The notion of pedagogy of hope has been conceptualised and symbolised as a significant conciliatory and propelling vision for the University of Stellenbosch. Yet few representations of hope engage with the historical and theoretical roots of this notion. These perspectives are crucial to understand in order to provide a foundation on which to…

In my review of the articles published in this issue of "SAJHE" I use the notion of "after" in two senses: "in imitation of" and "following in time" (moving beyond) (Schad 2003, x). In the first instance I wish to assess the extent to which contributors have drawn on Paulo Freire's concept of a…

This article reports on an investigation into whether writing centre (WC) respondents at an institution of Higher Education (HE) encourage or discourage draft dialogue (a conversation in writing) with students submitting drafts electronically to the WC for feedback. The writing respondents insert local feedback responses or comments directly onto…

In the United States first-generation students (FGSs), those who are the first in their families to attend university, are recognised as disadvantaged and receive government support. Amidst affirmative action debates in higher education in South Africa, an increased awareness has emerged about challenges that FGSs in this country face. A…

The purpose of this article is to report on a formative evaluation research study of a university-school partnership for mathematics and science education within a community engagement and social justice perspective in higher education in order to inform redesign and replicability. The partnership involved the school-based systemic intervention…

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.…

Reading ability is fundamental to teaching and learning (AFT 2004). This study assessed the reading ability of 25 in-service science educators at the University of Limpopo for three science texts: Grades 7, 8 and 9, using a cloze test and exploring materials that educators read. The scores were categorised as being independent, instructional and…

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…

This article explores learning opportunities offered by students' written reflections as they learn through writing an action research proposal. From tapping into students' reported struggles, I analysed data using three stages of qualitative data analysis: data reduction, data display, and conclusion drawing (Miles and Huberman 1994). It emerged…

University governance remains a controversial issue in South African higher education as it was during the Apartheid era. Neave (1998) in Harry de Boer and Leo Goedegebuure (2001, 163) rightly say that "governance within higher education is a most complicated and challenging issue. Of all issues currently under discussion, few are more…

Knowledge generation over the decade 1995-2004 in South Africa, and its relationship to the changing nature of socio-economic landscapes, suggests an ever closer relationship between the research produced in higher education, and its social and scientific purposes. These have been identified largely by the State through its regulatory frameworks,…

As the wave of educational transformation sweeps across the higher education landscape, few academics have been unaffected by its impact. It has been well documented that academics are ill-prepared to cope with the challenges of educational transformation, yet training and development that would provide the appropriate support to meet the demands…

Supervision has been identified as an important factor in the success of postgraduate students, even as the most significant variable and a large number of studies have been conducted to identify factors that contribute to supervision success. However the dependent variable in these studies--supervision success--has been an elusive one to define.…

Wenger (2000, 229) describes communities of practice as the "basic building blocks of a social learning system" since they are the "social containers" that make up such a system. By practising in academic communities, academics define with one another what constitutes academic competence and, for that matter, what constitutes…

In my investigation I set out to break the HIV/AIDS culture of silence and emphasize the role of the teacher as a researcher and critical change agent in an HIV/AIDS challenged society. My work demonstrates how teachers could play such a role by encouraging learners' participation in sport. The sport, I focussed on in my action research project…