EDUCATION NEWS - The Western Cape’s Collaboration Schools model has received a major boost after the Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) dismissed an appeal by Equal Education and the South African Democratic Teachers’ Union (SADTU), upholding the province’s right to legislate for new forms of public schools.
The DG Murray Trust (DGMT) has welcomed the ruling, saying it creates greater scope for innovation in public education while recognising the constitutional role of provinces in improving education outcomes.
The judgment makes clear that public schools do not have to be managed in exactly the same way across the country.
Provinces can, in the best interests of learners, introduce models that involve non-state actors in the governance and management of public schools.
Collaboration model can continue
The ruling allows the Western Cape Education Department (WCED) to continue implementing Collaboration Schools in partnership with non-profit school operating partners and donors.
Under the model, non-profit operating partners receive 50% representation on school governing bodies (SGBs). The schools also have greater flexibility in staffing arrangements and allow authorised quality assurers to access classrooms to monitor curriculum delivery.
“The SCA has made space for innovation in public education and this ruling will hopefully give other provinces the confidence to explore other models of public schooling,” says David Harrison, CEO of DGMT.
The SCA ruling follows an appeal against a July 2023 Western Cape High Court judgment, which affirmed the legality of provisions in the Western Cape School Education Amendment Act of 2018.
Those provisions provided for the establishment of Collaboration and Donor-funded Schools and allowed deviations from the composition of SGBs prescribed by the South African Schools Act (SASA).
Balancing innovation and parent participation
Equal Education and SADTU argued that the variations were inconsistent with SASA and undermined the democratic participation of parents.
DGMT, however, points out that SGBs must agree to become Collaboration Schools, while the broader parent body retains the ultimate say where a voting deadlock occurs.
The SCA recognised that education is a concurrent responsibility of national and provincial government. At the same time, it noted that Schedule 4 of the Constitution gives provinces an active and important role in legislating to advance the right to education.
This, the court found, allows provinces to develop different forms of public schools where these further the objective of providing better education for all children, including models that draw on expertise and resources from outside government.
Early results show promise
The SCA also noted that, apart from a small number of Collaboration Schools that struggled during the start-up phase, most had recorded accelerated improvements in learner outcomes.
For Harrison, the judgment represents an important acknowledgement that meaningful school improvement requires more than incremental changes to existing systems.
“The ruling accepts that school improvement must go beyond tinkering-while-spinning on the hamster wheel and incorporate new ideas that propel the system forward,” he says.
He says the decision should not be interpreted as criticism of government’s efforts to improve education, but as recognition that government needs to draw on every available resource to improve opportunities for the country’s poorest learners.
“This decision is not an indictment of the efforts of government, but rather a recognition that it must mobilise all available resources within and outside of government to give our poorest children a real chance in life,” Harrison concludes.
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