PART 1
Copyright 2016. Oxford University Press Southern Africa.
All rights reserved. May not be reproduced in any form without permission from the publisher, except fair uses permitted under U.S. or applicable copyright law.
HISTORY OF EDUCATION
Chapter 1
A history of education in South Africa up to 1994
Chapter 2
International trends in educational historiography
Chapter 3
A history of selected education systems
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Chapter 1
A history of education in South Africa up to 1994
Cheryl le Roux and Johan Wassermann
STRUCTURE OF CHAPTER
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
After you have worked through this chapter, you should be able to:
• understand the nature and importance of the history of education
• reflect on the actions of our predecessors, who had moral frameworks that are different from ours, with
empathy
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•
•
•
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describe the symbiotic relationship between educational change and continuity
discuss how education in this country has evolved, and explain the causes for this evolution and the
consequences thereof
compare and contrast the different education systems that have had prominence in South Africa
describe how the history of education in South Africa continues to impact on the current system.
GLOSSARY
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1.1
apartheid
Bantu education
Christian National Education
colonialism
indigenous
missionary
INTRODUCTION
Everything in the world has a history. Likewise, everything that happens in education, regardless of its
scale, has a history. Consider these aspects of education, which may help you to understand this idea:
school uniforms, teaching methods, assessment strategies, punishment, access to education, educational
policies, transport, school feeding schemes, language of instruction, curricula, the use of technology,
school buildings, homework and learning theories. Every aspect of education has its own history, which
has evolved over time and in space. It is thus clear that the history of education is a massive and diverse
topic, and that all aspects could not be covered in a single chapter. Consequently, since the history of
education is a human construct, it was necessary to limit the content covered in this chapter, which you
will study as part of your undergraduate teaching qualification. Decisions had to be made about what
content to include and what to leave out. It was decided to focus on the geographical space that we now
know as South Africa and, more specifically, to look at the major events that took place in education in
this region up to 1994. (The term ‘South Africa’ will be used for the geo-political region that we now
know as such. This is done for the sake of convenience and clarity. South Africa only came into being as
a political entity on 31 May 1910, when the Union of South Africa was created.) We will do this in a
thematic and chronological manner by focusing on six broad eras, providing you with an understanding
of the ‘big picture’ of the history of education in South Africa. Thus, what you have in front of you is not
necessarily the full story or the final word on the history of education of this country, but a snapshot that
should help you to have some understand of where we come from educationally (the past), what is
happening now (the present) and what we should seriously consider (the future). In this articulation
between the past, the present and the future, you will engage with content starting with traditional
indigenous educational practices and journey up to the educational dispensation created in 1994, when
political apartheid ended. It is important to note that we have organised the history of education of South
African into themes to allow us to make sense of the past. It must be understood that the past did not
happen this way, but it was organised as such by us in order to make sense of it from our present position.
It is also important to note at the outset that any educational event in history must be understood in the
socio-political and socio-economic context of the time in which it took place.
In addition to this content, you will also engage with the following key historical thinking skills by
means of the activities at the end of each sub-section:
• Historical time: When, why and in what contexts did events take place?
• Historical empathy: How can we understand predecessors who had different moral frameworks from
ours?
• Change and continuity: What changed and what remained the same?
• Cause and consequence: What caused events to happen and what were the consequences?
• Historical evidence: How do we make sense of the raw materials of the past by means of
contextualisation, close reading and corroboration?
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•
Historical significance: What is important in history and why?
1.2
CONCEPTUALISATION OF THE HISTORY OF EDUCATION
However, before we can start this journey through the history of education of South Africa, we need to
make some conceptual stops so as to develop an understanding of: the following:
• the nature of the history of education
• the evidence that historians of education use
• the value of studying the history of education.
1.2.1
The nature of the history of education
It is impossible to define the field of history or history of education. Suffice to say that the history of
education is a branch of the broader field of history that specifically studies the past as it relates to
education by means of primary and secondary sources. The concept of time is central in this study. In
addition to time, the complex mixture of change and continuity as well as cause and consequence are key
in understanding the history of education. For example, change does not necessarily mean progress and
the real causes of an event might only be known long after it has taken place.
With reference to the above, the duties of historians of education are, according to Laslett (1987),
threefold:
• They have a duty to their own generation to record past events as fully as possible. In addition, they
should interpret these events by filling in the gaps and saving the voices of the past from oblivion for
the benefit of contemporary and future generations.
• They have a duty to the people of the past to record and interpret events as fully and as accurately as
possible.
• They have an academic and scholarly duty to search after the truth to the utmost of their abilities. Whilst
acknowledging that some degree of bias is probable, they should ensure that their research has been
conducted in such a way that everything possible has been done to circumvent it.
Commenting on events from the past requires that historians understand the difference between our
current perspectives and those of bygone societies. People are inclined to critique past events by looking
at them from a contemporary perspective and current norms. This is known as presentism or ahistoricity.
It must be remembered that the circumstances of the past differ substantially from the current situation.
Historians might not agree with how things were done in the past, but they need to understand the context
within which these events took place. Consequently historians try to hold back on making explicit ethical
judgments concerning events of the past.
1.2.2
The evidence that historians of education use
Historians of education, like all other historians, generally use two kinds of evidence: primary sources
and secondary sources.
Primary sources are created at the time of the educational event or very soon afterwards. Primary
sources are generally created by someone who was part of the educational event that took place. These
sources are often very rare and there might only be one copy of a primary source. However, there may
also be many copies. Primary sources are generally kept in archives such as the National Archive in
Pretoria or in the various provincial archives. They could, however, also be kept in much smaller
archives, such as those kept by schools, individuals or religious organisations who provided education. Of
late, primary sources can also be found online. They could also be part of the memories of people. The
following are examples of primary sources: original documents related to education such as logbooks,
report cards, notices, photographs, oral testimonies, memoirs, film footage, policy documents,
punishment books, minutes of meetings, incident reports, lesson plans and teaching materials.
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Information box
Follow these instructions to do an online search for some primary sources:
• Log on to www.national.archives.gov.za. This is the website for the national archives of South Africa.
• Click on the link ‘Search National Automated Archival Information Retrieval System’.
• Click on the link ‘RSA – All Archives Repositories and National Registers of Nonpublic Records’.
• Type in ‘school fees’ in the box under ‘Search Words’.
• Click on ‘Result Summary’.
• You can now read a summary of the hundreds of documents relating to school fees. Some of them are
more than a hundred years old. What do you notice?
• Do your own search on topics that interest you. If you want to read the original documents, you will have
to go to the appropriate archive.
Secondary sources are second-hand published accounts that are created after the event, sometimes many
years later. Secondary sources often use primary sources to express an opinion or an argument about the
past. Secondary sources generally exist in large numbers and can be found online, or in libraries, schools
or our homes. The following are examples of secondary sources: textbooks, this book chapter, newspaper
reports, books, journals, art, magazines and feature films.
It must be noted that the line between primary and secondary sources can at times be blurred based on
how these sources are viewed and how they are used. However, historians need both primary and
secondary sources to understand the history of education. The collection and analysis of primary and/or
secondary sources leads to an interpretation of the past. Historians do not always agree on their individual
interpretations of the past. It is said that historians are subjective (biased), which affects the history that
they write (Marwick, 2001). However, entering into critical debate about issues related to the history of
education contributes to the expansion and enhancement of perspectives.
Activity
Go home and find a primary or secondary source that relates to your schooling. This could be a pen or
1. pencil, a report card, a certificate that you have won, a letter written to your parents, an old notebook or
textbook, a test or exam paper, or anything else. You could either bring the source to class or take a
photo of it on your cellphone. In class in groups of four, each take a turn to talk about your source using
the following guidelines:
• Show your source or the photo of the source to your group members.
• Describe your source to your group.
• Explain the purposes or uses of your source to your group.
• Explain to your group the relevance of your chosen source to your schooling.
• After each presentation, group members are expected to ask questions.
1.2.3
The value of studying the history of education
As a prospective teacher, studying the history of education could help you develop the following:
• an appreciation for the importance of education to people in South Africa across the centuries
• an understanding of how past events have shaped and are still shaping the present education system
• an historical consciousness (an awareness of the relationship between the past, the present and the
future) related to education in South Africa.
• an understanding of the different education systems that have had prominence in South Africa and the
reasons for this
• an understanding of the actions related to education that our predecessors took in the past
• an understanding of the causes of the actions related to education that our predecessors took in the past
and the consequences thereof
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•
•
an understanding of past educational practices that were either successful or unsuccessful, which allows
for the development of contemporary ideas
a broader scope and knowledge about education, making you more comfortable and competent in your
teaching.
Activity
1.
1.3
Read the bulleted list summarising the value of studying the history of education above.
Rank each item on the list from 1 to 8, with 1 being most important and 8 the least important. Explain
• the reasons for your choices to the person next to you.
• Which of the reasons listed here would you remove? Explain your reasons to the person behind you.
• If you could add to the statements listed here, what would you add? Explain your insertions and the
reasons for them to the person in front of you.
A HISTORY OF EDUCATION IN SOUTH AFRICA UP TO 1994
In relation to human history, which spans thousands of years, formal education in South Africa is rather a
recent invention. This does not mean that learners’ education only commenced when the first formal
schools were established. In fact, education is a universal human phenomenon that has always been
important and will continue to be so for the rest of human existence (Booyse & Le Roux, 2010). From the
earliest huntergatherers, herders and farmers to the present technologically driven society, children have
needed to acquire practical skills and knowledge through education to ensure their own and their society’s
survival. In this section, we look at the following topics:
• traditional indigenous educational practices
• education at the Cape during the Dutch East India Company (1652 –1795) and Batavian rule (1803
–1806)
• education under British Colonial rule in the Cape (1807–1910) and Natal (1843 –1910)
• education in the Boer Republics
• mission education in South Africa
• education from the time of the South African War until the National Party came into power (1902
–1948)
• National Party rule and education under apartheid (1948 –1994).
1.3.1
Traditional indigenous educational practices
The African communities who resided in South Africa prior to the arrival of Whites had developed their
own indigenous educational practices over the centuries. Anthropologically speaking, these communities
could be organised into two broad economic groupings:
• the hunter-gatherers, which included the San and at times the Khoi
• the pastoralists or herders and farmers, which included the Khoi and the Bantu.
Note that the term ‘Bantu’, as used in anthropology, is an accepted term employed to collectively identify
peoples belonging to a broad language group. This should not be confused with the derogatory
connotations that apartheid attached to the concept. In this chapter, the term ‘African’ will be used to
collectively include the Khoi/San and Bantu peoples. The term ‘Black’ will be used to refer to all people
of colour.
It is important to understand that these groupings were not necessarily rigid in nature. Communities
and individuals could, as their circumstances dictated, move between or embrace aspects of either
hunter-gathering or herding and farming. However, this does not mean that there were not distinct
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differences in the livelihoods, cultures and languages of the different communities (Mitchell, 2012). In
short, these communities were not static in nature and were constantly evolving on numerous levels. In
the process, their educational practices evolved accordingly.
The traditional indigenous educational practices practised by both the hunter-gatherers and herders and
farmers were, as with any other community throughout history, in direct response to their socio-political
and socio-economic settings. Consequently, the education provided to children within these communities
served to prepare them for integration into their societies. Accordingly, the members of both groups
worked from the premise that their future as a community as well as that of their children depended on
the latter understanding and perpetuating the institutions, systems, laws, languages and values that they
had inherited from the past (Mazonde, 2001).
Generally, African children were raised in the community, by the community, for the community.
Overseeing the education of children was not the prerogative of the parents only, but rather that of the
whole community. Simply put, society was the educator (Mbamara, 2004). This indigenous form of
education, although non-literary, was transmitted informally by parents, elders and other members of
society, and formally through, for example, initiation practices or apprenticeships to craftsmen
(Hlatshwayo, 2000).
The indigenous education practices of the time had a clear gender bias. Girls and boys were socialised
very early on in the different duties they had to fulfil. As such, the knowledge and the skills that they
learnt were linked to their future roles in society as adults. Girls were, for example, inducted into securing
energy for their households by collecting firewood, ensuring the availability of clean water, gathering
veld foods according to the season, tending the fields, preparing meals and overseeing child-rearing and
housekeeping. Boys, in contrast, engaged mostly in farming activities, house-building, herding livestock,
hunting and acting as retainers during war (Mazonde, 2001). Alongside observation and practical
experiences, imitative play formed an important part of the informal education outlined above. Girls
made dolls, played at husband and wife, and cooked imaginary meals, while boys staged mock battles,
and made model huts, cattle pens and animals from clay and wood (Mazonde, 2001).The knowledge and
skills gained during this educational process often occurred within age groups under the watchful
guidance of suitably qualified older individuals. Particular skills and knowledge that were ‘age
appropriate’ were acquired in these groups (Thornton & Byrnes, 2005). For example, in many
communities across southern Africa, regiments of young men grouped according to age acquired military
knowledge and skills vital to their survival and prestige under the instruction of respected military,
religious or political leaders (Hlatshwayo, 2000).
Because the African people who resided in South Africa people had no written language, much of
what was taught was done informally in an oral manner. The Khoi/ San did, however, support their oral
memories with rock art depicting scenes related to, for example, hunting. The oral practices employed
encompassed various genres, including the telling of proverbs and riddles, epic narratives, oration and
personal testimony, praise-poetry songs, chants and rituals, stories, legends and folktales. Tales of
heroism, valour, fickleness and treachery were narrated. These stories taught valuable moral, spiritual and
cultural lessons. There were riddles to test children’s judgement, and stories to explain the origin of the
communities and the genesis of humankind. These stories were narrated with care and repetition by
respected designated members of the community who had developed exceptional memories. In fact,
having exceptionally good memories is an enduring feature of communities without a written language.
Formal education usually began after puberty. One way in which it manifested itself was by means of
initiation ceremonies that marked the transition from adolescence to adulthood. During such ceremonies
and the accompanying education, a major part of community knowledge and history, accumulated
knowledge and skills, and appropriate attitudes and values were transferred to the initiates. To make the
occasion memorable, the neophytes – those who had been newly initiated – were expected to follow
certain practices that acknowledged the authority of society over the individual. The ceremony was held
with considerable pomp and spectacle, which made the significance of the occasion clear to all. Popular
display was contrasted with certain secret rites (a series of acts, including gestures and verbal expression,
whose sequence was established by tradition) that were confined to those who had themselves undergone
similar experiences (Mazonde, 2001).
Other formal training served as preparation for essential functional duties within the community and
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was generally organised through an apprenticeship system. Particular occupations include those related to
medicine (herbalists), entertainment and communication (drummers), spiritual needs (priests) and
industrial needs (ironmongers) (Mazonde, 2001).
The dual system of formal and informal education acted in a complementary manner and took place, at
least in the herder and farmer communities, within a generally hierarchical, class-conscious and
male-dominated structure in which the collective and learning in a collective rather than an individual
manner were paramount. Ultimately, the purpose of traditional indigenous educational practices was to
create a prototype person who could function successfully within society. These educational practices
were not concerned with the world of books, reading and writing, but the principles and provision of
education among pre-literate communities in southern Africa was advanced and useful enough to ensure
the survival of the different societies. For example, holistic sophisticated scientific knowledge of plants,
animals, insects and the weather needed to be acquired for medicinal, dietary, economic and safety
reasons. This knowledge allowed, for example, for successful and sustainable hunting and herding as well
as the gathering of veld foods.
With the arrival of White settlers in 1652, the existing indigenous educational practices systematically
came under pressure, for they were viewed as inferior, primitive and unsophisticated. The effect was
usually devastating, resulting in either the destruction or the alteration of existing traditional indigenous
educational practices. However, many of these practices of the past proved to be extremely resilient and
survived. Part of the reason for this is that these practices were sophisticated and enduring. One such
example relates to the philosophy of ubuntu. Another relates to scientific knowledge about the
environment and history. Post-1994, the value of what is now called Indigenous Knowledge Systems
(IKS) is recognised and has found its way into the school curricula of learning areas such as history and
science.
Discussion
In groups of four, with reference to real examples from the Curriculum Assessment Policy Statement
1. (CAPS), debate the value of Indigenous Knowledge Systems in contemporary curricula.
2. In pairs, contemplate the following statement: ‘Traditional initiation ceremonies have no place in
contemporary society.’
3. One of the enduring oral tales relates to the relationship between the hawk and chicken, with the latter
forever scratching in the sand so as to pay back the former. Get someone to retell this story in class.
Several versions of what the chicken is searching for might exist. Allow for all of these versions to be
told. What do you think was the educational moral of this story?
1.3.2
Education at the Cape during the Dutch East India Company (1652 –1795) and
Batavian rule (1803 –1806)
The arrival of the Dutch East India Company (DEIC) at the Cape in 1652 signalled the start of a major
disruption to the existing traditional indigenous educational practices. As the nature of the initial
settlement changed and Whites started to move into the interior, the disruption, and at times destruction,
followed.
The initial instruction issued by the DEIC (a private, commercial profit-making company from the
Netherlands) to Jan van Riebeeck (the leader of the company employees sent to establish a temporary
halfway refreshment station to provide ships rounding the Cape on their way to the Dutch colonies in the
Far East with fresh produce, meat and other necessities) was not to form a permanent settlement (Ross,
1989). The temporary settlers sent to the Cape predominantly consisted of men who had to construct a
fort for the protection of the settlement, soldiers who would garrison the fort, and agriculturalists who
could plant and maintain crops to supply ships en route to and from the Netherlands with fresh food
(Theal, 1882). In total, only twenty of the settlers included women and children. The children were all
younger than the age of six (Theal, 1895).
The initial idea of the settlement at the Cape being a temporary one soon changed, as some of the
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DEIC officials wished to remain at the Cape rather than returning to the Netherlands. In time, they were
joined by their families. Some of them developed familial relations with the indigenous population. By
the 1660s, it was clear that the settlement at the Cape was becoming permanent, for DEIC officials were
allowed to remain at the Cape once their employment by the company had ended. They took up various
occupations, including those of farmers and traders (Theal, 1895). The Dutch settlers were joined by
French Huguenots (religious Protestant refugees from Catholic France) in 1688, swelling the number of
White settlers at the Cape. The White settlers were joined by slaves from Africa and the Dutch colonies in
the Far East as well as a number of Muslim political prisoners from the Dutch Colony of Batavia, now
part of modern day Indonesia. In other words, what was meant to be a temporary halfway station at the
Cape became a permanent home, either voluntarily or involuntarily, to many people (Freund, 1972).
Under this process of colonisation, the White settlers employed slave and indigenous labour to enhance
their own economic prospects while serving the DEIC and the Netherlands. Although not a colony of the
Netherlands, the settlement at the Cape exhibited many of the trappings of a formal colony. As such, the
provision of facilities such as churches and schools took place.
Source: Reader’s Digest Association. 1989. Illustrated History of South Africa: The Real Story. Cape Town: Reader’s
Digest Association of South Africa.
Figure 1.1
Illustration depicting a meeting between members of the indigenous community and Dutch settlers arriving at the
Cape
During the DEIC rule of the Cape, the relationship between the church and education became so
strong that the two institutions were virtually inseparable. In the process, the Dutch version of
Protestantism (which was consolidated during the religious Reformation in Europe) and its associated
education system were transplanted from the Netherlands to the Cape. The Canons of Dort, adopted in
1618 as the religious directives of the church in Holland, outlined the purpose and nature of education.
According to Article 21, ‘Good schoolmasters, who shall not only instruct the children in reading,
writing, languages and the liberal arts, but likewise in godliness and the Catechism’ were to serve as
teachers (Vorster, 1981: 105). The result was that almost all formal education taking place at the Cape up
to the end of the DEIC rule was some form of fundamentalist Christian education with its roots in Europe.
As was the case in Europe, formal education at the Cape was not compulsory. In fact, education in one
way or another only became compulsory roughly 150 years later. Furthermore, since the Cape was
governed by a profit-making company, little real incentive existed to promote formal education.
Consequently, families who wanted to have their children formally educated generally employed a
private teacher to teach them at home. The quality of these teachers varied greatly, as some were runaway
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sailors while others were competent educators. The education they dispensed consisted predominantly of
learning to read, to write and to do calculations. The content was generally derived from the Bible and the
primary aim of learning to read was to enable people to read the Bible (Education Bureau, 1981). This
was also the type of education required to be confirmed as a member of the Dutch Reformed Church. The
evidence needed to be confirmed was the ability of an individual to read the Bible, recite the Catechism
and write his or her name: testimony to a rudimentary form of literacy and education (Behr, 1988). Being
able to do that not only cemented a place in the church, but also in the society at the Cape. In a nutshell,
all aspects of life at the Cape were subjected to strict religious ideas. In this, race was not initially a
factor; it only became one later. Wealthy members of Cape society often chose to send their children to
the Netherlands for their education.
The practice outlined above did not mean that formal schools were not established. The first school at
the Cape was established in 1658. It was for young slave children who had been aboard the Amersfoort, a
Portuguese slave ship intercepted en route from Angola to Brazil (South African History Online, n.d.).
The education that the children received was not to their satisfaction and came to an end when they ran
away. The next formal school was established in 1663. This school was attended by twelve children
belonging to White parents, four slave children and one Khoi child. These children were taught to read
and write in Dutch, and were also provided with religious instruction. A school for the offspring of
African and White parents was also established in Cape Town in 1676. However, the education in these
schools was not of a high standard. A visiting Dutch Commissioner to the Cape, Hendrik Adriaan van
Rheede, remarked in 1685 that the education of slave children was especially neglected. He thus insisted
that a separate school be established for them as they needed to receive special educational attention in
order to make up lost ground. He recommended that all slave children under the age of twelve should
attend school and should be taught in Dutch by their own teachers. In the school that was subsequently
established, the slave boys and girls were taught separately. The boys were taught by Jan Pasqual and the
girls by Margaret, a freed slave. Some of the slave children were chosen to learn skilled trades so as to
enhance their economic worth. Van Rheede also specified that male slaves should be able to buy their
freedom at the age of 25, provided that they could speak Dutch and had been confirmed in the Dutch
Reformed Church. The same conditions applied to females at the age of 22. As outlined above, the
French Huguenots arrived at the Cape as religious refugees during the 1680s. In 1700, a school was
established to cater specifically for the French Huguenot children. Initially, they were taught in French,
but this was only a temporary arrangement as the medium of instruction became Dutch to ensure the
assimilation of the French community into Cape society. At face value, at least, it seems that at this stage,
all children at the Cape, regardless of race or social status, had the right to receive a worthy education
(Theal, 1882).
However, despite these efforts, formal education at the Cape remained deplorable. Consequently,
when a new minister of the Dutch Reformed Church arrived in 1707, his opinion was that unless the
education situation was addressed, the local population would be no better off than ‘barbarous savages’
(Spoelstra, 1906: 65, 69). His arrival signalled a greater involvement by the church in educational matters
and a Consistory or Ecclesiastical Court was established to oversee education. The Consistory, the first
attempt to structure education at the Cape formally, was responsible for appointing, supervising and
examining teachers. It also had the right to close schools that did not offer religious education to the
satisfaction of the Consistory. When a new governor, Governor Mauritz Pasque de Chavonnes, arrived in
1714, education at the Cape was further formalised as he spelt out teachers’ duties and laid down
regulations that applied to the organisation of schools. The Consistory was later replaced by a Body of
Scholars, which acted much like a school board.
However, the reach of the Body of Scholars was generally limited to the towns, for example, Cape
Town and Stellenbosch. As a result, White settlers (the so-called ‘Trek Boers’) who had trekked into the
interior became cut off from the more enlightened ideas held in the major towns as well as by the Dutch
Reformed Church and in Europe. Education under these circumstances became what ‘wandering
teachers’ could offer. This was complemented by deeply fundamentalist views related to the Old
Testament, which gave birth to racist thinking that regarded Whites as superior. These views were
enhanced by the contact the Trek Boers had with Africans and slaves. In fact, these ideas became so
powerful that from the 1730s onwards, race became an important factor in Cape society. The result was
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that the educational prospects of slave children and children born out of relationships between African
and White parents, in time to be called Coloured children, diminished up to the point of exclusion from
schools. On the whole, the education provided for the White settlers’ children under DEIC rule until the
end of the 1700s did not necessarily cultivate scholarly learning. It did, however, produce a society that
had a strong Christian religious and spiritual tradition, which was essential in meeting the settlers’
imagined needs at the time (Malherbe, 1975).
The education provided for Muslim children was probably the greatest success story under DEIC rule.
About 20% of the slaves who originated from the Indonesian Archipelago that were brought to the Cape
were Muslim. In addition, Muslim sultanates that resisted the Dutch as they progressively conquered the
Indonesian Archipelago in the Far East were sent to the Cape as political prisoners. Once the latter had
served their sentences on Robben Island, they remained and formed the nucleus of what became known
as the Free Black Community (Cajee, 2004). The growth of Islam in the Cape can be ascribed to the work
of these former political prisoners. A noteworthy example is Imam ’Abdullah ibn Kadi (Qadri) Abdus
Salaam, known as Mister Teacher (Tuan Guru), who was brought to the Cape in 1780 as a political
prisoner. His first concern, once he was released from Robben Island, was to establish a madrasah, or
Islamic religious school. Religious education is part of the practice of Islam and its primary objective is to
transmit knowledge of religious requirements so that Muslims are able to fulfil their religious duties.
Learners were taught the precepts from the Qur’an, and to read and write Arabic. The school was popular
among the slaves and the Free Black Community, and played an important role in converting many to
Islam. The medium of instruction in the madrasah was the lingua franca of the poor and the people of
colour at the Cape – an emerging form of Afrikaans – and consequently the textbooks used, although
written in Arabic script, were in very early forms of Afrikaans (Dangor, 1991).
Events in Europe in the late 1700s had a major influence on the Cape. The powerful DEIC went into
terminal decline and because of the wars involving Napoleon Bonaparte of France, Britain sent troops to
the Cape for fear that France would capture this strategic position. Between 1795 and 1803, the British
occupied the Cape. The British did not wish to interfere with the domestic concerns of the people and few
changes were made regarding governance. When peace was restored in Europe in 1803, the British
returned the Cape to the Netherlands. Between 1803 and 1806, the Cape was governed by the Batavian
Government, as the Netherlands was then known. This signalled major political and educational changes,
as the Cape was now no longer ruled by a company, but as a colony of a nation state.
The new authorities at the Cape immediately requested a report on the state of education in the Cape.
The report revealed a shocking educational picture. Commissioner-General Jacob De Mist, the political
leader at the Cape, put a great deal of effort into preparing a memorandum on the administration and
provision of education (Theal, 1911). He proposed the introduction of secular education that provided for
mother-tongue instruction, a more modern curriculum extending to secondary education and the
professional training of teachers (Freund, 1972; Horrell, 1970; Jeffreys, 1920). His suggestions for the
proposed education system were influenced by the national education system in the Netherlands and the
Dutch School Act. De Mist believed that education should instil morality, knowledge and skills, and
proposed a standardised, general education system that was funded and administered by the state and not
the church (Freund, 1972). Because of the lack of well-trained teachers at the Cape, he suggested that
teachers be recruited from the Netherlands. Apart from using ‘good, understandable and sensible school
books, straightforward moral guides, and short appropriate songs of praise for which the Burghers [White
residents] had great respect’, teachers were also expected to teach foreign languages, history, geography,
ethics, natural history, the arts and drawing. De Mist also advocated that a public library, a museum and
an agricultural society be established. He believed that if efficient professionals and tradesmen were
encouraged to settle in the Cape, the region would prosper (Jeffreys, 1920: 201– 203). However, renewed
hostilities in Europe meant that the British regained the Cape in 1807. In the process, Mist’s progressive
ideas fell by the wayside.
During the roughly 140 years that the Cape was under the rule of the DEIC, formal education received
very little support. This must be understood against the context of the profit nature of the company. The
formal education that did take place was limited in nature, and was for the most part conducted under the
direction and structures of the Dutch Reformed Church. It was thus religious in nature and had as its main
aim the creation of citizens who would fit into the Cape society by dint of their religious orientation. The
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religious nature of education under the DEIC is in all probability the most enduring aspect of schooling of
the time and is still part of the contemporary South African educational landscape. Although education
was initially open to all, this tolerance evaporated in time and race became a factor in education. As a
result, children of colour were, except for a short period of mission schooling under the Moravians,
generally excluded from the 1730s onwards from those limited educational opportunities that existed. In
the process, as the settlement at the Cape expanded deeper into the interior, the culture and lifestyle of the
indigenous people who came into contact with the settlers were threatened. The only group of people who
had not come to the Cape by choice who established schools for their children were the Muslims. Muslim
children, and those who converted to Islam, possibly experienced the best education available at the Cape
during DEIC rule.
Activity
Write a tweet to a friend in class in which you explain, in your view, the main feature of education at the
1. Cape under the DEIC.
2. ‘Much emphasis was seemingly placed at the Cape on the education of slave children.’ In pairs, debate the
possible moral and economic reasons for this.
3. In groups of four, study the drawing of a meeting between members of the indigenous community and
Dutch settlers in Figure 1.1. Explain how this interaction was informed by the different educational
practices they were exposed to in their societies.
1.3.3
Education under British colonial rule in the Cape (1807–1910) and Natal (1843–1899)
The British had jurisdiction over the Cape Colony between 1807 and 1910 and the Colony of Natal
between 1843 and 1910. Many pivotal historical events happened during these years. It is necessary to
highlight these events since they are crucial for making sense of the history of education up to 1910,
when the South African unitary state was created. These events include the following:
• the rapid and aggressive expansion of white settlement into the interior of southern African by means of
the Great Trek and other migratory movements
• the bloodshed at the Cape Frontier Wars, fought by Cape colonists and the British against the Xhosa
• the arrival of the British Settlers in 1820
• the emancipation of slaves in 1834
• the arrival of indentured labourers from India from the 1860s to work on the sugarcane fields
• the discovery of diamonds
• the creation of the Boer Republics of the Orange Free State and the Transvaal
• the destruction of African communities and indigenous systems in numerous ways, such as by means of
the Anglo-Zulu War of 1879 and the South African War between the Boers and the British Empire,
which started in 1899 and ended in 1902.
This sub-section unpacks education under British Colonial rule (1807–1899) in the Cape and Natal,
education in the Boer Republics and mission education in South Africa against the backdrop of these
events.
1.3.3.1 Education in the Cape Colony
The British inherited a poorly structured and administered education system at the Cape from the Dutch.
Standards were low, teachers were poorly qualified and often of the wandering type, and there were
insufficient school buildings. Schools were not attended regularly and several schools were not even
operational (Watermeyer Commission, 1863: Appendix V No. 11). In 1811, when Sir John Cradock
arrived as Governor of the Cape, he requested an enquiry into the state of education in the colony. Justice
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J.E. Truter, who headed the enquiry, indicated that there were so many shortcomings that the British were
obliged to take action (McKerron, 1934; Theal, 1901b). This Cradock did and several new policies were
introduced.
The most noteworthy of these was the continuance of an education system based on Christian religious
principles. Because education based on religious principles was so important to the White
Dutch-speaking population, Cradock made sure that education retained its religious nature. The British
education system was much more liberal and secular, but Cradock believed that education based on the
Bible would lay a foundation for a civilised, moral and diligent life, and would be accepted by the White
population at the Cape.
The second introduction related to the establishment of government-funded monitor schools. Monitor
schools functioned on a system of mutual instruction. More able learners, the monitors, were used as
helpers by the teachers and taught other, mostly younger learners. The system of using monitors allowed
the authorities to make primary education accessible to a greater number of children. The use of monitors
also meant that the class sizes could be increased and it was a relatively cheap system since fewer
teachers were now required. By implementing the monitor system, which had recently been put into
practice in Britain, Cradock hoped to address the core educational dilemma and provide all of the children
of the Cape Colony, including the povertystricken, with education. In this manner, it was hoped the
principles of Christianity, reading, writing and arithmetic could be taught through a simple and
inexpensive method that did not require a large number of teachers. Because these schools were
government funded, they could be used to promote the learning of English (Watermeyer Commission,
1863: Appendix V No. 17). The first monitor school for White children was opened in Cape Town and
one for Black children was opened in King William’s Town (South African History Online, n.d.).
The third major introduction by Cradock related to the introduction of English as the medium of
instruction. Before that, the medium of instruction had always been Dutch, which was also the language
spoken by all Whites and other people living in the Cape Colony. Nonetheless, the Cape was now a
British colony. Consequently, Cradock progressively promoted instruction in English, as his objective
was to ‘promote and establish the cultivation of the English language to the greatest extent among
learners’ (Theal, 1901a: 39). However, English remained a ‘foreign’ language to the majority of the
colonists, even after the arrival of a large group of White English speakers, the British Settlers of 1820
(Theal, 1902: 388).
Even with Cradock’s attempts to improve the education system, the situation remained worrying. This
appalled Lord Charles Somerset, who took over as governor from Cradock. In 1822, he proclaimed
English the official language of the colony (Eybers, 1918). To promote knowledge of English, Dutch
teachers were thereafter replaced by English ones (Theal, 1902). In 1824, Justice Truter again reported to
the authorities of the Cape Colony on the state of education. He noted that parents were eager for their
children to learn English, and recognised that English schools were well resourced and managed, and had
the backing of the government. The children also enjoyed learning English and applied themselves
diligently (Watermeyer Commission, 1863: Appendix V No. 17). Furthermore, parents, although
generally not wealthy, did not mind paying for their children’s education. They did not regard it as the
duty of the state or anyone else to provide education or education materials. Parents consequently took an
interest in the teacher’s diligence and made sure that their children attended school regularly. This was,
however, not necessarily true. Many White Dutch-speaking parents wanted the church to play a more
prominent role in education and wanted more tolerance towards Dutch as a language. They requested that
Dutch be included in the curriculum and that the principles of religion be taught in Dutch. In the rural
areas of the Cape Colony, the presence of English schools troubled many Dutch-speaking parents, who
considered English and the British curriculum irrelevant to their values and lifestyle. Some were so
averse to the education system that they withdrew their children from school.
Opposition to the British and their educational policies by Dutch-speaking Boers was widespread.
(Note that the Boers can also be called ‘Afrikaners’. These terms are used interchangeably in this chapter.
The term refers to Whites descended from the first Europeans who settled at the Cape, whose language
evolved over time from Dutch to Afrikaans.) The British system was maligned on the grounds of
language, culture and ideological differences. The British school system was described as outlandish and
foreign, Dutch was perceived to be neglected and schools were seen as irreligious institutions. As a result
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of Britain’s process of anglicisation, the emancipation of slaves in 1834, attempts at creating racial
equality and the increasing imposition of British government policy on the freedom of the Dutch settlers,
there was a significant exodus of Dutch colonists from the Cape Colony. This migration, known as the
Great Trek, started in 1834 and was an attempt to move into the interior of southern Africa beyond the
reach of the British government in search of independence. The impact of this migration on education is
discussed in Section 1.3.4.
In the meantime, attempts to reform and restructure education in the Cape Colony continued with the
publication of the Government Memorandum on Education on 23 May 1839. This was the first official
attempt to clarify the British government’s stance on education. The memorandum stated that religious
instruction was to form an integral part of the curriculum. Secular subjects were included to ensure that
children received a broad education. As a compromise, Dutch would be the medium of instruction in farm
schools. Compulsory education was not introduced as it was felt that the time was not yet right
(Malherbe, 1925). The Education Act was passed in 1865. This act served to co-ordinate the various
government efforts to encourage local and parental participation in providing education to the children of
the Cape Colony (Malherbe, 1925; Van Wyk, 1947). Amendments were made to the Education Act in
1882. Provision was made for tuition in and of Dutch when required or chosen by parents. The school
committee was also authorised to include religious instruction outside school hours (Kaap de Goede
Hoop, 1882).
These amendments were insufficient to eliminate the recurring dilemmas of erratic school attendance
and the language issue entirely. Consequently it has been argued that only one-sixth of the children of
school-going age in the Cape Colony attended school with beneficial regularity. Farm children hardly
ever attended school during harvesting and planting seasons, and many of them were often kept home to
do household chores (Cillie, 1919; Malherbe, 1925). For the most part, the Cape Colony’s education
system was admirable in its gradation, symmetry, attempts at non-racialism and democratic nature. This
vision was reinforced by James Rose Innes, who was appointed as the first superintendent-general of
education in 1839, as well as his successor, Langham Dale.
1.3.3.2 Education in the Colony of Natal
After Natal was annexed by the British, education was placed under the supervision of the British
colonial government of the Cape Colony. The intention was to partially replicate what already existed in
the Cape by developing a free, non-denominational and non-compulsory system of government schools.
Like the schools in the Cape Colony, they had their problems as well as their successes. Generally
speaking, education in Natal was provided for and monitored by superintendents of education, who did
their best to ensure that education was of an acceptable standard for all, including the Indians who were
acquired from India to work as indentured labourers on the sugar plantations.
The first group of Indian immigrants, comprising men, women and children, arrived in November
1860. Several other groups followed until 1911, when further emigration of Indian labourers was
prohibited. For many years, the only schools available to Indian children were those run by the
missionaries (Kuppusami, 1946). For example, Father Luber Sabon, a Roman Catholic priest, used
private donations to start the first school for Indian children in Durban in 1867. The school provided
education in Tamil and English. An English-medium Indian school was established when a Wesleyan
missionary was granted government permission to run a day school for the children of plantation Indians
and an evening school for adults. Only boys were admitted to the school, since parents refused to allow
their daughters to attend school (Maharaj, 1979). However, the Superintendent of Education for the
Colony of Natal remained concerned about the lack of education for Indians (Colony of Natal, 1871). As
a result, a second school receiving government aid was opened. Parents were slightly less reluctant to
allow their daughters to go to school and many of the enrolments included girls. After 1877, Indians were
allowed to send their children to White schools, although this hardly ever happened. Later on, an Indian
Immigrant School Board was established to take charge of education. Three schools were opened in
Durban, Tongaat and Umgeni. The curriculum of the time included English and English grammar,
geography, handwriting and arithmetic. Learners also took religious instruction, sewing, singing and
drawing (Maharaj, 1979). By 1900, there were 3 281 Indian children receiving either elementary or
secondary education in eighteen schools. Only 10% of these enrolments were girls (Maharaj, 1979).
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Education had not yet been made compulsory and it remained the choice of parents to have their children
attend school or stay home.
The arrival of the British brought formal colonialism and all its trappings to the Cape Colony and later
Natal. Under the British, mission education for Africans flourished, and concerted attempts were made to
improve the education available to all by means of the creation of free, inclusive non-racial secular
schools in the Cape Colony and Natal. The appointment of superintendent-generals of education also
signified a serious attempt to transfer education from church to state. At the same time, state-aided
schools and local enterprises in education gave some control to parent bodies. However, exclusive private
schools for the wealthy as well as separate education of boys and girls were also introduced from Britain
during this time. Although attempts were made to have Black learners included in a multiracial schooling
system, the attitudes of Whites in general to this meant that it was systematically legislated against so that
by the time that South Africa became a Union in 1910, the practice had all but ceased. At the same time,
traditional indigenous educational practices were further undermined in the two British colonies.
Activity
Read this extract and then answer the questions that follow.
Free primary education could be seen both as a way of regulating and uplifting the poor; its location in
non-racial schoolrooms a reflection of post-emancipation humanitarian egalitarian discourses. The
additional provision of a liberal secondary education (for a fee) could be used to develop an educated
local leadership suited to a colony embracing a settler-led commercial future.
Source: J. Fairbairn, A1SC–1857, Report of the Select Committee Appointed to Consider the Subject of Education, p. v.
1. With reference to this extract, what improvements to education in South Africa were introduced by the
British?
2. Why were the improvements outlined here not fully embraced by all residents of the Cape Colony and
Natal?
1.3.4
Education in the Boer Republics
Unhappiness with conditions under British rule, including the emancipation of slaves in 1834, economic
hardship and a fear of liberal British policies that placed Africans and Whites on equal footing, led to an
Afrikaner revolt, which resulted in the Great Trek as a form of mass migration. Using wagons, the
Voortrekkers, as the migrants were called, travelled into the interior of southern Africa. Their aim was to
establish republics free from the conditions of British rule that they had experienced. The Voortrekkers’
destinations were what we later came to know as Natal, the Orange Free State and the Transvaal. Shortly
after the Voortrekkers established the Republic of Natal, it was colonised by Britain. Irate, many of them
relocated to the Orange Free State and the Transvaal, where they successfully established republics.
Given the nomadic lifestyle of the Voortrekkers, schools were not established. Parents or literate
members of the groups taught children the basics of reading and writing, generally using the Bible as
their ‘textbook’. The purpose of education was to strengthen children’s religious beliefs, mental and
moral integrity, obedience and respect for authority, and belief in their cultural identity. Furthermore,
both boys and girls were taught life skills at an early age: boys were taught the skills of hunting and
defence, while girls were taught to make and mend clothes, cook, and gather edible and medicinal herbs
from the environment (Bot, 1951).
1.3.4.1 Education in the Republic of the Orange Free State
In 1843, the Trekkers who settled in the Orange Free State – the current Free State – proclaimed the
region an independent republic. It was decided that they required some form of government and
consequently the Volksraad (National Council) was established. Education during the early years of the
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Orange Free State was a continuation of the type of education provided during the Great Trek and a
continuation of certain practices experienced under DEIC rule. Some parents employed wandering
teachers, while others resorted to home education or sent their children to schools in the Cape Colony.
The very first school in the Orange River Sovereignty (the Orange Free State was briefly under British
control as a result of the efforts of Sir Harry Smith to colonise the area as part of his expansionist policy,
hence the name change) was established at Warden (McKerron, 1934). Since the British Government
provided no financial support, parents financed the schools that were subsequently established
themselves. To improve the quality of the education on offer, the services of properly qualified teachers
from the Netherlands were sought (Bruwer, 1936). These teachers were required to teach reading,
writing, arithmetic, grammar and geography in English and in Dutch.
When the republic was restored, the newly drafted constitution stipulated that the Volksraad would be
responsible for furthering religion and education. In other words, education and religion were
state-controlled (Malherbe, 1925). Because the Volksraad was short of money, it was unable to establish
schools in addition to those established by the British. The system of wandering teachers remained the
only feasible option. However, because of their poor reputation, it was decided – to ensure some sort of
control over prospective teachers – that all appointments had to be approved by the state president. In
addition, a school commission was established to regulate education. This gave the public a say in the
appointment of teachers and the management of schools. Although the Volksraad could not contribute
much financially, it acknowledged the importance of education. Twenty years after the declaration of the
Orange Free State as a republic, an Education Act was passed. This act provided guidelines on the
election and duties of school commissions, teachers’ requirements, school hours and curricula.
Mother-tongue instruction in Dutch was endorsed, but the teaching of English was encouraged to ensure
bilingualism. However, the language issue in education remained a bone of contention. The
English-speaking community established its own private English-medium schools at Bloemfontein,
Fauresmith and Smithfield, and these were perceived to be in competition with the government schools
established at Warden, Winburg, Smithfield and Bloemfontein. The teachers at the English schools were
well trained, and consequently the schools were successful and superior to the government schools.
In time, the church and the state felt that the system of education needed to be revised. According to an
ordinance passed in 1872, it became the state’s responsibility to establish and maintain schools as well as
to pay teachers’ salaries. A superintendent of education co-ordinated and monitored the use of textbooks,
the teaching methods employed and the curricula. The state also took responsibility for the appointment,
promotion and dismissal of teachers. Most Afrikaners supported these new measures, which reduced their
financial burden in relation to education. The main subjects offered were reading, writing, arithmetic,
grammar, Bible history, geography and general history. In the final year of school (Standard 7), literature
and science were added. European languages (French, German and Latin) and mathematics were regarded
as optional subjects, whilst sewing and drawing were compulsory in schools that managed to offer them.
Woodwork was a unique subject in certain schools.
A mild form of compulsory school attendance was also instituted. All White children aged between
seven and sixteen living within a radius of 3,2 km from a government school were required to attend
school (Bruwer, 1936). The main stumbling block regarding compulsory attendance related to the
education of children living on farms. They only attended school for short periods, since they were
needed on the farms during the planting and harvesting seasons, and their parents were mostly indifferent
towards the idea of full-time school attendance for their children.
1.3.4.2 Education in the Transvaal Republic
The first formal White settlement in the Transvaal was at Potchefstroom and from there the rest of the
Transvaal – including the contemporary Limpopo, Gauteng, Mpumalanga and North-West provinces –
was gradually conquered and settled. As in the case of the Orange Free State, the primary task of the
Transvaal Voortrekkers was to make their new settlement habitable. Education was limited to the bare
necessities, and involved no more than basic instruction in reading, writing, singing, arithmetic and the
study of the Bible.
The first formal school for White learners, in the form of a mud-brick building, opened in 1837 and
was attended by some twenty learners (Lugtenburg, 1925). Although teachers were recruited from the
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Netherlands to ensure quality education, education in the Transvaal was erratic and beset by problems.
Most of the problems were related to conflict between the teachers, parents, the Volksraad and the
church. Children and their parents did not view education as being of much importance, and many
teachers were unable to exist on the pittance they received as a salary. Consequently there was an
ongoing dispute between the church and the local authorities on who was to pay teachers’ salaries (Pelzer,
1950). Promises were made to recruit teachers from the Netherlands, but nothing came of this.
In 1852, the Volksraad drafted a school regulation document that provided some direction on the
elementary educational needs of the time. The local community had to build the school and a
schoolmaster’s house, provide resources and supervise the school. The Volksraad’s interpretation of
community was ‘the church’, while the school regulation document had actually intended that the state –
and not the church – take responsibility for schools and education (Pelzer, 1950). Three years later, a
provisional constitution was drafted in which it was clearly stated that the state was responsible for
education. A school commission was established to supervise education on behalf of the government
(Barnard, 1979; Coetzee, 1941). However, civil war between the White settlers in the Transvaal put a
stop to the intentions of the Volksraad and education again came to an abrupt halt.
After the civil war, a new education bill was passed by the Volksraad putting education in the hands of
the state. According to the bill, education would include reading, writing, grammar, arithmetic, singing,
Bible history, national history and geography. Teachers had to keep a record of learners’ conduct,
exercise parental discipline, and ensure order and cleanliness. There were two school sessions a day: one
in the morning and one in the afternoon. Despite all of these good intentions and planning, political
unrest, inadequate finances and insufficient supervision resulted in education once more being neglected.
When Thomas Burgers took over as president in 1871, he decided that it was time to modernise
education in the Transvaal by making it equivalent to the education system of the Netherlands (Bot,
1951). This decision was met with a great deal of discussion and opposition, especially regarding the fact
that the curriculum did not include religious instruction and that parents could choose whether their
children were to be taught in English or in Dutch. After three years, the Education Act was passed and
education was put under state control. However, this act was only implemented five years later (Barnard,
1979; Bot, 1951).
In 1877, the Transvaal was annexed by Britain and became a British colony. A report on education
conditions was requested by the British, which resulted in a commission of enquiry making the following
recommendations (Lugtenburg, 1925):
• Religious instruction should be provided for one hour per day in all schools.
• More attention should be focused on primary education.
• All schools should use similar prescribed textbooks.
• The local school commission should supervise schools and determine the medium of instruction.
• Parents should make a more significant contribution to the maintenance of schools than the state.
The Transvaal regained its independence in 1884 after Britain was defeated in the Anglo-Transvaal War
(Barnard, 1979). However, the short period of British rule had stirred Afrikaner awareness of language
issues and gave rise to growing nationalism (Du Toit, 1970). Education policy was again changed. It was
placed back in the hands of the parents and the church, and was no longer under the control of the state
(Bot, 1951). At the same time, it was decided that education had to be Christian in nature and that Dutch
was the medium of instruction. These recommendations were accepted and passed into law. It was also
pointed out that the textbooks in use at the time were not appropriate for the context of the Transvaal. The
existing books were of either Dutch or British origin and bore little relation to the circumstances of White
learners in the Transvaal (Coetzee, 1941). They were consequently augmented with more suitable
textbooks.
Each time that new education legislation was passed in the Transvaal, it was re-emphasised that the
church and parents were responsible for education, that education had to have a Protestant Christian
character and that all tuition had to be provided in Dutch or the evolving language of Afrikaans. Teachers
were also recruited from the Netherlands (Bot, 1951) in order to foster the nationalist spirit. In addition,
foreign languages such as English, German and French were to be taught in that language. Secondary
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education provided for four fields of study: classical studies, scientific studies, educational studies and
agricultural studies.
With the discovery of gold in 1886, many foreigners, mostly of British origin, poured into the
Transvaal. The British immigrants spoke only English. The strict application of the language clause in
schools led to dissatisfaction. In 1892, these immigrants founded the Transvaal National Union and
accused the government of neglecting their children’s education. In response, the government established
English-medium schools. However, it maintained that five hours per week had to be devoted to the
teaching of Dutch and South African history, particularly that of the Transvaal. These terms were not
accepted. Attempts to resolve the issues related to language and content had not succeeded by the time
the South African War began in October 1899.
The outbreak of the South African War in 1899 resulted in the total collapse of the education systems
of the Orange Free State and the Transvaal. The creators of the two frontier republics had managed, in a
period of roughly sixty years, to create legal and physical educational structurers. Both republics faced
similar challenges: a lack of finances, a lack of education infrastructure, challenges related to the medium
of instruction and a struggle to get parents to support the planned educational endeavours fully. The
formal education offered was at best rudimentary in nature. Both republics opted, in many ways, for
similar solutions, such as drawing on the past colonial ties with the Netherlands for teachers and their
own lived experiences since the time of the DEIC, and expecting all education to be Christian and
nationalistic in nature. Of the two republics, the education system created by the Orange Free State was
far superior in terms of both the curriculum adopted and the overall management.
However, all of these endeavours were exclusively aimed at White children. Unlike the education
systems created in the Cape and Natal under the British, no efforts were made to assimilate Black
children into the education structures. In fact, education for Black children was hardly an issue. This is
not surprising, as the White inhabitants of the republics did not universally value formal education for
their own children. As a consequence, the formal education of Black children was left to missionaries and
to be continued by means of traditional indigenous educational practices. However, both mission
education and the settlement of Whites in what became the republics had a massive impact on the
resources, such as land and human capital, needed to maintain traditional indigenous educational
practices. In this clash of civilizations and their related educational practices, indigenous educational
practices were further disrupted and undermined.
Overall, the major legacy of the education systems created and practised in the two Boer Republics
was that the seed for a racially exclusive Christian National Education approach to education, which
would be evoked under different political circumstances in the years to come, was planted.
Reflection
Multiperspectivity is a key skill in the history of education. It means looking at the various points of view
1. involved. With reference to the section on education in the Boer Republics, what were the perspectives
of the Transvaal and the Orange Free State respectively to each of the following?
• The purpose of education
• Religion and education
• Race and education
• The curriculum.
2. Compare education in the Boer Republics to education under DEIC rule. What would you regard as being
similar (continuity) and what do you see as being different (change)?
1.3.5
Mission education in South Africa
What must be understood at the outset is that missionaries spread Christianity in numerous ways other
than merely preaching the gospel. Providing a formal education, with the blessing of the political
authorities of the region, was another means. In fact, education was an essential vehicle for spreading
Christianity to what was viewed at the time as ‘uncivilized’ Africans. This was done by teaching about
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the Bible as well as teaching reading, writing, and numerous trades and other economic skills. As a result,
it became common for missionaries to establish a school at the same time as they founded a church in
order to promote learning and understanding of Christianity.
The first missionary education in South Africa was undertaken by Protestant Moravians in the Cape.
This initiative took place nearly fifty years before other White missionaries started their work at the Cape
(McKerron, 1934). In 1737, the Moravians commenced their missionary work among the Khoi under the
guidance of Georg Schmidt (Moravian Archives, 2009). Schmidt’s school provided missionary education
to seventy children, seventy women and thirty men who attended classes at different times of the day (Du
Toit, 1963). However, Schmidt’s mission education undertaking was short-lived as he had to stop his
work and return to Moravia (part of the current Czech Republic). Numerous reasons were offered to
explain why the Moravians had to halt their work. Some of the White residents and ministers of the
Dutch Reformed Church argued that Schmidt was not ‘pure in doctrine neither was he qualified in the
doctrine of the Reformed Church’ (Behr, 1988: 91). The actual problem was probably that the settlers
resented the fact that Schmidt and his staff treated the Khoi as equals, and proposed giving them an
education that was not even available to White children. Schmidt’s popularity further diminished when
farmers found that some of their labourers were leaving their farms to join the Moravian settlement.
Almost fifty years later, during the 1790s, there was a major increase in missionary zeal in Europe and
mission work was extended to other parts of the world. This zeal coincided with a change in the political
fate of the Cape, as explained earlier. With the Cape being occupied by the British, the way was opened
for numerous mission organisations, and soon the Moravians, the London Mission Society, the Paris
Mission Society, the Rhenish Mission Society, the Berlin Mission Society, the Hermannsburg Mission
Society, the American Board Mission and many others began operating in South Africa. Missionary work
was not a haphazard affair. It was well funded and organised by European and American bodies. The
mission organisations each honed in on geographical areas that were not necessarily covered by other
mission organisations. All of this happened in close collaboration with the various political authorities
(the British colonial authorities in the Cape and Natal, the leaders of the Boer Republics of the Transvaal
and the Orange Free State, and the traditional African leaders). For example, the Paris Evangelical
Mission Society worked among the Tswana and the Sotho in the then Orange Free State, the Berlin
Mission Society concentrated its efforts among the Pedi, Sotho and Venda in the then Transvaal, and the
American Board Mission operated in the then Natal, where, with the support of the authorities, it
established several mission stations with schools attached. The most famous of these was Adams College,
south of Durban. In the Orange Free State, the government even provided financial assistance to
missionary schools established by the Berlin Mission Society at Moroko and the Dutch Reformed Church
at Witsieshoek (McKerron, 1934). Also in the Transvaal, the Afrikaner inhabitants ‘were very reasonable,
for as long as missionary work remained free from political activity, the missionaries enjoyed a respected
position in the Republic’ (Bot, 1951: 155). However, the London Mission Society was expelled from the
region when it was perceived that its missionaries were inciting the African population. The
Hermannsburg Lutheran Mission was allowed to replace the London Mission Society (Bot, 1951).
Politicians and missionaries generally enjoyed a reciprocal relationship
One of the first mission organisations was the Moravian Brothers, who were allowed to return to
re-establish the work started by Schmidt. Mission stations were established at places in the Cape such as
Groene Kloof (today known as Mamre) and Elim (near Bredasdorp). The schools established adjacent to
the missionary stations thrived and various artisan shops were set up at Genadendal Mission. Most
importantly, the Moravians made a point of training teachers at Genadendal (Horrell, 1970). This became
the first ever teacher education establishment created in South Africa. In turn, the interdenominational
London Mission Society was encouraged by the colonial authorities to establish its mission stations on
the eastern frontier of the Cape Colony in the hope that their presence would bring peace and harmony to
the region, which was being ravaged by the Frontier Wars between the Xhosa and the White settlers
(South African History Online, n.d.). The first London Mission settlement was abandoned because of
hostilities. The new settlement was established at Bethalsdorp, close to Port Elizabeth. Another successful
mission station for the hunter-gather Khoi, freed slaves and people of African-White ancestry was
established at Griquatown, and soon 1 300 people lived in the settlement (Behr & Macmillan, 1971). The
schools established by the London Mission Society at Griquatown, for example, provided religious
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instruction as well as instruction in reading, writing and mathematics, and the rudiments of White
agricultural practices. The fruits of their work were sold and the profit was used to purchase more
materials (Horrell, 1970). The Rhenish Mission Society from Germany worked amongst the slaves, the
Khoi, and the San and Coloured people. Apart from churches and day schools for children and adults,
they also established White-style agricultural villages so that the communities could be self-sustaining.
Industries such as tanneries were created to teach people residing at its mission stations useful skills and
to generate an income to be used by the community. The core virtue of the dignity of labour, as
understood from the point of view of a Protestant work ethic, was taught A government official who once
visited one of the Rhenish stations commented that the missionaries were energetic men who set ‘an
excellent example of industry to Boers as well as natives residing on the station or visiting’ (Horrell,
1970: 9).
But the key to missionary success was education. Much evidence exists for this. Learners were trained
as teachers and evangelists, or were prepared for trades such as those of mason, carpenter, blacksmith or
wagon-builder (Behr & Macmillan, 1971) in schools classified as industrial, agricultural or academic
(McKerron, 1934). At the same time, the missionaries studied the indigenous languages of South Africa
carefully. This resulted in the development of written forms of African languages, and the subsequent
translation of the Bible, hymn books, catechisms and school readers took place (Bot, 1951). Printing
presses were set up at many of the mission stations, enabling the spread of the Bible, hymn books and
other books translated into the African languages.
By the 1900s, missionaries had brought the gospel to practically every African group residing in South
Africa. In the process, South Africa became one of the most densely missioned areas in the world.
Mission education had a profound impact on South Africa in numerous ways. First and foremost,
traditional indigenous educational practices were undermined because becoming a Christian meant
leaving the old way behind. Africans thus had to abandon educational practices such as initiation so as to
become Christian in belief and European in culture, and reside around mission stations. This inevitably
led to the erosion of the political and economic powers as well as the culture of traditional societies in
some instances. In other cases, African leaders such as King Moshoeshoe of the Basotho people
encouraged missionaries to reside amongst his people. He believed that this would make it easier to
acquire guns for protection against the Whites and groups of Khoi. The missionaries subsequently
introduced many new things to the Basotho society in terms of religion, Western thought, and even
livestock and food (Sesotho Online, 2016).
What mission education also did was to create an African elite. Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela, for
example, attended the Clarkebury Mission School attached to the Methodist Church, Stephen Bantu Biko
attended St Francis College, attached to the Catholic mission station at Mariannhill, and Mangosuthu
Buthelezi attended Adams College. Figures such as these and many other mission-educated Africans
(including John Tengu Jabavu, Pixley Seme, John Dube, Johannes Khumalo and Sol Plaatje) became
powerful individuals who agitated for the political and economic rights of Africans while acting as
intermediaries between African and White societies. Mission education also served to create an African
middle class, such as the Amakholwa in the then Natal, who could compete successfully with Whites on
an economic level. The White settlers were, for the most part, highly suspicious and critical of the
successes of mission-educated Africans. The highly educated mission-educated Africans were seen as a
threat as they could compete successfully on every level with Whites. Mission-educated Africans who
demanded equal treatment deepened White animosity. What cannot be denied is that mission education
had an irreversible impact on South African. This impact still resonates through our society today.
Activity
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1. Read this extract from a source and then answer the questions that follow.
Missionaries played an important and complicated role in shaping the social and political face of South
Africa. Missionaries had both positive and negative effects throughout the history of South Africa. John
Dube stands as an archetypical example of these positive and negative effects of mission education in late
nineteenth-century South Africa. Dube was able to use the knowledge that he received from his Christian
mission education to address the social injustices perpetrated in South Africa. However, later in his career,
he would fall from the fore of political action because his views were too conservative for the new
progressive activists in the ANC (African National Congress).
Missionary teachings provided an education and a Christian moral code for indigenous pupils.
Ironically, this ideology and education would arm the indigenous peoples with the tools to combat the
racist laws of the apartheid state. Ingrained in their biblical teachings were lessons of private property,
inherent equality and social justice. In addition, missionaries often created a complex network of links
back in England or the United States for their students.
Dube, an educated Christianised Zulu, befriended Oberlin graduate Reverend William Cullen Wilcox
in association with the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, and the East Central
African Mission near Inhambane. Wilcox took a special interest in the Zulus of southern African. He ‘was
the first man to reduce their language to writing. He translated the Bible from the original Hebrew and
Greek into the Zulu dialect.’ Wilcox himself described this translation as ‘the greatest and most important
literary work of [his] life’. Perhaps Wilcox’s role in the education of John Dube stands as his greatest
contribution to the people of South Africa and their struggle against the apartheid system.
Source: Adapted from John L. Dube: The Positive and Negative Influences of Missionaries. [Online], Available: http://www.oberlin.edu/external
/EOG/Dube/DubeMiss.htm. Accessed 8 March 2016.
a. Is this a primary or a secondary source? Explain.
b. With reference to the extract, what are presented as the positive consequences of mission education?
c. Refer to the extract as well as the content in this sub-section (‘Mission education in South Africa’).
Explain the negative consequences of mission education.
2. As a class, debate this topic: ‘The positive consequences of mission education outweigh its negative
consequences.’
Reflection
How do traditional indigenous educational practices, education under the DEIC, education under British
Colonial rule, education in the Boer Republics and mission education still impact on our contemporary
1. educational experiences and systems?
1.3.6
Education from the time of the South African War until the National Party came into
power (1902 –1948)
The period between 1902 (the end of the South African War) and 1948, when the National Party came to
power, was a tumultuous time in South African history. The defeat of the Boer Republics of the Transvaal
and the Orange Free State (called the Orange River Colony between 1902 and 1910) led to the creation,
along with the British colonies of the Cape Colony (called the Cape Province after 1910) and Natal in
1910, to the Union of South Africa. Black people were wholly excluded from this process. The history of
the Union of South Africa up to 1948 was furthermore punctuated by, amongst other events,
industrialisation based on gold mining, strikes by workers, the First and Second World Wars, the 1914
rebellion, the creation of the African National Congress (ANC) by mission-educated Africans and the rise
of political activism amongst Black people, legal entrenchment of racism and the rise of Afrikaner
nationalism, with Afrikaans becoming an official language alongside English in 1925. All of these events
as well as numerous others had a profound impact on education.
After the discovery of gold in the Transvaal in the 1880s, the region emerged as the largest single
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producer of gold in the world. The phenomenal wealth that ensued resulted in tensions relating to the
balance of power in South Africa. Inevitably, war broke out between Britain and the Afrikaner republics
(Collins & Burns, 2007). As a military strategy during the war, the British Army created concentration
camps so as to forcibly remove Boer women and children, old people and African farm labourers from
the farms, where they acted as informers and suppliers to the Boer commandoes. The outcome was
catastrophic in human terms, with tens of thousands of people dying. However, the concentration camps
also provided formal education of a kind that White children of the Boer Republics had hardly
experienced before.
A number of former teachers established private schools in some camps. Some did not turn out well,
as few camp inmates could afford the fees charged (Bruwer, 1936; Malherbe, 1925). In other cases, no
fees were charged because these schools were established to build and preserve a system of education
characterised by a Christian and national spirit (in other words, to perpetuate the pre-war type of
Afrikaner education). The British authorities noted the interest of the Boers in sustaining their children’s
education and responded by establishing schools in which they hoped to anglicise the Boer youth. Secular
subjects were taught in English, but religious instruction and Bible history were taught in Dutch to adhere
to the demands of the camp inhabitants related to religion and language. Although some of the teachers
were local, teachers were also imported from Britain, Canada and New Zealand to achieve the object of
anglicisation (Otto, 1954). The attempt to anglicise the Boer children was unsuccessful, probably owing
to the brevity of the time available for this and the bitterness of their parents towards the British. The last
camp school was closed in March 1903 (Transvaal and Orange River Colony, 1904). However, what the
schools in the concentration camps did was to provide mass education to Boer children on a scale never
experienced before. Proof of this is that when the Peace of Vereeniging was signed to end the war on 31
May 1902, 12 066 children were attending concentration camp schools (Transvaal and Orange River
Colony, 1904). But this education went hand in hand with the fostering of a sense of Afrikaner
nationalism.
With the Boer Republics defeated, their education systems were placed under the authority of E.B.
Sargant (1900 –1903). The British intention was to partially replicate what already existed in the Cape
and Natal by developing a free, non-denominational and non-compulsory system of government schools.
Schools would be open to children of all religious persuasions, although parents could withdraw their
children from classes of Christian religious instruction or from any religious observance (Transvaal and
Orange River Colony, 1904: Appendix X: Paragraph 1). In the meantime, the Dutch Reformed Church
had being trying to negotiate certain concessions. The main contention was that there was no assurance
that Christian men and women would be appointed as teachers. In addition, it was believed that the
suppression of Dutch threatened the national spirit of Afrikaners (Malherbe, 1925). Consequently
alternative schools – the Christian National Education (CNE) schools – were opened. CNE ideology
entailed the following: all education must be Calvinist Christian in nature and since mankind is divided
into different nations, this must be reflected in education, with no mixing of races, cultures, languages
and religions allowed. However, Whites should perform a guardian’s role over Black people. At the same
time, no separation should exist between politics (nationalism) and religion and education.
These CNE schools were thus designed to preserve the core features that were prized by Afrikaners:
their religion and language. Substantial financial assistance for the project emanated from the
Netherlands. The arrival of these funds simplified the task of establishing and supporting the CNE
schools along with their aims of preserving the religion, language, history and traditions of Afrikaners.
These schools were extremely successful and soon a system rivalling that of the government was
established (Bot, 1951). While the CNE movement initially worked towards securing education for the
children of Afrikaner traditionalists, it was later used as a political propaganda instrument that gained
momentum in the 1930s and 1940s under growing Afrikaner nationalism. It would eventually find its way
into the apartheid legislation that would follow in the 1950s and would remain a powerful part of
educational ideology up to 1994. The roots of the CNE ideology itself can be traced back to the Christian
religious education that took place during the time of DEIC rule, and that was perpetuated by mission
education and education in the former Boer Republics.
In time, the differences between the CNE and British government schools were settled, and the two
sets of schools amalgamated (Orange River Colony, 1905). Despite this, three specific topics continued to
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be the cause of contention and debate amongst Whites: religious instruction, language, and local and
church control over schools. For example, in the Orange River Colony, compulsory education for White
children between the ages of seven and sixteen was introduced and school fees were levied. English
children received instruction in English and Afrikaans children in Dutch. The two languages were treated
equally and neither was imposed on the other language group. All children had the option of choosing to
learn the other language as a school subject. From Standard IV onwards, all children were taught English
as well as Dutch as school subjects. Instruction in Bible history up to Standard VI and the application of
the ‘conscience clause’, which meant that parents had the right to remove their children from religious
instruction classes, were mandated (Orange River Colony, 1908: Appendix IV, Paragraph 4). However,
animosity between Afrikaners and the English continued despite these measures.
The next important development came under the leadership of General J.C. Smuts, the first Minister of
Education after the South African War. He reasoned that by bringing Afrikaners and the English together
in their impressionable school days, racial animosities would disappear (Malherbe, 1925).The new
Education Act passed in 1907 set a new trend for education in South Africa as it detailed the following:
• Free primary education would be provided.
• Secondary, trade and industrial schools would be established at which fees would be levied.
• Education was compulsory for every White child between the ages of seven and fourteen.
• The medium of instruction would be in the native language of the learner in the lower standards and
English would be introduced by the third standard.
• Promotion from one standard to the next was dependent on the progress made in the English language.
• Dutch would be taught in every public school unless the parents chose otherwise and would also be used
as the medium of instruction in any two subjects other than Dutch language classes from Standard III
upwards.
• Religious instruction was to be non-doctrinal, but each school day was to be opened with a scripture
reading and a prayer, and learners would receive instruction in Bible history by the teacher during
school hours.
Most importantly, the act entrenched the principle of separate schools for Whites and Blacks, but it also
empowered the government to establish schools for the latter (Horrell, 1970).
Up to 1910, the four regions of South Africa had their own legislature and government. On 31 May
1910, the Union of South Africa was founded and the four regions became provinces of the new state. In
the process, White rule was further entrenched, with the Afrikaner majority holding sway. Each province
had its own administrator of education. As it turned out, having four separate bodies for the
administration of education was not a good idea. It led to an uneconomical duplication of education
services, rivalry among the various authorities, undesirable differences in service conditions for teachers,
and an unco-ordinated variety of curricula, education services, standards and strategies for the provision
of education. These conflicts were investigated by several commissions of enquiry, which all
recommended the rejection of divided control in favour of the central government assuming control of
education. These administrative teething problems of the unitary South Africa were in time mostly
resolved, and the economic wealth based on gold and other forms of mining was used to enhance the
educational position of Whites in numerous ways, including by means of compulsory education, boarding
schools in rural areas and teacher training via teacher training colleges. All of this took place on the back
of economic prosperity for Whites and the creation of the unitary state of South Africa. In the process,
educational compromises between the systems of the former colonies and the republics took place, with
the conservative ideas of the latter holding sway, to the detriment of Black learners.
The administration of education for Blacks was also entrusted to the four provincial councils (Union of
South Africa, 1936). Initially, the curricula for Black schools were practically the same as for White
schools. However, in 1919, just after the First World War, it was decided to adapt the curriculum of
African schools to meet what was claimed were ‘the real, everyday needs of Black children’. A
commission of enquiry to determine what these needs were was set up and a new curriculum for African
children was introduced (Pells, 1951: 137). Teaching of and in the mother tongue was compulsory. Other
subjects were to be religious instruction, arithmetic, geography, history, nature study, English, Afrikaans,
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hygiene, handwork and, where possible, gardening (for boys) and housecraft and needlework (for girls).
In the Orange Free State, for example, both official languages were compulsory, while nature study was
not included in the curriculum in the Transvaal. The curriculum followed in African secondary schools
was identical to that of White schools. In all of the provinces, Black and White secondary schools
prepared learners for the Junior Certificate examination. However, only a small number of African
schools created opportunities for their learners to write the matriculation examination (Behr &
Macmillan, 1971), as the aim of education was to prepare African children for the labour market rather
than the professional world.
When Whites were exempted from paying school fees in 1920, the same exemption was extended to
Africans (Behr & Macmillan, 1971). A gradual transfer from church (mission) education to state control
was also emerging during this era, but this did not necessarily translate into a physical reality. Evidence
for this can be gleaned from the enrolment figures of African learners in 1925: 2 702 mission schools
existed with an enrolment of 215 956 learners. In contrast, there were 68 government schools with an
enrolment of 7 710 learners (Behr, 1984). It is thus clear that in the era leading up to 1948, the vast
majority of African schools were state-aided mission schools. With the exception of the Cape Province,
where African clergymen often took charge of education, the schools were mostly managed by White
missionaries. In the Cape Province, it was also the responsibility of circuit inspectors of schools to inspect
and supervise all schools in their areas, irrespective of their racial composition. However, in the other
three provinces, special inspectors were appointed for African schools (Behr & Macmillan, 1971).
Black teachers enjoyed more or less the same benefits and received the same salaries as their
colleagues in White schools (Behr & Macmillan, 1971). However, their working conditions differed
vastly, and many of the Black schools were overcrowded and understaffed. In addition, more than 70% of
African children of school-going age did not attend school. There were literally hundreds of thousands of
potential learners who were eager to obtain an education, but could not be accommodated by the system
owing to a lack of facilities and the lack of a political will to create them. It was also clear that the system
of financing African education by means of the system of state-aided schools was totally inadequate. As a
result, the Eiselen Committee was established. The committee under Dr W.M.M. Eiselen, the then Chief
Inspector of Native Education of the Transvaal, Secretary of Native Affairs, came to the conclusion that
reforms in the system of education for Africans were essential. Amongst other things, the Committee
recommended that provincial control of African education be terminated and that the control of African
education be transferred to the central government. It recommended that the state take full responsibility
for African education in a centralist manner (Behr & Macmillan, 1971). Although the Committee
applauded the outstanding work that missionaries had done over the years, it deplored the rivalry that
existed amongst different religious denominations, which had led to the injudicious establishment of
schools without taking community needs or financial implications into consideration. After also
considering the problems involved in the use of African languages as the medium of instruction during
the first few years of a pupil’s education and taking into account the variations between provinces in
applying this principle, the Committee recommended that state-aided schools should be classified on the
basis of language, not denomination.
This implied that separate schools be set up for learners speaking each of the main African languages
(Behr & Macmillan, 1971). The recommendations of the Eiselen Committee were not fully implemented
at the time, but in many ways, this was the basis according to which ‘Bantu education’ was organised
after 1948.
By the end of the Second World War in 1945, the combined African population of the Union of South
Africa totalled 7,5 million, but these people were served by only 4 500 schools. The demand for more
educational facilities and opportunities for the African population was reinforced by the large-scale
urbanisation of the 1940s (Behr, 1944). The demand for education was clearly not being met by the
expenditure of the central government on educational infrastructure and staffing, both in terms of
maintaining the existing schools and in terms of growth. In contrast, the educational needs of White
learners were viewed as paramount. This was reflected in the expenditure on White education, and was
underpinned by the entrenchment of White economic and political power. Exactly the opposite was true
for the African, Coloured and Indian communities, who not only, for example, in the case of the former
lost much land at the hands of the 1913 Land Act, but were also faced by other racially motivated
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challenges such as job reservations in industry and mining, and a political system in which they were not
represented. The education provided to Black learners between 1902 and 1948 must be seen against this
background. This was also the context against which the National Party came to power in 1948.
Activity
In pairs, discuss how the founding of the Union of South Africa advantaged the education of White
1. learners.
2. Draw a time line for the period 1902 –1948. On the time line, plot the five education-related events that
you deem to be the most historically significant. Defend your choice.
1.3.7
National Party rule and education under apartheid (1948 –1994)
The National Party came to power after the Second World War in 1948 during a period of rapid
industrialisation and urbanisation. The new government realised the necessity of providing for the
growing need in education and tackled it in accordance with the policy on which it had achieved its
electoral victory: apartheid. The envisaged education system was shaped by the specific world view and
values of the National Party: CNE. As explained earlier, the ideas of CNE are rooted in the DEIC
occupation of the Cape, the resistance to educational policies introduced by the British in the Cape
Colony, the education systems of the two former Boer Republics and the post-South African War
organisation of education among certain Afrikaners. During this time, CNE evolved and morphed into
what it became post-1948. Thus, when the National Party came to power, it was in a position to
implement its ideology, which promoted separate development and segregation based on culture and race.
Under the National Party, the bulk of the education budget was spent on the education of White
learners, who generally attended either English or Afrikaans racially segregated schools that were well
equipped with well-qualified teachers. The aim was a form of racial social engineering that served to
uplift and empower Whites in general, and Afrikaners specifically, on every conceivable level, to the
detriment of Blacks.
Although CNE was practised from 1948, it was only formally legislated for White learners in 1967 by
means of the National Education Policy Act. This act placed the control of education under the auspices
of the Minister of Education, Arts and Science, and specified the following:
• Education was to be controlled by the state.
• Education had to have a religious nature.
• The medium of instruction was to be either Afrikaans or English.
• All resources (such as books and stationery) were to be provided free of charge by the state.
• Parent-teacher associations and school committees or boards could be established.
The act had a distinct Christian foundation and aimed at promoting love for their own culture amongst
White learners (Behr, 1988). Education was deemed to rest on biblical authority, with the parents, state
and church working together to educate the child. The official educational approach was fundamental
pedagogics, which operated from the premise that value-neutral scientific knowledge existed. However,
not all White South Africans were happy with the act. In particular, the English-speaking community saw
the act as problematic. According to Malherbe (1977: 148), the spirit of the 1967 act was ‘reminiscent of
the chauvinistic regulations issued under the early Nazi regime’ as it had similar supremacy overtones
used to indoctrinate learners (Behr, 1988). The statement that follows, with reference to history, serves to
summarise the nature, purpose and ideology of CNE.
We [National Party] believe that history must be taught in the light of the divine revelation and must be seen as
the fulfilment of God’s decree for the world and humanity. We believe that the great facts of the Creation, the
Fall and Breaking of Contract; the re-creation in Jesus Christ and the End (completion) of the world are of
world historical importance and that Jesus Christ is the great turning point in world history. We believe that
God has willed separate nations and peoples, and has given each separate nation and peoples its particular
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vocation and gifts. Youth can faithfully take over the task and vocation of the older generation when it has
acquired through instruction in history a true vision of the origin of the nation, and of the direction in that
heritage. We [National Party] believe that next to the mother tongue, the patriotic history of the nation is the
great means of cultivating love of one’s own.
Source: Enslin, P. The Place of National Identity in the Aims of Education. In The Aims of Education. Marples, R. (Ed.). 1999.
London: Routledge, p. 104.
In policy terms, what did education under apartheid mean for Black people? Based on the pre-1948
practice, education for Coloured learners was administered by the provincial education departments. In
the Cape Province, for example, education for Coloured learners was administered by the Cape
Department of Education. White and Coloured children followed the same curriculum and were visited
by the same school inspectors (Malherbe, 1977). Despite the fact that several government schools were
established for Coloured children, mission schools remained more popular and far more Coloured
primary school learners attended mission schools than government schools (Behr & Macmillan, 1971).
The destruction of mission schools by the National Party had an adverse impact on education for
Coloured learners, as the growth in population and the subsequent demand for education outstripped what
was supplied. In 1963, the Coloured Persons’ Education Act was passed and all education-related matters
were transferred to the central Department of Coloured Affairs.
The Indian communities in Natal, the province where the vast majority of Indians resided, managed to
construct their own schools during and after the world wars. The Natal Provincial Administration
contributed up to 50% of the cost of building schools to encourage the practice. However, the supply of
schools could not keep pace with the unprecedented demand for education after the Second World War.
Platoon classes – meaning that learners were divided into two platoons above the primary grades: one
platoon used the academic classrooms, while the second platoon did practical outdoor subjects – were
implemented. In addition, double-shift classes, whereby half of the learners attended school in the
mornings and the other half in the afternoon, were employed to alleviate the shortfall in infrastructure.
Teachers thus had to work double shifts. In spite of these measures, an estimated 37 000 Indian primary
school children could not be accommodated in the available school buildings (Behr & Macmillan, 1971).
In 1965, education for Indians was centralised, as was the case for Coloured learners. Education for
Indians was placed under the Department of Indian Affairs (Malherbe, 1977).
By 1967, the transfer of primary and secondary education for Coloureds and Indians from provincial
to central control was complete. The two acts by which the transfer was co-ordinated noted the
indispensable role of community involvement in education as well as the role that state-aided schools
played in providing education for Coloured and Indian children. Each system had an advisory council and
regional education boards that would advise higher authorities on local needs. Each school was required
to have a school committee elected by the parents. Only Coloured or Indian persons could serve on these
committees. Both of the acts provided for the introduction of compulsory education as soon as this was
feasible, while noting that education cannot be made compulsory unless there are sufficient education
facilities for the children. The result of this was that the expenditure on education for Indian and Coloured
learners was far superior to that of African learners, but substantially less than that spent on White
learners. This gap was further narrowed when, under the tri-cameral political system introduced in 1983,
Coloureds and Indians took control of education as a so-called ‘own affairs’ matter, leading to an increase
in expenditure on education. This will be discussed in more detail below.
The brunt of the apartheid education burden was borne by African learners. During the rapid
post-Second World War industrialisation and urbanisation process, many African families moved into
urban areas. The young people in these families lacked qualifications and experience, and could not find
employment. The existing schools were already overcrowded, which left many young African people
outside of the education system. There was a sharp increase in crime and juvenile delinquency, and it was
not long before the youth became the centre of an urban crisis that threatened social order (Hyslop, 1999).
Up to this point, the main providers for education for African children had been mission schools. The
wars in Europe impacted significantly on missionaries’ finances and their ability to continue providing
education. At the same time, school fees could not be raised, as African parents were already struggling
to meet their expenses. In addition, the rising tide of post-Second World War African nationalist
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consciousness that was being experienced in mission schools was eroding the previously close
relationship between Africans and missionaries (Hyslop, 1999). The National Party government saw it as
its duty to intervene and in so doing became the first government to take an interest in mass education for
African learners.
The Eiselen Commission on Native Education was appointed to investigate African education. The
commission pointed to a large number of areas that it deemed to be weaknesses in the system of
education for Africans. These ranged from a lack of control and inadequate supervision to an
overemphasis on academic training without taking the socio-economic development needs of the country
into consideration. It was also noted that there was little parental involvement in education, and more
damningly, that the content and methods employed were not appropriate for the needs, values and
interests of African people. This report formed the basis for a new education system for Africans that was
supposedly to provide for culturally based education that drew in some ways on traditional indigenous
educational practices blended with an inferior education aimed at creating semi-skilled labourers. The
recommendations of the Eiselen Commission resulted in the promulgation of the Bantu Education Act
(Act No. 47 of 1953) (Leonie, 1965).
Under the act, control of schools for Africans had to be transferred from the provinces and mission
organisations to the central state (Union of South Africa, 1951: par. 908 – 918). This was to be located in
the Bantu Education Department in the Department of Native Affairs. This relocation made the
implementation of the act much easier. In addition, elementary education or lower primary education,
from Sub A (now Grade 1) to Standard 2 (now Grade 4), would focus on African learners learning to
read, write and do arithmetic. For these first four years, instruction would be in their mother tongue. The
higher primary school provided education up to Standard 6 (now Grade 8), included the teaching of
English and Afrikaans as languages. Two strands of education were to be provided: an academic strand
and a vocational strand. A five-year post-primary programme would provide an opportunity for school
leavers to enter tertiary education or post-matric training (Behr & Macmillan, 1971).
The Bantu Education Act had a devastating impact on education for African learners. Funding for
mission schools ceased, as they were viewed as undermining apartheid. Mission schools that did not
adhere to the act were closed. White teachers were removed from African schools. Curricula, when
compared to those of White schools, were watered down to the mere basics in terms of content and depth.
All of this went hand in hand with limited spending on education for African learners when compared to
their White, Indian and Coloured counterparts. The consequence was massive overcrowding and a drop in
standards. Dr Hendrik Verwoerd, the then Minister of Native Affairs, who oversaw the implementation of
Bantu Education, was unequivocal in his view of its purpose: it was to prevent Africans from receiving an
education that would lead them to aspire to positions they would not be allowed to hold in White society.
Instead, they were to receive an education designed to provide them with skills to serve their own people
in the homelands (Bantustans) or to work in labourer jobs under Whites.
Many Africans, Indians and Coloureds as well as some Whites resisted Bantu Education from the
outset. It was seen as a separatist education policy that was in the interests of the ruling party’s ideology
of apartheid and not in the interests of Black learners. Consequently, in May 1954, the African National
Congress (ANC) launched a Resist Apartheid Campaign. Education was one of the six issues addressed
in the campaign. The issue of Bantu Education was handed to the Women’s and Youth League. The
boycott aimed against Bantu Education was limited to the East Rand and the Eastern Cape, where 6 000
learners and their parents and about 2 500 people marched in protest respectively. The marches became
increasingly violent and two attempts were made to burn down schools. The government response was to
threaten that unless learners returned to school, they would be expelled. Consequently thousands stayed
away and were expelled, which brought the boycott to an end (Christie, 2006). During the boycott, the
African Education Movement tried to organise alternative education programmes for learners who were
out of school. It was against the law to set up schools that were independent from the government, but
this was circumvented by setting up a network of ‘cultural clubs’. The cultural clubs were well attended,
and used songs, stories and games to teach mathematics, history, geography and general knowledge. They
remained active until 1960 (Lodge, 1983). One of the reasons that the cultural clubs did not last longer
was that their usefulness was in dispute, as they had to compete with schools that provided completion
certificates and opened up employment prospects (Christie, 2006).
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However, the biggest challenge to Bantu Education in the 1950s came by means of the Freedom
Charter, which was adopted by anti-apartheid protests groups under the auspices of the Congress of the
People at Kliptown, outside Johannesburg, on 26 June 1955. In terms of education, the Freedom Charter
decreed the following:
The Doors of Learning and Culture Shall Be Opened!
The government shall discover, develop and encourage national talent for the enhancement of our
cultural life;
All the cultural treasures of mankind shall be open to all, by free exchange of books, ideas and contact
with other lands;
The aim of education shall be to teach the youth to love their people and their culture, to honour human
brotherhood, liberty and peace;
Education shall be free, compulsory, universal and equal for all children;
Higher education and technical training shall be opened to all by means of state allowances and
scholarships awarded on the basis of merit;
Adult illiteracy shall be ended by a mass state education plan;
Teachers shall have all the rights of other citizens;
The colour bar in cultural life, in sport and in education shall be abolished.
Source: African National Congress. 2011. The Freedom Charter. [Online], Available: http://www.anc.org.za/show.php?id=72 Accessed 8
March 2016.
Although it was an idealistic document in the context of the time, the Freedom Charter proved to be
resilient and served as a conceptual framework for the planning of education in post-apartheid 1994.
The 1960s were relatively quiet years in terms of the resistance to apartheid. However, school unrest
continued. Resistance increased in the 1970s with the formation of the Black Consciousness movement.
The unrest started in Black universities, but quickly became a more general political movement. Soon
resistance towards Black education as well as general labour strikes and revolts were tied in with the
broad political protest (Christie, 2006). The reasons for the protests were multifarious, and included
resentment from the side of the youth towards how their parents were treated and the sense that a similar
future awaited them if they did not act. An organisational impetus for this thinking came in the form of
the South African Students Movement (SASM), whose members pledged themselves to building a
national movement of high school learners who would work with the Black Consciousness movement at
Black universities and the South African Students’ Organisation (SASO). These movements gave many
learners an appreciation for themselves as Black people and helped to politicise learners. The fact that
South Africa was experiencing an economic depression related to the oil crisis that curbed expenditure on
Bantu education also contributed to the unrest, as the restructuring of Standard 6 (now Grade 8) from
primary to secondary school followed. The consequence was overcrowding of an extreme nature.
The Afrikaans Medium Decree was passed into this volatile situation in 1974. Accordingly, certain
subjects at secondary school level, such as mathematics, arithmetic and social sciences, had to be taught
in Afrikaans, while certain subjects were taught in English and others in the mother tongue. The intention
was to introduce this practice in schools in Soweto and the Northern Transvaal first. The imposition of
Afrikaans proved to be the last straw and provided the impetus for the Soweto Uprising in June 1976 (Le
Roux, 2012). The South African Students Movement organised a mass demonstration, with learners
marching through Soweto. The peaceful march took a violent turn when the police opened fire and the
learners responded accordingly. Vehicles, buildings and stores were burnt, and within a day the unrest
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had spread throughout Soweto. In the days that followed, the uprising spread across the country and also
into the homelands (Molteno, 1979). The uprising was not only aimed at Bantu Education, but was a
protest against the apartheid regime of the National Party itself.
This the National Party sensed, and the Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC) was asked to
investigate the education system and propose guidelines for a new, practical and meaningful education
system for all. The major recommendations of the HSRC report included equal educational opportunities
and standards for every child in South Africa, irrespective of race, colour, creed or sex. Furthermore,
education had to recognise the individual’s freedom of choice and had to be provided in an educationally
responsible manner to meet the needs of the individual as well as those of society. The state was to be
responsible for education (HSRC, 1981). The initial reaction of the National Party government was to
reaffirm its standpoint that the Christian and national character of education had to be maintained in
education for White learners. However, in a follow-up response, the government indicated that it accepted
most of the recommendations in principle, but that the recommendations contravened apartheid ideology,
since they did not ‘allow full scope for self-determination for each population group in regard to its
education’ (Republic of South Africa, 1983: 2, 6 –7).
On a macro political level, major changes were taking place. In 1983, a new constitution was drafted
for South Africa. Three parliamentary chambers were created: a House of Assembly for White members,
a House of Representatives for Coloured members and a House of Delegates for Indian members.
Education for each group was provided for by the house that represented it. Support for the new
constitution from Indians and Coloureds was unenthusiastic. No provision was made for African people
in the central government, since they were expected to exercise their political rights in the independent
homelands such as the Transkei and Bophuthatswana. During this time, the Bantu Education Act was
repealed and replaced by the Education and Training Act (1979). This meant that the Department of
Education and Training would in future be responsible for the organisation and administration of the
education of Africans in areas deemed for Whites. Each of the six self-governing homelands and four
independent homelands had its own education department. The end result was the creation of numerous
education departments, which were expensive to maintain, to oversee education for Africans. These
undertakings did little to improve the education offered to African learners. The whole system was
basically the previous system in a different guise.
While these legal and constitutional changes were taking place, boycotts, protests and resistance
against the education that especially Africans were receiving continued. Large numbers of learners and
teachers supported these activities. The reasons for the protest activities included the poor state of
education in general as well as the use of corporal punishment and the presence of security police at
schools. The 1980 boycotts were also inspired by different political standpoints, and the manifestos and
slogans used by protestors slated the subordinate role of the Black person in apartheid society. In the
midst of this, schools as the manifestation of apartheid and sub-standard education became political
battlegrounds, which resulted in an extreme disruption to teaching and learning activities. In the process,
alliances were formed and the resistance to apartheid education became a countrywide issue, with more
people than ever involved. Much of this activity was driven by disillusioned and disenfranchised learners
who wanted immediate political change. Consequently, slogans such as ‘Liberation Now, Education
Later’ and ‘The Year of No Education’ were used as rallying cries. According to John Samuel from the
ANC Education Desk, education was disrupted and undermined during this time, and the basis of learning
was destroyed (Christie, 2006).
At the same time as the boycotts, protests and resistance were taking place, alternative education was
organised. These programmes included the history of Africans in South Africa, and films and music
formed part of these programmes. Like the cultural clubs of the 1960s, the alternative programmes
attempted to provide an education for learners who were no longer in mainstream education. In some
instances, learners attended enthusiastically, while in others, little or nothing went on in the classes
(Molteno, 1984). Another response to provide some direction came from parents, teachers and
community leaders at the end of 1985 by means of the creation of the National Education Crisis
Committee (NECC) and its call of ‘People’s Education for People’s Power’. The various views on the
exact meaning of People’s Education are indicative of its complex nature. Some saw it as a fundamentally
educational movement to improve education, while others viewed it as a strategy to mobilise people
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politically so as to overthrow the government (Christie, 2006). The resolutions of People’s Education can
be summarised in the words of Smangaliso Mkatshwa: ‘When we speak of People’s Education we mean
one that prepares people for total human liberation; one that helps people to be creative; to develop a
critical mind; to help people to analyse; one that prepares people for full participation in all social,
political or cultural spheres of society’ (Christie, 2006: 271). Materials to be taught by learners and
teachers alongside the official curricula were prepared for People’s Education and subject commissions
were set up in English, mathematics and history. These materials were banned from the schools of the
Department of Education and the police acted against many of the NECC leaders.
However, these actions by the government did not halt the ideology of transforming South African
society into a democratic, non-racist, non-sexist one. By the end of the 1980s, the time was more than
ripe for radical change in the political and education system of South Africa. This was brought about by
the weight of both national and international factors such as declining economic prospects, South Africa
being on the verge of a civil war, successful resistance against apartheid, a realisation by the National
Party that apartheid had run its course, international economic sanctions, and the end of the Cold War and
communism. These varied reasons all contributed to the unbanning of all political parties, the release of
political prisoners, the dismantling of apartheid and the re-imagining, for the first time, of a non-racist,
non-sexist inclusive education system as envisaged by the Freedom Charter. This was achieved after
1994, when Nelson Mandela became president in the country’s first ever fully democratic election.
Consequently, for the first time in the history of South Africa, all citizens could decide equally on matters
related to education as enshrined by the South African Schools Act (Act No. 84 of 1996).
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Case study
The tragic story of how a White girl being born Black tore a family apart
Sandra Laing had been doing her sums quietly when a boy was sent to fetch her from her classroom. In the
principal’s office, two khaki-uniformed officers were waiting. ‘I’m afraid you have to leave us,’ the
principal told her. He offered no explanation, and nor did the two police officers who escorted her off the
premises. It was March 10, 1966. On Robben Island, in the sea off Cape Town, Nelson Mandela was
serving the second year of a life sentence for sabotage. And through a quirk of genetics, ten-year-old
Sandra was about to become another potent symbol of a nation build on race and prejudice.
Her parents, Abraham and Sannie Laing, were White – indeed, as members of the Nationalist Party,
they were fervent supporters of South Africa’s apartheid regime – and yet their daughter undeniably
looked Black, with her brown skin and tightly curled black hair. Her African features were most certainly a
throwback to an unknown ancestor whose DNA, having lain dormant for generations, had emerged in her.
But when Sandra was a schoolgirl, this aspect of genetics was unknown and there was no such thing as a
DNA test. There was only cruel and relentless gossip suggesting that her mother had had an affair with a
Black man. For four years, teachers, parents and other pupils at her all-White primary school had fought to
have her expelled on the grounds that she was of mixed race. Finally, they had succeeded.
Figure 1.2 Although both Sandra Laing’s parents were White South Africans, she looked Black.
Source: O’Brien, C. 2008. The tragic story of how a White girl being born Black tore a family apart. [Online], Available: http://www
.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-1093674/The-tragic-story-white-girl-born-black-tore-family-apart.html Accessed 30 March 2016.
Questions
1. Place the newspaper article into the appropriate historical context: South Africa, 1966.
2. Find clues from the newspaper article that refer to the National Party policy on education. What does
this reveal about the mindset of the time?
3. Is the story of Sandra Laing a metaphor for the history of education in South Africa between 1652 and
1994? Explain.
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4. Evaluate the contemporary historical significance of the story of Sandra Laing.
5. Study the photograph that accompanies the newspaper article. Account for the stark contrast between
the experiences of ‘Sandra in the text’ and ‘Sandra in the photograph’. Comment on what this
reveals about the different sources that we use to write the history of education.
Activity
Imagine that you have to teach international students about apartheid education. How would you explain
the ideology related to CNE and Bantu Education to them?
1.
Study the graph in Figure 1.3 and answer the questions that follow.
2.
Source: Apartheid Museum. 2008. Understanding Apartheid Learner’s Book. [Online], Available: http://www.
apartheidmuseum.org/sites/default/files/ files/downloads/Learners%20book%20Chapter3.pdf Accessed 8 March 2016, p. 48.
Figure 1.3
a.
b.
c.
d.
e.
State per capita expenditure on school learners by race during the apartheid era
What happened in terms of expenditure between the 1950s and the 1980s?
What were the causes for the varying nature of expenditure?
What were the consequences of the varying nature of expenditure?
Explain the ever-widening gap in expenditure for Indian, Coloured and African learners.
How does the historic nature of expenditure still impact on contemporary schooling?
SUMMARY
This chapter has presented the history of education in South Africa, commencing with traditional
indigenous educational practices up until the start of the educational dispensation created in 1994, when
political apartheid ended. As explained in the introduction, it would have been impossible to present a
complete and all-encompassing history in the space available. However, after working through this
chapter, you should have a broad understanding of the major events that have shaped (and in many ways
are still shaping) education in South Africa. What you have hopefully also realised is that education is
never a neutral undertaking and that history is never complete. Those who are in power make the
decisions concerning, for example, the nature and content of the curriculum, who is in charge of
education and what the medium of instruction should be. This is what happened in the past and it will
continue to happen in the future. When reflecting on the provision of education up to the present, it is
evident that education was driven by the prevailing belief and value systems of the time. Economic,
social and political factors played their role; however, the established ideology of those in governance, or
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under whose jurisdiction education fell, was the actual deciding factor regarding the nature and purpose
of education. Furthermore, history is constantly in the making and in a few years from now, when we
read about the education provided under democratic rule in South Africa, prospective teachers will be
reading about the successes and failures of the education system that we are currently experiencing.
Hopefully they will attempt to view our efforts with empathy, understanding that our actions were based
on contemporary moral frameworks.
Questions
1. Reflect on the schooling that you have received. Now compare (say what is similar) and contrast (say
what is different) between your schooling and that experienced by learners during these historical
periods:
• Traditional indigenous educational practices
• Education at the Cape during the Dutch East India Company (1652 –1795) and Batavian rule (1803
–1806)
• Education under British colonial rule in the Cape (1807–1910) and Natal (1843 –1910)
• Education in the Boer Republics
• Mission education in South Africa
• Education from the time of the South African War until the National Party came into power (1902
–1948)
• National Party rule and education under apartheid (1948 –1994).
What conclusions can you draw?
2. Write a blog on how having an historical consciousness (an awareness of the relationship between the
past, the present and the future) relating to education in South Africa can aid you in your teaching.
If you are unsure about how to write a blog, use the Internet to guide you.
3. Draw a mind map in which you record the relationship between religion and education in South
Africa up to 1994. What can you conclude from your mind map?
4. In a short essay of two pages, track the changes and continuity related to ideology OR the planning
and provision of education from the earliest times to the present.
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Chapter 2
International trends in educational historiography
Charl Wolhuter and Konstantinos G. Karras
STRUCTURE OF CHAPTER
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
After you have worked through this chapter, you should be able to:
• understand and describe the main trends in contemporary educational historiography in Western Europe,
Russia, the United States of America, England, France and Greece
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•
•
•
•
critically evaluate these trends in the view of twenty-first century society
evaluate the place of education within these trends
identify the relevance of these developments for the writing of the history of South African education
think about how these new developments contribute to or enhance the significance of the field of history
of education for other fields of education.
GLOSSARY
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
2.1
Annales
cultural history of education
educational historiography
historiography
history
history of education
idea history of education
micro history
social history of education
INTRODUCTION
Historiography is the study of the writing of history. In other words, it refers to the content and methods
of writing history as well as the aims and the features thereof. Educational historiography, then, is the
study of the writing of the history of education. As in all kinds of history writing, the writing of the
history of education is changing all the time. This is the result of the ever-advancing time line of the
present (which thus creates an ever-increasing scope for the writing of history) as well as the changing
exigencies of the present, which require an ongoing change in the writing of history: the content of and
the aims for the reconstruction of the past. (In other words, this also includes the concept of the victor
being the writer of history. There is always a motive behind how history is written and what is included,
from whose perspective it is written and what is left out. Writing about history cannot be objective. For
example, the purpose of writing about history may be related to nation building or to legitimise the power
of a current regime.) History of education as a field of teaching and research at universities in South
Africa has, for the two decades since the dawn of the 1990s, been a marginalised field (Wolhuter, 2011:
175 –186). Heartening as the current and promising revitalisation of the field is, as is evident, for
example, in its reappearance in Government’s recently published requirements for teacher education
programmes (cf. Republic of South Africa, 2011), those responsible for rebuilding the field of history of
education in South Africa would be well-counselled to be steered by international trends in the field of
history of education in order to prevent falling behind the latest international developments and
displaying a pernicious parochialism. The aim of this chapter is, therefore, to take stock of developments
in the field of history of education in the following key geographical regions: Western Europe, Russia,
the United States of America, England, France and Greece.
2.2
EDUCATIONAL HISTORIOGRAPHY IN WESTERN EUROPE AT THE BEGINNING OF
THE NEW MILLENNIUM
At the end of the twentieth century, historians of education in Western Europe (historically the central
point of the international field of history of education) experienced a sense of dismay and unease. They
had a feeling that the enthusiasm (some say the euphoria) of the 1970s had evaporated, and that the field
lacked a sense of direction and purpose (Herbst, 1999: 642 – 647). In the spirit of the time (the dawning
of a new millennium), historians of education embarked on a stock-taking exercise. To this end, a number
of publications appeared:
• two books: Crook and Aldrich’s (2000) History of Education for the Twenty-First Century and Götte and
Gippert’s (2000) Historische Pädagogik am Beginn des 21. Jahrhunderts: Bilanzen und Perspektiven
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•
•
a paper by Herbst (1999: 737–747) in Paedagogica Historica (the most eminent scholarly journal in the
field of history of education): ‘The History of Education:
State of the Art at the Turn of the Century in Europe and North America’
an ensuing debate, with contributions by Depaepe (2001: 631– 640), Gaithier (2001: 642 – 647), Peim
(2001: 653 – 660) and Rousemarie (2001: 649 – 652), all of which were published in Paedagogica
Historica as well.
The role, content and method of history of education for the early twenty-first century, as envisioned in
the above-mentioned publications, will be discussed later in this section. However, we will begin by
briefly outlining the state of the field of history of education as it had developed historically up to the end
of the twentieth century in Western Europe.
Until the end of the twentieth century, two main phases in the international development of the
scholarly field of history of education can be distinguished. During the first phase, which lasted until the
1960s, the history of ideas about education, interspersed with the history of government policies and the
deeds of great reformers, occupied the central stage of the field. Standard textbooks of history of
education such as that of Power (1962) presented the educational thoughts of the ‘great masters’ (such as
Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Herbart and Dewey). The aim behind this was the moral preparation of the
teacher (Warde & De Carvallo, 2001: 83 – 99). In the 1960s, however, the idea-history paradigm was
replaced by the social-history paradigm, as the focus shifted from ideas shaping education to actual
education practice (Depaepe, 2002: 2 – 3). Education policies and changes were viewed in their broad
social and political contexts. In the course of time and in line with developments in the discipline of
history and the social sciences, new topics gained prominence, for example, the history of the role of
women in education, the role of the family, the role of minorities, and the role of excluded or
marginalised individuals and groups.
With regard to the role of history of education, the theorists make two points. First, they plead for a
place for history of education within schools or faculties of education and within teacher education
programmes. This is a turnaround from trends during the last decades of the twentieth century, when the
place of history of education was marginalised. In many cases, it was taken out of teacher education
programmes. In addition, the locus of research into the history of education shifted to history departments
(rather than education departments) at universities in Western Europe and North America (Wolhuter,
2006: 2 – 25). Secondly, these theorists see a role for history of education in informing public debate on
education and education reform (McCullough, 2000: 1–16; Vinovskis, 2015: 30 – 44). When
contemplating education reform and designing a reformed education system, lessons should be taken
from the past, which should illuminate and guide the creation of an education system for the future.
Turning to the content of history of education, some historians of education are of the view that
intellectual history, which has been neglected since the rise of the social-science paradigm of the 1960s,
is still a valuable area of enquiry. Koch (2000: 21– 31) uses the example of Kant to demonstrate the value
of the classicists in contemplating perennial educational issues.
Götte and Gippert (2000: 7–14) point out that the field of youth research is important if balance and
perspective are to be attained in history of education. A rising component of history of education ( cf.
Malmede, 2000: 111–129), youth research focuses on the experiences and lives of young people in
various historical eras.
Gaithier (2001: 642 – 647) sees in globalisation an opportunity for history of education to become
relevant. He draws parallels between the idea of globalisation and models of educational historians in the
past, in particular the idea of modernisation in the 1960s and 1970s. Herbst (1999: 740 –741) also notes
that the macro paradigm of social history led historians of education to misjudge the central place that the
history of schooling and pedagogy can claim in their discipline. Historians of education still know little
about what really happened in the daily life of schools and classrooms throughout history. Nóvoa (2001:
45 – 64) points out that that the internal functioning of the school, the curriculum design, the organisation
of everyday school reality, school cultures, and the lives and experiences of teachers and pupils are some
of the issues that need closer investigation.
On the methods of history of education scholarship, Crook (2000: 36 – 49) draws attention to the
Internet as a research tool for historians of education, who have just begun to appreciate its value and
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have begun to utilise it. It will become more and more important in coming years, with better designed
web pages, more sophisticated search engines, faster modems and the ability to access the net via digital
television, cellphones, smartphones and so on.
Many eminent historians of education recommend the use of visual sources (such as photographs) as
having great potential to reveal the classroom and educational practices of the past. This newly identified
source field not only includes pictures of high art (in other words, what is considered to be art in the
formal or academic sense), but also brings into view the whole of the graphic figurative tradition,
including chalkboard drawings in the school, pictures in texts and photographs, and children’s drawings
and caricatures (Tenorth, 2001: 352 – 375).
Richardson (2000: 17– 34) also sees great potential in oral history projects, although oral history is, by
its nature, confined to recent history.
Grunert and Krüger (2000: 182) draw attention to the value of biographies (in other words, diaries,
essays and so on).
The value of autobiographies and of the ‘I-archaeology’ (the ‘I-archaelology’ is the telling of a
person’s own life history, and includes critical self-questioning and a search for meaning) is highlighted
by Vinao (2001: 125 –140) and by Reulecke (2000: 169 –180). Biography and autobiography, which are
related to oral history, are ethnographical descriptions (for example, the reconstruction of youth
sub-cultures). Research of this nature could make use of semi-structured interviews and group discussions
(Grunert & Krüger, 2000: 181–195).
Mention has been made of Gaithier (2001), who sees in globalisation an opportunity for history of
education to become a relevant field. Gaithier also sees in globalisation and a global unit of analysis (in
other words, taking the entire global society as the unit of analysis, rather than the conventional smaller
units, such as the nation state) an opportunity to write a pan-human historiography: a transnational history
of education, telling the tale of the victory of cosmopolitan sensibilities over traditional fundamental
ones.
2.3
EDUCATIONAL HISTORIOGRAPHY IN POST-1990 RUSSIA
The fall of communism and the democratisation of Russian society opened new vistas for the
investigation of educational history. The termination of the hegemony of the totalitarian state and of the
Communist Party, the opening up of the state archives and the possibilities of international networking
for scholars of history of education as well as the possibility of the free exchange and debate of ideas all
bode well for the development of history of education.
History of education written during the times of Soviet rule (in other words, from 1917 to 1990)
discredited Tsarist education (that is, education in the time before 1917). In the more open atmosphere
after 1990, a more even-handed appreciation of Tsarist education, especially the educational initiatives
after the emancipation of the serfs in 1861 as part of Tsar Alexander II’s modernisation drive, prevailed.
Mironov (1991: 229 – 252) reconstructed the history of adult literacy in the Union of Soviet Socialist
Republics (USSR) from the tenth to the twentieth century (and actually came to the conclusion that adult
literacy in 1917 was 42%). Cirul’nikov (1993) reconstructed the evolution of the elementary school from
1890 to 1917, Kondrat’eva (1997) described the Gymnasium schools and their role in educating the new
managerial class for the trade and industries that developed in the late nineteenth century, and Vashkau
(1998) gave an account of the parish schools in the German colonies along the Volga river in the late
nineteenth century.
Soviet education (that is, the history of education in Russia from 1917 to 1990) has remained a topic of
interest to historians of education. These studies tend to come to a positive evaluation of the Soviet
education exercise. This is similar to pre-1990 educational historiography (for example, Medynsky,
1952), although now (in post-1990 publications), the positive assessment is backed up by rigorous and
credible scholarly investigation.
The Communist Party’s Youth Movements, the Young Pioneers and Komsomol, played an important
role in the political socialisation of the youth of the Soviet Union. In general, Marxist historiography has
neglected the study of pre-revolutionary youth societies (Caroli, 2011). Irina Alekseeva (2007) studied
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the Christian Youth Union, the Russian chapter of the YMCA (Young Men’s Christian Association),
which was active from 1900 to 1917. L.V. Avieva, who is amongst the most important new specialists in
youth movements, also constructs a historical perspective (Caroli, 2011). In her publication The
Children’s Movement as an Object of Education, Theory, History, Practice (translated) (2002), she
utilises a historical dimension in order to comprehend the socialisation mechanisms of different youth
organisations in relation to the present (in other words, the needs of the post-Soviet educational project
and the role or potential role of youth movements to socialise youth for participation in a democratic
society).
2.4
EDUCATIONAL HISTORIOGRAPHY IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
In a slight variation of the European model, educational historiography in the United States of America
before 1960 praised the role of the teaching profession and the school in establishing democracy in the
country. Ellwood Cubberley’s Public Education in the United States (1919), which inspired professional
teachers and student teachers, and imbued them with professional zeal, is a prime example. Other authors
in this tradition include John Motley, Francis Parkman and William Prescott.
However, a path-breaking publication (Carl & Dodd, 2011) was University of Harvard historian
Bernard Bailyn’s (1960) Education in the Forming of American Society, which was a scathing attack on
the historiography of American education. This was followed by Lawrence Cremin of the University of
Columbia’s publication (1965) The Wonderful World of Ellwood Patterson Cubberley: An Essay on the
Historiography of American Education, which was likewise an attack on the historiography of American
education hitherto, with Cubberley as leading historian. The opus magnum of Lawrence Cremin, the most
towering figure in twentieth-century educational historiography, was a three-volume history of education
in the United States: American Education: The Colonial Experience: 1607–1783 (1970), American
Education: The National Experience:1783 –1876 (1980) (Cremin was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for this
book in 1981) and American Education: The Metropolitan Experience: 1876 –1980 (1988). This trilogy
offered a new narrative of the history of American education, correcting many of the things that Cremin
and Bailyn had judged as wrong in the conventional, dominant way of presenting that history in pre-1960
publications. Cremin, for example, did not equate education with schooling only, but had a much broader
conception of education. Interestingly, as a complement to his historical analysis, Cremin’s last
publication, Popular Education and Its Discontents (1990), offered a future perspective, advocating
education research that could help society and all humans in society to live full, happy and productive
professional lives. Following the criticisms of Bailyn and Cremin, a whole range of publications have
appeared since the 1960s, offering a view of American educational history that is very different from that
of the pre-1960 era, with its glorification of the American common school as agent of democracy, social
mobility and equaliser of opportunities in life.
At the beginning of the century, a noteworthy collection of essays (with chapters contributed by
American historians of education as well as their counterparts in Europe) was published. Cultural History
and Education: Critical Essays on Knowledge and Schooling (2001), edited by Thomas S. Popkewitz,
B.M Franklin and M.A. Pereyra, portrays the history of education as cultural history: that is, as being
shaped by regimes of truth (in other words, the knowledge and way of thinking of the dominant social
class and ideology of the time). At the time of its publication, it seemed that this book had the potential to
form a new watershed, not only in American educational historiography, but also in world historiography
(that is, inaugurating a new epoch, just as the social-history epoch had replaced the old idea-history
paradigm). Indeed, this publication could also be grouped with the series of publications enumerated at
the outset of this chapter as forming part of the discourse concerning how to take history of education
forward in the twenty-first century.
Joel Spring, in The American School: 1642 – 2004 (2005: 73), states that the most difficult question to
answer in studying any part of educational history is the question ‘Why?’ This book, which is organised
in themes rather than sequentially, invites the reader to form his or her own views. Frameworks presented
include understanding the school’s role in cultural domination, ideological management, racism,
economic development, consumerism and environmental degradation.
Finally, in the wake of education becoming a key determinant of national competitiveness in the
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globalised world, Maris Vinovskis (2015: 30 – 44) draws attention to the return of historians of education
to writing historical accounts of education policy directions, with the ultimate aim being to inform current
formulation of education policy. This role of history of education has been dramatically illustrated with
the appointment of prominent education historian Diane Ravitch as Assistant Secretary of the United
States Office of Education Research and Improvement during the first Bush administration.
2.5
EDUCATIONAL HISTORIOGRAPHY OF ENGLAND
Various surveys of the educational historiography of England have appeared in recent years. Indeed, the
volume by Crook and Aldrich (Eds) (2000) discussed above could be taken as a survey of the state of the
writing of history of education in England at the beginning of the twenty-first century. This publication
was followed by a host of other surveys, including McCullough (2005: 269 – 279; 2011), Crook and
Raftery (2009: 5 –7), and Goodman and Grosvenor (2009: 601– 616).
The development of education (from idea and national history to social history of education to a
critical interrogation of the past and the inclusion of power relations) started earlier in England than on
the continent and in America. However, the break with the past and the reinterpretation of the acts
regulating education were not as radical. The conventional history portrayed in old history of education
textbooks laid a heavy emphasis on idea history, legislation relating to education (regardless of the gap
between ideas and acts, with their noble intentions, and the reality of everyday education practice in
schools) and formal educational institutions (McCullough, 2011). What reinforced the view of education
as contained in education acts and policy statements was the exalted place allocated to important
personalities: thinkers, reformers and politicians who initiated legislation relating to education.
A key figure in the history of education in England during this era was John Adamson, professor in
this field at King’s College, London from 1903 until 1924 (McCullough, 2011). His publication A Short
History of Education (Adamson, 1919) typifies the field at the time. This central theme of educational
and social progress was taken further by G.A.N. Lowndes in his book The Silent Social Revolution: An
Account of the Expansion of Public Education in England and Wales 1895 –1965 (1937/1969).
A plea for breaking away from the tradition of a view from the top, and from an emphasis on ideas and
acts, had already come from Fred Clarke (director of the Institute of Education at the University of
London from 1936 to 1945) in the 1930s. Clarke, himself a sociologist as well as an historian, advocated
closer connections between education, history and the social sciences. In his book Education and Social
Change (1940), he explored social forces as shaping forces of education in England. Clarke was a liberal
thinker and his publications contained the same ectropic reconstruction of the history of education found
in older, conventional histories of education in England (in other words, the view of the history of society
and of education as one unbroken line of progress; the word ‘ectropic’ refers to a way of viewing history
as a one-directional movement of progress, without reversal or deterioration). King’s College, London
maintained its pre-eminence in the history of education, which lasted throughout the post-Second World
War years under Prof. A.V. Judges and Prof. Kenneth Charlton from 1972 until his retirement in 1983
(Aldrich, 2009: 601– 603).
Other publications that explored the history of the social system as a shaping factor of education
systems include those by Ashby (1958), A.H. Halsey (1954) and Michael Young (1958). Mention should
also be made of a publication by William Boyd and Edmund King (King was also attached to the Institute
of Education at the University of London), The History of Western Education (1964). (The first edition of
this publication, which has seen many editions and revised editions, was published in 1932.) This
publication broke with the national tradition, offering a broader Western perspective, although it is still
very much written with the history of ideas on education as its dominant theme (supplemented by a
sprinkling of information about legislation relating to education and the deeds of great education
reformers).
Brian Simon, a Marxist who promoted a vision of social equality, presented an alternative history, a
history written from within the framework of the paradigm of the social-class conflict. From 1950 until
his retirement in 1980, Simon was attached to the Leicester University School of Education. According to
McCullough (2011), Simon is commonly seen as the most significant historian of education produced in
Britain over the past century. He published a large corpus of work from the 1950s onwards. Of the 40
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books that he wrote, his magnum opus was a four-volume history of education in England: Studies in the
History of Education, 1780 –1870 (1960), Education and the Labour Movement, 1870 –1920 (1965), The
Politics of Educational Reform, 1920 –1940 (1974) and Education and the Social Order, 1940 –1990
(1991).
2.6
EDUCATIONAL HISTORIOGRAPHY OF FRANCE
In the nineteenth century, the most important school of historiography was the Methodical School (École
Méthodique) in France, which dates from the publication of the ‘Manifesto’ written by Gabriel Monod in
the first issue of the Revue Historique in 1876. This school focused on the requirement of objectivity in
the writing of history. Thus the Methodical School stands in contrast to the preceding phase of the
Romantic movement, when the writing of history was done mainly by Catholic priests and local amateur
historians, with little professional, scholarly training in the writing of history and with scant regard for the
requirement of objectivity. In addition, it emphasised the importance of the historian’s training. The
Methodical School gave special emphasis in its narrative to the political events related to education. The
most representative historian in France at this period was Fustel de Coulanges. His well-known work The
Ancient City (La Cité Antique) was published in 1864. Other representative historians of the Methodical
Movement include Charles-Victor Langlois and Charles Seignobos, who together wrote Introduction to
Historical Studies in 1898 as well as textbooks intended for secondary school pupils. In their
reconstruction of history, these authors substantiated statements by citing documentary sources such as
charters, acts or decrees and various other documents. In this context, we also mention Ernest Lavisse and
his work The History of France, written in 27 volumes (1911). Although the Methodicals focused on
educational history, they also emphasised the political side of the history of education, for example, the
development of policy and legislation pertaining to education (Galanis, 2009: 85 –106).
During the twentieth century, the main representative school of historiographical thought in France
was the famous Annales (Annales School), which followed the sociological thinking of this era by
attacking traditional historical thought. The leading exponents of sociological thinking were Emile
Durkheim and Henri Berr. Their main publications were the journals Année Sociologique and Revue de
Synthèse Historique respectively. These two journals pointed out the excesses and deficiencies of history
writing, which was almost exclusively based on the enumeration of a sequence of events, with no
attention paid to the societal context in which these events had occurred. The Annales School, which was
formed around the journal Annales d’Histoire Économique et Sociale (Annals of Economic and Social
History), occupies a unique place in the historiography of the twentieth century. In the eighty years
following 1900, the Annales profoundly changed the perception of what history is and who the creators of
history could be. The establishment of the journal Annales and the school of the same name by Marc
Bloch and Lucien Febvre was the result of the changed global political context and the concomitant
changes in the social sciences, which emanated from the First World War. The Annales, much in tune
with the global situation and problems after 1919, shifted the focus from the political to the economic
field. At that time, economic history made its appearance. It is possible to distinguish four different
periods of the Annales’ historiography (Galanis, 2009) corresponding to the approaches of four
generations of historians.
During the first period (1929 –1945), Marc Bloch and Lucien Febvre abandoned the political field, and
paid attention to social and economic developments.
During the second period (1945 –1972), the Annales changed their name, eliminating the reference to
history from their title. They renamed themselves the Annales: Économies, Sociétés, Civilisations or
Annales ESC (Economies, Societies, Cultures) in order to place greater emphasis on their
interdisciplinary character. Lucien Febvre wrote that it was necessary to adapt to modern paradigms. The
second generation of the Annales, led by Lucien Febvre, chose to promote economic study in depth, at
the expense of other emphases: cultural history, attitudes study and psycho-history. In the 1960s, the
generalised shift in the social sciences, including the quantification of social phenomena, dominated the
Annales.
During the third period (1972 –1979), the Annales School practised a history writing where ‘histories’
were now written in minuscule (meaning that the level of analysis is no longer national, but involves
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small-scale studies that are local in extent) and in the plural form (with the focus on histories rather than
history). In other words, there can be no single history, but many different histories because different
events are experienced from different perspectives by the various people involved. These perspectives are
shaped by factors such as the social standing, education and proximity to the event of the people
concerned. This history writing is therefore the writing of the history of a particular facet or small theme
from the past and not an attempt to reconstruct an era as a whole, in all its facets. This new way of writing
history testifies to an understanding of the inability of any single historian to grasp the totality of the past.
These new histories questioned traditional historiography, which focused its attention on the political and
social elite, with the aim of integrating parts of the population that had long been ignored. The new
historians offered a ‘history from below’ (in other words, a history that focused on ordinary people, as
opposed to a ‘history from above’, which focused on famous figures), that not only included the history
of women, but also introduced a strong feminist perspective.
In the fourth period (1980 to the present day), the volume of history writing has exploded. In the
1980s, attacks by new historians against French history, particularly against the historiography of the
Annales, have proliferated. Today, history is far more pluralistic than ever before, by which we mean that
it has been divided into different areas or specialties. It has also exploded in the sense that some of its
branches are independent scholarly communities that do not interact with each other. One of these
branches is present history, which focuses on the past twenty years. Another branch is cultural history,
with its interest in power relations in society. Developments in the scientific fields of climatology (that is,
global warming) and genetics (that is, genetic engineering) are also influencing historical debate (Galanis,
2009: 103).
2.7
EDUCATIONAL HISTORIOGRAPHY OF GREECE
The new freedom of thought and expression as well as the zeitgeist of Greek nationalism that resulted
from the liberation of Greece from the Turks in 1821 gave Greek educational historiography a boost.
From then until the advent of democracy in 1974, historiography served the national ideology, focusing
on recording events and undertaking an educational role through a number of works that recorded events
in a panoptic, linear fashion.
Traditional historiography studies were still produced in the 1970s. As Bouzakis (2009) points out,
these historical studies had a descriptive and law-centred character, and were publications of archival
collections and documents (Daskalakis, 1968, as cited by Bouzakis, 2009: 5), specific periods of Greek
history (Koukou, 1972, as cited by Bouzakis, 2009: 5) or local histories (Belia, 1970, as cited by
Bouzakis, 2009: 5). These works combined positivism (a belief in one-directional, irreversible and
unstoppable human, social and cultural progress over time) with nationalism (Koulouri, 2004: 5). During
the same period, the first new approaches appeared in the field of Greek historiography of education,
which broke away from the linear event-writing approach of the history of education. These historians of
education provided an introduction to the ‘modern’ history of education. A basic qualitative difference
from works over the previous period was their hermeneutic dimension, which offered a new way of
interpreting historical facts. In other words, the socio-economic and cultural phenomena of the period
under consideration were taken into account in the interpretation of developments in education. In the
same period, two social scientists, Fragoudaki and Tsoukalas, approached certain topics on the history of
education from a sociological point of view and proposed new hermeneutic methods for the
understanding of the phenomenon of reform. (Following the democratisation of Greece and the
constitutional reform that has taken place since 1974, Greek education has undergone a time of
accelerated reform.)
Over the past 40 years, historiography has been influenced by foreign trends. It developed into a new
form of history, specifically, interpretative history. This change became obvious in numerous works,
which, in addition to describing events, also attempted to interpret these events by matching education
with the socio-political conditions as well as the ideological-political conditions of the period.
A discernible change occurred after 1980. According to Bouzakis (2009: 5), the works on the history
of education that appeared in this period marked a new era of breaking away from traditional pedagogic-,
event- and law-centred historiography. The qualitative and quantitative magnitude of the jump noted in
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this period is, certainly, far from coincidental. It can be attributed to a number of factors, including the
change in the political context, the inclusion of the subject of history of education in the curricula of
newly created departments of primary education and pre-school education in 1984, the foundation of the
Greek Society of Education Historians in 2001 and the increased availability of funding for history of
education. The rich production of historiography in this period offered a great deal more than new
hermeneutic and methodological tools. It broadened the thematic sectors, which attracted the interest of
researchers. The connection to international problems and communication with the international scientific
community of historians revealed various foreign theoretical influences (for example, the influence of the
French Annales School on the theories of dependence as well as the influence of Foucault, including the
introduction of power relations in society into the analysis and interpretation of developments in
education, and of Marxistic or neo-Marxistic theories). The combined effect of these theories was to bring
power relations in society into the picture of the interpretation of events and developments in the history
of education. Various themes are dealt with by the history scientists of this period. These include the
activities of educators, the role of educators in education reforms, the choice of language of learning and
teaching (after the democratisation of Greece and the concomitant modernisation drive, there was great
controversy in the public debate on education as to whether classical Greek [incomprehensible to modern
day Greeks] or colloquial Greek [considered by purists to be slang, and not for academic and high
cultural use] should be used as the language of learning and teaching in schools), students’ movements,
‘micro history’ or ‘history from below’, local history, portraits of progressive leaders, politicians or
educators, the education of women, the training and further education of teachers, higher education, the
role of political parties in education, school textbooks and nationalism (Vouri, 1992: 73).
It is important to note that a concerted effort has been made recently in the field of historiography,
with many publications and conferences or forums dedicated to Greek history as well as to the
epistemological and methodological trends of the field (Dalakoura et al., 2015). In recent decades, there
has also been increased interest in the history of the everyday life of ordinary people (the micro-historical
approach to education), with use being made of sources such as biographical narratives, memoirs, diaries,
travel impressions, memories and albums. Micro-historical investigations focus on the subjective, on the
isolated and on the individual in the framework of major trends of social research (in other words, in the
methodological frame of grounded theory, which is theory developed by scholars on themes where no
prior theory to build on exists: that is, they have to develop new theory). The historians practising this
kind of history writing were influenced by the Annales School as well as by the theories of dependence
and reproduction of Pierre Bourdieu, a leading theorist of cultural reproduction, which is a theory
contending that schools and education serve as instruments used by the dominant class in society to foist
their culture on the powerless or exploited classes. The works on micro-historical investigations
mentioned above indicate a turn to qualitative methods, from the macro structure to the micro structure,
and the abandonment of holistic interpretations. Essentially, this is a ‘history from below’ (in other
words, a history that focuses on ordinary people). The starting point is the emotional and psychological
experiences of individual people, of common people at that. It is therefore a micro focus, in contrast to
the macro approaches of earlier times, where the scope was that of the entire (Greek) nation and the
emphasis was on ‘important’ actors: law-makers and reformers (in other words, a ‘view from above’).
2.8
CONCLUSION
As both a field of research and a field of study, historiography has a great deal to offer. Knowledge of the
methodological and epistemological approaches of the past can offer important lessons for the study of
the present in any scientific field. If conveyed to student teachers during their training or to teachers
through in-service training, these lessons can enrich the thinking of educators in relation to history,
modern sociology, politics, ideology, culture and pedagogy. This enrichment will elevate educational
debate and dialogue by giving useful lessons to education in general and teachers in particular.
SUMMARY
In the parts of the world surveyed, history of education has undergone significant changes during recent
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times. In Western Europe, the field has evolved from idea history and the history of reformers and laws to
social history. The belief has also grown that the field has a significance beyond the walls of academia,
namely to inform public discourse on education. Globalisation also resulted in efforts to develop writing
about history of education that is international rather than European in scope. The 1990 change of regime
in Russia opened the doors for a free scholarly pursuit in the field. Soviet education remains a strong
focus of history of education research, but scholars now have the freedom to criticise the Soviet education
effort openly. In the United States of America, the educational histories that were built around praising
the role of education in entrenching a culture of democracy in the country have made way for a social
history, and today cultural history has come to the fore as the avant-garde school in educational history
writing. In France, the Methodical School of the nineteenth century was displaced by the Annales School
during the twentieth century. By the beginning of the twenty-first century, the work of the Annales had
culminated in history writing characterised by plurality (acknowledgement that the existence of more than
one narrative of the past is possible) and micro histories. In Greece, the attainment of independence in
1821 opened the gates for the writing of the history of education in that country. Originally very
nationalistic by nature, educational history writing has also been affected by foreign influences such as
social history and micro history since democratisation in 1974.
Questions
1. Compare and contrast the main trends in the writing of education history in Western Europe, Russia,
the United States, England, France and Greece during the recent past.
2. Now compare your answer to the previous question with what you read in Chapter 1 and then decide
how South African educational historiography can benefit from developments in educational
historiography internationally,
3. In view of the recent developments in educational historiography, decide how the study of history of
education can be of benefit for the teacher.
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Chapter 3
A history of selected education systems
M. Noor Davids
STRUCTURE OF CHAPTER
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
After you have worked through this chapter, you should be able to:
• understand how different education systems emerged, with reference to the forces that influenced them,
by reflecting on and discussing the historical background and context in which each education system
came about
• analyse and understand various education systems in the world, identifying the unique characteristics,
similarities, differences and challenges faced by these systems
• engage in conversation about education challenges facing African countries, including South Africa, and
suggest how other systems of education may (or may not) offer plausible solutions
• reflect on the problems in global education systems, and consider how ideas from other countries may or
may not be relevant in understanding the educational challenges facing Africa and South Africa.
GLOSSARY
•
•
•
•
convergence
divergence
education system
power
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•
transformation
Case study
The South African education system: One nation, two education systems?
According to the Southern and Eastern African Consortium for Monitoring Educational Quality
(SACMEQ 111), a high proportion of South Africa’s learners are functionally illiterate and functionally
innumerate. Two of the main factors influencing educational achievements are the poor socio-economic
environments of schools and inadequate textbook availability. The study concluded that South Africa is
still a tale of two school sub-systems: a wealthy, functional system that is able to educate students and a
poor, dysfunctional system that cannot equip students with the literacy and numeracy skills that they
should acquire in primary school.
Source: Adapted from Spaull, N. 2012. Equity and Efficiency in South African Primary Schools: A Preliminary Analysis of SACMEQ 111
South Africa. M.Com Thesis. Stellenbosch University, Stellenbosch, p. 3.
Question
1. As you study the different education systems described in this chapter, reflect on what could be done to
address equity and efficiency in South African schools.
3.1
INTRODUCTION
This chapter provides education scholars with an overview of different international education systems.
An education system refers to the formal and informal provision, production and transmission of
knowledge and values in a specific society. The history of education systems explains the state of current
systems of education in terms of their evolution from the past to the present.
3.1.1
Education systems in perspective: An interdisciplinary approach to knowledge
In Chapter 2, you learnt what is meant by the study of the history of education. It is hoped that you
understood that on the one hand, the history of education is a field of study focusing on the changes in
and the development of education in societies. On the other hand, history is the primary field of the
history of education. You also learnt that history is written from different perspectives.
In this chapter, you will learn about the history of education from the perspective of seven different
education systems. Each of these systems is presented within the historical and social context of its
country to explain how education evolved in that country.
An interdisciplinary approach has been used to describe each of these systems. Various fields of
knowledge have been considered, including the following:
• geography (knowledge of the natural landscape, vegetation, climate and location)
• sociology (knowledge of a society in terms of how its people arrange their lives economically,
politically, socially and culturally)
• philosophy (knowledge of how values and ideology influence how people live)
• religion and culture (knowledge of how religion and cultural traditions impact on people’s lives).
In the chapters that follow, you will learn about related (and interrelated) disciplines such as sociology of
education and philosophy of education. Every discipline represents a form of knowledge that is
constructed from a particular theoretical position.
Discussion
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1. What do you regard as some of the focus points of the history of education systems?
2. How does the history of education relate to history as a discipline?
3. Do you think that an interdisciplinary approach to understanding education systems is useful? Motivate
your response by giving reasons.
This chapter is informed by the following perspectives:
• the notion that the writers of the history of education need to move away from presenting their
scholarship in a Eurocentric way
• the idea that education, at any point in time and place, is the outcome of how human beings engage
within the demographic context, economy, political power, social context and influences of religion,
philosophy or ideology (Booyse et al., 2011: 11)
• the view that education systems provide a useful context for students and scholars to discuss current
education systems critically.
3.1.2
A selection of education systems
In line with the guidelines that inform the approach to this chapter, education systems from the following
countries have been selected for presentation (note that these systems are from different continents, and
of different ideological and cultural contexts):
• Brazil (South America)
• China (Asia)
• Egypt (Middle East/Africa)
• South Korea (Far East)
• Sweden (Europe)
• Tanzania (Africa)
• the United States of America (North America).
The selection of countries will enable you to appreciate some of the diverse education systems in the
contemporary world. You will be able to observe the unique characteristics of each country as well as
some of the differences and similarities between the various education systems. By carefully considering
the educational features of each country, you will be in a position to relate them to what you already
know about your country’s education system.
3.1.3
Globalisation, convergence and divergence
The impact of technology and particularly the Internet gave rise to closer international relations and
communication between countries and individuals. This led to knowledge sharing and contact in matters
of common interest such as education and economics. Upon a closer review of contemporary educational
systems, some patterns of thought have become identifiable. Studies have also indicated that owing to
global structures such as the African Union (AU), the European Union (EU) and the United Nations
Organization (UNO), education systems tend to manifest two discernible patterns: convergence and
divergence.
• Convergence of education systems refers to the tendencies of education systems to share common
educational experiences.
• Divergence of education systems refers to the tendencies of education systems to be influenced by
contextual (local) factors that affect educational outcomes.
Before examining the concepts of convergence and divergence more closely, it is necessary to consider
the concept of globalisation. It is often said that we are living in a ‘globalised world’ and that the world is
a ‘global village’. These expressions are used to describe the fact that contact between individuals or
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parties is not only dependent on physical distance. Technology bridges distances between people and
creates relationships amongst them. The discussion that follows is intended to give the reader a
conceptual understanding of the relationship between globalisation and education in order to emphasise
the complex nature of contemporary education systems. While it was possible in the past for societies to
remain independent of each other, today there is a trend towards greater interdependence and interaction.
We can say that all education systems are influenced to a greater or lesser degree by internal and external
influences that ultimately shape the education system of a country.
3.1.3.1 Globalisation and education systems
One way to explain the processes of convergence and divergence in education systems is to place these
processes in a global context. A discussion of the concept of globalisation and how it relates to education
systems in our contemporary world is useful at this point. In the context of the history of education
systems, globalisation refers to the increasing interaction and contacts between countries and international
agencies such as the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, which impact on how countries
organise and (re)structure their education systems.
Astiz et al. (2002: 66) claim that globalisation, in its most basic form, refers to reforms and structures
that transcend national borders. However, globalisation is not only a passive diffusion; it involves an
active, even aggressive, process of social transformation. Globalisation is driven by two dynamic but
related processes that directly influence the structure and functioning of education:
• Economic globalisation: This is the intensification of a global market operating across and amongst
national labour markets through international economic competition. Sources of the global economy
are market competition, technological change and multinational corporations. Education forms an
integral part of the market, technology and business operations.
• Institutional globalisation: Institutions facilitate the smooth delivery of services in a society. When
countries co-operate with each other, they do so at an institutional level. Institutional globalisation can
be observed when countries co-operate in areas such as health care, social welfare and social justice.
The central argument of Astiz et al. (2002: 66 – 68) is that national education systems show signs of
convergence and divergence as a result of globalisation. When educators implement curricula, they are
involved with a mixing of local and global educational ideas and practices. These practices are the result
of economic and institutional globalisation. A practical example of system convergence in South Africa’s
education system is the Annual National Assessment (ANA) in literacy and numeracy. Through national
assessments that conform to international standards, education systems are compelled to conform to
global educational standards.
3.1.3.2 Globalisation, neo-liberalism and education
Having explained how national (local) education systems are influenced by globalisation, we consider
another central concept that forms part of globalisation: neo-liberalism. Neo-liberalism refers to the
economic system that provides the framework in which international trade and business operate. Some of
the main characteristics of neoliberalism are described below.
3.1.3.2.1
Neo-liberalism
Neo-liberalism is a term used to refer to the global economic system that emerged in the 1980s and
1990s. The term is associated with the doctrine of privatisation of state-controlled enterprises. The
modern welfare state tended towards playing an enabling economic role instead of being the controller of
the economy. In contrast, the neo-liberal state reduces dependence on state resources in favour of an
economically generated system that is driven by private-sector economic activities and entrepreneurship.
The impact of neo-liberalism on educational systems today cannot be ignored. Education systems are
in a state of flux and are influenced by neo-liberalism in different ways. According to neo-liberal
doctrine, privatisation permeates all facets of social life. We are currently witnessing an increase in the
privatisation of education systems in the form of private schooling, which stands in competition with
state-controlled schooling. Decentralisation and privatisation are related concepts. A decentralised
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educational system allows for private ownership to manage and control education, which is different from
a system that is centrally controlled and mainly funded by the state. The section that follows provides
further explication of these concepts.
3.1.3.2.2
Decentralisation and privatisation
Educational decentralisation and privatisation claim to have the following characteristics:
• They are democratic, efficient and accountable. (They allow for community participation and
accountability.)
• They are responsive to local needs. (Schools serve the needs of the local community.)
• They are empowering to learners and parents. (Learners and parents share ownership and
accountability.)
• They have the ability to improve quality and funding. (By virtue of being part of school governance,
local communities can decide on funding and setting of school fees.)
We will now turn our attention towards specific educational issues, considering how they are influenced
and shaped by forces that are both external and internal to the education system.
3.1.3.3 Convergence and divergence in education systems
Figure 3.1 illustrates how the major components of an education system interact, and shows its
convergence and divergence in the context of globalisation. Each component in the system influences and
is influenced by the other components. The flows of influence are cyclical, vertical and horizontal. The
five components are discussed in detail below. You will gain a better understanding of the complex
processes involved by applying this model when considering the influence of globalisation on education
systems. Educational systems are influenced in different ways by their background and context.
Figure 3.1
Convergence, divergence and globalisation
Notwithstanding other approaches, education can also be studied from the perspective of legislation,
access to educational opportunities, governance and financing, and curriculum. In the paragraphs below,
reference will be made to the convergence and divergence of these educational concerns as well as their
expression in different contexts. Figure 3.1 is one way of explaining the complex manner in which
education systems operate today. This section of the chapter is based on a seminal study of global
education systems conducted by Inkeles and Sirowy (1983). The data presented in the study were of a
generalised nature and only selected issues have been abstracted from the study.
As you have read above, globalisation involves dynamic processes of centralisation and
decentralisation. These processes take different forms in different countries, as the forces that operate and
shape education systems are of a varied nature. Some of the common themes and concerns of interest to
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educational researchers and practitioners relating to these issues are presented in this chapter. In the case
studies offered in Section 3.2, you will be able to obtain a comprehensive understanding of how different
education systems converge and diverge. Convergence and divergence are intended to serve as a critical
theoretical lense to assist you to grasp how they operate. As a scholar in education systems, you are
expected to use the case studies that follow as well as the concepts of convergence and divergence to
assist you in making critical comments about the relationship between theory and practice.
3.1.3.3.1
Legislation pertaining to education
Education is a major issue for all countries. Education converges as a common interest of state and
society, and the common purpose seems to be to serve the citizens of the country. The right of the child to
education is a common responsibility of the state, and this right is enshrined in the constitutions and
elaborated in the legislative systems of most countries. The emergence of civil society movements for
compulsory education and for free primary education for all marked the development of an increasingly
educated and literate world citizenry. International conventions such as the United Nations Organization
as well as regional political structures such as the African Union and Southern African Development
Community have influenced the operation of national education systems. In South Africa, the Schools
Act (Act No. 84 of 1996) entrenches the educational rights of all citizens. Primary and secondary
education is administered by the Department of Basic Education, while post-secondary education is
administered by the Department of Higher Education and Training. Organisations such as Equal
Education play a public monitoring role to ensure that the political sector implements its educational
mandate.
3.1.3.3.2
Equal access to educational opportunities
National education systems show similarities with other systems, but they are also influenced by the local
demographic as well as the natural and human resources available to a country. From a political point of
view, the education system of a country tends to become part of the state apparatus, aiming to promote
the well-being and ambitions of the nation. However, in many post-colonial countries in Africa and Latin
America, resistance to state-controlled systems emerged, often in the form of privately funded schooling
and education systems. Consequently, educational opportunities are provided in different ways in
different countries. Educational opportunities are provided by the state as well as by private institutions, a
phenomenon known in South Africa as public and private education. By implication, the separate systems
result in different qualities of education being available, which raises questions about the equality of
educational opportunities. Access to education is directly related to access to employment and economic
opportunities. Education is largely perceived as a vehicle through which to earn a decent standard of
living. Access to educational opportunities often dominates the political debate related to education
systems across the globe. In Nordic countries such as Finland and Sweden, for example, access to
education and the quality of education are less dependent on family background. The state provides free
education for all children.
3.1.3.3.3
Governance and financing of education
The history of contemporary societies reflects a social and economic division between those who have,
those who have less and those who have not. The class divisions in society are manifested in the
provision of education. Many countries have a national ministry of education charged with actually
administering and co-ordinating the education system. Inspectorates are intended to ensure uniformity in
the implementation of curriculum as dictated by national policy. Emerging teacher and representative
structures have increasingly gained a voice in how education should be administered. As educational
services became more extensive over time and the base of the provision of education expanded to large
parts of the population, the financial responsibility also increased exponentially. Consequently, the
education systems of most countries allow for those who are able to fund their own education at minimal
cost to the state to do so. It makes sense for the state to grant decision-making powers to those who are
funding their own education.
While some governments have moved towards central control of the education system, there has been
an opposite movement of decentralisation in the hands of the extra-statal structures, or those sectors of
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society that were prepared to fund their own education. In the previous section, these tendencies were
also referred to as a movement towards centralisation and decentralisation (refer to Section 3.1.3.2
above). While education systems appear to converge towards centralisation, a concomitant process of
decentralisation in local governance and the financing of education is often observed. Globally, education
systems appear to be differentiated on the basis of social class, which is reflected in the governance and
financing of education.
3.1.3.3.4
Curriculum and practice
National curriculum designs usually draw on what are regarded as best practices. Major curriculum
changes often occur when drastic political changes take place. As an example of this, the South African
education system underwent major educational reform during the transition from apartheid to democracy.
Following the first curriculum reform (Curriculum 2005), the curriculum was revised in 2002 (Revised
National Curriculum Statement) and again in 2011 (Curriculum Assessment Policy Statement). The
implementation of quality assurance mechanisms as well as international surveys in numeracy and
literacy resulted in the convergence of education systems at national levels. National education systems
use studies such as the Third International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) to access their
performance on an international scale (Astiz et al., 2002: 78). Consequently, while curricula may
converge at a global level, they are also shaped by local conditions, which define their unique national
character. At the level of policy formulation, countries often borrow from others based on ‘good
practices’. However, putting curriculum policy into practice often poses new challenges.
3.1.3.3.5
Globalisation and education
International relations amongst states promote the sharing of educational policy and practices. The
Internet has revolutionised education globally. Increasingly, countries and citizens are making use of
technology as part of their everyday lives. As a result of global communication, educational systems tend
to converge. However, they simultaneously tend to show divergence from each other as a result of the
mediation of contextual conditions.
Discussion
Discuss each of the five components of an education system in the diagram of convergence and divergence
1. (Figure 3.1) in relation to the education system of your country. With reference to the discussion above
and using your personal experiences as students of an education system, answer the questions that
follow.
a. Explain to a friend how the convergence and divergence diagram works.
b. How does each component relate to and influence the other components?
c. Give examples to illustrate how each of these components may influence the experiences of learners at
school level.
3.2
A HISTORY OF SELECTED EDUCATION SYSTEMS
What follows is a presentation of a selection of modern education systems. Each education system is
introduced by a map, which you should study in order to have an awareness of that country’s
spatial-geographical context. A brief historical and political background of each system is sketched to
provide the social context. An appreciation of social conditions in the country will provide the context of
the curriculum, which is the core of the education system. Each case study is followed by reflective
questions and issues for discussion.
3.2.1
Brazil
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Figure 3.2
Map of Brazil
Brazil is the largest country in South America. In 2013, a population of 201 400 million people was
recorded. Brazil extends a distance of 4 772 km north to south and 2 691 km east to west. The country
shares a border with every nation on the South American continent except Chile and Ecuador. More than
a third of Brazil is drained by the Amazon and its 200-odd tributaries. The diverse landscape and size of
Brazil pose major challenges in terms of the provision of education for the population.
Activity
What is the official language of Brazil and why?
1. List some of Brazil’s main economic activities. How does the country’s education system respond to these
2. activities? Provide examples. Complete this task once you have finished studying the chapter.
3.2.1.1 Historical background
Before the Portuguese arrived in Brazil in the fifteenth century, the territory was populated by the native
Tupi-Guarani Indians. The region was claimed for Portugal in 1500 by the Portuguese Admiral Pedro
Alvares Cabral and Brazil became a royal colony in 1549. The Portuguese Society of Jesus (the Jesuits), a
missionary order that had expanded across the entire Portuguese empire, including Brazil, by the middle
of the sixteenth century, had a profound influence on the country.
Brazil became independent of Portugal on 7 September 1822 and subsequently became a monarchy
until 1889, when it was proclaimed a republic. During the First World War and the Second World War,
Brazil co-operated with the Allied forces against Germany.
After a military coup in 1964, Brazil had a series of military rulers. In 1979, General Joao Baptista de
Olivier Figueiredo became president and promised a return to democracy, which occurred in 1985.
Fernando Cardoso became president in 1994, and sold off government-owned monopolies in the
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industries of telecommunications, electrical power, port and railway services, and banking. In 2003,
Cardoso was succeeded by Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva (Lula), the first working-class leader of the Socialist
Party. Lula combined his conservative fiscal policies with an ambitious anti-poverty programme, the
Bolsa Familia, which has pulled 36 million people (20% of the population) out of deep poverty.
A new oil field called Tupi was discovered 4 876 m below the ocean floor off Brazil in November
2007. This discovery initially enhanced the economic potential of Brazil, but the country’s economy was
later adversely affected by a drastic drop in the price of oil.
In October 2010, Brazil elected its first female president, Dilma Rousseff, a disciple of Lula. Rousseff
was expected to follow through with Lula’s agenda of improving the country’s education, health and
sanitation systems. However, recent countrywide protests against Rousseff’s government have plunged
Brazil into political and economic instability, which seems set to last for the foreseeable future. The
volatility in the oil price in 2015 and its continued volatility in 2016 also contributed to this instability.
Even the fact that Rio De Janeiro will host the 2016 Summer Olympics has not raised hopes that Brazil’s
economy will improve.
3.2.1.2 The Brazilian education system
Brazil’s social structure was greatly shaped by Portuguese colonisation in the fifteenth century. In
addition, the education system introduced by the Jesuits promoted the teachings of Catholicism.
However, in the late eighteenth century, the Marquis of Pombal, Portuguese minister of the kingdom,
attacked the power of the church, expelling the Jesuits from Portugal and its overseas possessions. The
educational institutions of the Jesuits were seized and reforms were implemented all over the empire,
including in Brazil.
In 1772, the Sociedade Scientifica, one of the first academic societies, was founded in Rio de Janeiro.
In 1797, the first botanical institute was founded in Salvador, Bahia. The Instituto Militar de Engenharia
and the Polytechnic School of the Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro were amongst the oldest
institutions in the world to promote science and engineering. In 1816, a decree created the Escola Real de
Ciencias (the Royal School of Science, Arts and Crafts), which laid the foundations of the current Escola
Nacional de Belas Artes (National School of Arts). When the Portuguese royal family, headed by D. Joao
V1, came to Rio de Janeiro to escape Napoleon’s invasion of Portugal in 1807, they established many
educational institutions that are still in existence today. The most famous of these are the modern-day
Faculdade de Medicina (the Faculty of Medicine) and the Medic-Chirurgical School of Rio de Janeiro.
Portugal was influenced by its neighbour, Spain, which in turn was influenced by the Arab-Islamic
education system and culture for many centuries. Lisbon is also known to have been influenced by the
rich Andalusian Arab culture.
Brazil achieved independence in 1822. Until the twentieth century, the people were mainly rural, with
low social and economic standards. Great strides have been made since the 1980s, which saw an increase
in school enrolment for children aged between seven and fourteen from 80,9% in 1980 to 96,4% in 2000.
In the fifteen-to-seventeen age demographic during the same period, this rate rose from 49,7% to 83%.
Literacy rates went up from 75% to 90%. However, a constant challenge facing the Brazilian education
system is the reality that the expansion of educational opportunities does not necessarily translate into
educational equality.
3.2.1.2.1
The issues of expansion and inequality in Brazilian education
The provision of educational opportunities does not only require the expansion of schooling to the
population. Major efforts were undertaken in the late 1990s to provide universal primary education to
ensure that all seven- to fourteen-year olds were in schools. In fact, the increase in enrolments did not
attract many students in that age bracket. Brazil’s educational policies often catered for the out-of-school
adult, which contributed to an increase in the number of overaged students in the system. Virtually 100%
of the extra enrolment was the result of new overage students.
The culture of expansion is deeply embedded in Brazilian educational policies. Unfortunately, rather
than focusing on the quality of education and inefficient aspects of the system, the educational sector is
still focusing on educational expansion. Expansion and overenrolment by overaged students remain a
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major challenge.
The expansion in the provision of education has created more opportunities for the poor, who now
have access to pre-schools as well as primary and secondary schools. Expansion also favours inclusion of
previously disadvantaged people. Historically, public investments in education in Brazil have been
growing and have levelled off at about 5% of GDP. In 2002, this translated into twenty billion American
dollars. The large number of adult learners returning to study has necessitated the investment of more
money in higher education than in other levels of education. Table 3.1 sets out the per capita investment
in public education.
Table 3.1
Per capita investment in public education
Source: João Batista Araújo e Oliveira. Expansion and Inequality in Brazilian Education. In Brock, C. & Schwartzman, S. (Eds). 2004. The
Challenges of Education in Brazil. Oxford: Symposium Books, pp. 41– 68.
3.2.1.2.2
Organisation and structure
Education in Brazil is divided into three levels. Fundamental education is free for all and mandatory for
children between the ages of six and fourteen. Middle education is also free, but not mandatory, and
higher education is free at public universities.
• Pre-school education (Educacao Infantil): This is an optional stage and assists in the development of
children younger than six years of age. There are day nurseries and kindergartens for two- to
three-year olds, and pre-schools for children aged between four and six. Public pre-school education
is provided by the city government.
• Elementary school (Ensino Fundamental): Fundamental elementary school is mandatory for children
between the ages of six and fourteen. Elementary school consists of nine years of schooling. This
phase is open to all, even people older than eighteen. However, older students are separated from
younger children. The Federal Council of Education has established a core curriculum that guides
teaching of all normal subjects. In rural areas, these schools are organised according to planting and
harvesting seasons. Elementary schools are funded by the state.
• Secondary school (Ensino Medio): The secondary school phase takes three years. Students must have
finished their fundamental elementary schooling before entering the secondary school. These schools
follow the normal subject stream, offering mathematics and science as well as philosophy and
sociology. Professional training courses can be taken in the second and third years of the secondary
phase. The complete course takes three to four years and is intensive.
• Higher education (Ensino Superior): Brazil holds the most productive system of post-graduate education
and academic research of the emerging economies, yet twenty million of its adult population of one
hundred million people are illiterate and 75% are functionally illiterate. Brazilian students have to
pass an entrance examination in order to study specific courses at university level. As in most national
systems of education, there is a differentiation between undergraduate and graduate work.
Universities promote research and provide separate classes to the community in various fields of
interest. An undergraduate degree takes four years of post- secondary schooling. Teacher training also
lasts four years, and focuses on teaching methodology and technology. Courses in technology,
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engineering, management, health and information technology are geared to the labour market and
development so as to ensure increased employment opportunities. A medical degree takes six years to
complete. Those who want to specialise have to do a Residencia (internship), which takes an extra
two years, followed by five years of further study. A master’s degree takes two years and a doctorate
takes four years of full-time study. The standard and procedures of the doctoral examination are
similar to those of South Africa, with the addition of an oral examination administered by a panel of
at least five faculty members, of which two must be from external universities.
3.2.1.3 Conclusion
As a country with a large middle-income population, Brazil still faces various educational challenges.
There are many social and regional disparities that plague the education system.
Activity
Brazil faces challenges in terms of the equality of educational opportunities and the expansion of
1. education. What do you regard as the main reasons for these problems?
2. Can you offer any solutions for the problems of overenrolment and underachievement as revealed in
studies on the Brazilian education system? Are these issues also a problem in South Africa?
3.2.2
China
China is the world’s most populated country, with 1,4 billion people (the global population is seven
billion). It has retained some of its ancient value system, which accommodates a modern scientific
culture. As one of the world’s foremost communist countries, China has adopted a predominantly
capitalist development path. The country’s economy is also one of the world’s most productive, and its
education system, which has evolved into one of the most advanced in the world, plays a central role in
driving the country’s progressive and modern image. The Chinese education system has taken the best
from various Western systems and may offer some new ideas for other systems to consider. Nonetheless,
the country’s population is not free from poverty and illiteracy.
3.2.2.1 Historical background
As one of the world’s ancient civilizations, the country’s history spans many millennia before the rise of
Western civilization. What follows is a bird’s-eye view of China’s rich history.
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Figure 3.3
Map of China
3.2.2.1.1
Ancient dynasty, foreign occupation and Chinese communism
The earliest recorded human settlements in China, dating from 5000 BC, were discovered in the Huang
He (Yellow River) basin. Ancient Chinese civilization developed before the Shang Dynasty (1500 –1000
BC ). Consequently, the emerging feudal states of the time achieved an advanced stage of culture,
comparable to the sophistication of Europe, the Middle East, Africa or the Americas of that time. The
foundation of Chinese philosophical thought was laid during the period known as the Zhou Dynasty
(1122 – 249 BC). The Great Wall of China was built to protect China against external invasion.
The golden age of Chinese culture flourished during the T’ang Dynasty (618 – 907). The last of the
native rulers, the Mings (1368 –1644), overthrew the Mongol Dynasty (1271–1368) established by
Kublai Khan. The Mings were overthrown in 1644 by invaders from the north, the Manchus. By the end
of the eighteenth century, Hong Kong and the Portuguese port of Macao were open to European
merchants. After the Anglo – Chinese war (1839 –1842), Hong Kong was ceded to Britain. The Sino –
Japanese war of 1894 –1895, which China lost, allowed European powers greater trading concessions in
China. Dr Sun Yat-Sen overthrew the Manchus and became the first president of the Provisional Chinese
Republic in 1911. Yuan Shih-k’ai replaced Dr Sun, but China became embroiled in a civil war between
the various Chinese republics and the militarist forces. With the aid of the communists, General Chiang
K’ai-Shek, who was a nationalist, set up the Kuomintang regime in 1928, but later broke away from the
communists. Chiang eventually had to flee when Mao Zedong, leader of the Chinese Communist Party,
proclaimed the People’s Republic of China on 1 October 1949. Supported by the United States of
America, Chiang K’ai-Shek established a government in exile on the island of Formosa, now Taiwan.
The struggle between mainland China and Taiwan, carried over from the Cold War that emerged after the
Second World War (1939 –1945), is still an unresolved political issue today.
The period of Mao Zedong’s reign in China is known for the Great Leap Forward, a campaign aimed
at establishing rural communes and village industrialisation, and later, the Cultural Revolution. In 1966,
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Mao ordered the closing of schools and introduced the Red Guard, which campaigned against old ideas,
old culture, and old habits and customs. Despite large-scale opposition to Mao’s Cultural Revolution,
which led to the deaths of many Chinese people, Mao became the undisputed communist leader of China.
3.2.2.1.2
China’s departure from a classical communist economic system
Mao’s death in 1976 led to rivalry between his widow Jiang Qing and her three so-called radical
colleagues, the ‘Gang of Four’. This group was denounced, tried and convicted for having undermined
the Communist Party and the economy of China. In the 1980s, the new chairman of the Central Military
Commission made massive economic changes and reinterpreted communist ideology to put China on a
new path of development. China shifted its emphasis from the call for class struggle and exportation of
communist ideology, and focused on technological and industrial development techniques that would put
China on the path of economic growth. From this moment, education became less concerned with
communist ideology, and shifted its focus to technology and development.
In February 1997, the new Chinese leadership under Zhu Rongji introduced a sweeping programme to
privatise state-run businesses and further liberalised China’s national economy, a move that was
welcomed by the West.
China subsequently experienced tremendous economic growth and became the world’s fourth largest
economy after the United States, Japan and Germany. In June 2005, the Chinese National Oil Corporation
bid US$18,5 billion to take over the United States oil company Unocal. In May 2006, China completed
the Three Gorges Dam, the largest hydroelectric dam in the world. The highest railway in the world was
constructed from Qinghai to the Tibetan capital, Lhasa. China became a great exporting country with the
world as its market. It successfully hosted the 2008 Beijing Olympics, during which China was
showcased to the world as a modern and advanced country. The Chinese education system, which had to
meet the high and diverse demands of international competition in the different economic sectors, was
proven to have supported China’s rise as an emerging economic powerhouse in the world.
China is currently experiencing a lower-than-expected growth rate, with negative economic
repercussions for the global economy.
3.2.2.2 The Chinese education system
The internal and historical conditions in China meant that future economic development depended on the
restructuring of the Chinese education system. China emerged as a world superpower in the twenty-first
century.
3.2.2.2.1
Modern educational policy: The past and the present
The overthrow of the Kuomintang regime in 1949 ended China’s system of feudal capitalism, under
which education had effectively been denied to workers, peasants and females. For the first time in
Chinese history, the ruling Communist Party provided opportunities for Chinese children who had
previously been denied access to education. This move ensured support for the Communist Party from the
lower classes of Chinese society.
Higher education suffered tremendous losses during the Cultural Revolution (1966 –1976) and the
system almost came to a standstill. Given an outdated technical and vocational education system that did
not meet the needs of a growing economy, repair was now needed. In the post-Mao period, the new
China’s education policy was given a new impetus under the leadership of Deng Xiaoping. He recognised
that science and technical education were necessary for modernisation. In addition, he saw the need for
intellectuals who would provide the resources for the planning and implementation of modernisation
programmes.
By 1980, academic performance and achievement had been accepted as the basis for admission and
promotion in education. Education policy of the time, which promoted expanded enrolments with the
long-term aim of achieving universal primary and secondary education, differed from the previous policy,
which was more focused on egalitarianism. In 1985, the commitment to modernisation was reflected in
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plans for a nine-year compulsory education of a high quality. The renewal of the education system also
focused on increasing the number of schools and qualified teachers. Vocational and technical education
were promoted, and excessive government control over colleges and universities was reduced.
The Ministry of Education was responsible for formulating guiding principles for education. A system
of devolution of powers was implemented so that decision-making could take place at autonomous
regional, provincial and municipal levels.
3.2.2.2.2
Key schools: The symbol of an unequal system
‘Key schools’ (well-performing schools), which were shut down during the Cultural Revolution,
reappeared in the late 1970s and early 1980s. They were revived to improve the quality of education at
senior and middle school level. In 1980, these schools produced the highest number of college entrants.
Key schools became viewed as elite schools because they had entrance qualifications, and attracted pupils
from rich families and urban areas. In 1985, government departments moved away from key schools to
reduce the level of inequality in the provision of schooling. Despite efforts to abolish these schools, they
still exist under different names, thus perpetuating the unequal education system, which is widely
criticised by scholars and government officials.
Secondary education was of a poor quality during the Cultural Revolution because it expanded rapidly
and was distributed unevenly in the vast land of China. Regular secondary schools were favoured above
technical schools because the latter were regarded as inferior by workers and peasant families. A renewed
drive to improve technical education was followed by increased enrolment in 1976. At the same time,
regular secondary school enrolment dropped. By 1986, universal secondary education was part of the
nine-year compulsory education law, which stipulated six years for primary school and three years for
junior middle school. A great focus was placed on improving the quality of education.
After three years of senior secondary school, a pupil may qualify for university or college entrance. In
China, senior secondary graduates are well respected and the majority go on to attend universities or
vocational colleges. Zhongkao, the senior secondary education entrance examination, is written annually
in China by distinguished junior graduates. Students are tested in Chinese, mathematics, English, physics,
chemistry, political science and physical education. As with the university selection system, they sit for
examinations and if successful, they may select the school of their choice.
The Law on Vocational Education was enacted in 1996. Vocational education consisted of higher
vocational and secondary schools as well as skills and social training institutes. The government
structured vocational schools so as to allow youth to enter the job market, which is always in need of
people with certain technical and vocational skills. Government financed the building of 186 vocational
education centres in impoverished counties in the western area of the country. After vocational and
technical school, students can attend a polytechnic college offering on-the-job training for qualified
workers. Students are encouraged to take technical education as part of the country’s efforts of
modernisation. In 1987, there were four kinds of secondary vocational and technical schools:
• technical schools that offered a four-year, post-junior course and two- to three-year post-senior middle
school training in various fields such as commerce, legal work, fine arts and forestry
• workers’ training schools for tradesmen
• vocational schools offering one- to three-year courses in cooking, tailoring, photography and other
services
• agricultural middle schools offering agricultural sciences.
While technical education provided for the technical needs of China, it was also stigmatised as graduates
were not allowed to enter institutions of higher education. Technical schools were also costly to provide,
as equipment and staffing cost more than for regular schools. Graduates from these institutions could also
not be guaranteed jobs as they still lacked experience and needed lots of on-the-job training.
By the end of 2004, China had 2 236 schools of higher learning with more than twenty million
students. A project for creating one hundred world-class universities, which was begun in 1993, merged
708 schools of higher learning into 302 universities. Universities established new disciplines such as
nuclear energy, automation, oceanography, nuclear physics, computer science and biophysics in the fields
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of science and technology. Universities also established sci-tech parks. Their work resulted in the
invention of many products, which gave rise to high-tech enterprises.
The modern Chinese system is intended to provide equal opportunities for all academically qualified
students, regardless of family background or their involvement in political activism.
3.2.2.2.3
Challenges of unequal educational opportunity
Despite the claims of Chinese officials that inequality in education has been eliminated, a study found
that disadvantaged groups in China have not shared in the recent economic prosperity enjoyed by the
urban population in coastal regions (Xue Lan Rong & Shi, 2001: 120). China’s investment in education
has not been on a par with other Asian countries (2,4% of GDP in 1993, 2,0% in 1994 and 2,1% in 1996,
compared with a world average of 5,2% and an average of 4,5% for Asian countries [Xue Lan Rong &
Shi, 2001: 120]). In 2014, China spent 4,15% of GDP on education (Ministry of Education of the
People’s Republic of China, 2015). This figure is lower than the world average. Other challenges facing
the provision of equal opportunities for all Chinese are the neglect of females, ethnic minorities, disabled
people and workers who are older than 40 years of age. Table 3.2 shows a comparison between male and
female educational attainment for people aged six and over.
Table 3.2
Comparison of male and female educational attainment in China
Source: State Statistical Bureau. China Statistical Yearbook 1997. In Xue Lan Rong & Tianjian Shi. 2001. Inequality in Chinese Education.
[Online], Available: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/10670560124330 Accessed 11 November 2015.
3.2.2.3 Conclusion
The Chinese education system went through a number of decisive phases after the fall of the Kuomintang
regime in 1949. The period immediately after the revolution was rather unproductive, with an emphasis
on political ideology instead of development and modernisation. China’s imperial past worked against the
efforts to modernise the economy, but the role of some innovative leaders and the focus on economic
development allowed China to become a world leader in education and economics. China’s education
system is still challenged by problems such as equality and quality, but the competition caused by the
limited number of places available at some educational institutions has stimulated great educational
achievements.
Activity
Study the statistical table on the attainment of Chinese education (Table 3.2). Critically considering the
1. information provided in this section, discuss the following issues:
a. What do you regard as the main educational challenges of the Chinese education system?
b. How would you go about addressing problems in the Chinese education system?
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3.2.3
Egypt
Figure 3.4
Map of Egypt
Activity
Name the common Middle Eastern language spoken in Egypt.
In which city is Tahrir Square (Liberation Square) found? What role did this space play during Egypt’s
1. so-called Arab Spring (2011)?
2.
3.2.3.1 Historical background
The greatness of ancient Egyptian civilization is known to the modern world through structures such as
the pyramids, temples and the Sphinx. Ancient Egyptian civilization provides evidence of an advanced
people who developed various arts and sciences, including writing, sculpture, astronomy, medicine and
agriculture. Egyptian society has experienced huge changes from its earliest historical past to the
post-modern age of the twenty-first century. In their struggle to create a democratic and just society in the
twenty-first century, the people of Egypt demanded drastic political changes through the Arab Spring that
swept through many Arab societies in the first decade of the twenty-first century. You will read some of
the sentiments and perspectives of young Egyptians about the current education system of Egypt and the
need for its transformation below. Firstly, however, a brief overview of 6 000 years of history is provided.
This overview will also illustrate how different forces such as culture, politics, governance and
globalisation impact on the development of an education system.
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3.2.3.1.1
From ancient times to the twenty-first century
Egyptian history dates back to before 4000 BC . Ancient Egyptian history and education are studied by
the science of Egyptology, which focuses on the ancient past and is responsible for preserving thousands
of years of culture and development. The Egyptian empire was established round about the sixteenth
century BC, a period characterised by flourishing arts and culture. This was Egypt’s golden age. Persia
conquered Egypt in 525 BC. The dynasty of the Ptolemies ruled the land until 30 BC, when Cleopatra, the
last of the line, committed suicide, and Egypt became a Roman province, and thereafter a Byzantine
province. Islam began to take root in Arabia in the sixth century AD, with Muslim caliphs (religious
leaders) ruling Egypt from 641 until 1517, when the Turks took it over and Egypt became part of the
Ottomon Empire. A brief period of French rule during the reign of Napoleon from 1798 to 1801 and the
subsequent completion of the Suez Canal in 1869 attracted further foreign interest, which saw British
troops occupying Egypt in 1882. Ottoman rule ended after the First World War (1914 –1919), when
Egypt became a British protectorate.
Supported by a wave of Egyptian nationalism after the First World War, Egypt became an independent
sovereign state in 1922 with Fu’ad 1 as king. This monarch ruled until 1952, when the army head,
General Mohamed Naguib, seized power and became president, with Colonel Gamal Abdel Nasser as
deputy president. In 1956, Nasser became Egypt’s president. He died in 1970 and was succeeded by
Anwar Sadat, a close associate. Sadat was assassinated in 1981 and was succeeded by Gosnie Mubarak,
who was deposed in 2011 during the Egyptian Arab Spring.
3.2.3.1.2
The Arab Spring and educational demands
The Egyptian nation is presently experiencing the aftermath of the Arab Spring. At the height of the 2011
Egyptian Revolution, hundreds of student protesters marched to the Ministry of Education, demanding
immediate changes to the national curriculum and adjustments to ministry policies. Students demanded
changes to the system ‘for future generations, so that they don’t suffer like we did, so that they can have
the opportunities we were denied’ (Moshen, 2011).
Students proclaimed that education is the basis for all progress. ‘It’s shameful, the extent we’ve fallen
behind, as a country. The US, China and Japan are far more advanced by comparison, and education here
continues to deteriorate,’ said Haggag, an eighteen-year-old student representative. ‘We’ve been trained
to memorise and not understand for years,’ says Talaat, also eighteen. ‘They cram our heads with useless
and sometimes false information, and we spit it back at them word for word and nobody learns anything’
(Moshen, 2011). For many years, the Egyptian education system has been criticised for not encouraging
critical thinking.
The 1 March students’ movement, representing educational activists, demanded increases in teachers’
salaries as well as in the education budget in order to finance improvements to school and university
facilities, make provision for handicapped students, and place greater emphasis on artistic and civic
education so that students can learn about their rights and duty towards their country.
3.2.3.2 The Egyptian education system
Egypt has a population of 83 million and a literacy rate of 72% (Index Mundi, 2013). Most of the people
live in rural areas and earn a low income. The government cannot provide adequate education for all.
However, it has committed itself to improving the situation since the beginning of the 1990s. More
schools have been built, curricula have been changed and new projects for less-advantaged people have
been initiated. At the beginning of the millennium, the Egyptian education system showed some signs of
improvement. The education budget for 2001/2002 was R30 billion. This was increased to R78,3 billion
for 2011/2012. The state is responsible for the funding of most of the education system (excluding private
education). However, it must be remembered that Egypt is a recipient of aid from external organisations
such as the World Bank. School enrolment in 2000 for the Egyptian population of school-going age was
as follows:
• primary school phase: 92,62%
• secondary school phase: 78,59% (NationMaster, 2003 – 2013).
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Egypt’s education system can be described as a dual system consisting of state education and religious
education. Religious education is sponsored by the Al-Azhar Islamic university. Religious schools fall
under this institution. Both systems have several parallel phases. In addition, there are private schools at
all grade levels, but they do not constitute a separate system.
There are five stages in the Egyptian educational system: pre-school education, primary school,
preparatory education, secondary education and post-secondary education. Since 1981, education in the
preparatory phase has been compulsory by law. The ‘basic education’ stage consists of primary and
preparatory schooling.
• Pre-school education (kindergarten) phase: This educational phase is still developing and is not
compulsory or free. These institutions are mostly found in larger urban areas and the duration of
schooling is two years, from the age of four until the child enters primary school at the age of six. The
Ministry of Education stipulates the curriculum, but institutions have their own programmes. Some,
for instance, teach Quranic recitations, while others prefer to focus on the English language.
• Basic education (compulsory phase): The two sub-phases of basic education last for six years (from the
age of six to twelve) and three years (from the age of twelve to fifteen) respectively. In 2000 and
2001, there were 7 224 998 students in this phase, of whom 3 835 965 were male and 3 389 033 were
female. Boys and girls study together in this phase, except in the Al-Azhar system of religious
education, where they are separated. There were 2 975 944 students in the preparatory school phase
between 2000 and 2001, of whom 1 578 688 were male and 1 397 256 were female. Boys and girls
are separated in this phase, except in private non-religious schools.
• Secondary education: There are three types of secondary education: general, technical and vocational.
The general secondary education phase takes place over three years, of which the first year is a
preparatory year for the next two years. In the first year, both humanistic and scientific subjects are
studied. Depending on a student’s grades after the first year, he or she may enter one of three streams
for the next two years. Students have a choice of entering the humanistic, scientific or mathematical
stream, each with its own curriculum.
– Technical secondary education: These schools offer three- and five-year programmes with a
specialised curriculum in industrial, commercial and agricultural studies.
– Vocational secondary education: These schools operate in two fields: paramedical (three years) and
tourism and hotel-keeping schools. Three- and five-year programmes are offered in both of these
fields.
The Supreme Council of the Al-Azhar Institution, which is independent of the Ministry of Education,
supervises the Al-Azhar education system. All phases (primary, preparatory and secondary) teach some
non–religious subjects, but the bulk of the curriculum is religious of the Islamic faith. Graduates of
Al-Azhar schools may enter the Al-Azhar university for higher education. In the early 2000s, less than
4% of the total enrolment was registered at Al-Azhar institutions.
Schools in the private sector of the education system follow the official curricula of the Ministry of
Education, but have different goals and are of varying quality. Their fee structure also varies. There are
three types of private schools.
• Ordinary private schools do not differ much from government schools.
• Language schools follow most of the official curriculum, but may offer extra languages such as English,
French and German. They are normally very expensive.
• The Muslim Brother, a Muslim reformist movement that became a political party after the Arab Spring
(2011), sponsors some religious education. These schools follow a different curriculum from that of
the Al-Azhar schools.
The Muslim Brotherhood became the first democratically elected government of Egypt, but was deposed
in an alleged coup d’état in 2013. Egypt is presently under the leadership of President Abdul Fatah El
Sisi, the military general who made himself available for election in 2014. Given the enhanced voice of
the Egyptian people and the popular demand for equal educational opportunities after the Arab Spring
revolution, the education system may see some fundamental changes. However, given the nature of
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democratic change, it is expected that the existing education system will be maintained. Educational
reform may mainly be concerned with issues of curriculum and the provision of educational
opportunities. A mitigating factor against a total reconstruction of the Egyptian education system is the
lack of funding and a stable economy, which would ensure a sustainable process of reform and
development. Arguably, greater dependence on foreign financial aid may lead to more structural
adjustment demands with regards to domestic educational expenditure and governance.
A process of curriculum reform was initiated in Egypt in the 1990s. In 1994, technology was
introduced in teacher training and education in order to promote advanced methods of teaching and
pedagogy. Since 1998, official participation by foreign experts from the World Bank has facilitated the
improvement of the Egyptian education system. Stages of implementation were planned until 2007, but
these were interrupted as a result of political instability. It is expected that educational reform will be
given priority to satisfy the demands of the popular social movements.
During the first three years of the basic education phase, the curriculum consists of Arabic language,
arithmetic, religious education and basic principles of science. From the fourth year, English becomes
part of the curriculum. In the preparatory phase, students study Arabic, English as a foreign language,
French as a second foreign language, social studies, sciences, mathematics and religious education. In the
secondary phase at firstyear level, the curriculum consists of Arabic language and literature, Arabic
grammar, English, another foreign language such as French or German, mathematics, science, social
studies, philosophy, logic and scientific thinking, religious education, arts and physical education. From
this list, the student chooses subjects in which to specialise.
3.2.3.3 Conclusion
The instability of the Egyptian political situation has obvious consequences for the education system. The
swing towards support for the historically marginalised Muslim Brotherhood party has raised concerns
about whether Egypt will become a secular democratic state or an Islamic state. Egypt’s economy is
dependent on foreign aid, and the Egyptian reform movement may have to compromise on radical
educational demands such as free education for all and more educational institutions. Like many
developing economies, the Egyptian society suffers from an oversupply of skilled and educated
professionals, who are readily exported to neighbouring Arab states. A large portion (29%) of Egypt’s
unemployed population consists of university graduates, and a major challenge facing the education
system is the mismatch between the skills demanded by the economy and what the education system
produces.
3.2.4
South Korea
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Figure 3.5
Map of South Korea
3.2.4.1 Historical background
The partitioning of Korea into north and south brought into being two separate countries, creating a
divided nation. South Korea came into being after the Second World War as a factor in the Cold War, the
ideological struggle between capitalism and communism that dominated world politics from 1945 to the
early 1990s. At the Potsdam Conference in 1945, the Allies agreed that the thirty-eighth parallel be
instituted as the boundary between the north (North Korea) and the south (South Korea). The north was
occupied by the USSR and the south by the United States. Elections were held in the south and the new
republic of South Korea came into being, with Syngman Rhee as president.
The official name of South Korea is the Republic of Korea. The Korean War broke out between the
two countries in 1950, when forces from the north invaded the south. The war lasted for three years. With
the help of the United States and intervention from the United Nations, South Korea and North Korea
signed an armistice agreement at Panmunjom on 27 July 1953.
Syngman Rhee was forced out of office after twelve years. He was succeeded by Po Sun Yun. In 1961,
General Park Chung Hee seized power and subsequently began a programme of economic reforms that
ignited the South Korean economy. Political instability was sparked when Park was assassinated on 26
October 1979. South Korea experienced internal and external political strife until the election of Kim Dae
Jung, the first South Korean president (1998 – 2003) from the opposition political camp.
Kim Dae Jung spearheaded economic and political progress. His so-called Sunshine Policy was aimed
at promoting peace and reconciliation with North Korea. Roh Moo Hyun succeeded Kim Dae Jung, but
failed to contain North Korea’s interests in nuclear armaments. There was much opposition to the
increasing influence of the United States in South Korea. President Roh Moo Hyun (2003 – 2008) was
replaced by President Lee Myung-bak (2008 – 2013), who took 48,7% of the vote in an election. Lee
promised to improve South Korea’s economy and work closely with the United States. Park Geun-hye
became the first elected women president in February 2013.
3.2.4.2 The South Korean education system
The South Korean population is about the same size as the population of the Republic of South Africa:
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51,3 million (SouthAfrica.info, 2015). Unlike South Africa, however, South Korea is much smaller in
size and has virtually no mining or natural resources. All of its energy resources, for example, are
imported. Despite this, South Korea’s economy has progressed to become the eleventh biggest economy
in the world. To appreciate the South Korean success story, we have to consider the social values as well
as the political and economic forces that are operative in Korean society.
Education in South Korea is highly valued and competition is consequently fierce. A centralised
administration manages the educational sector from kindergarten to the final year of high school.
Mathematics, science, Korean language, social studies and English are the most important subjects. In
June 2011, the government announced that starting from 2012, primary and secondary schools would no
longer hold Saturday classes. The reason behind this was to give South Korean youth time for leisure.
Perhaps one of the most unique features of the South Korean education system is the fierce competition
amongst schools and children. We will return to this point later in this section.
The management and control of education is vested in a centralised Ministry of Education. In the late
1980s, this ministry was responsible for the administration of schools. Local educational administration
was extended to city boards of education residing under the control of provincial government. This meant
that power was decentralised, but the city boards remain accountable to the provincial government.
South Korea’s phenomenal success in modernisation and economic growth is attributable to
individuals who were prepared to invest in education. The traditional respect for the educated person is
part of the Korean value system. Scientific professions are generally regarded as the most prestigious.
The South Korean education system has grown progressively since 1945. The adult literacy rate had
risen from 22% to 87,6% by 1970. This grew to about 93% in the late 1980s. South Korea had a literacy
rate of 98,3% in 2010 (Saveda & Shaw, 1990).
Although only primary education was compulsory, enrolment figures for secondary schooling were
comparable to those of industrialised countries such as Japan. Approximately 4,8 million students were
enrolled in primary school in 1985. More than 99% of these students would proceed to optional middle
school. Approximately 34% of secondary school graduates attended institutions of higher learning in
1987, a rate similar to Japan (30%) and exceeding Britain (20%). Government expenditure on education
has been generous. In 1975, the government spent 220 billion South Korean won on education (2,2% of
GNP or 13,9% of total government expenditure). By 1986, education expenditure had reached 3,76
trillion won (4,5% of GNP or 27,3% of total government spending) (gloii Korea ESL Job Bridge, n.d.).
3.2.4.2.1
Schooling in South Korea
Generally, pre-school education is not institutionalised, but children attend kindergarten classes with an
age range of about four years. Korean parents expose their children to educational activities and even
private lessons from as young as three years old. There was an impressive expansion of kindergarten or
pre-school education in the 1980s. The reason for this was that women were entering the job market and
had to send their children to school while they were at work.
At age six or seven, the child moves to the first year of elementary school. Elementary school consists
of Grades 1 to 6 (six- to eleven-year-olds). Middle schools are for children aged thirteen and fourteen,
and mark a considerable shift from elementary school. At the end of middle school, students of vastly
differing abilities have to be sorted for the next school phase, high school, which starts from age fifteen or
sixteen until the age of eighteen or nineteen. Many middle school students attend after-school academies
known as hagwon for private lessons to help them prepare for the extremely competitive examinations for
entrance to specialised high schools offering a focus on science, foreign languages and arts. There are
also private and public high schools offering entrance to college and vocational education. High school is
very intensive and students spend long hours studying after school under the supervision of teachers. In
2005, 97% of South Korea’s young adults had completed high school, a phenomenal achievement for a
country with limited resources.
Table 3.3 sets out the typical ages of Korean school children as they move through the different levels
of the education system.
Table 3.3
South Korean school grades
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Level or grade according to the education system
Typical age of Korean school children
Pre-school or kindergarten
3–6
Elementary school:
Grade 1
Grade 2
Grade 3
Grade 4
Grade 5
Grade 6
6–7
7–8
8–9
9 – 10
10 –11
11–12
Middle school:
Grades 7– 9
13 – 15
High school:
Grades 10 –12
16 – 18
Post-secondary education:
Tertiary education (college or university)
Students usually spend four years in tertiary education;
entrance is determined on the basis of stringent entry
qualifications
Post-graduate education
Selected universities
Doctoral programmes
Selected universities
Source: gloii Korea ESL Job Bridge. n.d. Korea: Education. [Online], Available: http://rs.gloii.com/index.php/korea-101/107-education
?Accessed 16 March 2016.
Vocational high schools present programmes in agriculture, technology or engineering, commerce or
business, maritime or fisheries and home economics. The government is currently implementing
vocational Meister high schools, at which workplace training is an important part of the programme. A
large number of vocational schools are private. In order to improve the image of the vocational school,
the government changed its name to ‘professional high school’. This change facilitated the entrance of
graduates from vocational high schools to college and university. Vocational high school students usually
continue into tertiary education. In 2007, 43% went on to junior colleges and 25% to university. The
Korean education system borrowed from the German technical education system, incorporating technical
skills training and development as an integral part of vocational education.
Students wanting college entrance have to take the College Scholastic Ability Test, which has five
sections: Korean language, mathematics, English, electives in the social and physical sciences, and
foreign languages or Chinese. This test can only be taken once a year and ambitious parents let their
children begin preparation for it as early as kindergarten. The competitive nature of this test has been
criticised and the Korean high school system has been described as an ‘examination hell’. The cost of this
‘examination hell’ has been evident in the number of suicides caused by examination pressure. However,
testing is objective, and the system is deemed to be fair and impartial. There is no room for corruption or
favouritism. Students who have survived the numbing regimen of examinations under the modern system
are universally acknowledged to have deserved their educational success. Top graduates who have
assumed positions in government and multinational companies have lent legitimacy to the current system
(WENR, 2013).
3.2.4.2.2
Educational fever, Confucianism and South Korean society
Korean society was influenced by Confucianism, which provided a way of training gentlemen, involving
constant self-cultivation through education (Min Zou & Kim, 2006: 21). Confucianism is an ethical
philosophical code that views the world and family as sacred. Its focus on learning and sincerity has been
considered a powerful motivating force behind the South Korean economy and the success of higher
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education (Lee, 2006: 2). Higher education was viewed as a valuable means for the enhancement of
social position. Educational fever, which originated in the traditional Confucian education, led to rapid
expansion of higher education and the development of the national economy. On the negative side, it
brought about many problems, such as an academic-oriented society, elitism based on academic
achievement, social disharmony between the educated and the less educated, and the mass production of
unemployed graduates from colleges and universities. In spite of these negative aspects, the rapid growth
of higher education that led to economic development was regarded as a model for educational success
(Lee, 2006: 11). This notwithstanding, South Korea’s unique historical and cultural background resulted
in the Korean people’s adherence to Confucianism as the state religion for over five hundred years until
the early twenty-first century (Lee, 2006: 12).
3.2.4.3 Conclusion
There are many facets of the South Korean system of education that contribute to its competitiveness.
South Korea is a progressive and successful modern country that competes in the global economy in an
aggressive way. Brand names such as Samsung and LG Electronics are household names in South Africa.
Notwithstanding South Korea’s educational and economic progress, the country is challenged by a lack of
natural resources and limited space to expand its growing economy. The higher education system of
South Korea is inextricably linked with its economic success story.
3.2.5
Sweden
3.2.5.1 Historical background
Sweden occupies the eastern part of the Scandinavian Peninsula and is the fourth largest country in
Europe. It has a population of 9 074 055 people and its capital is Stockholm. Sweden’s form of
government is a constitutional monarchy. Olaf Skottkonung became the first Swedish king. He converted
to Christianity in the eleventh century. In the 1400s, an attempt was made to unite Sweden, Norway and
Denmark, but this failed as a result of strife between Sweden and the Danes, who conquered Sweden in
1520. Gustav I, King of Sweden (1523 –1560), broke away from Denmark, and under the influence of
Martin Luther, confiscated property of the Swedish Roman Catholic church to pay for Swedish debt. The
Lutheran Swedish church eventually became the official Swedish church.
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Figure 3.6
Map of Sweden
Sweden played a leading role in the second phase (1630 –1635) of the Thirty Years War (1618 –1648)
and obtained territory on the Baltic according to the Treaty of Westphalia (1648). In 1700, a coalition
between Russia, Poland and Denmark united against Sweden, which was forced to relinquish Livonia,
Ingria, Estonia and parts of Finland. Sweden maintained a position of neutrality in both the First World
War (1914 –1919) and the Second World War (1939 –1945).
3.2.5.1.1
Political influence of socialism in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries
An elaborate structure of welfare legislation began in 1911 with the establishment of old-age pensions.
Economic prosperity based on its neutral war policies enabled Sweden to establish systems of public
health, housing and job security. Forty-four years of Socialist rule ended in 1976 with the election of a
conservative coalition headed by Thorbjorn Falldin (Fact Monster, 2000 – 2016). In 1982, the Socialists
were returned to power, but their leader, Prime Minister Olof Palme, was assassinated on 28 February
1986. The Social Democrats were ousted in 1991, and a new conservative coalition pledged to reduce
taxes and welfare expenses. Swedish neutrality was, however, retained. In September 1994, the Social
Democrats emerged again and the country joined the European Union. It did not adopt the euro as
currency and kept to the Swedish krona.
The centre-right alliance led by conservative Fredrik Reinfeldt, leader of the Moderate Party, won the
election in September in 2006. In the parliamentary elections of September 2010, the far-right,
anti-immigration Swedish Democrats won seats in parliament for the first time. The elections were
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inconclusive and Reinfeldt invited the Swedish Democrats to form a government.
3.2.5.2 The Swedish education system
As early as 1842, the Swedish parliament introduced a four-year primary school known as Folkskola
(people’s schools). In 1858, Grade 1 and Grade 2 became Smaskola (small school) and children enrolled
at the age of seven. In 1882, two grades (Grade 5 and Grade 6) were added to the Folkskola. Some
Folkskola also had Grade 7 and Grade 8. In the 1930s, schooling became mandatory in Sweden for seven
years. It was extended to eight years of compulsory schooling in the 1950s and to nine years in 1972.
After at least three years in a Folkskola, children with excellent grades can elect to change to a
secondary school known as Hogere Allmanna Laroverket (high school learning institute). These institutes
do not offer free tuition and most students from these schools are from wealthy families. However, some
students with good grades receive sponsored education at these schools. In 1905, these schools were
divided into a lower-level, six-year school called Realskola and the higher-level, four-year school called
Gymnasium. In 1971, Fackskola (technical school) merged with Gymnasium and Yrkesskola (vocational
school), becoming Gymnasieskola (gymnasium school).
In 1949, some Swedish schools introduced an experiment called Enhetsskola. These schools had three
stages over nine years. Later, the Enhetsskola became Forsoksskola and in 1962, the Folkskola became
Grundskola (nine-year primary school). After Grundskola, Swedes have the option of attending the
Gymnasieskola, leading to either a university preparatory programme or a vocational programme.
Completing secondary school on a vocational programme with full classes on a three-year curriculum
provides a basic qualification for further studies (EuroEducation.Net, n.d.). The Gymnasieskola (upper
secondary school) is for youth aged between sixteen and nineteen.
Prior to the 1990s, there were few private schools. They were mostly tuition-funded boarding schools
attended by the children of Swedish diplomats. In 1992, the government decided that independent
primary and secondary schools could receive public funding at the same level as publicly funded schools.
This move was followed by the emergence of the Swedish ‘free schools’. In 2008, there were about 900
of these schools.
The ‘free school’ system has divided public opinion in Sweden. During the 2010 elections, neither
political block suggested abandoning the programme.
A new system of higher education was initiated in 2007. Higher education was divided into three
levels: basic level (Grundniva), advanced level (Avancerad Niva) and doctoral level (Forskarniva). The
new changes influenced the naming of professional and vocational qualifications. Vocational degrees in
the field of engineering, law and medicine were offered.
After Gymnasiumskola, students can apply to a university. General academic degrees are offered by
public universities and university colleges, which tend to attract students on a regional basis.
To sum up, after Grundskola, which is the compulsory school stage (ages seven to sixteen), many
Swedish children attend the elective Gymnasiumskola (upper secondary school), selecting either a
university preparatory school programme or a vocational programme. Students who want to continue
their higher education from vocational schools need to supplement their courses for university entrance.
In 2008, statistics showed that of all Swedes aged 25 – 64:
• 15% have completed only compulsory education
• 46% have completed only upper secondary education
• 14% have completed only post-secondary education of less than three years
• 22% have completed post-secondary education of three years or more.
Women are more educated than men, with 26% of women (as opposed to 19% of men) having a
post-secondary education of three years or more. Upper secondary and university studies are free. Since
2010, international students are charged tuition fees.
A new grading system was introduced into the Swedish school system in 2011: A, B, C, D and E are
passing grades, and F is a failing grade. If a student cannot be graded, for example, owing to truancy, he
or she receives a dash instead of an F. If a student is given an F, he or she receives a written review of
how to improve his or her performance.
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Table 3.4 is a summary of the Swedish education system, giving the typical ages at which students
move through the various levels.
The Swedish education system
Table 3.4
Typical age
Type of school
19+
University undergraduate and post-graduate programmes: basic,
advanced and doctoral Vocational college after Gymnasieskola
18, 17, 16
Gymnasieskola (upper secondary school)
Compulsory schooling
15, 14, 13
12, 11, 10
9, 8, 7
Grundskola (hogstadium/upper) Grundskola (mallan/middle
school) Grundskola (ladstadium/lower school)
6
Forskoleklass (pre-school class)
5, 4
Forskola (pre-school)
Source: Skolverket. 2013. Information on the Ordinance Concerning Education and Government Grants for Certain Children and Young
People Who Are Not Registered Residents of Sweden. [Online], Available: http://www.skolverket.se/polopoly_fs/1.174177!/
Menu/article/attachment/Diplomatbarn_inenglish.pdf Accessed 16 March 2016.
3.2.5.2.1
Challenges facing Swedish education
Ever since the early introduction of compulsory schooling in 1842, egalitarian goals have been important
in Swedish educational policy. Two egalitarian goals that the Swedish system is obliged to deliver are
those of equality of outcomes and equality of opportunity. To equalise educational opportunities has
generally meant ‘to reduce the importance of pupil’s family background for their subsequent educational
attainment’ (Bjorklund et al., 2004: 7). As a result of the turbulent economic challenges of the 1990s,
which saw unemployment rise from 2% to almost 10%, the public budget has been under pressure to
maintain the high levels of educational provisions and standards.
Since school governance was devolved to municipalities and with the emergence of independent
schools, an increasing class difference has emerged in Swedish education. The reduction of taxes and the
deregulation of some industries following Sweden’s entry to the European Union posed new challenges.
The issues concerned are thus ideological and economic in nature. The Swedish government is faced with
the increased rate of globalisation and its commitment to ensure equity in education.
3.2.5.3 Conclusion
What distinguishes the Swedish education system (and that of other Scandinavian countries such as
Finland) from other systems in the world has been its successful provision of education for all, which was
a consequence of the Swedish political philosophy of socialism. Sweden has taken the bold step of
inscribing its educational objectives as part of its constitution. The country views the role of education as
an integral part of the nation’s economic development seriously. Given the increasing influence of
globalisation, the question is whether Sweden and other Nordic countries will be able to maintain their
egalitarian educational policies.
3.2.6
Tanzania
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Figure 3.7
Map of Tanzania
Activity
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Read the extracts that follow and then answer the questions below. You may complete the tasks after
studying the chapter as you will then have more background on the Tanzanian educational system.
Tanzania has made significant progress in restoring macroeconomic stability. Overall fiscal balance has
been a surplus of around 0,8 to 1,2 % of GDP during the past three years. Inflation has been controlled
from more than 30% in 1995 to 6,6% in early 2000. Foreign reserves have increased from 1,5 months of
merchandise imports in 1995 to 4,5 months.
Source: Ministry of Finance, Tanzania. 2002. Tanzania Assistance Strategy: A Medium-term Framework for Promoting Local Ownership and
Development Partnerships. [Online], Available: http://www.sarua.org/files/ publications/MRCIReport/MRCI_Tanzania.pdf? Accessed 10
February 2016.
Summary of the higher education sector:
• eleven public universities
• three university colleges
• one distance university (the Open University of Tanzania)
• seventeen private universities.
Source: Southern African Regional Universities Association. 2009. Mainstreaming Higher Education in National and Regional Development in
Southern Africa. [Online], Available: http://www.sarua.org/files/publications/ MRCIReport/MRCI_Report.pdf Accessed 11 November 2015.
The draft education and training sector development programme (ESDP) 2008 – 2017 is the largest
framework setting out a revised vision for the education sector. The plan sets out structures, outcome areas,
monitoring and financing of education.
Source: Southern African Regional Universities Association. 2009. Mainstreaming Higher Education in National and Regional Development in
Southern Africa. [Online], Available: http://www.sarua.org/files/publications/ MRCIReport/MRCI_Report.pdf Accessed 11 November 2015.
1. In light of what you read above, what do you consider to be the main strengths of the current and the future
Tanzanian education system?
2. What do you consider to be the main challenges facing the current and the future Tanzanian education
system?
3.2.6.1 Historical background
Tanzania is situated on the east coast of Africa. Rich in natural beauty, Tanzania prides herself on the
world-famous lakes of Victoria, Tanganyika and Nyasa, and the highest point on the continent, Mount
Kilimanjaro (5 895 m). The island of Zanzibar is part of the new country that was formed in 1961
following independence from the British. Tanzania was colonised by the Germans in 1885 and later by
the British in 1918. However, Tanzania was originally colonised by the Arabs, who arrived in East Africa
in 700 AD. Portuguese explorers reached the African coast in 1500, but the Sultan of Oman in the Arabian
Gulf took power in the seventeenth century. The colonisation of Africa from 1882 and the subsequent
world wars influenced colonial control over the territory until its independence in 1961.
An invasion by Ugandan troops in November 1978 developed into a full-scale war in which Tanzanian
president, Julius Nyerere, kept troops in Uganda in support of former Ugandan president Milton Obete. In
November 1985, Nyerere stepped down as president and was succeeded by Ali Hassan Mwinyi. In 1995,
Tanzania instituted a multiparty democracy with President Benjamin William Mkapa (1995 – 2005)
leading the country until Jakaya Kikwete won the elections with 80% of the vote. Lowassa became Prime
Minister, but was later replaced by Mizengo Pinda. John Magufuli became President of Tanzania in 2015.
In a short period of time, he has become known for his anti-corruption and anti-waste policies.
3.2.6.2 The Tanzanian education system
In 1967, President Julius Nyerere issued the famous Arusha Declaration, which outlined a socialist
development strategy for Tanzania and a policy of self-reliance. Tanzania sought to break the bonds of
dependency through a commitment to socialism. Nyerere favoured relations with China, as evidenced by
the Tanzania–Zambia railway, which was built with Chinese co-operation.
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During the colonial period, education created a gulf between the educated elite and the masses as a
whole. This problem, which formed the basis of inequality in Tanzania, persisted after independence.
Nyerere introduced the philosophy of ‘Education for Self-reliance’, which was an admirable attempt to
(re)establish a system of African values and way of life.
The aim of the policy of education for self-reliance was to create an education system for Tanzania
that guaranteed primary education as a right to all the population and that served the needs of Tanzanian
society as a whole. The policy recognised that Tanzania would have a rural economy for many years to
come, that Tanzania would be poor and that its people would have to work hard on the land. The
education policy was part of the ideal of African socialism. Realising the potential for education to
become elitist and create further divisions in Tanzanian society, Nyerere intended that primary education
should be a complete education without any implied promise of secondary education and modern sector
employment. Those who proceeded to higher education should do so for the benefit of all. Every school
should have a farm to feed its community and should work towards self-sufficiency. The curriculum
should reflect the needs of the community, and should outline how socialism is to be implemented in
school and society.
At the practical level, the policy of self-reliance was not always understood by everyone in the same
way. It often conflicted with the aims of the Ministry of Education. The many expatriate schools
established during the colonial period did not want to change from their colonial style of education to a
style of education that they did not know much about. It was because of these reasons that Education for
Self-Reliance could only have a limited effect on the nation. Primary education was given a boost, while
secondary education was restricted. Unfortunately, the demand for secondary education was not met. This
led to a growth in the number of private secondary schools.
The idea that schools should aim to be self-sufficient communities, reflecting the basis of social life in
Tanzania itself, was propounded by the self-reliance policy of Julius Nyerere. Although it was only a
strong suggestion (Williamson, 1979: 166), Nyerere was criticised for it because parental expectations
about education were that education was the key to upward mobility. This expectation has its roots in the
colonial system of education. Nyerere was also criticised by the Marxist left in Tanzania, which argued
that the policy was idealistic as education is dependent on economic and political structures, and cannot
transform colonial society into a self-sufficient independent society on its own. The inequalities in
Tanzanian society stem from the state and its subsidiary organisations, which have grown faster than the
productive base of the economy. In these circumstances, agricultural work at schools is seen as a chore or
punishment. Education, the Marxists maintained, can only be revolutionary in a revolutionary society and
Tanzanian society was not revolutionary. Education could only maintain the status quo, which was based
on an unequal distribution of capital and wealth.
Nyerere’s policy of education for self-reliance was an attempt to deal with the inequalities in
Tanzanian society, but its reliance on the agricultural school to bring about change in broader society was
idealistic. Educational change for a new society needs to recognise the scientific basis for economic and
technological development as well as to reinforce co-operative forms of work, learning and living. Other
concomitant imperatives are teacher education and curriculum change, which become essential drivers in
a broader plan of action for social transformation. The re-imagination of the educational sector and the
school needs to be in conformity with the broader socialist ideal of equality and justice for all, which the
Nyerere experiment did not consider sufficiently. Education for self-reliance reinforced the social
stratification that Tanzanian society knew during colonialism. The role of Christian missionaries in
education was one of the forces that worked against the socialist ideals, as it created possibilities of social
mobility and higher education that the self-reliance policy did not cater for.
The successes of education for self-reliance were mainly felt in the growth of primary school
enrolment. The overall increase at an annual rate of about 10% from 1961 onwards was remarkable for a
poorly resourced country. The number of students at university also increased tenfold, from 194 in 1961
to over 2 000 in 1972. There were 65 000 students enrolled in 2013 and the target for 2015/16 was set at
300 000 students (IPPmedia.com, 1998 – 2016). There has thus been a quantitative growth in education,
which was geared to the limited manpower needs of the economy. In the adult education sector, many
learning opportunities were created in rural areas in the form of rural training centres that offered training
in craft skills and agriculture. Functional literacy programmes were implemented with the help of
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UNESCO and the training of rural health care workers (UNESCO, 2015). These programmes contributed
to the improvement of the standard of living in the country’s villages.
Those sectors that were involved with the money economy and international organisations benefitted
from their relations, which further perpetuated inequality in Tanzanian society. The post-Arusha model of
education has had limited successes. It repositioned the education system towards a future that needed
changed attitudes and a sense of collectivism to improve the overall conditions of the majority of the
impoverished population. In later years, Tanzania made big strides in the gradual upgrade of the
education system, as reflected in the enrolment figures at all levels of education.
3.2.6.3 The Tanzanian schooling system
Education in Tanzania is compulsory for seven years, until the child reaches the age of fifteen years. In
2000, 57% of children aged between five and fourteen attended school (Buturi Project, n.d.). As of 2006,
87,2% of children who started primary school were likely to reach Grade 5 (Buturi Project, n.d.).
Primary school tuition fees were eliminated in 2002. However, the families of learners have to buy
school uniforms for their children as well as paying for testing fees and school supplies. The elimination
of fees resulted in a huge increase in student enrolments in primary schools. However, there are not
enough teachers, classrooms or books. In addition, families must pay for books and uniforms as well as
enrolment fees for high school. There are private primary schools where tuition fees vary and the
language of instruction is English. Swahili is taught in government primary schools.
Students must pass a national examination in order to qualify for a primary school certificate. In 2000,
more than 80% of Grade 6 pupils were at or above reading level 4 (‘reading for meaning’), which is
among the highest of countries in southern and eastern Africa. In 2009, 49,41% of 999 070 students
passed the national Grade 7 examination. In 2010, 89,5% of passing students were selected to join public
secondary schools (UNESCO, 2011).
Government secondary school fees were 20 000 Tanzanian shillings (TSH) per year (US$15) in 2010.
This fee is often too much for large families, orphans and single-parent families, and is used as an excuse
not to send children for further education. A Grade 7 examination pass is needed to join a government
secondary school. Private schools cater for the economically privileged and those who have not been
selected for government secondary school. Private schools are better resourced and teach additional
subjects, such as computer training. Class sizes are much smaller than government schools. Private
secondary school fees vary from US$150 to US$20 000 per annum. Government has increased its
educational facilities as well as the number of teachers.
English is the language of instruction at secondary school level. English is the third language for many
students because of the high number of tribal languages spoken in Tanzania (approximately 120). In
2009, only 35,44% of Grade 7 students received passing marks in English. However, those who do not
pass English in Grade 7 may still attend a school where English is the primary language of instruction.
English is often regarded as the key to work in the global economy.
Secondary education has two levels. Open level is from Form 1 to Form 4. There is a national
standardised examination at the end of Form 2 as well as at the end of Form 4. Students who pass Form 4
may continue with A levels (Form 5 and Form 6). Students are admitted to university on the basis of their
A-level results.
3.2.6.4 Higher education in Tanzania
In the years since independence, the education system in Tanzania has grown from only one institution of
higher education in 1961 to more than 200 tertiary training institutions by December 2006 (Msolla, n.d.:
1). In November 1990, the Ministry of Science, Technology and Higher Education made rapid
improvements to bring educational provisions in line with the needs of the economy and society by
drastically increasing the number of educational institutions. While there were only two public
universities in 2006, there were eleven in 2009. There were no private higher learning institutions in
1990, but by 2006, there were 19. The total number of students grew from fewer than 5 000 to 52 831 in
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2006 (Msolla, n.d.: 2). As higher education before 1980 was free, the problem of financing higher
education had to be attended to. The government made limited loans available for qualifying students and
the private sector did the same.
The low participation rates in higher education coupled with the low Form 6 output at secondary level
has not been filtered up into completion of secondary school and university enrolment (Ministry of
Finance, Tanzania, 2002). Although overall gains have been made, the weaknesses in the higher
secondary and university sector need to be addressed through an increase in funding and the
implementation of a rapid strategy to increase participation and throughput (Ministry of Finance,
Tanzania, 2002).
3.2.6.5 Conclusion
Tanzania has a valiant history with regard to its efforts to establish an independent and self-reliant society
and education system. Notwithstanding all the challenges and problems that the nation had to face
following colonialism and independence, Tanzania has kept the debate to provide equal and quality
education for all. The fact that the ideals have not been achieved is not unique to Tanzania, but the ideal
of linking education to economic development and poverty reduction is still a worthwhile one.
3.2.7
Figure 3.8
The United States of America
Map of the United States of America
3.2.7.1 The American education system
The American system of education provides an example of the role of education in creating opportunities
for social mobility. The ‘American Dream’, which virtually promised success for any hardworking
person, has become a modern day myth. However, the American system of education is under
tremendous pressure to reform, given the economic problems that America is experiencing. A stark
reality of American educational achievement is that in the International Student Assessment (PISA)
report, the United States ranked seventeenth in science and twenty-fifth in mathematics for
fifteen-year-olds (Koebler, 2011). It is generally believed that the education system of the United States
played a major role in its predominance as the largest economy in the world.
3.2.7.1.1
History of the American education system
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Public schooling was in existence in the 1600s in the New England colonies of Massachusetts,
Connecticut and New Hampshire. The main purpose of education was to promote the Christian religion,
which became the foundation of early American development. The only religious groups at that time
were the Puritans and the Congregationalists. The influx of people belonging to different faiths from
various parts of the world changed this. The clergy in charge of schooling attempted to impose their
religious views through the system of public education, which used English as the language of
instruction. This was resisted by the people. As a result, private schooling had become widespread in the
colonies by the mid-1700s.
By 1791, following the Declaration of Independence, fourteen states had their own constitutions.
Thomas Jefferson, third president of the United States (1801–1809) and principal author of the
Declaration of Independence (1776), believed that education should be under the control of the
government, should be free from religious biases and should be available to all people irrespective of
their status in society. However, private schooling persisted for a long period before education fell under
the complete control of the government.
Until the 1840s, the education system was mainly available to wealthy people. Activists for human
rights propagated the ideal that all children should benefit from education. Horace Mann was prominent
amongst these activists. Mann launched the Common School Journal, which provided a public platform
for educational issues. Consequently, free elementary education became available for all American
children by the end of the nineteenth century. Massachusetts passed the first compulsory school
attendance law in 1852. New York followed the example of Massachusetts in 1853.
The Catholics had a different religious perspective from the Protestants, who used the King James
version of the Bible. The Catholics were opposed to the implementation of a common education system
and had established their own private schools. Their action was contested in court in 1925 in the case of
Pierce v. Society of Sisters. The outcome was that children could not be compelled to attend public
schools and that they had the right to attend private schools instead.
The first publicly supported high school in the United States was the Boston Latin School, founded in
1635. Harvard University, established in 1636, was the first university in the United States. As a result of
the demand for certain skills in the 1750s, Benjamin Franklin started a new type of secondary school. The
American Academy was established in 1751. The American high school eventually replaced the Latin
schools. These schools became very popular and the graduates increased from 1900 (6%) to 1996 (85%).
In the twentieth century, most states made schooling compulsory to the age of sixteen. The Great
Depression (1930), along with the Second World War (1939 –1945), the Cold War, wars with other
countries, the civil rights movement, and various student protests and political events, shaped the
American education system in the twentieth century and beyond. In the 1920s and 1930s, ‘progressive
education’ became a buzz word in education circles, shifting the focus to intellectual disciplines and
curriculum development projects.
The twentieth century was marked by a sharp increase in secondary and higher education in the United
States. Towards the end of the twentieth century, more than 60% of youths between the ages of eighteen
and twenty-four were enrolled at higher education colleges. At the beginning of the century, this figure
was only 2%. In real terms, more than fourteen million students were attending about 3 500 four- and
two-year colleges. Financial support was provided through federal funding. Many state colleges and
universities were established through state land grants and gift land from the federal government. After
the Second World War, college attendance increased dramatically.
Education was largely driven by the states rather than federal government. Eventually every state
established a fully fledged education department responsible for finance, hiring of staff and curriculum.
Local districts oversaw the school and its general administration. American schools reflected the
educational values and financial capabilities of the communities in which they were located. However,
the states increasingly consolidated schooling systems and the number of school districts was reduced
from 117 000 in 1940 to just over 15 000 in 1990. In 1940, property taxes provided for 68% of public
school expenses, while the states were responsible for 30%. By 1990, federal funding had increased to the
point that the local districts and the states each contributed 47% to public school revenues.
In the 1980s and 1990s, the states gave renewed attention to their role in improving education
standards. A federal report in 1983 exposed the low academic achievements in public schools. The report
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‘A Nation at Risk’ suggested that American students were outperformed in academic test scores by
students from other industrial societies (The National Commission, 1983: 9). Statistics also indicated a
decline of standards over time. Consequently, almost all of the states have introduced reform strategies
emphasising assessment and curriculum compliance.
The federal government has increasingly centralised the schooling system. In 1958 and 1965
respectively, the National Defence Education Act and the Elementary and Secondary Education Act were
instituted. These acts addressed issues of educational opportunities for poor children, and focused on
improving instruction in subjects such as mathematics, science and foreign languages. Other significant
legislation that impacted on the schooling landscape was the Vocational Education Act of 1963, the
Manpower Development and Training Act of 1963 and the International Education Act of 1966. These
acts played a significant role in positioning the United States as a major economic power in the twentieth
century.
Table 3.5 presents a summary of the American education system, giving the typical ages at which
students move through the various levels.
3.2.7.1.2
Racial (in)equality and the American education system
The first Black slaves arrived in the colonies in 1619 and by the middle of the nineteenth century, there
were 4,5 million Black people (called African Americans) in the country. In 2010, the population of the
United State was estimated to be 310 million, of whom 34,5 million people were African American
(12,3%). When President Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863, the literacy rate
amongst African Americans jumped from 5% in the 1860s to 40% in 1890 to 70% in 1910. Today, the
United States has a literacy rate of 99%, but the inequality and the quality of education remain highly
contested, given the historical neglect of and discrimination against African Americans.
Table 3.5
The American education system
School or institution
Level
University or college
Graduate education: Masters and Doctorate
Undergraduate: Bachelors and Associate degree: Four
years
High school
Ages 14 –18 (compulsory)
Grades
12 – 9: Senior/Junior/Sophomore/Freshman<
Middle school
Ages 11–14 (compulsory)
Grades
8–6
Elementary school
Ages 6 –11 (compulsory)
Grades
5–2
Kindergarten
Ages 5 – 6
Grade 1
Pre-kindergarten
Ages < 5
Pre–K
Racial segregation by race in public and private schools was common during the 1950s, especially in the
South, where it was supported by the Supreme Court. In the North, racial segregation was practised, but it
was not enforced by law. Spending on African American education and teacher salaries was inferior to
the amount spent on white Americans. In 1954, following a Supreme Court case (Brown v. Board of
Education of Topeka), racial segregation in public schools was declared unconstitutional. Many White
Americans moved out of the central cities, leaving poor African Americans and Hispanics to attend the
urban schools. The Native (original) Americans had already lost all of their lands to the Whites and were
also deprived of a quality education and good facilities. Needless to say, there are still many inequalities
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in the American education system and unequal opportunities for Native Americans, Hispanics and
African Americans living in the United States.
3.2.7.1.3
Gender inequality in the American education system
Discrimination against women led to the establishment of women-only institutions, which offered
subjects that were not generally available to females at other schools. The emergence of the women’s
rights movement during the 1960s focused attention on sexual discrimination in education and the
workplace. The historical unequal provision of education for American women impacted on the nature of
modern American society. Even though the law prohibited discrimination on the basis of gender, women
still faced professional and educational discrimination.
Activity
After reading the information given above, do you detect any similarities between the American and South
1. African education systems? If so, what are they? How would you address them if you were an
educational administrator?
3.2.7.2 Conclusion
The public school system in America has improved a great deal with the advancement and introduction of
new learning methods and technology. However, the school system is negatively affected by public
violence and substance abuse. The education system faces continuous pressure to change and improve.
The American education system is still plagued by inequalities and lack of upward mobility opportunities
for all. The pitiful standard of high school education led to the introduction of the ‘No Child Left Behind’
(NCLB) education plan in 2002 during the presidency of George Bush, which was supported by Bush’s
successor, President Barak Obama. The NCLB imposed accountability on all states receiving federal
funding. All schools have to participate in outcomes-based assessment, which is regarded as the
benchmark for their performance and evaluation. Despite the inequalities in the American system of
education, the NCLB is an example of how American educational initiatives are adopted universally, and
their influence on global trends in educational policy and practice. An increasing devolution of
responsibility to local school structures that ignores social and economic inequalities will not lead to
equality and improved quality in the American school system.
America’s rise as an industrial world power in the twentieth century seems to be challenged by the
emergence of competition from other parts of the world, threatening the economic supremacy of the
United States as a world power. What was the role of education in the rise of America and what kind of
education systems are competitor countries developing to challenge America’s status in the world?
SUMMARY
This chapter provided an overview of seven different education systems to illustrate how each one was
shaped by history, socio-economic systems, culture and politics. The influence of globalisation in a
competitive economically interdependent world was noted in the various systems. The convergent and
divergent framework explained earlier provides a broad framework to assist the reader in gaining a
critical perspective on all seven education systems. While systems tend to converge, they simultaneously
tend to show divergences, illustrating the differences, similarities and unique characteristics of each
system. A major concern for all education systems is how the dominant global influence of neo-liberalist
economic policy discussed earlier is becoming increasingly normalised, often at the expense of the
interests of poorer and historically exploited and neglected populations. Another concern for all systems
is the need to remain economically productive and relevant, synchronising the education system with
national developmental plans. Another disconcerting trend is the output of school and university
graduates who are joining the ranks of the unemployed, which remains an unsolved challenge faced by
most education systems in the world. This chapter alluded to issues of equality, educational opportunity,
human rights and the need for education to play a role beyond economics. A drastic mind shift is needed
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to move away from the notion that education on its own can fulfil people’s aspirations. The education
system of a country functions as a factory of innovation and creativity, which should lead to social
development and the well-being of its citizens. It is in this light that hope for a just and fair system of
education is seen as the inalienable right of all human beings and an integral part of the work of all
educators.
Case study
Viva South Africa! Long live Bantu education!
Read the quotation below and then answer the questions that follow.
The destructive impact of the ‘Bantu Education’ system wrought damage that will take decades if not
generations to repair. The old pre-apartheid education system, despite its many faults, had the potential
for ensuring a decent education for all South Africans during the second half of the twentieth century.
But the meanspiritedness that underlay the philosophy of ‘Bantu education’, the inadequacy of the funds
made available throughout most of the apartheid years, the crippling effect of job reservation and the
colour bar on the acquisition of skills and experience by the majority of workers, could almost have
been designed to prevent them from being adequately prepared for the challenges of globalisation in the
twenty-first century.
Source: Adapted from Prof. Francis Wilson, quoted in Fiske, E.B. & Ladd, H.F. 2004 Equity: Education Reform in Post-Apartheid South
Africa. Washington DC: Brookings Institution Press, p. 52.
Questions
1. Identify some of the major ills of Bantu education.
2. What is your vision of a fair South African education system?
3. How would you go about addressing the challenges faced by schools in rural and township
communities in South Africa?
Questions
1. Summarise what you have learnt in this chapter by completing the table below.
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2. Write a paragraph (about twelve lines) that summarises the most important lesson of this chapter. You
may refer to the various disciplines involved in understanding education systems or the ideas about
decentralisation and centralisation, and so on.
3. Draft an e-mail to a friend who studies overseas and tell him or her about the educational changes that
were implemented in South Africa after 1994. Make use of your personal experience and
knowledge. Your e-mail should not exceed twenty sentences.
4. Design a personal blog in which you seek to promote yourself as a teacher interested in the history of
education and education systems. Invite others to post their own experiences and articles about the
education systems of their countries.
5. Assume the role of a researcher who is preparing a project to explore the history of education of South
Africa.
a. Prepare an interview schedule that you will use to interview three students about their personal
schooling experiences. Construct eight open-ended questions that will guide your interview.
b. How would you go about writing a report based on the interview data that you collected? Provide
the headings that will make up the report (about five or six).
c. List five reasons why this project (learning about personal schooling experiences) would be useful
to professional educators.
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PART 2
COMPARATIVE EDUCATION
Chapter 4
The education system of South Africa: Catapulting the country into the twenty-first century
Chapter 5
Education in Botswana, Lesotho and Swaziland
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