EDUCATIONAL DEVELOPMENTS, 1HE ROLE OF THE SCHOOL LIBRARY AND THE TEACHER-LIBRARIAN IN THE EDUCATION OF BLACKS IN SOU1H AFRICA WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO A SAMPLE OF SCHOOLS IN THE CAPE PENINSULA by G eorge H. Fred e rlks Abstract This investigation was undertaken to develop an understanding of the role of the teacher-librarian and the school library at black secondary schools in South Africa by locating it in the broader context of political, social and economic change. The theoretical framework used in this investigation consists of elements from both the political-economy theory and the structure agency debate. Using the structuralist political-economy approach, the researcher presents educational developments in South Africa with special reference to school library development. A critical examination of educational developments in the 1970s and the 1980s and the role of school library and the teacher­ librarian within those periods is also undertaken. INTRODUCTION The school library should foster a culture of learning and aca­ demic excellence by teaching children the skills of obtaining information and how to evaluate and use this information. If this is a success, the textbook and the teacher will no longer be the sole traditional sources of information. The textbook, as the sole aid for preparing the pupil for the future, bas often been discredited. At best, the textbook is a guide or an outline. It can never be the only or chief source of learning. Hannesdottir (1982: 16) argues that the school library can play an active part in the educational process of every school and be supportive of all societal changes and development if the librar­ ian knows bow to involve it in the educational processes and show the teachers how to make use of the informational sources available to them. An important factor which plays a role in promoting the use of a library is a general educational policy. This policy should make provision for the compulsory use of the school library by all teachers. The teacher-librarian should have a clearly defined role which is known to all principals, teachers and inspectors. THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK The theoretical framework of this study takes into consideration Kallaway's (1984: 1 -2) warning that any attempt to plan educa­ tion for the South African future that ignores the unwritten assumptions of past and present endeavours, within the broader Education Libraries • Vol 1 8, No. 2 framework of political and economic changes, runs the risk of irrelevance. In general, this investigation strikes a synthesis by using elements from both the political-economy theory and the structure agency debate as the framework within which to analyze the role of the teacher-librarian and the school library. Hermeneutics was introduced to the political-economy perspec­ tive in the 1970's. With hermeneutics came the act of interpre­ tation. This theory proposed that human beings are makers of history but not under circumstances of their choosing. The analysis does not intend to reduce South African Blacks to mere functionaries of the political-economy structure. South African Blacks have, of their own accord, come to realise the injustice of their own position. If this aspect is not spelled out explicitly, it might be interpreted to imply that Blacks (or who­ ever may be oppressed) may never consciously realise the injustice which they suffer and that they never resisted the colonisation of their minds. Within the structure agency framework, this research will dem­ onstrate how the teacher-librarian and school library and other actors in the educational field e.g. principals, teachers and inspec­ tors, reacted to apartheid education by making alternative mate­ rial available, irrespective of the constraints caused by the exist­ ing political-economy structure of the Apartheid regime. 1 9- RESEARCH METHODOLOGY The researcher made greater use of quantitative than qualitative research methods. The primary focus was the empirical research and a literature review. LITERATURE REVIEW Educational Developments in South Africa with Particular Reference to the Blacks The political-economy structure in South Africa is responsible for the creation of a structure of dominance i.e. apartheid capital­ ism. It has determined class and ethnic positions in South African society from the earliest times until today. This resulted in the creation of separate facilities for different classes and ethnic groups. This in turn, led amongst other deleterious effects, to imbalances in the provision of differentiated and unequal educa­ tional systems. In order to understand the educational situation today, a historical perspective should be taken regarding the education of Blacks and the role that the school library and the teacher-librarian played, or did not play. Schooling, in general, contributed to the social separation of the blacks and whites who were, however, increasingly integrated economically, even though that integration was grossly unequal. Separate and uneq� schooling helped to rigidify racist lines of division which up to the development of capitalist industrialisa­ tion had still been somewhat loose. As stated in the report of ihe 1936 Interdepartmental Committee, referred to by Molteno (1984:63), ''The education of the white child prepares him for life in a dominant society and the education of the black child for a subordinate society." Schooling for Blacks provided a schooling in inferiority which helped to prepare black students for the subordinate positions which they would occupy in society. It can thus be seen that long before 1948 there was a system of segregated and unequal education in South Africa. White educa­ tion was free and compulsory, and the system was expanding. Black education on tlle other hand was neglected. Shortages of money led to undersupply of schools, not enough teachers and not enough children in schools (Christie, 1988:54; Molteno, 1984:63-64). Introduction and DeyelQpment Qf Bantu. CQlQured and Indian EducatiQn Under the apartheid system, as introduced by the Nationalist government in 1948, patterns of educational inequality were entrenched. The different education systems did not provide equal education for the different population groups.The separate education systems have also entrenched patterns of social class division. Apartheid is largely to blame for most of the problems of inequality in education today. The National Party brought to government a new emphasis on black schooling. In January 1949, a Commission on Native Education under Dr. W.W.M. - 20 Eiselen was appointed. The Commission reported in 195 1, and pursuant to its recommendations, the Bantu Education Act was passed in 1953. Verwoerd introduced Bantu Education in Parlia­ ment in 1953 with the following words: "I just want to remind the Honourable Members of Parliament that if the native in South Africa is being taught that he will lead his adult life under the policy of equal rights, he is making a big mistake" (Christie, 1988:93; Samuel, 1990: 18). This introduced the era of apartheid education in South Africa. The repressive and exploitive intentions of the South African government were well articulated in a speech by H. Verwoerd in 1954 in which he stressed the fact that there was no place for the black man in white society beyond certain menial forms of labour (Njobe, 1990:44). In 1959, the flrst ethnic universities were established. In 1963, the 'Coloured' Persons Education Act was passed. fbis provided for the control of education for children classified 'coloured' to be transferred from the provinces to a Division of Education within the Department of Coloured Af­ fairs. This transfer of control took place in the Cape and the Transvaal on 1 January 1964, and in Natal and the Orange Free State on 1 April 1964. The last legislative bricks were laid in the wall of segregated schooling by the Indian Education Act of 1965, which transferred the control of education for people classified Indian from the provinces to the Department of Indian Affairs. Its provisions were applied throughout Natal and at the Transvaal College of Education for Asiatics as from 1 April 1966, and a year later, it came into operation in the Transvaal generally. The Act came into operation in the Cape on 1 April 1970. An Education ActforWhites was passed in 1967 (Kallaway, 1984:9-12; Molteno, 1984:93-94). Black educational policy was integrated into the overall state strategy. Black schools were taken out of the hands of the church and other non-state bodies and control was centralised in Preto­ ria. Syllabus revision was centralised. The primary school sylla­ bus, which was finally enforced in 1956, stressed obedience, communal loyalty, ethnic and national diversity, acceptance of allocated social roles, piety and identification with rural culture. Teachers were to be rigidly regimented. Schools were as far as possible reorganised on a 'tribal basis' . The provision of elemen­ tary schooling was greatly expanded. At the same time, the cost per student was reduced by means of, among other things, double sessions, employing more underqualified teachers and paying minimal salaries to black teachers. It became illegal to operate a school not registered with the Department of Bantu Affairs. Although the system of bantu, 'coloured' and Indian education certainly perpetuated and extended the educational starvation, religious indoctrination and inferiority of earlier black schooling, it was never intended as a simple denial of educational opportu­ nities but represented a more calculated attempt to subvert the political and economic aspirations of black South Africans. It was an attempt. tightly articulated with a broader political strat­ egy developed by the political representatives of the superordinate classes, to defend their threatened order (Kallaway, 1984:9-14; Molteno, 1984:94). Education Ubraries • Vol 1 8, No. 2 The following are a few of the problems and inequalities caused by apartheid education at black schools: shortage of money, too few schools, overcrowded classrooms, underqualified teachers and poor facilities. It is important to bear in mind that demographic changes have resulted in a decrease in enrolments at white schools: in 1989, 26% or 307,598 of 1 ,179,349 places in white primary and secondary schools were not filled. In public schools adminis­ tered by the DepartmentofEducation and Training (DET), on the other band, there was a shortage of 60,343 primary and 99,506 secondary school classroom places in 1989 according to then Minister of Education and Development Aid, Dr. S. Van der Merwe ( 1989). The author of an article in the Sunday Times of 1 October 1989, as referred to by Bot (199 1 :24) warns that the trends of a decreasing or static white demand for education as opposed to an increasing black demand will accelerate: the number of whites of school-going age is expected to decrease from 1 ,203 million in 1989 to 1 , 186 million in the year 2000, while the African population of school-going age is expected to increase from 10.2 million in 1985 to 14.7 million in the year 2000. There is a marked difference between the education that most African children receive, and that which most white children receive, both in quantitative and qualitative terms. There are defini� imbalances in the provision of education for the dif(erent population groups (Christie, 1988: 108). · People's Education in the 1970's and the 1980's Education became the site of struggle because the masses became aware of imbalances in the South African educational system. The consequences of the increase in the enrolment of secondary school pupils from 307,000 in 1953 to 1 , 192,000 in 1985 was one of the reasons for the upsurge in political activity at schools in the 1980's (Resa, 1988). Another major reason was dissatisfaction with Afrikaans as a medium of teaching and as a subject at schools for Africans. The state was increasingly unable to pro­ vide for black education and was faced with providing the facilities for the increase in student enrolment. in addition to providing more teachers for schools. While there was an increase in school admissions, there was no proportionate increase in expenditure on black education, and inequalities persisted. The lower per capita expenditure in black education resulted in inadequate provision for Blacks. People's education needs to be understood in the context of the resistance to Bantu education by students, beginning with the 1976 Soweto revolt. People's education bas two main aspects ­ both the control (management, administration and decision­ making) and the actual content (theory and practice of curriculum content) of education are challenged. New structures of control such as parent-teacher-student associations are proposed as mod­ els for the democratic control of schools (Zungu & Hadebe, Education Libraries • Vol 1 8, No. 2 1987:2). These structures are also instrumental in the creation of new syllabi for the different subjects. People's education is not just another interesting academic experiment. People's education bas been conceived and devel­ oped out of the crucible of struggle and is broadly characterised by the following directives as laid down by the National Educa­ tion Coordination Committee (NECC): the democratisation of education, involving a cross-section of the community in decisions on the content and quality of the education; the negation of apartheid in education by making education relevant to the democratic struggles of the people; the achievement of a high level of education for everyone; the development of a critical mind that becomes aware of the world; the bridging of the gap between theoretical knowledge and practical life; the closing of the chasm between natural science and the humanities, between mental and manual labour with emphasis on worker education and the importance of production (Levin, 1989:5). But apart from being merely an alternative and a psychological booster, the concept of people's education does have some positive elements to commend it. not only to the educationally disadvantaged people of this country, but also to any person who happens to be embarrassed by the glaring inequalities inherent in the South African system of education. Sisulu ( 1986:27-28) emphasises this aspect when be argues that people's education bas a vision of the people of South Africa which transcends racial barriers. Reference is made here to elements of: 1 . Control 2. Curriculum options 3. Freedom of educational association 4. Strategies for implementation of people's education. These four elements would seem to lie at the heart of the concept of people's education - of course they are by no means exhaustive of this concept. But they are crucial to a rounded understanding of what various groupings in our society mean by people's education (Berlin, 1969: 1 1 8-172; Sebedi, 1988:55). The Role of the School Library and The Teacher-Librarian in the Educational Development of South Africa The inequalities within the structural features of apartheid edu­ cation find parallels in the school library system of the different education departments. 2 1 - After the Second World War the different education departments in South Africa started with the provision of school libraries. The development of school libraries for whites was the most rapid and private companies, cultural organisations and individuals played vital roles. School library provision for Blacks in South Africa lags far behind that of whites. Separate education departments cannot provide equal education. In spite of the government's talk about equality, no one could argue that the system gave all children an equal chance and equal school library facilities. Teaching practices and the structures of governance within the education system need to undergo trans­ formation. Policy debates about the transformation of education have been initiated by the National Education Policy Investiga­ tion (NEPI) of the National Education Coordinating Committee (NECC), which is a programme of research with principles of non-discrimination and democracy in education. The commit­ ment is to a unitary system of people's education. A school library policy should address the issue of democratisa­ tion and be responsive to local school and community needs. School libraries and their services have a vital role to play in the process of teaching children to learn. It is a fact that this role is somehow recognised by all Departments of Education in South Africa. Any country will pay a heavy penalty if it continues to neglect the contribution which school libraries could make in producing citizens who are self-reliant, well-adjusted and, above all, able to make use of information. Occasionally, the literature failed to articulate the role of the school library in the era of transformation as a whole, because teacher-librarians were not vigorously critical of the role. As a result of this, the actual role of school libraries in people's education was not explored. The reasons for this may lie in the underdevelopment of libraries in most schools for the oppressed and the fact that it is an underresearcbed topic. This can partially be related to the fact that scbool librarianship in South Africa fmds itself within the domain of Library and Information Science rather than in the educational domain. This is one of the reasons why, for example, NEPI included school librarianship as part of its scope only at a late stage. In Europe and the USA, school librariansbip bas a very close relationship with the respective education departments. The rise of resource eentres in South Africa provided mass-based organisations with information and services to which the op­ pressed previously bad no access. Resource centres are "charac­ terised by their non-governmental nature and their concern with building democracy in their internal work practices and in society at large. The orientation of these resource centres derives from a situation of mass repression, a manifestation of which is the censorship of information, organisations and persons." (Karelse, 1991 :3). The implementation of alternative programmes at schools ex­ posed the poor bookstock of the school libraries. Furthermore, the omission of progressive literature emphasised the need to - 22 adapt the bookstock to meet the needs of pupils. The pupils were required to research various topics for school projects and in doing so frequented community resource centres where they received "alternative material" on topics such as capitalism, socialism, sexism and the people's struggles. The pupils were made aware and stimulated to become critical thinkers. The issues raised by the development of resource centres have received some attention by local (mainly Natal based) education organisations. In 1990 the recommendation of the NECC­ affiliated Umlazi Education Crisis Committee' s commission included the provision of resources for students. Initiatives have been taken by programmes such as Each Working in Education (EWE) (Hall, 199 1 ), the South African Committee of Higher Education (SACHED), Careers Research and Information Cen­ tre (CRIC), Education Resource and Information Project (ERIP) and Read, Educate and Develop (READ) to develop creative ways, at a grass-roots level, of addressing the lack of resources available to black scholars. These efforts, while providing access to materials, also aim to empower communities which would be involved in both the selection and dissemination of materials (Zungu & Hadebe, 1987:4). The lastdecadebasnotbeen without extensive state harassment and repression against resource cen­ tres likeERIP, CRIC and SACHED. The question couldbeasked why the state has expended so much energy in trying to crush these resource centres. It is because the state is all too aware of the fact that knowledge is power. Van Zijl ( 1989) argues that projects such as READ are to some extent synomynous with the aims of people' s education and offer some kind of alternative to the current under-provision of school libraries in black schools. A crucial component of the people's education thesis is ignored in Van Zijl' s article according to Stadler ( 199 1 :20), viz. that of the call for democratic control of education. Van Zijl equates non-governmental organisations with people's education (Stadler, 199 1 :20). READ has at­ tempted to remain neutral to ensure its access to the African schools that it serves and has not concerned itself with the question of control (READ, 199 1 :2). In other words, READ does not go very far in challenging the status quo. Both Stadler ( 199 1 :22) and Nyangintsimbi (1992: 1 3) argue that there is no "linear relationship" between the provision of a school library and the improvement of the education system. Even providing "relevant" books, e.g. those which challenge the status quo on racism, sexism or class, will not transform the education system. The direct correlation between academic excellence and library provision alone is a liberal assertion. Future learning styles in our schools will have to change from passive rote learning, single-textbook, exam-orientated ap­ proaches to creative learning and problem solving through the active participation and involvement of pupils in the learning process. This must include hands-on experience in the Jabs and workshops, self-study in the library, questioning and discussion, and working together in groups. Education Libraries • Vol 1 8, No. 2 Given the fundamental change in curriculum development and teaching methods, would this alone transform the role of school libraries along the principles and aims of people' s education? Stadler ( 1 99 1 :22) and Verbeek & Stilwell ( 1988:2 1 -39) think nol Central to the people' s education concept is the aspect of 'governance ' . In most existing traditional school libraries, the selection of resources is bureaucratically controlled by prescrip­ tive booklists. Access to the school library is limited to staff and pupils. Periods of access are limited to the school day. Verbeek and Stilwell ( l988 :24) espouse the idea of the school library/resource centre doubling as a community library. The school library/resource centre would be used by the entire (geo­ graphical) larger community. The school library would be used after hours for adult education purposes which would include basic literacy classes as well as classes for literate adults. The school library/resource centre would be kept open longer hours to serve the wider community. An example which Verbeek & Stilwell ( 1 988:25) highlight is the reading aloud of newspapers to illiterates followed by a discus­ sion session. This idea was successfully introduced by Krupskaia (wife of Lenin) in rural Russia after the revolution of 1 9 1 8 (Raymond, 1 979:54, 82 & 170; Zinn, 1992: 12). This paradigm of a school library/resource centre is a radical departure from the traditional school library model. The new paradigm includes the community control of the school library. This model follows the aims and principles of people's education and its vision of the democratic control of education as opposed to the present state' s bureaucratic control of education. Commu­ nity control and democratic practices would affect the selection process of materials for school libraries, the management. acces­ sibility and opening hours. There are two things school community libraries can learn from resource centres. One is that the unsophisticated user in search of information is easily intimidated by formal, restrictive ap­ proaches of the traditional libraries. School community libraries will have to be more people-oriented than institution oriented. The second point is the importance of gathering of less conven­ tional information sources popularly called grey literature. Often these sources of information are highly relevant to the survival and information needs of communities. The community model for school libraries proposed by Verbeek & Stilwell (1988) is one which draws on community participa­ tion and alliances between the community and schools in the context of a people's education. They argue that an improvement in the provision of school library services will support change in the education system as a whole and that school libraries are necessary for inculcating reading habits. The role of school libraries is understood as providing as wide a range of (multi­ media) resources as possible in order to promote a critical consciousness among students (Verbeek & Stilwell, 1988:23). This need is increasingly being felt in the rest of Africa too and Education Ubraries • Vol 1 8, No. 2 reflects an important aspect of African librarianship. By the beginning of the 1980's a consensus was emerging, amongst writers on the topic, that there was a need for a new type of library, offering a radically different approach to library and information provision for rural populations. This new type of institution is seen as requiring a new paradigm of library service, which would in turn require a new type of librarian. This new librarian would have to be endowed with an extended range of skills and compe­ tencies far beyond those normally associated with the library and information workforce (Aboyade, 1 984:243-262; S turges & Neill, 1 990: 1 12- 1 1 3). Prior to the mid- 1980' s the local literature written on libraries in secondary schools concentrated on the improvement of school libraries within the context of the reform of apartheid education. With the education-based struggles in the mid- 1 980's, however, another trend began to emerge. The lack of libraries in schools was criticised, and the need for improvement within the transfor­ mation of the education system began to receive attention in the literature. What is needed is a restructuring of the role of the teacher­ librarian and the school library in the educational system and a move away from a reformist to a transformist approach. Given the researcher's conceptualisation of people's education and the importance of educational transformation in South Africa, the above mentioned local literature did not respond to cardinal points of people's education e.g. control and empowerment. People's education is considered by many as a remedy to the nation's educational problems. But without a fully equipped and well organised school library, a trained teacher-librarian and a clear policy of resource-based learning, people' s education could fall into the same trap which ensnared "Bantu education" and "Christian National Education." Education is, by virtue of its Latin root 'educare', a process of bringing out the individual' s full potential. Inimical to education i s a system based on the rote learning of limited text and indoctrination. What is needed is an educational system based on the free exploitation of a wide range of resources in the hope of fostering independent thinking. An educational system of this sort will require an evaluation of priorities and, as stated above, an examination of methods. The results of such an examination suggest that teachers will require re-education in order to foster alternative teaching skills; every school will need access to an adequate body of relevant material in the school library (Verbeek & Stillwell, 1 988: 23-24). For various reasons, however, all the goals of people's education have not been achieved. This was due in part to the movement's incapacity to put structures of authority in place, and because its intellectuals were unable, in the time available and under the conditions of repression, to produce new curricula to comple tely 23 - replace those of apartheid education. In the process, Gerwel (Valentine, 1992) said, people's education lost its distinctive "positive, and creative" content. Instead, it became an opposition movement that rejected apartheid education. Some extra-parliamentary political organisations not aligned to the ANC (African National Congress) have made vitriolic criti­ cisms of the whole people's education debate. These organisa­ tions' disparagement of people's education stems from, amongst others, the fear that it must not become another form of gutterised education (Zinn, 1 992: 1). The essence of people' s education - that it upheld values of equality and democracy and aimed to empower people to partici­ pate actively in the world - needed to be retained. Only through such an education system could South African society be truly transformed. EMPDUCAL RESEARCH Introduction Teachers, principals and inspectors at secondary schools from the Department of Education and Culture; Administration; and House of Representatives (HOR) from the following regional offices were surveyed in the following townships of Athlone, Bellville, Mitchells Plain and Wynberg. The main reasons for choosing the Cape Peninsula was the concentration of HOR schools in this area and the researcher's familiarity with these schools. The list, consisting of forty-five schools, included the schools' principals' names, addresses and telephone numbers. From this list a random sample of twenty-one secondary schools was selected. According to this method every region had an equal chance of being selected. A list of names, addresses and tel­ ephone numbers of the four regional head inspectors in the Peninsula was incorporated with the original list. It was decided not to include Department of Education and Training (DET) schools because there are no functional school libraries at these schools in the Cape Peninsula. The new comprehensive schools are built with a library room; however these rooms do not contain library materials but are used as ordinary classrooms. Every principal, teacher-librarian and subject or department head was asked to complete a questionnaire at each school. The reason for this was that these were the people who were responsible for the implementation of the educational policy of the department regarding school libraries. The researcher made use of the computer facilities at the Univer­ sity of the Western Cape. A data bank was established in the computer by using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) format. - 24 Terms Referring to Population Groups It would be preferable not to have to distinguish between people on the basis of colour since there is no rational justification for doing so. Since this research study was conducted in a South African context one is consequently forced to acknowledge that people of different colours are treated in different ways. When­ ever possible, the term 'Black' is used for all those people not classified as 'white. ' Although the Population Registration Act of 1950 has been scrapped discrimination still takes place. The term 'Black' will then include Indians and 'Coloured' people. Occasionally the terms Indians, 'Coloureds' or Africans are used, in order to clarify distinctions which are relevant to the argument. Fortunately, we are moving towards an era where we hope to reconcile all South Africans in a non-racial and demo­ cratic society (Gerwel, 1979:67; Van den Bos, 1986:vii; Van der Ross, 1973: 850; Venter, 1974:5). Summary of Data Collected by Means of a Survey at Selected Secondary Schools Falling Under the HOR in the Cape Peninsula In this summary, different viewpoints within the educational system are presented. The control at secondary schools and in the Department of Education and Culture: House of Representatives is lodged with the principal, subject advisor and the inspector while the teachers and the teacher-librarians are responsible for the implementation of policy. In order to understand their respective responses to questions, it was necessary to take note of the demographic profile of respond­ ents. Factors such as sex, age, level of education, years of experience and whether school librariansbip was part of the respondents' teacher training. The principals, subject advisors and inspectors bad different viewpoints of the role of the school library and the teacher­ librarian from that of the teachers and the teacher-librarians, i.e. the educators working in the present infrastructure who are confronted more directly by forces from within the communities. They are pressured by both the parents, pupils and community on the one hand and the policy makers on the other hand. It is concluded that this factor led to a difference of opinion emerging from these two groups. The majority of the policy makers were not aware of: the policy of the department of education regarding school libraries; the educational premises of this policy; bow content was given to this policy; what role the teacher-librarian should play; whether there was progress in the implementation of this policy. Education Ubraries • Vol 1 8, No. 2 The teacher and the teacher-librarian, on the other hand, are responsible for the execution of the policy. They are also con­ fronted with the urge from the masses for the implementation of alternative programmes and people's education. They are sand­ wiched in-between these conflicting pressures. The pressures emphasize the textbook and examination and, on the other hand, the mass movement opinion away from the textbook and demand for alternative programmes which require additional material. The focus on the examination led to textbook orientation, the prevailing practice at respondent schools. The department's policy regarding the use of the school library is presented in the different curricula of the individual subjects. The respondent schools do not have enough library material. A further problem facing teachers is an overloaded syllabus which does not allow them extra time to use the school library. Given these constraints, it is very difficult for the teacher­ librarian to play a proper role in an understocked library, with insufficient space and furniture. The majority felt that they need to have more space, more funds, additional stock and more furniture to improve their performance. The teacher-librarians cannot give content to their role while they are expected to teach other subjects or to be a class teacher. This is a matter of conflict between the ideals of the teacher-librarian and the policy of the department involved. As a result of the apartheid regime some people are rooted in the system. Some educators are conservative and are not receptive to change. This could account for their partial ignorance of the role of the library and the teacher-librarian in the process of curriculum change and academic development. Many of the respondents are isolated from or ignorant of the educational transformation debate and the potential role of the teacher­ librarian and the library within that context. This leads to an inability to present imaginative responses on how to construct a new and different role. The current educational system has both a race and a class dimension which has a bearing on how challenges are met. This can lead to educators becoming used to doing things their way. Given the rootedness of the system it led to the creation of stress. The pressure for change, which incidentally was experienced by this researcher too, came through teachers and pupils on the one hand and through parents and the community on the other hand. The educational authorities were also responsible for applying pressure on these educators. These are all contradictory elements within an interactive envi­ ronment where different role players are involved. Differences regarding perceptions, hierarchical positions and ignorance led to a conflicting situation, which necessarily had an impact on the role of the teacher-librarian and the school library. Education Libraries - • Vol 1 8, No. 2 Summary of the recommendations In the discussion of the theoretical framework, it was argued that the political-economy structure created imbalances in the educa­ tion system in South Africa. The structure agency debate applied to the consideration of people's education where people react to stimuli, caused by the imbalances, which were created by the political-economy structure of South Africa. This led to educa­ tion becoming a site of struggle where disenfranchised people gave voice to their dissatisfaction with these inequalities in the education system. These inequalities were implicated in the inability of teacher-librarians to fulfil their role properly in the educational system. Recommendations regarding the role of the school library and the teacher-librarian in education for Blacks in South Africa, are grounded in the empirical fmdings. The recommendations were presented under the following headings: a general educational policy, the need for an explicit school library policy, the need to have one centralised department of education, the establishment of school libraries/community libraries, teacher training and teacher-librarian training, the role of research units at the departments of library and information science, the role of professional organisations and the role of the teacher-librarian. CONCLUSION In order to comply with these recommendations considerable funds will obviously be needed. Funds should be generated to: create additional posts for teacher-librarians; build libraries at schools where they are non-existent; provide for adequate collections of material a tall schools in South Africa; and to train teacher-librarians. This in itself will be a tremendous financial burden on a new South Africa. The example of the USA could be followed where the assistance of the private sector was called upon to help finance educational projects. In conclusion, it needs to be stated that the researcher was able to illustrate the value of the role of the teacher-librarian and the school library in a sample of schools in the Western Cape under the HOR in South Africa. It is hoped that the significance of the findings will go beyond the explicitly expressed recommenda­ tions, thus contributing to a more general understanding of the role of the teacher-librarian and the school library in the educa­ tion of Blacks. Moreover, the researcher hopes that the study has demonstrated that the structuralist political economy approach in library and information science research in South Africa is feasible. It is 25 - hoped that it will make some contribution to the philosophy of 'African librarianship.' The empirical investigation said more about the deficiencies of the school library system but less about the agency debate. It did not reveal a great deal about what the teacher-librarian was doing and what the agent and the institution were doing at a particular political juncture and how or whether they were defining their role in the middle of the educational struggle. Teacher-librarians have seldom gone beyond the plea for governments to provide more school libraries. They are still only half convinced of the importance of school libraries for young people and they do not in general place a high value on school libraries. Too many teachers persist with the rigid and sterile teaching methods which they themselves experienced as children. Such attitudes contrib­ ute to a very unfavourable environment for the improvement of school libraries in general. There is also the need for those responsible for library services in their countries to promote a more positive approach towards school libraries in the courses provided by institutions of teacher training. When both librarians and teachers are more firmly convinced of the case for libraries in schools, there will be scope for a better case to be made to ministries of education than is done at present This is no easy programme but it is a vital one if school libraries are to be an effective part of a new approach to librarian­ ship. . Finally, this was an attempt to make a positive contribution to the advancement of school librarianship in South Africa in general by proposing a new library model that is less formal, less book­ orientated, more locally rooted, and more precisely targeted at real and potential information users and by suggesting elements of a school library policy. LIST OF REFERENCES Aboyade, B.O. 1984. Communications potentials of the library for non-literates. Libri, 34, pp.243-262. Berlin, I. 1969. Two concepts of liberty in four essays of liberty. Oxford University Press. Christie, P. 1988. The right to learn: the struggle for education in South Africa. Braamfontein: Ravan Press. Gerwel, G. 1979. Literatuur en apartheid: konsepsies van gekleurdes in die Afrikaanse roman tot 1948. Proefskrif -D.Lit. et Phil. Vrije Universiteit. Brussel. Hall, P. 1991. The EWE bookboxes: a community basis for library work. 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In: Kallaway, P. ed. Apartheid and educa­ tion. Johannnesburg, Ravan Press, pp. 45-107. Njobe, M.N. 1990. Education for liberation. Braamfontein: Skotaville Publishers. Nyangintsimbi, L.N. 1992. Can the integration of libraries into the curriculum improve the quality of the Bantu education primary schools: a review. Unpublished paper. Raymond, B. 1979. Krupskaia and Soviet Russian librarianship, 1917-1939. Metuchen: Scarecrow press. Read 1991/1992. Annual report. Resa 1988. The struggle against apartheid education: towards people 's education in South Africa. London: RESA. Samuel, J . 1990. The state of education in South Africa. In: Nasson, B. & J. Samuel. Education from poverty to liberty. Cape Town: David Philip, pp. 17-29. Sebedi, 1 . 1988. Towards the en-fleshmentof adynamic idea: the people's education. In: Education for affirmation. Conference papers. Johannesburg: Skotaville Publishers, pp. 49-60. Sisulu, Z. 1986. Keynote address. Second Consultative Confer­ ence of the NECC in Durban, March. Stadler, C. 199 1 . Competing visions for school libraries in South Africa. Innovation, 3. December, pp. 15-24. S turges, P. and R. Neill. 1990. The quiet struggle: libraries and information for Africa. London: Mansell. Valentine, S. 1992. Equality and skills needed - Gerwel. The Argus, Special Section: focus on education. Wed., April 1 . Education Ubraries • Vol 1 8 , No. 2 Van den Bos, C.Y. 1986. People's education for people' s power: political wisdom and educational action. Johannesburg: Wits University. Unpublished M.Ed. Thesis. Van der Merwe, S. 1989. Interview, (on radio) of the then Minister of information, broadcasting services and the film industry, Pretoria, 20th September. Van der Ross, R.E. 1973. A political and social history of the Cape coloured people, 1880-1970. Unpublished manuscript. Van Zijl, P. 1989. People's libraries in support of people's education. Unpublished paper presented to the Kenton Confer­ ence, Magoebaskloof, October. Venter, A.J. 1974. Coloured - a profile of two million South Africans. Cape Town: Human & Rousseau. Education Ubraries • Vol 1 8, No. 2 Verbeek, J. and C. Stilwell. 1988. Speculations on the nature of an alternative school library system for a post-apartheid South Africa. Wits Journal of Library and Information Science, 5, pp. 21-39. Zion, S. 1992. The role of school libraries in people' s education. Bellville: UWC. Unpublished paper. Zungu, V.E. and N. Hadebe. 1987. People's education for people's power: an update. Paper presented at the Conference for University based adult education, Natal University, Durban. 23- 24 June. George H. Frederiks is a faculty member in the Library and Information Science Department, University of Western Cape, South Africa 27 -