ABSTRACT
To understand how issues of diversity have been handled in South African education, it is necessary to explore the prevailing educational approaches in recent years and the ways they have been contested. This chapter will explore limitations of a multiculturalist approach in what is seen, in oversimplifi ed terms, as the ‘Rainbow Nation,’1 and will argue for an approach to diversity that is designed to meet the challenges of continuing inequalities. Our contention is that South African education has always recognized diversity, but the ways in which it has done so have mainly refl ected oppressive attitudes and structures.
