| Summary: | By 1994 education in South Africa had collapsed (TRC, 1998; CCOLT, 1996). In
response, South Africa's first non-racial government initiated a wide ranging School Reform
(SR) program. However, almost a decade after the reforms commenced there have been very few
substantial changes in the majority of South African schools: The Education Rights Project
(2003a) and the South African Human Rights Commission argue that SR is failing the majority
of South Africans.
This thesis explores an alternative, School-Community Development (SCD), that
integrates school reforms with programs that draw members of the school's neighbouring
community (the "school-community") into the process of changing schools. I argue that SR is an
inadequate response to the problems that confront schools. Using the case study method I show
that SR is enhanced when integrated with locally developed social, cultural, economic, and
school development programs.
The thesis makes two contributions to the literature. First, the thesis challenges the
"simplistic solutions to educational problems" (Anyon, 1997, p. 12) that constitute SR. Second,
the thesis presents a materially grounded critique of SR in South Africa that evokes the
"multiple voices" (Sayed, 2002, p. 32) from the four case study schools. Accordingly, our
understanding of "making change work at the micro level", a neglected area of South African
educational research (Sayed and Jansen, 2001, p. 7), is enhanced.
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