Educational management in South Africa
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| General details | |
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| Primary languages | English |
| System type | Education in South Africa |
Educational management in South Africa involves overseeing the country's educational policies, administration, and implementation. South Africa has the highest quality of education on the African continent.[1] However, the country faces challenges in education, including historical inequalities, inadequate professional development for educational staff, and financial constraints.[1] Poor educational management is a factor in these challenges. The South African government has made efforts to improve the educational management system by using participatory and democratic leadership, establishing professional qualification and training, improving school autonomy and cultural diversity management, strengthening infrastructure and financial management.
Introduction of educational management in South Africa[edit]
System[edit]
The education system in South Africa is divided into three levels: primary education, secondary education, and higher education. Secondary schools include both junior high school and senior high school.[2] Higher education is divided into two parts: vocational education and university education.[3] The DBE is responsible for elementary and secondary education, while the DHET oversees post-secondary-level education, including both academic institutions and post-secondary technical training.[2]
Primary school[edit]
Primary education in South Africa lasts for seven years (R-6 grades), and is divided into basic and intermediate stages, with a primary focus on basic education. During primary school, all courses are compulsory.[3]
Students usually begin primary school at the age of six. At the elementary school level, the student's level is assessed by the test scores.[3]
The qualification for elementary school graduation is carried out independently by each elementary school. There is no national level examination. At the end of the primary school cycle, no formal qualification certificate will be issued.[2]
Secondary school[edit]
Secondary education lasts for six years and is divided into two stages: junior high school and high school.[2]
Junior high school (7-9 grades) is also called advanced stage and is mandatory.[2]
High school (10-12 grades) has been known as further education and training (FET), which is not mandatory.[2]
Students who enter the high school will choose academic or technical study.[3] During High school, students will study seven courses which including four compulsory courses and three elective courses.[2]
At the end of grade 12, there is a national standardised exam, of which graduation is based on the exam results. After graduation, there has a national certificate issued by the National Senior Certificate which also called “matric”.[2]
Higher education[edit]
There are two types of higher education in South Africa: vocational and technical education and university education.
Due to the high youth unemployment rate in South Africa, South Africa attaches great importance to technical education, with the aim of cultivating professional and technical talents to increase employment and promote economic development.[2]
University education focuses on academic research, and public universities dominate.[2]
Problem of educational management in South Africa[edit]
Discriminatory education[edit]
Education inequality in South Africa is largely attributable to the apartheid system that has lasted from 1948–1991 in South Africa. Although the government of South Africa has invested a great deal of money in education today, the quality of education has not been improved obviously. The discriminatory education still affects education and educational management in South Africa to some degree.[2]
Leadership management[edit]
Because of the racial discrimination, the selection of school leaders tends to not fair enough, which could cause the elected principals are not professional. This can often be translated into the fact that schooling cannot be effectively managed under the ineffective leadership.[4]
In terms of management, the school might treat different teachers and students differently because of ethnic issues. This is to say, the education management has not achieved fairness, which is also unfavourable to the development of education management.[4][5]
Teaching and schooling management[edit]
In terms of teaching, the quality of the teaching provided by teachers is not high, because teachers themselves are educated by a low standard education system.[2] Moreover, there has not a high standard for the teaching management, which leads to the high rate of absenteeism of teachers. According to SACMEQ III, in 2007, South Africa had highest rate of the absenteeism compared with other countries participating in the survey.[6] Also, it is worth noting that the absentee rate continues to rise after the year of 2007.[7]
On the other hand, the quality of teaching provided by teachers is not only related to the level of knowledge of the teachers themselves, but also to the beliefs and values of the teachers. To be more specific, the understanding of education and the meaning of teacher profession could also affect their attitudes in teaching to some degrees.[8]
In addition, due to historical factors, racial discrimination in South Africa is also an essential factor affecting the quality of teaching. This could often be translated into the fact that teachers may influence their teaching attitudes and their attitudes towards students because of their own identity.[4] Furthermore, the students who are different from the identity have put in distinct levels, which also results in the unbalanced education.[2]
Finance[edit]
School funds[edit]
The school does not have enough funds to support or protect a various type of infrastructure and learning site construction at the schools.[3] In South Africa, a large number of school lack piped water, electricity sources, and also public health facilities. In terms of learning site construction, more than half of the schools in South Africa have not constructed libraries and laboratories.[9] In addition, the teaching equipment and leaning materials are also restricted.[3] The inadequate facilities could also be a significant factor which contributes to the limited education.[10]
Tuition fees[edit]
The loss of learning opportunities for students who are unable to afford to pay tuition fees is another important reason for the low level of education in South Africa.[3]
Although the tuition fees of schools do not appear to be economically stressful for the family, according to the average monthly income for South African individuals shown by the survey.[11][12] However, the gap between the rich and the poor in South Africa is largely, which can be translated into the fact that the average monthly income does not reflect the actual situation.[13]
In higher education, more than half of South African youth say they are unable to pay tuition. This has led to the youth lack of access to education.[14]
Improvement of educational management in South Africa[edit]
Leadership and management[edit]
Leadership management shifts to participation and democracy, self-management should be accompanied by internal decentralization
The educational institution sets the initial entry qualification of the principal, professional professionals must qualify, which makes sure that those who are principals at school are suitable for the job.
Moreover, place more values on training and development of the principal.[4]
Strategic management[edit]
Improving school autonomy, providing a better school management team and establishing a governing body of schools.
Managing cultural diversity so that diversity can be re-recognise, which helps to help cultural inequality in the management of education.[4]
Teaching and schooling management[edit]
The school should guarantee the professionalism of the teachers to ensure a high level of education quality. Furthermore, the teaching materials should be considered to be improved.[15]
Finance[edit]
Infrastructure[edit]
The infrastructure of schools including water, power and also building construction has been planned to be strengthened.
Moreover, the government provides specialised and relevant education departments to implement and manage infrastructure construction.
Accelerated Schools Infrastructure Delivery Initiative (ASIDI) is responsible for strengthening the school infrastructure, The Department of Basic Education (DBE) focus on improving school infrastructure
This initiative makes the development of infrastructure plans more secure.
As a consequence, the quality of teaching will not be affected by the lack of infrastructure, such as water, electricity, school buildings and so on, which promoting the better learning environment as well.[15]
Tuition fees[edit]
The government establishes a school governing bodies (SGB). Tuition fees are set and managed by the institution. The families which are unable to pay tuition fees can apply to the institution to waive part or all of the tuition fees.[15]
At the same time, South Africa is also developing more and more low-cost private schools in.[2]
Development of visual learning[edit]
Virtualisation courses development such as radio and video courses, social software online learning, which learners could get the knowledge though instead of paying for the real school. As a result, the development of various visual learning might solve problems that cannot be learned due to tuition fees to some degree.[15]
References[edit]
- ^ a b Greubel, Justin van Fleet, Kevin Watkins, and Lauren (17 September 2012). "Africa Learning Barometer". Brookings. Retrieved 2019-05-29.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n "Education in South Africa". WENR. 2017-05-02. Retrieved 2019-05-21.
- ^ a b c d e f g "Education System in South Africa".
- ^ a b c d e Moloi, Kholeka; Bush, Tony (2006). "An Overview of Education Management in South Africa". Management in Education. 15–22 (5): 15–22. doi:10.1177/089202060602000504.
- ^ "Education in South Africa - Expat Guide to South Africa | Expatica".
- ^ Mbiza, Mduduzi (2018-02-15). "The Issues with South Africa's Education System | EduConnect |". EduConnect. Retrieved 2019-05-29.
- ^ Staff Writer. "South Africa's education system has another problem: teachers not turning up". businesstech.co.za. Retrieved 2019-05-29.
- ^ Hlatswayo, Manzini; Ramnarain, Umesh (February 2018). "Teacher beliefs and attitudes about inquiry-based learning in a rural school district in South Africa". South African Journal of Education. 38 (1): 1–10. doi:10.15700/saje.v38n1a1431. ISSN 0256-0100.
- ^ "Upholding 29(1)(a) in South Africa: The Right to Basic Education". Pulitzer Center. 2018-09-28. Retrieved 2019-05-30.
- ^ "School infrastructure is still largely inadequate". BusinessLIVE. Retrieved 2019-05-30.
- ^ Staff Writer. "University fees 2019: how much it costs to study in South Africa". businesstech.co.za. Retrieved 2019-05-30.
- ^ Staff Writer. "This is the average salary in South Africa right now". businesstech.co.za. Retrieved 2019-05-30.
- ^ team, Reality Check (2019-05-01). "Is inequality rising in South Africa?". Retrieved 2019-05-30.
- ^ "More than half of South Africa's youth cannot fund their tuition". The South African. 2019-04-02. Retrieved 2019-05-30.
- ^ a b c d "Education | South African Government".