Azeem Badroodien

Enterprise Training in Post-Apartheid South Africa.

Against the backdrop of training provision in the apartheid era and a description of the promulgation of a new skills development regime post‐1994, this article considers the status and distribution of enterprise training in contemporary South Africa. It is found that reasonable progress is being made with training in large and medium‐sized firms and that a significant turnaround is occurring at the intermediate level through the new learnership schemes. Less impressive is the participation of small firms in the levy‐grant system. Moreover, training still tends to be largely provided in the form of in‐house, short course and employer‐specific instruction, which is unlikely to upgrade the skills base of the workforce in terms of the acquisition of whole qualifications in line with the National Qualifications Framework (NQF). In addition, the beneficiaries of key forms of training remain white and male, particularly at the high skills end. This suggests that while the implementation of a new skills development regime is showing clear dividends, there remains much to be done to overcome previous inequalities and impact on key aspects of a predominantly low skills regime.

Thinking about the significance of Nelson Mandela for education

We have arrived, almost inevitably, at the point where Nelson Mandela’s significance for education needs to be scholarly discussed. In the period building up to and in the wake of his death in December 2013, it had become clear that the world had in Mandela a figure of historical significance. This significance is emphasised for many in the absence of leadership they see in in relation to some of the world’s most egregious and seemingly intractable conflicts and challenges. Adam and Moodley (2005), for example, in their book on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict ask, ‘what would have happened in the Middle East had a Palestinian Mandela or Gandhi provided unifying moral and strategic leadership[?]’ (ix). What he had accomplished in his life in facilitating the settlement of the South African question, the world’s pre-eminent case-study of the Du Boisian problematic of the twentieth century – the problem of the ‘colour-line’ – forever positions him as one of the contemporary era’s most important figures. He stands in this sense, rightly alongside of Gandhi and Martin Luther King. But we are now in the enormously interesting situation, beyond the predictable flurry of hagiographies and romances that are now available, of having to say what this historical contribution constitutes. Fortunately, new scholarship is emerging which begins, articulately, to craft a way of entering into this new discursive space. The work of the literary theorist Elleke Boehmer (2008) is valuable for this task, as is that of Schalkwyk (2013). Both begin to separate out the personal, social and political in Mandela’s thinking to surface the texture of his logics in a way that allows one to understand him much more analytically. Out of this emerge frameworks for use. Boehmer, for example, presents him as a post-colonial humanist. We are now required to engage with this scholarly development around Mandela in education, and so, in this Forum, we begin the difficult task of

“Narratives of Social Cohesion”: Bridging the Link between School Culture, Linguistic Identity and the English Language

This paper argues that processes of self-creation are significantly influenced by experiences of schooling, of which language forms a critical aspect. The school is a central site in which identities are contested, negotiated and affirmed, but it is also imbibed with a particular identity that, in the South African context, often remains expressly raced and classed. Existing research has pointed to the salience of language for questions of identity in education, and moreover the relationship between school cultures and the inculcation of particular norms and values. However, in the South African context research should also be focusing on the relationship between the major medium of instruction in schools, English, the values and behaviour encouraged at the school level, and how these influence learners’ linguistic and social identities. This paper engages with research conducted in three Cape Town schools and develops the idea of “narratives of social cohesion” to articulate the ways in which different school cultures influence learner-identity formation. It posits that the assumed neutrality of the primary medium of instruction, and its historic association with whiteness, represents a continued undervaluation of black learners’ linguistic and social experiences.

The Mandela Legacy

The late Nelson Mandela is regarded as a unique example of universal humaneness in the late 20th and early 21st century. He is endeared as an important political and historical figure whose legacy represents a beacon of hope in a deeply fragile, violent, and fragmented global world. For many individuals, organisations, and national governments, this legacy has become the moral compass to follow for durable and just solutions to complex conflicts.

Social Cohesion, Violence, and Education in South Africa

The chapter explores how education and teachers are conceptualised within policymaking in relation to building social cohesion in South Africa. More specifically, it considers the intended educational goals of social cohesion initiatives, its value in schools in reducing societal conflict, and its objective to foster enduring forms of social justice and peace in everyday life. On the one hand, teachers play key roles in influencing the personal identities of learners, as well as the development of their values of respect and tolerance. On the other hand, their contribution is shaped by the ways in which structural inequalities, including the distribution of education opportunities, influence what they are able to do as teachers. The chapter asserts that to restore trust and build durable peace and social cohesion, and to stem violence and conflict in society, it is important to provide equal access to quality education, where teachers act as key agents of change. It is argued that education policies and programmes can contribute to greater social cohesion when they promote redistribution (equity), recognition (of diversity), representation (engagement), and reconciliation (dealing with grievances, injustice, and legacies of conflict). Through analyses of policies on social cohesion and education, the chapter considers the implications of social cohesion initiatives for teachers and for the provision of equitable quality education in South Africa.

TEACHERS AND SOCIAL COHESION IN THE GLOBAL SOUTH: EXPANDING THE NOTION OF EDUCATION QUALITY

Published by the University of Johannesburg and Unisa Press. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) Education as Change Volume 20 | Number 3 | 2016 | pp. 1–14 www.educationaschange.co.za TEACHERS AND SOCIAL COHESION IN THE GLOBAL SOUTH: EXPANDING THE NOTION OF EDUCATION QUALITY

When Truths Collide: Narratives on Cape Town

In the contemporary era, cities are generally depicted as places where ‘‘new lifestyles are played out, workplaces and home-places reunited, and where the symbolically enriched cultural capital of the urban world epitomize new dolce vitas.’’ Cities are however not simply about desire and lived spaces in the everyday performance of everyday life; they are also sites of memory and identity, contested spaces given to plays of power and privilege, commonality and difference. Indeed, new city forms are perhaps the most conducive spaces through which to view the remaking of culture and identity. In this respect, Achille Mbembe and Sarah Nuttall refer to the city as made up of ‘‘excesses, simultaneity, speed, appearance, rapid alterations, relentless change, and ceaseless mutability and discontinuous eventfulness.’’ Referring to the ‘‘elusive metropolis’’ of Johannesburg, they note that this changing inventory and the rich textuality of cities need to be captured in ways that show their unsettled appearance