In setting out to understand how South African school space was harnessed to the political project of apartheid, the author explores memory accounts from several adults who attended school during the apartheid era. Her analysis of their reminiscences found that non-pedagogic areas of the school and public domain beyond school premises were places…

By using a consolidated dataset of schools derived from a range of administrative systems, it is shown that overall public spending in the schooling system was close to being equal, though it marginally favoured the rich in 2005. A historical comparison reveals that the 2005 public spending pattern was around 17 times more equal than the apartheid…

Athol Fugard, a white South African playwright/actor/director of international renown, has worked toward the establishment of an integrated, multiracial theater not associated with the white South African establishment. In his plays, Fugard has made racism and the ravaging effects of racial tension come alive as he presents aspects of these…

This curriculum unit is designed for secondary students in twentieth-century history and peace studies. The unit contains three activities from which students gain a better understanding of the dimensions of apartheid in South Africa. The activities are entitled: (1) "Racial Separation," an activity that gives students the opportunity to…

Discusses residential segregation and the relationship between spatial distance and social isolation through a review of relevant literature and an analysis of census data. Presents five criteria for interpreting the space representing distances among ethnic groups: socioeconomic status, access to local authority housing, immigration patterns,…

In post-apartheid South Africa, the tenets of inclusivity, nondiscrimination, and tolerance are actively encouraged and legislated across all sectors of society, including education. However, in examining the coming out experiences of 18 South African gay and lesbian youth (1997-2000), it became apparent that they had all experienced…

The discourses of neoliberalism and global market competition dominate social and economic agendas at the beginning of the twenty-first century. In particular, global competition and new managerialism have underpinned the recent emphases on accountability and administrative efficiency, and there has been a permeation of contemporary business…

Research on student responses to Critical Pedagogy frequently highlights their opposition to transformational agendas. This paper focuses on student opposition at a predominantly 'white' South African university to materials that represent the apartheid past. Engaging with the imperatives of transformation characterizing post-apartheid Higher…

Since 1999 I have worked on an oral history project with teachers who fought apartheid. In this article teacher stories of the past are presented and analysed as models for societal and educational issues of the present and future. Two broad themes are addressed to connect the past to the present: (1) The importance of teachers' recollections of…

The dismantling of South Africa's apartheid-controlled education system after 1994 brought with it unprecedented policy complications, among them the question of how best to integrate the desiderata of access and merit in school education and tertiary sectors. For the higher education sector, institutional mergers became an increasingly visible…

This paper examines some aspects of teacher education policy change in South Africa. It contextualises the changes by firstly examining the apartheid teacher education system and then mapping the changes that have occurred in teacher education in South Africa since 1994. Using a case study of the Further Diploma in Educational Management at the…

Quality assurance is an important subject in modern universities. After discussing several theoretical aspects of quality and quality assurance, the authors conclude that the care taken by heads of academic departments or directors of academic schools in the process of quality assurance may be regarded as one of the key elements of ensuring good…

The concept of anomie is one of the classics of sociological theory. Developed by scholars such as Emile Durkheim and Robert K. Merton, the concept refers to the absence of clear social norms and values and to a lack of sense of social regulation. However, whereas Merton focused on features of relative deprivation that cause anomie, Durkheim was…

Recent reports on Indigenous education have revealed that high proportions of students have been placed in special classes for intellectual disability or behaviour disorders. This is not an isolated phenomenon. Indigenous students in Canada and Romani children in Europe are also disproportionately represented in special schooling. This paper asks…

The parallels between South Africa and the United States run deep. For the United States, that moment of transition, at least as far as education is concerned, was the landmark ruling of 1954, described in the shorthand, "Brown v. Board of Education"; for South Africa, that moment came 40 years later when every citizen could, for the…