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The world has become a space of flow due to globalization resulting from great strides in communication, transport, and the use of social media. This flow has gained impetus due to national borders becoming more permeable, leading to increased migration and social mobility. Apart from all the advantages that this new space might offer, it has brought with it a number of deplorable phenomena such as religious and cultural intolerance, discrimination, stereotyping, xenophobia, and violence. The core argument of this article is that although there is as yet no consensus about the definitions of citizenship and of global citizenship education (GCE), about the best theoretical positions to adopt in the current circumstances, and about the dimensions of the global flow, GCE curriculum designers, and citizenship educators in particular, are confronted with several challenges. These challenges include: how to ontically deal with the flow in terms of the ontic balance between permanence and change, and how to educate learners to become informed, critical, and conscientized citizens of their own nation-states while at the same time preparing them for drawing on the global flow as a pedagogical resource that will enable them to deal with the injustices in the world that might be associated with, caused, or highlighted by that flow. Five such challenges are outlined and suggestions offered about how to address them in these times of "glocal" flow.

The aim of this article is to investigate the authorship of Education research in Africa, within the framework of global Education research production. The negative effect of a low scholarly output in the global pool is explicated. The 2012 volumes of all Thomsons Reuter (previously called the ISI, or Institute for Scientific Information) indexed journals in the field of Education were taken as data pool. The authorship of the 18 523 articles published in this pool was studied. Africa contributed in total 395 authors, representing only 2.13 per cent of the author pool; but taken as a whole. The distributions of authors as per journal, per nations in Africa, and per sub-field of Education knowledge are analysed and recommendations for raising the profile of African scholars in the global circuit of publishing in the field of Education are made.

The aim of this study was to investigate the management of parental involvement in three multicultural schools in the Umlazi District in Durban, South Africa. A literature survey resulting in a theoretical framework on parental involvement in schools, multicultural schools, and the managing of parental involvement in schools has been done. The contextual background of schools in contemporary South Africa is depicted. A qualitative research design has been used. Focus group discussions have been conducted, with a total of thirty-three principals, teachers and parents. It has found that there is a low level of meaningful contact between school and parents. Apathy exists on the side of parents, low expectations on the side of principals and teachers, and an organisational structure facilitating parent-school interaction is lacking. In managing parental involvement in multicultural schools, school managers display a lack of intercultural sensitivity.

This article examines how education unfolded as a science in Estonia in the period 1944-1991, i.e. from the second Soviet occupation to the fall of the USSR. Historical analysis of the way prominent scholars and institutions succeeded in overcoming the adverse conditions of that period is conducted by viewing their respective contributions through two theoretical lenses: cultural trauma theory to explore the adversities they had to contend with, and resilience theory to explain how those challenges were overcome. Through these means an account is constructed of how individuals and institutions succeeded in preserving the national Estonian and inter-war European legacy of educational philosophy, in the process confronting and countering adverse socio-cultural-political conditions.

This is an educational-philosophical, more particularly, a societaltheoretical reflection on the "blame game" that is occasionally played between the parental home and the school with respect to the behaviour displayed by children in these societal relationships. After consulting the literature regarding this issue, and the findings of recent empirical studies in South Africa for purposes of describing the "blame game", the interpretivist-constructivist method was employed for exploring an alternative approach to the discipline problem in homes and schools, namely the creation of a social compact, and of a caring school community based thereon. The discipline practised in the parental home differs from that at school because home and school are essentially different societal relationships, each with unique foundation and destination functions; hence with respective sphere sovereignty. Their interests and activities are, at the same time, also interlaced in that they share the same child as a member. It is due to this interlacement (enkapsis) that unacceptable behaviour at home might impact detrimentally on discipline in the school, and vice versa. To counteract this reciprocal display of unruly behaviour, it is suggested that the parents and the school attended by their children could consider entering into a social compact or covenant so that they are as one in guiding the young people towards disciplined behaviour, that is, socially acceptable behaviour. The actions of such a new community should be guided by several moral codes, the most important of which are the ethic of community, and of loving, caring and compassion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Comparative Education as a subject or course on teacher education curricula mainly continues to be taught in Ireland, some African and East European countries and a few colleges in Ireland, the UK and several universities in the USA, Canada, Western Europe, Latin America and Australia. This research compares Irish and South African students' experiences of their Comparative Education courses. The article commences with a survey of literature on the position of Comparative Education in teacher education, a portrayal of the contextual background of South Africa and of Ireland, and a brief synopsis of the pre-course survey of students' expectations, upon which this study builds. Subsequently the research method is explained and the results presented. Three findings emerged from this study. The first is the valuable role of Comparative Education in teacher education. The second is the role of contextual factors in determining the significance of Comparative Education in teacher education. Thirdly, the centrality of clients (i.e. students) is critical to the future of Comparative Education in teacher education. (Contains 4 tables.)

As part of a research project on religion, spirituality and education, the authors attended to the role that children's divine dreams could play in religious education (RE). They contend that such dreams can indeed be used by RE teachers as the gateway to understanding the spirituality of their learners. They defend their claim by firstly developing a conceptual-theoretical framework with respect to religion, spirituality and children's divine dreams, and then presenting the results of an explorative quantitative-qualitative investigation in three schools. They find their claim to have been vindicated, and suggest that although RE teachers should not necessarily teach divine dreams "per se," they should, nevertheless, explore the possibility that (at least some of) the contents of children's divine dreams may be useful for the purpose of teaching them RE "from" religion itself, rather than teaching them only "about" religion. (Contains 1 table and 1 note.)

Religion in education in South Africa and the Netherlands: A comparative study. The aim of this article is the reconstruction and comparison of the historical evolution of the place and role of religion in education in South Africa and in the Netherlands. The article commences with an overview of the historical evolution of the place and role of religion in education, up to the present, and a discussion of the dissatisfaction and objections which could be and which have been levelled against the current situation. The Netherlands has followed a more accommodating policy and practice regarding religious beliefs and diversity than the international norm. While South Africa can learn much from the Dutch approach to the problem of religion in education, this approach has also been challenged in recent times. In both systems, controversy about the accommodation of religion in education has given rise to tension between the notions of freedom, tolerance and accommodation, on the one hand, and the acknowledgement of human rights and the need for social cohesion on the other. Other considerations to be taken into account in this regard are the downsides of providing a partisan, confessional type of education that could hinder learners in maintaining themselves in the outside world. The trend in modern society is towards individualised belief systems, not collective ones. And the warning to be heeded is that the line between education and indoctrination is thin. The current Dutch model, despite the problems that it currently encounters, could provide direction in respect of all these issues. Contribution: The article concludes with an educational-philosophical perspective regarding the question as to how educationists and educators could guide learners to a state where they can independently decide about their personal religious orientation, given the fact that they are now living in a time when relativism prevails, also in terms of religion and faith. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The present era in history is characterised by a set of forceful global societal trends. These include the ecological crisis, the population explosion and seismic demographic shifts, staggering technological progress, economic trends (growing affluence, the neo-liberal economic revolution), social trends (declining importance of primary and secondary social groupings and growing importance of tertiary social groupings), political trends (democratisation, individualisation) and religious and life and world philosophical trends. Each of these trends offers simultaneously exciting possibilities and frightening prospects to humanity. Perhaps the best, if imperfect instrument at the disposal of humanity is education. Purpose: The aim of this article is to argue the thesis that value education is a pivotal tool in equipping humanity for the twenty-first century, and to depict the possibilities and limits of education, particularly with respect to equip humanity with an appropriate hierarchy of values to negotiate the context of the twenty-first century. Design/Methodology/Approach: This is a position paper discussing a particular issue. The paper draws on the methodological tools of the scholarly field of Comparative and International Education. The concepts of values, values education, and theories on values and value education are clarified. Background: For the first time in his or her life, a child is brought into constant contact with others when he or she begins to attend school. In the process, the child as learner is exposed to a range of perspectives about society, and to what it means to be a member of a group and of society in general. In this process, the young person becomes acquainted with the intrinsic value system of society, which society expects the school to impart to the learners. School education and, in particular citizenship education, therefore, are value-based and -driven activities that ideally should assist learners to develop and express their own views about society, their place, task and role in society as future citizens. Purpose: The purpose of this article is to explicate the theoretical argument that four sets of basic values should form the substratum for a school's citizenship education curriculum or program, namely: the constitutional values of the nation, the basic and widely accepted ethical values, the relevant local community values, and values associated with global citizenship. Design/Methodology/Approach: This is a position paper in which the authors propound a core theoretical argument and subsequently attempt to defend their position on conceptual, theoretical and experiential grounds. Findings: Citizenship as such, and citizenship education should not be seen as fixed, final and static, but rather as situated in the following field of tension: on the one hand, the abovementioned four sets of values that seem to be widely accepted and stable, and on the other, values that are more personal, flu- id and conditional. The four of these sets of values mentioned above ideally should form the value substratum of the particular nation's citizenship education policies and citizenship education curriculum or program. Conclusion: The four sets of (moral) values discussed in this paper should ideally form a balanced mix that could favourably shape a state's citizenship education policy and citizenship education curriculum or program, and thereby lead to the formation of balanced future citizens. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this article is twofold. It is firstly to map the international discourse and experience regarding the issue of language of learning and teaching in education. Secondly, the article focuses on the South African question regarding the issue of language of learning and teaching in educational institutions, by employing the international framework constructed in the first section for purposes of illumination, interpretation, and assessment. The language medium in education remains a contentious issue in education, also in the South African context. The comparative method that was used for doing the mapping, namely, to examine and draw potentially valuable insights and perspectives from comparable international situations, is widely used for illuminating societal issues, also in education. Schools were instituted for the first time around 3 000 BC in Mesopotamia and Egypt. During the first millennia in the history of these institutions, the dominant language of the political jurisdiction or entity in which the school was located was employed as the language of learning and teaching in schools. This was due to the political objectives of education and schooling as well as the social origins of the learners who attended the schools. Schools originated autochthonously in only a few places; most school systems in the world today can trace their roots back to the early mediaeval European prototype which was subsequently exported to the extra-European world by means of missionary activities and imperial (colonial) endeavours. It is important to keep this development in mind for an understanding of the subsequent course that the language of learning and teaching in schools followed. A departure from the mediaeval practice to use Latin as the language of learning and teaching in schools coincided with the Reformation in Western Europe in the sixteenth century, in particular the formation of nation-states in that part of the world since the beginning of the nineteenth century. The leaders of the Reformation promoted the use of the vernacular for reading and understanding the Bible, and for this reason agitated for the home language to become the language of teaching and learning in the schools. This ideal was never fully realised, however; even in Western Europe the dominant language of each nation was used as the language of teaching and learning. The notion of developing the vernacular as language of learning and teaching did not form part of the imperialist project of instituting schools in the colonies from the fifteenth century in the Americas and Asia, and from the nineteenth century in Sub-Saharan Africa. Instead, the official language of the colonial power in question was used as the language of learning and teaching in colonial schools. The empowerment of the vernacular to become the official language of the country, a hallmark of the formation of nation-states and of national education systems in the Global North, received at best scant attention or lip service when the nations of the Global South, especially in Africa (notably in Sub-Saharan Africa) and South Asia gained independence during the 1960s. The situation has since been exacerbated by the rise of English as international lingua franca in the past half century. The impact of this development can be detected in the education systems of the world, including those of the Global North: English has become a de facto universal second or third language in teaching and learning at most levels. English is also increasingly supplanting respectively French and Portuguese as languages of teaching and learning in institutions of education in francophone and lusophone Africa. This, as mentioned, is a direct result of the vernacular not having been developed and empowered to become the language of teaching and learning. The hegemonic position of English is also reinforced by widespread support for this language as medium of teaching and learning among parents. Parents are convinced that mastery of English will be advantageous for their children in the higher education context and later in the international commercial world. A plethora of scholarly investigations seem to indicate that the vernacular should be favoured as the language of learning and teaching in institutions of education. Their findings revolve around respect for human rights, including the right to use the home, mother or first language as medium of teaching and learning; the role of language of teaching and learning in ensuring that the vernacular maintains and even improves its status and currency in society; educational considerations, including the role that the mother language plays in cognitive development and the learning of the first language, the learning of a second language, and subsequently, the learning of English; also the issue of equality and equity in education, and the role and impact of the language of learning and teaching in the maintenance and production of human and social capital. In the second part of the article, the South African situation regarding the issue of language of teaching and learning is described, analysed, interpreted and assessed against the international framework outlined in the first part. The analysis and discussion presented reveal that the international considerations are valid for the issue of language of learning and teaching in South Africa as well. They also show that several contextual-ecological features of the South African pedagogical landscape cause the promotion of the vernacular as medium of teaching and learning to be of even greater urgency. These features include the poor output (achievement) levels of, and the concomitant high levels of attrition in the South African education system, the persistent unacceptably high unemployment rate, the high levels of social inequality, and the national priority of making education accessible to all. Recommendations are made as to how the development of the various vernaculars could be developed to become efficient media of teaching and learning. Two of the strategies that could be considered are to promote the use of the vernacular in teacher education, and to use some of the international aid that is being poured into the African continent for the purpose of developing the various vernaculars to grow into effective education media. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Journal of Contemporary Educational Studies / Sodobna Pedagogika is the property of Association of Slovenian Educationalists and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The aim of this article is to investigate the authorship of Education research in Africa, within the framework of global Education research production. The negative effect of a low scholarly output in the global pool is explicated. The 2012 volumes of all Thomsons Reuter (previously called the ISI, or Institute for Scientific Information) indexed journals in the field of Education were taken as data pool. The authorship of the 18 523 articles published in this pool was studied. Africa contributed in total 395 authors, representing only 2.13 per cent of the author pool; but taken as a whole. The distributions of authors as per journal, per nations in Africa, and per sub-field of Education knowledge are analysed and recommendations for raising the profile of African scholars in the global circuit of publishing in the field of Education are made. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The political upheavals in Eastern Europe and in Southern Africa in the period 1985 to 1995 have had serious implications for education and education systems in the countries involved. Education system experts have in the past used various theoretical tools to examine and explain the complex transformations that took place. Transitiology, social action theory and critical theory are some of these tools. An examination of these theoretical tools shows that they do not quite succeed in embracing and explaining all the factors at play in the transformations under investigation. This article proposes cultural-historical activity theory as a more suitable alternative, and illustrates this thesis with reference to the South African transition (1990 onwards). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines how education unfolded as a science in Estonia in the period 1944–1991, i.e. from the second Soviet occupation to the fall of the USSR. Historical analysis of the way prominent scholars and institutions succeeded in overcoming the adverse conditions of that period is conducted by viewing their respective contributions through two theoretical lenses: cultural trauma theory to explore the adversities they had to contend with, and resilience theory to explain how those challenges were overcome. Through these means an account is constructed of how individuals and institutions succeeded in preserving the national Estonian and inter-war European legacy of educational philosophy, in the process confronting and countering adverse socio-cultural-political conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The purpose of this article is to illuminate the issue of home language as a language of learning and teaching (LOLT) at university level in South Africa, in view of international historical and comparative perspectives. According to widely accepted hypotheses, formal educational institutions evolved because of political and economic considerations. Although such views are reductionistic in that they do not paint the full picture, they contain a modicum of truth and provide some insight into the issue of LOLT in educational settings. Central governments have always showed a tendency to use education as an instrument for legitimising their own existence and for maintaining the integrity of the state (in the 18th century, for example). Very few minority languages have so far succeeded in acquiring LOLT status with the approval and support of national governments, despite rhetoric about the importance of multiculturalism and adherence to human rights manifesto's. French in Canada (both within and outside of Quebec) and Afrikaans in South Africa are being considered as exceptions to this rule. English has become the language of government in South Africa due to historical circumstances. This, combined with its status as a powerful international linguistic vehicle in a globalised world economy, makes it a factor to be reckoned with by the users of minority languages in South Africa, such as Afrikaans. The possibility of relinquishing the status of Afrikaans as LOLT at South African universities should be carefully weighed against the negative outcomes that such a move might bring about: loss of learning quality and achievement among Afrikaans-speaking students and the possibility that a dysfunctional school system (especially the inadequate command of English of many school teachers and the fact that subjects at secondary school level are often taught not in English but by means of code switching) will in any case place severe restraints on any equalisation effort regarding the employment of English as an exclusive LOLT at South African universities. Other disadvantages of such a step might be the creation of even more social inequalities, deleterious effects on the Afrikaans-speaking community, the removal of Afrikaans in the few places where it is still being used, and the possible extinction of the language within two or three generations. This article embodies a plea not only for the retention of Afrikaans as an LOLT at university level but also for the inclusion of all the other indigenous minority languages in South Africa. The loss of any language leads to a loss of cognitive possibilities, creativity and innovation -- something which can hardly be afforded in times of a growing knowledge economy (that is, an economy in which the production and application of new knowledge have become the main driving forces). The loss of a language will be detrimental to opportunities of its speakers in the labour market. The article culminates in the recommendation that Afrikaans should be retained as an LOLT at universities, though alongside English as a second language with lingua franca status. The teaching and learning of English as a second language should be of the highest quality to ensure that it serves as an effective LOLT for students (learners at all levels). The chances of attaining this ideal through negotiation with government and the Department of Higher Education -- although it has remained part of an over-all strategy on the part of the speakers of minority languages -- seem to be slim. A more viable strategy might be the mobilisation of the Afrikaans segment of the broad South African civil society in favour of the retention of Afrikaans as an LOLT at universities. In doing so, the Afrikaans-speaking community will have to reckon with the recent vocal and even violent opposition of many students to the retention of Afrikaans as a university LOLT. A strategy will have to be developed to stabilise university campuses and to protect Afrikaans from opportunistic attacks such as those being televised on campuses on a daily basis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper investigates three issues surrounding the field of comparative education, namely the place of comparative education in teacher education, the question as to whether the field should be transformed into comparative and international education, and acknowledgement of the place of Comenius as one of the fathers providing an inspiring vision and ideal for the field. The paper finds that in view of the current momentous societal changes and educational expansion in the world, there is a compelling case for the field of comparative education to be transformed into comparative and international education, furthermore, that to equip teachers for their role as professionals in this world a place for comparative and international education in teacher education programmes is essential; and thirdly, that due recognition should be given to the place of Comenius as a trailblazer in providing the rationale for the field of comparative and international education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article portrays four historically evolved ideas of a university, as they have developed in the South African context, namely the British liberal-humanistic education idea, the Afrikaner idea of an ethnically-oriented developmental university, the idea of an African university, and the idea of a university proclaimed by neo-liberal economics. The global significance of this contest, as it plays out itself on South African soil, is noted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article reports on research that investigated the image of teachers held by school learners. Based on a conceptual-theoretical distinction between the ideal teacher, the totally effective teacher and the typically excellent teacher, it was assumed that learners would focus on the first, which is a mental construct, and not on the third, which refers to a flesh-and-blood person actually found working in classrooms. They would not be aware of the discrepancy existing between the ideal teacher and the actual typically excellent teacher. A hundred learners in each of England, Latvia, Greece, Serbia, Slovenia, Bulgaria, Turkey, Pakistan, South Africa and Mexico were asked to write a one-page essay on the following topic: 'What does a typical teacher look like?' The investigation confirmed the correctness of the assumption. Despite clear instructions to describe a typical teacher, many respondents from all 10 countries described what they regarded as the ideal teacher. There seems to be a discrepancy between what learners want in a teacher (the ideal teacher) and what they actually have (the typical teacher). It is also possible that the lack of exposure to truly transformative teachers may in many instances lead to ineffective education. This may be one of the causes of problems with learner discipline in school that has thus far been overlooked in the scholarly pursuit to get to the root of problems with learner discipline, possibly because it does not fit neatly into the widely used model of categorising the causes of problems with learner discipline in schools. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Learner discipline is a problem in South African schools. The most serious aspect is addressing learner-discipline problems. Research has shown that teachers are at a loss for effective methods for maintaining discipline. The literature that does exist pertaining to methods of maintaining discipline, invariably enumerates a host of techniques in a 'bag of tricks' fashion: behaviouristic, like treating symptoms, that is, the behavioural manifestation rather than addressing the causes of that behaviour, paying no attention to the psychic dynamics and social context behind poor discipline. This is at variance with the fact that learner-discipline problems have a causal base which reaches far beyond the individual teacher-individual learner interaction. At the levels of the school, family and society, as well as at the level of the spiritual and social functioning of the child and how that might result in discipline problems, and how that should be taken into account when addressing learner discipline problems, a host of literature has been published in recent years. This article surveys this literature, synthesising it in a systematic way that shows a broader and more extensive way of approaching the issue of the problems of addressing learner discipline in South African schools. Although the problem of ill discipline in schools is not limited to or absent from schools that educate on biblical principles, the discussion in the literature occasionally ventures into a brief mention of how the problem could be approached from a holistic and integrated Christian perspective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Teachers in South African schools battle with problems in learner discipline. Research indicates that teachers are at a loss as to handling these situations. The aim of this article is to survey incidents of serious learner misconduct in a representative selection of education systems abroad to extract any guidelines that might be applicable to South African schools. Eight education systems were surveyed: Brazil, England, Turkey, Singapore, Malaysia, China, Australia and New Zealand. The international systems surveyed in this article developed promising models, namely the National Safe Schools Framework (NSSF) in Australia, the Response Early Intervention and Assessment Community Health (REACH) programme in Singapore, the National Education Plan in the state of São Paolo, Brazil, and the two models in the category of positive disciplinary approaches in New Zealand, namely the Respectful Schools: Restorative Practices in Education and the New Zealand Minister of Education's Positive Behaviour for [a] Learning Action Plan. A study of these international practices and underlying principles for dealing with discipline in pedagogical situations (Christian or secular) could provide guidelines for South African teachers and education authorities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Koers: Bulletin for Christian Scholarship is the property of Koers Association and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Koers: Bulletin for Christian Scholarship is the property of Koers Association and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Africa's unique social contexts play a transformative role in the development of higher education throughout the continent. As a geographic giant endowed with substantial natural resources and a growing population, Africa is a dynamic - albeit diverse - world player, and amidst the political pacification and democratization of the continent, is also unfolding as an increasingly strong economic force in the world. These many factors contextualize the history and position of higher education in Africa as well. Despite rapid growth in recent years, higher education in Africa is less developed than anywhere else in the world. Major challenges include expanding participation in higher education, poor infrastructure, isolation from society and communities, internationalization and regional cooperation, and aligning the world of education with the world of work. The chapters in this volume are presented within this framework, with the intention that this volume will contribute to the scholarly discourse guiding the development of higher education in Africa. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of CEPS Journal is the property of University of Ljubljana, Faculty of Education and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Academics and/or scholars increasingly feel that their academic voice (combined or individual) has been squelched by the demands of performativity in its various guises, and resultantly, that they have been caught up in a process of steady disempowerment. Rather, it should be their right to be free to use their positions in the pursuit of scholarship as their conscience and their expert knowledge of their subject dictate. Academics should be free to question for themselves the boundaries of their limitations, and not have these imposed on them by the state or government bureaucracy. In order to help empower academics to regain their academic voice and identity, this article transposes six of the philosophical ideas of Belgian philosopher Rudi Visker to the world of academia. It explores the possibilities of using these ideas as instruments for the promotion and maintenance of academic freedom. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of the research was to determine how learners of the various population groups experienced their situation at desegregated, historically white schools in South Africa. A questionnaire based on Vrey's model of the child's experience of his situation was completed by grade 11 learners at a desegregated historically white school. It appears that the desegregation of historically white schools was still plagued by a host of problems. New learners (Indian, coloured and black learners) were not sure that they were comfortable with the following (although it was encouraging that they did not find these issues prohibitively problematic either): their academic progress, their relationship with parents and the parents' involvement in the school, their relationship with teachers at the school, peer group relationships (internal segregation seems to persist), the curriculum, code of conduct, and accommodation of cultural diversity, and the school's policy on religious education. In conclusion, suggestions for follow-up research on the identified remaining problematic were made. The study should be extended to more schools, and methods such as interviews, ethnographic, phenomenological and phenomenographic approaches should be employed to acquire insight into the causes, dimensions and extent of problem areas. Perspectives of parents should also be surveyed, and international comparative studies are a potentially valuable source of knowledge, especially with regard to handling/accommodation strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Combining Dennett's notion of detached curiosity with Alexander's notion of transcendental pragmatism, we propose in this paper, from a 'Martian perspective', that religious understanding and tolerance in education may be pursued from at least two different angles: (a) via the spiritual substrata of religions or via confessional pluralism or (b) via a combination of both. On the basis of a hermeneutic reconstructive interpretation of (a), we subsequently argue that current South African policy on education and religion has effectively placed a ban on confessional pluralism by relegating religious education to parental homes and religious institutions such as churches, temples and mosques. We conclude that it provides no opportunities for helping learners to understand the religious differences that they will have to engage with in future as adults. We suggest that it effectively engineers a pedagogy of religious essentialism and the subsequent reemergence (of an almost Bourdieuian model) of cultural and spiritual intolerance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The desegregation of schools, which followed the 1954 Brown v Topeka court ruling, was not a reform movement limited to the United States of America, but a worldwide trend. This was also the case in post-1994 South Africa, where it became a cornerstone of governmental education policy and a sine qua non for the provision of equal education opportunities. In an attempt to gather information on a grossly under-researched area of South African education, this paper investigates how principals of schools in KwaZulu-Natal have experienced the course of desegregation in recent years. On the basis of these data, an overall assessment is ventured, problematic areas are identified, and recommendations are made to address these problems. In conclusion, follow-up research is suggested, especially with regard to the problems identified and with regard to deficiencies of the instrument used in this research. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Managing education during the pandemic in the Netherlands and South Africa: A comparative study. Optimism has reigned supreme for a long time regarding the potential of education (schooling) to address the many societal ailments that humankind has had to deal with. The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020 shifted all such aspirations to the back-burner. Now, after just more than a year after the initial outbreak of the pandemic, the question can be raised whether those who managed the pandemic in the educational context followed the correct policies and instituted the correct (ethical, moral) measures in combatting the pandemic. This comparison between the situation in the Netherlands and South Africa reveals that although the role-players in both countries had a good understanding of the situation and of their duties in such conditions, they tended to treat education as just another facet of society, thereby demonstrating a lack of empathy with the unique demands of education (schooling). Contribution: In this article, the authors investigate the governance performance of two different countries during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic concerning education and judge that performance based on a Biblically driven ethical-moral-pedagogical framework. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An introduction is presented in which the editors discuss various reports within the issue on topics including higher education, internationalization, and equity in Africa.

An introduction is presented in which the authors discuss various reports within the issue including the role of parents in child discipline, teaching actualisation, and the disciplinary methods in school.

The South African-Dutch research group responsible for this article started its activities in 2012 by looking at religious tolerance (in education) as a means of addressing the tendency for religious intolerance, extremism and fundamentalism. While (teaching in) tolerance seemed to be a promising way to counter religious intolerable behaviour, some shortcomings also became apparent. For example, the concept of tolerance includes an aspect of passivity towards others who adhere to another religion. The concept also does not appear to be able to respond to attitudes and values such as respect, human rights and diversity. Accurate investigation of this problem, both conceptually and empirically, led to the understanding that hospitality is a concept that embodies more active adaptation to those who are different (including religious). Hospitality, therefore, seems to be a more promising concept than tolerance for reducing religious tension between individuals and groups. The inner contradiction discovered by Derrida in the notion of hospitality does not detract from the concept of being defined from a Biblical point of view. Hospitality can also be taught to young people. Although there are no formal provisions for hospitality in the national curricula, an analysis of the Dutch and South African national curricula shows that there is room for hospitality education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, schools and education authorities worldwide have been paying increased attention to issues surrounding diversity and religious tolerance. Tolerance constitutes one of the most important preconditions for social justice, fairness and peaceful coexistence. Hence, the authors of this article decided to develop an instrument measuring the degree and nature of religious tolerance among student teachers. It is not this article's purpose to enter into a discussion about how to actually resolve religious, cultural and political conflict, but merely to embark on the process of developing an instrument to measure the degree of religious tolerance among teachers and student teachers. Religious intolerance is increasingly viewed as problematic, and it appears that education has been assigned the role of inculcating religious tolerance in young people. Teachers are expected to be able to inculcate in their students the respect, empathy, critical thinking and acceptance of differences among people associated with the notion of tolerance. To be able to do this, teachers have to possess the traits of a tolerant person. Whether teachers are indeed tolerant in practice depends on the extent to which they have mastered the capacity to be tolerant. This article reports on a study that culminated in the construction of a questionnaire for measuring the degree to which students on the threshold of entering the teaching profession displayed a tolerant attitude. The construction of the questionnaire was based on a theoretical study of tolerance and intolerance. The questionnaire was then applied in three different countries (South Africa, the Netherlands and India). Factor analyses were performed on the data to establish the validity of the instrument. The first round of application revealed a number of shortcomings in the questionnaire. The study therefore recommends a revision of the questionnaire. Among other things, the factoral structure and the reliability of some of the sub-scales require further attention. The study ascribes the lower than expected explanation of variance in the data set to the cultural differences existing among the different groups of respondents in the three countries. The article closes by drawing a conclusion regarding the degree of religious tolerance among the respondents who participated in this first round of application of the questionnaire. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]