The pursuit of inclusive education in different countries is shaped by the extent and the nature of existing special educational provisions. We focus on two authoritarian regimes in the previous century: Soviet Russia (USSR) with its ideology of class (proletarian humanism and egalitarian universalism) and South Africa with its ideology of race…

Studies have shown how social media, including Facebook and Twitter, are reshaping communication, news, and information. It is therefore important to explore the role social media plays in student protests and campaigns in order to determine to what extent social media allows participation and audience inclusion during #FeesMustFall and other…

Debates on educational exclusion are almost exclusively focused on the experiences of learners as they navigate their way through barriers of race, culture, gender, sexuality, class, disability and language. Similar attention has not been afforded to the experiences of teachers, creating the impression that, unlike learners, teachers do not…

In this paper, an attempt was made to locate the role of internationalisation in African Higher Education Institutions (HEIs). It is argued that comprehensive international, intercultural, and global dimensions in the affairs of African tertiary institutions provide for a more nuanced and diversified higher education landscape. Through a desk…

Public education is not just a way to organise and fund education. It is also the expression of a particular ideal about education and of a particular way to conceive of the relationship between education and society. The ideal of public education sees education as an important dimension of the common good and as an important institution in…

Since 1994, numerous policies promoted social justice and the transformation of the South African society. The recurriculated Bachelor of Education (BEd) programme at the Sol Plaatje University aims to equip students with knowledge and skills to realise the aim of social justice. The aim of this study was to explore Sol Plaatje University…

The focus of this article is on the role and contribution of policy research in contexts of social transformation. With reference to education transformation policies in post-apartheid South Africa, the argument is developed that research studies vary in their contribution to change, as a function of the paradigmatic assumptions and methodological…

Inclusive education as a global movement emerged over the past 30 years to ensure quality mainstream education for all learners. Since 1994 the newly democratic South Africa also had expectations as well as the political will to change education by adjusting legislation and policies. However, the vision of a truly inclusive education system in…

This essay looks at the influence of ranking and incentive systems on decisions higher education institutions are making with respect to research and academic publishing. It describes and analyses how institutions within the South African higher education system have navigated their way through the contradictory forces confronting them.…

In South Africa, the processes of democratisation and social restructuring are inextricably linked to the debate on inclusive education. Although the debate on inclusive education originated in the disability discourse, it is increasingly viewed broader as a reform that supports and welcomes diversity. While the constitution and policy framework…

The slogan "no education without representation" symbolised a belief in the anti-apartheid movement that without a democratic government, South Africa's people could not receive an inclusive education. Since the end of official apartheid in 1994, the education system has faced new transformative aims focused on ending racial separation…

Diversity in the workforce can be attributed to both a popular, cultural shift and legislative intervention. Despite these forces, discrimination endures in all aspects of Western society from education to employment. Unequal pay and opportunities for promotion are symptoms of a systematic discrimination of individuals based on race and gender.…

In this paper we argue that the cliched phrases, "dealing with difference" and "dealing with diversity", despite their commitment to accepting and appreciating difference and diversity, may be used in counterproductive ways to camouflage resistance to change and transformation. In a small sample of interviews conducted at a…

We are delighted to welcome you to the International Conference on Education and New Developments 2013, taking place in Lisbon, Portugal, from 1 to 3 of June. Education, in a global sense, is a right since we are born. Every experience has a formative effect on the constitution of the human being, in the way one thinks, feels and acts. One of the…

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,…