South Africa: Desegregated Teaching, Democratic Citizenship Education and Integrating of Ethnic Minority Teachers

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Abstract Much of the debates on South Africa’s recently desegregated schools centre on intersectional tensions between access/participation; external inclusion/internal exclusion; and assimilation/integration – as it pertains to minority-group learners. Limited attention has been given to the experiences of minority group teachers, as they struggle to find professional and personal inclusion in historically prohibited schools. Yet, not only do minority group teachers experience untold professional undermining within majoritarian schools, but they are often subjected to prejudicial scrutiny by parents and learners, as will be highlighted in this chapter. Leaning on a narrative inquiry, this chapter centres on the experiences of a first year, ‘black’ female teacher, Slindile, at a historically advantaged (‘white’) school in South Africa. The narrative inquiry brings to the fore her dialectical experiences, while simultaneously revealing the normative discourses which have thus far remained intact at the school. Underscored by a discursive synchronicity between presumptions of privilege and prejudice, the findings reveal a powerful, yet painful social reality. Firstly, a construction of ‘black incompetence’ is necessary for the preservation of ‘white competence’. Secondly, perceptions of Sindile’s ‘black’ body lends itself to an intersectional tension, which provides for deep considerations on how whiteness reduces the other to the extent of erasure. Thirdly, assigning blame for racism and discrimination to institutional cultures ensures the avoidance of individual accountability. Lastly, minority group teachers are not the only ones at risk. The less diverse a teacher corps is, the less capacitated schools are in advancing democratic citizenship education.

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