Fifteen years of action research for political and educational emancipation at a South African University

Abstract

This article traces the origins and development of an action research Master's in Education programme, which was introduced in the Faculty of Education at the University of the Western Cape, South Africa in the mid-1980s. The programme began during a time of political and social repression, when the apartheid government was very much in control, and was explicitly located within an emancipatory approach to education. The article discusses the vision of emancipatory education that underpinned the programme, linking this to the political situation of domination and resistance in the educational sector. The origins of People's Education are described, as well as various initiatives in action research which were closely linked to the People's Education movement of the time. The article concludes by discussing some of the new challenges for action research and emancipatory education in the post-apartheid era.