Reimagining community schools as beacons of hope and possibility in the South African context

Abstract

South African schools in poor communities are facing a crisis of inefficiency and inequality. The failure of the present education schooling system to address the needs of the majority of local communities requires a reimagining of the concept and function of schools. We posit that to adequately address the current education realities in the country, stakeholders in schools need to re-evaluate their role within communities, and how they can best serve these communities by opening up possibilities for a better future for all. Using findings from our respective studies with members of both rural and urban South African communities, we reflect on how fostering mutually beneficial partnerships between a school and its community can contribute towards the holistic development and well-being of all school stakeholders. The article advances an argument for the need to start a process of reimagining school as not only a space for pursuing academic outcomes for the learners, but as an evolving site of possibility of betterment of the community that it serves. As such, the aim of the article is to challenge the present deficit definitions of the “community school” in South African education discourses and to present a progressive reimagining of community schools. We further offer three propositions for enabling such community schools to become beacons of hope and possibility in socioeconomically challenged South African communities.