INCA Education around the world
South Africa: Organisation/Control of education system
2.1 Organisation and control of system/structure
2.1.1. Control
2.1.2. Funding
2.1.3. Private sector education
2.1.4. Special publicly-funded provision within or outside mainstream education
2.1 Organisation and control of system/structure
2.1.1 Control
For general information concerning the control and structure of the South African education system, see section 2.1.1 of the mainstream archive.
The General Education and Training Branch of the national Department of Education provides leadership through the management and evaluation of programmes for learners with special educational needs, amongst other responsibilities. A key priority of the Branch involves further developing an inclusive education system (including the consolidation of special schools).4
The Constitution6 has vested substantial power in the provincial legislatures and governments to run educational affairs (other than higher education) subject to a national policy framework.4
The national and provincial Departments of Education provide a wide range of education services to learners with diverse challenges. These include:
- Autism
- Behavioural problems
- Visual impairment
- Tuberculosis
- Children in conflict with the law
- Physical disability
- Neurological and specific learning disabilities
- Multi-disability
- Intellectual disability
- Hearing impairment
- Communication disorders
- Epilepsy. 14
Mainstream and special schools in South Africa have an appointed head or acting head in the absence of a principal. The head of the institution formally runs the school with a school management team and is assisted by a formally constituted School Governing Body (SGB) for governance issues. Historically, special schools have had a different reporting structure from mainstream schools. While mainstream schools are controlled at the circuit and district/region, special schools have traditionally reported to the Province.20
2.1.2 Funding
See section 2.1.2 of the mainstream archive for general information about the funding of education in South Africa.
The 2001 Education White Paper 6 on special needs education, which sets out the Government's plans to create an inclusive education system for South Africa, reflects a 20-year developmental perspective. The White Paper states that, to achieve its goals in the short to medium term, there will need to be a three-pronged approach to funding. These three chief sources of funding will encompass:
- Conditional grants from national government
- Funding from the budgets of the provincial education departments
- Donor funds.4
While the policy and aims for the funding of inclusive education are ambitious, funding for special educational needs has, since 1994, taken a back seat to education reforms such as those for higher education, the national nutrition grant, further education and training sector consolidation etc. There was some increase in funding from 1.8 billion ZAR in 2004/05 to 2.2 billion ZAR 2007/08.19
There are no national funding norms for special education which leads to wide disparities in funding and inequality. However, norms and standards for inclusive education, which will include fiscal incentives for provinces or schools to accommodate SEN learners in public ordinary (mainstream) schools, have been approved but not yet formally gazetted. 19
2.1.3 Private sector education
South Africa has a number of private schools (known in law as "independent" schools) that cater for children with severe remedial problems or disabilities. For further information about private sector education in South Africa, see section 2.1.3 of the mainstream archive.
2.1.4 Special publicly-funded provision within or outside mainstream education
The South Africa Schools Act 1996 states that the Member of the Executive Council for each province must, where reasonably practical, provide education for learners with special educational needs (SEN) in ordinary (mainstream) public schools, and provide relevant educational support services for such learners. The national Department of Education has a policy of 'mainstreaming' children with SEN into ordinary schools in an attempt to prevent discrimination towards, or the marginalisation of, these children. However, due to a lack of resources to implement this policy, children who have been mainstreamed do not always get the special education they need, although some of the better resourced schools, both state-aided and private, do offer remedial education. They employ remedial teachers and run small remedial classes alongside regular classes.5,8
The South African Schools Act 1996 further states that, in determining the placement of a learner with SEN, the wishes of the parents of the learner must be taken into account. 8
In South Africa there are over 1,300 public and private schools for children with severe remedial problems or disabilities. In 2005, 0.6 per cent of learners attended public-sector special schools. 5, 7
The 2008 OECD review of education policies in South Africa stated that there are 88,000 learners in approximately 400 special schools. This is under one per cent of the learner population. There are various estimates of the number of learners with special support needs, ranging from two to four per cent. 19 It is envisaged that, depending on the level of intensity of educational support needed to minimise the impact of their disability, children with special educational needs will be accommodated in the education system as follows:
- Learners with the most intense support needs (level 5) will continue to be accommodated in special schools or specialised sites if this is their choice. Education White paper 6 suggests that these will be known as 'resources centres'. Such schools will also have responsibility for extending their servies beyond the classroom to other schools in the district, and function as part of the district support team.
- Learners requiring less intense levels of support (level 4) will be accommodated in 'full service schools'. These are public ordinary (mainstream) schools that are provided with extra personnel, infrastructure and non-personnel, non-capital resources to accommodate a certain number of learners from the local neighbourhood who require specialised support, as well as providing to all the surrounding schools that will also accommodate learners with disabilities.
- Other learners with special educational needs (levels 1 to 3, and some at level 4) who require less support can elect to go to mainstream schools. 19, 22
The system for providing education for children with special educational needs is becoming more inclusive but there are still separate institutions alongside this provision in mainstream schools.
Hospital schools for children with chronic or terminal illnesses are funded by the Department of Health, which is fully responsible for them. Secure care centres that cater for learners who have been arrested and are awaiting trial are publicly funded by the Department of Social Development, but are run by the Department of Education. Reform schools also fall within the category of special schools and they admit children who have been sentenced by a court of law to the institution for a specific length of time. These schools are also publicly funded. There are four reform schools in South Africa. Schools of industries exist in all nine provinces and cater for children with severe behavioural problems. Until recently, children were referred to schools of industries by social workers of the Department of Social Development. The Department of Education had full responsibility for education programmes and the running of all schools of industries. Following the promulgation of the amended Children's Act (March 2008), all schools of industries, reform schools, secure care centres and hospital schools are becoming child and youth care centres, and will gradually revert to the control of the Department of Social Development. The Department of Education retains responsibility for education programmes in these institutions. All these facilities have to be registered with the Department of Social Development within a period of two years from March 2008. 2021
In terms of the South African Constitution6, every child has a right to education. Since South Africa is signatory to United Nations Conventions on Human Rights, the Rights of the Child and the Convention on Persons with Disabilities, the right to education is extended to children from refugee and immigrant families. Since the introduction of democracy in 1994, discrimination in the provision of education on the basis of race, ethnicity, creed, colour, and disability has been illegal. A number of schools for learners with learning disabilities still exist, as do those dealing with other disabilities. With a view to building the capacity of schools to support learners with barriers to learning, the Department of Education has produced a strategy for screening, identification, assessment and support (SIAS) (see section 1.2.1.) for use by teachers, school-based support teams and district-based support teams (DBSTs). Training for educators, school management teams, institution level support teams and district based support teams in took place 2008. Further training for educators on Guidelines for Inclusive Learning Programmes is scheduled.20
