The paradox of Black pupil enrolment growth rates in South African schools

In this paper, an outline is presented of a paradoxical feature of past trends in the demand for and supply of schooling to the Black population of South Africa. The paradox is that demand for Black schooling increased despite disincentives to do so under the apartheid policy. As background, a brief historical review of the provision of schooling to Blacks is also presented.     

Inclusive design in the Key Stage 3 classroom: an investigation of teachers’ understanding and implementation of user-centred design principles in design and technology

This paper starts out with a discussion of the importance of user-centred design, outlining its history and current embodiment in national and international standards and considers its particular relevance in addressing the needs of ageing populations. The paper moves on to examine how the premise of user-centred design has been taken up in education and focuses on the specific example of user-centred approaches as part of the Design and Technology requirement of the English National Curriculum, taught in England’s schools since 1989. The initial stage of the Designing our Tomorrow project presented in this paper was an investigation of the extent to which user-centred design was integrated in current teaching practice. Analysing baseline data collected from teachers and pupils at two state secondary schools the project team found that many of the tasks teachers planned for pupils did not provide opportunities to identify users’ needs when solving design problems. Finally, the paper presents a discussion of the project’s implications for pupils’ learning and understanding of Design and Technology.     

Managing Some Motorised Recreational Boating Challenges in South African Estuaries: A Case Study at the Kromme River Estuary

Estuaries in South Africa face negative crowding effects with respect to motorised boat use because of competing demand. This paper proposes this be managed through user charges and that the setting of these charges be informed by applying a choice experiment to estimate user preferences for reduced motorised boat congestion on the Kromme River Estuary, Eastern Cape. The application of this method led the paper to deduce that users are willing to pay an additional supplementary charge of R548 per annum during peak periods (only) in order to experience a decrease in negative crowding effects.     

Government-induced teacher failure in South Africa – causes and analysis1

The problem of teachers being hired but not teaching because of government action or inaction is a serious one in South Africa. This paper describes the problem and explores two aspects of it: non-enforcement of employment contracts with teachers and shortages of certain subject teachers caused by inflexibility in the remuneration structure of teachers. Non-enforcement has become a severe problem because a situation has developed in many schools, mainly black ones, where teachers are able to get away with doing very little work (shirking). The current remuneration structure has become a problem in that it has given rise to a situation where the only way to plug certain teaching gaps is by placing some teachers in positions for which they have insufficient training (inferior substitution). It is concluded that it is desirable that the government properly enforce its teacher contracts and that more flexibility should be introduced into the salary structure with respect to specific staffing scarcities.