Data Collection

The systemic nature of the schooling problems in South Africa implies that data sourced for the study be gathered from sources that are reflective of issues that address the factors that have a generalised influence on the education system as a whole. The factors are therefore those concerning historical and current national policies and the curriculum. Data pertaining to schooling performance are obtained from sources reflecting collations and analysis of empirical data compiled from national surveys. In this study, any localised, empirically-based research focused around individual schools are specifically avoided as South Africa is a country where the demographic disparities between schools, even in the same towns, could offer very divergent results. Therefore the sourcing of studies based on narrowly scoped, localised situations are avoided for purposes of obtaining nationally relevant results.

The national scope of the research restricts the data collection to a literary research and review, followed by relevant documentary analyses. There is a broad scope and an extensive volume of prior research carried out into every aspect of education in general (Google Scholar provides 88,000 articles containing “School education” in their titles) and a wealth of researched data available on topics about South African schooling education. All data for this phase of research are sourced from academic papers, government policy documents, survey material, the media and specific published works about ideological philosophies and social theories. The sourced data is categorised into the three interrelated themes required to perform a Foucauldian critical analysis; history, power structures and transformation for social emancipation (Myers & Klein, 2011).

The sources of data reviewed for this research phase are categorised into 1. ideological documents

2. legislation

3. peer-reviewed papers and academic publications 4. surveys and reports

5. media articles

Observations and interpretation of legislation and policy documents provide empirical data about

the current exercising of state powers effecting the activity of schooling. Further empirical data is sourced from contemporary surveys and reports based on the prevailing situations related to various aspects of the state of education in South Africa.

Table 5 contains an analysis of all articles by themes, sub-themes and sources. Sources of articles are denoted by numbers relating to the above list.

The Data Sources Analysis reveals the following about factors pertinent to the major themes of Foucauldian critical research;

 History –

◦ The historical past from the beginnings of formal schooling in South Africa up to the end of Apartheid education is covered through academic research only

◦ Post-apartheid education is covered through academic research, empirical data from surveys and statements obtained through the public media discourse.

This distribution of data sources over time, where historical, pre-democracy material is obtained purely from academic research but post-apartheid education legacy problems are identified and confirmed through information obtained from the academic sphere, empirical surveys and the public media discourse, provides corroboration for the view that the effects of Apartheid education have not been addressed but continue in the present time with the issues persisting in the public discourse.

 Power – The process of developing and exercising political power and influence, as well as its impact on education in South Africa through the formulation and implementation of policies, is revealed through systematically organising data into themes. These themes begin with basic beliefs that in turn spawn consequential actions in a cascading process to effect power. The thematic arrangement pursues steps that reflect the underlying

philosophical or idealogical beliefs, political doctrine and strategy, policy execution through legislation, policy outcomes through curricula documents, academic studies on contending ideologies and academic studies on the impacts of policies on school education in South Africa, as follows;

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Step 1: Addressing the political philosophies. 2 Primary texts, one on democracy

and the other on communism as well as 3 secondary texts provide the fundamental understanding of the contention between the two

philosophies.

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Step 2: Interrogating political doctrine emanating from the political philosophies is facilitated through 2 documents, one expounding on the political strategy called the National Democratic Revolution and the other, the first policy framework of the ANC entitled RDP (The Reconstruction and Development Programme). This interrogation provides an understanding of the drivers of policy formulation.

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Step 3: 6 relevant policy documents provide the means to interpret the effect of political doctrine through the exercising of legislative power.

▪

The South African Qualifications Authority (SAQA) Act, No. 58 of 1995, is selected as it is the enactment of the ideological notion that equates training with education.

▪

The National Qualifications Framework (NQF) Act 67 of 2006, is selected as it is the manifestation, through a common assessment framework, of the ideological view that equates education with training.

▪

The Labour Relations Act, 66 of 1995, is selected because it legislates for a network of protective procedures through which unionised educators may be protected against dismissal for non-performance of their tasks.

▪

National Education Policy Act, 27 of 1996, is selected as it clarifies the extent to which the minister of education is empowered to politically formulate education policy in accordance with provisions of the country's Constitution and the Act itself.

▪

South African Schools Act, 84 of 1996, is selected as it details the extent to which communities may participate in the democratic governance of their schools and assume control over most factors impacting on school

performance.

▪

Employment of Educators Act, 76 of 1998, is selected as it provides not only for the conditions of employment of educators but also the right of dismissal for either incapacity or misconduct.

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Step 4: The two national curricula formulated under the legislated policies are assessed through 2 academically researched works.

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Step 5: The impact of the two contending philosophical regimes are analysed with reference to 2 doctrinal commentaries and 3 academic papers.

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Step 6: The impacts of the policies on education in South Africa are assessed with reference to 8 academic papers on the topic and 2 reports compiled from empirically surveyed data.

The distribution of data sources confirms that a substantial body of research is available on various aspects of the topic concerning the impacts that the exercising of state power has on school education in South Africa. The process followed provides the basis for a comprehensive analysis of the contending ideologies that motivate the exercise of political powers through legislation and their effects on schooling in South Africa. These data provide the source of a response to the first research question posed for this phase of the research by enabling an analysis that reveals the underlying causes for school education failure in South Africa.

 Transformation for the benefit of society through the emancipation of the individual is pursued through;

◦ Interrogating 9 academically researched papers on the topic of democratic school governance and 1 policy document that legislates the functioning of school governing bodies in South Africa. The policy document is the South African Schools Act, 84 of 1996 (SASA) and more specifically the School Governing Bodies Policy (contained within SASA).

◦ Assessing the effects of policies on the transformational objectives is achieved through the analysis of data from 3 political philosophical texts, 7 policy documents, 13 academic research papers, 3 reports compiled from empirically researched data and 2 media reports. The political philosophical texts are two texts concerning the

National Democratic Revolution and the Universal Declaration on Democracy 1997.

The 6 policy documents are the Labour Relations Act, 66 of 1995 and various Amendments (LRA), the National Education Policy Act, 27 of 1996 (NEPA), the South African Schools Act, 84 of 1996 (SASA), Curriculum 2005 (C2005), the Revised National Curriculum Statement (RNCS) [2] and the National Qualifications Framework, 67 of 2008 (NQF). All of these policy documents provide the

opportunity to critique some aspect of the prevailing influence of state powers on transformation in the education system in South Africa. They consequently provide the means of producing empirical results from credible analysis about the general state of the education system in South Africa.

The response to the second question posed by this phase of the research is provided by the analysis that details how practices that enable democratic participation of communities in support of their schools, may lead to transformation.

2.4 Data Analysis

In document Towards the Design of a Networked Social Services Media Model to Promote Democratic Community Participation in South African Schools (Page 37-42)