Abstract
Background: Cultural dissonance and exclusion in schools persevere because of a lack of
response to diversity. In South Africa, coloniality manifests itself in teaching and learning
practices through promoting and privileging selective cultural norms in schools, often to the
detriment of poor black children.
Aim: Despite the availability of educational scholarships for poor children as a way to
promote economic success, these opportunities are often laden with cultural and hegemonic
expectations making them challenging to navigate, often rendering the experiences as
traumatic rather than developmental.
Setting: The article reflects on children’s schooling experiences in South Africa.
Methods: This qualitative exposition presents insights from a primary school teacher about
her own childhood experiences of exclusion, alienation, and cultural dissonance in South
African schools.
Results: It reveals the pervasiveness of coloniality and how social justice has still not fully
permeated schools. The interplay between race and class remains salient.
Conclusion: Schools should intensify efforts to promote inclusion by recognising diversity and
avoiding normalising singular narratives in diverse contexts. Educational opportunities given
to children from disadvantaged backgrounds should be accompanied by psycho-social
support to ease the culture shock and alienation they feel when learning in new contexts that
differ from their norm.
Contribution: The article demonstrates that culture is more powerful than politics
because, despite the democratic political context, the ‘cultural bomb’ of decoloniality is allencompassing.