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Teacher educators in many countries share similar concerns as they aspire to improve education for learners and stimulate interest in further study and careers. The roles and professional development of school teachers have been researched, but little attention has been given to teacher educators. Using a small-scale, illuminative study in England and South Africa, this paper examines pedagogical implications of progression from classroom teacher to teacher educator-tutor. Systemic issues include attitudes to personal scholarship in moving to high stakes academic environments requiring research. In both countries, there were issues of student teachers’ subject knowledge and their capacity to translate knowledge for learners. South African teacher educators were concerned about student teachers’ lack of appreciation of the integrity of conceptual understanding and sequencing of topic content. Implications for the professional development of teacher educators and their role identities are considered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article highlights the conference entitled "Paradigms Lost, Paradigms Regained," sponsored and held by the "Journal of Southern African Studies" at York University in England on September 9-11, 1994. The conference was intended to mark a turning point in southern African studies. Among issues discussed relate to the south African literature, oral history and literacy, and urban studies.

This paper argues the importance in and for a democratic state and society of discussing controversial issues in education. In particular it analyses two national educational contexts, that of England and South Africa. It considers both whether they provide a suitable framework for teaching controversial issues in school classrooms and if they prepare teachers to be able to organise discussions of controversial issues in schools. The paper then examines interview data on teaching controversial issues with university tutors and student teachers in four universities, two in England and two in South Africa. The data suggest that there are still serious obstacles in both countries to teaching controversial issues in schools and in preparing teacher education students to teach about controversial issues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sustainability assessment is a recent framing of impact assessment that places emphasis on delivering positive net sustainability gains now and into the future. It can be directed to any type of decision-making, can take many forms and is fundamentally pluralistic. Drawing mainly on theoretical papers along with the few case study examples published to date (from England, Western Australia, South Africa and Canada), this paper outlines what might be considered state-of-the-art sustainability assessment. Such processes must: (i) address sustainability imperatives with positive progress towards sustainability; (ii) establish a workable concept of sustainability in the context of individual decisions/assessments; (iii) adopt formal mechanisms for managing unavoidable trade-offs in an open, participative and accountable manner; (iv) embrace the pluralistic inevitabilities of sustainability assessment; and (v) engender learning throughout. We postulate that sustainability assessment may be at the beginning of a phase of expansion not seen since environmental impact assessment was adopted worldwide. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the highlights of the 16th South African Sociological Association (SASA) Congress held in East London, England. Sports, Leisure and Development in the 21st Century served as the event's theme. The opening address by Doctor Wilson Akpan, president of SASA, advocated the sociology of hope. Some of the topics of the discussions include the commercialisation of sports and the need for meaningful engagement in finding sociological solutions to social issues. It outlines the number of papers delivered at the congress.

The article presents photographs of South Africa which were discovered in a personal collection brought to London, England from South Africa. The author undertook further research about the photographs by Bryan Heseltine and has succeeded in arranging the images in a biographical and historical context. The negatives, contact prints, and contextual papers were discovered in the personal collection of the photographer's family in Bath, England. He discussed the photos with the Heseltines' widow and daughter.

As work and employment transitions become more frequent and difficult, the demand for formal career guidance increases. Women are likely to experience structural labour market disadvantage and may benefit from formal support that is sympathetic to their particular needs. Yet the traditional psychological paradigms that dominate career guidance practice have assumed homogeneity. To contribute both to broader debates about careers services for adults and the development of more relevant theoretical frameworks for career practice for women, results are presented from an international, comparative qualitative investigation of the career trajectories of older women (aged 45 to 65) in Australia, England and South Africa. These results confirm a need for career guidance that is nuanced and differentiated for women. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Background: Medical education faces challenges posed by widening access to training, a demand for globally competent healthcare workers and progress towards harmonisation of standards. Aim: To explore potential challenges arising from variation in diversity and educational background of medical school entrants. Method: This study investigated the reported experience and confidence, in a range of 31 generic skills underpinning learning, of 2606 medical undergraduates entering 14 medical schools in England and South Africa, using a validated questionnaire. Results: Responses suggest that there is considerable similarity in prior educational experience and confidence skills profiles on entry to South African and English medical schools. South African entrants reported significantly more experience in 'Technical skills', 'Managing their own Learning', and 'Presentation', while English students reported increased experience in 'IT' skills. South African undergraduates reported more confidence in 'Information Handling', while English students were more confident in 'IT' skills. The most noticeable difference, in 'IT' skills, is probably due to documented differences in access to computer facilities at high school level. Differences between individual schools within each country are noticeable. Conclusions: Educators need to acquire a good understanding of their incoming cohorts, and ensure necessary tailored support for skills development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Succession planning has become increasingly important because of the shortage of headship applicants in England, and in many other countries. Leadership development is a central part of any succession planning strategy. This article compares the findings from two longitudinal studies, in England and South Africa, where the governments are seeking to improve the supply and quality of school principals, and links them to the literature. The article concludes that ensuring a good supply of able principals requires a proactive approach and should not be left to chance. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This essay was written to commemorate the centenary of the founding of the Imperial Cricket Conference in 1909. Australia and England were the two leading international sides and would be joined by South Africa to form a body that would play a role in overseeing the sport's future development. The coming together of national boards into an international organisation came at the instigation of South Africa and this essay considers the economic and political reasons behind their resolve to form such a body and then to consummate it in 1912 with a triangular tournament in England. Australian resistance to such a competition was considered secondary to the political and economic benefits of having South African treated as an equal within the Empire. Finally, the essay considers the merits of South African membership in cricketing terms compared to other notable countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores some of the issues underpinning the development of a British Council funded Higher Education Link between the University of the Western Cape, South Africa and University College Chichester, England. The Link began in 1999 and finished in 2005. The focus of the Link was child protection. The initial emphasis was on developing national multidisciplinary child protection training programmes within South Africa. Latterly this has expanded to encompass the broader concept of child welfare, particularly children's well being and children's participation in both South Africa and England. For both partners the process has been challenging and transforming. The article reflects on the initial objectives of the Link programme and analyses lessons learned both professionally and personally for the South African and English authors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cricket is perhaps the quintessential English game, evoking images of green fields and dreaming spires. ‘No other game’, writes Hughes, ‘captures the peace and tranquillity of an English summer afternoon quite like cricket.’ 1 Just as cricket speaks of England at peace, so too, perhaps because of Newbolt's much-quoted ‘Vitai Lampada’, was it bound up with England and the way she saw herself at war. Inevitably when war descended upon England and her colonies, cricketers rallied and were rallied to the ranks. And wherever the fight took them, cricket went too. The Duke of Wellington watched his guards playing cricket at Enghien a few days before Waterloo and on the day after the battle of Chernaya in the Crimea a match was played between the Guards division and the ‘Leg of Mutton Club’, a team of officers from other regiments.2 The Anglo-Boer War of 1899–1902 was no different. Former teammates were forced onto opposing sides and some fine cricketers were killed. Yet on more than one occasion it was the game of cricket that crossed the conventional boundaries of politics and warfare. It is no surprise, then, that with the conflict coming at a time when cricket had already established itself within the colonies of Southern Africa, cricket and war should become inexorably linked. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fifty years after the death of Jan Smuts, Prime Minister of South Africa and for the last two years of his life Chancellor of Cambridge University, Commonwealth studies in general and history in particular is thriving in the university. The Smuts Memorial Fund for Commonwealth Studies, inaugurated in 1952, has been the backbone of the university's activities through its support for a broad range of activities. But it is accepted that despite his qualities and achievements he did nothing to promote the political advancement of the majority population in South Africa. Equally, he was seen by the Afrikaners as compromised in his relationship with the colonial power, while in 1948 the South African white electorate rejected him, much to the surprise of the British governing elite and the African National Congress. The author examines the contradictions in Smuts's character before examining British policy towards South Africa in the years after 1948. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]