Homeschooling in South African Media

APRIL 2015

In the past few months there seems to have been an explosion of homeschool-related news in the South African media, both on and offline. Whilst the articles listed below are probably not all of them, they are possibly some of the most significant ones, as many of them focus on the issues that affect the freedom of home educators, both parents and children and their right to choose this educational option.

On Friday 20 February 2015, an official from the Western Cape Department of Education made an unlawful visit to the home of a home educating family. Leendert Van Oostrum of the Pestalozzi Trust explained why it was unlawful and why this frequently-occurring practice gives grounds to other families to choose lawful non-compliance with Article 51 of the SA Schools Act. Read more about these Legal Issues

On 23 February 2015,  Maroela Media, an online Afrikaans-medium website, published an article titled TUISONDERRIG: Onduidelikheid oor registrasie opgeklaar, which was paid for by a South African distance education service provider offering a highly structured and regulated CAPS-aligned product, namely Impak. The company seems to be pursuing an aggressive media campaign placing paid for articles and adverts on Maroela Media online, as well as in Die Burger, Readers’ Digest and possibly other media. Many homeschoolers were outraged by allegedly misleading claims that were made about the nature of homeschooling and also about registration for home education with the Department of Education.
The article was removed by the website after homeschoolers bombarded Maroela Media with objections to the advice that was given in the article, encouraging registration for home education with the Department of Education.

On 25 February 2015, Die Beeld, a national Afrikaans newspaper, published this feature on homeschooling.
Many homeschoolers submitted text messages and emails to the editor objecting to a number of statements which were potentially misleading, particularly, but not only, those regarding registering for home education with the Department of Education.

On 21 March 2015 The Sowetan carried an article titled Many Parents Turn to Homeschooling

On 27 March 2015,  Maroela Media published Stres en uitbranding by Ouers in die Tuisonderrigsektor – another article paid for by an advertiser.

Again many homeschoolers found the article to be misleading and Impak’s Prof Niemann’s comments to be a misrepresentation of the book she was quoting. Leendert van Oostrum of the Pestalozzi Trust challenged her to provide the research supporting some of the statements she made in the article and she has (thus far) failed to do so, leaving grounds for reporting her to the advertising ombudsman, who will require the company to prove the truth of their claims. The burden of proof lies with the advertiser.

On 31 March 2015, in reaction to all the controversy following these articles, Maroela Media published their own article about home education:  Tuisonderrig van Albei Kante Bekyk

Whilst this was an improvement on previous articles published, it still focused only on a school-at-home style of learning, again with possibly misleading information that needed to be addressed.

On 31 March 2015  The Association for Homeschooling published a concerning article for all parents in South Africa:  State Takes Full Control of Education

Highlights of this article:

  • In her 2014 budget speech, the Minister of Education announced that the choice of text books used in school will be taken away, since only one book per subject will be available. This implies that the state is now in full control of all content that children learn in public schools.
  • Another thing that is currently being considered is to make the subject of history compulsory. This implies that all learners are compelled to learn the state’s interpretation of history from a single state prescribed textbook.
  • The Department of Basic Education has announced it is considering extending statutory school-going age to ages 5 to 15 years. [Previously it was 7-15 years]
  • The state is hostile to private education, as it is regarded as a vote of no confidence in public education. The state places an enormous administrative burden on private schools to register and remain registered. The strategy of the state to limit private schools by over-regulation is already bearing fruit, as the Department of Basic Education reports that there has not been significant growth in this sector.
  • The Department of Education announced that the national curriculum framework will be extended to prescribe the knowledge, skills and attitudes children should learn from birth to age 4. If all day care centres are to register and are to be monitored to follow this curriculum, it would mean that the government has complete control over the content of what children learn from birth to Gr. 12.

In summary: The state is working to transform education into a system where children from birth to 15 years only learn a few skills to be productive citizens, but are mainly conditioned in the ideology of the state.

On 1 April some good news that will positively affect many homeschoolers was published. News 24 reported that Higher Education Minister, Blade Nzimande stated: “”There will be no entry requirements for community colleges. If you have never been to school we must teach you from where you are to where you want to go.” Read the full report: 18m adults need further education – Nzimande

On 2 April 2015, the Mail & Guardian published Our Children Learn Better At Home – Home-schooling is becoming increasingly popular with black South African families.

Many homeschoolers made positive contributions to the conversation on the Mail & G uardian Facebook page about homeschooling in general, which followed this article. Most of their comments were debunking myths that non-homeschoolers seem to have about home education, especially socialisation and academic performance.

On 05 April 2015, Eyewitness News published:  Education Dept Drafting Policy on Making History Compulsory
While it is important for children to learn the history of their country so that they can better understand why it is the way it is in the present, this can be accomplished by the end of Grade 9 at the latest. (Read our article  Why Study the History of South Africa?) To make history compulsory for all grades smacks of political indoctrination, which is in fact on the agenda of certain national leaders:

That South African leaders seem intent on using education as an instrument of their ideological struggle is not a new phenomenon. The Pestalozzi Trust reported the following some time ago:

• On 20 May 2004, Ms Mmule Madonsela, a senior official responsible for home education in Gauteng, told a meeting of homeschoolers in Johannesburg: ‘Education is a political game’.
• Her boss, Ms Tidimalo Nkotoe, stated in a Carte Blanche programme on 10 April 2004 that home education must be controlled, because uniformity is the goal: ‘We are gunning for the same critical outcomes. We are gunning for the same South African citizen.’
• On 20 October 2005, Mr Siphosezwe Masango, MEC for education in Mpumalanga, addressed a meeting of what he termed ‘fellow combatants’. It was in fact a congress of the teachers’ union, SADTU. Masango encouraged teachers to indoctrinate children to ‘be properly formed and moulded to our revolutionary ideas’.
• In August 2012, the Minister of Education, referring to the law and policy on home education, announced in Parliament a ‘…review of this law and policy with the view of providing for Home Education as part of the formal schooling system.’

From the reports above, it should be clear to homeschoolers that the state and its agents are working hard at transforming all education in South Africa to comply with state ideology and seem to be accomplishing this goal with very little resistance.
To prevent homeschoolers’ freedom being eroded and home education becoming nothing more than state education at home, the homeschooling community needs to keep informed and stand together to oppose this negative tide.
As we said in our newsletter in February 2014, when we focused on Bad Homeschooling Weather  in SA, here’s what you can do in this stormy climate:

1. Get connected and support homeschooling organisations that represent our interests: join  your provincial homeschool association, the national Association for Homeschooling (its free) and/or the Pestalozzi Trust.
2. Know the various laws pertaining to home education and stand up for the right to educate our children at home. Speak out or send emails wherever possible.
3. Overcome your fears and renew your mind. Don’t have a victim mentality. Become pro-active.
4. Exercise your faith in your Heavenly Father and pray for our nation. Here are some quick guides: Daily Prayers for Homeschoolers

Motivate other home educators to do the same.

Education System Cartoono

On 14 April 2015, Maroela Media published Tuisonderwys: Die Keuse van Kurrikulum, an article which focused mainly of a few South African all-in-one curriculum packages, provided by distance education service providers, which are available in Afrikaans. The article gave the impression that this school-at-home style of homeschooling is the only way that it can be done, which is certainly not the case. Read about Eclectic Homeschooling  to see why the former is not a good choice in most cases. Relaxed Homeschooling is a much better option!

On 30 August 2015, the Sunday Times published an article Home’s Where the Class is for Many which included a report about a family in KZN whose children were removed from them only because of their choice to educate them at home.

On 14 September 2015, Times Live ran an article  Parents Pull Kids out of Schools to be Taught at Home.  The closing comments by Prof Jansen of the Free State University infuriated many home educating parents as they are absolutely false. A number of parents wrote letters of objection to Times Live.

In November 2016, Fairlady magazine featured an article about Unschooling.

In January 2017, Weg Platteland Somer 2016-17, featured an article about homeschooling, focusing on various aspects such as sport, socialisation, curricula and costs etc. It featured interviews with 4 homeschooling families.

Onderhoude met 4 tuisskoolgesinne is gevoer,

26 January 2017, the Financial Mail published an online article titled Why SA Parents are Turning to Homeschooling

27 March 2017, the MEC of Education in Gauteng, Panyaza Lesufi, suggested that there is an ‘abuse of this form of schooling’ and called for ‘a strong review’ of the policy on home education. Lesufi – Homeschooling Must Be Scrutinised

Bouwe van der Eems, chairman of the Pestalozzi Trust, published a rebuttal to Lesufi’s ‘concerns’: Gauteng MEC Wants to Review Home Education

29 May 2017 – Professional home education researcher, Dr Brian Ray, responded to Minister Lesufi’s recent comments about homeschooling in SA. Click here to view his interview with Bouwe van der Eems, Chairman of the Pestalozzi Trust

1 June 2017 –  Home Education was again mentioned by Mr Panyaza Lesufi, MEC for Education, Gauteng, at the GE Lekgotla 2017, in the context of the racial integration of schools: http://www.ann7.com/panyaza-lesufi-addresses-gde-lekgotla/.

At the same Lekgotla, Dr Moses Simelane gave a presentation on home education and the challenges faced by the Department of Education with regards to monitoring this sector of education.

Radio & TV

13 August 2014 – SAFm’s Shado Twala spoke to Shirley Erwee about Homeschooling an Alternative to Schooling Kids in her show Otherwise. Here is the podcast: http://iono.fm/e/96166

29 September 2014 – OFM Mommy Matters with Yolanda Maartens – Homeschooling Your Teenager Can Be Done: Shirley Erwee explains that homeschooling your teen is attainable and actually has many benefits. Her book Homeschooling High School highlights all that you need to know when taking up the responsibility to homeschool your kids.

In April 2015 Carte Blanche aired a television report on Home Schooling which was very contraversial and caused a lot of reaction on their Facebook page from the home educating community. Unfortunately the video clip is no longer available.

On 28 July 2015, Shirley Erwee, author of Homeschooling the Primary Years was interviewed on the show Family Matters by Pippa Hudson on 567 Cape Talk. Click here to hear the recording.

On 4 August 2015  Leendert van Oostrum was part of a live discussion on the show Great Expectations on eTV which was very positive regarding homeschooling.

In January 2016 Shirley Erwee was interviewed about home education on a breakfast show on 567 Cape Talk and on 23 January, Dr Frank Muller, a homeschooling dad was interviewed on a midnight show on Cape Talk too.

On 29 January 2016, the chairman of the Pestalozzi Trust, Bouwe van der Eems, was part of discussion on the TV show Interface on SABC 3 in which it was said that the Pestalozzi Trust was “at loggerheads” with the Department of Basic Education over the rights of parents to choose the curriculum which they use for home educating their children. Click here to watch the show.

shirley erwee - ep 227

26 April 2017, Shirley Erwee was interviewed on Afternoon Express on SABC 3. Click here to watch that episode.

19 June 2017 – Shirley Erwee was interviewed by John Maythem on Cape Talk on the phenomenon of Cottage Schools. Click here to find the podcast.

21 June 2017 – Karin van Oostrum, manager of the Pestalozzi Trust was interviewed by Bertha Charuma from Radio 2000.

27 June 2017, Rise FM Rise FM interviewed Shirley Erwee about home education and cottage schooling.

27 September 2017 – Cape Talk Radio. Kieno Kammies interviewed Shirley Erwee about homeschooling, following an interview with a national sports captain who was homeschooled in high school. Is Homeschooling Your Child a Good Idea?