Implementing education policies: The South African experience

Since 1994, there have been major attempts to change educational policy in order to meet the economic demands of South Africa and equalize education for all. Implementation of this policy is the big challenge. Through critical commentary and analysis, this book brings into focus the various policy documents that have been produced since the early 1990s. It looks at the history of education policy, why coherent policy is necessary, how it should be implemented and, most critical of all, it discusses the importance of education management and delivery.

Table of Contents:
Policy origins and evolution; the race for education policy after apartheid; public policy and the transformation of education in South Africa; inside Parliament: making laws and contesting policy in South African education; the role of the ANC Education Study Group in the legislative and policy process; reconstructing education - reflections on post-apartheid planning, systems and structure; policy concepts, contests and criticism; the role of the state in the governance of the education system; policy values - problematising equity and redress in education; the educational policy process in post-apartheid South Africa - an analysis of structures; democratic participation, decentralisation and educational reform; policy-making and implementation in higher education; higher education policy development in contemporary South Africa; making the NQF road by walking reflectively, accountably and boldly; merging higher education institutions - the lessons of international experience for the reconfiguration of the South African higher education system; globalisation, markets and the Third World university - preliminary notes on the role of the state in South African higher education; policy capacity and implementation realities; building capacity to deliver education in South Africa?; changing patterns of educational management development in South African education; implementation of outcomes-based approach to education in Australia and South Africa - a comparative study; policy analysis capacity in South Africa; explaining change and non-change in education after apartheid; post-apartheid educational transformation - policy concerns and approaches; explaining non-change in education reform after apartheid: political symbolism and the problem of policy implementation.

About the Author :
Dr Yusuf Sayed: Teaches at the Centre for Education at the University of Sussex. He has published extensively on education management and policy capacity in the South African transition. Prof. Jonathan Jansen: Dean of Education at the University of Pretoria. His publications focus on the politics and policy of curriculum change in South Africa.