Life Orientation (LO) teachers should be prepared to employ a pastoral approach -- i.e., emotional support to learners -- particularly when facilitating the topic "Development of the self in society" as prescribed in the curriculum and assessment policy statement (CAPS). Currently, LO teachers have limited knowledge and strategies to…

The Attachment and Biobehavioral Catchup intervention potentially offsets psychosocial risks facing dyads in which children have intellectual disability or developmental delays. In this single-case multiple-baseline study the efficacy of this intervention was tested across three such South African families. Maternal sensitivity, attachment…

Students with a mother tongue other than English often struggle with the demands of an academic programme at tertiary institutions where the medium of instruction is English. If their English language proficiency is inadequate, it may hamper their academic progress. Students feel that their command of English is unsatisfactory, and this causes…

This article examines the experiences and perceptions of academics about student engagement and how their professional practice in a professional community enhances students' persistence and success in a university in South Africa. While previous research has widely focused on students' perception of how student engagement enhances student success…

Academics are the core of a university and their performance impacts the quality of student learning and university experience thereby influencing the contribution that higher education institutions are able to make to society. This study compared the impact of organisational support and external reputation on the affective commitment and…

Over the past few years, we have worked together in a citizen science project called "Diamonds on the Soles of our Feet" (see also Goldin et al. 2021, Goldin et al., 2023). In this project we engaged with 420 young learners in the Limpopo Province of South Africa. We came to see participating schools as collaborative ecosystems where…

Mathematics Education in South Africa continues to face complex, multifaceted challenges, but as data from this study show, there is reason for hope. The Western Cape Education Department recently implemented the Green Shoots Maths Curriculum Online (MCO) program in 500 of its primary schools. An ABC classification of affective, behavioural, and…

The main objective of this article is to discuss the affective dimension of resistance in critical pedagogy in a way that would recognize neoliberalism's affective repercussions. The point is not merely to show that affect is involved in the emergence of resistance in critical pedagogy, but rather to expand the articulation of resistance in…

Children and youth at risk, particularly those placed in child and youth care centres (CYCC) in South Africa, have suffered from school disengagement due to multiple barriers to learning such as the exposure to crime and violence at a young age. As children and youth at risk at these centres find it difficult to engage in learning, new approaches…

Learners' attitude to learning science plays a vitally important role with respect to career choices. This study reflects on the nature of the learners' attitude towards science and the effect of gender. A total of 547 Grade 7 learners from an urban district of Gauteng Province (South Africa) were administered a questionnaire to probe their…

The purpose of this study was to explore and assess the feasibility of counselling based on life-design principles in enhancing the career resilience of children who are exposed to family violence. The research project involved a qualitative-quantitative mode of inquiry with 6 participants chosen based on certain characteristics.…

Morality is an evolved aspect of human nature, yet is heavily influenced by cultural environment. This developmental study adopted an integrative approach by combining measures of socioeconomic status (SES), executive function, affective sharing, empathic concern, theory of mind, and moral judgment in predicting sharing behavior in children (N =…

This article discusses the learning dispositions of first-generation disadvantaged students at a university in South Africa's Western Cape Province. Based on qualitative data collected over a 2-year period, it focuses on findings from 7 purposively selected students at this university. Utilizing Bourdieu's concept of habitus and Wacquant's…

This study explores the potential of drumming to enhance emotional and social functioning of children in residential care. Fifteen children (aged 7-12) from a child and youth care centre in South Africa attended four months of weekly drumming sessions. Gestalt theory principles informed the workshops' theoretical foundation and interpretation of…

This paper reports on a needs analysis that sought to explore students' reading challenges as an initial step in designing an appropriate reading intervention programme for first-year Sociology students. The aim of the paper is to suggest conditions for the production of an effective reading intervention programme by determining the needs of the…