South Africa, nearly three decades since the dispensation of democracy, boasts of its cultural diversity and the transformation of its educational system. Democratic education at the forefront of these endeavors have resulted in educational institutions adopting various responses to diverse student populations. However, in light of a global pandemic such as that of COVID-19, the cracks in the education system have been revealed, leaving policy makers and departments of education to find alternatives and emergency teaching approaches. The focus of this chapter is on how partnerships, embedded in multicultural education, can foster ways to engage at-risk students and elevate students to participate in their education in anticipation of escalating that participation in the context of global education. These partnerships both advance, and are anchored in local and non-local assets and collaboration with others – all of which constitute the context for multicultural education conditions.
TopIntroduction
In the context of this book chapter, diversity refers to the inclusion of people from a range of social, religious, economic status, social status and ethnic/racial backgrounds. The inclusion of such groups intersect to create marginalized communities who are seen to be “at-risk” due to their deep rooted history of prejudice projected by apartheid in South Africa. The South African education system comprises primary, secondary and tertiary sectors, all of which have been exposed to the effects of apartheid and which have since adopted the concept of multiculturalism to offset such injustices. However, since the COVID-19 pandemic, each sector of the education system reveals evidence that despite the adoption of multiculturalism, at-risk students remain neglected due to the negative implications of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Multicultural education incorporates the idea that all students—regardless of their gender; sexual orientation; social class; and ethnic, racial, or cultural characteristics— should have an equal opportunity to learn in school (Banks & Banks, 2019:3). In South Africa, since the dawn of democracy, multicultural education remains deeply trenched in social cohesion and basic human rights. Banks and Banks (2010) defined multicultural education as,
[An idea] stating that all students, regardless of the groups to which they belong, such as those related to gender, ethnicity, race culture, language, social class, religion, or exceptionality, should experience educational equity in the schools…Multicultural education is also a reform movement designed to bring about a transformation of the school so that students from both genders and from diverse cultural, language and ethnic groups will have an equal chance to experience school success. (p. 25)
Banks (2008) presents five categories of multicultural dimensions which are depicted in Figure 1 below:
Figure 1. Banks’ (2008) five dimensions of multicultural education
The first dimension of Multiculturalism being content integration draws on the ways in which teachers incorporate examples and content from a diversity of cultures in order to facilitate teaching and learning in their particular subject area/s. The knowledge construction process as the second dimension of multicultural education, places emphasis on amending the structure and organization of the way in which knowledge is imparted. The third dimension, prejudice reduction is focused on assisting students in developing democratic racial values. The equity pedagogy dimension allows teachers to modify the methods of instruction they use in order to respond to a variety of cultural groups. The last dimension, empowering school culture and social structure, allows teachers to restructure the organizational climate of the institution for the inclusion of diversity.
Multicultural education in South Africa as precursor for institutions, including higher education level includes the adoption and implementation of inclusive education or education for all as per the various dimensions as discussed above – this also includes students who are at risk. Education, although only one of the many basic human rights, is crucial to the broader spectrum of society. Although the higher education system has been extensively restructured since apartheid was abolished in 1994, South Africa’s past continues to hinder the access and participation of certain students in the higher education sector (Mdepa & Tshiwula, 2012:21). Mdepa and Tshiwula (2012:21) state that the first policy document to present a framework for the radical transformation of the higher education sector in South Africa after 1994 was the National Commission on Higher Education’s (NCHE) Overview of a new policy framework for higher education transformation (1996). Notwithstanding, despite the foundations of such a framework, the gap in this system remains evident, particularly amidst challenging circumstances. When education systems collapse, peace, prosperous and productive societies cannot be sustained (De Giusti, 2020:3).