ABSTRACT
South Africa has a dual economy, a mix of developed and developing country features, with one of the highest levels of inequality in the world. This dual economy is reflected in a dual economy of schooling, between 'schools for the poor' and 'schools for the rich'. This chapter talks about South Africa by reviewing the secondary literature on curriculum and pedagogy in developing countries. In much of the commentary and critique of reform efforts, especially in postcolonial countries, the question of knowledge has been avoided. The mode of analysis generally is strategic, rhetorical or descriptive. The problems of the dominant reform efforts, learner-centred and constructivist pedagogies and outcomes-based curricula – are often cast as problems of implementation. The literature shows that the pedagogic forms in classrooms in poor communities are consistent across a wide range of contexts, they have been dominant for a long time, have resisted a great deal of reform efforts and continue to dominate currently.
