Democratisation of education in South Africa : issues of social justice and the voice of learners?
Date
2008
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Education Association of South Africa
Abstract
The South African Schools Act No. 84 of 1996 mandates that secondary school learners, who are members of the Representative Council for Learners, should be part of school governance through participation in school governing bodies.
But they are often not afforded a full opportunity to participate in crucial decisions by the adult members of governing bodies, directly or indirectly. I explore the participation of learners in school governance by means of a literature review and empirical investigation using a qualitative approach. The findings are presented in terms of the role of learners in the school governing
bodies, learners’ involvement in decision making and in curriculum issues, and the role of governing bodies in promoting democracy in the school and in the wider South African society. Findings suggested that spaces should be created for learners to participate sufficiently in SGBs in order to allow them to exercise their right to participation, thus engaging fruitfully in deliberations dealing with school governance. This would in turn lead to social justice and there would be a great potential for their voice to be heard. They would in turn engage fruitfully in dialogues as they felt included in debates and decision-making processes.
Silencing the voice of learners, implicitly or explicitly, means that the issues of social justice and democracy are not taken into consideration in SGBs.
Description
CITATION: Mncube, V. 2008. Democratisation of education in South Africa : issues of social justice and the voice of learners?. South African Journal of Education, 28(1):77–90.
The original publication is available at http://www.sajournalofeducation.co.za/
The original publication is available at http://www.sajournalofeducation.co.za/
Keywords
Student participation in administration -- South Africa, Student government, Citizenship -- Study and teaching (Secondary) -- South Africa, Social justice
Citation
Mncube, V. 2008. Democratisation of education in South Africa : issues of social justice and the voice of learners?. South African Journal of Education, 28(1):77–90