Includes bibliographical references and index.

Part I. Framing the issues -- 1. Improving basic education - the governance challenge / Brian Levy -- 2. The transformation of South Africa's system of basic education / Luis Crouch and Ursula Hoadley -- 3. Education policymaking at national level : the politics of multiple principals / Robert Cameron and Vinothan Naidoo -- Part II. Provincial governance and politics of education -- 4. Provincial governance of education - the Western Cape experience / Robert Cameron and Brian Levy -- 5. Provincial governance of education - the Eastern Cape experience / Zukiswa Kota, Monica Hendricks, Eric Matambo and Vinothan Naidoo -- 6. Explaining the Western Cape performance paradox : an econometric analysis / Gabrielle Wills, Debra Shepherd, and Janeli Kotzé -- 7. Context and capability : a tale of tow bureaucracies / Brian Levy, Robert Cameron and Vinothan Naidoo -- Part III. Horizontal governance -- 8. Case studies of school-level governance dynamics in the Western Cape / Ursula Hoadley, Brian Levy, Lawule Shumane, and Shelly Wilburn -- 9. Case studies of school-level governance dynamics in the Eastern Cape / Brian Levy and Lawule Shumane -- 10. 'All for education' - meeting the governance challenge / Brian Levy.