Critical literacy in South Africa: possibilities and constraints in 2002

Abstract

This article examines the Curriculum documents produced in South Africa since the election of a democratic government in 1994 in order to consider the possibilities they create for the inclusion of critical literacy in the teaching of home languages. This discussion is set against an analysis of the apartheid curriculum documents prior to 1994 and a consideration of the ongoing inequalities in the provision of human and material resources across the system. Despite real constraints with regard to implementation, it is argued that the new Curriculum effects a significant break with the past and makes a positive contribution to transforming language education.