Abstracts

92 The government’s postapartheid approach toward funding consisted of implementing a fiscal formula that would increase levels of access to education without putting undue pressure on the South African government’s financial resources. The result was an “equitable shares formula” that would divide up shares of educational resources and allocate them to the provinces and local governments based on the weight of specific demographic factors, including total population, student enrollment, and economy size. Schools were not mandated on how to spend the funds, as it was understood that different locations would have different fiscal needs such as health related resources in schools or language assistance (Levy et al., 2018). A second DOE white paper , Organization, Governance and Funding of Schools , outlined how funding should be structured and the schools governed. The main takeaway was that each public school should be controlled by a governing body with widespread responsibility and control. These governing bodies would consist of selected parents or guardians of current students; teachers; learners (in secondary schools only); nonteaching staff; the principal (ex officio); and members of the community elected by the governing body. This paper also highlighted the hiring structure for new employees within education: “The Ministry of Education’s position is that all teachers in public schools who are paid by the provincial education departments should be appointed and employed by the departments on the recommendation of and in consultation with school governing bodies” (DOE, 1995b, p. 17 ). The reasoning for this proposal was that the governing body should be involved in the selection process of the teachers who will educate their children. Prior to the publication of this white paper, the hiring of educators was controlled by the Educators Employment Act of 1994, where the entire appointment process took place within the DOE itself (Volmink et al., 2016). In summary, funding for education has remained a constant proportion of South Africa’s GDP but at a much higher percentage rate compared to other countries in the upper-middle-income bracket. Therefore, the question surrounding inequality in South Africa’s public education system does not necessarily directly correlate with the amount of money being allocated to education; rather, it reflects how and where that money is being spent internally. In other words, the education problem in South Africa is not caused by a lack of dedicated funding but by how the funds are spent and on other key factors, such as the lack of accountability within the education administration, the South African Democratic Teachers Union (SADTU), and the immense number of public school teachers underperforming and not meeting the proper standards in order to fulfill the crucial role they play. The remainder of this article addresses the critical issues facing public education in South Africa today, while exploring how they can be alleviated in the future. Current Problems in South African Education The following subsections outline the most detrimental, systemic problems within South African public education. Together, inadequate teacher training, ill-advised teacher placements, poor teacher engagement and classroom relations, and, finally, a disorganized SADTU have led to an unfavorable learning environment, thereby restricting progress. In order to understand how to reform education, we must understand why the system continues to fail. Teacher Training To comprehend South Africa’s dismal underperformance in education, it is imperative to understand how teachers are trained prior to being considered for the role and the criteria by which they are judged. On a basic level, teachers can be considered for a position only if they have registered through the South African Council for Educators (SACE). The recognition criteria for SACE requires that potential educators have obtained either a matriculation teaching qualification over the course of three years or a two-year certification in teacher education for pre-primary school phases (SACE, 2020). On its face, the criteria seem legitimate; however, it is critical to