Educational Psychology—Limitations and Possibilities

Impact of Apartheid on Educational Psychology in South Africa 371
the need for individual teachers to take responsibility for their roles in the lives of young people.
The culture of teachers being late for class and absenteeism is still evident in many schools, and
this has a great impact on the attitude of learners because of what they see modeled by their
educators.
Whilst it might seem that the preceding two paragraphs are very critical of teachers, this must be
seen in the context of their own previous education and training, as well as their emergence from
the struggle. There is no doubt that there are many dedicated educators who give unstintingly
of themselves, and herein lies the hope for education in South Africa. Many teachers engage
in tertiary studies in order to improve their qualifications and competencies, and there is great
potential for such further education to have an impact on practice in schools. It is in this realm
that educational psychology has a central role to play, and such courses are proving to be popular
choices.
The malaise affecting teaching extends to Higher Education to some extent. Many university
lecturers pay lip service to policies of empowering students to become critical thinkers and leaders,
and a limited number challenge academic practices that do not foster such approaches. Some
of this relates to the tensions of research-led demands but greater teaching loads for academics.
Many lecturers, in order to cope, continue to function in a more traditional “transmission” mode,
where lectures are content-driven, and many students still use the rote-learning practices they
developed in school.
Although there is a greater awareness of the fact that educators at all levels need training in
democratic and liberal theory and practice, particularly in reflective practice which evaluates
attitudes to and understandings of learning, the process of change has been slow. A dominant
mode still in existence is that “experts” have access to knowledge and “the answers”, and there is
little explicit development of thinking skills or widespread debate about knowledge as a socially
constructed and dynamic entity. Since authoritarian practice was so entrenched by the apartheid
regime, it is harder to shift in SA than in many other countries.
In the apartheid years, the few posts available for psychologists in education were largely in the
White education departments. Much of the work of psychologists was limited to psychometric
testing with little time for therapeutic intervention (perhaps to limit any influence psychologists
might have had). Given the post-apartheid economic constraints and reorganization in education,
along with views of some administrators that psychology is auxiliary rather than central to
the educational endeavor, the number of provincial departmental posts for psychologists has
diminished, and educational psychology has all but disappeared as an influence in educational
policy making. Yet, it is evident that various forms of psychological intervention at a group,
community, and organizational level have the potential to offer a great deal to assist in rebuilding
postapartheid education.
Emerging research data indicates the need for psychological interventions in schools. There is
the need for creative interventions to be implemented and researched, since the traditional School
Psychology model of working with individual learners cannot be utilized in such a resourcelimited
context. Innovative interventions include Teacher Support Teams, Career Focus Groups,
and Peer Help Programs. Whole-school community-based interventions are important and the
potential for building on these developments needs to be explored. Furthermore, the HIV/AIDS
pandemic as well as poverty-related diseases pose a great challenge for both the health system
and the education system, because of the effects on children and youth. Many children are
already orphaned, and their performance in schools is adversely affected by the emotional impact
of their grieving, as well as often having to cope with added responsibilities at home. Then,
there are a growing number of infected children and teenagers, compounding the difficulties in
schools. School-based programs to respond to these challenges are therefore a high priority, and
educational psychologists have the skills to be able to implement these.