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Post-1994 South Africa adopted a new education system that would seemingly break with the past practices of the apartheid education system (Naicker, 1999) and produce citizens prepared for a democratic dispensation in South Africa. Accordingly, the new system of outcomes-based education was introduced in order to create the critical mass needed for the transformation of society. Thus, schools would become the sites where democratic practices for democratic citizenship would be fostered. Government duly promulgated the applicable policy documents (National Education Policy Act of 1996; South African Schools Act of 1996). Our contention is that, despite the fact that education legislation paved the way for thinking differently about education in South Africa, principal-educators are not necessarily imbued with the ideals/virtues of democratic practices needed to empower them to engage in reflective democratic practices within a school context. We argue that the virtues of democracy must be learned through practising democracy. Many principal-educators, who were principals and educators pre-1994, as well as others, who qualified thereafter, may not have acquired any knowledge of the virtues of democracy, or having done so, may not be practising them. The authorities seem to assume that principal-educators are naturally imbued with the knowledge of the virtues of democracy and are able to put these virtues into practice. (Contains 1 table.)

By definition and purpose, education is the development of human capital towards meeting the individual and social needs of learners and their societies. This transdisciplinary collaboration parallels the underpinning principle of Lave and Wenger's Legitimate Peripheral Participation (Lave & Wenger, 1990) to South Africa's post-colonial legitimation of alternative sites and enskilment canons. Central to both is legitimation of knowledge acquisition from communities of practice or sites and "knowers" (Mphahlele, 1992) "outside formal institutions" of teaching/learning. Considered and termed "informal" and by deduction, less legitimate for meritorious enskilment, the (South African Qualifications Authority, 1995) and (South African Qualifications Authority, 2002) decrees a transformative paradigm and method of validating these sites and their skills production. SAQA highlights the fact that the pedagogical approach of such sites is context- and learner-centred with demonstrable socially valuable skills. This post-colonial mandate thus centres the Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL) as an acknowledgement of multiple foci of skills production, decreeing their overdue certification, as in our case study of the Van Wyk situation. The approach confronts and deconstructs the colonial marginalisation of human capital from outside "formal"/official institutions. It is part of the ideological framework of redressing the race and class exclusion mechanisms of artisans and others from the landscape of skills possession. It subscribes therefore to the canon of different "ways of knowing" (Mosala, 1998). Van Wyk's narrative exemplify the merits of "outside-institutions" learning and enskilment to various levels of complexity. The objective of such legitimation is that certification provides credibility and legitimacy, thereby widening the marketability of apprentices' skills. The social recognition and accorded certification thereof carries uncontested confirmation of expertise.

Alexander, Van Wyk, Bereng and November (2009) are of the opinion that the purpose of education is the development of human capital towards meeting and achieving the individual and psycho-social needs of learners and communities which should be brought about through a process of transformation. In essence, this would imply that any discourse with regard to learning in Higher Education (HE) should constantly be reflective and interrogative of epistemological assumptions underlying transformation-meaning. "How knowledge is conceived, constructed and transmitted" should be linked to broader societal issues (Hall in Report of the Ministerial Committee on Transformation and Social Cohesion and the Elimination of Discrimination in Public Higher Education Institutions 2008). In our article, we locate our discussion on education within the broader framework of transformation. Teacher training imperatives for a transformative South African educational system are discussed. In addition, the conceptualisation of knowledge as reflected in the teacher training practices of a faculty is analysed. We further propose certain aspects which might be considered for the enhancement of educational transformation in the Faculty of the University of the Free State. Suggestions made, emanate from the different student teachers' views captured through semi-structured interviews in the Faculty of Education.

When J. M. Coetzee's last South African novel, Disgrace, was published in 1999 (he emigrated to Australia two years later), it drew some very sharp responses. Max du Preez wrote [...]

The paper analyses the first-time adoption of IFRS 15 and reports on the appropriateness, rigour and decision usefulness of revenue disclosure practices in South Africa. The decision usefulness is assessed by reviewing the nature, amount, timing and uncertainty of revenue recognition information. A disclosure checklist was used for the content analysis and interpretation of a selection of South African listed companies. In most instances, revenue disclosures appeared to be orderly, concise, coherent and appropriately cross-referenced, indicating that generally companies were able to deal appropriately with entity-specific information regarding the nature, amount and timing of revenue recognition. Specifically, the disaggregation of revenue, the accounting policies and the transitional requirements were applied appropriately. However, two main concerns were identified, which compromise the decision usefulness of revenue recognition. Firstly, misalignment between the IFRS 15 information in the annual financial statements and the interim financial statements was identified in the first year of the application of IFRS 15. The finding indicates that some entities need to start their process of adopting a new financial reporting standard earlier. Secondly, specific assumptions and judgments regarding revenue recognition, determining the transaction price and measuring obligations for returns, refunds and other similar obligations were not always disclosed. Insufficient disclosure specifically regarding the uncertainty of revenue recognition could compromise the decision usefulness of revenue information. The findings of this paper contribute to the understanding of the first-time adoption implications of new accounting standards, such as IFRS 15. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]