This study explores the well-being (engagement) and work fulfilment of 628 blue-collar workers as outcomes of decent work, based on the Psychology of Working Theory and its target group. It takes a positive preventative approach and demonstrates the motivational role of work engagement and psychological ownership in contributing to the work…

The subject Mathematical Literacy (ML) prioritises an interplay of mathematics and real-life contexts in pursuit of an empowerment agenda for improved life opportunities. In seeking to identify processes of inclusion-exclusion afforded by different conceptualisations of this interplay, a network of Bernstein's theoretical constructs --…

New research from UNICEF Innocenti and Western Sydney University explores the question: what does well-being mean to children in a digital age? This first-phase report prioritises the voices of children, collected through workshops with over 300 children from 13 countries along with analysis of existing survey data from 34,000 children aged 9-17…

Teachers face increased workplace challenges in South Africa. Through a process of intervention research, this study aimed to develop and evaluate the efficacy of a work-based support programme for teachers. Maslow's hierarchy of needs was adopted as the theoretical framework informing both programme design and evaluation. Teachers (n = 10) were…

The dance world is dominated by instilling technique and discipline in the dance training. Technique and discipline have been inculcated through training regimes that are dogmatically transferred through the generations -- from teacher to dancer --and who in turn perpetuate technique and discipline in their teaching. Within a multicultural…

This article introduces playful learning as part of the decolonising project at institutes of higher learning in South Africa with specific reference to the discipline of communication design. Not only does the article interrogate the content of design education, specifically design for development, but more specifically the way that design for…

Online teaching results in knowledge-building. Knowledge-building is the teaching and learning process that helps academics and students to generate specific personal values used to understand their personal identities. Academics have been forced by COVID-19 lockdowns to go online in teaching their students. The purpose of this study is to explore…

Going beyond the static, dangerous version of a single story about who an African child inmate is, is an ethical responsibility -- especially when we consider the structural and material forces that are tangled in this evil deed. Drawing on a sociological framing of self and Foucault's theory of ethics, we take a narrative inquiry stance to…

This study reports on the development of a textbook for a school subject (Grade 8 Afrikaans second language--an official South African language). A framework for the textbook was developed by drawing from Maslow's self-actualisation and Hettler's wellness approaches, and merging these with Seligman's PERMA and the psychosocial system approach, as…

In this article, the author discusses how art, politics, and life intersect in a South African community visual arts studio program that seeks to educate artists as change agents. Artist Proof Studio (APS) was founded in 1991 and responded to the challenge of building democracy in a postapartheid South Africa. It is a community art center in…

Educational research using visual methods has the power to transform the society in which we live and the communities in which we work. We must not naïvely imagine that having the desire to make change in people's lives will mean that it will happen, as sometimes there may be surprising, unintended negative repercussions as well. Other…

The aim of this study was to identify influences on the job satisfaction of previously disadvantaged school principals in North-West Province. Evans's theory of job satisfaction, morale and motivation was useful as a conceptual framework. A mixed-methods explanatory research design was important in discovering issues with which these principals…

This paper presents an overview of UKUSA, a non-governmental community arts/music programme in Durban, South Africa. At the heart of this project is a desire to enable people who have been historically disadvantaged to develop a more positive sense of self. To this end, UKUSA offers the best possible tuition in music, dance and drama, developing…

This volume contains papers submitted to the 12th Annual International Conference of the Bulgarian Comparative Education Society (BCES), held in Sofia and Nessebar, Bulgaria, in June 2014, and papers submitted to the 2nd International Partner Conference, organized by the International Research Centre 'Scientific Cooperation,' Rostov-on-Don,…