Schooling

• More confident and able;
• More likely to proceed through school without repeating a grade;
• Less likely to need remedial education;
• Less likely to be involved in crime; and
• More likely to get paid employment as an adult.

Political parties, trade unions and education advocacy groups have welcomed the class of 2011’s matric pass rate with caution.

The South African Democratic Trade Union said the results showed an improvement, but that inequalities still plagued schools and provinces.

The union pointed out that, “The results reflect an inequality in our society. Our sense is that issues of historical disadvantaged and poverty associated with race, class and the rural-urban divide are still prevalent.”

To read the article titled, “Race, class, rural-urban divide still a problem,” click here.

The education industry has the potential to become the largest investment sector on the world’s stock markets. However, for this to occur, governments would have to relinquish their existing dominance over and control of education.

Compulsory schooling laws have the effect of stifling innovation. These laws and their ancillary regulations, although intended to improve education standards, prevent alternative suppliers from entering the market. They prevent people with a passion for education, who come from a wide range of professions and skills, from exercising their entrepreneurial spirit in the education field. They deny them the chance to carry out the role entrepreneurs fulfil in other areas of enterprise; that of increasing variety, and, through competition, forcing quality up and prices down.

Entrepreneurs play an extremely important role in all economies and as long as this legislation remains on the statute books, education will not attract them. They are agents of change, who seek out ventures in which they can produce new products and services that will be attractive and satisfying to consumers.

Government-provided schooling plagues the nations of the world because of its high costs and poor results. No matter what systems are devised and introduced, worldwide there are constant complaints about the persistent failure of the education system to achieve objectives, and instead cause what Milton Friedman called the stratification of society, with the upper and lower strata being defined by educational success or failure. Too many people are left behind, too many end up unable to read or write despite having spent years sitting on school benches. Too many leave school hating their failure and bearing a grudge against those around them who were fortunate enough not to suffer the same torment.

When there is such a vast need for change and revision, the conditions are ripe for the entrepreneurial discovery process to come into play. Schooling, and the education industry as a whole, is crying out for investors and innovators to change the method of delivery of education and training to young people. In a few short years they would revolutionise the manner in which information and skills are acquired, if only they were allowed to do so.

So, if it holds so much promise for the future of children everywhere, what is stopping this education revolution from happening? It is collectivisation of education. That is what stops innovation in its tracks and prevents the entry of entrepreneurs. Centralised control, imposed curricula that leave no room for choice or innovation, capture and domination of schooling by teachers and their unions, and the power granted to government officials to regiment even those children whose parents pay the full cost of their education, are all part of the process and consequences of collectivisation.

Collectivisation becomes inescapable when compulsory schooling laws are introduced. The reason given for the introduction of such laws is to ensure that every child attends school. If that were the objective, it would merely be necessary to incorporate lack of education as a factor in social welfare laws to protect children who are not receiving a basic education. It would not be necessary to impose such legislation on children who are attending school.

Contrary to what people generally believe, in the vast majority of cases, parents, in the absence of compulsion, would educate their children. The large number of black children who attended school in South Africa when they were not subject to compulsory schooling laws provides substantiating evidence that corroborates this contention. Also, Professor Edwin West’s research into children’s education reveals that when all schooling was private in England, prior to the introduction of compulsory schooling laws in 1880, children were probably more literate then than they are today.

What could we expect if the compulsory schooling law were to be abolished tomorrow? Parents, who could afford it, would purchase the kind of education suitable for their children, from schools that could deliver what they need. For children whose parents could not afford school fees, government, instead of providing schooling, could provide students and their parents with vouchers to purchase schooling from schools of their choice. This would create competition between a vast array of schools, public and private, to attract government-funded students. Students would be clients instead of captives, which would induce an immediate change in the attitudes of teachers. Even without repealing the compulsory schooling laws, the government could introduce a system of allowing the money to follow the student, which would capture some but not all the benefits of open school choice.

Freed of compulsory schooling laws, schools would start to transform dramatically. Government schools funded according to the number of students they can attract, to achieve their targets, would canvass students and their parents to discover what subjects they would like to be taught in addition to numeracy and literacy. Preferences would differ from school to school. They would start specialising in order to meet the demands of their communities. And it would not be long before teachers started to think about taking over schools and running them as business ventures.

Existing private schools would possibly change most rapidly when free of the compulsory curriculum. They would teach the subjects they have always wanted to teach and do so in the way they have always wanted to but for the compulsory curriculum.

Most exciting of all for students will be the formation of niche education establishments that cater for special interests in addition to the basics. The possibilities are endless. In view of the high rewards that talented sportswomen and men receive, a rash of sports schools would probably be established. And firms that need particular skills not taught at universities would be tempted to set up schools to teach those skills. In every case, literacy, numeracy and communication skills would be fundamental – all young people know, for instance, that a sports star has to appear on radio and TV.

Surprisingly attractive learning opportunities at surprisingly low prices will come about once education and training entrepreneurs fully enter the market. After all, this is the role that entrepreneurs perform in whatever sphere of the economy they are active. The sooner the education sphere is made sufficiently attractive to capture entrepreneurial attention and investment, the better it will be for all young South Africans.

An entrepreneurial education environment would increase choice and quality, and reduce the costs of delivery. It would rapidly solve the problems that currently challenge government education authorities everywhere. It would enable students to receive the kind of schooling that they and their parents really want. Most importantly, many more young people will relish the time they spend learning and enter adulthood with their self-esteem intact and better able to function in the world at large.

- Eustace Davie is a director of the Free Market Foundation. This article first appeared on the FMF website. It is republished here with the permission of the FMF.

South Africa’s schooling system is failing the majority of young people. Leaders throughout our society, public and private, do not speak about the crisis in education often enough or with sufficient focus on the urgent need for effective action.

“The international evidence is clear. Schooling reform is possible – in as little as six years and from almost any starting point,” said executive director of the Centre for Development and Enterprise (CDE), Ann Bernstein.

A new CDE report, released today, argues that far too often the need for systemic schooling reform is reduced to a discussion about individual isolated projects. This approach is totally insufficient for a schooling system that is large and complex, comprising more than 12 million learners, more than 400,000 educators and about 30,000 schools in 70 districts in nine provinces.

“Turning this ‘gigantic ship’ around is probably the country’s most challenging management and leadership task,” said Bernstein.

The CDE report summarises a major workshop on the international experience of schooling reform which involved the Minister of Basic Education, the director general of Basic Education, over 60 international and local experts, and business leaders.

The report explores what can be done to reform the South African schooling system and what can be learnt from successful reform in other countries. The experience of four countries (Brazil, Ghana, India, the United States) was examined; then supplemented by a review of school systems that are improving in over 20 countries; and an assessment of African experience of schooling reform.

“For South Africa to make real progress the country needs a new social compact for quality schooling. This will require clear priorities, the mobilisation of the many different interests with a stake in better schooling, and visionary leadership,” said Bernstein.

The Brazilian experience should provide hope for South Africa. In a society characterised by great inequality, and a population four times the size of ours, political leadership made a major difference to education. Former President Cardoso mobilised public sentiment and political will throughout a vast country. As a result of introducing incentives for teachers, consequences for delivery failures, and a focus on student performance, the country has moved from being ‘bottom of world class’ to ‘ the world’s fastest reforming schooling system’.

Successful schooling reform requires a new approach to the teaching profession. Incentive based pay and regular performance assessment is essential. The key criterion for this assessment should be improved learner performance with severe consequences for failure.

“South Africa will not succeed in turning our schooling system around if we continue to have teachers who are present three to four days a week, teach very little but remain employed and receive the same pay as everyone else,” said Bernstein.

Many countries have experienced similar challenges with unions to those in South Africa but their political leaders were able to improve schooling.

“Teachers should not be made the scapegoat for a system that is badly managed and has the wrong incentives. But South Africa cannot afford to be held back indefinitely. The national interest in better quality schooling for millions of young people is absolutely clear and should take priority over any sectional interests,” said Bernstein.

“Yes, we need teachers in class, on time, and teaching. But words are not enough. The country needs bold political leadership and a new social compact to improve the quality of schooling. South Africa desperately needs much better outcomes.”

To download the full report and an executive summary, refer to www.cde.org.za/article.php?a_id=404.

For more information contact:

Kanina Foss
Communications and Media Manager
Tel: 011 482 5142
Mobile: 082 052 0939
E-mail: kanina@cde.org.za

About CDE:

The Centre for Development and Enterprise (CDE) is one of South Africa’s leading development think-tanks, focussing on vital national development issues and their relationship to economic growth and democratic consolidation. Through examining South African realities and international experience, CDE formulates practical policy proposals for addressing major social and economic challenges. It has a special interest in the role of business and markets in development.

For more about Centre for Development and Enterprise, refer to www.cde.org.za.

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