Publication Type
Journal Article
Version
publishedVersion
Publication Date
1-2016
Abstract
Twenty years after South Africa's democratisation, Nelson Mandela's passing has prompted scholars to examine his legacy in various domains. Here we take a look at his legacy in education discourse. Tracing Mandela's thoughts and pronouncements on education we find two major emphases: a view of education as a practical means to economic development, and education as a means to social justice, human rights, and democracy. Assessing the legacy of these twin emphases, we conducted qualitative and quantitative content analysis of turning point documents in education policy and annual reports from the respective South African ministries of education over the last two decades. Our analysis reveals that although a focus on education policy for economic development has consistently remained strong, Mandela's view of education serving to foster social justice, inter-racial equality, human rights, and a deepening of democracy has faded from official educational policy discourse.
Keywords
Discourse, education, South Africa, Nelson Mandela, human rights, social justice, democracy
Discipline
African Studies | Education Policy
Research Areas
Political Science
Publication
Education as Change
Volume
20
Issue
1
First Page
172
Last Page
198
ISSN
1682-3206
Identifier
10.17159/1947-9417/2016/899
Publisher
Taylor & Francis (Routledge): SSH Titles - no Open Select
Citation
GEBREMEDHIN, Abrehet, & JOSHI, Devin.(2016). Social justice and human rights in education policy discourse: Assessing Nelson Mandela's legacy. Education as Change, 20(1), 172-198.
Available at: https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/soss_research/2020
Copyright Owner and License
Authors
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International License.
Additional URL
https://doi.org/10.17159/1947-9417/2016/899