The dilemma of public administration education in South Africa

Abstract

This article points to the adverse circumstances in which public administration education and training has to take place in developing countries, more specifically in South Africa. This is especially seen in the combination of scarce resources and rapidly increasing enrolment. The consequence thereof is that the didactics of education and training suffer in becoming characterized by mere teaching instead of the promotion of learning.The article points to a serious dilemma especially faced under such difficult circumstances, namely that a curriculum either addresses all the subjects relevant from an academic perspective and conform to international accreditation criteria, and becomes deficient in the way all these topics are taught-or opts to prioritize topics based on a skills-needs analysis and optimizes the way in which this limited number of topics is learned.

Creating epistemic access through a scaffold approach: Academic literacy skills development for South African first-year public administration students

“…Public Administration programmes focus on equipping students to work within the broader government sector, able and capable of delivering public functions responsive to the needs of society. Contributing to the discourse regarding appropriate graduate attributes and skills, Kroukamp and De Vries (2014: 160) highlight that there are a number of factors that influence the success ratio of any undergraduate programme in the South African context, including, inter alia, increased enrolments, student–staff ratios and the overall decline of professional and intellectual life in the country. Further complicating matters are classes too big to be participatory and crammed syllabi preventing in-depth discussions.…”

“…Important for the research is that the degree is offered in English to students whose mother tongue and even second or third language would not be English. According to Carstens (2016: 1),South African university students display a wide range of English proficiencies: a small minority are mother-tongue speakers of English; some studied English as a subject for 12 years (primarily mother-tongue speakers of Afrikaans); some received tuition from Grade 4 through the medium of English (the majority of black South African students taught at public schools in rural and township schools); while a number of second language speakers graduated from private English-medium high schools and are well prepared for university study through the medium of English.As argued by Kroukamp and De Vries (2014: 161–162), due to the differences and the policies of the past, many South African students are unprepared for the challenges, with only 35% being first-language English speakers and many having a limited foundational knowledge basis to rely upon. Based on the above reality, the importance of including an embedded and scaffolded approach to academic literacy is argued.…”

First-year students at an open distance and e-learning institution: Perceptions, expectations and challenges associated with academic writing feedback

“…For instance, a problem with the institution that can impede students' learning is typically the large number of students and inadequate academic personnel. Therefore, teaching, grading and giving feedback automatically becomes a challenge (Carpenter et al, 2020;Kroukamp & De Vries, 2014). In addition, Sibomama (2016:23) states that individuals from non-English backgrounds are at a disadvantage as they must adhere to academic literacy conventions in the English language which most EAL students are not proficient in.…”

Decolonisation in the field of public administration: The responsiveness of the scholarship of teaching and learning

“…In South Africa, scholars contested various policy discourses on neo-liberalism and government approaches and macro-economic strategies that have influenced the political economy. In surveying the dilemma of public administration training, Kroukamp and De Vries (2014) are of the view that the failure of a government to provide services to the public is a challenge to the production and transmission of knowledge. Training of public administrators cannot be a solution to public service while there is a severe shortage of resources and declining infrastructure in public agencies.…”