Rehabilitating a whiteness disgraced: Afrikaner white talk in post‐apartheid South Africa

This paper is part of a longer work on whiteness in post‐apartheid South Africa, which analyzes the discourses resistant to transformation in the country, labeled “white talk.” Based on a discourse analysis of the 2001 letters to the editor of Rapport newspaper, a national Afrikaans Sunday newspaper, this paper focuses on aspects of “white talk” within Afrikaans speaking South Africa.

Afrikaner whiteness has an affinity with subaltern whiteness, in that Afrikaners contended with the more powerful forces of the British Empire throughout their history. As a resistant whiteness, the whiteness of the Afrikaner has historically been rolled into ethnic/nationalistic discourse. The current moment in South African history presents a crisis to Afrikaner identity similar to the time of dislocation that saw the original discursive suturing of Afrikaner identity into nationalism. But now the worldview has imploded; Apartheid is the “other” of the New South Africa; Afrikaners are perceived to be in need of “rehabilitation.” Certain ethnic anxieties are pervasive, and the paper explores four of these. White talk in this context attempts to do two things: (1) to re‐inscribe the Afrikaner mythology that secured a special place for the Afrikaner in the political, economic, and social life of the country, so that the ground gained through the apartheid era of systematic Afrikaner advancement is not lost in the new social order, while (2) presenting Afrikanerdom as compatible with the New South Africa.     

Tensions in the quality assurance processes in post‐apartheid South African schools

This paper tracks the development of the Integrated Quality Management System in South African schools after the dismantling of apartheid in 1994. We argue that the quality processes that are now in place emerged in response to the autocratic school inspection systems that preceded them but did not sufficiently address the impact of educators’ experiences of the preceding systems. In the new democratic environment, it was important that new systems recognized the need for educator and school development. But given the breakdown of the culture of teaching and learning in South African schools, it is also not surprising that there was a concern that the new systems should ensure accountability. We analyse interviews with teachers to argue that the new system presents a tension between accountability and development processes which results in surface compliance rather than genuine engagement.     

Prospects and pitfalls: A review of post‐apartheid education policy research and analysis in South Africa

The 10‐year anniversary of the first democratic elections in South Africa in 2004 provoked much reflection and fuelled new policy debates on both the progress and failures of educational reform. While a myriad of achievements have been touted and are well‐known to international audiences, a swelling critique from inside South Africa shows that much work remains to be done. By glancing backward as a way to understand how to move forward, we review several important recently published books on post‐apartheid education policy to learn how policies were conceived, what went well and what went seriously wrong. In engaging this extended analysis we provide a glimpse into the unique set of circumstances and challenges faced by the South African government over the last 15 years (namely the tensions between equity and redress and global competitiveness), while offering a sustained critique of the resulting policy outcomes through a social justice lens.     

Levelling or Playing the Field? The politics of access to university education in post‐apartheid South Africa

This article identifies the three discursive forces of ‘equity and redress’, ‘development’ and ‘academic standards’ in the structuring of access and admission policies in South Africa. It is argued that these forces undergo a process of complex repositioning within the policy making arena of the National Commission on Higher Education. The discourse of ‘development’, couched in neo‐classical economic terms, emerges as a dominant discourse in this process and shapes the discourses surrounding ‘academic standards’ and, more fundamentally, ‘redress’ policies and strategies. Such oblique effects of the dominant discourse, it is suggested, have fundamentally reframed access and admission policies and strategies proposed by the Commission.     

Mentoring in black and white: the intricacies of cross‐cultural mentoring

Cross‐cultural mentoring relationships can be sites of struggle around the issues of race, class and gender. In addition, the mentor/protégé relationship offers micro‐cosmic insight into power relations within western society. The authors of this paper, a black woman associate professor and a white male professor, use the example of their mentoring relationship to illustrate six common issues facing academicians involved in these relationships: (1) trust between mentor and protégé; (2) acknowledged and unacknowledged racism; (3) visibility and risks pertinent to minority faculty; (4) power and paternalism; (5) benefits to mentor and protégé; and (6) the double‐edged sword of ‘otherness’ in the academy. Literature is used for review and critique of mentoring in the academy while offering personal examples to illustrate the complexity and success of a 13‐year mentoring relationship between a duo who began their association as teacher/student.     

Changing South African schools?: an analysis and critique of post‐election government policy

This article provides an exposition, analysis and critique of post‐election policy concerning state schooling in South Africa. In particular the article focuses on the White Paper on the Organisation, Governance and Funding of Schools. Policy is analysed at three levels, namely the economic, ideological/discursive and the political. At the economic level it is argued that although the White Paper makes provision for redress of past inequalities, limitations in government expenditure are limiting the possibilities for reform. It will also be argued that the White Paper must be seen as the outcome of contestation between different discourses concerned with race, culture and education. Finally the White Paper has been shaped by the interim constitution as well as by political struggles within the state and civil society.     

Globalization and higher education restructuring in South Africa: is democracy under threat?

My intention is to explore the link between globalization and higher education restructuring in South Africa and whether it looms as a threat to democracy. I contend that an argument can be made that the ascendancy of market-driven concerns in defining the restructuring of higher education in South Africa may have the effect whereby higher education institutions (universities and technikons) become subordinated to the demands of the market place, which situation in turn, can be detrimental to the consolidation of South Africa's newly found democracy. First, I argue that the restructuring of higher education according to the ‘logic of globalization’ would not necessarily minimize socio-economic inequality, thus providing a major barrier to the move towards deepening democracy. However, the economic, political and cultural effects of globalization as determinants of higher education restructuring in South Africa are not going to disappear, at least not for the immediate future. Already the South African government considers as a central feature of its economic policy the meeting of the ‘challenge of international competitiveness … (and) an inability to compete will increasingly marginalise the South African economy (and), have profound effects on its rate of growth and consequences for the social well-being and stability of South African society’ (CHE 2000a: 20)

Second therefore, in order to safeguard and promote democracy, in spite of the market-bound trend, I assess some democratic prospects of a globalizing world in the restructuring of higher education. Like Jones (1998: 153), I contend that an argument can be made for achieving democracy in a sphere of corporate dominance if higher education is considered as a public good that allows space for the development of relations of trust, individual autonomy and democratic dialogue.     

Integrated,marginal, and resilient: race,class, and the diverse experiences of white first‐generation college students

While first‐generation college students are ‘at risk’, the majority do persist. Using in‐depth interviews with 28 white college students I ask: How do white, first‐generation, working‐class students understand their college experiences, especially in terms of their academic, social, and cultural adjustment? Moreover, what kinds of factors seem to help or hinder their adjustment to college life? I discovered three patterns of adjustment among these students: (1) about half expressed few feelings of marginality and appeared well integrated into campus life; (2) one quarter experienced persistent and debilitating marginality; and (3) another quarter overcame their feelings of marginality en route to becoming socially and academically engaged on campus, with some transforming their feelings of marginality into motivation for social change. I argue that these variations can be understood by looking at how working‐class students’ economic resources may function as an asset, while their whiteness may function alternately as an asset and a liability.     

‘Six packs and big muscles,and stuff like that’. Primary school‐aged South African boys,black 1 and white,on sport

This paper explores the salience of sport in the lives of eight‐year‐old and nine‐year‐old South African primary school boys. Drawing on ethnographic and interview data, I argue that young boys' developing relationship with sport is inscribed within particular gendered, raced and classed discourses in South Africa. Throughout the paper I show differences and durability of meanings across the social sites that affect and position blacks, white, boys and girls. It is argued that young boys' early association with sport is centrally about identity and doing sport, or at least establishing interest in sport is one important way in claiming to be a real boy. The findings have implications for the call by the South African Government to get the nation to play.     

Academic Adjustment and Learning Processes: a comparison of international and local students in first‐year university

This article examines the academic adjustment and learning processes of international and local first‐year students. Twenty first‐year local and international students participated in a semi‐structured interview study upon the completion of their first year in a Faculty of Commerce and Management. Students reported positive and negative critical incidents which helped or hindered their learning during the first year. In addition, students described their feelings, thoughts and behaviours in relation to these incidents. Critical incidents were coded, themes identified, and comparisons made across local and international student groups. The impact of particular teaching processes are considered, and implications for teaching and learning in the first year are discussed.     

Understanding voices from the margins: social injustice and agency in first-year students’ literacy narratives

Abstract

This article analyses literacy narratives of first-year students at a South African university. It uses excerpts from the literacy narratives to explain how this writing genre serves as an outlet for reconstructing experiences of social injustice and agency. The article discusses how students’ experiences of social injustice and their sense of agency intersect to influence their literacy development from primary school to university. The article contends that, although literacy narratives give lecturers access to students’ pre-university learning experiences and their discomforts with university literacy expectations, they also capture aspects of societal injustices and their responses to these injustices.     

Forms and substance in learner-centred teaching: teachers’ take-up from an in-service programme in South Africa

In this paper we examine the ways in which teachers, enrolled on an in-service programme in South Africa, have taken up learner-centred practices. We introduce the notions of forms and substance in learner-centred teaching and describe how these are developed in the programme. We then analyse the teachers’ practices in these terms, using data from classroom observations and interviews. We argue that teachers take up learner-centred practices in different ways. The majority of teachers took up the forms without the substance, but some managed to be substantively learner centred.     

Students’ reception of peer assessment of group-work contributions: problematics in terms of race and gender emerging from a South African case study

Participatory assessment is increasingly employed in higher education worldwide as a formative mechanism to support students’ active learning. But do students in an increasingly relationally diverse environment perceive that peer assessment of individuals’ contributions to group-work tasks enhances their learning? Recognising the impact of students’ conceptions on the quality of their learning, this study considers students’ perspectives of peer assessment of group-work contributions at a South African university. Questionnaires elicited students’ perspectives of and general attitudes towards assessment of and by their peers. A growing measure of discontent with the process of assessing peer contributions to group tasks emerged, including actual and perceived racial and gender stereotyping, and related rejection-sensitivity. These initial findings were checked against the students’ experiences in a report-and-respond process that enabled probing discussions of the interpretations. This paper examines and explores the implications of such identifications and receptions for learning engagement and group-work curriculum development in the context of a rapidly transforming higher education sector.     

‘The best students will learn English’: ultra‐utilitarianism and linguistic imperialism in education in post‐1997 Hong Kong

In September 1997, shortly after China resumed sovereignty over Hong Kong, the Education Department announced a policy which was widely seen as a restoration of 'mother‐tongue education', but which, in reality, was an elitist language selection policy. This policy, which provided for the selection of the best primary school graduates for monolingual education in English, was designed to be a cost‐effective way of training in English skills for those who had the economic and cultural capital to benefit from it. Meanwhile, the majority of students were barred from sufficient exposure to English, the language of power and wealth. In this paper, I shall show that this policy draws on a strong utilitarian discourse about the centrality of English for the economic survival of Hong Kong, which was engineered by business interests on the eve of the changeover in 1997, and which helped perpetuate a form of linguistic imperialism. Meanwhile, academics whose research was used to legitimize the policy, failed to problematize dominant language ideologies that have been used to justify pedagogically unsound practices and an inequitable language streaming policy. Through documenting the voices of individual educators, I am able to delineate counter‐discourses which, albeit weak and isolated, nevertheless manifested much broader educational concerns than the narrow utilitarianism and the unquestioned privileging of the learning of English skills that underlay the current policy.     

International students in the higher education classroom: initial findings from staff at two post‐92 universities in the UK

A significant body of work has emerged over the last 10 years investigating the experiences of international university students. These studies have covered various challenges faced by some groups of international students relating to culture, language and integration and have been prompted by the increase in international students studying in the UK, Australia and New Zealand. A smaller strand of research has also begun to focus on the experiences, perspectives and reactions of academic staff who have seen the composition of their cohorts change substantially over recent years in terms of numbers of international participants. This article reviews relevant literature in this field, reporting on a questionnaire study based at two UK post‐92 universities. Respondents associated a range of traits with international students and suggested that the increasing number of international students enhanced the environment, but also required a higher level of support. This study also found that staff resorted to informal methods when developing means of adapting their practices to the increasing number of international students, preferring discussion with colleagues and students themselves to formal development programmes or advice from specialist departments such as student support. The article concludes that in order to encourage diversity in a meaningful way, universities need to recognise the challenge of increased numbers of international students and support staff accordingly.     

Re‐negotiating autonomy and accountability: The professional growth of developers in a South African institution

Abstract

This paper considers the professional growth of academic developers from a South African perspective. Locating themselves within broad political, institutional, academic and student dynamics, academic developers attempt to influence interpretations of quality, professional autonomy and accountability, academic literacy and Africanization. Capacity‐building in academic development which is aligned with teaching and learning processes within institutions and supports institutional transformation and redress, is emphasized. Using an interactionist model of participation between developer and those participating in development initiatives, the authors focus on both the contestable notion of the term ‘development’ and the need for authentic engagement between academic and academic developer.     

Academic self‐concept among business students in a recruiting university: definition,measurement and potential effects

This study sought to devise a parsimonious instrument for evaluating academic self‐concept (ASC) among British‐born students entering ‘mass‐market’ (post‐1992) universities that cater for diverse and ‘non‐traditional’ intakes. Three major facets of ASC were found to be particularly relevant to these students: self‐belief in one’s academic competence; self‐appreciation of one’s personal worth as a student (independent of ability‐related considerations); and self‐connection with being an undergraduate.     

Constructing identities: the ethno‐national and nationalistic identities of white 1 and Turkish students in two English secondary schools

This article investigates how 15‐year‐old white and Turkish students in two Inner London comprehensive schools, one in a predominantly working‐class area (Millroad School) and the other in a more middle‐class environment (Darwin School), construct their identities. Drawing on mainly qualitative data from documentary sources, focus groups and semi‐structured interviews, the work points to a range of factors affecting identity formation processes, such as macro‐political approaches and school dynamics. The research found that at Millroad School, which celebrated diversity and where students’ conflict was ethnic or racial, young people found safety in their national(istic) identities. In contrast, at Darwin School, which tried to integrate students on the basis of common British citizenship and where there was only low‐level ethnic conflict, young people developed hybrid ethno‐national identities. This article raises important questions about how to create community cohesion in conflictual environments so as to promote both diversity and solidarity.     

Gleaning Meaning from Case Studies in International Comparison: teachers’ experiences of reform in Russia and South Africa

This paper considers how case study approaches may be used cross‐nationally. It outlines five key stages in the process of conducting case study research and of learning from it: selection, verification, cumulation, generalisation, and application. The research used to illustrate these principles is a study of teachers’ experiences of changes in education in post‐communist Russia and post‐apartheid South Africa.     

Comparing teachers’ non-teaching roles in curriculum reforms from an organization studies perspective: Cases from Botswana and South Africa

In Sub-Saharan Africa, the academic aims of curriculum reforms and the teaching roles related to them are similar, but non-teaching roles are likely to vary across countries. Taking an organization studies perspective, this article compares teachers’ roles in reform along the Botswana-South Africa border. Though these teachers share language and culture, they have divergent socio-political histories. The study draws on multiple data sources from schools during the 2009 school year. Teachers on both sides of the border face tensions over the time they spend teaching and engaged in non-teaching activities, like administrative meetings. But differences emerged, given the teachers’ distinctively different histories. Under apartheid, the South African teachers experienced fragmented organizational structures; they now have roles in multiple organizations, and reported more expansive and time-consuming non-teaching roles, including union participation. These roles were associated with lower curriculum coverage than was expected, with potentially negative implications for student achievement. To achieve curriculum reform aims, policymakers must carefully consider balancing teachers’ teaching and non-teaching roles.