Purpose: Scholars have been sounding the alarm of novice teacher turnover crises for decades. South Africa is soon to be facing an educational catastrophe because of a shortage of experienced teachers. Globally and in South Africa, novice teacher attrition is high, and teachers entering the classroom often described feeling isolated and…

This paper stems from a broader study that foregrounded an existing mentoring programme against the backdrop of low teacher retention in the South African schooling system. It works from the premise that beginner teachers are exiting the teaching profession within the first three to five years of teaching. This research suggests that one way of…

The need for induction is to prepare newly appointed teachers for the classroom and to adapt to the school's environment and culture. Schools approach teacher induction differently. The study argues that, if novice teachers are expected to perform their duties optimally, support structures should be in place to enhance the quality of their work.…

The objective of this paper is to explore the professional development needs of novice lecturers in three selected Technical Vocational Education and Training (TVET) colleges in South Africa as they transition from different industries into the higher education sector. The methodology of collecting data was individual face-to-face interviews. The…

This article examines the relationship between the career success of early career academics (ECAs), collegiality, and their intentions to stay in the academic profession. Two different surveys were developed and administered to ECAs (n=68) and other academics (n=219) from a public university in South Africa. The data were analysed using bivariate…

Purpose: This paper aims to determine the impact of mentorship on the development of self-directedness among beginner teachers in their initial years of teaching. Design/methodology/approach: The researcher adopted a positivist paradigm to explore the situation of concern. Quantitative research was conducted, involving the collection and analysis…

Purpose: Scholarly studies on mentoring have mostly focused on traditional mentor-mentee relationships, with little or no emphasis on how institutionalized mentoring activities that include different pedagogical approaches could be used to enhance the professional development of academics. To address this knowledge gap, this article examines how…

Academic development is a mammoth undertaking that requires collective effort from all stakeholders, extending beyond academic developers alone. As early career academics, we explore our experiences of academic development within our community of practice. Through a collaborative self-study, we reveal how our community of practice has bolstered…

Background/purpose: The study examines how early career academics (ECAs) and established academics perceive the importance of mentoring and how mentoring could enhance the career development of ECAs within a South African multicampus university. Materials/methods: Two different sets of semi-structured interview questions were administered to 16…

The move toward more shared and participatory approaches to leadership is gaining momentum in South African schools. This move is underpinned by the supreme law of the country -- the Constitution which informs all laws including education law. Specifically, the National Education Policy Act No.27 of 1996 fosters democracy and wider participation…

In recent years, there has been an increasing amount of literature on online teaching and learning. Teaching mathematics in the fourth industrial revolution offers entry-level mathematics teachers formidable challenges. Despite using various teaching aids in explaining the learning area, entry-level mathematics teachers, those with zero to three…

The study reported on here was undertaken to understand the impact of mentoring novice science teachers. The study was conducted within the Gauteng province, because there have been many debates and concerns on the necessity to devise ways of improving the understanding of science in schools in the province. The purpose of this study was to…

Early career academics (ECAs) face multiple academic challenges as many assume their duties with little or no experience of the work employed. Formal organizational structures within the university space may set programs to assimilate and assert them into their responsibilities gradually. However, where do ECAs retreat to when the hierarchical and…

Purpose: The researcher emphasised with current research the need for an induction programme for beginning teachers in the South African context to overcome the challenges experienced by beginning teachers while bridging from pre-service teaching to in-service teaching and to introduce and illuminate the design of a new multimodal induction model.…

Institutions of higher education in South Africa have seen a shift in the student demographic of student population, and from contact teaching approaches to distance and online approaches to instruction. This has posed challenges as students find themselves without adequate support in online environments to successfully fulfil their studies. There…