How do the values in new South African policy manifest in a disadvantaged school setting?

Abstract

South Africa has faced many challenges and difficulties since the change to democracy in 1994. At the heart of this ordeal is a striving towards access, quality and equity as key goals for the education system. This research presents the tensions between two crucial elements in post 1994 education. A renewed emphasis on values, evident in many policy documents, provides a 'beacon of hope' as to how South Africans may find common ground and become a united, multicultural society through education. Yet, these ideals are contradicted in South African school life. Functioning in difficult circumstances, disadvantaged (township) schools continually struggle against the odds. The lack of sanitation, textbooks, desks and running water, as well as teacher absenteeism, provides little support or structure for quality teaching and learning. In this thesis, a township school community in the Eastern Cape Province shares day-to-day experiences through interviews, focus groups, observations and document analysis. Using qualitative research methods based in the interpretive paradigm, the theoretical and historical framework of values policy documents is related to the environment in which these participants live. My findings indicate that without targeted interventions and research to address these problems, the legacy from decades of historical apartheid may diminish, but is unlikely to disappear of its own accord. Policy documents will remain an idealistic rhetoric until real life solutions are found. Finally, I propose that further research is crucial in understanding the unique role of values in South African education.