Despite the widespread condemnation of the practice of child labour, it remains a pervasive phenomenon in developing countries. In such contexts, labour and education often represent competing activities for children. Drawing on a study of child labour located within the critical social science tradition, this article explores insider accounts of the relationship between educational aspirations and labour realities in the agricultural sector in the Limpopo Province of South Africa. We discuss these accounts within the current debates on the place of education and work in post-apartheid childhood.