According to Unterhalter (1991),
The cultural legacy of apartheid in South Africa, has left, a legacy of extreme authoritarianism in South African schools, which was used as ideological state apparatuses. Many schools developed as ‘sites of struggle’ against the apartheid state ideologies, yet very few schools have been able to move away from the rigid entrenched authoritarianism which is unfortunately still prevalent in the South African school context. This was because of the way in which schools have been structured, led, and managed. (p. 21)
In 1948, the nationalist apartheid government strategically and forcefully took over and changed the professional development of ‘Black’ teachers in South Africa (Jansen & Christie, 1999). This meant that the state controlled all professional training. In 1954, as a result of the Eiselin Commission Report of Native Education (1951), the Bantu Education Act ensured centralised state control of all black teacher education by legislating that, in future, teacher education would only be allowed to take place through government-controlled centres (Salmon & Woods, 1991).
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By 1968, all training colleges for black teachers were controlled by the Department of Education and Training (DET) (Murphy, 1985). All the professional training courses offered at these teacher training colleges were seen to have their philosophical and ideological roots in fundamental pedagogics, which underpinned the Christian National Education System of the nationalist apartheid government. What this meant was that there was to be no mixing of languages, no mixing of cultures, no mixing of religions and no mixing of race groups, namely, white, african, coloured and indian (the last three race groups were all classified as blacks) (Flanagan, 1991). Christian National Education was rooted in the ‘Afrikaner’ white nationalist struggle to legitimise the dominant interest of only the white race group and to ensure the subservience of blacks (Flanagan, 1991).
As a result, teacher training courses were based on this subservience philosophy. These subservient practices were entrenched in the South African Education System from 1948 through to the 1970s; not only in schools but in all social aspects of life in South Africa. Perhaps the most serious of all inequalities was how this discrimination related to human capital where the destructive impact of the Department of Education and Training system wrought damage that might take decades if not generations to repair. (Unterhalter, 1991, p. 27)
By the 1970s, the nationalist apartheid government in South Africa had developed 18 segregated education departments established for white, african, coloured and indian race groups, with different teacher education institutions and educational spending. Educational spending per year per child was R1211 per white child, R771 per Indian child, R498 per coloured child and R146 per African child. This structural arrangement produced huge inequalities in terms of the type and levels of teacher qualifications produced between the different race groups. More detrimental, though, is that teachers were trained to only use one rigid ‘teacher talk’ and ‘students listen’ teaching methodology while following a strictly prescribed, inflexible, centrally- controlled curriculum (Unterhalter, 1991).
By implication, certain roles and responsibilities were expected from teachers that ultimately impacted on the type of teacher that was produced at the various segregated teacher training colleges. The same applied to school leadership and management, where only the school
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principal was in charge, following a set of prescribed instructions, with no consultation with the staff. Christian National Education was intended to have all people follow given instructions with no questions being allowed. Education was meant to be impersonal and instructions rigidly obeyed in order to ensure limited interpersonal development. The context was totally ignored, which resulted in teachers and school principals being passive receivers of prescribed knowledge and practices. The more one followed and simply carried out prescribed instructions, the more one was regarded as a good teacher or principal (Davidoff & Van der Berg, 1990).
By 1980, the De Lange Commission into education expressed the need for teacher education reform due to the continued school boycotts and to satisfy the skilled labour crisis and provide for the needs of the economy (Unterhalter, 1991). “The commission recommended that urgent steps be taken to reduce the inequalities between the black and white education systems with particular mention being made of the inequalities of teacher education” (Salmon & Woods, 1991, p. 21). The government’s white paper on the organisation, governance and funding of schools (DOE, 1996b) endorsed the De Lange commission’s recommendations on teacher development and qualifications by making the official benchmark for teacher qualifications standard 10 (grade 12) plus three years of professional training (DOE, 1992). The professional educational requirement in 2014 has been raised to grade 12 plus four years of professional training (NEEDU, 2013).
The majority of black teachers and school principals prior to the introduction of new policies and democracy in 1994 only had standard 8 (grade 10) plus a two-year professional qualification. The abovementioned new ruling meant that more than 80 000 teachers and principals were underqualified (Walker, 1991). The salaries of teachers and principals were then linked to qualifications; therefore, a demand developed for upgrading qualifications and many colleges of education began to offer part-time in-service courses for underqualified professionals. This situation allowed non-governmental organisations (NGOs) to assist teachers and principals to upgrade their qualifications. This was because many teachers and principals were not willing to participate in upgrading courses developed by the still apartheid government institutions (The Argus, May 19, 1992).
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Between 1985 and 1986 the concept of ‘Peoples Education for People Power’ emerged. Peoples Education emphasised the development of a critical mind that is aware of the world, and schools were perceived as ‘sites of struggle’ where teachers and principals could play a critical role in implementing democratic change practices. (Molobi, 1986, p. 10)
As the concept of ‘Peoples Education for People Power’ gathered momentum, teachers and school leaders together with NGOs, began to make the link between political goals of empowerment and pedagogical goals of encouraging more democratic and participatory approaches to teaching and learning as well as school leadership and management (Rensburg, 1986). “Because NGO’s were outside of the formal government structures, they were strategically positioned and more importantly trusted by teachers and school principals to be the champions of the concept of ‘Peoples Education for People Power’” (Vinjevold, 1994, p. 13). The core of the ‘Peoples Education Policy’ was that, under the specific conditions of apartheid and capitalism in the mid-1980s, the creation of a new education system with its new democratic practices could contribute to the process of social transformation in South Africa. The task of NGOs, together with progressive teachers and school principals, was then to start implementing the principles of ‘Peoples Education’ to find ways of addressing ‘issues of inequality and discrimination in schooling as well as in society’ (Walker, 1991). A number of NGOs and teacher educator institutions therefore began to investigate the potential of using more democratic, consultative and developmental teaching and leadership and management strategies for the development of a more ‘critical pedagogy’. “As a result, the principle of participatory professional involvement and development became an integral part of many enquiry-based approaches to teacher and leadership and management In-Service provision within education in South Africa” (Flanagan, 1991, p. 12).
By the 1990s teachers and school principals were being mobilised and mechanisms were being put into place so that by the time of the unbanning of many political parties including the African National Congress (ANC) and the release of Nelson Mandela, the focus changed from developing teachers and school principal’s ‘political consciousness’
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to teachers and school principals developing their ‘conceptual professional pedagogical consciousness’. (Jansen & Christie, 1999, p. 18)
This process has been continuing in earnest from 1990 and is discussed in the section below on policy influencing educational change in South Africa.