The politics and governance of basic education: A tale of two South African provinces

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dc.contributor.authorLevy, Brian
dc.contributor.authorCameron, Robert
dc.contributor.authorHoadley, Ursula
dc.contributor.authorNaidoo, Vinothan
dc.date.accessioned2017-02-14T08:51:34Z
dc.date.available2017-02-14T08:51:34Z
dc.date.issued2016-11
dc.description.abstractThis paper synthesises the findings of research on the politics and governance in South Africa, undertaken at multiple levels, and using multiple methods. The research explored two core questions: how politics and background institutions influence educational bureaucracies; and the relative merits of hierarchical and horizontal governance. South Africa’s institutional arrangements provide a ‘natural experiment’ for analysing these questions. While policymaking, the regulatory framework and resourcing are uniform nationally, responsibility for implementation is delegated to the country’s nine provinces, which differ substantially from one another, both politically and institutionally. The Western Cape emerges as a strong performer relative to other South African provinces. However, econometric analysis confirms that, notwithstanding strong bureaucracy and abundant resources, its outcomes were below those achieved in Kenya. The institutional arrangements also assign substantial responsibilities ‘horizontally’ to school governing bodies, where parents are in the majority. School-level case studies detail how in the Western Cape a combination of strong bureaucracy and weak horizontal governance can result in unstable patterns of internal governance, and sometimes a low-level equilibrium of mediocrity. In the Eastern Cape, pro-active engagement on the part of communities and parents sometimes serves as a partial institutional substitute – supporting school-level performance even where the broader governance environment is dysfunctional.en_ZA
dc.identifier.apacitationLevy, B., Cameron, R., Hoadley, U., & Naidoo, V. (2016). <i>The politics and governance of basic education: A tale of two South African provinces</i> University of Cape Town ,Faculty of Humanities ,Department of Political Studies. Retrieved from http://hdl.handle.net/11427/23951en_ZA
dc.identifier.chicagocitationLevy, Brian, Robert Cameron, Ursula Hoadley, and Vinothan Naidoo <i>The politics and governance of basic education: A tale of two South African provinces.</i> University of Cape Town ,Faculty of Humanities ,Department of Political Studies, 2016. http://hdl.handle.net/11427/23951en_ZA
dc.identifier.citationLevy, B., Cameron, R., Hoadley, U. & Naidoo, V. (2016). The politics and governance of basic education: A tale of two South African provinces. ESID Working Paper No. 67. Effective States and Inclusive Development (ESID) Research Centre, University of Manchester: Manchester.en_ZA
dc.identifier.isbn978-1-908749-68-0en_ZA
dc.identifier.ris TY - Working Paper AU - Levy, Brian AU - Cameron, Robert AU - Hoadley, Ursula AU - Naidoo, Vinothan AB - This paper synthesises the findings of research on the politics and governance in South Africa, undertaken at multiple levels, and using multiple methods. The research explored two core questions: how politics and background institutions influence educational bureaucracies; and the relative merits of hierarchical and horizontal governance. South Africa’s institutional arrangements provide a ‘natural experiment’ for analysing these questions. While policymaking, the regulatory framework and resourcing are uniform nationally, responsibility for implementation is delegated to the country’s nine provinces, which differ substantially from one another, both politically and institutionally. The Western Cape emerges as a strong performer relative to other South African provinces. However, econometric analysis confirms that, notwithstanding strong bureaucracy and abundant resources, its outcomes were below those achieved in Kenya. The institutional arrangements also assign substantial responsibilities ‘horizontally’ to school governing bodies, where parents are in the majority. School-level case studies detail how in the Western Cape a combination of strong bureaucracy and weak horizontal governance can result in unstable patterns of internal governance, and sometimes a low-level equilibrium of mediocrity. In the Eastern Cape, pro-active engagement on the part of communities and parents sometimes serves as a partial institutional substitute – supporting school-level performance even where the broader governance environment is dysfunctional. DA - 2016-11 DB - OpenUCT DP - University of Cape Town LK - https://open.uct.ac.za PB - University of Cape Town PY - 2016 SM - 978-1-908749-68-0 T1 - The politics and governance of basic education: A tale of two South African provinces TI - The politics and governance of basic education: A tale of two South African provinces UR - http://hdl.handle.net/11427/23951 ER - en_ZA
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/11427/23951
dc.identifier.vancouvercitationLevy B, Cameron R, Hoadley U, Naidoo V. The politics and governance of basic education: A tale of two South African provinces. 2016 [cited yyyy month dd]. Available from: http://hdl.handle.net/11427/23951en_ZA
dc.languageengen_ZA
dc.publisher.departmentDepartment of Political Studiesen_ZA
dc.publisher.facultyFaculty of Humanitiesen_ZA
dc.publisher.institutionUniversity of Cape Town
dc.titleThe politics and governance of basic education: A tale of two South African provincesen_ZA
dc.typeWorking Paperen_ZA
uct.type.filetypeText
uct.type.filetypeImage
uct.type.publicationResearchen_ZA
uct.type.resourceWorking paperen_ZA
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