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This paper draws from a broad study that explored mathematics teachers' engagement with textbooks within the Lesson Study context. In the current paper, we report on teachers' use of mathematics textbook activities to inform their instructional decisions during collaborative lesson planning of numeric and geometric patterns. The study took place within the Lesson Study (LS) context -- a teacher development practice that emphasises, inter alia, collaborative lesson planning. Data was collected by observing teachers during collaborative lesson planning and through interviews. Data analysis was informed by the Mathematics Knowledge for Teaching (MKT) framework and Modes of teacher engagement with the textbook. Findings suggest that teachers' instructional decisions are mainly stimulated by the textbooks, teachers use textbook activities with fidelity, and they seldom adapt the activities drawn from the textbooks. However, where adaptation occurs teachers do it superficially. We contend that the capacity to conduct in-depth interrogation of the text is a derivative of mathematics subject matter knowledge (SMK) as well as pedagogical content knowledge (PCK). Therefore, the widespread adoption of text without interrogation could be indicative of the lack of requisite content knowledge and pedagogical skills.

Research increasingly points to the negative impacts of teacher absence from school on access to schooling and success in learning in schools, in particular in schools in areas of multiple-deprivation (including rural schools). South African schools are no exception. In this regard, like any other employer, the South African Department of Basic Education has a set of policies that govern teachers' conditions of service. Among others, these include policies that govern leave and absence from school. While the policies are meant to enhance teachers' conditions of service, they are also aimed at safeguarding the rights of learners to quality education by ensuring that teachers remain on task, and that teaching and learning is not interrupted. Using Lipsky's theory of discretion, this paper takes the view that as street-level bureaucrats, principals use their discretionary power to manage teacher leave and absence from school, and that the strategies they employ are informed by their understandings and conceptualisations of policy. The paper reports on a study undertaken to explore teacher leave in South African schools. In particular, it critically examines principals' use of their discretionary powers to make decisions about teacher leave-taking, and the coping mechanisms they use to manage teacher absence and to safeguard the rights of learners to quality education.

Background: Rapid reviews have emerged as an approach to provide contextualized evidence in a timely and efficient manner. Three rapid review centers were established in Ethiopia, Lebanon, and South Africa through the Alliance for Health Policy and Systems Research, World Health Organization, to stimulate demand, engage policymakers, and produce rapid reviews to support health policy and systems decision-making. This study aimed to assess the experiences of researchers and policymakers engaged in producing and using rapid reviews for health systems strengthening and decisions towards universal health coverage (UHC). Methods: Using a case study approach with qualitative research methods, experienced researchers conducted semi-structured interviews with respondents from each center (n = 16). The topics covered included the process and experience of establishing the centers, stimulating demand for rapid reviews, collaborating between researchers and policymakers, and disseminating and using rapid reviews for health policies and interventions and the potential for sustaining and institutionalizing the services. Data were analyzed using thematic analysis. Results: Major themes interacted and contributed to shape the experiences of stakeholders of the rapid review centers, including the following: organizational structural arrangements of the centers, management of their processes as input factors, and the rapid reviews as the immediate policy-relevant outputs. The engagement process and the rapid review products contributed to a final theme of impact of the rapid review centers in relation to the uptake of evidence for policy and systems decision-making. Conclusions: The experiences of policymakers and researchers of the rapid review centers determined the uptake of evidence. The findings of this study can inform policymakers, health system managers, and researchers on best practices for demanding, developing and using rapid reviews to support decision- and policymaking, and implementing the universal healthcare coverage agenda. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Neoliberal practices such as managerialism and academic casualisation impact higher education systems globally. While these practices can constrain any curriculum aimed at enabling transformative learning, this paper shows that they place particular limitations on arts and humanities curricula intent on cultivating criticality and a sense of social responsibility. I draw on data from an English literature curriculum study at a mega distance education institution in South Africa and use Legitimation Code Theory to take a close-up look at how two neoliberal practices: managerialism and academic casualisation cause misalignments between the underpinning values of the curriculum and the kinds of pedagogic and formative assessment practices that are employed. I conclude that decisions regarding administration, enrolments and staffing based on neoliberal values can frustrate students' epistemological and ontological access to humanities disciplines and limit the potential of humanities curricula to offer a higher education in service of the social good.

Background: Low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), including South Africa, are currently experiencing multiple epidemics: HIV and the rising burden of non-communicable diseases (NCDs), leading to different patterns of multimorbidity (the occurrence of two or more chronic conditions) than experienced in high income settings. These adversely affect health outcomes, increase patients' perceived burden of treatment, and impact the workload of self-management. This paper outlines the methods used in a qualitative study exploring burden of treatment among people living with HIV/NCD multimorbidity in South Africa. Methods: We undertook a comparative qualitative study to examine the interaction between individuals' treatment burden (self-management workload) and their capacity to take on this workload, using the dual lenses of Burden of Treatment Theory (BoTT) and Cumulative Complexity Model (CuCoM) to aid conceptualisation of the data. We interviewed 30 people with multimorbidity and 16 carers in rural Eastern Cape and urban Cape Town between February-April 2021. Data was analysed through framework analysis. Findings: This paper discusses the methodological procedures considered when conducting qualitative research among people with multimorbidity in low-income settings in South Africa. We highlight the decisions made when developing the research design, recruiting participants, and selecting field-sites. We also explore data analysis processes and reflect on the positionality of the research project and researchers. Conclusion: This paper illustrates the decision-making processes conducting this qualitative research and may be helpful in informing future research aiming to qualitatively investigate treatment burden among patients in LMICs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports on the lessons learnt from the COVID-19-induced emergency remote (online) teaching and learning of a one-year teacher education course. The final-year course, within a four-year Bachelor of Education programme, aimed at developing pre-service teachers' knowledge of the nature and process of learning and how to guide and support learning in diverse school contexts. The course was planned before the COVID-19 pandemic, and teaching and learning would have taken place on campus, with limited online activities. The ensuing lockdown in South Africa resulted in university teaching and learning moving abruptly online. We investigated lessons learnt from the transition to emergency remote (online) teaching. Data were generated by conducting semi-structured interviews with 20 student teachers about their experiences of the course. The data were analysed using the constant comparative method. Analysing the data highlighted the benefits of remote (online) teaching that should be considered when using a blended approach to harness online teaching affordances. As we advance, we will implement a fully blended approach, harnessing the affordances of both online and contact-based teaching and learning.

Modern day societies and economies are becoming increasingly vulnerable to the continued erosion of the stocks and flows of essential ecosystem services. Thus, the management of complex socio-economic systems to effectively provide these essential services has become a global priority policy and academic research area. Understanding how underlying processes and functions contribute towards the provision of final ecosystem services can facilitate improved dissemination of credible, legitimate and salient information to decision-makers. This paper presents an ecosystem service value chain analysis framework that applies basic system dynamics modelling in the form of causal loop diagrams to facilitate an alternative analysis of ecosystem service value chains. A scoping application of the framework is applied to a case study for flood attenuation services in the Baviaanskloof catchment in South Africa. The framework enables the identification of forward linkages and ripple effects in individual value chains of final ecosystem services as well as the identification and assessment of challenges and opportunities within individual causal pathways. Ultimately, providing the potential to advance strategies for improving the efficiency and effectiveness of final ecosystem service provision. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The emerging field of educational data mining provides an opportunity to process large-scale data emerging from higher education institutions (HEIs) into reliable knowledge. The purpose of this paper is to examine factors influencing persistence amongst students enrolled in a Chemistry major at a South African university using enrolment data. Design/methodology/approach: The sample consisted of 511 students registered for a Chemistry major beginning in 2012, 2013 and 2014. Descriptive statistics in counts and percentages and classification (decision) tree methods were used in the analysis. Findings: Graduation from the Chemistry major is likely to occur after 4 years, which is regulation time plus 1 year, whilst departure mainly occurs in the first year of study. Classification tree modelling demonstrated that first year accumulated credits (FYAC), gender, financial aid status and school quintile were the factors associated with persistence. FYAC was the most critical factor. Research limitations/implications: Although this study has many strengths, significantly the use of data mining methods to classify students, some limitations might affect how the results are interpreted. First, the analysis focused on a one-degree major in one institution, which leads to the suspicion that the observed results are discipline or institution-specific. Thus, the findings cannot be generalised to other contexts or disciplines. Second, with so many potential factors influencing student persistence, the analysis presented in this paper, which was limited to the covariates obtained in the institutional dataset the authors used, is by no means exhaustive. There is the possibility that some factors, which are not included in the present analysis, might have more predictive power. Originality/value: Globally, university administrators are interested in predicting student outcomes and understanding the intricate balance between enrolment and throughput. Thus, whilst the findings from this study have an institutional focus, they resonate with other HEIs and present an alternative and highly visual way of identifying specific combinations of factors associated with persistence. The results from a classification tree model can also classify students at risk and inform the development of interventions that will support them.

Higher education in South Africa has focused extensively on widening access to further inclusivity and to economic development. However, as students need to persist and succeed in their studies, access alone is not enough. Furthermore, the responsibility of higher education to help students succeed does not end with graduation; institutions need to produce graduates who are ready to enter the labour market. Therefore, it is important to integrate career information and concepts into these practices when conceptualising holistic academic advising. Since academic advising is still developing as a professional practice in the South African context, no clear, practical framework has been used uniformly at universities. Career advice is also not necessarily integrated into academic advising in a conscious manner. This may result in students who are struggling to integrate all the academic and career information provided to make informed decisions regarding their studies and career paths. This paper argues that the 3-I Process is an appropriate framework for the integration of career and academic advising in the South African context. In this case study, we draw from the experiences of nine advisors from the central advising office, faculties, and the career office at the University of the Free State to understand the extent to which they have been incorporating the elements of the 3-I Process into their existing academic advising practices and how they view the possibilities of following a more integrated approach. We also map how the framework can be adapted to the broader South African context to inform and develop more holistic and professionalised advising practices, as well as to contribute towards students' success beyond university.

This paper provides an overview of the various data sets pertaining to education in South Africa that are informing or could inform policy making in education. The paper serves as an inventory for anyone interested in understanding what data is available, how it may be accessed, what the quality of the data is, and in what formats it may be accessed. The paper is divided into three parts. The first part provides a description of existing education data sets and the basic data elements contained in each of these data sets. When discussing each of the existing education data sets, the paper addresses the quality of the education data available in South Africa. The first part also refers to the policy implications and the important role that data plays in policy formulation. No information system on its own is comprehensive enough to provide all the information needed in strategic decision-making. Hence, part two of this paper discusses the need for data integration as an important data management strategy. The third part examines the effectiveness of implementing a learner unit record system nationally in comparison with the EMIS system that is currently in place and that is based on aggregate or summary institution-level data.

There is a gap in research on access to universities in South Africa. The research that exists focuses on quantitative methodologies, although some qualitative studies are now emerging. These research methodologies, although necessary and substantial for the development of equity measures and policies, might be less successful in their impact on the local context, on research participants and in expanding what counts as knowledge in the university. In this paper, participatory research, which has not been used to research access, is explored. The paper seeks to go beyond the instrumentalization of research participants -- especially those from low-income households -- highlighting the potential of using multi-strategy research, in which participatory elements are included as a way to foster both participants' human development and local impact. Drawing on a research project on access to higher education in South Africa, the paper demonstrates that by including participatory elements (in this case photovoice) has the potential to operationalize Appadurai's notion of the 'right to research' among undergraduates. Using data, including processes, observations, workshops, interviews, and visual narratives from a participatory photovoice project, the findings highlight how methodological plurality creates space for locally and relevant knowledge production, challenging epistemic barriers and fostering human development among the research participants.

This paper reports on the perceptions and experiences of primary school teachers of the challenges they faced and the prospects of using data from the Annual National Assessments (ANAs). While the majority stated that information from the ANAs can assist teachers to improve learning, responses on the use of the ANAs in the classroom were mixed, with most reporting that teachers did not know how to use ANA results to improve learning, and that no plans were in place at their schools for the use of ANA data. A significant proportion also indicated that they received little or no support from the school district on how to use ANA results. These findings were consistent across the school quintiles as well as the foundation and intermediate phases. Given the potential value of the ANAs, the paper highlights two initiatives aimed at enhancing the meaningful use of ANA results to improve learning and teaching in schools.

This essay looks at the influence of ranking and incentive systems on decisions higher education institutions are making with respect to research and academic publishing. It describes and analyses how institutions within the South African higher education system have navigated their way through the contradictory forces confronting them. Characterizing these forces are, on the one hand, the country's higher education policy platform which calls for institutions to address South Africa's legacy issues of inclusion and social redress, and, on the other, the demands for institutions to maintain and grow their research profiles. The paper argues that South African institutions are struggling with this tension, as they struggle to pose, to articulate, and deliberately to respond to the question of what it means to be "excellent." Drawing upon institutional documents in the public domain, this paper shows how significantly this tension animates the decisions that institutions are making about their research and publication policies and practices

The paper explores conceptions of the nature of scientific inquiry (NOSI) held by five teachers who were purposively and conveniently sampled. Teachers' conceptions of the NOSI were determined using a Probes questionnaire. To confirm teachers' responses, a semi-structured interview was conducted with each teacher. The Probes questionnaire was based on six tenets of the nature of scientific inquiry but only three tenets are presented in this paper, namely: (1) scientists use a variety of methods to conduct scientific investigations; (2) scientific knowledge is socially and culturally embedded; and (3) scientific knowledge is partly the product of human creativity and imagination. The study found that the teachers held mixed NOSI conceptions. These conceptions were fluid and lacked coherence, ranging from static, empiricist-aligned to dynamic, constructivist-oriented conceptions. Although all participants expressed some views that were consistent with current, acceptable conceptions of NOSI, some held inadequate (naïve) views on the crucial three NOSI tenets. The significance of this study rests in recommending explicit teaching of NOSI during pre-service and in-service training which enables teachers to possess informed conceptions about NOSI. With these informed conceptions, teachers may internalise the instructional importance of the NOSI which, in turn, may help avoid the lack of attention to NOSI currently evidenced in teachers' instructional decisions. This might result in teachers' orientations shifting towards an explicit inquiry-based approach from that of an implicit science process and discovery approach.

High needs schools in South Africa are characterized by student populations living in hazardous environments coupled with extreme poverty and language disparities, resulting in challenges that are interwoven with cultural and societal norms. This paper presents characteristics of leadership that enable student success in school from one high needs, high-performing school in Cape Town, South Africa, utilizing a case study methodology following the International School Leadership Development Network (ISLDN) research protocol. Literature reviewed highlights the context specific to high needs schools in South Africa, including historical context, leadership characteristics, instructional considerations, and implications for school culture. This study utilized a qualitative approach coupled with analysis framed through the High Needs Schools Leadership model. Data were collected from personal interviews with educators including school leaders and assistant school leaders as well as site-based observations, and concurrent archival document analysis, revealing the importance of several key themes: 1) Community Understanding, 2) Value-Based Decision Making, 3) Equity, and 4) Persistence. By considering the findings of this study, system and school leaders can enhance their awareness of factors with the greatest potential to significantly and positively impact educational settings for students in high needs schools.

Service-learning has, arguably, gained significant currency as a pedagogical and engagement mechanism within the broader discourse of universities and their role in community development. However, less emphasis has been placed on the human development dimensions of service--learning for community members, with the focus largely being on students' experiential learning and other academic outcomes for the university. Though usually conceived as an integral part in university-community partnerships, community members' role in the conception and implementation of service-learning initiatives is from a peripheral position. In this paper, we interrogate this lacuna by applying core tenets of the human development approach to document the experiences and perceptions of community members within a university-community service learning partnerships. From the analysis of qualitative data n = 22, we demonstrate that while service-learning enhances agency, it continues to operate within a historical context and contemporary political economy of South Africa, which obscure community members' active participation and empowerment towards inclusive and sustainable valued outcomes.

Suellen Shay's work on higher education curricula foregrounds the importance of professional curricula which face inwards to disciplines and outwards to practice. This paper builds on her framing of professional curricula, distinctive in the differentiated knowledge base and the social relations which legitimate them. I extend Shay's work deeper into the internal governance structures underpinning curriculum decisions in engineering. Two dimensions of governance are explored: central control from the Faculty of Engineering over its departments; and the authority of individuals in department-level curriculum and accreditation roles over their colleagues. The empirical focus is on curricula reform towards 'graduate attributes' in engineering education, through a comparative study of eight universities in the United Kingdom, South Africa, Singapore, and Australia. The findings show that research-intensive universities are shielded from the full implications of accreditation requirements, while teaching-intensive universities are more likely to invest in developing the governance processes and systems demanded by professional bodies.

South Africa still faces inequalities with regard to access to higher education opportunities. Foregrounding student voices at one university, the paper compares how students from diverse socio-economic backgrounds make decisions about going to university. The focus is on those who have succeeded, but ideas can be extrapolated regarding those who do not make it. The argument draws on Amartya Sen's capability approach to explore individual stories and the interactions between agency and the intersectional conversion conditions of possibility which shape the capability for university access. Narrative interviews show how students are enabled or constrained in their educational decision-making in relation to selves, schooling, family and income. Some implications are suggested for enhancing access, while not making claims for South African higher education as a whole.

This paper considers ways to theorise aspirations in terms of capabilities and agency to function as human beings, as well as our resources to act and participate in this world using a South African case of women students' aspirations. In this analysis higher education should foster women's freedom as critical agents to make genuine choices about their lives and futures, including being able to engage critically with gender norms. The paper thus explores critical agency, together with aspirations--the goals one wants to reach in the future--that indicate which capabilities are valued and which could unlock critical agency. However, the paper also considers the ambiguities generated by the persistence of gender norms and the way these may work in higher education cultures to constrain what women have reason to value and hence their capabilities and achievements.

An abundance of research, by educational researchers and scholars of teaching and learning alike, can be found on the use of ICT to plan design and deliver learning activities and assessment activities. The first steps of the instructional design process are covered quite thoroughly by this. However, the use of ICT and quantitative methods to close the instructional design cycle by supporting sustainable decision making with respect to the evaluation of the effectiveness of teaching processes hold much unleashed potential. In this paper a business intelligence approach is followed in an attempt to take advantage ICT to enable the evaluation of the effectiveness of the process of facilitating learning. The focus is on micro-level decision support based on data drawn from the Learning Management System (LMS). Three quantifiable measures of online behaviour and three quantifiable measures of teaching effectiveness are identified from literature to arrive at a 3x3 matrix according to which 9 measures of e-teaching effectiveness can be derived by means of pair-wise correlation. The value and significance of information are increased within context of other information. In this paper it is shown how the value of LMS tracking data increases within context of data from other modules or others years and that useful information is created when this tracking data is correlated with measures of teaching effectives such as results, learning styles and student satisfaction. This information context can only be created when a deliberate business intelligence approach if followed. In this paper a data warehouse model is proposed to accomplish exactly this.

Highlights: [•] Theoretically placing strategic communication management within the DRR paradigm. [•] Defining DR4 in the South African environment. [•] Indicating the need for DR4 communication in the South African environment. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Assigning teachers to a position for which they are not suitably qualified influences effective educational leadership. The paper reveals assumptions and misconceptions about the lived experiences of teachers in out-of-field positions and what it means for effective educational leadership. The multilayered meaning of out-of-field teaching for quality education is an international concern which includes countries such as Australia, USA, UK, Korea, Europe, Turkey and South Africa. The paper reports on a transnational qualitative investigation conducted in Australia and South Africa at seven schools in different educational environments. The meaning of lived experiences in relation to out-of-field teaching and educational leadership is explored through the lenses of educational directors, principals, specialist and out-of-field teachers and parents. An in-depth discussion of the practical and social implications unveils taken-for-granted traditions and cultures in relation to out-of-field teaching. The paper concludes with an in-depth discussion of the meaning out-of-field teaching has for educational leadership, while it underlines specific complexities for decision-making and policy development. The need for further research in relation to educational leadership training and professional development in relation to the out-of-field situation is revealed.

Part of the decolonisation and transformation of higher education institutions is the re-construction of its leadership. This requires not only a review but also a dissolution of traditions, conventions and organisational forms that universities have inherited, including a re-imagining of leadership in higher education. Equity in representation of women in leadership has been acknowledged locally and internationally as part of the transformation agenda towards sustainable leadership. The authors argue that decolonisation and transformation are not mutually exclusive processes in the South African context, but that transformational leadership is part of the decolonisation process. This should embrace women's ways of leadership in reconstructing leadership. The paper reflects on empirical data from personal interviews with three deputy-vice-chancellors on their journeys to leadership, with a focus on psychological and cultural factors (at the micro and meso levels), their career-pathing, personal characteristics and their experiences. These experiences are considered in the context of literature on women and leadership, using critical discourse analysis. It gives insight into the pathways that women often follow and provokes us to re-imagine the construct of "leadership". The paper concludes with recommendations on the impact of psychological and cultural factors and the importance of the implementation of transformative policies, affirming male and female role models, institutional support structures and career planning which should form part of the decolonisation and transformation of conventions in capacity-building towards equity and sustainable leadership.

Soft skills are becoming increasingly important and will be critical for success in the Information Systems profession. Employers complain about a lack in soft skills among graduates from tertiary education institutions. No agreement exists about what these skills actually are, which are of importance, and how acquiring these soft skills should be approached in higher education. The aim of this paper is to research the perceptions of lecturers, industry, and students on soft skills development of students and to identify important soft skills that need to be developed. The paper starts with a problem statement emphasizing the importance of soft skills and the possible lack thereof. This is followed by a literature review, a description of the methodology followed for this research, the results, conclusion, and the references. The research was done at a university in South Africa. Questionnaires consisting of open questions were distributed to lecturers, industry, and students respectively, and qualitative analysis was done on the results. Results show that stakeholders feel that soft skills of students are not developed adequately, that there is some uncertainty about who should be responsible for developing soft skills, and that the development of soft skills is seen as a difficult task. A list is compiled of the most important soft skills according to literature, lecturers, industry, and students. This list can be used in further research on the soft skills of IT-students. Recommendations are made for the teaching and learning of soft skills.

The effective use of public policy to reduce poverty and inequality in southern Africa requires an increased use of research evidence to inform decision making. There is an absence of clear evidence as to how best to encourage evidence-informed decision making, and how to build capacity among decision makers in the use of research. This paper proposes a demand-focused approach for increasing the use of evidence in policy, presenting strategies supporting "pull" activities and closer linkages and exchanges between producers and users. The paper shares for discussion a people-focused theory of change for building capacity to use research evidence amongst policy makers in southern Africa.

Background: Achieving universal health coverage (UHC) in the context of limited resources will require prioritising the most vulnerable and ensuring health policies and services are responsive to their needs. One way of addressing this is through the engagement of marginalised voices in the priority setting process. Public engagement approaches that enable group level deliberation as well as individual level preference capturing might be valuable in this regard, but there are limited examples of their practical application, and gaps in understanding their outcomes, especially with rural populations. Objective: To address this gap, we implemented a modified priority setting tool (Choosing All Together—CHAT) that enables individuals and groups to make trade‐offs to demonstrate the type of health services packages that may be acceptable to a rural population. The paper presents the findings from the individual choices as compared to the group choices, as well as the differences among the individual choices using this tool. Methods: Participants worked in groups and as individuals to allocate stickers representing the available budget to different health topics and interventions using the CHAT tool. The allocations were recorded at each stage of the study. We calculated the median and interquartile range across study participants for the topic totals. To examine differences in individual choices, we performed Wilcoxon rank sum tests. Results: The results show that individual interests were mostly aligned with societal ones, and there were no statistically significant differences between the individual and group choices. However, there were some statistically significant differences between individual priorities based on demographic characteristics like age. Discussion: The study demonstrates that giving individuals greater control and agency in designing health services packages can increase their participation in the priority setting process, align individual and community priorities, and potentially enhance the legitimacy and acceptability of priority setting. Methods that enable group level deliberation and individual level priority setting may be necessary to reconcile plurality. The paper also highlights the importance of capturing the details of public engagement processes and transparently reporting on these details to ensure valuable outcomes. Public Contribution: The facilitator of the CHAT groups was a member from the community and underwent training from the research team. The fieldworkers were also from the community and were trained and paid to capture the data. The participants were all members of the rural community‐ the study represents their priorities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this paper is to engage with the complexities of describing teachers' professional knowledge and eventually also their learning through written tests. The bigger research aim is to describe what knowledge foundation phase teachers acquired during their two years of study towards the Advanced Certificate of Teaching (ACT). We designed a written test to investigate the professional knowledge that teachers bring with them when they enrol for the ACT, with the aim of comparing their responses to the same test two years later, when they had completed the programme. The questionnaire included questions on teachers' content knowledge; their pedagogical content knowledge (in particular, teachers' knowledge about learner misconceptions, stages of learning, and ways of engaging these in making teaching decisions); and their personal knowledge (such as their beliefs about how children learn and barriers to learning). It spanned the fields of literacy in English and isiZulu, numeracy, and general pedagogy. Eighty-six foundation phase teachers enrolled for the ACT at the University of KwaZulu-Natal completed the questionnaire, and their responses pointed us to further methodological issues. We discuss the assumptions behind the design of the test/ questionnaire, the difficulties in formulating relevant questions, and the problems of 'accessing' specific elements of teacher knowledge through this type of instrument. Our process shows the difficulties both in constructing questions and in coding the responses, in particular concerning the pedagogical content knowledge component for teachers from Grade R to Grade 3.

Open Educational Resources (OER) emerged within the context of open education which is typically characterized by the sharing of knowledge and resources and the exchange of ideas. Unisa as a mega open distance learning (ODL) university has publicly communicated its intention to take part in the use and creation of OER. As global and local university research on OER is limited, this prompted an investigation to gauge the uptake of OER at Unisa, by staff, with the purpose of institutional information gathering for decision making and planning in this area. During 2014, a survey was undertaken for this reason. The survey examined knowledge of OER, Intellectual Property (IP) Rights and Licensing, participation in OER, barriers to OER and OER in the Unisa context with a view to determining the stage at which the institution is in terms of adopting and engaging with the OER initiative. The results indicated that although there is knowledge and understanding of OER, this has not been converted into active participation. It further highlighted the barriers that are prohibiting the operationalization of OER and resulted in recommendations for planning and activities in respect of OER. The constructs investigated and the results thereof might not be generalizable to other contexts, although commonalities are likely. The insights should prove useful to a variety of contexts. The paper illustrates the need for institutions, irrespective of context, to take stock of the impact of initiatives and in this case evaluate how the institution and staff mature through various phases in the uptake of OER in order to guide effective planning, decision making and implementation.

Background Persons with HIV and tuberculosis (TB) co-infection require transaminase monitoring while on hepatotoxic medications. A novel paper-based, point-of-care transaminase test is in development at an anticipated cost of $1 per test. Methods To project long-term clinical outcomes and estimate the cost-effectiveness of using a paper-based fingerstick test to monitor for drug-induced liver injury (DILI), as compared with automated testing and with no laboratory monitoring. The design was a decision analytic model, including deterministic and probabilistic sensitivity analyses. Data sources were observational cohorts and a validation study of the paper-based test. The target population was HIV/TB co-infected persons in South Africa on antiretroviral therapy who were initiating TB therapy. Interventions: (1) clinical (no laboratory) monitoring; (2) monitoring using the paper-based test with a ≥120 IU/mL threshold for positivity; (3) monitoring using the paper-based test with a ≥200 IU/mL threshold for positivity; (4) monitoring using the paper-based test using 1 of 3 categories: <120 IU/mL, 120 to 200 IU/mL, and >200 IU/mL (“bin placement”); (5) monitoring using automated ALT testing using the same 3 categories (“automated testing”). The outcome measures were discounted quality-adjusted life-years (QALYs), costs, and incremental cost-effectiveness ratios (ICERs). Results The ICER of automated testing was $5180/QALY. Use of the paper-based test with the bin placement strategy was cost-effective compared with clinical monitoring alone. Conclusion At its current performance, monthly DILI monitoring by bin placement using the paper-based test was cost-effective, compared with clinical monitoring, in HIV/TB co-infected persons in South Africa. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this paper is to examine the unequal and inadequate access to opportunities by both men and women in South Africa, as well as the progress made in achieving gender equality and promoting women's empowerment, which are embedded in the Millennium Development Goals and Sustainable Development Goals, respectively. The paper is virtuously theoretical and relies upon literature to present its arguments, soliciting information from published journals, reports, and previous studies. Access is primarily a gendered phenomenon worldwide, pertaining to the subsets of, inter alia, access to information, rights, land, money, education, skills, political participation, and opinion. Gender equity and equality are high on the developmental agenda of women in almost every country. South Africa, being part of international treaties and conventions on gender equity, is obliged to advance the empowerment of women and eliminate all forms of gender discrimination. The development of women, their access to essential resources, and their participation in important positions of decision-making are still challenges in most countries. It is commonly known that everywhere in the world, women face constraints that limit their capacity to contribute to production, well-being, decision-making, growth, and most importantly, empowerment, which in turn promotes independence. Women face discrimination in access to productive resources such as land; they face wage inequality in rural labor markets; and they are also more likely to work part-time, seasonal, and/or low-paying jobs when engaged in wage employment. Despite the Domestic Violence Act 116 of 1998 and the inauguration of the Annual 16 Days of Activism for No Violence Against Women and Children by the South African government, which are aimed at fighting the perpetual inequalities and abuse of women and children, gender inequality, women's disempowerment, and unequal access to opportunities are still predominant in the country. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Human capital theory holds that a higher education will be pursued to the extent that its pecuniary rewards outstrip its costs. This notion is founded on the neoclassical economic assumption that expected earnings conditional on educational investment are accurately anticipated by those considering such investments. However, the evidence in support of this thesis is slim and, in the case of South Africa in particular, remains largely untested. This paper--the product of a qualitative study--reports the expected earnings data of Durban University of Technology first-year students who, on the whole, are evidently able to relatively accurately predict their commencing and medium- to long-term earnings. This merited the computation and analysis of expected private rates of return to educational investments which were found to be significantly related to study field and parents' educational attainment, useful knowledge in any description of higher education demand. More importantly, though, the paper argues, possibly somewhat controversially, that human capital theory may offer a more plausible explanation of individual higher education choice if it is unconstrained by its neoclassical economic framework. (Contains 7 tables.)

Higher education faces the challenge of high student attrition, which is especially disconcerting if associated with low participation rates, as is the case in South Africa. Recently, the use of learning analytics has increased, enabling institutions to make data-informed decisions to improve teaching, learning, and student success. Most of the literature thus far has focused on "at-risk" students. The aim of this paper is twofold: to use learning analytics to define a different group of students, termed the "murky middle" (MM), early enough in the academic year to provide scope for targeted interventions; and to describe the learning strategies of successful students to guide the design of interventions aimed at improving the prospects of success for all students, especially those of the MM. We found that it was possible to identify the MM using demographic data that are available at the start of the academic year. The students in the subgroup were cleanly defined by their grade 12 results for physical sciences. We were also able to describe the learning strategies that are associated with success in first-year biology. This information is useful for curricular design, classroom practice, and student advising and should be incorporated in professional development programs for lecturers and student advisors.

To maximise the potential impact and acceptability of EIDM capacity building, there is a need for programmes to coordinate their remits within existing systems, playing both 'insider' and 'outsider' roles. Through a review of the South African evidence-policy landscape and analysis of a stakeholder event that brought together EIDM role players, this paper illustrates how one capacity-building programme navigated its position within the national evidence-policy interface. It identifies strategies for improving the acceptability and potential effectiveness of donor-funded EIDM capacity-building activities: understanding the evidence-policy interface, incorporating programmes into the decision-making infrastructure (being an 'insider'), whilst retaining an element of neutrality (being an 'outsider').

The prevailing sociopolitical and economic difficulties advance a feeling of hopelessness and helplessness among youth in South Africa. This paper describes a Hope-Infused Future Orientated intervention piloted with a group of juvenile sex offenders. The intervention incorporated activities to bolster the constructs of hope as a unique foundation, together with culturally-appropriate strategies to assist the participants in making realistic decisions regarding their future livelihood. The study used a focused ethnographic approach to evaluate the effectiveness of the intervention. Multiple mixed methods were used to collect data. The analysis was qualitative. Findings illustrate the effectiveness of this intervention. Limitations and strengths of the study are discussed. Recommendations for future practice and research are made.

Within teacher education, there is ongoing debate about the nature and extent of the propositional and conceptual knowledge that teachers need. In this paper we interrogate the learning tasks detailed in six learning modules offered in a formal qualification for South African Foundation Phase (grade R-3) teachers. Our purpose is to analyse to what extent the in-text informal learning tasks foreground the conceptual object of study or the practice-based context, and thus the extent to which these tasks require teachers to develop systematic conceptual knowledge which is clearly related to practice. Tasks which make visible "both" the conceptual object of study and the practice-based context are most likely to enable teachers to systematise ideas, and thus build professional judgement. Our findings show that there are differences between the six modules, but that generally the conceptual object of study is not made strongly visible in the learning tasks, except in the mathematics education modules. We argue that this will have implications for the development of the student teachers' systematised knowledge and professional judgement.

Teaching and teacher education in South Africa have emerged from a highly fragmented past. Teachers from diverse backgrounds, experiences and qualifications find themselves working together in schools where they do not necessarily have access to a common language of practice, nor a shared understanding of professional teaching practices. To address these challenges, the South African Council of Educators (SACE) has developed a set of professional teaching standards for use in the South African context. This is not the first time a policy framework has tried to articulate and direct teachers' work. This paper analyses four other frameworks that have been used to regulate, monitor and evaluate the work of South African teachers over the past two decades. These other frameworks are The Roles of the Educator and Their Associated Competences, the SACE Code of Professional Ethics, the Integrated Quality Management System (IQMS) and the Basic Competences of a Beginner Teacher. Our analysis shows how these frameworks present teaching in ways that constrain teacher professionalism in some ways. They address some aspects of professional teaching while ignoring others. In particular, none of them adequately acknowledge the relations between knowledge, skills, judgement and the ethical orientations that underpin professional teaching. The ways in which previous frameworks have constrained teacher professionalism has important implications for SACE if its set of professional teaching standards is to more successfully enhance teacher professionalism in the South African context.

Purpose: This paper aims to show that business intelligence (BI) is a key component of a sustainability-reporting framework for higher education institutions (HEIs). Design/methodology/approach: Four questionnaires were administered to Registrars and managers at 21 South African HEIs and at selected international HEIs. The data analysis entailed both descriptive and inferential statistics. Findings: The study confirmed that factors such as management buy-in, the availability of BI reports and the provision of reporting guidelines were positively related to effective strategic planning. The study shows that the use of BI by South African HEIs is still at a low maturity level. Research limitations/implications: The case study used is the Nelson Mandela University in Port Elizabeth, South Africa. The implications are relevant for all 26 HEIs in South Africa. Practical implications: HEIs must invest in technological tools, including BI to provide information in understandable and usable formats for management and other relevant stakeholders. Social implications: BI reporting can assist all stakeholders to obtain the relevant and required information relating to HEI operations and strategic management initiatives and activities. Originality/value: The study concludes that HEIs ought to invest in BI technologies that can assist the sustainability reporting process to ensure stakeholder satisfaction and regulatory compliance.

It has been argued that traditional governance practices and decision making associated with the collegial model are no longer effective in universities, and business-like management techniques should be adopted. Dwindling resources, external demands for accountability, and increased competition for market share, have resulted in efficiency measures and increased demand for performativity. Executive leadership techniques that crept into universities during the early 1980s, referred to as 'managerialism' or 'executivism', are now widely practised. The increased focus on managerialism in the last decade has resulted in collegial crises and heightened conflicts between academics and administrators. The emergence of 'executive deanship' in South African higher education about a decade ago was in keeping with international trends and local demands for efficiency and performativity. With specific reference to the universities in the Gauteng province, this paper argues that the blanket introduction of executive deanship (referred to as executivism) appears not to have contributed to the envisaged operational efficiency, performance, and effectiveness, as initially claimed. Rather than fostering an enabling and empowering environment, it has added new layers of complexity to deanship pointing to a potential crisis in the advancement of the academic project. The position of dean is now more management oriented and allows little or no room for strategic intellectual and academic leadership.

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to give practical insights into the systemic approach to organizational learning "triple loop learning" (TLL; introduced in Part I) by reflecting on a facilitated research-and-intervention undertaken in South Africa as part of the "500 Schools Project". Design/methodology/approach: The authors reflect on one of the many researcher-assisted interventions in the "500 Schools Project" by retrospectively reflecting on the case through the principles of TLL. Findings: The authors show that researcher-assisted intervention can be genuinely transformative given two conditions: The principles of TLL are embraced, and researchers are committed to such principles and passionate about social transformation. In particular, the case study illustrates how we might address processes of power in processes of design and in processes of debate. The focus on power arguably helped to shift "power over" (power as domination) to "power to" enact empowering designs, "power to" co-develop responsible decision-making and "power to" transform relations with each other and with life on Earth. Originality/value: The authors introduce an original approach to TLL that directly addresses issues relating to processes of power. The value of the TLL is that it encourages researchers, learning facilitators and practitioners of the learning organization to engage with processes of power without neglecting other important organizational and environmental issues. [To view the first part of the series, "A Systemic Approach to Processes of Power in Learning Organizations: Part I - Literature, Theory, and Methodology of Triple Loop Learning," see EJ1196364.]

This paper addresses some key design issues in e-learning, and its integration with knowledge management. The underlying premise is that the purpose of e-learning is useful knowledge, and that the design of e-learning should therefore be integrated with the design of related knowledge management--particularly personal knowledge management. e-learning will be explored using the notion of "distributed learning". Knowledge management will be explored using the notion of "just-in-context knowledge", emphasising both the contextual underpinning of knowledge, and its strategic value--that is to say its applied value, and its embeddedness in decision making processes. The potential for distributed learning to optimise shared resources is also explored.