The investigation contributes to a broader understanding of
the hegemonic role of teacher organisations and their
relation to the dominant structures in society. It also
contributes to educational theory since it extends the
traditional assertion of an individual teacher who acts as
an agent of capitalism and who serves to foster the
interests of the State, to teachers who operate through an
organisation which becomes more powerful in articulating
this hegemony.
The historic evidence shows that for much of the period
under investigation these teacher organisations have either
endorsed, or else have failed to challenge in significant
ways, the use of education by the State to ramify the
ideology and practice of apartheid. In addition these
organisations have had no power to compel action from
political and educational authorities. Decades of
compliance with State policy, or unwillingness to
forcefully articulate the obvious injustices of that
policy, have inevitably led to a position whereby
established teacher bodies became inward looking.
Ultimately, these teacher bodies could not offer a
fundamental critique of the apartheid education system and
therefore could not empower their members to transform
society as they worked within a structural-functional and liberal framework. However, the research also shows that teachers as a
collective group became capable of resisting dominant
ideologies, especially during the post-1984 period.
Progressive teacher organisations, fuelled by the labour
movement and African nationalism convicted many
conservative teacher bodies to eschew ethnicity and agitate
for a unified, democratic non-racial, non-sexist State with
a single Ministry of Education. This period saw an
escalation in the struggles of resistance by teacher
organisations against a newly established Tri-cameral
parliamentary system. These empowered members effectively
resisted the increasing bureaucratisation and political
interference in education through which the State sought to
control teachers. The study offers a new way of perceiving
teacher organisations as they become involved in long term
struggles of transformation which incorporates the
reconstruction of a post-apartheid society. / Educational Studies / D. Ed. (History of Education)
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:unisa/oai:umkn-dsp01.int.unisa.ac.za:10500/17542 |
| Date | 06 1900 |
| Creators | Munsamy, Gabriel Somasundram |
| Contributors | Coetzer, I. A. |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
| Format | 1 online resource (xii, 380 leaves) |
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