Research Articles

Permanent URI for this collectionhttps://hdl.handle.net/10566/24

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Unlocking undergraduate access to higher education: recognition of prior learning in South Africa
(Springer Science and Business Media B.V., 2026) Rambharose, Rekha
This research note presents the University of the Western Cape’s Portfolio Development Hybrid Programme (PDHP) as a nationally recognised, pedagogically grounded model of recognition of prior learning (RPL) for undergraduate access in South Africa. Designed to enable adult learners – many without formal qualifications or with marginalised knowledge backgrounds – to enter and succeed in higher education, PDHP combines values-based curriculum design with transformative pedagogies rooted in adult learning, epistemic justice and care. Drawing on five years of longitudinal data (2020–2024) and more than two decades of institutional implementation, the study illustrates how RPL can evolve from a once-off assessment mechanism into a sustained teaching-and-learning intervention that builds academic readiness and social mobility within the adult learning context. The findings demonstrate the programme’s success in facilitating academic access for over 400 learners in the past five years and more than 900 since inception, as well as its responsiveness to digital exclusion and institutional constraints, and its alignment with the fourth Sustainable Development Goal (SDG 4) in terms of inclusive education. By theorising RPL through the institution’s framework of innovative, digital, equitable, accessible and lifelong recognition of prior learning (IDEAL-RPL), the research note explains the underlying pedagogical mechanisms – care, scaffolding, digital empowerment and reflexivity – that enable adult learners to thrive and persist at university. It further situates PDHP within the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) discourse, offering evidence of how inclusive curriculum design and hybrid pedagogies contribute to equity, transformation and sustainability in higher education. PDHP challenges dominant, compliance-oriented RPL models by repositioning recognition as a pedagogical and relational process that fosters confidence, capability and lifelong learning. Framed within global debates on education for sustainable development, it offers a scalable and replicable approach to widening participation and transforming institutional cultures towards justice, inclusion and sustainability.
The construction of Afrikaans masculinity in Afrikaans magazines (2005–2015): enactment of power and status
(Routledge, 2026) Louw, Susann
This article examines the construction of Afrikaans masculinity through a multimodal analysis of representations in Afrikaans magazines from 2005 to 2015. Understanding gender, and therefore masculinity, as a fluid social construct, the study considers how media representations shape evolving gender roles in response to political, social and economic shifts. The study is grounded in critical masculinity studies and draws on Connell’s relational model of masculinities, alongside inclusive and caring masculinity frameworks, to analyse how power and status are imbricated in representations of Afrikaans masculinity. Using multimodal critical discourse analysis, the research shows that Afrikaans masculinity is linked to power, authority and material success, while also entangled with violence, both as perpetrated and experienced. Some portrayals reinforce traditional ideals, such as the value placed on the traditional ‘boer’ (farmer) and conservative gender roles. Others reflect a departure from historical masculinities and indicate the influence of broader global discourses. Family support and religious beliefs are often portrayed as essential to success. By investigating these representations, the study contributes to understanding how media discourses shape perceptions of gender in Afrikaans communities. Although representations of Afrikaans masculinity show signs of expansion, they largely reproduce global hierarchies of power and status, with change occurring selectively and within culturally specific parameters.
AI-powered and emerging technologies for multilingual classrooms: pedagogical innovations in higher education
(University of the Western Cape, 2026) Bayaga, Anass; Mdzanga, Nokhanyo Nomakhwezi
Artificial intelligence (AI) and other emerging technologies are no longer peripheral to higher education. They are becoming part of the everyday infrastructures through which students access knowledge, lecturers design learning, institutions communicate, and academic support is organised. In multilingual higher education contexts, however, the significance of these technologies cannot be understood only in terms of efficiency, innovation or automation. Their deeper implications lie in how they shape access, participation, language, epistemic justice, and the conditions under which students are recognised as legitimate knowers.
Phatic labour: lessons from a Japan-Based University
(Editorial Board English Scholarship Beyond Borders, 2026) Sivasubramaniam, Sivakumar; Khaitova, Mukaddam
In this study, we return to the idea of phatic labour in English-language classrooms, with a focus on a modern university in Japan that follows an 'uber-style' model. We would like to show that standard approaches to Second Language Acquisition (SLA) often miss the relational work that makes classroom participation and learning possible. We draw on ideas from pragmatic ontology, meaning-in-use, and theories of immaterial labour to treat phatic labour as the intentional work teachers do to shape classroom interaction. This work is often fluid and invisible. It can include how we organise classroom time and space, or how we guide students' attention so that moments in class become meaningful and educational. We also look at flow theory and the idea of communities of practice to see how this kind of labour helps create learning environments where students can stay engaged and build habits. Our aim is to clarify how phatic labour affects both teaching workload and student learning, and to suggest an alternative to language teaching strategies that ignore the social context. We hope to offer a fuller picture of what makes language learning effective and argue that SLA needs to take phatic labour seriously, especially in classrooms shaped by market forces.
Human-centred approaches to recognition of prior learning: policy implementation in higher education
(Routledge, 2026) Rambharose, Rekha; Parenzee, Robin
Recognition of Prior Learning policy, practice, and assessment are central to advancing redress, equity, access, and lifelong learning within the post-school education and training sector in South Africa. However, despite strong policy frameworks, RPL implementation within higher education institutions are often constrained by bureaucratic, compliance-driven approaches that undermine its transformative potential. Drawing on an autoethnographic, practitioner-informed methodology, this study critically examines how RPL is enacted within institutional contexts, with particular attention to practitioner agency, autonomy, and accountability. The findings reveal persistent tensions between policy intent and practice, including limited professional autonomy, managerial accountability structures, insufficient institutional support, and a lack of sustained post-admission engagement. The study proposes a human-centred, justice-oriented framework for RPL transformation based on four interdependent pillars: autonomy, accountability, empathy, and sustainability. These pillars provide a conceptual and practical basis for reimagining RPL beyond procedural compliance towards relational, contextually responsive, and inclusive practice. By foregrounding practitioner experience and institutional dynamics, the study contributes new insight into how RPL can function as a meaningful mechanism for social and epistemic justice within higher education.
Codification of scholarly values in academic publishing: AI governance and institutional tensions
(Assumption University, 2026) Duc, Anthony Le
This article examines the current artificial intelligence (AI) policies by five prominent academic publishers—Elsevier, Springer Nature, Taylor & Francis, SAGE Publishing, and Cambridge University Press— interpreting them as efforts to codify values as generative AI becomes embedded in academic communication. Through comparative qualitative analysis, the study identifies core values consistently operationalized across these policies, including exclusive human authorship, mandatory disclosure, non-delegable accountability, and confidentiality in peer review. As technological change disrupts traditional norms, these policies act as both regulatory tools and ethical anchors, stabilizing the identity and legitimacy of academic institutions. However, this codification creates structural tensions. Turning ethical principles into formal rules produces unintended consequences, from adding new layers of scholarly labor to reinforcing existing institutional inequalities. In addressing both epistemic risks and the tensions that arise from governance responses, the article advocates for AI governance that is reflexive, inclusive, and context-sensitive. Such models should preserve institutional integrity while respecting the evolving partnership between humans and machines in the production of knowledge.
Theorising recognition of prior learning research in higher education: a multidisciplinary framework for qualitative, quantitative, and mixed-methods inquiry
(SAGE Publications Inc., 2026) Rambharose, Rekha
Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL) is a transformative yet under-theorised area in higher education. Despite its potential to advance equity and epistemic justice, RPL scholarship remains fragmented across policy, pedagogy, and practice, often lacking methodological coherence. This study theorises RPL research design through qualitative, quantitative, and multidisciplinary lenses, offering a comprehensive framework for rigorous and inclusive inquiry. Using a conceptual and integrative literature review, it synthesises theoretical and methodological debates drawn from adult learning, recognition theory, and decolonial perspectives. The author’s reflexive experience transitioning from the natural to the social sciences highlights interdisciplinary challenges in RPL scholarship. Structured around six pillars, the paper explores theoretical foundations, methodological approaches, and future directions aligned to social justice and digital transformation. By bridging epistemological diversity with rigour, the study advances a framework for designing context-sensitive and transformative RPL research.
Reforming CPD practices for english language teachers in Namibia: the role of self-directed professional learning
(SAGE Publications Inc., 2026) Simuja, Clement; Amakutuwa, Hilma NM; Mpofu, Nhlanhla
This study explored the potential of self-directed learning (SDL) to reform continuous professional development (CPD) for English second language (ESL) teachers in Namibia, where centralized, top-down CPD models have failed to address classroom realities. Through a qualitative case study of secondary school ESL teachers in the Khomas region, the research identifies systemic gaps in Namibia's CPD framework, including inadequate teacher agency, lack of specialized training, and resource constraints. Findings reveal that SDL empowers teachers to address context-specific challenges through collaborative peer networks, reflective practice, and grassroots initiatives, aligning with social constructivist theories and reflective practice frameworks. However, institutional barriers and under-resourcing hinder sustainable implementation. The study advocates for decentralized, teacher-led CPD models that prioritize autonomy, collaboration, and contextual relevance, offering a pathway to improve ESL instruction and align with global best practices in teacher professional development.
Context matters: why we must consider resources and context when implementing artificial intelligence tools in the teaching and learning of mathematics in South Africa
(AOSIS, 2025) Govender, Rajendran
South African schools face stark inequalities in infrastructure, connectivity, language, and teacher preparedness. These contextual factors profoundly shape what artificial intelligence (AI) can and cannot do for mathematics teaching and learning. This article synthesizes recent peer-reviewed scholarship, policy texts, and book chapters to argue that AI adoption must be context-responsive: aligned to local resource constraints, multilingual realities, professional development ecosystems, and regulatory frameworks (notably POPIA). This article emphasizes that without attention to connectivity, electricity, devices, teacher TPACK, multilingual pedagogy, and data protection, AI may amplify—rather than reduce—existing inequities. In mitigation, this article provides practical, evidence-based principles for context-aware AI implementation in South African mathematics education.
Instructional-based learning of cyclic quadrilateral theorems: making geometric thinking visible and enhancing learners’ spatial and geometry cognitions
(AOSIS (pty) Ltd, 2025) Govender, Rajendran; Amevor, Godfred
Geometry learning has a long history with the connection to human cognitive development. The ability to mentally or physically orient 2D shapes or 3D objects in space is believed to support achievement in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) disciplines. Thus, geometry by its description is characterised by space; hence its conceptualisation requires deep spatial and geometry sense which can be developed through instructional-based learning (IBL). While the current study supports the evidence of educational technology tools in support for effective teaching and learning, it explores IBL as an alternative source of enhancing learners’ spatial and geometry cognitions and making geometric thinking visible to learners in the classroom. The experimental design research applied a mixed method to collect data from randomly selected 50 Grade 11 Mathematics learners from one of the high schools in the Cetshwayo district, South Africa. Quantitative data were collected through a pre-testpost-test design and analysed using independent sample t-test whereas qualitative data were collected using content analysis and analysed using descriptive analysis. The analysis was guided by the theoretical frameworks of Van Hiele theory of levels of geometric understanding and Zazkis et al.’s visualisation-analysis model. Based on the data set collected, the review of literature, and the theoretical frameworks, the ramification is that IBL has a positive effect on learners’ spatial and geometric cognitions and makes geometry thinking visible to learners in the classroom. Contribution: The recommendation is to explore the effect of hybrid learning design, thus the integration of IBL and dynamic geometry environments on the development of learners’ spatial and geometry cognitions.
Discipline and control: a foucauldian perspective on discipline as a tool for creating docile bodies.
(University of KwaZulu-Natal, 2026) Egunlusi, Oluwatosin Aanuoluwapo
Discipline as a thorny issue has been a global challenge, and the South African education system is not spared. Section 10 of the South African Schools Act banned corporal punishment in schools. Nevertheless, recent studies suggest that educators link the rising problem of indiscipline in many schools to the ban on corporal punishment and the absence of effective alternative disciplinary approaches. This qualitative case study explores the intricacies of discipline in the post-apartheid classroom. This paper is anchored in Foucault's disciplinary techniques as described in his book, Discipline and Punish and argues that discipline as an expression and tool creates docile bodies through the effect of power. In Foucauldian thinking, the bodies of individuals are controlled to produce docile bodies whilst contributing to abating or curbing disciplinary challenges. The findings reveal that alternatives to corporal punishment at the case study school control learners' behaviour and mindset without inflicting pain. Drawing on the case study findings and Foucault's understanding of discipline, I argue that the disciplinary measures in both the apartheid and post-apartheid eras control individual's bodies to obey school rules and regulations.
Editorial: Educational evaluation in the age of artificial intelligence: challenges and innovations
(Frontiers Media SA, 2025) Archer, Elizabeth; Young, Kelly Anne; Grover, Raman; Khalil, Mohammad
The rapid evolution of artificial intelligence in education is reshaping how learning is measured and redefining the theoretical and methodological foundations of assessment. This Research Topic creates a dedicated forum for rigorous academic debate on the transformative potential of AI in educational evaluation. By examining innovations in automated scoring, dynamic assessment creation, data-driven analytics, and early detection, the contributions in this Research Topic illuminate both the promise and the challenges inherent in this digital transformation.
Homage to a gentle giant: concepts, creativity, and collaboration in our flowing with Elmarie Costandius
(University of the Western Cape, 2025) Collett, Karen; Verster, Belinda; van den Berg, Carolien
This paper revisits our collaborative process of concept development through the use of the Flow process, introduced to us by Elmarie Costandius. We track and trace her influence on our lives as we re-member1 and honour how she shaped our intellectual and personal journeys in higher education. Using post-humanist pedagogy and new materialist frameworks, we explored how the Flow process encouraged non-linear thinking, sensory engagement, and experimentation in collaborative learning environments. Our methodology incorporates Jackson and Mazzei's zig-zag concept and Derrida and Barad's notion of hauntology to analyse how past influences continue to shape present and future pedagogical practices. Through collective re-membering and diffractive analysis of notes and artefacts, we documented how this approach promoted awareness and created new possibilities for knowledge creation. Results demonstrate that the flow process successfully facilitated anti-disciplinary thinking and the assemblage of multiplicities, leading to innovative teaching practices across different disciplines. Ultimately, this paper pays homage to Elmarie and affirms how the collaborative, creative process of concept development can both honour intellectual legacies and open new avenues for innovation and critical engagement in higher education teaching and learning.
Instructional-based learning of cyclic quadrilateral theorems: making geometric thinking visible and enhancing learners’ spatial and geometry cognitions
(AOSIS (pty) Ltd, 2025) Govender, Rajendran; Amevor, Godfred
Geometry learning has a long history with the connection to human cognitive development. The ability to mentally or physically orient 2D shapes or 3D objects in space is believed to support achievement in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) disciplines. Thus, geometry by its description is characterised by space; hence its conceptualisation requires deep spatial and geometry sense which can be developed through instructional-based learning (IBL). While the current study supports the evidence of educational technology tools in support for effective teaching and learning, it explores IBL as an alternative source of enhancing learners’ spatial and geometry cognitions and making geometric thinking visible to learners in the classroom. The experimental design research applied a mixed method to collect data from randomly selected 50 Grade 11 Mathematics learners from one of the high schools in the Cetshwayo district, South Africa. Quantitative data were collected through a pre-testpost-test design and analysed using independent sample t-test whereas qualitative data were collected using content analysis and analysed using descriptive analysis. The analysis was guided by the theoretical frameworks of Van Hiele theory of levels of geometric understanding and Zazkis et al.’s visualisation-analysis model. Based on the data set collected, the review of literature, and the theoretical frameworks, the ramification is that IBL has a positive effect on learners’ spatial and geometric cognitions and makes geometry thinking visible to learners in the classroom. Contribution: The recommendation is to explore the effect of hybrid learning design, thus the integration of IBL and dynamic geometry environments on the development of learners’ spatial and geometry cognitions.
The exclusion of ubuntu from South Africa’s constitution: implications for Pan-Africanism and violent ‘xenophobia’
(University of Witwatersrand, 2025) Sesanti, Simphiwe
In 2023, the Organisation of African Unity (OAU), later renamed the African Union, turned 60. Premised on the philosophy of Pan-Africanism, the organisation was formed to unite Africans into a single nation in order to combat colonialism and establish a monolithic United States of Africa. The OAU’s 60th anniversary coincided with the 30th anniversary of the adoption of South Africa’s 1993 Interim Constitution, which included the philosophical concept ‘ubuntu’. In the subsequent 1996 South African Constitution, however, ubuntu was excluded. In this article, I argue that the inclusion of ubuntu in the 1993 Interim Constitution offered Africans in South Africa an opportunity to raise their consciousness about the importance of self-re-humanisation after a period of violent colonial dehumanisation, and that the restoration of ubuntu to South Africa’s Constitution could help in reconnecting South Africans to other Africans in the ongoing and elusive struggle for Pan-Africanism. This is especially the case amid South Africans’ ‘xenophobic’ attacks against fellow Africans after South Africa became a democracy in 1994.
Facilitating access to higher education and promoting academic readiness through digital pedagogical implementation for recognition of prior learning: a South African case study
(SAGE Publications Inc., 2026) Rambharose, Rekha
For more than three decades, recognition of prior learning (RPL) has appeared as a pivotal mechanism in widening access to higher education, particularly for mature adult learners whose knowledge and skills have been acquired outside formal schooling. In South Africa, RPL has been embedded in post-apartheid policy frameworks as a strategy for equity, social justice, and epistemic redress. Despite its strong policy orientation, RPL practices have often been contested, unevenly applied, and limited in their pedagogical depth. This article examines the Portfolio Development Hybrid Programme (PDHP), a redesigned model for RPL implementation and undergraduate access at a South African university. Anchored in digital pedagogy, adult learning theory, and activity theory, the PDHP represents a significant curriculum renewal that aims to both validate experiential knowledge and strengthen academic readiness for higher education study. Drawing on a qualitative case study design, the article analyses the rationale, design, and outcomes of the PDHP. The findings suggest that embedding digital pedagogy within RPL delivery enhances candidates’ academic literacy, digital skills, and confidence, while also addressing structural inequities in access. The paper contributes to global debates on RPL by illustrating how digital innovations can transform RPL from a compliance-driven exercise into a specialised pedagogy that is transformative, inclusive, and future-oriented.
Amplifying voices: participatory case study for learners with visual impairments’ inclusion in Lesotho rural school
(Routledge, 2026) Khanare, Fumane Portia; Anacletta Ramatea, Mamochana
The effective inclusion of learners with visual impairments (LVIs) has become a crucial issue since the implementation of inclusive education policies in Lesotho. Despite the mandate for all teachers to support the inclusion of LVIs, challenges remain, leading to unmet educational needs for these learners. This article details a study that investigates the obstacles teachers face in including LVIs in a rural secondary school in Lesotho. The study, guided by principles of equity and accessibility, utilised a participatory case study approach involving ten teachers. Through focus group discussions and photovoice methods, guided by the Inclusive Special Education Theory (ISET), the study explored teachers’ perceptions and experiences regarding LVIs’ inclusion. Based on the perception of participating teachers, the findings indicate that inclusion efforts are hindered by gaps in Lesotho’s inclusive education policy, notably the lack of specific guidance on teacher preparedness, particularly in rural areas. Additionally, there is a deficiency in understanding and effectively implementing the policy. The research suggests capitalising on teachers’ resilience and integrating ISET to challenge misconceptions about rural inadequacy. By recognising and leveraging existing strengths within rural settings, the study aims to enhance the successful inclusion of all learners, with a particular focus on LVIs.
Women’s constructions of successful academic careers in STEM field: empirical evidence from South Africa and Sweden
(Routledge, 2025) Tembe, Ivete Nhantumbo; Langa, Patrício V
Using a social constructionist approach, this research presents the viewpoints of successful women working in academic STEM careers in South Africa and Sweden, with regard to what career success means to them. The insights generated by this research are based on in-depth semi-structured interviews conducted with 44 women identified as successful by conventional academic standards. The results show that women professors evaluate their success in academia by both objective and subjective criteria. Research productivity stands out as the primary criterion by which women assess success, and by which career advancement may be made in both countries. However, the professors interviewed also valued subjective measures of success, such as satisfaction in one’s work, having a positive influence on others and the freedom to pursue one’s own research interests. An understanding of these subjective notions of career success may shed light on observed gender inequalities in academic careers in both countries.
Cognitive (in)justice and decoloniality in Amitav Ghosh’s the nutmeg’s curse
(SAGE Publications, 2024) Karmakar, Goutam; Chetty, Rajendra
Amitav Ghosh’s The Nutmeg’s Curse (2021) is an insightful deliberation on the layered inequities and asymmetries created by the intersection of colonialism and anthropogenic activities. In The Nutmeg’s Curse, Ghosh conceives the present-day climate and ecological crisis as fallouts of colonial thinking and its manifestations in dominant epistemic and ethical constructions. This article underscores Ghosh’s critique of the Eurocentric discourses for their instrumentality in producing the totalitarian binaries of human and non-human, in which the ‘human’ was always the whites and the ‘non-human’ comprised all ‘others’—the non-whites, indigenous people, nature and ecology. In attributing agency and signifying authority to the white capitalist, this dualistic thinking has always conceived of the ‘others’ as non-humans—those who could be objectified, commodified and tampered with. This article explores how Ghosh repudiates this colonialist monolithic demarcation, which, in compliance with the discourse of the Anthropocene, had annihilated non-Western forms of signification, knowledge and ethics. The article focuses on how the systemic othering of Western modernity’s episteme had been incremental, leading to occurrences of ‘testimonial injustices’ and ‘hermeneutical injustices’—which had culminated in severe forms of epistemicide and unleashed, what Boaventura de Sousa Santos terms ‘cognitive injustice’—relegating indigeneity and ecology to precarious conditions. In accordance with this, this article argues that Ghosh envisages a critical necessity to dismantle the matrix of Western capitalist modernity and its associated narrative of the Anthropocene and claims for a conceptualization of decolonial ecological ethics that would prioritize an encompassing of the episteme produced by the ‘other’. An engagement with the indigenous voices and a restoration of non-Western modes of knowledge production are crucial, as they can offer new ethical dimensions to envision ecology and life with its multiplicities and facilitate ‘cognitive justice’ for the oppressed and unrepresented ‘other’.
Context matters: Why we must consider resources and context when implementing artificial intelligence tools in the teaching and learning of mathematics in South Africa
(AOSIS (pty) Ltd, 2025) Govender Rajendran
South African schools face stark inequalities in infrastructure, connectivity, language, and teacher preparedness. These contextual factors profoundly shape what artificial intelligence (AI) can and cannot do for mathematics teaching and learning. This article synthesizes recent peer-reviewed scholarship, policy texts, and book chapters to argue that AI adoption must be context-responsive: aligned to local resource constraints, multilingual realities, professional development ecosystems, and regulatory frameworks (notably POPIA). This article emphasizes that without attention to connectivity, electricity, devices, teacher TPACK, multilingual pedagogy, and data protection, AI may amplify—rather than reduce—existing inequities. In mitigation, this article provides practical, evidence-based principles for context-aware AI implementation in South African mathematics education.

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