Graduate School of Development Policy and Practice Strategic Leadership for Africa’s Public Sector OCCASIONAL WORKING PAPER NO.2 DECEMBER, 2016 The politics and governance of basic education: A tale of two South African provinces Brian Levy1 | Robert Cameron2 | Ursula Hoadley3 | Vinothan Naidoo4 ISBN: 978-1-908749-68-0 1 Johns Hopkins University and 3 University of Cape Town,
[email protected] the University of Cape Town,
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[email protected] The politics and governance of basic education: A tale of two South African provinces Occasional Working Paper No.2 December, 2016 Brian Levy | Robert Cameron | Ursula Hoadley | Vinothan Naidoo Abstract This paper synthesises the findings of research on the politics and governance in South Africa, undertaken at multiple levels, and using multiple methods. The research explored two core questions: how politics and background institutions influence educational bureaucracies; and the relative merits of hierarchical and horizontal governance. South Africa’s institutional arrangements provide a ‘natural experiment’ for analysing these questions. While policymaking, the regulatory framework and resourcing are uniform nationally, responsibility for implementation is delegated to the country’s nine provinces, which differ substantially from one another, both politically and institutionally. The Western Cape emerges as a strong performer relative to other South African provinces. However, econometric analysis confirms that, notwithstanding strong bureaucracy and abundant resources, its outcomes were below those achieved in Kenya. The institutional arrangements also assign substantial responsibilities ‘horizontally’ to school governing bodies, where parents are in the majority.