CPUT proudly opened its doors recently for the Global Institute for Teacher Education and Society (GITES) Annual Symposium of Teaching for Social Justice. The theme of the symposium, held at the Cape Town Hotel School, Granger Bay Campus. was: Examining and envisioning education in South Africa from current inequalities to future equities – addressing social justice and inclusivity in pursuit of a ‘good society’. Prof Zayd Waghid, Acting Director: GITES, CPUT, delivered the opening remarks and outlined the role of GITES.
Waghid said the GITES Annual Symposium on Teaching for Social Justice was started in 2023. “The symposium aims to provide a platform for experts in the field of social justice education to engage in discourse around the need to transform society through pragmatic and innovative ways at the micro, meso and macro levels. The symposium aims to create an awareness of the need to disrupt comfort levels of t prevalent in various education contexts.” He added that the symposium focuses on bringing students at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels, in-service teachers and government officials, by creating spaces for meaningful dialogue by bringing theory and rigorous research to practice and policy. Keynote speakers included: Prof Jonathan Jansen from Stellenbosch University; Prof Thaddeus Metz, from the University of Pretoria, and Dr Savo Heleta, from Durban University of Technology. In his presentation, Jansen gave reasons “why professors of education should not teach future teachers”.
“We have not taught in schools for decades. We norm our teaching on middle-class school standards. We frontload teacher education with theory and literature, he continued. “Because of these factors we are far removed from the routines of management and teaching in working-class schools.” Heleta delivered his presentation on Eurocentric education under coloniality and neoliberalism: How to envision socially just and decolonised education in South Africa? He said decolonisation was not even a footnote. “Most university leaders, academia, and policymakers weren’t bothered with the coloniality of knowledge and colonial and apartheid-era curriculum that continued long after 1994. Epistemic decolonisation became a buzzword in South African higher education in 2015-2016, primarily due to student activism under the #RhodesMustFall and #FeesMustFall banners.” Metz, a Research Professor of Philosophy, made a presentation on Being Excluded from Knowledge for Its Own Sake: An Underappreciated Injustice. Reflecting on the event, Dr Yohana William said the topic that Jansen presented was important at the current juncture where South Africa, as many other developing countries, “is still battling with redressing the current inequalities in education for future equities and pursuit of a good society as the symposium theme suggests”. William said the education system is not neutral.
“It is a tool or an instrument that reproduces and exacerbates the existing inequalities and classes through both the existing pedagogies and political/hegemonic decisions characterising the schooling process (what is and what is not).” Meanwhile, Dr Andrew Wambua said Jansen stated that love and connection matter more than correct teaching. And that consistency in school management is key. He said according to Metz, if qualified people cannot access higher education, then that is injustice. “Education should reach masses and should not be offered just for the sake of it.” He added that Heleta urged the attendees to decolonise “our curriculum and thinking”. “Education remains deeply segregated. Societal inequalities are often on display at and between universities. There is a need for critical pedagogy and decoloniality to resist neoliberalism, coloniality, and Eurocentric hegemony.”
In his take-ways, Dr Adedayo Theodorio said Heleta pointed out that multilayered injustices are happening across the globe and that the injustices in many ways influence higher education. “Challenges such as the absence of justice, oppression, and dissociations in South Africa’s society remain a sickening root cause of inequality in the society and higher education.” Theodorio said the Department of Higher Education and Training should consider decolonisation fully instead of neoliberal visions. “SA universities could consider collaborating with local universities in SA instead of entirely collaborating with foreign universities.”
Written by Aphiwe Boyce; Source:https://www.cput.ac.za/newsroom/news/article/5004/redressing-the-current-inequalities-in-education
Copyright © Adedayo Olayinka Theodorio. 2024