Being and becoming: negotiations on educational identity in (South) Africa

Abstract

The question on educational identity was, and still is, a paramount question in the South African educational context. An analysis of some of the important issues, as it pertains to the current discourse inside and outside the education sphere, suggests that there is a fundamental need to (re-)define our understanding and conceptualisation of educational identity. The search for new symbols and symbolic meaning, debates about the significance of africanisation, afrocentric identity, and indigenisation of education represent some of the markers in the education debate. A shared notion of educational identity can be ensured if certain conditions, such as a balanced approach to indigenisation, can be adequately met.


(South African Journal of Education: 2003 23 (1): 13-17)