HISTORY & SOCIOLOGY OF
EDUCATION
June Assessment Essay (Question: 2)
Constructing Educational Pathways for Success
Post-apartheid has created a change in the education system. There are more complex spaces that
children from all different backgrounds have access to, and through which they become mobile,
since boundaries have fallen away. These re-arranged geographies have allowed for children to
access schooling outside their residential town. This occurs as other schools seem or are perceived
as better and more desirable than local schools. Drawing on the work of Fataar, an understanding
of the nature and extent of the educational pathways that learners are making and adapting to will
be discussed. There are distinct concepts that are recognised throughout Fataar’s work that aid an
understanding of how learners from different backgrounds to have access to these schools such as,
mobility, self-discipline, self-formation, and assimilation. Two specific examples from Fataar will
be used to further surface this understanding of the extent to which learners face in receiving
quality education.
The landscape of schools has changed post-apartheid, therefore children from all different
backgrounds have a choice with which school they would like to attend. Since children can access
other schools outside their living spaces, a degree of mobility has opened. Fataar (2009) terms this
‘choosing of schools’ as “school choice displacement” (Fataar, 2009: 2). There is a strong desire
for schools outside of one’s geographical area, especially when one lives amongst the working-
class. Although, there are students that due to their class or safety and security (Fataar, 2009), were
schooled in their living space and may not know better or are forced to because of financial reasons.
People perceive schools that are outside of their living space as better and have a higher quality of
education offered, and they have a hope to increase their socio-economic standing. Therefore,
, students travel across boundaries that no longer exist to access this quality education. Although,
there are challenges that children face going into these schools. Since these boundaries have fallen
away in schools, race became less of a category than class and culture (Fataar, 2007). Upon
entering these elite schools, students from disadvantaged backgrounds, townships, or even just
other geographical areas, have to adapt to a new social class and culture. Students being accepted
into schools does not guarantee them a sense of belonging and inclusion.
Upon this traveling from home to school, students become very mobile. The term mobility here,
does not just mean moving from place to place, it refers to translocation. Translocation is an
increased socio-spatial mobility, which allows learners to move across various spaces
psychologically, geographically, socially, and linguistically. In the case of Layla (Fataar, 2007),
she had to become not only ‘street literate’ (Fataar, 2009) and find the best route back and forth
between home and school with different modes of transport, waking up at 5:15am to go to school
so that she had enough time to get to school on time. She also became mobile in the languages she
spoke that differed from her home language being Afrikaans and therefore became a translocal
citizen (Fataar, 2007). Unlike most middle-class students who live near their school, and have a
quick drive to school, she had more than one public means of transport planned just to get to school
on time. Layla also had to become mobile with her time and finances so that she could get to
school. Although, along with this mobility, a disconnection is also made between the spaces of
learning and living (Fataar, 2009) since she lived in a particular social space and she went to school
in a particular social space.
Layla lived in Rustvale within the Cape Flats, which was a Coloured community and residential
space (Fataar, 2007). Layla’s story shows the way in which socio-spatial adaption and
translocation is used and employed by all who are aspiring urban learners. Due to the increased
crime levels in her neighbourhood, Layla’s mother felt that schooling her there would be too high
of a risk and unsafe therefore, she ensured that her daughter did not become too attached to it. Her
mother was brought up in a lower middle-class home and she knew that her children would have
better futures if she altered their mobilisation. Layla and her siblings were therefore not allowed
to explore, make friends nor school within their neighbourhood. Hence the reason for Layla’s
“thin” loyalty towards her living space, since she aspired for a life beyond the township (Fataar,
2007). Layla’s case is the same or similar for many others who wish to escape their township life.
EDUCATION
June Assessment Essay (Question: 2)
Constructing Educational Pathways for Success
Post-apartheid has created a change in the education system. There are more complex spaces that
children from all different backgrounds have access to, and through which they become mobile,
since boundaries have fallen away. These re-arranged geographies have allowed for children to
access schooling outside their residential town. This occurs as other schools seem or are perceived
as better and more desirable than local schools. Drawing on the work of Fataar, an understanding
of the nature and extent of the educational pathways that learners are making and adapting to will
be discussed. There are distinct concepts that are recognised throughout Fataar’s work that aid an
understanding of how learners from different backgrounds to have access to these schools such as,
mobility, self-discipline, self-formation, and assimilation. Two specific examples from Fataar will
be used to further surface this understanding of the extent to which learners face in receiving
quality education.
The landscape of schools has changed post-apartheid, therefore children from all different
backgrounds have a choice with which school they would like to attend. Since children can access
other schools outside their living spaces, a degree of mobility has opened. Fataar (2009) terms this
‘choosing of schools’ as “school choice displacement” (Fataar, 2009: 2). There is a strong desire
for schools outside of one’s geographical area, especially when one lives amongst the working-
class. Although, there are students that due to their class or safety and security (Fataar, 2009), were
schooled in their living space and may not know better or are forced to because of financial reasons.
People perceive schools that are outside of their living space as better and have a higher quality of
education offered, and they have a hope to increase their socio-economic standing. Therefore,
, students travel across boundaries that no longer exist to access this quality education. Although,
there are challenges that children face going into these schools. Since these boundaries have fallen
away in schools, race became less of a category than class and culture (Fataar, 2007). Upon
entering these elite schools, students from disadvantaged backgrounds, townships, or even just
other geographical areas, have to adapt to a new social class and culture. Students being accepted
into schools does not guarantee them a sense of belonging and inclusion.
Upon this traveling from home to school, students become very mobile. The term mobility here,
does not just mean moving from place to place, it refers to translocation. Translocation is an
increased socio-spatial mobility, which allows learners to move across various spaces
psychologically, geographically, socially, and linguistically. In the case of Layla (Fataar, 2007),
she had to become not only ‘street literate’ (Fataar, 2009) and find the best route back and forth
between home and school with different modes of transport, waking up at 5:15am to go to school
so that she had enough time to get to school on time. She also became mobile in the languages she
spoke that differed from her home language being Afrikaans and therefore became a translocal
citizen (Fataar, 2007). Unlike most middle-class students who live near their school, and have a
quick drive to school, she had more than one public means of transport planned just to get to school
on time. Layla also had to become mobile with her time and finances so that she could get to
school. Although, along with this mobility, a disconnection is also made between the spaces of
learning and living (Fataar, 2009) since she lived in a particular social space and she went to school
in a particular social space.
Layla lived in Rustvale within the Cape Flats, which was a Coloured community and residential
space (Fataar, 2007). Layla’s story shows the way in which socio-spatial adaption and
translocation is used and employed by all who are aspiring urban learners. Due to the increased
crime levels in her neighbourhood, Layla’s mother felt that schooling her there would be too high
of a risk and unsafe therefore, she ensured that her daughter did not become too attached to it. Her
mother was brought up in a lower middle-class home and she knew that her children would have
better futures if she altered their mobilisation. Layla and her siblings were therefore not allowed
to explore, make friends nor school within their neighbourhood. Hence the reason for Layla’s
“thin” loyalty towards her living space, since she aspired for a life beyond the township (Fataar,
2007). Layla’s case is the same or similar for many others who wish to escape their township life.
