Thesis (PhD (Economics)--University of Stellenbosch, 2010. / ENGLSIH ABSTRACT: At the time of South Africa‟s transition to democracy the school system was envisaged to be a powerful vehicle for nation-building and transformation. The chronic low performance of the South African school system has subsequently become the subject of widespread public concern. This thesis examines the distribution of cognitive achievement amongst South African children and the factors influencing it, especially socio-economic status, and asks what the implications of this are for future economic development. The methodologies employed are predominantly quantitative as various sources of data are examined in order to collect evidence pertaining to the question above. Chapter 1 lays down a conceptual framework for understanding the role of schooling in economic development. The point is made that although education is often envisaged as a vehicle for development and mobility out of poverty, the home socio-economic status of children impacts significantly on their educational outcomes. Chapter 2 reviews recent and relevant literature to establish main currents of thinking regarding the influence of socio-economic status on educational outcomes. Chapter 3 follows this with an empirical examination of the influence of socio-economic status on reading achievement amongst South African children. The results indicate that the relationship between socio-economic status and educational achievement in South Africa is particularly strong by international standards. Furthermore, the historical divisions within the school system remain key to understanding continuing inequalities in educational outcomes. The socio-economic status of students is crucial in determining which part of the school system students enter; then for those entering the historically disadvantaged system the chances of achieving high quality educational outcomes are small, regardless of their home background. The main priority in the latter part of chapter 3 and thereafter is the attempt to identify factors that improve cognitive achievement, given the socio-economic context of schools and their students. In chapter 4, this search is taken up by examining a rich collection of data regarding school and teacher practices in South African primary schools. In chapter 5 this is done by analysing trends in the ability of high schools to convert demonstrated grade 8 achievement into matric outcomes. An additional perspective is provided through a comparison of the performance of South Africa‟s independent and public schools in Chapter 6. The final chapter summarises the results from these various approaches and highlights several key areas on which, it is recommended, attempts to improve South Africa‟s schools should focus. These include the management of school resources, teacher work ethic, time management and planning within schools, curriculum coverage, the accuracy of assessment and feedback to students, and parent commitment to education. Improving these areas within the large and struggling part of the South African school system will be decisive for the country‟s economic development. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Ten tye van Suid-Afrika se demokratiese oorgang is die skoolstelsel as ʼn sterk instrument vir nasiebou en transformasie gesien. Die kroniese swak vertoning van die Suid-Afrikaanse skoolstelsel het sedertdien tot wye openbare besorgdheid gelei. Hierdie proefskrif ondersoek die verdeling van kognitiewe prestasie onder Suid-Afrikaanse kinders en die faktore wat dit beïnvloed, veral sosio-ekonomiese status, asook die implikasies daarvan vir toekomstige ekonomiese ontwikkeling. Die metodologie wat gebruik word, is hoofsaaklik kwantitatief, want verskeie databronne word ondersoek om getuienis in te win rakende bogenoemde vraagstuk. Hoofstuk 1 stel ʼn konseptuele raamwerk daar om die rol van onderwys in ekonomiese ontwikkeling te verstaan. Die punt word gemaak dat, alhoewel onderwys dikwels as ʼn instrument vir ontwikkeling en uitstyging uit armoede gesien word, die sosio-ekonomiese status van kinders se huislike omgewing hulle onderwysuitkomste beduidend beïnvloed. Hoofstuk 2 bied ʼn oorsig van onlangse en relevante literatuur om die hoofstrome van denke oor die invloed van sosio-ekonomiese status op onderwysuitkomste aan te dui. Hoofstuk 3 volg dit op met „n empiriese ontleding van die invloed van sosio-ekonomiese status op leesvaardigheid onder Suid-Afrikaanse kinders. Die resultate dui daarop dat die verband tussen sosio-ekonomiese status en onderwysuitkomste volgens internasionale standaarde in Suid-Afrika besonder sterk is. Verder is die historiese verdelingslyne binne die skoolstelsel van sleutelbelang om voortgesette ongelykheid in onderwysuitkomste te verstaan. Die sosio-ekonomiese status van studente bepaal grootliks tot watter deel van die skoolstelsel kinders toegang kry. Vir daardie kinders wat in die histories-afgeskeepte deel van die stelsel beland, is die waarskynlikheid van hoë gehalte onderwys klein, ongeag hulle gesinsagtergrond. Die klem in die laaste gedeelte van hoofstuk 3 en daarna val daarop om faktore te identifiseer wat kognitiewe uitkomste verbeter, gegewe die sosio-ekonomiese konteks van skole en studente. In hoofstuk 4 word hierdie speurtog voortgesit deur ʼn ryk verskeidenheid data rakende skole en onderwysers se praktyke in Suid-Afrikaanse laerskole te ondersoek. In hoofstuk 5 word dit gedoen deur ʼn analise van die vermoë van hoërskole om graad 8-vlak prestasie in graad matriekuitkomste te omskep. ʼn Vergelyking van die prestasie van Suid-Afrika se onafhanklike skole met openbare skole in hoofstuk 6 bied verdere perspektief hierop. Die finale hoofstuk som die bevindinge van hierdie verskillende benaderings op en belig sekere sleutelaspekte waarop pogings om Suid-Afrika se skole te verbeter klem behoort te lê. Dit sluit in bestuur van skoolhulpbronne, onderwysers se werksetiek, tydsbestuur en beplanning binne skole, dekking van die kurrikulum, die akkuraatheid van assessering en terugvoer daaroor aan studente, en ouers se betrokkenheid by onderwys. Verbetering op hierdie gebiede binne die groot, sukkelende deel van die Suid-Afrikaanse skoolstelsel sal deurslaggewend wees vir die land se ekonomiese ontwikkeling.

Research on policy implementation suggests that many education reforms designed to improve the quality of education in general have been more rhetorical than substantive in their impact on the organisation of schools and classrooms. Schools and classrooms do change, but the extent and directions of change are not always consistent with the intention of policy initiatives. This same argument applies to the South African education policy process, where a substantial body of literature has documented the gaps between the intention of policy makers (intended policy) and their implementation (implemented policy) in schools. The gap has been especially relevant for those policies focusing on the change of the knowledge, skills and competency levels of teachers through accountability and professional development policies. The purpose of this investigative and descriptive study originated in a hypothesis that the lack of orientation, knowledge sharing, understanding and the capacity building of teachers on policy intentions make it difficult for teachers to implement policies. I assumed therefore that through information and workshop sessions the gap between the policy intentions and the practice of teachers can be solved. In particular, my involvement in the drafting of the Developmental Appraisal System (DAS) policy gave me the sense that there was nothing fundamentally wrong with the policy, but that the lack of capacity building among teachers is what is undermining the implementation of the policy in schools. The study therefore intended to investigate the impact of a five-day information session on the implementation process of the DAS policy at Cape Flats Secondary School (CFSS) – this is a pseudo name. These sessions were facilitated by me during the last semester of 2001. Thereafter, the school was given a year to implement the policy during 2002. Regular contact with the chairperson of the Staff Development Team (SDT) to ascertain the progress of implementation brought me to the realisation after eighteen months and still no implementation that the focus of my study had to change to understand the challenges of implementation at the school. As a member of the Policy Formulation team, I could not understand why a policy with such immense potential in enhancing professional development among teachers could not be implemented in a school where staff members publicly stated their commitment to implement the policy. This school (CFSS) in particular, had a high number of union leaders involved at numerous levels within the union who researched and developed the initial ideas and proposals of the DAS policy. The study is therefore guided by the following questions: 1. What made it difficult for the staff of Cape Flats Secondary School to implement the DAS policy, despite a high level of stated commitment to implement the policy and a thorough five-day information session (both theoretical and practical) on how to implement the policy? a) What was the expected level, scope or depth of the policy change, envisaged by policy formulators, necessary by the school to implement the policy? b) Which elements of the policy and the conditions at the school needed to be supported by implementation support agents (national, provincial and district officials) to facilitate the implementation at school level? and c) What was the level of functionality of the school to facilitate the successful implementation of this policy? This research explains how the different levels of functionality of schools affect the potential of implementation of a ‘one-size-fits-all’ policy. In particular, I reflect on the deliberations which inform the features of the DAS policy, during the policy formulation stage. I furthermore pay special attention to what interviewees called the ‘what was going on’ at the school, as if ‘outsiders’ don’t know what was going on in the school. The research therefore focuses on the functionality of the school through the lenses of ten school functionality components. Teachers at CFSS believe that policy makers do not understand and know what is going on at their school and therefore the effect, relevance and implementability of their policies are disconnected from the operational implementation contexts of schools. The data was collected over a period of six months. In this regard, I used multiple methods of data collection which include critical engagement with the entire staff through information workshop sessions, semi-structured interviews, critical engagements with the strategic liaison team, structured questionnaires, document analysis and photographic records. The main insights of the study include the following: -- Policy makers have to re-assess and re-conceptualise the current policy making paradigm in operation in developing ‘professional’ policy; -- The influence and power relations of employers and employee parties in the policy-making process must be re-assessed and re-conceptualised in order to clarify the policy-making process in South Africa; -- The lack of systems (both technical and human), at different levels of education, makes it impossible to monitor and evaluate the effective and efficient implementation of the DAS policy; -- Understanding schools as individual organisations with unique characteristics, is a key pre-requisite for developing policies that are aimed at addressing real problems at specific schools; -- Leadership and management skills are seriously lacking at South African schools; -- Educators should implement reform policies around clear performance standards and accountability expectations; -- Intervention support agents should help schools make informed choices among a variety of implementation strategies; -- Policy makers should allocate target funding to encourage adoption of proven change practice; -- Policy makers should focus on schools that are ready for change with an expectation that many schools not ready for change this year may in the normal course of events become ready within a few years. The key insights of this research make this study unique and offer critical advice to policy makers. In particular, the re-organisation of the literature on policy-practice gaps (PPG) is insightful. The utilisation of both qualitative and quantitative data adds validity and reliability to the study. More importantly, the study shows that quantitative data can contribute towards understanding the policy implementation challenges in schools. Finally, my ‘insider’ experience of the policy-making process shares rare deliberations of what are the ‘trade-offs’ during the policy formulation stage. / Thesis (PhD (Education Policy Studies))--University of Pretoria, 2007. / Education Management and Policy Studies / unrestricted