Limited integrated data on the educational and professional accomplishments of the South African TVET sector make it difficult to confidently assess its efficacy. In particular, there is a need to identify the barriers both within and facing this post-school educational field. This conceptual paper therefore asks the question: What factors enable…

Background: School-family engagement significantly influences educational outcomes, yet South African teachers notice limited involvement from parents, particularly in impoverished communities. Teacher education can play a significant role in preparing teachers to work with parents and communities. Aim: This article promotes Community Cultural…

This critical qualitative study focused on what are the factors that contribute to high learner performance at a public school in South Africa. Purposive sampling was used and the data was produced via interviews with the participants (the principal, ten teachers, five ex learners and two parents) as well as observations of various school…

Purpose: First-generation students (FGS) experience numerous challenges during their studies because of their background attributes and lack of social capital required to navigate institutions of higher learning. The purpose of this study was to investigate the influence of perceived social support and a sense of belonging on academic persistence…

Music-kings and -queens are musicians who facilitate experiences in spaces where community music (CM) and music education (MusEd) make music. These musicians lead and facilitate musicking to enrich people's music, social and cultural lives. This paper specifically explores two diverse projects occupying in-between musicking spaces that have been…

South Africa faces an education crisis that has significant implications for the freedom of citizens and development of the country. A context of government incapacity necessitates that other modes of improving the education system be explored. This paper examines the Nine Tenths Mentoring Programme to gauge the potential of community-based…

This article presents the results of research into teachers' views on power and control as exercised by secondary school principals at the schools where they are employed. In South African schools, many principals' use of their power and control has a negative impact on teachers' motivation, job satisfaction, and overall well-being. The findings…

Purpose: Scholarly studies on student engagement are mostly focused on the perceptions of students and academic staff of higher education institutions (HEIs) with a few studies concentrating on the perspectives of professional staff. To address this knowledge gap, this paper aims to examine how professional staff who are members of a professional…

One feature of deprived communities is a lack of social capital. Yet, research reports that social capital contributes to poverty reduction and positively impacts schools and student educational outcomes. In South Africa, there is a deficit in social capital in under-resourced and underperforming schools that limits students' educational…

The quest for access to higher education has increased rapidly in the past 25 years of democracy in South Africa. However, this increase has not been matched by student academic success. This lack of success may even be worse with the advent of the COVID-19 pandemic. The pandemic has given rise to challenges that have affected student learning,…

When calamity hits humanity in the form of natural disasters, they appear unannounced. The same applies to the recent destructive and disruptive COVID-19 pandemic. During the early days of this pandemic, life activities were halted abruptly. Global education systems were not spared - most institutions were caught napping and forced to close. The…

A novel learning intervention has been developed and tested in which honor's level Earth science students were tasked with conducting interviews with established geologists working in the Southern African minerals sector. The task was designed using Laurillard's conversational framework as a theoretical underpinning, which offers an iterative and…

In the context of higher education as social space or "field" in the Bourdieusian sense, exploring the lived experiences of early career postgraduate supervisors allow us to (re)consider the institutionalised rhythms, procedures and practices that shape graduate supervision. At the intersections of, inter alia, increasing numbers…

In this paper we reflect on our combined work in some of the most marginalised educational contexts in the Southern Hemisphere. We draw on the work of Bourdieu to frame the paper. We propose the working in marginalised education settings requires a particular habitus or way of being to be able to play the research game. Underpinning our approach…

While online learning is increasingly used to provide continuation and facilitate interaction between students, institutions are challenged by low participation rates on their learning management systems and high drop-out rates. At the same time, students engage in extensive, needs-driven informal collaborations on a spectrum of offline and online…