Tracking the money for Open Educational Resources in South African basic education: What we don't know
Sarah Goodier
10.25375/uct.10007129.v1
https://zivahub.uct.ac.za/articles/book/Tracking_the_money_for_Open_Educational_Resources_in_South_African_basic_education_What_we_don_t_know/10007129
<p>This study aims to develop an understanding of government funding
allocated to educational resources in basic education in South Africa.
Linked to claims about potential cost savings associated with using Open
Educational Resources (OER),</p><p><br></p><p>The main intention was to establish a benchmark of public spending on
educational resources in order to be able to ascertain the economic
benefits of using OER. As such, the following research questions are
considered: How much public money is currently being spent on
educational materials in basic education in South Africa? How much
public money is currently being spent on OER in basic education in South
Africa? Do OER represent a cost reduction with regard to educational
resource acquisition in basic education in South Africa?</p>
<p><br></p><p>The study is comprised of a desk review and document analysis of
publicly available information on expenditure in South African basic
education. This approach was adopted in order to develop a conceptual
understanding of South African government funding allocation for general
educational resources as well as OER.</p>
<p><br></p><p>The findings highlight the fact that individual provinces, rather
than central government, have the authority to determine budget
allocations for the procurement and delivery of what are termed Learning
and Teaching Support Materials (LTSM).</p>
<p><br></p><p>Although each provincial Department of Education budget includes a
line item for LTSM, these are not sufficiently disaggregated to
determine the actual expenditure on specific categories, such as
textbooks, in order to establish a benchmark for potential cost savings
of OER. The findings also illustrate a possible cost-recovery model
based on the local Siyavula open textbook initiative.</p>
<p><br></p><p>In order to make claims about OER and their cost-saving potential in
the South African education system, national and provincial government
budgets will need to be disaggregated to a more granular level and made
more readily available for in-depth investigation of budgetary
allocations.</p>
2019-10-24 09:51:50
basic education
expenditure
Global South
LTSM
national budget
oer
open educational resources
Siyavula
South Africa
Education
Higher Education