School Leadership and the Experience of Education Under Oppression

Abstract

Background: This qualitative study examined apartheid-era South Africa, from 1948 to 1994, which established social and administrative policies that deliberately curtailed the education of Indigenous and other South Africans as a means of oppressing non-European ethnic groups.

Analysis: In lieu of face-to-face interviews, the experience of education under apartheid is examined through stories and interviews submitted to the Apartheid Archives Project, curated by the University of the Witwatersrand, in Johannesburg, South Africa. The central question asks how the personal experiences of an oppressive school system, as interpreted through the framework of Freirean education, informs school leaders.

Conclusion: Oppression infiltrates school systems, impinges on the educational process, and robs students of learning opportunities. In recognizing this, educators engage their responsibility as school leaders, and embrace the pivotal role education plays in social reconstruction, liberation, and humanization.