Excellence for some before equity for all: Re-examining the national strategy for mathematics education through the capability approach theory

In 2001 South Africa launched its national strategy for mathematics, science, and technology education (NSMSTE), which was anchored in the 100 dedicated (Dinaledi) schools project. At the launch, 5 undesirable outcomes were identified as structural problems that retarded the provision of high-quality education; hence they were targeted for intervention and correction. Although, to date, internal evaluators claim that the intervention was successful, critics refute those claims, arguing that evaluators selected short-term outcomes to seek immediate gratification; hence certain important indicators were ignored. With this article I aim to analyse alternative selections of indicators for the same 5 undesirable outcomes so that stakeholders may gain new insight. Framed within the capability approach (CA) theory, I employed a qualitative research design in the study where secondary data were collected through document analysis. The CA theory argues that in any educational intervention, stakeholders prioritise between two sets of resources – those internal (ability/intelligence) or those external to the learners (social arrangements). Where internal resources are prioritised, the interventions have been successful, but where external resources have been prioritised, interventions have often failed because learner ability was buttressed by external resources. However, while theory should be an important driver of practice, evidence justifies decision-making and informs future practice. While evidence of the tenets of the CA theory abounds globally, in South Africa, a targeting talent project (TTP) launched at the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits) in 2006 prioritised ability by selecting academically gifted learners in Dinaledi schools. To date, the project has nurtured 3,022 gifted learners and achieved an average annual pass rate of 94% with university access. On the other hand, results from the current analysis show that external resources were prioritised, but that the 5 outcomes were not achieved. I recommend that the national strategy should consider prioritising the identification of gifted learners rather than randomly placing any learners in dedicated/focus schools and providing them with external resources.