Reconstructing education

Teacher education and supply in post -Apartheid South Africa by Devi Pillay

Introduction
After much debate and pressure from various stakeholders in education, the South
African government has recently revealed tentative plans to reopen teacher training
colleges in the next few years, institutions that were closed down during the 1990s.
Why were these institutions closed in the first place, and why does the government
feel the need to reverse its decisions? This paper will address both of those
questions.
This paper addresses the reconstruction of teacher education by the post-Apartheid
ANC government in the latter years of the 90s. The term teacher education will be
used throughout this paper to refer to the process of training teachers for the
primary and secondary school systems. This paper specifically looks at the decision to
close down all existing teacher training colleges and/or integrate them into existing
tertiary institutions such as universities and technikons.
This paper will cover the context of education in South Africa and the Apartheid
legacy. It will then go on to analyse what was problematic about the teacher
education system, how the government dealt with that and the resulting policy. This
paper will then look at the consequences of that policy and on higher education and
on society as a whole. Lastly, this paper will situate and analyse the decision and its
fallout in terms of a model of policy making in South Africa.
Why is it important to address teacher education and provision?
Teacher education is specifically important within the context of post-Apartheid
South Africa. Education was and is central to the African National Congresss (ANCs)
mandate as a vehicle for change and as a basic right; having enough teachers who
are able to teach is central to fulfilling such policy. Furthermore, teaching as a
profession has a unique place within the South African social context that makes this
system particularly important to address.
In 1994, the ANC took over an education system that was fragmented, unwieldy, and
still bore the legacy of the Apartheid regime. Above all else, the system represented
the geopolitical imagination of Apartheid. The South African education system has
always been racially segregated and unequal. This was entrenched by the institution
of Apartheid from 1948 onwards. The Bantu Education Act of 1953 racially (and often
tribally) segregated all schools with the express intention of delivering low-quality
education for non-whites in order to subjugate and entrench white authority, as

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well as to direct non-whites into skills and jobs that were needed but not wanted by
white people. Most non-white people, if they did have access to education, did not
have access to or fulfil the criteria to enter tertiary education.
The country was semi-federal in nature, with a national government overseeing
provincial government. Separate areas known as Bantustans or Homelands had
been set up as supposedly autonomous, independent tribal homelands, although
that was far from the truth. These homelands were supposedly self-governed, but
kept under the thumb of the Apartheid government. They were used to separate and
isolate different African ethnicities, and the structures and systems of government in
those homelands were weak, under-resourced and corrupt.
The ANC government at this time has just come out of an oppressive regime and thus
all policy making is highly politicised. The field of education in particular was a matter
of national political concern. Education was a tool used by the Apartheid government
to oppress and subjugate non-whites; consequentially, poor and unequal education
was often a catalyst for change during the struggle years (e.g. Soweto uprising of
1976, various student movements) and has never been far from the discourse of
democratic reconstruction.
Since its coming to power, the ANC government has had a direct mandate to ensure
equitable, quality education as promised in the 1996 constitution, directly in their
election platform, and their own repeated emphasis on education as the major
means of reconstructing social structures based on inequality.
An adequate supply of good teachers is necessary for any education system to fulfil
its task; the role of the educator, especially within a third world economy and within
a school system often severely lacking in resources, cannot be overstated. Not only
to teachers provide knowledge and education opportunities for advancement and
success but they are often community figures and play important roles in the lives
of children who often have no support structures at home. In order for the ANC to
create a fair and equal society, its education system must be functioning.
Simply put, South Africa needs capable teachers.
In order to analyse teacher supply in reconstruction, we first need to understand the
system under Apartheid.

The teacher education system by 1994

Gordon explains the system of teacher education (2009, p. 11):
By the end of the apartheid era, there were 19 different departments responsible
for teacher education in South Africa. Thirty-six partially autonomous universities
and technikons provided teacher education. They were structured along racial
and ethnic lines, and were administered by various national and provincial
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authorities: White teacher education was in provincial hands (i.e. in the colleges)
for primary school teacher training, and in the hands of the universities and
technikons for high school teacher training. Teacher education for coloureds and
Indians was left to coloured and Indian colleges of education for primary school
teachers, to the University of the Western Cape for coloured high school teachers,
and to the University of Durban-Westville for Indian high school teachers. The
training of African teachers was more complex because of the emergence of the
Bantustans. Colleges overseen by the Department of Education and Training
(DET) and Bantustan departments of education were responsible for training
African primary school teachers. Many teacher education colleges were
established in the Bantustans a total of about 120 by 1994. African secondary
school teachers were mainly trained in the Bantustan-based universities.
There were thus many, widely varying institutions that trained teachers. Different
homeland governments and different national and provincial departments were
responsible for different institutions. Most primary school teachers training was done
through specifically dedicated colleges spread across the country; these also catered
for secondary school teachers, but they were mostly trained via bigger universities
and technikons.
A teaching degree from a teachers college took between one and two years to
complete. Teacher education colleges were directed mainly at training primary
school teachers, with an emphasis on method, contact learning and transmission of
information. Teaching was considered a vocation, not an academic discipline. It was,
in many circumstances, seen as part of secondary education, not tertiary education,
and because most of teacher training colleges were in rural areas and had low
entrance requirements, they were often the only available form of higher education
for black South Africans.
The colleges were incredibly expensive to the state because they were often small,
isolated, had low enrolments and had low pupil-teacher ratios. Colleges did not
charge high fees as their students could not afford these. In 2000, the cost to the
state of funding a teacher education student through a university or technikon was
R10 000 (albeit with high costs being incurred by individual students); by comparison,
the cost to the state of funding such a student in a college of education was R40 000
(though with low if not negligible costs for individual students). (The Departments of
Basic Education and Higher Education and Training, 2011, p. 22)
There was little cohesion between colleges, information systems were often nonexistent and the system was unmanageable. The uneasy place of teacher education
colleges as between secondary and tertiary education, and the confusion over
responsibility between national and provincial departments, made the system
unwieldy and difficult to coordinate. (The Departments of Basic Education and Higher
Education and Training, 2011). Problems of policy implementation, control and
accountability compounded confusion and ineffective governance.

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The system was also incredibly uneven though some were performing excellently
and producing good teachers, most were badly underperforming, with some teaching
little more than the matric (final year of high school) syllabus. (Chisholm, 2010, p. 18)
(Gordon, 2009, p. 17). Many teachers were produced, but they were often poorly
trained and ill-equipped to deliver.
About two thirds of the colleges were in rural areas and the large majority catered to
black students (Chisholm, 2009, p. 10). Most poorly performing training colleges
were black dominated rural schools. Popular perception of these training colleges
were that they were lesser, low-quality, and used by the Apartheid government to
prevent non-whites gaining real tertiary education. Geopolitically and socially, the
colleges were remnants of an oppressive system and often reinforced the
synonymous divides between white and non-white and high- and low-quality.

The policy process

It was clear that the system needed radical attention. The South African Department
of Education (DoE) underwent a series of steps that resulted in the closure and/or
integration of all colleges.
A brief timeline of policy making
The National Education Policy Initiative (NEPI), while negotiations were taking place
between the Apartheid government, the ANC, and other actors to establish
democratic rule and a new constitution in 1990-1992, embarked on a project of
national policy debate that involved almost all stakeholders, working groups and
various civic representatives and organisations. They critically analysed available
policy options and did not recommend closing the colleges, as this would be a waste
of existing resources (Gordon, 2009, p. 14). They did recognise the deeply
problematic nature of the system and identified three possible models: regional
clusters of colleges; an Institute of Education; or an Education Development Centre.
The Centre for Education Policy Development was established in 1993 to develop
education policy, and acknowledged the need for long term, systemic change but
also the need for some immediate redress (The Departments of Basic Education and
Higher Education and Training, 2011, p. 20).
The NEPI report was used as the basis of the ANCs Policy Framework for Education
and Training (1994, known as The Yellow Book), which declared the need to
restructure the entire system. It proposed centralisation, with the national
government responsible for high education. Teacher education should ensure unity
of purpose and standards across the sector (The Departments of Basic Education
and Higher Education and Training, 2011, p. 19). At this point the emphasis was on
regaining control and regulation of the system, and to defragment and centralise
teacher education, not on closing the colleges.

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The first White Paper on Education and Training (1995, the Teachers Audit)
problematized the system: high costs, fragmentation, lack of collaboration,
inadequate governance and administrative systems, the poor quality of teaching and
learning, and low output rates. Furthermore, despite some centres of excellence, the
Teachers Audit characterised most institutions as poorly performing, often
duplicitous, and excessive relative to South Africas needs.
With aims to achieve higher quality, greater integration, less duplication, better
planning and more accountability (The Departments of Basic Education and Higher
Education and Training, 2011), the government began a process of rationalisation for
teacher training colleges.
The process was set in motion by the 1998 report The Incorporation of Colleges of
Education into the Higher Education Sector: A Framework for Implementation.
Provinces began to respond: colleges were closed, funding and bursaries withdrawn,
and colleges began to be integrated into larger universities and technikons. This
policy allowed for teacher education colleges to remain autonomous if they met
certain standards and had a minimum of 2000 full time students. It became readily
apparent that no college would be able to meet these criteria, and further problems,
such as dropping enrolment and competition from the private sector, exposed
administrative and management weaknesses that decreased the viability of these
institutions.
By 2001, the DoE was ready to announce that all teaching colleges had been
successfully incorporated into the higher education system. This meant that they
were all either absorbed into universities and technicians or closed down. Excess
staff and teachers were laid off, given severance packages, and relocated to
academia, departmental jobs and other places in the labour market. 120 teacher
training colleges had been merged into university departments and technikons, of
which there were only 21 by then (Jansen, 2004).

Goals of the DoE regarding teacher education

So what were the problems identified by the ANC government that lead to the
closing of teacher education colleges? They can be summarised under the headings
of cost, quality and coordination as identified by government documents (The
Departments of Basic Education and Higher Education and Training, 2011, pp. 18-23),
generally in agreement with the rest of the literature circa 2001. I will add the issue
of teacher supply and a final, overarching problem of equity and Apartheid legacy.
I.

II.

To save money and cut spending. Facing large inherited debts and an
inefficient system, emphasis was placed on lowering costs and increasing
efficiency. Cost is the most frequently cited and heavily stressed factor in the
decision to close down the colleges: they were simply inefficient.
To increase the quality of teacher education. Low quality graduates were
seen as a fault of the system and not as individual colleges performing
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III.

IV.

V.

poorly. It was believed that universities and technikons as academic

institutions would turn out better, more professional teachers. The DoE
also believed teacher education needed to be redirected away from
vocational training and towards subject and theoretical expertise.
To increase coordination, control and cohesion. The teacher education
colleges were poorly run, both internally and qua the management role of
the proveniences/homelands/state. There was confusion and ambiguity
regarding governments role and responsibility, and there was virtually no
coordination or cohesion within the system. This made it very difficult to
manage and fix, especially because information systems and data were often
non-existent.
To ensure that teacher supply was matched to demand. Teacher supply per
se was not a concern for the ANC government. Working with predictions that
school enrolments would not experience a boom, as in other democratised
African countries, redistribution of teachers from over-supplied (urban,
white) areas to under-supplied (rural, black) areas took priority over the
production of more teachers. In fact, it was assumed that teacher training
colleges were producing too many teachers (Chisholm, 2009). Furthermore, it
was accepted that there was an oversupply of primary school teachers
(mostly taught in teacher education colleges) relative to secondary school
teachers (who were trained in tertiary institutions.) Thus teacher training
colleges were not providing the teachers needed by the system.
To increase equality in the higher education system and eradicate remnants
of the oppressive education structure of Apartheid. The persistent images
that teacher training colleges were poorly performing black institutions
producing poorly performing black teachers, and vice versa for universities,
was seen as damaging and oppressive. Furthermore, the spread and make-up
of the system was seen to reflect the geopolitical imagination of the
Apartheid government. It was a priority of government that a) this inequality
was addressed and b) that more black and rural people were given access to
universities and not funnelled into weak colleges.

The system was simply seen as an inefficient one. The teacher education colleges
were not producing the teachers needed by the DoE.
The drive to incorporate teaching colleges into universities and technikons was
meant to reduce excessive costs and inefficiency, by ingraining small, isolated,
expensive colleges into larger institutions which were more efficient. This was also
supposed to increase coordination by reducing the number of institutions and
putting them under the umbrella control of the national government. This
coordination and control, in turn, was supposed to increase quality as well ensure
that the kind of teachers needed (secondary school, maths and science, etc.) were
produced. Lastly, this was an attempt to rewrite the legacy of Apartheid in the
tertiary education system, and get rid of second class black institutions by
professionalising and privileging education as an academic discipline.
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Evaluation
How did the policy play out?
It is important to note that this policy was implemented in tandem with a) the
general restructuring of higher education and b) efforts to rationalise and redeploy
excess teachers to undersupplied regions.
Costs
Money is saved as there are far fewer institutions with far higher student-teacher
ratios. However, the process of incorporating colleges into the higher education
system was difficult and costly. Most training colleges and buildings were reused as
other educational facilities such as secondary schools to avoid wasting resources;
nevertheless, a large amount of instructors and staff had been retrenched and a lot
of institutional knowledge was lost. Costs to individual students in universities are
significantly higher than teacher training college fees and living expenses;
nevertheless, the new system is much less of a drain on the national budget.
Quality
Very poorly performing colleges were shut down. However, consistently good
institutions were also lost. The shift to universities has not made any great impact on
the quality of teaching in South Africa. Bloch says, The move has not in itself raised
the professional capabilities of teachers. If it has led to new and expansive teacher
training strategies, this has not been introduced by government or teacher training
institutions themselves (2009, p. 101). On average, South Africa has not seen a great
rise in the quality of teachers produced, although the level is more even. There are
far less teachers of incredibly poor quality being produced, but teacher training in
universities has not changed much or improved. This is despite the conviction of the
DoE that universities, as academic institutions, were far superior in quality and
output.
Teacher education at universities rather than colleges has been criticised. Among the
criticisms is that universities do not prepare students well for practical situations
(controlling large classes, for example). The 2006 report of the Ministerial
Committee on Teacher Education on a National Framework for Teacher Education in
South Africa also acknowledges that the capacity of the system to train primary
school teachers has been harmed. (Chisholm, 2009, pp. 24, 31)
Coordination
Teacher education had shifted from a fragmented, uncoordinated, inefficient system
into a centralised system of fewer, larger, multi-disciplinary higher education
institutions. The 1996 constitution and further legislation placed control over tertiary
education in the hands of the national government, resolving for the first time the
ambivalence around who was responsible for teacher education provision (Pratt,
2001, p. 9).
At the same time, higher education was undergoing restructuring of its own and
these universities and technikons gained more independence than previously. They
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were no longer micromanaged by provincial governments. They were under the

general eye of the national DoE which created norms and standards and general
policy, but did not manage the implementation of its plans.
Some of the fallout of the increased autonomy to universities was that education
faculties kept running business as usual (The Departments of Basic Education and
Higher Education and Training, 2011, pp. 21-22). This meant that secondary
education was catered for to the detriment of primary education. It meant that very
often institutions simply ignored national norms and standards and set independent
curricula. Given their poor financial situation, education departments often opted to
offer lucrative short-term upgrading programmes at the expensive of teacher
education in the areas most needed. This means that teacher training within
universities has not changed much, despite the DoEs efforts to coordinate and run
the system, and sometimes did not provide the programmes and thus teachers that
were needed.
This problem persists well into today, with the national government taking policy
charge of higher institution, but divorcing itself of management of implementation
responsibilities. The system itself is less fragmented and confusing, but the
institutions themselves are more autonomous in a way, the system is more
decentralised (Sayed, 2004).
The restructuring of universities and technikons themselves, in related policy
decisions, left education departments at a disadvantage relative to other disciplines.
They were fiscally at a disadvantage, and were low in order of priority within higher
education institutions. Compounding this, funding did not follow function (The
Departments of Basic Education and Higher Education and Training, 2011, pp. 21-22).
The budget for these education faculties was substantially less than had been
expected and often did not go to where it needed to be. Higher education
institutions had little more money to fulfil their new obligations and extended
functions. As a result, the costs of studying education became much higher, and the
integration process was far less effective given the lack of funds. This policy set up
weak education faculties and departments.
Teacher supply and access to education
Enrolment in teacher education drastically decreased from 71 000 (or 80 000) in 1994
to 15 000 in 2000 (Gordon, 2009, p. 21). Fewer institutions were offering teacher
education and barriers to entry were much higher. Attempts to increase equality in
higher education by government, such as enforcing stringent quotas, also decreased
enrolment (Chisholm, 2010, p. 16). This meant that white students were less able to
study education while black students often did not enrol or dropped out. Older, more
experienced white teachers took the retrenchment packages offered by the
redeployment scheme and further weakened teacher supply (Bloch, 2009, p. 101).
Crucially, the absorption of these colleges into universities did not take into account
what was the only universally agreed upon strength of the teacher education system:
its far reach and spatial spread.
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Centralised university education became too expensive for students, especially when
combined with transportation and living costs in urban environments. They are
concentrated in urban areas, which are difficult to get to from rural areas which are
far away and lack decent, affordable public transport. They are certainly not
compatible with the reality that many youths also need to earn and support their
families.
Lastly, the shift to university education changes the curriculum, putting the emphasis
on theory and academics rather than straight-up teacher training. Many South
Africans, socioeconomically disadvantaged, coming out of a poor schooling system,
and without educational resources, have neither the marks to get into these
universities nor the ability to cope with that curriculum even if they would have
made decent teachers. This decreases enrolment and increases the dropout rate.
By closing down local, rural colleges, even if they were remote and inefficient, the
DoE drastically decreased access to teacher training which was, for many, the only
vehicle available to higher education. Teacher training and, for many, higher
education has become far less accessible (Paterson & Arends, 2009) (Chisholm,
2009).
Teacher attrition is stable at 5-6% per year far higher than the rate at which
graduates are entering the school system (The Departments of Basic Education and
Higher Education and Training, 2011, p. 31). Only around a third of the teachers the
system needs to be producing per year (20 000) are being produced (Chisholm, 2009,
p. 23).
Social implications
This decision didnt take the unique position of teacher training colleges in rural
communities into account. Because teacher training colleges were often the only way
to gain qualifications for rural non-whites, they were popular and respected
institutions which were embedded in communities (Sayed, 2004, p. 248). Teachers
had special status as the highest educated persons in many small towns and villages,
and teaching often was a de facto way of accessing other qualifications and jobs
(Pratt, 2001, p. 3).
Now, as a result, many youths in rural areas are cut off both from teacher training
and from any chance to gain higher qualifications. The deeper implications of this are
that those rural areas are left without the important teacher figure that used to be
cornerstones of those communities. Furthermore, those rural areas are left without
teachers. Enrolment in teacher education across the country dropped. It dropped
most drastically in those provinces that did not have enough teachers to begin with.
Local supply is incredibly important to recruit and retain teachers for rural areas
(Paterson & Arends, 2009, pp. 101-103).Forcing teachers to teach in public schools in
rural areas in exchange for financial support in their studies (a measure that has been
tried in order to deal with scarcity in these areas) tends not to work as teachers will
leave as soon as the required time is over: there is lack of dedication, continuity and
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investment. Those that are willing to staff rural schools tend to be those that are now
disenfranchised from the system and unable to study teaching.
In essence, the problem had shifted from too many (under qualified) teachers in the
wrong places to not enough teachers, especially where they are needed the most.

Effectiveness
In summary:

The system is less expensive.

Extremely poor quality colleges closed; quality of present graduates not
significantly improved.
The system is definitely better coordinated and less ambiguous. Some
problem of confusion of responsibility and poor control remain.
The system is now not producing enough teachers to match demand.
The higher education system less racially segregated. Teacher training has
been elevated in status.
Access to teacher training and tertiary education as a whole is significantly
lower for poor, rural students.
Communities are left without significant teaching institutions and important
teacher figures.

Efficiency
This policy did address the major goals of the government at the time costs, quality
and coordination. Even if these things are currently less than perfect, they have been
significantly improved. However, failure to recognise the unique social place of these
institutions led to the compounding of problems of teacher supply and education
provision. So even if this policy was effective it did what it was meant to do it was
not efficient.
The benefits are: costly, inefficient colleges of varying quality do not exist anymore,
coordination and cohesion has increased somewhat, and symbolically second class
black education has been eradicated. However, the costs are much larger, and
continue to grow. Not enough teachers are graduating from the system to staff
schools. Teacher quality is not significantly higher. The government has recently had
to reintroduce bursaries and try to attract foreign teachers to staff schools; there is a
scramble to try to provide more, better teachers and the problem is only worsening.
This policy has exacerbated the problematic lack of teachers willing to teach in rural
areas. This is again contrary to the point of teacher education and supply. The system
is inefficient as it is not producing the teachers that are needed. It is important to
note that denying access to higher education for rural youths is again contrary to the
mandate of the DoE. It is counter-productive to its own goals (explicitly stated as
wanting to ensure equality in the system and remove the legacy of Apartheid), and
prevents the development of skills and socioeconomic capacity in communities that
need it most.

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The functionality of the system has been compromised. This policy has proved to be
very costly for education. The government now has to deal with a teacher education
system unable to support the school system, decreased access to education, and
various other problems described above all long term problems requiring long
term, comprehensive solutions.
The policy process was a slow one, and the government certainly didnt shut down all
training colleges off the bat. The initial plan was not to get rid of the training college
system, but as reconstruction continued, it became apparent that none of these
institutions were viable according to the DoEs criteria. Many still protest at the
description of the closure of these colleges they werent necessarily closed, they
were assimilated (Chisholm, 2010). The distinction is not important in considering the
consequences but it is important in considering the intentions of the government.
The DoE issued an ultimatum to teacher education colleges: if they wanted to be
autonomous, they had to be cost efficient, high quality and procure high enrolments.
What is important is that this integration policy operated as a blunt instrument,
intended increase efficiency of the system. Colleges were eliminated or assimilated
into the new system when they were inefficient, not developed and strengthened.
There were no incremental improvements, no mechanistic policies aimed at
improving these institutions, no cognisance of their role in the education system.
They were, in the governments words, rationalised. This policy simply got rid of
institutions seen to be liabilities.
Additionally, and more importantly, it was a big blunt instrument. This restructuring
was a radical move that completely overhauled the system. The major implication of
this is that trial and error were not possible. Institutions and staff with knowledge,
experience, and community links were lost and restarting a system of teacher
training colleges, as is currently proposed, would involve huge costs. Where, for
example, would the DoE find enough teachers to staff these colleges? What will
happen to the institutions that now use those college facilities? The radical overhaul
of the system has essentially committed the DoE to a certain path with significant
problems and drawbacks. Deviating from the path to other alternatives is possible,
but incredibly difficult and costly.
This paper argues that the decision to close the teacher education colleges was not
cognisant of the needs of the system, nor the greater social function of those
colleges, and that this policy, in addition to other restructuring within tertiary
education, has greatly decreased enrolment in teacher education programs,
compounding teacher supply problems in South Africa.
Having enough competent teachers is an absolute necessity for transformation and
redress in South Africa. As a country with injustice and inequality entrenched in every
party of society, education is the only way to a) break the poverty cycle and provide
opportunities to the disadvantaged, b) to create long-term socioeconomic change
and c) to educate a new generation of citizens. This is especially important because

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those school pupils who feel abandoned and disenfranchised by the education
system are unlikely to become constructive and productive members of society;
instead, an angry country is likely to become even angrier.

How did this happen?

Conflicting mandates
After the realisation of democracy in 1994, the ANC government, as heroes,
liberators, and champions of democracy, was facing huge expectations, which often
conflicted. In education policy the government was supposed to improve efficiency,
to improve quality, to provide redress and justice, to foster unity (i.e. not frighten or
disenfranchise the white privileged minority while still redistributing privilege and
resources) and to ensure economic growth and development. The government was
in a tense position re: policy where any given choice was a trade-off, usually between
equity and redress, and socioeconomic stability, and highly constrained by
concessions made in the negotiation process with the Apartheid government.
This means that the government at the time had to be very careful about being
politically correct, and had to be seen to be making symbolic changes to the country.
Sometimes things like precise and mechanistic change (slow and incremental) were
traded off for broad policy moves: change for the sake of change. This is what
happened here.
Lack of experience, expertise and operational space. It needs to be noted that the
ANC had no governing experience or capacity to speak of. As a liberation movement,
the ANC was inheriting a system created to entrench systemic inequality and
injustice. When they came to power in 1994 they had to dismantle structural
inequality and rebuild systems so that they could be equitable and fair. Their capacity
to do this was hampered by the following:

As a liberation movement, the ANC was not a body capable of running

governmental structures, particularly not structures unfamiliar to
them. The ANC was highly politicised and characterised by networks of
trusted comrades. The ANC was a movement based upon fighting
oppression and tearing down oppressive structures, which are not the
same things as policy making and implementation.

As a movement wishing to be constructive and reconciliatory, they

spoke in a language of symbols and hope. This was a movement based
on the fight for democracy and equality, but it was primarily a
movement based on bringing down the Apartheid regime. The ANC
did not have policies and plans for fixing the country.

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Lowering costs was a high priority. The ANC had also inherited a large amount of
debt from the Apartheid regime and controlling and cutting spending and trying to
be economically efficient were very important. At the same time, from 1996
onwards, government was implementing the overarching macroeconomic Growth,
Employment and Redistribution Policy (GEAR). GEAR redirected South African public
policy away from redistribution and development and towards efficiency,
competitiveness and affordability (Pratt, 2001, p. 12). The political climate ushered
in by GEAR did not favour capacity building, institutional strengthening and human
resource development, which would be expensive, long-term policy; instead the
costs of teacher education colleges shaded them as a burden and a problem to be
solved.
Alternatives were not properly considered. Gordon (2009, p. 23) finds: it may have
been the case that some colleges could have become autonomous higher education
institutions if given sufcient funding and assistance to develop over a ve-year
period, but that this option was never publicly explored. There was not enough
funding available to increase enrolments dramatically or to develop the capacity of
college personnel.
Other stakeholders were preoccupied elsewhere or unable to engage. The South
African Democratic Teachers Union (SADTU), a very powerful, very politically
involved force that often had the ability to influence legislation, was preoccupied
with policy directly concerning schools and the curriculum (Chisholm, 2010, p. 18).
The colleges themselves were not much involved in the discussion and had no
platform of engagement as a unified system they were simply isolated institutions.
The lack of cohesion between the colleges meant they had no voice or bargaining
power and, as a system or as a collective, did not enter discussions.
The government was preoccupied with symbolic policy. Jansen (2001, p. 42)
describes period of policymaking in the early 1990s as projecting the symbolism of
policy making that is, contending actors seeking to establish broad symbolic
positions in education policy ahead of South Africas first democratic elections. The
symbolism of this position did not require detailed policy proposals, simply broad
statements of intent or values. Jansen continues: We search in vain for a logic in
policy making connected to any serious intention to change the practice of education
on the ground Every single case of education policy making demonstrate in
different ways the preoccupation of the state with settling policy struggles in the
political domain rather than in the realm of practice (2002, p. 200).
Policymaking in the period directly following Apartheid was not policy making
concerned with implementation and implementable plans. South Africas rush to
declare symbolic positions and overhaul structures was a direct attempt to avoid
path dependency and deconstruct the social and political structures that entrenched
Apartheid. Thus incremental change and support for systems seen as props of the
Apartheid regime was often out of the question. Radical change that got rid of or

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rebranded these systems, made easy by broad, symbolic statements, was

unavoidable.
Beyond a concerted emphasis to differentiate the new government and policies on a
symbolic level, there was simply a lack of capacity to change up-and-running,
entrenched political systems. Those systems had to be divorced from Apartheid
(symbolic positioning, again) but changing their foundations and mechanisms was an
enormous job that the ANC had a) committed itself to do and b) did not have the
capacity to do. All they could do at that point, I would argue, was make symbolic
distinctions. This is highly problematic as it is often confused with and touted as
change.
If the symbolic shift to (supposedly) non-racial, urban academic institutions from
racially divided second class rural teaching colleges had not further entrenched
inequality and lack of access to education, perhaps this could be called progressive
change. It was rather a superficial, radical policy shift for symbolic purposes that did
little to nothings to affect constructive and reconstructive consequences.
The government did not identify/predict teacher supply as a problem. Enrolment
turned out to be a much bigger problem than the government had predicted. As
stated beforehand, distribution of teachers across the country was considered the
real problem, not the actual supply of teachers. Efforts at rationalisation and teacher
redeployment in 1996-1997 failed (Chisholm, 2009). Contrary to predictions,
enrolment in schools did boom. Many excess teachers were offered retrenchment
packages usually taken by the more professional and experienced teachers in the
system, further destabilising the profession (Bloch, 2009, p. 101).
Not only did redistribution just not work, but the government had underestimated
two things: student enrolment and teacher attrition. Student enrolment was much
higher, as was demand for teachers. Furthermore, the HIV/AIDS pandemic (around
13% of all educators were found to be HIV positive 2008) meant that not only was
there increased mortality in the teaching profession, but that illness often left
teachers absent, demoralised and incompetent (Paterson & Arends, 2009, p. 97)
Another factor to note is teacher migration, part of the problematic brain drain in
South Africa: working in public schools is not attractive, because of poor pay and
poor socioeconomic conditions of those schools, and migration abroad or to the
private sector removes some of the best teachers from the supply of educators.

A model of South African policy making

The post-Apartheid South African government was not a functioning bureaucracy.
Policy makers were former liberators and politicians with virtually no governing
experience or skill. Consistent with these we see a preoccupation with change and
symbolic position, as well as the very real constraints faced by a government
inheriting such a country.
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What is evidenced is a lack of comprehensive cognisance of the functioning of

education as a system, and a lack of understanding of the social impacts of these
institutions. Implementation and broader consequences beyond the system does
not perform well werent thoroughly considered although discussed, the idea of
strengthening teacher training colleges was privately dismissed, and never officially
tabled. Furthermore, the DoEs focus on the practicalities of the system costs,
efficiency, coordination narrowed the discussion to how well those institutions
performed and were administrated, and ended up ignoring the social function of
those training colleges.
Policy making in South Africa, far from being a rational problem solving process, is
quite consistent with the idea of the Garbage Can model of policy making (March,
1994, pp. 198-206): problems, solutions and policymakers were often disconnected
from each other, and the policy that ended up being implemented was very much
dependent on its time context. Other important things that were happening in
education, such as the school curriculum OBE overhaul, drew SADTU and other
important actors away from the policy process surrounding the teaching colleges.
Furthermore, the process took so long and was implemented in incremental stages,
that there was always something more important happening to draw attention away
from other education-related stakeholders.
The choice opportunity where the decision was made thus ended up consisting of
politicians (who were interested in broad symbolic policy) and bureaucrats (who
were interested in efficiency and cutting spending). The problems identified ended
up being divorced from issues of teacher supply. In fact, problems were attached to
solutions in a vacuum: the practical issues faced by colleges were seen as
independent of every other function of these colleges. Only a few options were seen
as viable by those actors, and there were no voices arguing for other paths. Given
these actors, problem definitions and solutions together, the resulting policy was
predictable. Unfortunately, the elements in the garbage can were too limited.
Furthermore, almost all the actors involved in this policymaking process were
politicians, activists, liberators who dwell in the symbolic realm. Von Holdt (2010)
looks at the tension between nationalism and bureaucracy in post-Apartheid South
Africa and the uneasy spectrum of effectiveness that exists. Having inherited a
foreign, Western state apparatus, and being a nationalistic liberation movement, in
some cases (the revenue services, the treasury) South African bureaucracies can be
highly inefficient. In other cases, effectiveness is unravelled by the hidden
transcripts of informal nationalist practices (von Holdt, 2010, p. 23). Inherited
bureaucracies can function well, but politics tends to take over all functions of state
operators, and the result is empty policy, such as the on discussed in this paper.
Von Holdts analysis finds a number of elements that hamper effectiness and
bureaucracy in the South African government. Two are specifically relevant here:
face and budgetary rituals. By face, von Holdt emphasises once again the
importance of symbolic positions and the culture of deference to authority that has
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grown within government structures meaning that when decisions are made, they
are made by political elites with specific nationalist priorities, which usually take the
form of rhetoric divorced from implementation (von Holdt, 2010, pp. 16-18). When
speaking of budgetary discipline, two things are important: 1) budgets are drawn up
in ministerial offices with little to no relevance to the reality of the institutions
concerned and 2) the government has a preoccupation with minimising expenditure
that signals service delivery as secondary. This appears to come from the idea that
government should be efficient and effective, but is perverted when this becomes an
obstacle to true change and advocates efficiency for the sake of efficiency (von Holdt,
2010, pp. 19, 23)
Policy in this case, and systemically across the South African political system, is
characteristically top-down, and somehow separated from implementation and
planning (Jansen, 2002). A common refrain is that the national plans and policies are
good but somewhere, somehow, implementation goes wrong. This is because the
South African policy model does not take the capacity of concerned actors, and the
reality of how those institutions work. It rather responds to problems by asserting
normative dominance and looking for silver bullets large, one-size-fits-all policies
developed by politicians at the ministerial level.
Particularly, in this case, we see a lack of a plan of action. The closure/integration
of the teaching colleges was a policy that was never quite intended but happened
anyway, evolving out of a narrowly focused drive to make the system more efficient.
This policy was developed independent of other system wide policies in education,
such as redeployment and redistribution of teachers, such as school curriculum
changes, and there was no comprehensive plan to deal with teacher supply at the
same and for the sustainable future.
At a time when the post-Apartheid government needed to implement long-term
structural changes, they rather applied sometimes superficial, isolated problems that
targeted specific problems. This meant that low quality teacher education colleges
were seen as an isolated problem that needed to be solved. No investment was
made to realise the important role of these colleges and to increase output a policy
solution that would have required intense systems analysis and complex policy and
implementation to get all institutions on track. Instead, a grand overarching policy
if they cant be autonomous, integrate them was implemented, one that was
neither cognisant of what caused the problems in these institutions nor the
fundamental role played by them.

Policy advice
This is not a paper that, like some loud voices in South African politics, argues for the
reopening of teacher training colleges. While initially, it may seem like a good idea so
simply reverse dangerous decisions of the past, I have a number of objections.

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The reconstruction of tertiary education has narrowed the available policy options
and has made reversing decisions incredibly costly. Where are the teachers and
lecturers to staff these colleges? Where is the money? Colleges were
underperforming, but the causes of poor performance were not addressed. How do
we make sure these colleges do well? Reopening the colleges would be a
monumental task to undertake, particularly without knowledge and thorough
evaluation of the system.
The government, and particularly the DoE, has a history of simply being unable to
deliver. Current institutions and systems are not functioning smoothly (Chisholm,
2010). These institutions have the resources and capabilities to produce; however
proper goals and policy are needed in order to ensure that they are fulfilling their
role within the greater educational system. I would argue that reforming the current
system would be less costly and more effective than reopening the colleges. The
policy choice to integrate the system has unfortunately committed us to this path.
Lessons to be learned from this analysis for future application:
I.
II.

III.

IV.

V.

The rural/urban divide is stronger than ever. Higher education provisions

must be made for those that (arguably) need it the most.
Teacher training institutions (should) do more than simply supply teachers.
They were once important institutions in communities, provided local,
dedicated teachers, and were highly respected avenues to greater
opportunities. Removing these in favour of large, urban, education machines
severely underestimates the social place of these institutions.
Enrolment in education training must be stimulated, and the quality of
education training must be improved, in order for teacher training to do its
job.
Broad symbolic gestures while important for nascent democracies have
the capacity to ruin functional, if problematic systems. Incremental,
mechanistic approaches to policy, fixing systems and institutions, and not
falsely separating policy from implementation are important. To fix
education policy, we must identify the correct goals and identify
implementable steps to improve their goals (and so, must be cognisant of
resources and capabilities).
Costs should not be a problem unless resources are wasted. Investment in
institutional strengthening and building will ultimately create a better
system, but inefficient, ineffective programs are a drain on the budget.

The best direction from here would be to critically analyse the institutions and
structures we have now, and create realistic plans of action to improve their
functioning. The importance of a healthy supply of good teachers cannot be
underestimated. Ensure that existing facilities are operating properly; this should be
an expert, mechanistic plan, guided by goals and values but not made up of them.
National government is ultimately responsible for this sector and should not divorce
itself from its operation.
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Secondly, it is important to increase access to (specifically teacher) education in rural

areas. Opening colleges is a possibility but, if decided upon, needs to be done
carefully and purposefully, to ensure that the mistakes of the past are not repeated.
Pilot programmes with plenty of evaluation, trial and error and feedback to create a
workable model would do best. The conceptual existence of training colleges has
hardly ever been questioned; in fact, it is almost universally recognised that the
system was theoretically helpful and supportive to social structures. What
determines their viability is and always has been efficiency and performance. Cost is
not a problem, per se, as long as these colleges achieve what they are meant to.

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Devi Pillay: Reconstructing Education