Durban - A new type of school, funded by the government but run by a private individual or organisation, may be the answer for children being failed by poor education.
According to a research report released by the Centre for Development and Enterprise recently, these schools would remain part of the public education system, but would be free of red tape and bureaucracy and would have the autonomy to hire and fire principals and teachers.
Referred to as contract schools, because of the public-private partnership, they would be located in low-income communities.
“South Africa’s efforts to reform schooling have had an unnecessarily narrow focus, largely ignoring an international trend of importance especially for poorer communities,” said Ann Bernstein, the centre’s executive director.
She explained that while South Africa had low-fee private schools which were subsidised by the government, and public schools which benefited from private funding, it did not have public schools which had private or non-government management.
The centre reviewed a variety of international schooling models and argued that the impact of the contract school model had been positive in Britain, Pakistan, the US and Venezuela.
“These schools are labelled differently – charter schools, concession schools, academies – but all involve a contract between the state and private actors,” Bernstein said.
The centre’s final report was to be presented to the Basic Education Department. It recommends that performance-oriented management contracts be developed so an individual or organisation could apply to run a state-funded school. Initially, these would be underperforming or underutilised public schools.
Currently in South Africa, the governing body of a public school makes recommendations on staff, but the final decision lies with the head of each provincial education department.
The report asserts that unless the government is prepared to give contract schools autonomy to hire and fire, the private sector may be reluctant to get involved.
The centre also recommended that a regional or national body be established to regulate contract schools, and the schools be funded at the same level per pupil as ordinary public schools.
Jeff McCarthy, the centre’s programme director for education, said there had been positive feedback from the Department of Basic Education, the National Treasury and the National Planning Commission on the proposed contract schools.
“We’re entering this with support from government and private service providers,” he said.
Gabrielle Wills, an economist with the University of Stellenbosch, said given South Africa’s current education crisis, experimenting with new forms and structures of schooling was an exciting avenue to explore. However, the international evidence on the benefits of these schools for learning outcomes had been mixed.
Wills said it was “imperative” that hiring and firing powers be at the school level for the contract school model to succeed.
Jane Hofmeyr, executive director of the Independent Schools Association of Southern Africa, said having different schooling models in the public education sector had been a critical education reform in many countries.
In Britain, what were called academy schools were directed at inner-city, poorer constituencies and did not charge fees.
She said in the South African context, there had to be certain non-negotiables, including freedom to innovate in terms of the curriculum. - The Mercury