The emergence of self-managing schools in South Africa: Devolution of authority or disguised centralism?

This paper considers the devolution of authority to public school governing bodies (SGBs) in the context of self-managing schools. It examines the nature of the powers, functions and duties assigned to them in legislation and asks whether the manner in which South African legislation provides for the devolution of authority and power represents authentic devolution of power, or whether it can be characterised as centralisation in disguise. The question is answered by examining, against the backdrop of general and education-specific legal provisions, two examples of functions of SGBs, namely those to determine language and admission policies.