Between the Vision of Yesterday and the Reality of Today: Forging a Pedagogy of Possibility

Abstract

In this article I discuss the vision of education for liberation during the anti-apartheid struggle in South Africa. The article focuses specifically on “People’s Education” and “Workers’ Education”. Instead of an instrumental role for education reduced solely to the labour market requirements of business, economic growth and international competitiveness, I argue that the purpose of education is much broader. Embedded in a rich tradition of an educational praxis based on social justice and democratic citizenship, the popular movements associated with people’s and workers’ education generated alternatives to apartheid’s legacy on education. In contemporary South Africa, this apartheid legacy is exacerbated by post-apartheid policies rooted in neoliberalism. While post-1994 education policies established the legislative framework for social justice, equity and adequate resources remain unattainable and elusive. In the face of the desultory state of schooling and the failures of neoliberalism, the article takes issue with the proffered solutions advocated by proponents of neoliberalism, including strident calls for the privatisation of education and resorting back to an apartheid-like disciplinary regime. In forging a pedagogy of possibility, social class analysis and effective community participation in education policy deliberations would need to be reinserted into the conversations about redress and education reform if the country is to overcome its inequalities and social cleavages. To this end, alternatives and possibilities raised during the struggle against apartheid are reiterated, re-examined and offered as prisms through which an alternative education can be practised.

Transforming the curriculum for the unique challenges faced by South Africa

“…Identity and citizenship have not been settled, but is in the making in South Africa and it is through the curriculum that schools and universities should contribute in this area. The slow pace of transformation in the South African higher education sector has been alluded to by other scholars (Blignaut 2013;Paphitis and Kelland 2016;Vally 2019).…”

Researching the Public Good: Reflections on Experiences of Doing Research on Higher Education and he Public Good in South Africa

“…The competitive nature of universities as well as the commodification of higher education generally has placed pressure on universities in the global South to catch up with global North universities and move up the ladder of what is called the 'global prestige economy' of universities. A general trend now is the growing agenda of the corporatisation of universities, which questions the role of the university as pursuing social justice, developing mechanisms for addressing social inequality and facilitating the circulation of knowledge (Vally 2019).…”

Racial integration in post-apartheid South African desegregated high schools: a case study of multi-racial teacher perspectives at one high school in the Western Cape.

“…Recent evidence suggests that post-apartheid education is currently in a state of turmoil. For instance, Vally (2020) critically reflects on the desultory state of post-apartheid education currently. The author is candid that the post-apartheid education system has failed to achieve its democratic ideals, and this is demonstrated in the problems of chronic racism, racist incidents and racial integration challenges faced at post-apartheid desegregated schools.…”

“…Similarly, Vally (2020) reflects on the South African Human Rights Commission research report on racism, racial integration and desegregation in post-apartheid schools that he coauthored in 1999. He laments how things have gone awry with democracy and particularly in education.…”