The Emergence of Decentralised Centralism in the South African Education Governance System
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 4758717 |
|---|---|
| Authors | André Du Plessis (0000-0002-9089-4460, University of Pretoria, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2020 |
| Volume | 46 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pages | 165-183 |
| Publication date | 2020-01-02 |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Journal of Southern African Studies (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0305-7070 • E-ISSN: 1465-3893 |
| Publisher | Informa UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/03057070.2020.1705618 |
| OpenAlex | W3001705828 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 7 |
After the advent of post-apartheid democracy, the government was confronted with the dilemma of how to address the inequities of the apartheid education dispensation by increasing access and participation while simultaneously allowing self-managing schools and promoting efficiency. In addition, the political transformation was accompanied by a strong emphasis on the need for shared responsibility for the governance of schools by local school governing bodies (SGBs) in partnership with the state. However, it is argued that ‘decentralised centralism’ has permeated the South African education system at the expense of the notion of community participation. The first part of the article examines the concepts of decentralisation and decentralised centralism. This is followed by an examination of the enactment of decentralisation in the South African education system. The third section shows how re-regulation of the periphery has gradually led to the education system becoming more centralised and how vested interests contributed to the development of decentralised centralism. The article concludes with a discussion of the schism between policy idealism and the practical reality and the connection between a legitimacy crisis and political realism as drivers of the movement towards decentralised centralism in the South African education system
Centralized government · Corporate governance · Decentralization · Dilemma · Economics · Legitimacy · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Schism · Sociology · Global Educational Policies and Reforms · Law · Public Administration · Teacher Education and Leadership Studies
Análisis de eficiencia en educación
Parental perspectives on support for learners with physical disabilities at special schools
Examining the persistence of inequalities in South Africa’s educational system
Institutionalized inequities and the cloak of equality in the South African educational context
Accountability in the financial management practices of school principals
Educational Values in Human Rights Treaties
Discourses of international actors in the construction of the decentralisation policy
| Citations per year | 1.17 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2020 - 2026 (7) |
| Highly cited | No |