The Democratization of Schools and the Politics of Teachers’ Work in South Africa

Bibliographic Data

ID11920512
AuthorsLinda Chisholm (0000-0002-4231-5794, Durban University of Technology, corresponding author)
Year1999
Volume29
Issue2
Pages111-126
Publication date1999-06-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueCompare A Journal of Comparative and International Education (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0305-7925 • E-ISSN: 1469-3623
PublisherTaylor & Francis (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/0305792990290202
OpenAlexW2007766728
LanguageEN
Citations received11
References cited5

As the South African state begins to democratize, so questions are raised about how this process might be mediated by schools and teachers or how schools’ and teachers’ practices might inform the wider process of social change. This paper explores these issues through an examination of how teachers sought to alter relations of authority and the nature of their work within schools, and how these have interacted with new managerial and state initiatives. It examines the conditions of teachers’ work under apartheid, the challenge to these by the South African Democratic Teachers’ Union and the struggles in schools over changing relations of authority and teachers’ work in the crucial transition years of 1990‐1997. It argues that alternative conceptions and practices were developed and institutionalized. This paper uses the results of both a 3 year longitudinal study and research conducted on teacher appraisal with the teachers’ union

Democracy · Democratization · Pedagogy · Political science · Politics · Sociology · Work (physics · Collaborative Teaching and Inclusion · Education Systems and Policy · Engineering · Gender Studies · Law · Teacher Education and Leadership Studies