Epistemic injustice: Barrier to articulation management between higher education institutions in South Africa

Abstract

The call for free education and decolonization of higher education curricula in recent years by university students in South Africa has increased awareness of epistemological issues and the notion of epistemic justice in higher education. In national policies education is presented as a critical means for addressing inequality, poverty and unemployment and the need for integration of the various strands of the post-school education and training system is highlighted. Systemic articulation between institutions of learning and work is viewed as expanding access to education and training opportunities. A national articulation baseline survey involving all public universities and technical vocational education and training (TVET) colleges was undertaken in November 2016 in order to explore the existence and nature of articulation initiatives, and identify enablers and barriers to articulation between higher education institutions in South Africa. The report was completed in October 2017. This paper focuses on findings in the report related to articulation management between TVET colleges and universities. Although not explicitly stated, the findings revealed the prevalence of what we refer to as epistemic injustice, indicated by the extent to which individual and collective attitudes in academia perpetuate discrimination that impacts negatively on students’ progression from one institution to another higher learning institution. The need for epistemic justice to be included in the articulation lexicon on a national level is highlighted. One of the recommendations made in the report is that the South African Qualifications Authority should raise the level of awareness of epistemic injustice at institutional and individual levels.