The place and case for tourism in the educational curriculum in the “new” South Africa

Abstract

Tourism as a subject in South Africa has been a very little researched topic to date. This dissertation aims to consider the history of curriculum development in schools in South Africa post 1994 with specific reference to the school subject tourism. The focus will be on how, when and why tourism was brought into the school curriculum internationally as well as nationally. It will interrogate whether tourism as a subject in the South African school curriculum is justifiable and what the rationale for its introduction was. This will be achieved through an analysis of the educational decision-making process at educational authority level as well as the various school curricula implemented over the past quarter century. The place of tourism as a school subject will be contextualised by considering the domain of tourism within the South African economy, as well as a brief consideration of tourism as a school subject in other African destinations as well as international destinations. Curriculum knowledge cannot be neutral, it can either be used as an instrument to integrate students into the logic of the status quo or it serves as the means of enabling people to critically transform their world. If the curriculum is described as a product and expression of political interest, values and knowledge of a dominant social group, powerful insights into the past and current dilemma of the construction of the curriculum can be gained. Thus, it is with the South African background in mind and international benchmarking that we investigate the viability of tourism as a subject in its current role in South African schools.