Teachers' participation in policy making : the case of the South African Schools Act.
Date
2009-03-19T10:22:34Z
Authors
Govender, Loganathan Velayudam
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Abstract
This dissertation presents an historical analysis of teachers’ participation in policy
making with specific reference to the South African Schools’ Act (SASA) of 1996. The
central aim of the study was to explore the opportunities, extent and outcomes of
teachers’ participation in the development of SASA and the various factors that attest to
its complexity.
Main argument and claims
While acknowledging the broader political, ideological and economic context of teacherstate
relations in policy making, this study contends that macro-forces in themselves are
insufficient in explaining the dynamics of policy making and teachers’ role in it.
Teachers’ participation in policy making is shaped, as powerfully, by factors such as
partisan alliances and policy capacity, and by specific school contexts. Fundamental to
this argument is the importance attached to the notion of ‘historical specificity’, which
provides the overall thread that binds the diverse forces and factors that shaped the nature
of teachers’ participation in policy making.
In making the above argument, this thesis posits the following main claims:
• Teachers’ participation in the development of SASA was historically-determined
and shaped by the ambiguous and political nature of teacher-state relations,
underpinned by ideological allegiance and flexibility. Key factors that shaped this
relationship were government and teacher unions’ harnessing of the ideologies of
unionism and professionalism, the ability of teacher unions’ to resist state
cooptation and teacher unions’ agency in the cultivation of policy networks,
especially partisan and non-partisan alliances;
• Teachers’ participation was influenced by the specificity of South Africa’s
transition to democracy, particularly the developmental tendency of the postapartheid
education state and the politics of compromise that underpinned the
Teachers’ participation in policy making: The case of the South African Schools Act
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political transition. Thus, in spite of ‘global’ forces, ‘local’ dynamics were
ultimately more instrumental in determining the nature and impact of teachers’
participation in the policy making process;
• The ‘stakeholder’ or ‘representative’ form of participation which characterized
SASA’s development has underlined the limits of participation founded on a
western, liberal model of democracy and stressed the value of direct
(participatory) and deliberative models of democracy. Teachers as individuals,
therefore, experience ‘dual marginalization’ in the policy arena, firstly, because
state policy makers do not consult or engage them, and secondly because teacher
unions themselves are often unable to adequately involve grassroots’ members in
policy formulation activities within their organisations;
• Teachers’ participation in the development of SASA has been dominated by the
adoption of a rational and expert-driven model of policy making, wherein the
views and contributions of experts are more highly valued than those of ordinary
citizens, including teachers. At the same time, the study underlines the importance
of a strong organisational basis for teachers’ participation in policy making,
particularly the need for well-functioning organizational structures and policy
expertise within the ranks of teacher unions themselves; and
• Teachers’ participation in policy making is not confined to hopes of influencing
policy outcomes. It is about social and policy learning and its implications for
teachers’ daily practice and for the organizational development of teacher unions.
Main theoretical and methodological contributions
The study offers an eclectic conceptual framework for research into teachers’
participation in policy making, drawing on the disciplines of history, political science and
education policy, which can be considered by researchers undertaking similar studies
especially in transitional contexts. In so doing, the study makes the following
contributions:
Teachers’ participation in policy making: The case of the South African Schools Act
vii
It presents teacher unions and policy makers with a more comprehensive
perspective to consider when formulating policy;
It contributes a novel perspective for examining the relationship between
education, civil society and the state in South Africa and countries
undergoing transition worldwide; and
It provides substance for comparative discussions on teachers’
participation in policy formulation globally.
Finally, the study reclaims history as a method of social enquiry in policy analysis and in
contrast to existing studies with its largely a-historical policy implementation bias,
refocuses the empirical analysis on the policy development process and dynamics.
Description
Keywords
'Stakeholders' Participation, Policy Influence, Networks and Learning, Teacher-State Relations, History