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Female leadership for inclusion, social justice, and intersectionality in educational spaces
Full text linkThe study aims to examine female leadership and intersectionality in educational settings. The gatekeepers, who include male leadership, institutional cultures, and other women’s advancement facilitators, must recognise that ignoring the value and embodiment of women in educational leadership roles could result in loss of knowledge, a low level of awareness of how systems are changing, and a risk of educational institutions being forced to support antiquated practices. The methodology employed in this study is based on a qualitative and phenomenological approach that critically investigates the experiences and leadership challenges of women in leadership spaces. Fifteen women were interviewed from various education spheres and departments to understand their resilience, determination, and innovative practices comprehensively. Female leadership is crucial for educational success, especially when it challenges social justice. Social justice in schools is rooted in privilege and power, recognising and accepting differences for inclusion and equitable power distribution for empowerment. Firstly, understanding the foundation of social justice is essential to addressing women’s issues in educational spaces. There should be an emphasis on access for women, creating awareness of the causes of inequality, the capacity to direct interests, and taking control and action to reduce structural inequality. Secondly, opportunities for empowerment should be created amongst women and for women. The last recommendation pertains to challenging indigenous institutional cultures to increase the number of women in educational leadership spaces and give them the power to be decision-makers, leading to responsibilities and rights curtailing the right gatekeepers to stop women’s freedoms in educational spaces. So, empowerment moves between empowerment and development outcomes for women, ultimately leading to unintended results that will also be realised in women’s empowerment in educational leadership spaces. This paper is underpinned by critical theory to challenge the social justice idea of women’s empowerment in educational spaces in relation to women and their advancement in leadership positions. Our contribution focuses on women challenging the power and control over decisions and resources in educational leadership spaces, with particular focus on how women may use empowerment as a tool to encourage one another in oppressive spaces, while also developing themselves from an empowerment perspective in order to bring value to their embodiment in the aforementioned spaces
Editorial September 2025: Editorial
No full textIn this Spring edition of Perspectives in Education we present the articles in three sections: First, we investigate challenges associated with formal primary and secondary education; in the second section, we turn our attention to issues in higher education, and the final section is devoted to reflections on the Diagnostic Mathematics Information for Student Retention and Success (DMISRS) project from conception to conclusion
Propaganda, the public spheres, and the new economic conditions of the digital age
Full text linkThe arrival of mobile internet services came with significant promise of a potentially democratic public sphere mediated through digital media technology. However, rather than achieving this promise, these technologies ushered in a new economic age: surveillance capitalism, which revolutionised propaganda and misinformation in ways which pose clear threats to civil order and democratic processes. This paper updates and integrates Jürgen Habermas\u27s model of the public sphere and communicative rationality with the realities of surveillance capitalism\u27s new economic logics and the ways in which they undermine the public sphere. (1) The selective distribution of content by sorting algorithms fosters cultures of insularity and antagonism which (2) fragment and disintegrate the sphere, contributing to the breakdown of public discourse into echo chambers and filter bubbles. Furthermore, (3) sorting algorithms facilitate the evasion of scrutiny as these individually selected messages bypass public attention and criticism. This lack of scrutiny encourages the use of (4) engagement-farming tactics like the use of inflammatory misinformation. This has often led to (5) patterns of migration; wherein users migrate away from the platform to find more corresponding information about the conspiracy or mythology in question – further breaking down public discourse. Lastly, answering the new revenue model\u27s demand for content often results in (6) content from botnets, troll farms, and misinformation networks being platformed and circulated with little to no repercussions
Towards a framework for upcycling social development projects in the circular economy : The case of Upcycle Winnie McHenry
Full text linkUpcycle Winnie McHenry, in Johannesburg, South Africa, upcycles materials that would otherwise end up as waste in landfills. Upcycle also offers training to community groups on how to upcycle, and how to earn a living doing so. These are often a combination of individual and group projects that are community-based. In addition, Upcycle involves the business sector by providing unwanted materials (such as billboards, corporate gifts and merchandise to be de-branded and upcycled) and community groups often sell some of these back to the business involved. In other words, Upcycle’s project is based on the circularity of the economy. This article draws on a range of theoretical views from a number of sub-disciplines of communication studies to suggest a framework a upcycling social development projects. This framework is further informed by the case of Upcycle Winnie McHenry
Town and gown convergence: Does journalism education meet 21st century media industry expectations in Nigeria?
Full text linkThis study interrogates the extent to which journalism education in Nigerian higher institutions converges with or meets the demands for journalism practice in the contemporary age. Using a sample of 164 respondents, consisting of 87 media practitioners, 54 media lecturers, and 23 final-year journalism students in Nigeria, and based on the space interaction theory, this study found that media practitioners and media lecturers find the present education curriculum and training of journalists inadequate. It also established that discrimination based on religion, disability, ethnicity, and income exists in the media workplace and, on average, male journalists earn higher salaries than their female counterparts under the same conditions. Also, nine in ten journalism students are not enthusiastic about their future in the media industry because they believe that their education/training does not meet their initial expectations. The study recommends that the curriculum of journalism studies in Nigerian higher institutions be reviewed and overhauled to reflect the current reality and demands to serve society better
Unraveling "DHR": The study of ancient texts
No full textThe Hebrew word "DHR" remains a persistent exegetical challenge, with ancient texts reflecting striking discrepancies in its interpretation. As a result, this article aims to decipher the unclear Hebrew term in Nahum 3:2. It addresses this lexical puzzle, using a comprehensive approach, emphasising textual criticism of ancient texts, while incorporating comparative Semitic languages such as Egyptian and Arabic along with a literary-rhetorical analysis of the battle imagery in Nahum. By synthesising these various strands of methodologies, this article seeks to offer a credible interpretation of this puzzling term
The eternal bonds: Families as a divine stewardship beyond the world
No full textThe parent-child relationship is characterised by an enduring bond that transcends conventional familial dynamics, reflecting a deep sense of intimacy and permanence. While the dissolution of spousal relationships is societally normalised, the notion of “ex-parent” or “exchild” remains anomalous, highlighting the unique nature of this connection. However, the rise in familial violence in Indonesia, often influenced by socio-economic disparities, exposes a critical breakdown in this sacred relationship. This article examines the theological construction of the parent-child relationship by way of the stewardship framework, drawing on the Christian tradition. Anchored in the Torajan cultural practice of Passiliran – a funerary ritual that symbolises the burial of infants in trees as an act of eternal care – the article reinterprets the theological significance of stewardship as extending beyond familial roles to encompass a reciprocal and interconnected relationship with God and creation. Engaging Michael W. Austin’s conceptualisation of stewardship, this articleoffers a reimagined theological perspective on familial relationships as synergistic, sustainable, and reflective of divine interrelatedness, providing a pathway toward restoring harmony within family systems
Reviewers of articles processed in 2025
Full text linkA list of reviewers and their affiliations for articles processed during 2025
The problem with rebellious hyper-femininity: an analysis of social media\u27s undermining of hyper-femininity as subversive praxis
Full text linkThis paper analyses a social media phenomenon which I term rebellious hyper-femininity, in which a hyper-feminine identity (involving, for example, embracing the colour pink, self-beautification, or other stereotypically feminine traits and characteristics) is adopted in response to the devaluation of femininity by patriarchal culture. Drawing on the trend bimbocore as an example of this phenomenon, I argue that such an adoption of hyper-femininity is rebellious and involves subversive feminist praxis because, by reclaiming a devalued identity, it engages in a critique of gender norms and anti-feminine sentiment. Rebellious hyper-femininity, as an identity largely performed through the sharing of content on social media, also involves a critique of capitalist society and other socio-political issues by these content creators. Rebellious hyper-femininity has the potential to be the kind of femininity which Marcuse (1974) believed was the antithesis to patriarchal and capitalist oppression. However, I argue that rebellious hyper-femineity’s radical potential as mode of subversive praxis is undermined by its being primarily enacted and popularised on social media. I argue that social media exhibits characteristics which Adorno and Horkheimer identify in their analysis of the Culture Industry and which Marcuse identifies in his analysis of one-dimensional society, such as an emphasis on conformity, standardisation, and the subsuming of that which might destabilise the status quo. In particular, social media turns rebellious hyper-femininity into a trend, a purely aesthetic, easily replicable identity stripped of its subversive intentions. As a trend, it perpetuates the very structures it originally aimed to destabilise, and thus social media undermines hyper-femininity as a potential mode of subversive praxis against patriarchal-capitalist oppression
Editorial
Full text linkThe current issue is a unique collection of articles covering school and higher education, and can be divided into three broad themes: higher education, teaching and learning and teacher professional development