The Influence of progressive teachers’ unions in the formation and implementation of outcomes-based education in South Africa
Date
2018
Authors
Logue, Samantha Walker
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Abstract
The Influence of Progressive Teachers’ Unions in the Formation and Implementation of OutcomesBased Education in South Africa.
Key Words: Curriculum 2005 (C2005), National Education Union of South Africa (NEUSA), Outcomes Based Education (OBE) ,Paulo Freire, Progressive Teachers’ Unions, The South African Democratic Teachers’ Union (SADTU).
This Research Project explores whether the ideas of formulated by “progressive teachers’ unions,” in
the 1980s, remained influential in post-apartheid South Africa and with the implementation of
Outcomes Based Education (OBE). To answer these questions, this paper utilises significant post
apartheid education documents such as the “White Paper on Education and Training, 1995,1 as well
as documentation from the South African Qualifications Authority (SAQA) and the National
Qualifications Framework (NQF).
The ideas of the “Progressive Teachers’ Unions” are explained through sources provided from the
South African Historical Archives (SAHA). Original sources explain the perspective of a number of
progressive unions such as the National Education Union of South Africa (NEUSA), the Western Cape
Teachers’ Union (WECTU), the Progressive Teachers’ League (PTL) and the Progressive Teachers’
Union. The archival material at SAHA also played an invaluable role in demonstrating how these
“independent unions” merged together in order to construct the South African Democratic
Teachers’ Union (SADTU).2 Of course it was not only these “progressive unions” which lead to
1 Department of Education (DoE). White Paper on Education and Training. Pretoria. 1995. 2 South African Historical Archive (SAHA). Progressive Teachers League Collection (PTLC).
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founding of SADTU. Established unions such as the African Teachers Association of South Africa
(ATASA) and Transvaal United African Teachers’ Association (TUATA) also played a significant role.3
After 1994 the focus on education and the type of education a democratic South Africa required
came to the forefront of political discourse. However, by this time the idealistic ideas of proposed by
the “progressive unions” shifted into more pragmatic territory. SADTU also appeared to shift its
focus from education policy to a bonafide trade union.4
Then democratic South African government decided to adopt a controversial curriculum policy
containing the principles of Outcomes Based Education (OBE). In order to explore whether or not the
ideals of “progressive unions” remained relevant this research project offers a comparison between
the Freirean principles5 often cited by such unions and those offered by OBE. It is noted OBE held
some of the beliefs Freirean educators may have agreed with such as the participation of learners in
the classroom, the encouragement of activities such as more group work, providing content that was
relevant to the children and the merging of both academic and practical skills. However, the OBE
curriculum was saturated with business-like jargon which gave it a corporate character. Likewise, its
focus appeared to be driven by the demands of the economy.6 The Freirean approach rejected the
concept of education as a tool for the economy. Furthermore, the issues of democratic participation
in the classroom seemed to be much more about mutually constructed knowledge according to the
Freirean educators. OBE still had a tendency to place the teacher as the arbiter of knowledge,
despite the claims by proponents of the curriculum.
3 Hyslop, Jonathan. The Classroom Struggle ; Policy and Resistance in South Africa, 1940-1990. Pietermaritzburg : Johannesburg: University of Natal Press, 1999. 111. 4 Chisholm, Linda, and Bruce Fuller. “Remember People’s Education? Shifting Alliances, State-building and South Africa’s Narrowing Policy Agenda.” Journal of Education Policy 11, no. 6, 1996. 5 Freire, Paulo, and Myra Bergman Ramos. Pedagogy of the Oppressed: 30th Anniversary Edition, 2014. 6 Jansen, Jonathan. “Can Policy Learn? Reflections on why OBE Will Fail.” Paper for Centre for Education Policy and Department of Education Management and Education Policy Unit, Seminar Series, Wittersbad University. 1997.
Description
A research Report submitted to the Faculty of Humanities, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the Master of Arts degree (History), 2018
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Citation
Logue, Samantha Walker (2018) The Influence of progressive teachers’ unions in the formation and implementation of outcomes-based education in South Africa, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, <http://hdl.handle.net/10539/26321>