This publication on out-of-school children (OOSC) in Commonwealth Africa is already informing priorities in COL's work in open schooling. The report provides an overview of key indicators for all nineteen Commonwealth Africa countries as well as contextual case studies of eight countries for which representatives were available to verify or update…

Young South Africans who live in contexts of poverty face many challenges and obstacles in their attempts to rise out of their circumstances. However, adding support in the form of well-being teams who take ownership of promoting well-being may facilitate resilience and serve an important supportive function. Four different well-being teams…

This paper interrogates the relationship between South Africa's most important piece of educational policy, the South African Schools Act (SASA) (Republic of South Africa, 1996b), and learner identity. It seeks to understand how this central piece of South African educational legislation foreshadows, intersects with, foregrounds, prescribes and/or…

This study critically examines teaching-learning as a means of actualising the tenet of the infusion of democracy and human rights in the subject Life Orientation in the classroom in all levels of education (Primary, Secondary and Tertiary) in South Africa. The study focuses on three established approaches namely teaching and learning as…

This article focuses on the role of access to music education as an agent of social change and as an important way of empowering previously disadvantaged learners, putting this forward as an argument against the proposed downscaling of music in schools as advocated by the government. This narrative inquiry shed light on the perceptions of…

Sexuality education as an HIV prevention strategy is positioned as a way to empower youth in relation to their sexual identities and behaviours. While the youth subject is recognized as complex, the underlying premise is that identity can be targeted "through" sexuality education. In this paper, I present data from an ethnographic…

In comparing one public school to another, discussions frequently include talk concerning the socio economics of a school or district, which then leads to talk about the advantages that one socioeconomic setting has over another. Educators tend to agree that low academic achievement frequently associated with a low socioeconomic status is a…

Explores the syllabus reform initiative that occurred in South Africa as a means to combat apartheid education. Summarizes the political context in which the syllabus revision project emerged, highlights the political process through which the syllabus revision unfolded, and concludes with an assessment of the political consequences of this…

Outlines the character of the teaching profession and its main forms of organization since the 1970s in South Africa. Discusses teachers' work under apartheid, the challenges to apartheid controls from 1989-1994, and restructuring of teachers' work in the post-apartheid period. Examines teachers' responses, focusing on policies that impacted…

The cascade model has been widely used to reduce costs and maximize benefits in teacher education. This article discusses one step in the cascade process, training the trainers, noting the need to integrate more social and cultural awareness into this area of training if the cascade approach is to succeed. Two South African projects that use the…

Traces the evolution of the curriculum designed for Black education in South Africa since the colonial penetration of the 1650s to the present. Argues that the curriculum reflects sociopolitical influences and that postapartheid curriculum reform is limited by extracurricular factors. (FMW)

Highlights the recent history of South African education using life histories of two black teachers (one beginning and one experienced) whose careers as students and then teachers evolved against a backdrop of social and political conflict. The article considers ways that selected theories of oppression and resistance explain or fail to explain…

Discusses social change and educational realities in South Africa, noting the relatively poor qualifications of black teachers. The paper also examines South African teacher training models and presents teacher training models suitable for developing countries. (SM)

Examines the challenges of preparing English language teachers in South Africa's postapartheid society, describing what it means to educate teachers in a transforming society and how to handle students' changing lives as they shed their baggage of apartheid schooling, interact with fellow preservice teachers, and attempt to change the lives of the…

Ethnographic study describes the professional development of seven unlicensed or nonqualified teachers involved in a community teacher education project in two informal settlement community schools near Johannesburg, South Africa. Data from observations and interviews highlight the teachers' initiative in pursuing their own professional…