Technocratic school governance and South Africa's quest for democratic participation

Abstract

In 1996 South Africa initiated a national policy to promote broader participation in educational decision-making through local school governance structures in which parents serve as majority members.This model was designed with the expressed aim of contributing to the democratic transformation of South African society. This chapter examines South Africas experience to date, utilizing the theory of action framework to understand both government policy and school-level actors experiences.We argue that while commonly espoused theories are evident in the governance policy and among various actors, in practice the government actions are promoting a narrow understanding of the policy, one which privileges technocratic efficiency over grassroots participation in decision-making. Consequently, government initiatives are serving to reinforce existing patterns of power and privilege in schools and in the broader society. We start with a few introductory comments on why South Africa makes such a compelling case, followed by an overview of our theoretical framework. After an historical overview, we present our evidence regarding the espoused theory and theory-in-use of South Africas governance policy. In examining the theories of action of different school-level actors,we focus on the three dimensions of participation, representation and decision-making.We conclude with a discussion of the dangers of such a narrow interpretation of school governance and participation and suggest what these findings mean for broader debates regarding participation. © 2007 Springer.