In: Oxford scholarship online
In: Economics and Finance
This book brings together scholars from multiple disciplines to explore how political and institutional context influences the governance of basic education in South Africa at national, provincial, and school levels. A specific goal is to contribute to the crucial, ongoing challenge of improving educational outcomes in South Africa. A broader goal is to illustrate the value of an approach to the analysis of public bureaucracies, and of participatory approaches to service provision which puts politics and institutions at centre stage. Stark differences between the Eastern Cape and Western Cape provinces offer something of a natural experiment for exploring the influence of context. The Eastern Cape's socio-economic, political, and institutional legacy resulted in a low-level equilibrium trap in which incentives transmitted from the political to the bureaucratic levels reinforced factionalized loyalty within multiple patronage networks, and which is difficult to escape. The Western Cape, by contrast, enjoyed a more supportive environment for the operation of public bureaucracy. However, bureaucracy need not be destiny. The research also shows that strong hierarchy can result in 'isomorphic mimicry'—a combination of formal compliance and a low-level equilibrium of mediocrity. Participatory school-level governance potentially can improve outcomes—as a complement to strong bureaucracies, or as a partial institutional substitute where bureaucracies are weak. Whether this potential is realized depends on the relative strength of developmentally oriented and predatory actors, with the outcomes not fore-ordained by local context, but contingent and cumulative—with individual agency by stakeholders playing a significant role.
Many of the problems in basic education stem from issues in politics and governance. This book uses the example of South Africa to demonstrate this challenge. It explores how the interaction of politics and institutions affect educational outcomes, and proposes an innovative strategy for progress.
Part I.Framing the issues --1.Improving basic education - the governance challenge /Brian Levy --2. Thetransformation of South Africa's system of basic education /Luis Crouch and Ursula Hoadley --3.Education policymaking at national level : the politics of multiple principals /Robert Cameron and Vinothan Naidoo --Part II.Provincial governance and politics of education --4.Provincial governance of education - the Western Cape experience /Robert Cameron and Brian Levy --5.Provincial governance of education - the Eastern Cape experience /Zukiswa Kota, Monica Hendricks, Eric Matambo and Vinothan Naidoo --6.Explaining the Western Cape performance paradox : an econometric analysis /Gabrielle Wills, Debra Shepherd, and Janeli Kotzé --7.Context and capability : a tale of tow bureaucracies /Brian Levy, Robert Cameron and Vinothan Naidoo --Part III.Horizontal governance --8.Case studies of school-level governance dynamics in the Western Cape /Ursula Hoadley, Brian Levy, Lawule Shumane, and Shelly Wilburn --9.Case studies of school-level governance dynamics in the Eastern Cape /Brian Levy and Lawule Shumane --10.'All for education' - meeting the governance challenge /Brian Levy.
Problem melden