012) . From the footage
viewed, it was clear that “learners are inevitably
affected by the lack of service delivery and this com-
pounds the quality of learning that can be expected
from these learners.” Lack of infrastructure and
poorly constructed homes subject to being
destroyed by adverse weather conditions and shack
fires contribute to the lack of stability faced by the
majority of South African learners. The footage
shared also clearly showed that during protests learn-
ers from schools were either drawn into the protests
themselves or witnessed their parents or caregivers
involvement.Through these resources, students were
able to obtain first-hand accounts of the impact of
riots and shack fires which impact the lives of learn-
ers in poor communities. As the victims of shack
fires were housed in nearby schools, students in this
project were able to reflect on the value of a school
in such communities. It further served to confirm
that “schools are a community resource” and that
“…its gates should be opened to allow the commu-
nity in.”
Another aspect widely captured by student photog-
raphy related to the daily lives of children in poor
socio-economic contexts. The collection depicts a
number of photographs showing children carrying
water, doing household chores or being responsible
for the care of siblings at an early age.During discus-
sions related to the photographs and an engagement
with the findings of a survey conducted by Mitik &
Decaluwé (2009) which considered market labor,
household work and schooling in South Africa, in
terms of racial category, it was clear that Black chil-
dren are found to be most engaged. Mitik &
Decaluwé (2009) also show that nearly one-third
of Black children were engaged in fetching wood
and/or water, and that seven out of ten Black chil-
dren engaged in work activities mainly on school
days (some during school hours). A substantially
higher number of girls involved in these activities
than boys across all household categories. An inter-
esting outcome for the students in the project was
the finding that the problem for children is not that
working prevents them from attending school rather
it appears that their work activity results in a lack of
time to do homework, catch up with lessons, and
study, as well as have time for recreational activities
(De Lannoy, Pendlebury & Hall, 2010) . It did, how-
ever, confirm for them that children engaged in
work activities are likely to progress through school
more slowly than their non-working peers.Students'
deeper engagement with these findings enabled
them to reconsider the lives of children from these
communities who might some-day be a part of their
classrooms.The deeper understanding is reflected in
13
14. recurring statements around “knowing about the
children's backgrounds, home-lives, developing rela-
tionships with their parents etc. is mandatory.”
A common concern of students was similar to that
of De Lannoy, Pendlebury and Hall (2010) that
“access to schools and other educational facilities is
a necessary condition for achieving the right to edu-
cation.” The location of a school and the distance
between school and home does pose a barrier to
education for many South African children. Access
to schools is also hampered by poor roads, transport
that is unavailable or unaffordable, and danger along
the way.The students in the project found that risks
may be different for young children, for girls and
boys,and are likely to be greater when children trav-
el alone. For children who do not have schools near
to their homes, the cost, risk and effort of getting to
school influences regular attendance. Those who
travel long distances to reach school may wake up
very early and risk arriving late or being physically
exhausted, affecting their ability to learn. Lack of
transport to school can results in learners being
faced with the risk of rape and/or robbery on their
long walk to school. In one attempt to overcome
the transport problem, students in this project dis-
covered that the buses organised to transport learn-
ers were found to be transporting 326 learners in
two buses certified to transport 60 passengers each,
putting the learners and vehicle at risk. Hence the
students in this project were able to identify with
difficulties related to transport to school as many had
seen “bakkies for example packed to capacity in
peak traffic” on a daily basis.
Within the context of widespread poverty and gen-
erally poor living conditions described above, stu-
dents in this project concluded that “it is difficult to
expect learners to perform anywhere near their
optimum or even begin to view education as a pri-
ority.” Hence, they concur with the findings of
Spaull (2011) that “an inferior quality education
disadvantages the poor in the labour market and
entrenches their poverty. What is of note is that in
South Africa, this does not refer to a minority but
rather to the vast majority of the population.”
WHAT DOES A “CONTEXT OF DISORDER”
LOOK LIKE ?
Socio-economic issues aside, the departments of
education, both provincial and national have to take
responsibility for their roles in the current education
crisis. Many prominent South Africans are no
longer prepared to remain silent on the matter.
Mamphela Ramphele for example has been vocal in
laying the blame for what she refers to as the “mon-
umental failure” of South African education fairly
and squarely at the door of the current government.
Monica Hendricks,in her study of state of education
refers to the Eastern Cape Education Department's
“malaise of inefficiency and corruption” .
Some of the issues plaguing education in South
Africa are the lack of schools, teachers and class-
rooms despite R207. 3 billion allocated to education
in the 2012/13 national budget. 9.6% of state
schools are described as “disaster schools” and the
percentage of structurally unsafe schools rose from
14% in 1996 to 53% in 2000. In March 2012, an
estimated 13 874 additional classrooms were needed
in the Eastern Cape. Recently parents in the
Uitenhage district have resorted to closing down
schools in order to compel the provincial
Department of Education to address the issue of
teacher shortages in public schools. Taking these
figures into account, questions of departmental
inefficiency and corruption are raised.
14
15. Students also found through their own work that
“the motivation to study is just not there in this kind
of environment. There is substantial pressure to find
work, earn money even if it is menial.”
16. Captions have still to be obtained and set.
Photographic credits (where available) can be
inserted at the end of the book after the
glossary of terms and index.
17. As Professor Elmore (as cited by Metcalf, 2012) of
Harvard University states,“Teachers are accountable
for the performance of their students. But they are
accountable to the extent that they have received the
necessary resources and training for them to fulfill
their task.”
Class engagement with ethno-biographical work of
Botshabelo Maja (1995) and the result of one group
of students mapping schools reported to be dysfunc-
tional in the Nelson Mandela Metropole area for
their concluding presentation, brought into the con-
versation that the vast majority (though not exclu-
sively) of dysfunctional schools are in Black commu-
nities with poor socioeconomic conditions.The stu-
dents' engagement in this project concurred with
Chisholm andVally (1996) that there is a lack of “a
culture of teaching and learning” in many of these
schools. Students described schools in these areas as
“overcrowded”,“disorderly and chaotic” as a place
with “a general don't care attitude”, and a general
“lack of classroom and school pride evident” . In
one reflection a student wrote, “…it appears as
though they've given up, that it's all hopeless.” In
other reflections, students spoke of many “disrup-
tions to the school's daily program”,“a high rate of
teacher and student absenteeism,” and “a general
lack of respect for time with students being ushered
into the school at the main gate at 9am while oth-
ers are loitering outside waiting for their classroom
to be cleaned.” Students agreed with the findings of
Fataar and Patterson (1998) that “in such circum-
stances, learning continuity cannot be established
and even those teachers who try are frustrated by an
absence of a consistent stable routine in the student
population that is required to enable good quality
teaching and learning.” In working with the extract
derived from Maja (1995) students drew from their
engagement in the project two categories of teacher
responses to context in dysfunctional schools. Two
types of teacher responses were described the first
being a “victim” response where the identity of
these teachers are rooted “in helplessness” due to
“the impossibility of changing the school context”
and the other pointed to hard working teachers
“engaged in the social welfare of children” but who
after a while “burnt out, left the school for better
schools or left the profession all together.” One
explanation given by Fataar and Patterson (1998)
related to this observation was that “the mindset of
teachers who have been conditioned by the powers
of the apartheid state (as virtually omnipotent)
believe and continue to believe that the new state
has the same powers, failing to recognise that the
new government is constrained by its democratic
constitution, the consequences of the negotiated
transition and by economic constraints of neo-liber-
alism.” They also cite the Gauteng Culture of
Learning Report observed that there was a “mis-
placed and disarming hope that the new dispensa-
tion at the national and provincial levels would auto-
matically translate into better schools, which accen-
tuated the pervasive sense of powerlessness and
hopelessness” (Gauteng, 1996 as cited by Fataar &
Patterson, 1998).
Students also concluded that in many of these
schools, management failed to engage in a “process
whereby the staff shared a common vision for the
school.” Principals interpreted their leadership role
as one that “manages the school reasonably within
the constraints and mediates conflict in the school.”
There is no effort to “develop community.” In addi-
tion to general school conditions and a shortage of
classrooms and teachers, the issue of departmental
mismanagement and teacher unions was also raised.
Mamphela Ramphele highlighted the role that that
teacher unions such as SADTU has played in addition
17
18. to general school conditions and a shortage of class-
rooms and teachers, the issue of departmental mis-
management and teacher unions was also raised.
Mamphela Ramphele highlighted the role that
teacher unions such as SADTU has played in con-
tributing to the current situation by stating that
“…teachers are failing us, and when you look into
what the problem is, you find teachers are being
forced to defend mediocrity.” Strike action fre-
quently keeps teachers from their classrooms and
attending union meetings during school hours is
commonplace in many township schools. Vavi
approaches the issue from a different perspective but
does challenge SADTU members to “inculcate a
revolutionary morality which seeks to radically alter
the status quo” and urges union members to
“mobilise and galvanise … behind a campaign to
save our collective future as a nation”. The role
unions play in the education system in South Africa
is acknowledged,whether it is considered to be con-
structive or destructive. Media reports of teacher
strikes were also debated by students, some of whom
felt that “education is an essential service so action has to
be taken in some form other than striking, because it affects
the education of the children.”
Teacher absenteeism was a further consideration
taken into account when viewing the current situa-
tion of education in South Africa. It is reported that
up to 20% of teachers are absent on Mondays and
Fridays. Additionally, Modisaotsile reports that
teachers in predominantly black schools teach on
average 3.5 hours a day in comparison to the 6.5
hours taught in former white schools. Another fac-
tor compounding the issue of teachers in South
Africa is the gap between the number of teachers
leaving the profession (18 000 - 20 000 pa) and the
number of graduate teachers (6 000 - 10 000 pa).
This deficit must be made up somehow but in the
meantime, it is the education system and learners
who suffer the consequences. Student accounts of
“students loitering about because of the teacher
being absent” or “lining up alongside locked doors”
clearly reflected some of the concerns described
above which relates to teacher absenteeism.
SO WHO IS TO BLAME?
The published outcomes of system evaluations and
poor learner performance and with the Limpopo
textbook debacle fresh in the national memory, it is
easy to blame the provincial and national
Departments of Education. For example, Minister
Angie Motshekga has recently faced court action by
a group called Equal Education in an effort to force
her to establish “minimum norms and standards for
school infrastructure.” The action also included
Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan and all provincial
education ministers. However, laying blame solely
on education departments negates a much deeper,
wider, more insidious problem, namely, the social
context that the majority of South African learners
find themselves in. In these contexts, they face a
number of challenges that are much broader than
just an inept and corrupt education system. It must
be stated that education policy documents devel-
oped for South Africa are too idealistic as they do
not take into account the context in which the vast
majority of learners live and study.It is therefore,dif-
ficult for these plans to translate into a functional
reality (for example see Action 2014) .The problem
is that none of these ideals are accounted for
through the social filters through which they must
flow.
So, having taken what Dr Allistair Witten describes
as a “deficit” perspective on South African educa-
tion, students in this project were tasked with delib-
18
19. erating on what are possible solutions or at least,
pathways of hope. They re-engaged with “contexts
of disorder” to discover rich resources within these
communities since education cannot be viewed in a
vacuum, there are a myriad of social and economic
issues at play which have had and will continue to
have an indelible effect on the future of the educa-
tion of South African children.
Notes
Macupe, B. (2013). Matric pass rate celebrations premature. IOL
News 6 January 2013 retrieved from
http://www.iol.co.za/news/south-africa/matric-pass-rate-celebra-
tions-premature-1.1448143 on 9 February 2013.
Macupe, B. (2013). Matric pass rate celebrations premature. IOL
News 6 January 2013 retrieved from
http://www.iol.co.za/news/south-africa/matric-pass-rate-celebra-
tions-premature-1.1448143 on 9 February 2013.
Student responses at focus group held on 2 November 2012
Spaull, N., Poverty and privilege: Primary school inequality in South
Africa. Int. J. Educ. Dev. (2012). http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ije-
dudev.2012.09.09 accessed by K Adam 17 December 2012
Spaull, N., Poverty and privilege: Primary school inequality in South
Africa. Int. J. Educ. Dev. (2012). http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ije-
dudev.2012.09.09 accessed by K Adam 17 December 2012
Spaull, N., Poverty and privilege: Primary school inequality in South
Africa. Int. J. Educ. Dev. (2012). http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ije-
dudev.2012.09.09 accessed by K Adam 17 December 2012
Spaull, N., Poverty and privilege: Primary school inequality in South
Africa. Int. J. Educ. Dev. (2012). http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ije-
dudev.2012.09.09 accessed by K Adam 17 December 2012
Spaull, N., Poverty and privilege: Primary school inequality in South
Africa. Int. J. Educ. Dev. (2012). http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ije-
dudev.2012.09.09 accessed by K Adam 17 December 2012
Van der Berg (2007).Apartheid's enduring legacy: Inequalities in
education. Journal of African Economies, 16(5):849-880
19
Self portrait
Drawing & collage
by Luvo Matiwana
St.Thomas School
20. Captions have still to be obtained and set. Photographic credits
(where available) can be inserted at the end of the book after
the glossary of terms and index.
21. 21
chapter four
HEROIC DEEDS UNDER
DIFFICULT CONDITIONS
“A tiny band of schools situated in the
poorest communities provide some of the
highest quality education.They are per-
forming heroic deeds under difficult condi-
tions and serve as a role model for the rest
of the system.”
Taylor 2006
In October 2012 Ithembilihle
Comprehensive School's rugby team
won the “Best School Team of the
Year” and “School Development Team
of the Year” in the South African
National Sports Awards. The coach
Mr.Theo Pieterse was interviewed live
by the local news station Algoa FM at
7:00am just before our 7:45am class.
For the students in this project, this
event marked the beginning of valu-
able classroom discussions around what
Cantor, Smolover and Stamler termed
“innovative outliers.” Based on the
newspaper reports and what students
had heard on the radio, they conclud-
ed that the solution for transforming
high poverty schools lie in addressing
“the barriers that are created by poor
circumstances.” During this discussion,
students recalled previous engagements
with Dr. Witten, Director of the
Center for Community Schools (CCS)
and with a Manyano network school
principal. It was at this precise
moment of clarity that students in this
project perceived that “it is possible for
schools in poor areas to succeed despite the
odds.”
This marked a significant paradigm
shift in student thinking as up to this
point the fieldwork, reading and class-
room discussions reflected mainly and
writing (as reflected in Chapter 2).
22. Through the conversation that developed after the
morning news the concept of “educational
resilience” (Wang, Haertel & Walberg, 1998)
emerged as a pathway of hope.The complete
change in perspective allowed renewed thinking
towards action.
SUCCESS THROUGH PARTNERSHIPS
Undoubtedly, schools alone lack the necessary
resources to address the large number of obstacles
that children confront on a daily basis but as
Schorr highlights,“schools can become islands of
hope…they help children avoid a culture of fail-
ure.” Research conducted by Herbert on high-
achieving learners from poor backgrounds and
another more recent local study by Kamper of six
high achieving schools in poverty stricken areas in
South Africa, reflect common findings that schools,
family and community partnerships,“make learner
success possible and contribute to poverty allevia-
tion.”
Bourdieu termed “cultural capital as a major factor
that influences the character of interactions
between school officials and the parents they
serve.” Despite the importance of schools as social
institutions “strategies for involving parents are typ-
ically not included in school reform plans.” Such
omissions are a major contribution to the consis-
tent failure of education to alleviate poverty and
achieve school reform.
INVESTING IN SOCIAL CAPITAL
One student reflection introduced the concept of
“school bias” which was explored through obser-
vations that he made during practice teaching. He
described a specific incident and concluded that,
“poor black parents are treated differently com-
pared to middle class parents.” He added that:
“…interactions at schools can be different depending on
race and/or socioeconomic status.What does this mean for
the place of poor parents in our schools and for their abil-
ity to advocate for their children and participate in school
decisions.”
Post democracy access to public schools in South
Africa by poor children has at times resulted in
these schools operating as sources of negative social
capital as described by the student above, especially
when schools isolate themselves and undermine
the social capital of the community. In contrast,
Kamper describes effective schools in these con-
texts as those that develop social capital in poor
communities by working actively to include the
support and cooperation of parents. Noguera con-
curs that “when a school and community partner-
ships are based on respect and a shared sense of
responsibility positive forms of social capital can be
generated.”
A common source of social barriers is that school
personnel often do not reside in the communities
they serve hence differences in race, class and cul-
ture do at times contribute to barriers between the
school and the community. Lipman suggests that
such separations reinforce or contribute to the
development of bias when “they see poor children
and their families as deficient, dysfunctional and
even hopeless.” This power differential reproduces
inequality and undermines the interest of the com-
munities they serve. Social inequities such as these
may at times have “such an air of legitimacy that it
make the process seem fair and almost natural.”
So, those that we expect to succeed,“affluent chil-
dren,” do and those that we expect to fail,“poor
black children,” tend to be more likely to fail.
22
23. Captions have still to be obtained and set. Photographic credits
(where available) can be inserted at the end of the book.
24. Student reflections spoke of “teacher attitudes were
not conducive to bussed in students succeeding,”
and “they had already failed the moment they
walked in through the door because the teachers
only saw problems and trouble.” The lack of
choice by the poor also limits their influence and
more often than not their concerns are disregarded
by school authorities. Hence, the failure of school
in poor communities is often not problematised
and the inclusion of parents as positive social capi-
tal largely ignored. In contrast Kamper found suc-
cessful partnerships depend on “the quality of edu-
cational leadership that empowers and acts as a cat-
alyst for community development.” In addition,
“respect for human dignity and culture, care, com-
mitment, excellence, collaboration and accountabil-
ity,” were identified as key foundational principles
in successful schools in poor socioeconomic con-
texts.
It is therefore clear that “school-family partnerships
build social capital or networks of trust that fami-
lies draw from to help their children succeed.”
The networks of trust include teachers, families
and community members.They also “provide a
source of connections, information and under-
standings that parents can draw on to help their
children succeed.” They “facilitate exchanges of
knowledge and can be a means to bridge the gap
between home and school cultures in terms of val-
ues and expectations.” Students in this project
started to visualise the power of these partnerships
when an alumni volunteer from Charles Duna
Primary school accompanied the deputy principal
during a panel discussion in which she discussed
the different ways in which the alumni support
learners, teachers and parents. One student reflec-
tion noted,“…for me the community engagements
stood out as something I never really considered as
so vital for school success.What a contribution
they (the alumni) make in ways that connect the
community.”
Research has indicated that the inclusion of fami-
lies,“improve school programmes and school cli-
mate” and at the same time, it “increases parents'
skills and leadership, connects families with others
in the school and community and improve chil-
dren's chances of success in school and life.”
Family involvement was also found to result in
children getting better grades, attending school
more regularly and increasing the chance that they
would go to university.The creation of positive
relationships amongst schools, families and commu-
nities presupposes a paradigm shift.There must be
according to students in this project,
“…a shift from seeing parents as peripheral to
education and as deficient to seeing them as valu-
able resources and as assets to the school and as a
shared responsibility with equal capacity to con-
tribute to the education of their children.”
In addition,“parents and family members often
emerge empowered by the process of participation
and in their partnerships with schools.” They gain
“skills, knowledge and confidence that help them
in bringing up their children, in improving their
economic conditions and in becoming good citi-
zens.” Winters for example, observed that low-
income, single mothers seem to emerge from these
programmes with “strengthened self-competence,
new skills and a determination to alter the direc-
tion of their lives. Parents entered these pro-
grammes feeling powerless, socially isolated or self-
enstranged.” Student experiences with fieldwork at
Manyano schools also confirm “that parents both
contribute as social capital and in turn they emerge
with better self-perceptions, they gain stronger
24
25. Captions have still to be obtained and set. Photographic credits
(where available) can be inserted at the end of the book .
26. Captions have still to be obtained and set.
Photographic credits (where available) can be
inserted at the end of the book .
27. social networks and are more willing to initiate
change in their communities.”
They concluded that “in current times schools are
increasingly becoming the most reliable source of
social support for children, they therefore have a
role to play in community upliftment.” Schools are
therefore in a position to be a “resource to the
community” as they can facilitate “empowerment”
that could transform the character and quality of
life in the communities they serve “if they embrace
the opportunity to allow parents and the commu-
nity in.”
DEVELOPING COMMUNITY
PARTNERSHIPS
In the context of persistent inequality and the
HIV/AIDS pandemic, deep crisis affects children's
lives creating barriers to meaningful education.
With 5.7 million people living with HIV/AIDS
(2011) in South Africa the epidemic has had a
devastating effect on children. In fact, there is an
estimated 1.9 million orphans due to the epidemic
in South Africa. The loss of a parent not only has
an immense emotional impact on children but for
most families the financial implications are high.
Orphans either relocate to live with relatives who
become their primary care-givers or institutions if
they are lucky. Otherwise they become part of a
growing South African phenomenon of child-
headed households.
Children living with HIV must also deal with the
medical, emotional, behavioral, and social effects
associated with the infection.At the same time
they often find themselves living in a context of
bereavement and stress associated with the death of
a parent or caregiver, stigma and discrimination.
The ripple effect on schools is that they have to
play a role beyond educating children but they also
need to help children gain access not only to
school but to the social, health and other services
they need within the “school community” The
2000 Tirisano campaign calls for schools to become
“centers for community life” because they hold
valuable potential as centers of learning for the
whole community.
In a panel discussion withVice President of
Ubuntu Education Fund Mr. Gcobani Zonke, stu-
dents in this project were introduced to a model by
this organization that considers whole child devel-
opment. Maslow's hierarchy of needs was explored
through an Ubuntu experience. Students were pre-
viously exposed to the fact that children who are
hungry, sick or afraid cannot learn, but now they
started to see “how conditions inside and outside
of schools could work to be conducive to chil-
dren's growth, learning and development.” The
breakdown of family structures due to poverty,
high unemployment, violence and HIV/AIDS and
how they contribute to children's vulnerability was
discussed during the panel discussion. One student
commented that:
“Teachers must pay attention to learners' physical
and emotional well-being before they can teach. So
even though schools cannot solve all problems,
they do offer a useful starting point for identifying
vulnerable children and addressing their needs. For
many children, school is the only place where they
have contact with adults they can talk to.”
Relationships between schools and communities
are not always easy or productive. Partnerships
depend on “relative capital that each partner brings
and are seldom free of power relations and dynam-
ics.” Principals who are attentive to learners and
educators contribute significantly to building
27
28. Relationships between schools and communities are
not always easy or productive. Partnerships depend
on “relative capital that each partner brings and are
seldom free of power relations and dynamics.”
Principals who are attentive to learners and educa-
tors contribute significantly to building healthy
school and community relationships (as demonstrat-
ed by Kamper's study). healthy school and commu-
nity relationships (as demonstrated by Kamper's
study).While the role of school leaders is becoming
increasingly complex as they are expected to imple-
ment a series of sophisticated education policies
often with very little support or training, School
Management Teams (SMTs) and School Governing
Bodies (SGBs) are resources that can assist in
schools.A review taken by the DoE in 2004 suggest
that SGBs in formerly disadvantaged schools often
function poorly “due to poverty, lack of experience
and expertise and that schools find it difficult to sus-
tain active parent participation due to low literacy
levels, lack of time and indirect costs.”
Despite these challenges SGBs can be a powerful
mechanism through which communities can be
drawn into schools. They quoted Collett, Rudolph
and Sonn who describe “the school as nodes of care
and support for vulnerable children.” Students in
this project concluded that with the assistance of the
community, schools can,
“identify strengths and work towards a shared vision
of a better future so that protective factors like love,
care, social grants, access to clinics, money for books
and uniforms, transport to and from schools etc. can
be sought meet children's needs.”
Through marketing and publicity drives it is evident
that the “school community” also includes another
important stakeholder, namely the private sector
where businesses and corporations position them-
selves as partners in the upliftment of education in
South Africa. Due to media coverage they were
immediately recognised by students in the project as
an important resource. A recent article in the Mail
Guardian entitled “Forgotten schools of the Eastern
Cape left to rot” describe dire conditions at schools
until Eskom stepped in with funding to help.
BUSINESS AND PRIVATE SECTOR
INVESTMENTS
In South Africa, the private sector has made invest-
ments in schooling and continues to do so.
However, research shows that “most of these invest-
ments are not having a lasting impact on the quality
of the schooling.A lack of cohesion, piecemeal and
sporadic initiatives have little chance of making a
lasting impact.” The National Business Initiative
launched the Education Quality Improvement
Partnerships (EQUIP) programme in 1995, to
increase the quality of education in schools. One of
the key findings through this programme where
“business involvement has worked is when they get
involved with schools over the long term.” This
finding has been confirmed by both the Manyano
network and Ubuntu Education Fund. They agree
the school leadership has to in the first instance be
“proactive and motivated” and they must take
“teaching and learning seriously” and the “school
should be keen to develop its teachers.” Programmes
work when they are “designed in relation to the
school's culture and its environment.”
It ensures that the initiative is a partner to the school
development plan.So it is designed and funded in ways
that help to solve the problems unique to that school.
This kind of liaison can generate additional resources,
create effective inter-school relations and community
networks.It was apparent to students in this project that
“change in schools cannot happen overnight.
28
29. Schools need flexible and long-term support if their
improvements are to be sustained over time.”
Non-performing schools make up 80% of the
schools in South Africa, and they are in dire need for
a collective effort that expands the pipeline for
engagement with businesses. However, it has also
been observed that there is a barrier to access by
these schools as their principals and SMTs are not as
connected or skilled to engaging with business part-
ners.This needs to be recognised so that business can
make efforts at extending their assistance by becom-
ing engaged in public dialogues, linking up with
local university projects and being selective in deci-
sions around where their assistance is required the
most.The most critical factor is a commitment to a
developmental approach that is flexible and long-
term. 'Quick-fix' projects are also unlikely to suc-
ceed and adhoc donations to schools do not offer
long term solutions.
Students in this project concluded that “an informed
partnership and long-term sustained commitment are criti-
cal success factors if companies are to be sure that their
investments of time and money will make a difference.”
CONCLUSION
Despite the odds and dire circumstances in which
these schools find themselves students in this proj-
ect were able to see that there “is hope for the trans-
formation of the large majority of schools that serve
the poor.” Although good leadership, committed
educators and engagements with the broader
“school community” enhance the social capital of
students and their families, students in this projects
were required to reflect on a last essential question,
namely: what does all of this mean for teacher edu-
cation in South Africa today?
Change in schools
cannot happen
overnight. Schools
need flexible and
long-term support
if their improvements
are to be sustained
over time.
29
31. 31
chapter five
AWAKENING SLEEPING
CONSCIENCES
“There is a dual focus for social documentary photography; firstly they
show conditions under which people are forced to live in order to
awaken the sleeping consciences of those who haven't yet realised their
oppression and the danger of the non-commitment to change.
Secondly, social documentary photography should not be content
with negative portrayal but must also show hope and determination
to freedom and serve the needs of the struggle.”
Newbury 2009
If the primary purpose of education is
about “awakening sleeping con-
sciences” as described by Newbury in
the quotation above, then the journey
made by the students in this project is
evidence of their critical reflection of
the reality of lives “on the other side of
the fence.” Observing through the lens
of photography they were able to
engage in what Kathy McDonough
describes as “discourses of possibility.”
These are ways in which teachers
develop critical consciousness and
become involved in social change.
Such an outcome aligns well with the
NMMU Faculty of Education's Vision
and Mission which aims to “cultivate
passionate, engaged, knowledgeable,
effective, and compassionate teachers,
researchers, and leaders who are critical
thinkers, agents of hope, change and
social justice through practicing a
humanising pedagogy...”
According to Paulo Freire, “critical
consciousness is a state of awareness
activated through dialogue where one
engages in an analysis of context and
power.” bell hooks built on the work
of Freire focusing on “the formation of
an engaged pedagogy to support stu-
dents to take a reflective stance that
involves interrogating one's location,
the identifications and allegiances that
32. inform one's life.” hook's engaged pedagogy fore-
grounds that critical consciousness is a counter to
“dysconsciousness” which is a “misinformed way of
thinking about society and inequality that limits our
ways of knowing.” Enacting critical consciousness as
an educator is an “ongoing social process of multiple
insightful moments that can alter this state of
“dysconsciousness” and positively affect teaching
practice.” This project depicts one of the ways in
which students at NMMU Faculty of Education
engaged in pathways to critical consciousness.
The following is a student reflection of her overall
learning during this project is an example of some of
the changes students experienced. She wrote:
“…it (the project) taught me that discrimination is some-
thing we build up in our minds and that it has no tangi-
ble truth.This project makes me want to be more careful
about what words I use, how to make a conscious effort to
treat people and love people equally, but it has also made
me realise how human and fragile I am.It's really hard liv-
ing in this world.You have to learn to love people who
don't love you back. Learning to love is a life process.”
Later she adds:
“I believe that having insight opens your mind.Knowledge
is so important.We must be wise in our choices and this
stems from a good upbringing and a good education. Sadly
as this project has shown, not many people have had the
opportunity to have received a good education.The major-
ity of South African children and youth of my generation
and before are still facing many challenges in this harsh and
competitive world.”
However it is important to note that despite the
strides students made in this project, critical con-
sciousness involves reflection on the complexities of
multiple identities and multiple relations of power
towards a process of “consciousness-becoming.”
This process“grounds a teacher's ability to engage in
culturally relevant teaching with a willingness to be
self-reflective about their identity and culture, an
exploration of power and privilege in micro and
macro contexts and questioning assumptions.” This
reflection process is an act of unlearning that “does
not necessarily involve a destination and neither
should it follow a linear form.” Hence, for students
in this project engagement on this level is only a
beginning and should be confronted again in class-
room practice.
A few other studies limited to single course experi-
ences include that of Arce whose study focuses on
five bilingual Latino teachers as they drew on their
developing social consciousness to enact critical
pedagogy.Another case study by Jennings and Potter
Smith investigated an elementary teacher's class-
room practice in her efforts to become a multicul-
tural educator. Both studies note the importance of
reflexive dialogue as part of “consciousness-becom-
ing.” The students in this project contribute to this
body of research as they face critical questions with
regards to the reality of context and towards consid-
ering the hope, agency and sustainability of social
change.
It is also important to note that student's thinking in
this project went beyond the personal as they
reflected on their learning in relation to the curricu-
lum. In one student account she writes:
32
33. “I found it an eye opener to see how powerful a curricu-
lum can be in the hands of the wrong people, or people of
high authority. My experience in this project has made me
think more critically about what curriculum actually means,
and how controversial a curriculum can be in institutions of
learning. I also felt that this project made me more under-
standing and sympathetic towards those individuals who
were victims of Apartheid and mental enslavement. I also
discovered that it really is a worldly problem that is still
happening in some parts of the world.After learning about
the various curriculums, I feel that a curriculum focuses on
being more balanced would be better for an individual.”
Perhaps the greatest learning for students in this
project is captured by the words of an Australian
Aborigine woman who said, “If you have come to help
me you can go home again. But if you see my struggle as
part of your own survival then perhaps we can work
together.”
The development of a critical consciousness that
sensitises future teachers to social, political and eco-
nomic oppression so that they are empowered to
take action as future teachers, meaning-makers and
change agents is a goal that teacher educator pro-
grammes in South Africa cannot be negated.
This project depicts one such attempt upon which
the NMMU Faculty of Education will continue to
build on as teacher educators themselves grapple
with and engage in their own “consciousness-
becoming.”
“This project makes me
want to be more careful
about what words I use,
how to make a clear and
conscious effort to treat
people and love people
equally. But it has also
made me realise how
human and fragile I am.”
33
