Linking national policies with school and teacher education programmes: A case of civics and citizenship education in South Africa

While policy documents often portray a ‘maximal tone’ about proposed government programmes this may not be the case at the specific points where these programmes are to be implemented. This article reports on a study on civics and citizenship education at one South African education institution. Through a critical analysis of policy documents, teacher education modules and high school textbooks, the study aimed at enhancing an understanding of the extent to which civics and citizenship education documents at the teacher education and high school levels reflect and respond to national policy directives. Findings from the study indicate that while in some areas there are positive links between policy recommendations and institutional documents on civics and citizenship education issues, in others there are some gaps between what policy documents say and what institutional documents say. The study recommends that, to empower the learner in attempts to resolve social, political and economic problems at the local, national and global levels through citizenship education, policy directives need to be reflected in documents used at institutional levels.