Differentials in Senior Certificate examination performance of schools in terms of pre-1994 education departments

Date
2012-09-27
Authors
Mahlangu, Mfelasakhe John
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Abstract
The research analysed the performance differentials among schools with different pre-1994 history of administration and provisioning thus examining the changes in terms of equality of educational outcomes. The purpose of this research was to contribute to the further understanding of the effectiveness of post-1994 educational policy reforms in addressing educational inequalities of the past. The study found that not only were there statistically significant performance differentials between schools based on the pre-1994 education departments, these performance differentials remained significant throughout the period under study. The findings suggest that, overall, the performance differentials between schools that obtained in the pre-1994 era were continuing unabated. The study also found that there were significant performance differentials between schools within the former education departments and these were more significant in low performing former education departments. This suggested that schools within each of former education departments were not homogenous and more nuanced policy interventions were needed to ensure quality outcomes. The study recommends makes three main recommendations. These are - shift in methodological approach when dealing with education policy where a school as an institution at macro level will be a point of departure as opposed to macro-level approach where broad educational reforms are imposed on schools; education policies should be such that they mitigate the impact of socio-economic background on learner achievement and; that future research need to focus on more nuanced aspects on school effectiveness rather than lumping schools into large groups which may hide unique quality challenges that schools as institutions are facing.
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Keywords
Education, South Africa, Outcomes, Performance
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