LEGAL FRAMEWORK FOR THE FUNDING OF EDUCATION IN SOUTH AFRICAN PUBLIC SCHOOLS

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CHAPTER 2: QUALITY EDUCATION

Introduction

The National Centre for Public Policy and Higher Education on the quality of education in New Jersey, summarises the challenge to all countries of the world when they phrase it this way:
‘To sustain our quality of life, it is imperative that our children are taught to understand the basic systems that support us: the economy, the environment, government, and society.’ (http://www.njstatelib.org/Research_Guide/Public_Policy/Index.php accessed on 23 March 2010)
The debate on public education in South Africa is not new. The current education system has its roots in the Freedom Charter of the ANC (1955: 4) that reads that education shall be free, compulsory, universal and equal for all children. The second important international initiative that impacts on education in South Africa is the Dakar declaration of 2000, to which South Africa was a co-signatory; where it was agreed that all education at primary school level should be free by 2015
The right to education in the democratic South Africa derives from Section 29(1) of the Constitution of 1996. It is important to take note of the ruling of the South African Constitutional court on this matter in where Judge Nkabinde J, (The Governing Body of the Juma Musjid Primary School and another v Essay NO and Others (Centre for Child Law and Another as Amici Curiae) 2011 (7) BCLR 651 (CC)) for a unanimous court stated the following:
‘It is important, for the purposes of this judgment to understand the nature of the right to a “basic education” under Section 29(1)(a). Unlike some of the other socio-economic rights this right is immediately realisable. There is no internal limitation requiring that the right be “progressively realised” within “available resources” subject to “reasonable legislative measures”. The right to a basic education in Section 29(1)(a) may be limited only in terms of a law of general application which is “reasonable and justifiable in an open and democratic society based on human dignity, equality and freedom”. …’
It is, however, important to note that no mention of quality education is made anywhere in the Constitution. It is further important to note that as far as the South African Schools Act (hereafter SASA) is concerned, quality education is never defined per se. It is however, mentioned four times, that is (i) in its preamble, (ii) Section 8(2), (iii) Section 20(1)(a) and (iv) in Section 36(1). The preamble to the SASA, reads that ‘this country requires a new national system for schools which will redress past injustices in educational provision, provide an education of progressively high quality for all learners (my emphasis) and in so doing lay a strong foundation for the development of all our people’s talents and capabilities’. Section 8(2) refers to the code of conduct for learners, stating that it must be aimed at ‘… establishing a disciplined and ,purposeful school environment, dedicated to the improvement and maintenance of the quality of the learning process (my emphasis)’.
The other two sections refer to responsibilities of the school governing body. Section 20(1)(a) says that the school governing body must ‘promote the best interests of the school and strive to ensure its development through the provision of quality education for all learners at the school(my emphasis)’ and Section 36(1) compels the school governing body to ‘… take all reasonable measures within its means to supplement the resources supplied by the State in order to improve the quality of education (my emphasis) provided by the school to all learners at the school’.
Although quality education is not defined in legislation or case law, it can be assumed that all education offered in public schools aspires to be of a high standard. This chapter will investigate the phenomenon of quality education.

Quality education

As previously indicated in paragraph 1.7.1 of Chapter 1, educational policy has faced two challenging priorities since the Second World War; the first was making equality education (a school for everyone) a reality and the second with which the world is still battling, is quality education (a better school for everyone) (De Groof, 1995: 7)
Every parent should have the best interests of his/her child at heart specifically when it concerns the education of their children. In fact internationally this concern is manifested in the United Nations International Convention on the Rights of the Child (18 Nov 1989) where the following is spelt out:
Article 3: Best Interests of the Child:
All actions concerning the child shall take full account of his/her best interests. The state shall provide the child with adequate care when parents, or others charged with that responsibility, fail to do so.

Article 18: Parental responsibility:

Parents have joint primary responsibility for raising the child, and the State shall support them in this. The State shall provide appropriate assistance to parents in child-raising.

Article 28: Education

The child has a right to education, and the State’s duty is to ensure that primary education is free and compulsory, to encourage different forms of secondary education accessible to every child and to make higher education available to all on the basis of capacity. School discipline shall be consistent with the child’s rights and dignity. The State shall engage in international cooperation to implement this right. (UNESCO – http://www2.ohchr.org/english/law/crc.htm – accessed on 20/03/2006)
The White Paper on Education and Training of 1995 in paragraph 3 of Chapter 7 spells out the intention of the South African government to entrench into the relevant legislation “a number of conventions which deal partly or wholly with rights to education and the rights of the child, including the Convention Against Discrimination in Education (UNESCO, 1960), the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (UN, 1966), and the Convention on the Rights of the Child (UN, 1989)”. The initial challenge of equality education (a school for everyone) was strongly advocated by the late Katerina Tomasevski, a world-renowned advocate for the right to education and former UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Education. She developed the now well-known model of the four As regarding the provision of education. De Groof & Lauwers (2005:37/38) refer to this model in the UN’s document General Comments No 13 (08/12/99) when they say that education in all its forms and at all levels should exhibit the following interrelated and essential features

Availability
Accessibility
Acceptability
Adaptability

regarding Rivonia Primary School. The case was heard in the South Gauteng High Court on 2 and 3 October 2011 but judgement has not been passed yet⁸. This case engages the question of class size, thereby raising the issues of adequacy and quality.
Adams (1993: 12/13) identifies multiple definitions of quality as a concept in use and concludes as follows:

Quality has multiple meanings
Quality may reflect individual values and interpretations
Quality often is multidimensional; it may subsume equity and efficiency concerns
Quality is dynamic; it changes over time and context
Quality may be assessed by either quantitative or qualitative measures
Goals of quality may conflict with efficiency, equity, or other goals
Quality is grounded in values, cultures and traditions: it may be specific to a specific nation, province, community, school, parent or individual student
Different stakeholder groups often have different definitions of quality; thus ‘winners’ and ‘losers’ may be associated with any particular definition

He also presents a list of characteristics of education quality without giving a specific definition (Adams, 1993:13):

Quality is definable in context
Under some assumptions quality can be measured ‘objectively’
Quality often supplements, complements, or is integrated into interpretations of efficiency and equity
Quality is not necessarily associated with high costs
Given similar missions, goals and comparable contexts, educational quality can be elevated across educational setting

List of Figures
List of Tables
DECLARATION OF ORIGINALITY
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
ABSTRACT
KEY CONCEPTS
ACRONYMS
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION
1.1 Statement of purpose
1.2 Significance and situatedness of this study
1.3 Rationale .
1.4 Research questions
1.5 Theoretical framework
1.6 Conceptual framework
1.7 Literature Review
1.8. Research design
CHAPTER 2: QUALITY EDUCATION
2.1 Introduction
2.2 Quality education
2.3 Quality education in the South African context
2.4 European Commission’s model on quality education
2.5 The role of the teacher
2.6 Conclusion and synthesis.
CHAPTER 3: LEGAL FRAMEWORK FOR THE FUNDING OF EDUCATION IN SOUTH AFRICAN PUBLIC SCHOOLS
3.1 Introduction
3.2 Organisation of the South African education system
3.3 The funding of public education
3.4 Responsibilities regarding the financial management of public schools
3.5 Conclusion
CHAPTER 4: ACCOUNTABILITY REGARDING THE FINANCIALMANAGEMENT OF EDUCATION
4.1 Introduction
4.2 Conceptualisation
4.3. Primary responsibilities regarding the provision of education in South Africa
4.4 The funding of education in South Africa
4.5 Accountability in the South African education system
4.6 Liability
4.7 Conclusion
CHAPTER 5: RESEARCH DESIGN
5.1 Introduction
5.2 Epistemology
5.3 Theoretical and conceptual frameworks
5.4 Research approach
5.5 Methodology
5.6 Data collection
5.7 Data analysis
5.8 Trustworthiness, Validity and Reliability
5.10 Ethics
5.11 Storage of data
5.12 Limitations
5.13 In closing
CHAPTER 6: DATA ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION
6.1 Introduction
6.2 Section A: Demographic and other information
6.3 Section B: Performance in the National Senior Certificate Examination
6.4 Section C: Indicators of Quality Education
6.5 Summary
CHAPTER 7: CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
7.1 Introduction
7.2 Reflection on and integration of literature review
7.3 Findings
7.4 Conclusions based on assumptions
7.5 Recommendations for improvement of practice and further investigation
7.6 Final impression
LIST OF REFERENCES
ANNEXURE
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