Purpose: The aim of the article is to develop a framework for assessment for contemporary commercial music (CCM) in a music department that is still organised in a traditional way. Assessment of CCM in tertiary institutions and external graded music exams were described and analysed, followed by the presentation of an assessment framework.…

Postgraduate output is important in any country's knowledge development and their knowledge economy. The development of postgraduate output especially at master's and PhD levels in South Africa is at risk due to its slow pace. An argument that can be made is that undergraduate experiences lend to postgraduate access and success. This article…

This paper compares two forms of sexual socialisation to which learners are exposed: the sexuality education components of the Life Orientation (LO) manuals and the lyrical content and videos of popular songs. We performed a textual analysis of the sexual subject positions made available in, first, the LO manuals used in Grade 10 classes and,…

Transformation in higher education has tended to focus on race and sex, at the expense of other forms of discrimination. This article addresses the silencing of "queer" issues in higher education. Using queer theory as a framework, and drawing on current literature, popular media reports, two personal critical incidents and a project…

Contrary to Bourdieu's theory ("Distinction: A social critique of the judgment of taste". Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press (1984)) that cultural consumption of so-called "high" versus popular culture is determined by socio-economic class, Peterson ("Poetics" 21:243-258, 1992; "Poetics"…

Conceptual Blending Theory (CBT) (Fauconnier & Turner, 2002), a cognitive theory of human processes of innovation, can be productively used alongside critical literacy approaches, for the analysis of how teachers and learners draw selectively, transformatively and purposively from aspects of the mass media. While numerous studies have pointed…

Reconciliation is one of the most significant contemporary challenges in the world today. In this innovative new volume, educational academics and practitioners across a range of cultural and political contexts examine the links between reconciliation and critical pedagogy, putting forward the notion that reconciliation projects should be regarded…

The post-apartheid Dance Studies curriculum in South Africa is attempting to offer school learners both an education and training in dance as an art form. The outcomes-based syllabi are intended to ensure that learners come to respect the diversity of South African society, and therefore a range of dance styles and genres are offered in order to…

Lay understandings of human cognition, affect, and behaviour often diverge from the findings of scientific investigations. The present study examined South African fourth year psychology students' judgments about the factual correctness of statements of psychological phenomena that have been demonstrated to be incorrect by empirical research.…

In this article, the authors briefly describe key issues central to what Spring (2007) refers to as the "industrial-consumer paradigm" and the role of English as the global language characterized by what Harvey (1990) called "time and space compression." The authors also comment and provide a critique of some of its primary…

This paper reports the results of a small-scale (n = 9) interview study of the "ways of knowing" of academics in a Design School at a South African polytechnic. The focus of the study was on exploring the perceptions of these academics about discipline-specific knowledge in their fields. The paper presents an analysis of the responses,…

In this article the relationship between identity and context is examined at a high school in Johannesburg, South Africa, which has, since 1995, been racially desegregated. Findings suggest that the identities of the learners are influenced not only by the immediate context of the school, but also by the past context of schooling in South Africa…