The Politics and Governance of Basic Education: A Tale of Two South African Provinces

Research on Improving Systems of Education (RISE) and the Blavatnik School of Government, University of Oxford are pleased to announce that Brian Levy  (Johns Hopkins University and Academic Director of the Nelson Mandela School of Public Governance, University of Cape Town) will be giving a talk on his recently released book, The Politics and Governance of Basic Education: A Tale of Two South African Provinces, at the Blavatnik School of Government, University of Oxford on Thursday, 8 November at 4:00pm. 

The Politics and Governance of Basic Education: A Tale of Two South African Provinces was co-edited with Robert Cameron, Ursula Hoadley, and Vinothan Naidoo and published by Oxford University Press. The book explores the balance between hierarchical and horizontal institutional arrangements for the public provision of basic education. Using the vivid example of South Africa, a country that had ambitious goals at the outset of its transition from apartheid to democracy, it explores how the interaction of politics and institutions affects educational outcomes. By examining lessons learned from how South Africa failed to achieve many of its goals, it suggests a strategy for making progress which combines practical steps to achieve incremental gains with more transformational efforts to evoke agency - a vision, one might say, not only of 'education for all', but of 'all for education'.

Tea and coffee will be available at 16:00, with the talk starting promptly at 16:15, followed by an audience Q&A until 17:30. The event will be hosted by Lant Pritchett (RISE Research Director, Blavatnik School of Government and Senior Fellow at the Center for Global Development) and live-streamed via the Blavatnik School of Government YouTube channel. 

The book is available via Open Access from the University of Oxford.