The Making of Post-Apartheid State Policies for Workers, Adult and Community Education and Training: Abandoned Possibilities

Salim Vally; Enver Motala

doi:10.25159/1947-9417/11366

Authors

Salim Vally University of Johannesburg
Enver Motala University of Johannesburg

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.25159/1947-9417/11366

Keywords:

post-school education , policies, alternatives , adult education, community education , workers’ education

Abstract

State policies regarding workers’ education and the education and training of adults and communities have been hugely influenced by the political and ideological perspectives and approaches that have informed such policies from the onset of the post-apartheid period. These approaches have had pervasively negative effects on especially workers’ education. Yet, there is a powerful and instructive legacy of theorisation and practice that suggests other possibilities towards the development of a progressive, even radical, agenda for workers’ education and its associated forms. These possibilities have been abandoned by the prevailing regime of policy and practice, which could have drawn on the work of trade unions, progressive social movements and organisations, including some of their negative practices. We consider these historical possibilities briefly with a view to opening up a discussion about the possibilities they represent for educational theory and practice.

Metrics

Metrics Loading ...

Author Biographies

Salim Vally, University of Johannesburg

NRF-SARChi Chair in Community, Adult and Workers' Education (CAWE)

Enver Motala, University of Johannesburg

Centre for Education Rights and Transformation, University of Johannesburg

References

Aitchison, J. J. W. 2003. “Struggle and Compromise: A History of South African Adult Education from 1960 to 2001”. Journal of Education 29: 125–78.

Alexander, N. 2002. An Ordinary Country: Issues in the Transition from Apartheid to Democracy in South Africa. Pietermaritzburg: University of Natal Press.

Allais, S. 2021. “Crediting Worker Education? Insights from South African Experiences”. Social Dynamics: A Journal of African Studies 47 (3): 550–67. https://doi.org/10.1080/02533952.2021.1999113. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/02533952.2021.1999113

Baatjes, B. 2020. Beware of the Bot: A Critical Perspective on the 4IR. Gqeberha: CIPSET, Nelson Mandela University.

Baatjes, I., ed. 2018. Learning for Living: Towards a New Vision for Post-School Learning in South Africa. Pretoria: HSRC Press.

Baatjes, I., and K. Mathe. 2004. “Adult Basic Education and Social Change in South Africa, 1994–2003”. In Changing Class: Education and Social Change in Post-Apartheid South Africa, edited by L. Chisholm, 393–420. Pretoria: HSRC Press.

Badat, S. 2022. “Higher Education in the Era of 4IR: Teaching and Learning beyond Covid: Promises and Peril”. Keynote presentation at the launch of the DHET/NSF-DSI/NRF SARChI Chair in Teaching and Learning, University of Johannesburg, March 3, 2022.

Baldry, K. 2016. “Graduate Unemployment in South Africa: Social Inequality Reproduced”. Journal of Education and Work 29 (7): 788–812. https://doi.org/10.1080/13639080.2015.1066928. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/13639080.2015.1066928

BizNews. 2021. “Youth Unemployment a Major Challenge in SA—Here’s How to Tackle It Effectively”. BizNews, April 24, 2021. Accessed September 14, 2022. https://www.biznews.com/thought-leaders/2021/04/24/unemployment-south-africa.

Bond, P. 2000. Elite Transition: From Apartheid to Neoliberalism in South Africa. London: Pluto Press.

Brown, P. 2001. “Skill Formation in the Twenty-First Century”. In High Skills: Globalization, Competitiveness, and Skills Formation, edited by P. Brown, A. Green and H. Lauder, 1–55. Oxford: Oxford University Press. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199244188.003.0001

Brundenius, C., ed. 2020. Reflections on Socialism in the Twenty-First Century: Facing Market Liberalism, Increasing Inequalities and the Environmental Imperative. New York, NY: Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-33920-3. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-33920-3

Buhlungu, S., and M. Tshoaedi, eds. 2012. COSATU’S Contested Legacy. Cape Town: HSRC Press. https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004214606. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004214606

Choudry, A. 2015. Learning Activism: The Intellectual Life of Contemporary Social Movements. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.

Choudry, A., J. Hanley, and E. Shragge, eds. 2012. Organize! Building from the Local for Global Justice. Oakland, CA: PM Press.

Choudry, A., and S. Vally, eds. 2017. Reflections on Knowledge, Learning and Social Movements: History’s Schools. London: Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315163826. DOI: https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315163826

CIPSET. 2019. Owning Our Power: Understanding Cooperatives and How to Form Them. Gqeberha: CIPSET, Nelson Mandela University.

Cooper, L. 2005. “Towards a Theory of Pedagogy, Learning and Knowledge in an ‘Everyday’ Context: A Case Study of a South African Trade Union”. PhD diss., University of Cape Town.

Cooper, L. 2020. Workers’ Education in the Global South: Radical Adult Education at the Crossroads. Leiden: Brill Publishers. https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004428980. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004428980

Cooper, L., S. Andrews, J. Grossman, and S. Vally. 2002. “‘Schools of Labour’ and ‘Labour’s Schools’: Worker Education under Apartheid”. In The History of Education under Apartheid, 1948–1994: The Doors of Learning and Culture Shall Be Opened, edited by P. Kallaway, 111–33. Cape Town: Pearson Education.

Cooper, L., and S. Hamilton. 2020. Renewing Workers’ Education: A Radical Vision. Cape Town: HSRC Press.

Di Muzio, T. 2015. The 1% and the Rest of US: A Political Economy of Dominant Ownership. Cape Town: HSRC Press. https://doi.org/10.5040/9781350222915. DOI: https://doi.org/10.5040/9781350222915

Etkind, R. 2022. “Symptoms of a Paranoid Dictatorship: Why Numsa Has Degenerated”. Daily Maverick, August 4, 2022. Accessed September 15, 2022. https://aidc.org.za/op-ed-symptoms-of-a-paranoid-dictatorship-why-numsa-has-degenerated/.

Fortunato, P. 2022. “The Long Shadow of Market Fundamentalism”. Social Europe, May 5, 2022. Accessed September 14, 2022. https://socialeurope.eu/the-long-shadow-of-market-fundamentalism.

Graham, L., L. Williams, and C. Chisoro. 2019. “Barriers to the Labour Market for Unemployed Graduates in South Africa”. Journal of Education and Work 32 (4): 360–76. https://doi.org/10.1080/13639080.2019.1620924. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/13639080.2019.1620924

Gramsci, A. 1977. Antonio Gramsci: Selections from Political Writings (1910–1920). Edited by Q. Hoare and translated by John Mathews. London: Lawrence and Wishart. https://doi.org/10.3817/0377031237. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3817/0377031237

Hamilton, S. 2014. “(Re)Claiming Workers’ Education”. In Education, Economy and Society, edited by S. Vally and E. Motala, 230–43. UNISA Press: Pretoria.

Hlatshwayo, M. 2018. “‘Building Workers’ Education in the Context of the Struggle against Racial Capitalism: The Role of Labour Support Organisations”. Education as Change 22 (2): 1–24. https://doi.org/10.25159/1947-9417/3806. DOI: https://doi.org/10.25159/1947-9417/3806

Hlatshwayo, M. 2019. “Workers’ Education under Conditions of Precariousness: Re-Imagining Workers’ Education”. The Economic and Labour Relations Review 31 (1): 96–113. https://doi.org/10.1177/1035304619879574. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/1035304619879574

Jones, B. 2013. “Desktop Review of Workers Education in South Africa”. Unpublished manuscript, University of the Western Cape.

Kallaway, P., ed. 2002. The History of Education under Apartheid, 1948–1994: The Doors of Learning and Culture Shall be Opened. Cape Town: Pearson Education.

Klees, S. J. 2016. “Human Capital and Rates of Return: Brilliant Ideas or Ideological Dead Ends?” Comparative Education Review 60 (4): 644–72. https://doi.org/10.1086/688063. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1086/688063

Kundnani, A. 2021. “The Racial Constitution of Neoliberalism”. Race and Class 63 (1): 51–69. https://doi.org/10.1177/0306396821992706. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/0306396821992706

Lacom. 1989. Freedom! From Below: The Struggle for Trade Unions in South Africa. Johannesburg: Skotaville Publishers.

Malikane, C. 2017. “Profitability and Crisis in the South African Economy”. Munich Personal RePEc Archive, Paper No. 76165. https://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/76165/.

Mama, S., and A. Martel. 2022. “As Day Zero Looms for Nelson Mandela Bay, Municipal Bungling Is the Main Culprit”. Daily Maverick, May 10, 2022. Accessed September 15, 2022. https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/opinionista/2022-05-10-as-day-zero-looms-for-nelson-mandela-bay-municipal-bungling-is-the-main-culprit/.

Marais, H. 2001. South Africa: Limits to Change: The Political Economy of Transition. New York, NY: Zed Books.

Mojab, S. 2009. “Turning Work and Learning Inside Out: A Marxist Feminist Perspective”. In Turning Work and Learning Inside Out, edited by L. Cooper, 4–15. Cape Town: HSRC Press.

Moll, I. 2021. “The Myth of the Fourth Industrial Revolution”. Theoria 68 (167): 1–38. https://doi.org/10.3167/th.2021.6816701. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3167/th.2021.6816701

Motala, E. 2017. “Alternative Education: Examining Past Experiences Critically”. In Reflections on Knowledge, Learning and Social Movements: History’s Schools, edited by A. Choudry and S. Vally, 189–204. London: Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315163826-12. DOI: https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315163826-12

Ndikumana, L., K. Naidoo, and A. Aboobaker. 2020. “Capital Flight from South Africa: A Case Study”. Political Economy Research Institute (PERI) Working Paper Series on Capital Flight from Africa, No. WP 516, University of Massachusetts-Amherst. Accessed September 16, 2022. https://peri.umass.edu/publication/item/1323-capital-flight-from-south-africa-a-case-study.

Ngcwangu, S. 2014. “Skills Development in Post-Apartheid South Africa: Issues, Arguments and Contestations”. In Education, Economy and Society, edited by S. Vally and E. Motala, 244–65. Pretoria: UNISA Press.

Padayachee, V., and R. van Niekerk. 2019. Shadow of Liberation: Contestation and Compromise in the Economic and Social Policy of the African National Congress, 1943–1996. Johannesburg: Wits University Press. https://doi.org/10.18772/12019103955. DOI: https://doi.org/10.18772/12019103955

Ramaphosa, C. 2018. “2018 State of the Nation Address”. The Presidency, February 16, 2018. Accessed September 15, 2022. https://www.gov.za/speeches/president-cyril-ramaphosa-2018-state-nation-address-16-feb-2018-0000.

RSA (Republic of South Africa). 1996. The Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, No. 108 of 1996. Pretoria: Government Printers. Accessed September 16, 2022. https://www.gov.za/sites/default/files/images/a108-96.pdf.

RSA (Republic of South Africa). 2001. Human Resources Development Strategy for South Africa: A Nation at Work for a Better Life for All. Pretoria: Government Printers. Accessed September 28, 2022. https://www.dhet.gov.za/Reports%20Doc%20Library/Human%20Resource%20Development%20Strategy%20for%20South%20Africa.pdf.

Samson, M., and S. Vally. 1996. “Snakes and Ladders: Promises and Potential Pitfalls of the NQF”. South African Labour Bulletin 20 (4): 7–14.

Soliar, D. 2000. “Literacy in South Africa: New Strategies Are Needed after the Apartheid Era”. epd-Entwicklungspolitik 17/18: 45–46.

Standing, G. 2011. The Precariat. London: Bloomsbury Academic. DOI: https://doi.org/10.5040/9781849664554

STATS SA (Statistics South Africa). 2022. Quarterly Labour Force Survey: Quarter 4: 2021. Statistical Release P0211. Pretoria: STATS SA. Accessed September 15, 2022. https://www.statssa.gov.za/publications/P0211/P02114thQuarter2021.pdf.

Stiglitz, J. 2013. “What Is Italy Saying?” Project Syndicate, March 4, 2013. Accessed September 15, 2022. https://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/listening-to-european-voters--rejection-of-austerity-by-joseph-e--stiglitz.

Terreblanche, S. 2012. Lost in Transformation: South Africa’s Search for a New Future Since 1986. Johannesburg: KMM Review Publishing.

Terreblanche, S., and F. Farouk 2013. “Best of SACSIS: Prof. Sampie Terreblanche: White South Africans Will Have to Make Some Sacrifices”. South African Civil Society Information Service, August 7, 2013. Accessed September 15, 2022. https://sacsis.org.za/site/article/1749.

Thompson, P. 2020. “Capitalism, Technology and Work: Interrogating the Tipping Point Thesis”. The Political Quarterly 91 (2): 299–309. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-923X.12787. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-923X.12787

UNESCO Institute for Lifelong Learning. 2013. Second Global Report on Adult Learning and Education: Rethinking Literacy. Hamburg: UNESCO Institute for Lifelong Learning. https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000222407.

UTP (Urban Training Project). 1985. Prospectus, 1985. Johannesburg: UTP Collective.

Vally, S. 1994. “Worker Education in South Africa 1973–1993”. MA diss., University of the Witwatersrand.

Vally, S. 1997. “Skills Development: Has the Revolution Begun?” South African Labour Bulletin 21 (3): 38–41. Accessed September 16, 2022. https://www.southafricanlabourbulletin.org.za/skills-development-has-the-revolution-begun/.

Vally, S., and N. Alexander. 2013. “Rhythms and Patterns of History”. In Thoughts on the New South Africa, by N. Alexander, 3–35. Johannesburg: Jacana Media.

Vally, S., M. Bofelo, and J. Treat. 2013. “Worker Education in South Africa: Lessons and Contradictions”. McGill Journal of Education 48 (3): 469–90. https://doi.org/10.7202/1021915ar. DOI: https://doi.org/10.7202/1021915ar

Vally, S., and E. Motala, eds. 2014. Education, Economy and Society. Pretoria: UNISA Press.

Vally, S., and E. Motala. 2016. “Employment, Democratic Citizenship and Education: Considering Alternatives to Commodification in South Africa”. In Effects of Globalization on Education Systems and Development, edited by S. Majhanovich and M. A. Geo-JaJa, 23–36. Rotterdam: Sense Publishers. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-6300-729-0_2. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-6300-729-0_2

Whitehead, C. A., H. Bhorat, R. Hill, T. Köhler, and F. Steenkamp. 2021. “The Potential Employment Implications of the Fourth Industrial Revolution Technologies: The Case of the Manufacturing, Engineering and Related Services Sector”. DPRU Working Paper 202106. Accessed September 14, 2022. http://www.dpru.uct.ac.za/sites/default/files/image_tool/images/36/Publications/Working_Papers/DPRU%20WP202106.pdf.

Wilson, W. J. 1997. When Work Disappears: The World of the New Urban Poor. New York, NY: Vintage Books.