Since 1994, education policy documents in South Africa have prioritised the goal of equity in education, understood as increased access to programmes, more equitable staff and student profiles, and curricula that are more responsive to the needs of all students. The challenge of effecting the goal of equity at levels of teaching and learning in…

This article analyses the National Plan of Higher Education (NPHE) and argues that the NPHE mainly uses formal concepts of social justice in bringing redress and equity to the higher education. It further argues that the plan could meaningfully and better address issues of equity and redress by employing substantive forms of justice. Firstly, the…

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…

Changing times in teacher education has been a long mantra and many changes have been occurring globally in this sector of higher education. In South Africa teacher education change has been linked to changes in the broader education processes and includes policy changes and the development of regulatory frameworks which all impacted on practice…

Yusef Waghid (2006) in his response to Martin Hall (2006) argues that Martin Hall offers a better way of making sense of some of the conceptual and pragmatic links between academic freedom and institutional autonomy. Nevertheless Waghid critiques Hall's uncritical treatment of prominent theoretical positions for his claims, which Waghid thinks…

The theoretical structure of the concept of "legitimacy," the combination of value and authority ascribed to the existing system, is examined and applied to the governance of higher education in South Africa. It is argued that the concept is unfairly given a political connotation because of its association with policy formation, which…

Examines issues of linguistic diversity in the inclusive classroom, focusing on South Africa, including the history of linguistic diversity in that educational context, language as a transmitter of culture, and the relationship between culture and learning style. Suggestions are made for validating and affirming every learner's language and…