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Background: Political and economic upheavals in the current millennium globally have displaced millions of people, making cross-border and forced migration a reality. Many refugees are forced out of their countries and flee to other countries to find new languages with which they are not familiar. South Africa as a signatory to the 1954 UN Convention on refugees and stateless persons accepts refugees (asylum seekers) from all over the world. The displaced persons are mostly illiterate in English and the indigenous languages of their new settlement countries. Objectives: The study was set up to investigate the socio-economic value of literacy in the lives of refugee adults in South Africa. Hence, in this article, literacy refers to the ability to read, write, calculate, communicate and function in any language with a basic understanding in one's environment. Method: This ethnographic qualitative study used interviews, observations and focus group meetings to explore how literacy matters in the sustainable development of entrepreneurial activities among the refugee adults and youths in South Africa. The study is grounded in Paulo Freire's critical pedagogy theory and has some implications for adult literacy throughout the developing world where millions of adult refugees find themselves vulnerable. Results: The study revealed that refugee adults learn functional literacy in English and other 11 local South African languages informally as communication skills for the survival of their small businesses and for social and economic use in their 'adopted home'. They find it difficult to get employment in the formal sector and often use their ingenuity to create their own jobs for survival and livelihoods in informal trade and entrepreneurship. Conclusion: The article concludes that within the public adult learning interventions by the Department of Basic Education, where literacy programmes are offered, refugees should be encouraged and supported in attending formal classes to deal with their livelihoods and small businesses for survival.

Decades of career in adult education confirmed the author's assumption that adult learners possess lots of lived experiences, exhibit different learning styles and have immediate learning needs to fulfil. Some learners may be slow and take time to grasp information while others might be shy, introverts, lack confidence or extroverts who like to lead and be heard. These characteristics of adults do not require rigid educator control. Human rights, social justice and democracy require educators to be innovative, flexible and implement teaching approaches that could suit learning styles of adults in community college programs. The objective of this case study was to explore various teaching approaches that can maximize learning among adults in three community college classrooms in Limpopo province in South Africa. Data were collected through interviews and the study confirmed that adult learners have different learning styles and to promote learning among them educators should use various teaching approaches.

There has been an increase in enrollments for students with disabilities in the post-school education sector in South Africa of late. This category of students encounters numerous challenges during their time of study at institutions of learning. It is imperative therefore for tertiary institutions to establish a learning environment that addresses challenges faced by students with disabilities. The public Technical, Vocational Education and Training (TVET) sector in South Africa offers student support services to the enrolled students including this cohort. The paper utilized the qualitative approach and the interpretivist paradigm to derive profound understanding of student support systems in TVET colleges for students with disability. This paper is a case study which focuses on student support systems for students with disabilities. The barriers to the effective utilization of student support services and strategies of mitigating challenges experienced by students with disabilities are explored in this paper. The case study involved student support staff (10) and students (36) from two public TVET colleges in the KwaZulu-Natal province of South Africa on student support systems for students with disabilities. It emerged from the study that students with disability experience challenges that interfere with their academic journey and noted further that the existing student support systems in the TVET sector does not adequately address the varying needs of students with disability.

The quality of experiential learning in distance education is a dominant concern of all major stakeholders and the public at large. Institutions of higher learning which train school teachers at a distance are often blamed for the poor quality of teachers and teaching. The perception among some sections of the society is that teachers trained at a distance are of poor quality compared to those trained via the conventional face-to-face mode. While this perception can be disputed it gives distance education institutions food for thought. Debunking the wrong perception is to ensure quality in the training of teachers at a distance. Students of the University of South Africa (UNISA) are scattered all over the country and beyond and this makes effective and quality organization, managing, supervision, mentoring and evaluation of experiential learning quite daunting. Effective experiential learning cannot be organized and managed effectively without the involvement of key stakeholders. This paper used the qualitative research approach to explore the views of major stakeholders from two Provinces in South Africa on quality assurance of experiential learning for teacher trainees in distance education. The findings indicate that all the major stakeholders involved in providing experiential learning in the UNISA teacher training program support the idea of collaboration as the basis of quality teacher training.

Purpose: The democratic constitution that came into effect in 1994 and ushered in the new South Africa recognises parents' role in education hence the established of an innovative school governance structure of which parents are in the majority. Before then, there existed parents--teachers association in schools. Its members were handpicked and therefore undemocratic and ineffective. The purpose of this paper is to investigate how the innovation in school governance encourages parents in the rural areas to be productively involved in school matters. Design/methodology/approach: The study used the qualitative research method of focus group interviews to explore the extent to which the school governing body fosters active involvement of parents in school matters. The purposive sampling technique was used in selecting 21 school governors from three rural schools who were deemed information-rich to participate in the study. Findings: The study found that the post-apartheid school governing body concept, which is an innovation in education management and leadership, encourages and promotes productive parents' involvement in education of their children. Originality/value: The findings have lessons and implications for school management and leadership in the developing countries because as an Africa adage says, "it takes a whole village to bring up a child".

This article describes experiences of an adult educator (Kofi Quan-Baffour) at the University of South Africa, 1995 to 2009, teaching tutorial classes to train teachers who, in turn, would offer adult literacy classes/sessions (in relation to adult basic education and training [ABET] policies initiated post-1994). The article aims to make a contribution to the literature on how literacy education can in practice activate a potential for the "humanization" of economic and social life. In the context of South Africa, we consider practices for nurturing a variant of humanism called Ubuntu. As co-authors, we use a narrative inquiry approach, drawing on exemplars that arose in dialogue, to report on our joint deliberations on the import of Kofi's attempts to keep an Ubuntu spirit alive in the various learning settings with the trainees. Our reflective exercise took place via "debriefing sessions" in 2012, where we focused on the offshoots of literacy education for Ubuntu-informed cooperative work in community business enterprises. We point to some cooperative enterprises (a restaurant, a farming enterprise, and a sewing business), which we suggest incorporate an Ubuntu-style approach to human relationships based on people recognizing (and living) their mutual connectedness. We concentrate on what it may mean to be involved in basic adult education processes geared toward generating an improvement in people's lives economically and socially. We argue that this co-constructed notion of Ubuntism in the context of adult education practices is relevant for other geographical contexts where practitioners hope to accomplish humanistic goals.

Education is an important ingredient for advancement in the knowledge-based economy of the contemporary world. Teachers therefore form the vehicle for provision and dissemination of relevant knowledge, skills and values for socio-economic development. In every career professionals are assured of moving through the ranks so long as they do their work well and meet certain laid down criteria but in practice this is not the case with most school teachers in South Africa. Although the Employment of Educators Act mentions the promotion of teachers in practice it is almost non-existent. A teacher may teach and remain on post level one for the entire teaching life. The assumption is that this situation might lead to frustration and disillusion among teachers. Teachers may leave or underperform due to lack of job satisfaction. This paper is the result of an empirical investigation on job satisfaction among South African school teachers. The assumptions of the researchers were validated by an empirical study of the problem in the Dr. Ruth Mompati Education District [North West Province]. The major findings of the study include a lack of equal opportunities for all teachers, poor conditions of service, increased workload of teachers, lack of discipline among learners and increasing violence against teachers, and the apparent eroding of the authority of the teacher.

Medical education in South Africa is experiencing two major disruptions: the Fourth Industrial Revolution and the COVID-19 pandemic. I will explore the effects these events have had on our education and possible solutions in the context of our country. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the aspects of regional anaesthesia, which are applicable to practice in South Africa. Topics discussed include the advantages and disadvantages of anaesthesia in awake patients and the benefits of ultrasound-guided regional anaesthesia with regards to patient safety and positioning and surgical factors. Particular focus is given to the potential of regional anaesthesia to improve patient outcome after cancer surgery.