For the researcher, education is concerned fundamentally with the notion of human emancipation. In other words, it is only worth the name if it forms people capable of taking part in their own liberation. Education policy in South Africa prior to African National Congress victory in 1994 was dominated by the ideology of apartheid which led to a variety of malpractices in defining the role and status of education. The ANC victory in South Africa ushered in a period of awakening from a situation of oppression to the establishment of alternative education structures promising a redress of past imbalances through equality, justice and democracy as fundamental human rights. While the ANC policy documents may serve South African society in an educative way, it is equally important that this also implies, at a practical level, an increase in collective learning levels. This has to be done in ways that are undistorted and ways that do not devolve all authority to experts. As a preliminary to improving practices, it is vital to penetrate below the surface of the ANC policy documents to understand the true nature of things found to expose internal and external contradictions and distortions. As Durkheim (1994) says why strive for knowledge of reality if this knowledge cannot serve us in life. This implies that the pursuit of knowledge is of little value unless it can serve our interests as social and cultural beings. This thesis aims to examine the role played by the Reconstruction and Development Policy in South Africa's education system. It questions the viability of implementing the policies as set out in the policy documents, which the African National Congress claim to be derived from critical theory. The focus was on the reconstruction of the central and decisive events that have had implications for present educational policy and development. A methodological tool derived from critical theory was applied since it provided a form of meta-critique with an emancipatory rather than manipulative interest in criticism. Critical theory hence became a method of rational valuing and a powerful tool of internal and external criticism with the potential for use in practical as well as theoretical research. It thus becomes of value not only to a policy-maker but to a researcher or classroom practitioner as well. With regards to South Africa's present status, critical theory offers us a clear, less-distorted picture of how things are and at least suggests through transcendence of the existent, the possibility of how things may be different. / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:ADTP/235803 |
| Date | January 1998 |
| Creators | Naidoo, Pathmaloshini, University of Western Sydney, Nepean, Faculty of Education |
| Source Sets | Australiasian Digital Theses Program |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Source | THESIS_FE_XXX_Naidoo_P.xml |
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