The brokenness of the South African education system has received much attention from many angles. The unfortunate thing is that while this scrutiny continues, the learners continue to be subjected to what in some cases, can only be termed as sub-standard education, leaving them with the deceptive accomplishment of having received “an education”.
But how can “an education” truly be turned into a life-changing, must-have thing which will empower the learner to realise his or her full potential, and how can we bridge the gap between what is, and what should and can be? Although the provision of better schooling infrastructure is an oft-cited solution, it is unfortunately not that simple. A report on South Africa’s “Education Crisis” highlights four key factors preventing South Africa’s schooling system from being effective (as per my high level summary): (1) mismanagement of the education system; (2) incompetency and deficient capacity of school principals; (3) poor teacher accountability and performance; and (4) lack of mutual accountability regarding educational outcomes. These findings are echoed by former MEC of the Western Cape, Cameron Dugmore, who believes the lack of leadership and management skills in schools to be the most critical problem in the education system (read more here).
Despite the obstacles, there have been successes. In a series of short films titled “Schools that Work”, journalist and filmmaker Molly Blank set out to show that some schools operating in disadvantaged, low-resourced communities in our country can achieve academic excellence. The series, which was commissioned by Jonathan Jansen, Vice Chancellor at the University of the Free State, in the hope that it would help promote a change for the better in our teaching culture. Although there isn’t one clear determinant of success, it is clear that the people matter - one of Blank’s observations from her many school visits was that “it starts with the principal and how he or she leads the school, not just in terms of management and administration, but also in terms of teaching, learning and the curriculum”.
Thankfully there are organisations, such as the Foundation of School Leadership and Management which are helping school management teams – principals and teachers – address this issue and so doing, are showing us that the elephant can indeed be eaten, even if it takes time.
*Disclaimer: the title does not suggest that I condone the eating of elephants. It is a borrowed phrase which I find helpful given the context at hand.
** I wrote about this topic for the Different.org blog to highlight the importance of good school management and teaching, and the huge difference it can potentially make to education in South Africa.