With this article we aimed to contribute evidence on reliable and valid measurement of teacher resilience in an under-researched African context and population. Scales from an existing instrument, ENTREEi, were used to measure the resilience of pre-service teachers at a South African university. The sample constituted 1,193 final-year pre-service…

A professional development intervention (PDI) was developed for science teachers, focusing on pedagogies to integrate indigenous knowledge (IK) into school curriculum topics. The study aimed to determine which characteristics of science PDIs were imperative to support teacher learning and influence teacher practice for IK integration in science…

We have less time and focus than ever before, while the demand for attention is increasing. Therefore, it is no surprise that when answering questionnaires, we often choose to strongly agree or be neutral, producing problematic and unusable data. The current study investigated forced-choice (ipsative) format compared to the same questions on a…

Learners' difficulties with proof have been ascribed to their lack of understanding of functions that proof performs in mathematics, namely, verification, explanation, communication, discovery, and systematization. However, the extant mathematics education literature on validation of instruments designed to measure learners' beliefs about the…

Purpose: The factor structure of the Child and Youth Resilience Measure (CYRM-28) was originally established using a Canadian sample. This factor structure was not confirmed in a study with New Zealand youth. Given such variability, the current study investigated the factor structure of the CYRM-28 in a sample of Sesotho-speaking South African…

Student retention remains an ongoing concern for higher education institutions worldwide. In the present study, we examine the predictive utility of identity styles, professional identity and academic commitment to academic achievement. We asked 120 second-year students in the profession of engineering in an augmented degree programme to complete…

Mobile phones are one of the fastest growing technologies in this century all over the world and these devices are extremely influencing the adolescents. The present study was sought to establish students' views on cell phones usage in university classrooms in an educational district in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa. The study employed…

Software is a vital resource for modern life. For software to be successful, programming skills are of the utmost importance. These skills are used both by programmers and also by systems analysts and designers during the phases of software development. Therefore, both technical and non-technical stakeholders within the software development…

This article reports on the design of the Professional Development Needs Analysis Questionnaire for Deputy Principals (PDNAQ) to measure the problems they experienced and the skills they needed. In the literature, no validated questionnaire to measure the problems experienced and skills needed by deputy principals in South African schools was…

Purpose: In South Africa, the field of scale development and utilization in social work is referred to as "ecometrics," that is, the measurement of ecological constructs. There is, however, a lack of ecometric tools for social workers, particularly regarding strengths or resilience. Given the high vulnerability of South African youth,…

Service learning (SL) presents apposite opportunities for students to share with and learn from businesses for mutually beneficial development and experience. This article focuses on a SL project conducted by undergraduate students in South Africa, to devise advertising and marketing strategies for community businesses. The reciprocity of benefits…

There is widespread pressure that universities should become more responsive and accountable to multiple demands in their local, national and global contexts. Academics grapple to identify appropriate organisational responses to the pressures of state steering and incentive programmes. The empirical focus of the paper is a survey of academics'…

This article reports on a study investigating physical sciences teachers' stages of concern (SoC) profiles during the implementation of the curriculum and assessment policy statement (CAPS) in South Africa. Throughout reform implementation, it is conceivable that teachers go through different SoC, ranging from giving low priority to the reform…

I report on an investigation into a group of Free State educators' recognition of bullying, their reactions to incidences of bullying, and their perceptions of the effectiveness of a number of bullying prevention strategies. The research instrument was a synthesis of the Delaware Research Questionnaire and questions based on findings from previous…

Learners' attitude to learning science plays a vitally important role with respect to career choices. This study reflects on the nature of the learners' attitude towards science and the effect of gender. A total of 547 Grade 7 learners from an urban district of Gauteng Province (South Africa) were administered a questionnaire to probe their…