Educator-Learner Relationships in South African Public Schools

Harming the dignity of learners, refusing to hear their side of the story, neglecting to help them retrieve their stolen property: such are the unfortunate occurrences at many South African public schools. Dedicated educators sometimes default, leaving their wronged learners out in the cold. The questions that thus need to be addressed are: What causes this conduct of educators? Is it ignorance of their legal position? Is it insensitivity to common law principles and statutory provisions? Is it sheer carelessness? Mindful of the democratic South African Constitution, this book provides an educational- juridical view of educator-learner relationships at public schools in order to shed some light on the variables that influence these relationships. This view should be especially helpful to education researchers and post graduate students. A comparative school law perspective of the sources of school law, the duties and responsibilities of educators, the fundamental rights and legal duties of learners, educators' duty of care, discipline and legal liability in England/Wales, Canada, Japan, and South Africa is presented in terms of similarities and differences.