Institutional transformation in the post-apartheid era: an ethnography of one high school in KwaZulu-Natal.
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Date
2013
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Abstract
In this thesis the mandate of the newly elected government in 1994 to transform the
apartheid-based system of educationprovides the opportunity for examining institutional
transformation in South African schools. The impetus is the transformative goals which
foreground access to education, democracy in education, quality in education and equity
and redress in education provision for all South Africans. One high school in KwaZulu-Natal
provided the data and context for the study which focused on institutional transformation
after the first democratic elections in 1994. The goal was to examine the institutional
culture within the school to give meaning and insight into the process and progress of
institutional transformation and how this aligned with the transformative goals articulated
in educational policy under the direction of the new Constitution of South Africa.
A range of data collection methods were used as a means to examine questions regarding
institutional culture and institutional transformation. Data was generated at one high
school, previously classified as a ‘Coloured’ school by the apartheid government. Data
generation methods comprised in-depth individual semi-structured interviews and focus
group discussions with nineparticipants, field notes taken during participant observations
and school documents around institutional culture and institutional transformation.
Old apartheid ideologies of race and practices of power, segregation and discrimination
caused participants to understand apartheid discourse as a link of race and power
hierarchies. Remnants of such discourses continue within the institutional culture of the
school, propagating the conjunction of race and power in particular, in spite of the mandate
to transform from an apartheid-based education system. In the post-apartheid era new
democratic discourses and practices within institutional culture have emerged that redesign
institutional culture and social relations at the school alongside pre-1994 apartheid
discourses and practices. Hence, this thesis concludes that these conflicting discourses and
practices reflect a tension between stagnancy and change, and a discursive uncertainty as to
whether institutional culture steeped in old, apartheid ideologies and practices ornew,
democratic ideologies and practices will be stronger in determining the process and
progress of institutional transformation at the school going forward.Therefore, this study
proposes a social role continuum with different points along the continuum in order to help
identify where along the continuum schools are positioned as determined by their
institutional culture.
Description
Ph. D. University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban 2013.
Keywords
Educational change--KwaZulu-Natal., Corporate governance--KwaZulu-Natal., Post-apartheid era--Education--KwaZulu-Natal., Theses--Education.