Chapter 3: How School Autonomy Restricts Equitable Access for South African Learners

In the effort to transform education in South Africa, much school governance has fallen to school-level governing bodies to operate and oversee kindergarten–12 (K–12) schools. This chapter considers the autonomy granted to these bodies and the potential impact of that delegation to the school level of operational responsibility on broader national challenges of school equality and quality. We specifically consider the discretion governing bodies have in setting school language policies, codes of conduct, and admissions policies. Examining the data on educational attainment 2 decades after the end of apartheid, including persistent racial disparities in access and quality, we identify the impact these policies can have on transformation efforts. Further, we explore South African school laws influencing this model of school-level autonomy in governance and operation. For any community seeking transformation of an unequal education system, South Africa’s experience devolving school governance to school governing bodies demonstrates the limits of protecting autonomy while pursuing broader and more equitable access to high quality schools for learners.