Patrick Van Rensburg

This biography traces the life of Patrick van Rensburg (1931-2017), a South African who opposed apartheid and devoted himself to rethinking how education could serve the majority. Raised in KwaZulu-Natal in a white family whose beliefs he came to reject, he struggled with the attitudes of his upbringing and gave up the privileges that came with being white in South Africa. He was determined that post-colonial southern Africa should not produce a small privileged black elite, and he committed himself to an egalitarian model of schooling that prioritised practical, useful education for most children. His commitment earned him the Right Livelihood Award in 1981, which honoured his distinctive contribution to education.

Van Rensburg was exiled from South Africa in 1960 after taking part in the London boycott campaign that helped launch the Anti-Apartheid Movement. He settled in Botswana, then known as Bechuanaland, where he set up cooperatives, offered vocational training and became one of the first educators to take up development studies as a field. His best-known achievement was the Swaneng Hill School, created for children who had left primary school early. Its curriculum joined academic study with manual work, and its pupils helped build the school, run it, grow their own food and make their own equipment and furniture.

The book presents Van Rensburg as an inventive and magnetic figure who reflected the spirit of the late twentieth century, and it argues that his ideas still speak to current debates about education policy. It will interest readers curious about South African history, anti-apartheid activism, development in southern Africa, and alternative approaches to schooling.