The teacher crisis in South Africa: quitting, shirking and 'inferior substitution'

bibliographic database
Line

Periodical article

Title:	The teacher crisis in South Africa: quitting, shirking and 'inferior substitution'
Authors:	Black, P.A. Hosking, S.G.
Year:	1997
Periodical:	South African Journal of Economics
Volume:	65
Issue:	4
Pages:	500-509
Language:	English
Geographic term:	South Africa
Subjects:	educational policy teachers
External link:	https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1813-6982.1997.tb01377.x/pdf
Abstract:	Schooling in South Africa has undergone many positive changes during recent years. However, not all is well in South African schools. What is arguably the most pressing problem facing the school system today is the problem of 'teacher failure'. Teacher failure is caused by low wages, unpleasant working conditions and, more recently, by the government's policy of 'right-sizing', a redistribution of primary and secondary teachers from privileged to underprivileged schools. Section 1 of the paper looks at the policy of 'right-sizing' and the resultant proliferation in the number of retrenchments and early retirements, while section 2 considers the widespread incidence of shirking amongst school teachers and principals. Section 3 discusses the phenomenon of 'inferior substitution', according to which a growing number of vacancies are filled by underqualified and inexperienced teachers. Bibliogr.