South Africa’s Schools Reflect an Unequal Society: What Can Teachers Do About It?

South Africa’s education system is often described as the key to overcoming the legacy of apartheid.

The country remains one of the most unequal societies in the world. Schools reflect those inequalities every day. Some learners attend well-resourced schools with modern technology and strong parental support. Others learn in schools with severe resource shortages and challenging social conditions.

Teachers can contribute to social justice by considering why certain learners struggle, how policies affect learners’ lives and what role education should play in creating a more just society.

My work as an education researcher has focused on how to give all children a fair chance to learn.

My recent study raises an uncomfortable question, though: are university teacher training programmes in South Africa preparing teachers to challenge inequality, or training them to accept it?

I explored this question by studying the experiences of 24 final-year student teachers during their teaching practicum, also known as work-integrated learning. This is the period when student teachers in South Africa leave the university and spend time teaching in real schools, guided by mentor teachers. They are expected to spend time reflecting on this experience. The practicum is supposed to help pre-service teachers connect theory with practice and develop into thoughtful professionals.

What I found was both encouraging and worrying.

The student teachers did reflect on their teaching skills, but not about deeper questions like how social inequality affected their learners. And, for the most part, their mentors were not doing much to encourage that deeper reflection.

If future teachers are not encouraged to critically examine social realities, they may simply adapt to those realities rather than challenge them. If mentor teachers mainly reward compliance with technical requirements, student teachers may learn how to function within the system. They may not learn about how poverty, language policy and inadequate infrastructure influence teaching and learning.

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Three levels of reflection

Reflective practice simply means thinking carefully about your teaching and learning from your experiences. It’s important because teaching is not simply about delivering content. Every classroom is different. Teachers must make decisions about learners, learning, language, culture, assessment and fairness every day. Without reflection, teachers can easily fall into routines without questioning whether those routines are helping learners.

The student teachers in my research had to complete a total of 10 weeks of in-school experience as part of their postgraduate certificate in education. I chose participants who would provide a diversity of school experiences, which they shared via group interviews and the reflective journals they had kept that year (2024). The selection of participants aimed for a variety of specialisations, gender, age and school placements (some with fewer resources than others).

My study found that student teachers reflected at different levels, which emerged as themes from their discussions and journals.

The first level is technical reflection. This focuses on practical matters such as lesson planning, classroom management and whether learners understood the content. For example, one student teacher asked questions such as: Did I finish the lesson?

The second level is practical reflection. This goes deeper. Teachers start asking why some teaching methods work better than others and how different learners respond to different approaches.

The third and deepest level is critical reflection. Here teachers think about bigger issues such as inequality, poverty, language policies, power and social justice. They ask questions about whose knowledge is valued, who benefits from the education system and whether schools are treating all learners fairly.

In the study, 19 of the 24 participants kept their reflections to a technical level.

They focused mainly on surviving the classroom. They worried about discipline, covering the syllabus, managing large classes and dealing with limited resources. One explained that she thought about how to teach geography without maps or science without enough equipment.

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The role of mentor teachers

The most important factor shaping reflection was not the school itself but the mentor teacher. This emerged clearly from the student teachers’ reflections: those who were guided by mentors who asked questions, encouraged discussion and provided constructive feedback tended to engage in deeper reflection about their teaching. In contrast, students whose mentors focused mainly on classroom routines or evaluation were less likely to critically examine their practice.

Participants said mentors focused mainly on technical performance. They checked lesson plans, classroom management, pacing and syllabus coverage. Their message was clear: make sure the lesson runs smoothly and covers the required content.

Several participants felt that there was little room to discuss issues such as language politics. Reflection became about following the rules rather than questioning them.

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The teachers who asked difficult questions

Just five of the 24 student teachers demonstrated critical reflection. Their accounts suggested that supportive mentor teachers played a key role in this. For example, after a lesson that did not go as planned, a mentor teacher asked a student teacher why some learners were disengaged.

One student teacher did independently reflect on how schools communicate which languages, cultures and identities are valued.

Another questioned what fairness means in a highly unequal society. She realised, for example, that learners who didn’t have electricity at home might be at a disadvantage in an online assignment. She would have to ensure that all learners had a fair opportunity to succeed.

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Some mentors made all the difference

Only five participants worked with mentors who encouraged critical thinking. They asked questions such as:

• What surprised you today?
• Why do you think learners responded this way?
• How does the community affect learning?
• Why is this topic important to these learners?

These conversations encouraged student teachers to think deeply about teaching and society. They became more aware of issues such as poverty, privilege and educational inequality.

Unfortunately, these mentors were the exception rather than the norm.

Why this matters

Schools do not operate in a vacuum. They reflect and often reinforce the inequalities of the societies around them. If future teachers are trained to focus only on delivering the curriculum, without examining the social realities facing their learners, education risks reproducing inequality rather than reducing it.

South Africa cannot achieve quality education for all while ignoring the conditions that prevent many learners from succeeding. Developing reflective teachers is essential if schools are to contribute to a more equitable and just society.

Nhlanhla Mpofu does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

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