Education rights, education policies and inequality in South Africa

The Perils of Outcomes-Based Education in Fostering South African Educational Transformation

“…After policies are developed, it is expected that stages of implementation will be outlined for administrators. Implementation, however, is rarely found in South African education policy agendas (Spreen, 2006). Jansen (2000) chided the government for providing minimal training for Grade One teachers, regarding the implementation of OBE, which resulted in the hiring of untrained teachers.…”

“…Some scholars (e.g., Spreen & Vally, 2006) believe educational goals are so out of context that they will never be reached. Collaborating with all stakeholders (even students) to work on plans for implementation proportions that foster goals aligned with those of the local communities in which the school children live remains critical.…”

“…With a political ideology of democracy in South Africa, the hope is that education's curriculum reform (C2005, OBE), can lead the way in diminishing race, class, and gender inequalities. However, this has not been the case (Moorosi, 2007;Spreen & Vally, 2006). Historically, the aftermath of apartheid damaged and continues to damage the socio-political fabric of the country.…”

“…An examination of policies in post-apartheid South Africa shows the unique approach that the government employed to adopt democracy. Unfortunately, many scholars concede that South Africa's ambitious curriculum policies reveal numerous failings and tensions in schools (Spreen & Vally, 2006;South African Policy Brief 2010). Organized in such a way as to introduce the policy problem, the paper also traces the history of education in South Africa; examines Curriculum 2005 (C2005) and OutBased Education (OBE), and discusses the implications of OBE within a South African context.…”

SOUTH AFRICA’s POST-1994 TRANSFORMATIVE CONSTITUTION AND ITS HUMAN RIGHTS NARRATIVE: A VIEW ON PERFECTING TRADITIONAL MALE CIRCUMCISION

“…And, given the country's pervasive triple challenges of unemployment, poverty and inequalities (Mattes, 2012;Kings, 2014;Statistics SA, 2015), it is expected that the trend of persistent abuse of TMC as commercial activity will be difficult to uproot. Thus, these factors are major sources of socio-economic injustices and social instability in society as emphasized by Spreen and Vally (2006) and Coovadia (2009)…”