The research ethics committee (REC) is a key element of university administration and has gained increasing importance as a review mechanism for those institutions that wish to conduct responsible research, along with safeguarding research ethics standards, scientific merit and human rights of participants. Given the critical role of the…

The fundamental study of physics has played a crucial role in helping to understand natural phenomena and biological processes throughout history. However, physics as a discipline has not advanced at an equal pace around the globe. In sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), physics research faces major challenges including gaps in human capital, infrastructural…

Background: Government-funded knowledge brokering organisations (KBOs) are an increasingly prevalent yet under-researched area. Working in the space between knowledge and policy, yet framing themselves as different from think tanks and academic research centres, these organisations broker evidence into policy. Aims and objectives: This article…

Effective lesson planning promotes good teaching and the implementation of curriculum policy. Lesson planning enables teachers to determine appropriate lesson objectives, teaching and learning activities, and teaching methods. Effective lesson planning stimulates teachers to evaluate their instructional strategies and to reflect on how to improve…

The quantitative literature on parental reasons of school choice for their elementary school children was systematically reviewed using all major databases. The quality of the studies was assessed through a modified version of the Newcastle-Ottawa scale. Among 3982 references reviewed, 26 studies were included from 14 countries. Although large…

Background: The development of context-based science curricula has been identified as one of the most effective curricular innovations to develop interest and better conceptual understanding of many areas in science. However, such a curriculum can be more fruitful if it starts with the assessment of learners' contextualized knowledge about the…

Education is increasingly being framed by a competence mindset; the value of knowledge lies much more in competence performativity and innovation than in simply knowing. Reaching such competency in areas such as astronomy and physics has long been known to be challenging. The movement from everyday conceptions of the world around us to a…

The introduction of technologies into the teaching and learning environment has implied changes to the way education plays out in an e-Environment. Previous research has highlighted the many barriers and challenges in integration technology into teaching and learning. Technology is said to be underutilised. However there are studies that have…

The 2010 Western Cape graduate destination survey utilised a sequential mixed-mode design in which an initial web survey was augmented with an equivalent telephonic survey. This article examines mode effect in the Western Cape survey in terms of overall effect size and the bearing it had on the main outcome of the study. Standardised residuals and…

This study investigates the development of Topic-Specific Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TSPCK) of 14 novice uncertified graduate science teachers during a Professional Development Intervention (PDI) on teaching particulate nature of matter. TSPCK was defined in terms of five knowledge components: learner prior knowledge, curricular saliency,…

Mobile broadband penetration is growing rapidly in Africa, and it offers vast opportunities for mobile learning. Together with its possibilities is the danger of overlooking standards related to its use. The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) has initiated work in this area focusing on African and Middle East…

Prompted by the poor state of mathematics education in South Africa and the shortage of competent mathematics teachers, this study sought to identify what factors influenced 40 Postgraduate Certificate in Education (PGCE) students at three universities in the Western Cape Province, with Mathematics as a major subject, to choose teaching as a…

This study explores the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) as a form of troublesome knowledge (Perkins 1999) that continues to trouble its practitioners. Forty-eight higher education professionals from six countries described their understanding of SoTL in an online survey; ten individuals participated in follow-up interviews to consider…

This article presents an argument and commentary about the concomitant effects of codification, meritocracy and performativity in the academic performance of a cohort of black African Foundation Phase Bachelor of Education degree students at a previously predominantly white institution of higher learning. The objective of this paper is to…

The present paper reports on early-career academics' (ECAs) experiences of support for teaching in a research-intensive university in Africa. Through conducting a questionnaire and follow up in-depth interviews greater insight into how ECAs perceive and experience support for developing their teaching practice, is gained. Our analysis suggests…