Abstract:
In 2000 the Namibian Government introduced decentralisation reforms in
education in the form of school clustering. This article analyses the role of local
politics in the implementation process. The key role players are education
inspectors, school principals and teachers. We found that these stakeholders have
influenced the reform's limited outcomes by contesting and supporting it, by
engaging in contested and consensual political relationships with one another, and
through competition over resources. This is a qualitative, comparative study of
three school clusters situated in two districts (also called circuits). The empirical
material was collected in the education districts which have implemented the
reforms for the longest periods. The clusters we researched are diverse in terms of
geographical location, the resources at their disposal, and the communities their
schools serve.
