Treading a Delicate Tightrope: A principal balancing between education and political change during turbulent times | National Inquiry Services Centre

Treading a Delicate Tightrope

Treading a Delicate Tightrope: A principal balancing between education and political change during turbulent times

A principal balancing between education and political change during turbulent times

By Mike Burton
Size: 152x 229 mm
Pages: 240 pages
ISBN 13: 978-1-920033-83-5
Published: March 2022
Publishers: NISC (Pty) Ltd
Recommended Retail Price: R 22,500.00 225.00
Cover: Paperback

About the book

When Mike Burton became the principal of All Saints College in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa, little did he know about the journey on which he was embarking.

Very soon after taking up the position, Mike realised that the vision of the founding organisation was becoming irrelevant as education and politics converged, reaching a crisis point in the second half of the 1980s. Mike found himself walking the tightrope between the expectations of the funders on the one hand and those of the students and community on the other.

Matters reached a tipping point and Mike had to make a decision. As ‘Comrade Mike’ he elected that the interests of the students and the community take precedence. Mike chose education AND liberation. 

Mike Burton’s Tightrope is a gripping, personal account that transports the reader back to the liberation struggle of the 1980s and the educational issues that informed policy in the nascent democracy. The book will be of particular interest to those involved in education at the time as well anybody who observed or was engaged during that turbulent period of change.

Reviewer’s Comments
 
"Mike Burton’s leadership must truly be remembered as one of the markers on the course of doing at times the impossible, viz. to teach excellently as well as to struggle with conviction"
Franklin Sonn
 
"[Mike Burton’s story] is a reminder of why so many people supported the new regime and its education initiatives with such dedication and enthusiasm. It was the dawn of a new era, filled with hope and optimism. And it is good to be reminded of that during current times."
Reviewer
 

About the Authors

Mike Burton was born in Bulawayo in 1944 and he grew up and schooled in the erstwhile Rhodesia. He qualified as a teacher at Rhodes University and went on to study further at Oxford University as a Rhodes Scholar.

From Oxford, Mike returned to teach in Rhodesia and was welcomed back to a raging bush war. With their three young children he and his wife, Noreen, decided to settle in South Africa where they both taught at St Peter’s in Rivonia and then at Kingswood College in Grahamstown (now Makhanda).

On the cricket field he was selected for the South African Schools XI and went on to play for Eastern Province when a student at Rhodes, and captained Oxford University.

Mike is the author of a well-received series of Geography textbooks for secondary schools. Currently, he works with a small company of retired educators supporting rural and township schools around East London in South Africa’s Eastern Cape province.

Contents

Foreword
Preface
Abbreviations and acronyms
PART 1: ERUPTION
PART 2: CRAFTING THE VISION
PART 3: THE MISSION
PART 4: THE TIGHTROPE IS SHAKEN
PART 5: CONTRIBUTING TO THE DEFIANCE CAMPAIGN 
PART 6: BUILDING FOR THE FUTURE

Order Enquiries

You may contact NISC to purchase this book, however other purchasing options are available. Please see ordering details below:

Retail

Order online through from the African Books CollectiveAmazon or order from your local book store.

Wholesale

Order from the African Books Collective.