This article provides some insight into the constraints on the potential of recognition of prior learning (RPL) to widen access to educational qualifications. Its focus is on a conceptual framework that emerged from a South African study of RPL practices across four different learning contexts. Working from a social realist perspective, it argues…

Drawing on social closure theory, this study achieved a deep understanding of the perceptions and experiences of the first cohort of candidates passing through the Thuthuka support programme. Using semi-structured interviews as part of a qualitative approach, currently prevalent modes of professional closure were considered by taking the…

Student affairs, as an integral part of universities, has taken on a key position in contributing to social justice as one of the central imperatives of higher education in South Africa. This article sketches the development of this role and outlines some important tasks for contemporary student affairs. Three conceptual models within the social…

Sub-Saharan Africa is the region of the world most affected by HIV & AIDS, accounting for two-thirds of the global burden of the pandemic. People with disabilities are regarded as a high-risk group for HIV but have been largely neglected in programmes of education, treatment and support. This paper examines the possibilities for a learning…

This study provides a framework for studying socio-cultural issues that impact on how knowledge, ideas and values are transmitted and developed. Since racial domination in South Africa was produced through power relations, it is important to investigate discourses through which black South African distance education learners make meaning of their…

Reviews changing attitudes towards the schooling of Black South Africans as revealed in a study of texts and statements by leading White politicians and historians. Discusses dominant schools of educational thought in South Africa focusing on the nationalist/conservative, the liberal, and the radical/neo-Marxist. (JHZ)