Mindfulness-based interventions (MBIs) can result in positive "side effects," such as concentration and individual well-being, highly desirable to schools operating within a neoliberalist agenda emphasizing performativity. However, employing a critical literature review, we argue that adverse side effects also occur, though…

Recently, the new global policy framework for implementing education for sustainable development (ESD) -- "ESD for 2030" -- was launched officially. Drawing on Foucauldian theory, this paper explores biopolitical elements in "ESD for 2030." The paper contributes to previous research on ESD policy by employing a biopolitical…

The concept of "agency" lies at the core of many liberatory forms of education that draw from Paulo Freire's theories of education raising learners' critical consciousness and equipping them with the knowledge, skills, and networks to act for positive social change (Freire, 1970). The term agency is utilized widely across disciplines to…

In South Africa, inequalities endemic to HE systems worldwide are further compounded by apartheid legacies. Despite an intensive focus for over twenty years on how pedagogic intervention could be harnessed to address these inequalities, black students' participation and success rates in South African HE remain stubbornly low, suggesting a need for…

Women's empowerment is a concept that has acquired substantial recognition in the past decade. However, it is better known among international development organisations, NGOs, and grassroots groups than in academic circles. This article examines the concept of women's empowerment as a foundational element in a theory of social change in which the…

New models of career education are needed to prepare young people for changes and challenges in the world of work. We propose that the psychology of working framework/theory (PWF/PWT) has the potential to shape career education in transformative ways that are attentive to shifting dimensions of the local context and the marginalization of large…

Policy and research have been advocating the importance of teachers in achieving equity and teachers are called to act as agents of social justice. This issue remains central to the development of a post-apartheid South Africa, where a need for reconciliation and healing still dominates the society. Such a landscape requires adequate support…