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Conceptualising a model for transforming university teacher education through the doctoral curriculum in the South African context
Get PDFAmid the call for including a teaching component in doctoral programmes, a Teacher Development Programme (TDP) for doctoral students was organised at the research site. The TDP aimed to equip doctoral candidates with teaching and research supervision skills that could guide them in pursuing a possible university teaching career. An earlier empirical study on the participants\u27 experiences of the online TDP indicated that after attending the TDP, doctoral students felt empowered to pursue an academic career. The knowledge and skills acquired from the workshops opened their eyes to teaching, minimised teaching anxiety, and boosted their confidence. This article draws on the empirical findings from the earlier study and aims to present a conceptual model for integrating the TDP into the doctoral curriculum. In conceptualising the model, we employ the integrative theoretical framework posited by Khan and Law (2015) and draw on some fundamental considerations for creating a doctoral teaching programme by Marx, Garcia, Butterfield, Kappen and Baldwin (2016). Supported by a qualitative integrative literature review, the article aims to assist doctoral programme directors, designers, Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) in the South, as well as other policymakers such as the South African Qualifications Authority (SAQA) and The Council on Higher Education (CHE), in improving doctoral offerings and fully attaining all the programme\u27s objectives
Reflections on a Discipline-Based Recreational “Game Day” for Chemical Engineering Students: A Qualitative Case Study on Wellbeing and Learning
Get PDFIn response to student requests for stress-relief opportunities, a discipline-specific “Game Day” was piloted in 2022 by the Chemical Engineering Student Association (CESA) at a major contact South African university. Facilitated by staff representatives, the event provided a relaxed environment for undergraduate students to engage in recreational activities, foster peer connections, and unwind from academic pressures. This article presents a reflective case study of the Game Day, applying the structured Gibbs reflective model by the current and former CESA Representatives. Without formal outcome measures, insights of the Game Day intervention were derived from firsthand observations and informal student feedback. The reflections suggest that such low-cost, student-led initiatives may create an enhanced sense of inclusion, motivation, and community, contributing to the informal development of teamwork and social support networks. A seven-step action research framework is proposed to guide the adaptation and implementation of similar recreational interventions in other academic departments
COVID-19 as a Call for Prophetic Education in South Africa
Get PDFNelson Mandela’s famous assertion that ‘Education is the most powerful weapon you can use to change the world’ continues to inspire generations in South Africa. While often invoked to encourage young people to pursue learning, the quotation also serves as a call to lawmakers to redress the deep inequalities that have historically disadvantaged Black communities, ensuring both equitable access and quality in education. The COVID-19 pandemic further exposed and intensified these systemic failures, disproportionately affecting marginalized social and racial groups. Drawing on a critical analysis of public documents and pedagogical theories, this article argues that as long as educational provision remains unequal, the demand for prophetic education as an alternative to secular schooling is not only relevant but urgent. By foregrounding honesty, morality, and justice, Prophetic education offers a transformative model capable of addressing entrenched inequities. The article examines the shortcomings of the current system, highlights the lessons revealed by the pandemic, and proposes pathways through which Prophetic education can contribute to reconciliation, empowerment, and sustainable national development
Linguistic Slavery: The Nigerian Experience
Get PDFThis paper critically examines the concept of linguistic slavery as a postcolonial reality in Nigeria, where the continued dominance of the English language reflects and reinforces a deep-seated legacy of colonialism. Since Nigeria gained political independence in 1960, the colonial language (English) remains the primary medium of education, governance, commerce, media, religion, and public discourse. This paper explores how this linguistic hegemony took root during British colonisation and was further entrenched by post-independence state policies and elite attitudes that prefer the English over indigenous languages. The discussion begins by tracing the colonial foundation of Nigeria’s linguistic hierarchy, highlighting how education policies, missionary efforts, and administrative systems systematically displaced indigenous languages. The analysis then moves to the postcolonial entrenchment of English as the language of power and prestige, with emphasis on its role in education, media, politics, and religious practice. The paper further interrogates the psychosocial implications of linguistic marginalisation, including identity crises, cultural alienation, and internalised inferiority complexes, especially among Nigerian youth. In response to these challenges, the paper presents a multi-pronged strategy for linguistic reclamation. It outlines critical pathways such as mother tongue education reform, legislative advocacy for language rights, community-driven revitalisation initiatives, and the use of digital and creative media to revalorise indigenous languages. Drawing on both local case studies and global best practices from multilingual societies like South Africa and New Zealand, the paper emphasises the urgent need for a linguistically inclusive national policy. Ultimately, the paper calls for decolonised linguistic future where indigenous languages are not relics of the past but vibrant instruments of identity, knowledge, and nation-building. This paper therefore advocates for collective action across governmental, educational, and community levels to restore Nigeria’s linguistic sovereignty and cultural dignity
Gender and Peacebuilding Challenges in the New-Media Digital Age
Get PDFNew media and digital technologies have revolutionised how social movements and peacebuilding are organised, communicated and sustained. New-media has provided platforms for advocacy, mobilisation and resistance. While contemporary digital tools offer platforms for community knowledge sharing, they threaten inclusivity, equity and safety in online and offline spaces. The digital age has amplified gendered challenges, exacerbating inequalities, violence and systemic exclusions that hinder women and marginalised groups\u27 participation in digital activism and peace efforts. This paper explores the intersections of gender, technology and activism, critically examining how new-media is a site for empowerment and oppression. An examination of how women and LGBTQI+ individuals navigate digital activism and peacebuilding amid rising online harassment, misinformation, algorithmic discrimination and structural inequalities cannot be negated. Via an intersectional lens, this paper explores the role of gender in digital peacebuilding, addressing key issues such as cybersecurity threats against women activists, gender-based violence in virtual spaces, the digital divide and exclusion of vulnerable voices. The paper highlights innovative strategies employed by feminist and grassroots movements to leverage digital storytelling, artificial intelligence and social media to counter oppression, advocate for justice and foster sustainable peace. By engaging with critical debates at the intersection of gender, technology and peacebuilding, this paper broadens discussions on the risks and possibilities of digital spaces. A significant transformation in content creation, increasingly intersecting with activism, positioning individuals as storytellers and agents of social change. In evolving digital landscapes, communicators must comply with digital codes of conduct to ensure narratives are responsibly crafted for accessibility, ethically grounded and inclusive. Challenging and redressing omissions and biases perpetuated by mainstream media is essential. The paper argues for inclusive policy-driven and community-based solutions to ensure that new-media can be an intervention for empowerment, mitigating gendered marginalisation
Confronting Xenophobia and the Long Shadow of Colonialism
Get PDFI write in response to suddenly finding myself in a storm of publicity over anti-foreigner groups who blockade entries to health facilities and demand the production of South African IDs. I raise questions about how we came to face such a development and what an effective response should be.
The public health system of South Africa is in a state of disarray; there is chronic under-staffing of medical staff (South African Medical Association, 2025). Corruption is rampant and brazen (Rispel, 2016), stripping huge sums from the system; attempts to expose corruption at Tembisa Hospital in 2021 led to the assassination of the whistle-blower. Failures in management and leadership are widespread (Centre for Health Policy, 2016). Service to the public is thus impaired, but, despite these manifest failures, anger is seldom directed against those responsible, instead being targeted at vulnerable members of society
Therapy Helps, but the Root Cause of South Africa\u27s Mental Health Crisis is Structural
Get PDFIn August 2022, the World Health Organisation (WHO) reported that Africa has one of the highest suicide rates globally. While the worldwide average stands at 9 per 100,000 people, Africa records 11 per 100,000. Among African men, the rate rises to 18 per 100,000, far above the global male average of 12.2 (WHO, 2022). Similarly, the 2023 World Happiness Report (WHR) revealed that of the world’s 24 least happy countries, 17 are African (WHR 2023). The above happiness statistics can be understood from the socioeconomic statuses of many African countries, which are considered the poorest continent. Bringing this closer to home, South Africa ranks among the top ten countries with the highest suicide rates. In 2019 alone, 13,774 suicide deaths were recorded, 10,861 of them men (cf. Ugar & Klaas, 2025). By 2021, there had been a rise to 18 per 100,000, well above the global male average of 12.2 per 100,000, underscoring the urgency of addressing the root causes of these trends (Ugar & Klaas, 2025). This increase could be explained using the rationale that I provide below
Industrial Policy in Post-Apartheid South Africa: An Outlook on Technology and Industrial Policy in the cases of Brazil and South Korea
No full textSouth Africa is a country that has experienced premature deindustrialisation due to its inability to move out of middle-income status. The role of industrial policy in South Africa is pivotal to taking the country to greater economic heights and a higher-income status. South Africa’s historical context indicates that the country experienced its highest GDP growth rates during the apartheid economy.Since the demise of apartheid, the post-apartheid economy has experienced poverty and economic inequality that the South African government cannot eradicate. This research addresses the failure of South Africa to overcome premature deindustrialisation, and it discusses the state of the political economy and economic growth in a pre-apartheid and post-apartheid context. The thesis also addressed the significance of industrial policy through the establishment of the Industrial Policy Action Plan (IPAP). The shortcomings and successes of IPAP form a critical part of the research and present an analysis of different economic sectors. This research also assesses the state of industrial policy using two countries as case studies: Brazil and South Korea
A Liberal Peace Analysis of the UN Peacekeeping Operations in the DRC: Shifting paradigms and Theoretical Misdiagnosis
No full textSince its inception in May 1948, the United Nations (UN) peacekeeping operation has evolved through a series of changes in the international security environment to becoming the world’s most formidable multi-national instrument for international security intervention for peace and security. Its operation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) is one of the largest operations in the history of UN peacekeeping operations in Africa. Yet, it has been one of the most controversial missions given the fact that the DRC remains mired in relative instability despite decades of the blue-helmet intervention in the country, particularly since the start of MONUC in 1999. UN efforts at ending insecurity and restoring political order in the country have seen a succession of peacekeeping mandates and operational orientations thus informing changing theoretical perspective among scholars. Notable, there is what is perceived as a transition from Liberal Peace to Sustaining Peace operational models and the adoption of these as analytical frames. Despite this tendency towards theoretical bifurcation in the body of academic literature purporting transformation in the context and content of the UN DRC operations, the UN systems’ operational framing reflects more of a continuum than transformation in the guiding framework of action. This paper is conceived to examine the theoretical and operational frames in the discourse of UN mission in the DRC, and their validity in the analyses of UN peacekeeping missions in the DRC. The paper’s adopted qualitative discourse approach finds significant differences in the conceptual parameters for evaluating progress in UN missions and suggests that these gaps be bridged by reconciling theory and practice in contexts such as in the DRC in a changing global security environment