Address to the Representative Assembly
of the National Education Association (USA)
4^TH July 2000

Thulas Nxesi
General Secretary
South African Democratic Teachers Union

Introduction

This is indeed a great pleasure and honour to address American educators at this meeting of the NEA - and a welcome opportunity to share some thoughts. On behalf of the educators of South Africa and SADTU (the South African Democratic Teachers Union) allow me to convey warm greetings to you. Indeed, given that today we are commemorating the American Revolution - I should say I bring revolutionary greetings - from a country which also threw off the yoke of political oppression - somewhat more recently.

Allow me to say a few words about the NEA's contribution to the struggle for democracy and justice in South Africa. The delegates here will be aware of the NEA's role in the Anti-Apartheid movement in this country. But within South Africa, in the repressive conditions of the 1980s, the support and assistance of the NEA for various co-operative programmes with ATASA (African Teachers Association of South Africa) was of immense importance to our struggle. During the 1990s, as democracy dawned in South Africa, again the NEA made its contribution through the Education International consortium to the establishment of a truly national, non-racial and democratic teacher union. Today, in its tenth year of operation, the South African Democratic Teachers Union has a membership of 220,000 representing two-thirds of teachers in the public education system.

We believe that the NEA's support for and investment in the future of democratic unionism in South Africa has paid off. I would also like to challenge the Association to maintain this tradition of providing support and expertise to fledgling teacher organisations in the developing countries. Indeed, SADTU itself is now committed to providing such resources to other teacher unions, particularly in the rest of Africa.

South Africa: the legacy of the past

It will come as no surprise to you when I say that the new democracy inherited an education system which was deeply divided and demoralised; and where education institutions had been transformed into battlefields in the struggle against Apartheid. The so-called Bantu Education system of the past was premised on dividing learners along racial lines, systematically under-resourcing the majority black population and was underpinned by a curriculum riddled with racism and sexism and designed to keep people in their place.

A major achievement of the first democratic government, as part of the reconstruction and development of our society, was to reorganise the seventeen racially based education authorities of the past into a single non-racial education department. However, the material consequences of Apartheid education are still with us. Just to give a few examples of the infrastructural deficit, taken from recent surveys:

• The total shortfall of student toilets at schools: 270,695

• less than half the schools (43%) in the country have electricity

• 82% of schools had no media equipment; 72% had no media collections (ie. includes no libraries); 69% had no additional learning materials; and 51% were inadequately provided with textbooks

• the ratio of students per science laboratory is as high as 2291 learners to one laboratory in the rural Northern Province

• there is a national shortage of 1,167,881 student desks and chairs

• there is a national shortage of 57,499 classrooms.

These conditions are still the reality for the majority of - largely black - working class and rural communities. Remember these same conditions also apply in many developing countries.

Curriculum reform

A priority for the first democratic government was the need for curriculum reform. South Africa needed curricula which would address, amongst others, the following:

• the need to develop values to enhance democracy, human rights and non-racialism

• the need to meet the needs of a rapidly changing labour market in the era of globalisation, with increased emphasis on imparting marketable skills, requiring a major shift towards the teaching of science and technology

• the need to move away from highly authoritarian methodologies towards more learner-centred methods, with the aim of developing the full potential of the learner and encouraging a more critical and informed citizenry.

Curriculum reform is under-way. There have been successes. But there have also been mistakes - and it is these lessons I want to share with you:

• First, curriculum reform will not work if stakeholders - learners, parents and especially teachers - are not on board;

• Second, curriculum reform has to be well-planned and supported.

These simple points will appear self-evident to many here, but they bear repeating. A recent review of the new South African curriculum concluded that government provision was inadequate on all counts. The new curriculum itself - drawn up by government officials to the exclusion of educators and their association - was couched in technical language, which was incomprehensible to most people. Indeed teachers - and SADTU - have been saying as much for quite some time. Again, the point is that curriculum reform will only be successful to the degree that teachers buy in and make it happen.

SADTU's changing role

SADTU emerged out of the struggle against Apartheid education and for democratic rights. SADTU and its predecessors were part of the mighty alliance that brought down the Apartheid system. With the advent of democracy in 1994 and the phenomenal growth in membership, the Union's roles has become more diverse and more complex. Our priorities as a Union, as we enter the 21st century, include the following:

• to make our contribution to bringing quality public education to the people of South Africa - principally to the children, but also to the many adults who were denied access to education in the past

• to promote professional development of educators, both through our own efforts and in partnership with government and other agencies. This is vital to overcome the legacy of demoralisation and inadequate training under Apartheid

• to improve the working conditions and job security of educators. Again we believe that motivated well-trained educators are key to the delivery of quality public education

• On the political front, we remain part of the Alliance led by the African National Congress (the ANC), which in the present phase seeks to consolidate democracy in our country and address the terrible legacy of Apartheid. Our allegiance is not unconditional, however. As a Union we remain independent of government, and our priorities sometimes differ with those of government - especially where the interests of educators and education are involved.

Right-wing Conservatism: the threat to Quality Public Education

For South Africans, it is ironic that just as we achieved political emancipation, we should fall under a new form of economic bondage: the new conservative economic policies associated with corporate-driven globalisation which undermines the sovereignty of the nation-states. We experience this principally in two ways: conservative fiscal policy and a mindless assault on public spending, including spending on public education. The direct results for the education system and educators in South Africa include the following:

• Lack of resources to address racial inequalities in the education system. It may surprise you to hear that according to some researchers, inequalities have increased since the advent of democracy

• Curriculum reform has been compromised by the absence of critical resources for training and provision of learning materials

• Indeed, there is a new minimalist philosophy abroad which seeks to limit access to education by transferring responsibility to parents through imposing school fees. Many communities subsist in dire poverty. The only hope to access education for these children is through public, free education.

• Chronic job insecurity amongst teachers as rationalisation and rumours of downsizing abound. This goes hand in hand with rising teacher-student ratios and an official viewpoint that class size is not a determinant of educational outcomes and quality, despite clear evidence shown by international research that small class sizes clearly increase student achievement especially in the primary grades.

Conclusion

If my comments appear to be overly negative in the light of the difficulties which face our new democratic government, this is only because I believe we have to remain critical and ever-vigilant in the pursuit of quality public education. It should come as no surprise that politicians and governments may sometimes have other priorities. Our job as teacher unions - committed to education - must be to constantly bring these issues before the wider public and to be the best advocates that we can be for quality public education. We must join hands to make sure that quality public education is the right of all the world's children.

Neither should these few comments on globalisation be seen to signal despair, or capitulation in the face of overwhelming and inevitable economic forces. Organised labour is not helpless. Our response to the globalisation of capital must be the globalisation of labour organisation - to develop international solidarity amongst ourselves. But the starting point for trade union unity is within individual nation-states. This was a task we set for ourselves over ten years ago - to unite South African educators in one organisation. We have come a long way towards achieving this goal. We still have a way to go. Finally, let me take this opportunity to urge you to continue your quest to unite American educators, and to wish you well in your deliberations here today.

I thank you.