POLICY AND PLANNING OF PHYSICAL SCIENCE-EDUCATION IN SOUTH-AFRICA - MYTHS AND REALITIES

South Africa has inherited a fragmented system of science education wh ich fails to provide adequate access to the majority of the population and poorly serves those whom it does educate. Less than 0.5% of South African students achieve university entrance qualifications in scienc e and mathematics. Post-apartheid policies have focused on increasing investment in science education through educating more science teacher s, providing more access to students to study science at schools, and supplying more science equipment to schools. Based on findings from re search conducted in Kwazulu-Natal, we conclude that each of these poli cy initiatives can be questioned. First, Kwazulu-Natal appears to have sufficient qualified physical science teachers to meet current demand . Additional teachers may be needed to cope with expansion, but not to teach existing students. Second, apparent shortages of qualified teac hers may arise because of poor deployment; many who are qualified appe ar to be teaching other subjects or occupying nonteaching posts. Third , rapidly expanding access appears likely to reduce, rather than incre ase, pass rates, and divert resources from improvements in quality. Fo urth, the reasons for differences in performance and poor performance appear not to be simply associated with levels of resource provision; more likely it is the efficient and effective use of these resources w hich is important. (C) 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.