Education policy studies in South Africa, 1995-2006

This article reports on findings pertaining to scholarship in education policy drawn from a wider study on all education research in South Africa from 1995 to 2006. This study, which defined education research as broadly pertaining to teaching and/or learning, obtained extensive data from a wide range of sources, including universities, public institutions, NGOs, Education and Training Authorities, museums, publishers, donor agencies, trade unions, conferences, journals and electronic databases. The levels, scale, educational sectors and disciplinary areas of each entry in the resulting 10,315-strong database were identified, and a random sample of 600 texts was analysed in order to distinguish primary research themes. This article summarises seven themes in education policy studies, including policy idealism, policy critiques, language in education policy, higher education policy, further education and training policy, the nature and effects of educational decentralisation and the relationship between education policy and the market.