Widening Circles of Leadership: How to reform an education system

Sir Michael Barber, internationally renowned as a leading expert on governance, reform and service delivery, was head of the United Kingdom’s education and other public service reforms under Prime Minister Tony Blair in the late 1990s and early 2000s. In November 2023, he visited South Africa for a series of discussions with key stakeholders, hosted by CDE. This report is based on a presentation Barber made at CDE’s offices to senior education officials, leading education NGOs, philanthropic foundations and business leaders, and the subsequent discussion. When it comes to a dysfunctional education system like South Africa’s, Barber argued for whole system reform and against a ‘patch and mend’ approach. “If a system is underperforming badly,” he asked, “why not redesign it completely?” Barber shared his 10 principles for reforming an education system, starting with ‘put every child on the agenda’. These reforms are needed to pressure teachers to improve and provide them with the support from school leaders and the education ministry to do so, because “unless you change what teachers do in the classroom all day, the results will stay the same”.

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