Chapter 11: Effective Discipline in Multicultural Schools in South Africa: Two Case Studies

As an academic, researcher, parent, and member of a school governing body, I am involved in schools across the entire educational spectrum in South Africa. I was a teacher in several former White-only schools in South Africa until 1994. Thereafter I joined a university and have since undertaken research in the former Black-only schools.

This chapter analyses disciplinary issues in two (now) multicultural schools in South Africa. I selected the two schools involved in this research project because they represent two points on the continuum from apparently good discipline to apparently poor discipline. They also represent two points on the continuum between, at the one extreme, being opposed to any social and cultural change and, at the other extreme, accepting the social, political and cultural changes occurring in the broader South African society without question. The analysis indicates that racism still exists in some schools. However, an understanding of the attitudes of the individuals involved provides an important context for the racism and its associated disciplinary issues.