What is it about?
How was it that a group of boys from families in financial hardship, studying in a school with a very poor academic record, excel in the South African national final examination? This did not result from having educated parents, good teaching, school improvement work or funding - rather from a collective strategy of teaching each other and their families' moral support. The study also explores how they drew on patterns of peer-group interactions to develop their love of learning.
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Why is it important?
How we mobilise the agency of young students should be a crucial element in planning for educational change, especially in harsh socio-economic contexts. Change in South Africa was partly driven by the agency of school students, and this sense of agency needs recognition.
Perspectives
I knew this school and its failures very well, so was very surprised to learn of this success, and have since watched the continued careers of these young men with interest. Sadly, one group member was murdered before he could write the examination.
Mr Crispin Michael Hemson
Durban University of Technology
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This page is a summary of: Agency, resilience and innovation in overcoming educational failure, Perspectives in Education, December 2018, University of the Free State,
DOI: 10.18820/2519593x/pie.v36i2.6.
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