The purpose of the study reported on here was to investigate the role of partnerships in helping in-service teachers overcome the difficulties associated with performing practical work prescribed in the Life Sciences Curriculum and Assessment Policy Statement (CAPS), an educational policy intended to transform the South African school curriculum…

In this article we combine Boyer's 4 domains of scholarship with Hutchings' 4 types of questions and Ghaye, Melander-Wikman, Kisare, Chambers, Bergmark, Kostenius and Lillyman's (2008) reflective learning framework using a Participatory Action Learning and Action Research (PALAR) method to explore the perceived gap in in-service teachers'…

Background: Teacher education programmes often prioritise theory over practical experience, leaving students struggling to connect classroom learning with real-world application. Addressing this gap, a proposed model integrates online coursework with mentored practicebased experiences through full-time placements in selected schools. Aim: The…

Internationalization efforts in higher education have often been categorized according to Jane Knight's binary of "Internationalization at Home" (IaH) and "Internationalization Abroad" (IA). However, a rising number of technology-supported activities have created new opportunities for university internationalization. For…

This paper qualitatively explores PhD candidates' experiences in two Sub-Saharan African countries: Ethiopia and South Africa. While the countries are self-evidently very different, their respective drives to graduate PhDs create a strong point of commonality, prompting the programmed initiative focused on, herein. Drawing from observational data,…

A number of universities in South Africa are sharing teaching materials online making them freely available as Open Educational Resources (OER). The open sharing of teaching materials has been coupled with a number of institutional policy initiatives. This paper seeks to explore the institutional policy landscape of OER in South Africa in order to…

Existing literatures have discussed both ethical issues in visual research with young people, and the problems associated with applying 'universal' ethical guidelines across varied cultural contexts. There has been little consideration, however, of specific issues raised in projects where visual research is being conducted with young people…

This article seeks to address what it means to be an 'engaged' university and, in so doing, to contribute to current discourses -- in a fast growing field -- about how to collaborate with communities for meaningful social transformation. As a group of researchers from the faculty of education in a South African university, we share our thinking…

Context: This paper reports on a study of the progress of vocational education and training (VET) and the need for further profession-oriented training of lecturers in public, technical vocational colleges in South Africa, under the consideration of societal and political conditions. Approach: The study is based on a mixed methods approach in…

Open Distance e-Learning (ODeL) is on the rise to cater to non-traditional students. However, the surge in master's and doctoral students opting for ODeL raises concerns about the quality and timely completion of degrees. Existing literature on student attrition in higher education indicates that both student-related factors and institutional…

The community engagement project described in this article took the form of the re-invention and re-interpretation of a historic symbol (Diana the elephant) on the Potchefstroom Campus of North-West University (NWU), South Africa. In 2015, the Faculty of Education Sciences invited staff and students to reinterpret the elephant (a symbol of…

This paper reports a phenomenographic study exploring diverse understandings and experiences of teacher leadership among 12 members of the International Study of Teacher Leadership research team comprised of 20 academics located in 10 countries. Mind mapping and semi-structured, online interviews were used to explore the ways that the participants…

A central tenant of early childhood intervention (ECI) is collaboration between professionals and the caregivers of children receiving these services. There are limited studies on caregiver perceptions of collaboration in ECI teams particularly in resource-limited countries. Sixty-four caregivers participated in this study by completing a…

In this paper the authors use the collaboration framework to explore the implementation of the School Feeding Scheme (SFS) in two primary schools within South Africa. The authors use a qualitative approach to gather data through individual and focus group interviews with two principals and eight teachers respectively. The feeding process was also…

Teachers' sense of self-efficacy is crucial for the success of implementation of inclusive education in schools. The Education White paper 6 mandated the District-Based Support Teams (DBSTs) to successfully support teachers to feel more equipped and be competent in their roles to address barriers to learning, which consequently will experience…