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Abstract: School integration is an important indicator of social justice and racial reconciliation in post-apartheid South Africa, and it remains a prominent topic in the public and political discourse. Despite its significance, however, it remains unclear to what extent de facto integration has occurred since the end of de jure segregation in 1994. This study therefore provides a comprehensive overview of current patterns of school segregation by race and class in South Africa. It is based on the 2021 Annual School Survey—an administrative dataset covering all South African schools—and the 2019 TIMSS school survey. Using indicators for unevenness, exposure, and diversity, we find that school segregation in South Africa remains very high, with racial and socio-economic segregation reinforcing each other. As a result, White students almost exclusively attend former White schools, have relatively limited exposure to non-White peers, and are vastly overrepresented in elite public and private schools. Based on these findings, we argue that the political settlement that emerged in post-apartheid South Africa facilitated the hoarding of educational opportunities by the White minority and, to a lesser extent, the new Black middle class. 

The Sociology Seminar Series for Hilary Term is convened by Ginevra Floridi, Ramina Sotoudeh and Benjamin Elbers.  For more information about this or any of the seminars in the series, please contact sociology.secretary@nuffield.ox.ac.uk.