Teachers' knowledge of legislation and education law specifically and its influence on their practice

[摘要] This study argues that education law is of paramount importance in order to be a successfulteacher in our democracy where human rights of all stakeholders are protected and as suchremains the responsibility of government to ensure that all new teachers are trained in thefield of education law.This dissertation reports to the significance the participants attach to education law and totheir attitudes and their practice in schools. It continues to answer the question whetherknowing the legal rules is in fact changing the game on ground level. There are differingperspectives on the exact essence of education law; however, there seems to be consensusin the literature that the fundamental function of education law is to regulate the rightsand obligations of the interested parties in order to make the school conducive for teachingand learning. The education law functionally contributes to the creation of harmonizingrelationships and ensuring co-operation amongst all stakeholders. Education law thereforecreates a clear framework for the professional role of teachers. The law defines the borderof the playfield and actions at stake in the education sector. Education law as module in Higher Education programmes deals with issues that pertaindirectly to the teaching profession. These include inter alia governance, the Bill of Rights,instructions/regulations, limitations, application of legal principles and expectationsregarding the teacher as an employee. It deals with legal applications and the legalbalancing of human rights in educational practice. As a result, it is assumed that teachersmay feel somewhat overwhelmed by the content of an education law module and itsassociated outcomes. This dissertation will therefore also deal with the ability of teachersto understand and apply the values that underpin the Constitution of the Republic of SouthAfrica. Education should lead young citizens towards occupying their place in a democraticsociety based on human dignity, equality and freedom. The dissertation argues thatinsufficient knowledge of education law is impacting negatively on a culture of humanrights application in our school system which results that the school system is unsuccessfuland do not fulfil its obligations in a democracy. This may result in the DoBE being held accountable for not empowering teachers to develop our young citizens to fulfil their placein our democracy.In light of the impact of education law, this dissertation is essentially divided into threesections: The first section provides an overview of the issues and challenges of teacherswho have had no formal exposure to education law; The second section focuses on the impact on teachers who have studiededucation law as part of their teaching qualification, and The third section seeks to offer policy recommendations as remedy, inter alia toinclude education law as part of all teachers' training curricula in South Africa.The legal remedies that this dissertation advocates is that Government should take on theirlegal responsibilities towards its employees without turning a blind eye on the value crisisin our country. Government is accountable to ensure that each teacher is skilled and havethe competencies to apply legal principles and human rights to instil a culture of humanrights that is conducive for teaching in our school system.

[发布机构] University of Pretoria