The challenges of political transformation in education management : the case of Bushbuckridge District Department of Basic Education

Abstract

Since 1994, the democratically elected ANC led government has committed itself towards achieving fundamental political transformation of, inter alia, the education system. The government has adopted policies and measures to bring about the goals of equity and redress, and to enhance democracy and participation of all groups on development and decision making processes at all levels. It is acknowledged that the present regime has accomplished a lot in terms of political changes in education within a short period of time and has made numerous strides in enhancing equity, redress, social justice, fair labour practice and transparency. However, despite all these apparent achievements, this study shows that there have been a number of pitfalls and contradictions in the provisions that have affected the process of bringing about political changes and transformation in the Department of Basic Education. Factors such as political transformation, strategic planning, communication, political will and political deployment affected the formation and the implementation of policies vastly so in that political transformation was slowed down. Hence, the problem this study addresses is the slow pace of political transformation as a result of lack of strategic planning, lack of communication, political deployment and political will in education management.