This article offers narratives of individual journeys through the scholarship of leading in three different contexts--Asia, Europe, and Africa. Together, these narratives argue for the need to make explicit the diversity of practices of the scholarship of teaching and learning (SoTL), with each practice inextricably tied to specific geographical,…

The focus is on the micro-possibilities of student capabilities formation as the end of public-good higher education, rather than on a systems or organizations approach more commonly found in discussions of the public good and higher education. This does not discount other valuable public-good ends. Using South Africa as a global South context, a…

South Africans live in one of the most unequal societies in the world where squalor and abject poverty live side by side with abundant wealth. The challenge of inequality is captured eloquently in the National Development Plan (NDP), the government's roadmap of South African economic future. It has become obvious that the new generation of student…

Based on a two-year study of 31 young people aged 14-20 who had lost one or both parents to HIV/AIDS, in rural KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, the article draws on an in-depth ethnographic account of a 17-year-old girl's life process. It traces forms of care between adults and children within her family across several generations, exploring how…

Teachers are the curriculum implementers in the classroom, which can become either a constraining or transformative environment. In this article Bourdieu's notion of habitus is appropriated to illustrate the transformative potential of the teacher in the classroom. Paulo Freire's problem-posing education is also utilised as it opens up the space…

The purpose of this article is to attempt a surfacing of the assumptions and discourses surrounding the affirmative action debate in higher education in South Africa. The article draws attention to two dominant discourses--the first being that of the patriotic university, and the second being that of the global university. In terms of the first…

The paper describes a collaborative curriculum development project implemented over 3 years at 2 universities in the Western Cape Province of South Africa. The project involved a short module in which students in their fourth year of study interacted and learnt collaboratively across the boundaries of institution, discipline, race and social…

An understanding of student learning and of the reasons for differential student performance is crucial to improving teaching and learning practices in tertiary education. This article aims to contribute to that understanding by reporting on an empirical study which examined two sets of student texts on the topic "What is law?", written…

This article gives an ethnographic glimpse of how an urban South African school mirrored a community's sense-making during times of rapid social change. The glimpse is extracted largely from an ethnography that was composed in 2000. In this study of school life, the biennial play was central to the year's activities. In the play the tone, content…

This paper proposes a human capabilities approach for evaluating student learning and the social and pedagogical arrangements that support equality in capabilities for all students. It outlines the focus on valuable beings and doings in the capability approach developed by Amartya Sen, and Martha Nussbaum's capabilities focus on human flourishing.…

It is 40 years since Coombs (1967) first drew attention to the World Education Crisis, and specifically problems in the educational systems of countries in the developing world. Today, many of these problems remain, and are most visible in the educational systems of countries in sub-Saharan Africa. A large number of children remain out of school…

Several studies have emphasised the importance of addressing social and emotional factors in facilitating adjustment to tertiary education. This article describes the Skills for Success in Science programme at the University of Cape Town. The broad aims were life skills development and improved adjustment which are assumed to underpin academic…

Examines a central issue in university admission in South Africa, identification and selection of disadvantaged students with potential to succeed in higher education, and the search for solutions to this problem. Discussion focuses on the legislative requirements for transparent and fair selection. (Author/MSE)

In his article, A class act -- Mathematics as filter of equity in South African schools, Michael Kahn analyses South African data from matriculation examinations and draws on and re-examines previous analyses he himself has done. This document highlights the important insights into participation and performance in mathematics in South Africa that…

Compares the national policy developments in two countries, Australia and South Africa, and investigates the emerging tensions in quality policy processes in these countries. Reports that a number of similarities and differences were evident. States that notions of quality and quality policies are dependent on localized contexts. Includes…