POLICY ANALYSIS: A TRAVELLER IN SEARCH OF MEANING
3.3 The Myth, Fantasy and Reality of Impressive Policies 22
3.3.2 The Pied Piper Calls the Tune for the Globe Trotter
The South African ABET curriculum policy has recognized the impact of globalization on the world. Globalization has shaped international educational policies. World economies are seen to be moving in the information-led technological revolution. There is an economic shift to trade; export-led economic growth, specialization of regional and local economies.
According to policy, education within the above context can no longer locate itself within national states but must serve the economic interests of first world economies. Policy also states that education and development are influenced by international agencies because they have profound implications for national policies. It is within this context of globalization that workplace and vocation literacy unfolds itself.
The ABET curriculum policy recognizes that literacy is a commercial activity which is in fact the fastest growing international "educational industry" (A National Adult Basic Education & Training Framework, 1997: 6). In trying to meet the challenges and demands of globalization, the South African National Qualifications Framework (NQF) was introduced as the key feature to offer knowledge, skills, and attitudinal demands for a democratic and transforming economy. The NQF tries to respond to the pressures of globalization, especially information technology and increase in types of jobs, as well as their effects on the South African labour market and social and political arrangements. Samson &
Vally (1996) cite Kell's interesting metaphor of the jungle gym to describe the new NQF system. The system itself is seen as a confusing and mysterious jungle, while its various structures comprise the bars of the gym. For some adult educators in fulfilling outcomes based education (OBE) they could find it like the mysterious and confusing jungle. Trying to find a way out by making sense of the new OBE literature that they are confronted with is not easy. They describe the new curriculum policy as a game of snakes and ladders and suggest that NQF policy does not hold up much promise, especially with regard to career opportunities.
According to Samson & Vally (1996), the theoretical underpinning of the NQF can be identified as human capital theory. This theory is based on the belief that there is a link between education and economic growth because education is an investment for the country. Learners and workers are value-added products and the means by which the economy grows. It is assumed that the investment in people and technology will increase productivity and skills on the shop floor.
What happens to education under human capital theory? The value of education is reduced to an economic payoff for the individual and the economy as a whole.
The major shift in ABET curriculum policy is based on economic development.
Research points out that there is no shred of evidence in almost 80 years of curriculum change literature to suggest that altering school curricula leads to changes in national economies (Jansen, 1997). Jansen (1997) states that to make connections between curriculum and society has political goals and that these have no foundations given the accumulated research on curriculum change.
Samson & Vally (1996) also point that there has been extensive international research, which has failed to establish a clear link between education, training and redress.
According to Jansen (2001: 42b) until 1990 education policy in South Africa was a simple matter where the state maintained control of education policy, which was bureaucratically, centrally, racially exclusive and politically authoritarian. The apartheid state established White political power since 1948. All this changed on
02 February 1990 when the then president, F.W. de Klerk, announced the unbanning of the liberation organizations, and the release of political prisoners, which culminated in the first democratic elections on 27 April 1994. Since 1990 there has been an accelerated flurry of changes in education policies. Sayed &
Jansen (2001b) argue that even after four to six years of democracy in post- apartheid South Africa (after 1994) there have been very few tangible changes in the lives of ordinary people. The most visible area is education, where delivery has been extremely poor. South Africa has the most impressive compendium of education policies, but there is very little evidence of implementation. The preceding section has shown briefly the underlying principles and idealistic goals of ABET policy in a transforming educational South African context. Especially after the uhuru (jubilation) of the South African 1994 elections and following the 1999 elections, much was expected from education policies, but little has changed on the ground.
Jansen quoted in Kraak & Young (2001: 46) offers the following explanation of policy development during the ten year period, 1990-2000:
The making of education policy in South Africa is best described as a struggle for achievement of a broad political symbolism that would mark a shift from apartheid to post apartheid society. We search in vain for logic in policy making connected to any serious intention to change the practice of education 'on the ground'. Therefore, a focus on the details of implementations will not be fruitful since it will miss the broader political intentions that underpin policy making after apartheid. Every single case of education policy making demonstrates, in different ways, the preoccupation of the state with settling policy struggles in the political
domain rather than in the realm of practice.
What is exposed of South African education policy is that there is an over- investment in political symbolism at the expense of practical considerations, which explains the lack of change in the South African education system after the demise of apartheid. Jansen's theory of political symbolism explains educational policy as mere symbols.
According to the Bill of Rights23 in the South African constitution (1996), the state is obliged to provide basic education. A right cannot remain unfulfilled or ignored. The failure to deliver basic rights could well be regarded as a breach of the constitution (Motala & Pampallis, 2001: 19)
Sayed & Jansen (2001: 78) explain how susceptible education policies are to different economic, ideological and political impulses and how these differences are mediated through the governing discourses of economics. Ota (in Sayed &
Jansen, 2001: 79) argues that the education transformation project in South Africa is indeed beset with difficulties. What can be seen in policy is much contradiction, which is characterized by the dominance of the commodification of education over other elements of the system such as the right to free access to education. In the context of a transforming South African political landscape are tensions on the one hand between a formal democracy bound constitutionally by development of a rights led public culture and on the other, a market-led economy. The problem is heightened because of the past colonialism and racism, which has created a great divide between the privileged and the underprivileged. South Africa has suffered race, class, gender, oppression and exploitation which has:
...generated shifting hierarchies of privileges and opportunity, it has produced for the black people a state of almost permanent subordination
(Soudien, Jacklin, & Hoadley, 2001: 80).
From a critical feminist research perspective, I have demonstrated in Chapter One how policy makes special reference to the need to give redress to women, but the Census 2001 statistics literacy figures for women (see Table 1.1 Chapter One) did not indicate any effective change to address the concerns of disadvantaged women. The contradictions between the policy and practice are that policy advances a rights-led approach but in practice market forces serving the interests of international agencies and globalization lead it.
!3 Everyone has the right to a basic education, including adult basic education; and to further education, Motala & Pampallis (2001:19).
Bhola (2000) points out that Adult Basic Education in South Africa has become ABET: Adult Basic Education and Training. The new policy framework gives greater emphasis to training for the job market and neglects the educational aspects. ABET emphasizes education for economic skills. The skills demand to be taught, and learned and should be testable, certifiable and portable and that the there should be recognition of prior learning. The emphasis on certification and qualification in the NQF could result in a paper chase amongst adult learners (see Table 3.1).
Bhola (2000), goes on to state that in practice ABET focuses almost exclusively on training of labour for the formal economy and this has in essence squeezed out the adult needs of the majority who are not in the formal economy. With a new democratic dispensation in South Africa, some of the communities and ABET institutions have been sidelined. Bhola (2000) states that there is a considerable amount of time allocated to the establishment of standards, listing of outcomes and developing of tests which come out of curriculum embedded in teaching materials. However, in South Africa there seems to be almost a lack of relevant teaching material. The ABET curriculum is geared towards training for the job market but the job market is virtually non-existent. He predicts that if the ABET curriculum were to continue with too much formalism and routine, isolated from the realities of South Africa, the ABET programmes may collapse.
The new OBE approach to ABET provides the philosophical and organizational framework to guide development of learning. Common outcomes do not mean a common curriculum. This will place an enormous burden on providers to make choices about curriculum construction, on the basis of their instructional contexts and learners' needs. The OBE approach to curriculum is flexible. The actual curriculum that the learner can follow to attain the outcomes will be left to the initiatives and creativity of curriculum developers, material developers, educators and learners. It is this flexibility that can create too wide a choice and leads to further problems for the adult educator. The difficulty is that while the flexible
OBE approach could allow too much freedom if taken in a rigid mechanistic manner, then learning will not reach its desired critical outcome.
Jansen (1997) points out that the same set of learning outcomes can be exposed to a wide range of interpretations by educators, for example, the outcome of a good citizen goals could mean one thing in a conservative setting and another thing in a broad democratic setting. Within the OBE framework, there is nothing "to prevent such a latitude of interpretation that would mute even the modest directions signaled in an outcome" Jansen (1997: 72). He expresses the view that the language used in OBE approach is too complex, confusing and contradictory to educators. It is inaccessible for most adult educators to give any meaning in the classroom. When one analyses the critical outcomes as set out in the ABET curriculum it requires highly qualified adult educators who are needed to make sense of such challenges to existing practice. Jansen (1997) points out that policy requires not merely the application of a skill but understanding theory and demonstrating a capacity to transfer such application across different contexts.
Samson & Vally (1996) argue that the critical outcomes of solving problems and making decisions are by no means natural, neutral or consistent across different contexts. The ABET curriculum is shaped by what is seen as critical outcomes in all learning areas. The critical outcomes are considered to contribute to the full development of learners and the social and economic development of society at large. These are grandiose theoretical assumptions and in practice difficult to translate. Policy demands that all learning programmes include critical outcomes because it is these outcomes which are assumed to make learners develop entrepreneurial opportunities, become more culturally sensitive across a range of social contexts, explore education and career opportunities and participate as responsible citizens in the life of local, national and global communities. The critical outcomes are too broad and become difficult to unpack. The critical outcome is political and idealistic. Canadian and Australian critics argued that there is no such thing as critical outcomes (Samson & Vally, 1996).
In conclusion the, NQF with the new OBE approach to learning and teaching, has some progressive features: portability, where qualifications can be transferred between different learning situations; training institutions and employers;
recognition of prior learning; learners could accumulate qualifications over time and transfer credits received between the fields of education and training.
However, there is too much emphasis on vocation, certification and qualification, which could result in a paper chase for some adult learners. Samson & Vally (1996) point out that in Australia, critics of the OBE approach assert that it is a model for manipulating and controlling behaviour. In order to establish that learning is taking place, only the outward visible and observable changes in behaviour are taken into account, not the values and goals that underpin this behaviour. This could have a serious impact on ABET in South Africa. As a researcher I recognize some of the merits of the OBE approach and as much as I critique the value of certification, I am cautious to admit that for some adult learners certification has helped improve their status and assisted their entry to other career paths (see Chapter One and Bongiwe's Text). However, I must also be quick to add that too much emphasis on certification without the achievements of critical learning outcomes is of little value to the learner. The certificate must offer the learner skills and values that the learner could use to gain entry into the job market or to enable learners to better their standard of living otherwise the
certificate is of little value.