Die onderwysmanifes oor waardes en demokrasie in die onderwys: 'n fundering of flirtasie met waardes?

Abstract

The Manifesto on Values and Democracy in Education was released as a document for debate and discussion, but was soon seen by political decision-makers as a document on which education policy could be based. The point of departure of this article is that any document dealing with values, which must serve as a basis for the development of educational policy, should at least provide a clear outline of what values are, be grounded in education philosophy, and clearly reflect the relationship between values and education. A manifesto of this nature should therefore indicate its world view, its anthropological view of the child, the role and function that education should play, the content to be included, a demarcation of what teaching and learning entails and a clear indication of where education should take place. According to our analysis very few of these aspects are covered and at best it could be assumed from the document that the authors lean more towards a sociological orientation to education. It is also inferred that the authors seem to be more inclined towards an eclectic view of values and education resulting in a number of tensions and contradictions emerging in the document. To illustrate the point, two of these theory/praxis problems are discussed.


South African Journal of Education Vol.24(1) 2004: 55-63