Since the demise of apartheid education, the development of policy in relation to teacher education in South Africa has undergone major adjustments. By far the most poignant conceptual and pragmatic change that teacher education has been subjected to points towards the cultivation of teachers who can enact their professions as democratic citizens.…

In this essay I offer an imaginary of postgraduate student supervision focusing on sceptical encounters with the other. Drawing on the seminal thoughts of Harvard philosopher Stanley Cavell (1997), particularly on his ideas on "living with scepticism", I argue that postgraduate student supervision ought to be an encounter framed by scepticism. I…

The compelling essays in this issue of the journal take on the often contentious and complex issue of racial affirmative action. I do not wish to repeat the arguments authors offer either in defence or against student admissions to a university on the grounds of race, (dis)advantage, class, gender, and so on. Rather, I wish to respond to a…

At the 2010 Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research Association (AERA, 30 April to 4 May), the theme of re-imagining public education arose once again with the most compelling presentation from leading scholars in the field concerned with counter-hegemonic politics and democratic change. The session entitled "Re-imaging public…

In a recent essay entitled "Ex and the City": on cosmopolitanism, community and the "curriculum of refuge", Molly Quinn (2010) introduces her readers to a poetic exploration of cosmopolitanism and curriculum change. She begins and inconclusively ends her essay with poetic language and affirmation of cosmopolitan justice through convincing…

This article explores the question of the purpose of education within the context of performance and cosmopolitanism in South Africa. The publication of Jean-Francois Lyotard's classic text, The postmodern condition of knowledge in 1984 spawned much debate and controversy about postmodern framings for education, the most significant of which have…

In this article I offer a defence of cosmopolitanism as an enabling condition for university education in Africa. Recent xenophobic outbursts in South Africa suggests that the enactment of defensible virtues in societies remain distant from the practices of many people. My contention is that university education ought to take seriously the…

The contributions in this special issue have one thing in common: they all highlight the unattentiveness of higher education research to inquiry into and about teaching and learning in South Africa over the past decade. In this article I explore this claim in relation to the first four essays in this volume. Then, in relation to my own…

In this article we argue for a conception of learning to be connected to the achievement of cosmopolitan norms and virtues which need to influence the way we understand and undertake learning and teaching in higher education in Africa. Our contention is that learning in universities on the African continent can more appropriately respond to some…

The article critically reflects on the positive portrayal of mentorship as a professional development strategy for educators. We argue that the conceptualisation of classical mentorship has been informed mainly by functionalist thinking. We contend that the supposedly beneficial nature of the mentorship relationship has been given such prominence…

Over the past century our world has witnessed much uncertainty and ambivalence as a consequence of inhumane acts perpetrated against humanity such as murder, extermination, enslavement, deportation, persecution on political, racial or religious grounds, war crimes (mistreatment of civilians and non-combatants as well as one's enemy in combat), and…

Challenges Higgs'"ambivalent" position about the role of the university (presented in a previous article), contending that the university can still retain its character as "a community of reason" (Higgs' main argument) without abandoning its social role vis-a-vis nation building. (EV)

Contends that reflexive praxis (self-reflective practice or "doing action") offers university academics the pedagogical space to transform their teaching and learning processes. Uses a personal example from the teaching of a graduate course to illustrate the potential of reflexive praxis. (EV)

Argues for an increasing emphasis on community service in South African higher education to enrich traditional faculty activities of research and teaching. Suggests this be done by engaging communities of learners to address, in a practical fashion, real problems in South African society. Provides examples from the University of Stellenbosch…

Discussion of resource-based learning (RBL) in South African distance education finds that problems associated with this approach are due to inadequate understanding of its principles. Offers collegial dialog as way to address RBL at the conceptual level, and suggests that incorporating greater creativity is essential to its success. (Author/MSE)