EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Secretariat (2000), motivating for countries to explore the interface between education and the issues of globalisation, values, and HIV/AIDS. We believe that the Fourteenth Conference of Commonwealth Education Ministers presents a landmark opportunity. The end of the 20th Century and the beginning of the 21st Century represents an important moment in the history of our nations, individually and collectively. Future generations of historians will look back on this moment and judge our wisdom and foresight as we share experiences and chart our paths forward. In this paper we review the process of educational transformation in South Africa as we enter the 21st Century. Since the coming of democracy in 1994, the core task of the South African government has been to take down the scaffolding of apartheid, and replace it with a new system that promises well-being, respect, and expression for all South Africans. The project of educational reform has been a central part of this massive reconstruction and development project. The profound changes taking place globally during this same period frame our national project. While the internationalisation of economy and culture arguably started in its most dramatic form at the beginning of the last century, the qualitative and quantitative elaboration of real-time economic an