This dissertation examines the background to, key participants in, and beginning stages of a rare and important phenomenon--the fundamental restructuring of a nation's formal system of education. It also looks at a particular program that is positioned to play a potentially key role in the restructuring process. The site of this incipient restructuring is South Africa in the early 1990s. The program focuses specifically on training black school leaders has developed as a result of a partnership among three institutions--one of South Africa's largest non-government organizations, Teacher Opportunity Programmes (TOPS); the University of South Carolina in the U.S.; and the historically black University of Durban-Westville in South Africa.
Chapters 1 and 2 identify some of the broad socio-historical and political contexts of the current move toward educational restructuring. Chapter 3 looks at historically black universities originally established on the basis of race and ethnicity, but at least some of which have been able to break dramatically from their apartheid roots to become progressive institutions and an essential part of the transformation struggle. Chapter 4 traces the development of an unusually strong and well-developed non-government organization (NGO) sector that over the past decade has, along with black universities, come to play a crucial role in the educational change process. It highlights particularly the history of one of the largest NGOs in the country, Teacher Opportunity Programmes.
Finally, Chapter 5 explores the evolutions and workings of the South African program that brings together two of the key players--TOPS and the University of Durban-Westville--in a partnership with a U.S. institution of higher education, the University of South Carolina. Initiated by TOPS this collaborative and capacity-building program has shaped the development and delivery of an integrated two track program--both a locally based in-service component and an international master's degree--that addresses one of the most crucial aspects of South Africa's educational restructuring process: the training of black school leaders.
