Evidence and education policy making in South Africa during Covid-19: Promises, researchers and policymakers in an age of unpredictability.

Abstract

The effects of Covid-19 have impacted every aspect of social life in the Global North and Global South. The nature of the pandemic has exacerbated social inequalities and plunged fragile economies and the impoverished into disarray. The response to the pandemic globally has been premised primarily on advice from the science fraternity with little or no input from humanities or social science experts. The merging of science and government has led to some questionable policies, particularly in the education context. It is these contestations and contradictions that this article discusses, focusing on the complex interplay between research and policy making, and the notion of policy overreach. Further, it explores worrisome education trends that the pandemic has set in motion whilst pointing to gaps and omissions in the current education debate. It concludes by mapping an embryonic progressive education agenda in response to the pandemic.