Policy after legislation : a case of accommodation? : a case study of a school's response to externally imposed educational reform between 1994 and 1996

The study investigates the response of a former white Model C school to externally imposed educational reforms contained in the Education White Paper (1995); the South African Schools' Bill (1996) and the South African School's Act (1996). The study examines the path of policy - making after legislation. Drawing on the work of Bowe et al. (1996) as a key text, the study investigates the dynamics of the policy process within the school. The study uses as a conceptual framework Bowe et al.'s (ibid.) argument that the policy text is multiple, and that the legislated policy text is one of a number of representations of the policy. As such, the study seeks to identify the sites of text generation and the dynamics involved in the formation and maintenance of the dominant representations of the legislated policy texts. The research examines the impact of perceptions of the external policy changes and of the institution on the manner in which the school responds to the change. The relationship between power and policy-making referred to by researchers such as Ball (1994) and Blackmore et al. (1994) is clearly evident in the response of the executive of the school to challenges to the dominant discourse. The dominant discourse is described as a discourse of "Model C" schooling: predominantly white, and relatively progressive in so far as selected black students are permitted to attend the school. Linguistic exclusivity and the limited agency in the policy process are the two main strategies used to protect this dominant discourse. The study examines the strategies of resistance to this dominance and the ways in which these dissenting voices are marginalised. The study identifies the response of the school as "adaptive accommodation" whereby the school not merely reshapes the legislated policy to fit the structure of the school, but physically restructures the school so that anticipated policy change can be contained. The study concludes that the legislated policy has failed to challenge the policy paradigm of the previous education system.

Grantor dc:publisher.institution

School of Education

Year dc:date.issued

1998

Author dc:creator

• Petersen, Tracey

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Soudien, Craig

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/11427/14247

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/14247