History of schooling in South Africa, A

Method and context

Booyse JJ, Le Roux CS, Seroto J, Wolhuter CC

• Publisher: Van Schaik Publishers
• Year: 2016
• ISBN:
  9780627034541
• Topic: Bildung
• Subtopic: Hochschulausbildung

An unfortunate consequence of the restructuring of teacher education in South Africa over the past 15 years has been the virtual disappearance of history of education from tertiary programmes and a corresponding decline in the number of publications on the subject. But this is now changing; especially in postgraduate courses. A history of schooling in South Africa: method and context provides a perspective on the development of schooling for all of South Africa's diverse population groups, from pre-colonial times to present day, in as much detail as is possible in a single volume. A history of schooling in South Africa: method and context introduces not only South African educational history, but also looks at the main schools in South African educational historiography and the lacunae that occur therein, especially in light of recent international developments

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History of education as a field of scholarship and the historiography of South African education

CC Wolhuter

1.1 INTRODUCTION

Both history of education as a discipline and the historiography of South African education are controversial, and the history of education’s infrastructure and place in teacher education programmes have been severely marginalised at South African universities during the past two decades (Maarman & Wolhuter, 2006: 47–48). The result is that the historiography of South African education remains in the narrow furrows of the past – immensely impoverished, having not lived up to the challenges of the day and having not benefited from international developments in the field. With the promising sign that history of education is about to be restored to a prominent place in teacher education programmes at the three largest education faculties in South Africa (the University of South Africa, the University of Pretoria and North-West university), there is a need to juxtapose the present state of the historiography of South African education with what such a historiography could and should be. That is the purpose of this book.

This chapter clarifies the concept of history of education and discusses its significance. It outlines the main paradigms in the historiography of South African education and considers international developments in the field.

1.2 HISTORY OF EDUCATION: CONCEPTUAL CLARIFICATION

Carr (1961: 7–23; 27–28) defines history as a truth-conforming reconstitution of the past and an interpretation thereof. The past is viewed and is understood (interpreted) from the vantage point of present-day demands (ibid: 24). The historian does not merely compile an inventory of facts with dates. He interprets the past: he selects what appears as important, he explicates relations and patterns, and he analyses in a way which will be meaningful to his readers (Vanqa, 1994: 4).

This definition can be applied to history of education. The intrinsic or primary objective of the study of past education is reconstruction and interpretation, aimed at a more complete understanding of education as a whole. In order to have meaning 2 within the comprehensive science of education, history of education should also illuminate the principles of education (Venter & Van Heerden, 1989: 56; Van Staden, 1989: 587; Elton & Entwistle, as quoted by Randall, 1988: 316; Talbott, 1976: 23).

1.3 THE SIGNIFICANCE OF HISTORY OF EDUCATION

Depaepe (1982: 614–620) distinguishes between the practical, theoretical, personal educational and intrinsic value of history of education.

The practical value of history of education includes the following:

• Illumination of contemporary education issues (Venter & Van Heerden, 1989: 50; Beales, 1989: 140–141; McCullough, 2000: 1; Robinson, 2000: 57–62)
• Assisting with the design of a future education dispensation (Coetzee, 1989; Anderson, 1976: 44; Nkomo, 1990: 291, McCullough, 2000: 1)

The theoretical value of history of education includes explaining the present educational situation (Venter, 1986: 3) which is crystallised reality: the outcome of forces which have operated over a long time. Furthermore, theoretical insights could be gained from history (Depaepe, 1982: 617), and conversely, theories could be made visible in history.

The personal educational value of history of education includes the following:

• Cognitive moulding. Throughout its historical evolution, advocates of history of education have contended that the teaching thereof could advance the development of the faculties of critical judgment among students (Depaepe, 1982: 619).
• Moulding of a self-image and identity. As history constitutes a collective memory of how contemporary society has evolved to its present state, it reveals to the student his identity. In history he sees himself as in a mirror, and that leads to self-comprehension;
• Civic moulding. Knowledge of the development of the nation-state and the national education system nurtures sentiments of loyalty and respect towards the country and its education system, as well as to those who have sacrificed to bring it into existence;
• Moral preparation of the teacher. History of education contributes to the moral education of the teacher (Randall, 1988: 236–237). Teacher training institutions – in which history of education is housed – strive toward filling future teachers with a mission (Talbott, 1976: 10–11).

Finally, history of education also has an intrinsic value, namely to satisfy the quest for knowledge, which is built sui generis into human nature (Depaepe, 1982: 819).3

1.4 THREE PARADIGMS IN THE HISTORIOGRAPHY OF SOUTH AFRICAN EDUCATION

A paradigm is the way a scientific community views a field of study, identifies appropriate problems for study, and specifies legitimate concepts and methods.

The following three paradigms can be identified in South African educational history (Collins, 1983; Cross, 1986; Wolhuter, 1996, 2006):

• Christian Nationalism
• Liberalism
• Liberation Socialism

These are also the main paradigms in the social science (comparative educational) literature on South African education (Wolhuter, 1999) and they constitute the main philosophical or ideological orientations with regard to South African education (Ashley, 1989).

1.4.1 The Christian national paradigm

This paradigm was advocated mainly by Afrikaans-speaking white educationists at the historically white Afrikaans universities. From this paradigm emanated the following publications:

• History of South African education: Coetzee (1963) and the publications of L.G. du Plessis and H.C.M. Fourie
• Social scientific literature on education in South Africa: Duminy (1963); Ruperti (1974, 1977); Potgieter (1980)
• Moral education in South Africa: Potgieter (1980)

Within this camp also falls the report of the Eiselen Commission of 1949, which laid the basis for the system of legally entrenched and prescribed State-provided, racially segregated education. The 1981 report of the Human Sciences Research Council investigation into education (“De Lange report”) could be placed within this p¼aradigm too. Although the report recommended one education system, not based upon race, it laid emphasis on the recognition and the making of provision for cultural diversity in the formulation of education policy (cf. Raad vir Geesteswetenskaplike Navorsing, 1981).

The two basic principles of the Christian national philosophy are firstly, that education should be based upon the Christian gospel, and secondly, that the cultural diversity of the South African population dictates that every cultural or ethnic group should have its own education system and schools. Barnard (1984: 1–2) summarises his study on South African education as follows:

4In the Republic of South Africa, with its official policy of parallel development of the different population groups, the education system provides culturally specific education, with the intention to optimally develop the talents of each individual. This differentiation … is necessary because there are different population groups in South Africa … who differ radically to each other regarding descent, culture, lifeand world view, language, etc.

Landman and Gouws (as quoted by Ashley, 1989: 10) take the view that schooling should involve the “inculcation of genuine appreciation of values, norms, authority, the cultural inheritance, including a feeling for the proper…”. Another important principle is that the mother tongue is the carrier of culture and for this and other reasons education should be through the medium of the mother tongue.

This school of educational publications was at its strongest in the pre-1994 era, when it and government policy echoed each other. However, after 1994 a persistent stream of social scientific literature on education in South Africa has come from this stable. Examples include Labuschagne, Kok and Myburgh (1997); Berkhout (1996: 106–118); and Claassen (1995: 447–495). The authors wholeheartedly subscribe the principles on which the new (post-1994) education system is based, namely desegregation, multiculturalism, democratisation and equality, even though some of the principles are the exact antithesis of their pre-1994 views (Wolhuter, 1999). They also participate constructively in the debate on a new education dispensation for South Africa. There does, however, exist a strong feeling that equal opportunities and democracy also mean the right to education through the medium of the mother tongue, and the right to school education consonant with religion, world view and derivate values, without rejecting the principle of desegregation.

Turning to the research output of the school on the history of South African education, it should be borne in mind that even before 1994 their stream of publications was very modest. This could be ascribed to the fact that during the years when the international academic boycott was waged against South Africa (c.1960–1990) (cf. Harricombe & Lancaster, 1995) historians of education of this school stuck with the concept that the discipline of history of education deals primarily with the ideas of the great educational thinkers of the past. This is evident in university courses in history of education for which members of this school were responsible. Such courses focused exclusively on ideas of great educational philosophers of the past, such as Rousseau, Plato and Pestalozzi. Cognisance was not taken of international developments in history of education, where, in the 1960s social history replaced idea history (to be explained later in this chapter). This had a stifling effect on research on South African educational history by members of this school.

Furthermore, a historiography of South African educational history 1986–1996 showed that, as the Apartheid project approached its end, even in the late 1980s, literature from this paradigm became even sparser (Wolhuter, 1996: 182). That which did appear had the additional deficiency that there was little interpretation, and was reduced to the writing of chronicles: the enumeration of dates with corresponding events. Examples are the publications of Venter and Venter (1986), Venter (1989), and Kruger, Bisschoff, Van Heerden, Venter and Verster (1986).

5While sporadic, in the post-1994 era publications from this paradigm have not ceased altogether. An example is the publication by Vorster (1998).

1.4.2 Liberalism

Liberal historians of South African education such as E.G. Malherbe and M. Horrel, as well as authors of social-scientific literature on South African education writing from the liberal paradigm, have traditionally been located at the historically white English medium universities of South Africa. The classic history of South African education from this school is presented by Malherbe (1925, 1977). Later publications include Behr (1988) and Hartshorne (1992).

These authors write about the history of South African education through the lens of the liberal set of values, such as individual rights and liberties, equal opportunities, the rule of law, a laissez faire economy, autonomy of civil society and minimal governmental interference. When writing about the pre-1994 South African education dispensation, they strongly reject and condemn the legally prescribed racially segregated system of education, and the inequality that was part of it (cf. Mackenzie, 1994; Moodie, 1994; Bozzoli, 1997; King, 1979; Horrell, 1968). This is especially evident in Hartshorne (1989). In the pre-1994 era, social scientific literature on South African education written from a liberal perspective pleaded for a gradual reform of the education system, without demanding a revolutionary, total dismantling of the political and economic order as a precondition for successful educational reform (cf. Hartshorne, 1992; Behr, 1988; Moodie, 1994). Such literature, linking up closely with international schools such as human capital theory and modernisation theory, displayed a ceilingless belief in the potential of education to effect beneficial societal change, for example economic growth. This belief is strikingly encapsulated in the title of Bozzoli’s (1977) monograph Education is the key to change in South Africa.

In the post-1994 era a constant stream of social-scientific literature on South African educati...