Parents’ and teachers’ agency when practising school choice

Abstract

Background: School choice is framed in global education policy as a mechanism for enabling equitable access to schools. However, research shows that choice is often shaped by racialised, class-based and spatial inequalities. In South Africa, historical state control and its enduring apartheid legacies continue to inform how school choice is practised. Although studies have focused on parental decision-making, there is limited empirical research examining school choice as an agential process involving both parents and teachers navigating a stratified public schooling system. Purpose: This article examines how racial, economic, and geographical factors continue to structure school choice in an urban town in South Africa (Stellenbosch), despite post-apartheid reforms aimed at educational equality. It positions that there are few studies in the country that prioritise parents’ and teachers’ agency in the school choice debate. It is essential to consider their perspectives in tangent to each other to understand the embedded racial, economic and spatial reasoning that guides their decision-making around school selection. Method: The study made use of qualitative evidence from 11 semi-structured interviews conducted across three High Schools in the town of Stellenbosch, South Africa with parents and teachers. The schools were categorised as either fee paying or no-fee paying. The data were analysed thematically. Findings: Parents’ decisions to select schools were influenced by the school’s reputation, wherein they considered safety, resources, discipline, and the symbolic power of historically privileged schools in white and coloured neighbourhoods. Teachers viewed public schooling as an enabling space to support learners to facilitate community upliftment. These divergent but connected forms of agency reflected and responded to the practice of school choice while navigating historical and contemporary inequalities. Conclusion: By focusing on parents’ and teachers’ agency in understanding the process of school choice, this research offers an understanding of how educational inequalities persist and are resisted by these two stakeholder groups. School choice practice in Stellenbosch challenges traditional perceptions of schools in township and suburban areas and reframes a social justice analysis where parents and teachers are regarded as informed and engaged in shifting what school choice means in the town and broadly in the country.