Research 

Child refugee rights are a pertinent issue in the Republic of South Africa. South Africa's progressive Constitution (1996) stipulates the right of all children to access education without discrimination. This research project used a rights-based approach to education research to identify some of the factors that promote or hinder child refugee access to education. I used qualitative case study methodology to collect data from Cape Town, South Africa. I collected data from multiple sources consisting documents, media articles and interviews. I used stratified purposive sampling to select respondents. My respondents included NGO representatives that work with refugees, school authorities and refugees with children in Cape Town. I analysed Department of Home Affairs and Department of Basic Education policy documents and press releases, NGO reports and media articles reporting on child refugee rights to education. Multiple methods of data collection are credited to case study approaches for ensuring the validity of findings. Kelly, Lungwangwa and Sililo's (1998) levels of factors affecting access to education informed the structure of my data collection instruments, data analysis and presentation of findings. These are: the socioeconomic factors, factors at the level of the education system, factors at the level of the school and factors at the community or family level. I added an additional level of legislative and policy factors promoting or hindering access. The factors at each level of Kelly, Lungwangwa and Sililo's (1998) framework are interrelated. Although the South African Schools Act (1996), National Education Policy Framework and other policies provide a framework for implementation and realization of all children's access to schooling, the practical implementation of these and other policies at the school level is influenced by interpretation and application of policy by school administrators and refugee parents. Among the findings, the following factors are most influential in relation to refugee children accessing education in Cape Town. Refugees' ability or inability to earn an income was a dominant theme affecting children's access to schools. Department of Basic Education policies and legislative provisions are the asset in giving refugee children access to education. This policy and legal framework endorses universal access even where refugees may not afford fees or have the required identification documents for their children. However, refugee parents lack knowledge of their rights to education and as such, do not exercise their children's rights to education. Refugee parents are sometimes fearful and do not know how to work with their rights. The progressive education policy and legislative framework does not always provide refugees with full access to education, particularly poor refugees. 

Thesis (MPhil)--University of Cape Town, 2012