It is widely agreed that effective citizenship, whether in well-established democracies or in
those in transition to democracy, require some educational preparation. In post-apartheid
South Africa, education policy and subsequent curriculum development placed participatory
democracy and active citizenship at its centre. Although South African education policy
documents have a maximalist tone in places, they collectively reflect a minimalist conception
of citizenship and of citizenship education. The focus of my critique of citizenship education
policy is the tendency manifest in the state policy documents to undermine democratic
participation and active citizenry, conceptions first developed and put into practice in the
Greek city-state of Athens.
The conception of education for citizenship does not guide the practice in terms accessible to
the school’s democratic community. State policy’s concept of students’ democratic
participation and representation does not reflect a representative model of democracy in
South African schools. Furthermore, extant policy does not envisage democratic citizenship
education that is enjoyed by a significant proportion of the South African learners. This
minimalist conception of citizenship and of citizenship education is not appropriate for the
South African context.
This thesis, further, mounts a defence of compulsion, arguing that within the theoretical
framework of current theories of the Athenian prototype of democracy, deliberative and
representative democracy, compulsory schooling and compulsory citizenship education can
be justified on the grounds that they promote individual autonomy and build social cohesion
― towards the common good in South Africa. The recently proposed compulsory citizenship
education programmes are not compatible with compulsory citizenship education that is
designed to promote active, critical and inquiring South African citizens. These value-based
education documents promote obedience, if not unquestioning loyalty, to the South African
government. Moreover, neither the Bill of Responsibilities nor the School Pledge offer
possible strategies for getting from where we are to where we ought to be. In the final
analysis, post-apartheid citizenship education policy’s lack of conceptual clarity, coherence
and consistency can be attributed in large part to the conflicting forms and conceptions of
citizenship in South Africa. The goals of citizenship education in South Africa would be
better served by cosmopolitan ideals, that is, preparing South African learners to act in a
local, national and global scale.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:wits/oai:wiredspace.wits.ac.za:10539/7607 |
| Date | 04 March 2010 |
| Creators | Mathebula, Philemon Thokozani |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
| Format | application/pdf, application/pdf |
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