Equality and Redress in Education: Educator Allocation in Post-Apartheid South Africa

After the democratic South African government came into power in 1994, the education system
faced the challenge to redress socioeconomic disadvantages inherited from apartheid. My
research examines one component of the new education system: the distribution of educators. I
use government data not publicly available to document educator distribution trends among
schools of different levels of poverty in two provinces, Gauteng and the Western Cape. The
quantity and level of qualifications of educators are measured, and the trends are linked to
student outcomes. The results are consistent across both provinces: Descriptive statistics and
regression analysis finds that, on average, schools with relatively less poverty experience a lower
pupil-educator ratio and have educators of higher qualifications. A contributor to this inequality
is the practice of local school governing bodies in relatively wealthier schools hiring additional
educators beyond what the state provides. State provision is itself a contributor to inequality in
some cases. The impact of the quantity of educators and of the level of qualifications on student
outcomes is unclear. Ultimately, my research suggests that the current distribution of educators

in South Africa falls short of the principles of equality and redress at the foundation of the post-
apartheid education system.