Research Articles
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Item type: Item , Cognitive (in)justice and decoloniality in Amitav Ghosh’s the nutmeg’s curse(SAGE Publications, 2024) Karmakar, Goutam; Chetty, RajendraAmitav 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’.Item type: Item , 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 RajendranSouth 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.Item type: Item , Thinking from and through oppression(Taylor & Francis, 2025) Pithouse, RichardWe must honor our teachers. In The Perversity of Gratitude Grant Farred honors his best teachers at Livingstone High School and the University of the Western Cape (UWC), both institutions intended for people classified as “coloured” by apartheid. He affirms, with Martin Heidegger that: Denken ist Danken. Thinking is thanking. His sense of gratitude, sometimes expressed as debt, goes beyond the desire togive committed teachers their due though. He insists that “The terms upon whichThe Perversity of Gratitude stands are unambiguous: Disenfranchised apartheid edu-cation constituted fertile ground for thinking.”2 For this he expresses “the perversityof gratitude.”The book, always resolutely dialectical and part philosophical meditation and partmemoir, is as tender as it is forcefully contrarian. It is simultaneously linear andhelical as it moves toward its affecting conclusion. It rewards close, slow and repeatedreading.Item type: Item , Internationalisation performance in higher education: a systematic evidence review(Higher Education Policy Network, 2025) Udekwe, Emmanuel; Iwu, ChuxThe systematic evidence review aims to i) determine the prevalence of existing research on internationalisation performance in Higher Education (HE), ii) classify and analyse existing evidence on the complexities and challenges of internationalisation performance, and iii) come up with recommendations for future research to achieve effective internationalisation performance in HE. A search strategy was initiated to examine databases such as Scopus, Cochrane, Embase, Science Direct and Web of Science to qualify the studies between 2000 and 2023. Out of the 2704 publications generated by the search strategy, 1918 were excluded, and 786 were selected, of which 47 publications covering 42 chosen papers were included for final review. As studies on internationalisation performance are important, this review involved research and publications conducted in high-income and developing economies and could not identify internationalisation in HE publications from undeveloped countries. The overall lack of evaluating research on HE sectors, and HE informatics raises attention and unanswered questions regarding their capacity to improve the eminence of internationalisation performance as well as digitalisation, globalisation, cultural competence, complexities, and challenges of internationalisation in HE. In this regard, this study offers a review of HE to decision-makers and HE authorities to deliberate on the present situation of internationalisation performance and suggestions for further researchItem type: Item , Language inclusion and neo-colonialism: the impacts of ethnolinguistic admission criteria at South African universities(University of the Western Cape, 2025) Dhlamini, Mbali Sunrise; Kaschula, Russell HLanguages in South Africa have always been employed as stimuli to negotiate boundaries of unity and segregation among South Africans. Likewise, universities established before, during, and post-apartheid times were instituted either as key instruments to contrive separation among South Africans or as symbols to mend the segregation walls. This article set out to examine language distribution at South African universities, the language admission criteria and their impacts in promoting language inclusion and social cohesion in Departments of African Languages in the post-apartheid era. IsiNguni language modules were used to contextualise the study. A qualitative research approach was employed to carry out the research, using the interview schedule as an instrument to collect data. The Ethnolinguistic Vitality Theory was used to underpin the study. The findings revealed that African languages were predominantly distributed based on their official status in the South African provinces, while Afrikaans and particularly English were promoted across the country. The grade 12 certificate was the common criterion that was employed to admit or reject potential students’ applications to Departments of African Languages based on the home languages studied in grade 12. To some extent, the distribution of South African languages and the language admission approach to Departments of African languages were found to maintain the dominance of certain languages and ethnolinguistic segregation in the country. The article advocates for the promotion of African languages at a national rather than provincial level in order to uproot the ethnolinguistic traces of the apartheid government at South African universities.Item type: Item , Disseminating evidence-based assessments to educators in South Africa and Vietnam through behavioural skills training(Cambridge University Press, 2025) Roman, Nicolette Vanessa; De Souza, Andresa; Pizzella, DaniStudents’ interfering behaviour is a common concern among educators working in special and general education classrooms. Interfering behaviour can significantly compromise students’ educational experiences and educators’ ability to create a conducive learning environment. Evidence-based assessments and interventions for interfering behaviour in the classroom involve identifying the variables in the student’s immediate environment influencing these behaviours. There has been little to no dissemination of evidence based assessments for classroom management in developing nations such as South Africa and Vietnam. In the current study, we used a single-case design to assess the effectiveness and acceptability of behavioural skills training (BST) in teaching educators from South Africa and Vietnam how to assess students’ interfering behaviour in the classroom. The training was divided into four phases, with the different steps involved in teaching participants how to assess interfering behaviour. All participants successfully acquired the trained skills and demonstrated a shift in their explanation of the causes of interfering behaviourItem type: Item , An integrated approach to isiXhosa literacy teaching and learning in the foundation phase: current practices and prospects(AOSIS (pty) Ltd, 2026) Kosi, Thembisa; Nomlomo, VuyokaziBackground: The current South African Curriculum and Assessment Policy Statement (CAPS) promotes integration through the use of interdisciplinary themes for teaching in the Foundation Phase but does not provide explicit guidelines on the application of this approach in literacy teaching. Aim: The study aimed to investigate teachers’ current practices and the potential of an integrated approach in the teaching and learning of Grade 3 isiXhosa literacy. Setting: The study was conducted in two primary schools located in the black townships of Cape Town, in the Western Cape province. Methods: A case study design was used in this qualitative study. Classroom observations and semi-structured interviews with two Grade 3 teachers were used to collect data. Results: The findings indicate that teachers’ intuitive use of interactive and learner-centred pedagogical strategies fostered the implementation of the integrated approach in isiXhosa literacy, yet missed opportunities to develop higher-order thinking skills. The findings provide insights into the potential of this approach, given a greater focus on innovative and inclusive pedagogies and teacher professional development. Conclusion: The study concludes that the integrated approach could play a significant role in enhancing learners’ conceptual, linguistic and emotional development when implemented correctly. Contribution: This study contributes to the growing body of knowledge on African language literacy teaching and learning – an area that remains under-researched. It advances scholarship in early literacy pedagogy and provides valuable insights into the transformative potential of the integrated approach, thus informing future research and practice in African language literacy teaching and learning.Item type: Item , Mangaliso sobukwe’s linkages to pan-Africanist struggles for a decolonized and afrocentric “African university”(SAGE Publications Inc., 2025) Sesanti, SimphiweThe year 2025 holds great significance in the calendar of Pan-Africanism. It marks the 80th anniversary of the fifth Pan African Congress (PAC) held in Manchester, London, following four Pan African Congresses held under the leadership of the Pan-Africanist philosopher, W. E. B. Du Bois. The five PACs, themselves, followed the Pan African Conference convened by the Pan-Africanist lawyer, Henry Sylvester Williams, in 1900. In this study, I examine how Mangaliso Sobukwe’s ideas, as a Pan-Africanist philosopher, located in South Africa, contributed to calls for a decolonized and Afrocentric “African University.” In SA, the calls took dramatic turns in 1995, at Wits University, coinciding with the 50th anniversary of the Manchester PAC, and, in 2015, at the University of Cape Town (UCT), coinciding with the Manchester PAC’s 70th anniversary. In examining Sobukwe’s Pan-Africanist philosophical thinking on decolonized and Afrocentric education, I simultaneously, examine how Sobukwe’s ideas resonated with Pan-Africanist philosophers, continentally, on decolonized and Afrocentric higher education.Item type: Item , Critique of cervical spine radiographs among diagnostic radiography students through the lens of semantics, a dimension of the Legitimation Code Theory(W.B. Saunders Ltd, 2026) Hassan, Lorraine; Daries, Valdiela; Speelman, AladdinIntroduction: Radiographic image critique and the implementation of remedial measures in response to technique and technical errors are essential professional responsibilities of diagnostic radiographers. Research shows that diagnostic radiography students grapple to master radiographic image critique, a critical clinical competency. This study explored cervical spine radiographic image critique among final-year diagnostic radiography students through the lens of Semantics, a dimension of the Legitimation Code Theory. Methods: An exploratory, descriptive case study design was employed. Fourteen final year students voluntarily participated in individual oral radiographic image critique in a non-examination setting. Audio-recordings were transcribed verbatim. Content analysis of data was conducted with the aid of a translation device focusing on semantic density (SD) and semantic gravity (SG). Results: Most participants demonstrated weaker SD and stronger SG when describing radiographic structures of the cervical spine. Participants showed a limited ability to describe radiographic anatomy and abnormal patterns, primarily using vague and non-technical terminology instead of technically rich and discipline-specific descriptions. Conclusion: This study highlights challenges in students’ ability to critique cervical spine radiographs with the expected skill and knowledge depth. Despite stronger image-based reasoning (stronger SG), the poor radiographic descriptions (weaker SD) and the limited use of discipline-specific terminology point to a need for improved instructional strategies to better support context-rich, conceptually grounded radiographic image critique. Implications for practice: The difficulty students face in articulating radiographic concepts with depth and context underscores the need for educational innovation. Educational strategies should be designed to develop students’ radiographic image critique skills by deliberately building SD and SG, enabling the formation of “semantic waves” in which students shift purposefully between abstract theoretical principles and concrete, image-based observations to construct and communicate meaning.Item type: Item , An integrated approach to isiXhosa literacy teaching and learning in the foundation phase: current practices and prospects(AOSIS (pty) Ltd, 2026) Kosi, Thembisa; Nomlomo, VuyokaziBackground: The current South African Curriculum and Assessment Policy Statement (CAPS) promotes integration through the use of interdisciplinary themes for teaching in the Foundation Phase but does not provide explicit guidelines on the application of this approach in literacy teaching. Aim: The study aimed to investigate teachers’ current practices and the potential of an integrated approach in the teaching and learning of Grade 3 isiXhosa literacy. Setting: The study was conducted in two primary schools located in the black townships of Cape Town, in the Western Cape province. Methods: A case study design was used in this qualitative study. Classroom observations and semi-structured interviews with two Grade 3 teachers were used to collect data. Results: The findings indicate that teachers’ intuitive use of interactive and learner-centred pedagogical strategies fostered the implementation of the integrated approach in isiXhosa literacy, yet missed opportunities to develop higher-order thinking skills. The findings provide insights into the potential of this approach, given a greater focus on innovative and inclusive pedagogies and teacher professional development. Conclusion: The study concludes that the integrated approach could play a significant role in enhancing learners’ conceptual, linguistic and emotional development when implemented correctly. Contribution: This study contributes to the growing body of knowledge on African language literacy teaching and learning – an area that remains under-researched. It advances scholarship in early literacy pedagogy and provides valuable insights into the transformative potential of the integrated approach, thus informing future research and practice in African language literacy teaching and learning.Item type: Item , Ukuphuhliswa kolwazi lwesigama kubafundi bebanga lesi-3 kusetyenziswaizaci zesiXhosa(Routledge, 2025) Nondalana-Vuzane, NomfundoThis article focuses on qualitative research that was conducted on Grade 3 learners. The purpose of the research is to look at how Xhosa idioms, which are part of folklore, can be taught to increase Grade 3 learners’ vocabulary. Using idioms shows fluency in any language and if you do not know the idioms, do not use them. Purposeful sampling and convenience sampling techniques were used for selecting the schools and participants. Analysing the results of the use of idioms is followed by the ideas of the cultural historical activity theory (CHAT), which considers how physical and psychological cultural resources are used to mediate learning. This research followed a qualitative research approach, an interpretive paradigm and an exploratory case study research design. It was conducted in two schools located in black townships in the Western Cape that use isiXhosa as medium of instruction in the Foundation Phase. Data were collected through participant observation and semi-structured interviews. This article concludes that idioms should be taught in a learner-centred teaching method which is class discussions, questions and answers, role playing and explanations so that learners’ vocabulary can grow and they can read with comprehension in Grade 3. When the vocabulary is not developed, it is a challenge for learners to read with understanding, because it is what helps them to understand what is said and written. Learners also use vocabulary when they speak and write. Therefore, this article also focuses on changes found by including traditional literacy idioms, cultural tools to enrich vocabulary and master language fluently.Item type: Item , Network visualisation analysis of the transformative potential of generative AI tools in the education landscape(Discover, 2025) Govender, Rajendran; Harun, Ibrahim; Rzyankina, EkaterinaThis research examines the transformative pathways of generative AI tools in the South African higher education landscape, directed by three research questions: (1) specific generative AI tools being utilised, and how are they applied across educational contexts? (2) What are the predominant AI techniques and software tools? (3) What education topics and issues are being addressed by these AI applications? Notwithstanding substantial potential, the acceptance of AI remains unpredictable, principally due to infrastructural insufficiencies, digital literacy gaps, and ethical concerns such as algorithmic bias. By means of the PRISMA methodology, this study conducts thematic and network visualisation analysis to map AI application pathways. Findings show that AI tools like ChatGPT and OpenAI GPT-3 are utililsed for automated grading → personalised learning → real-time feedback. Pathways show that these tools reform administrative responsibilities for educators (by reducing workload → refining teaching effectiveness) and support students through personalised learning experiences (adaptive tutoring → enhanced engagement → improved outcomes). Quantitative analysis reveals that AI tools like ChatGPT and OpenAI GPT-3 lead to a 20% reduction in educator workload, primarily through automated grading and content creation. Additionally, these tools contribute to a 15% improvement in student engagement, particularly through personalised learning pathways and real-time feedback. Key challenges are to develop robust ethical models to avert buttressing prevailing inequalities. This study aligns with the focus on knowledge management by highlighting how generative AI tools underscore the creation, distribution, and deployment of knowledge in educational settings, specifically through tailored learning and adaptive platforms. The study concludes that a custom-made and ethical amalgamation of AI is vital for leveraging its potential to develop educational outcome and equity in South African higher education.Item type: Item , "We are still not counted as human”: Contesting unfreedom from below in South Africa(SAGE Publications Ltd, 2025) Pithouse, RichardThis interview with S’bu Zikode, cofounder and current leader of Abahlali baseMjondolo, the largest popular movement to have emerged in South Africa after apartheid, was conducted a month before the 30th anniversary of the formal end of apartheid. Zikode gives an account of the arc of his life, and that of the movement, illuminating the costs of progressive political commitment in Durban, a city where political violence is routine. Zikode also explains some of the key elements of his political thought, which centers around a radicalized African humanism in which the idea of dignity is central.Item type: Item , Contextualising critical thinking pedagogy in South African teacher education(State Univ of Rio de Janeiro - Center of Childhood and Philosophy Studies, 2025) Moodley, Désireé Eva; Chetty, RajendraSince 1994, South Africa, a developing democracy, has endeavoured to improve the quality of its education. Crime, poverty, and unemployment among other socio–economic ills decry quality living. While politics and economics have driven education policy and curriculum transformation, these are symbolic in practice. Critical thinking pedagogy emphasises the importance of developing and enabling critical consciousness for quality living and healthy citizenry. Though complex in nature, critical thinking pedagogy is considered a student–centred inquiry–based dialogical approach. Contextualising critical thinking pedagogical practices embedded in theory needed for sustainable change and ongoing transformation is about quality education especially in South African higher education. In line with the call for quality education from local Non–Governmental Organisations and international institutions like the United Nations, this paper seeks to contextualise critical thinking pedagogy as an approach through the culture of collaboration and inquiry in South African teacher education. The paper advances an explicit inclusion of critical thinking pedagogy in teacher education at South African higher education institutions. Lipman’s Philosophy for Children framework is offered as a means for engaging a context–driven, collaborative, storytelling pedagogical approach centring fairness, respect and dignity sensitive to local and universal application that could address quality educationItem type: Item , Human flourishing: An integrated systems approach to development post 2030(Plus One, 2025) Bloch, Carole; Zwitter,Andrej; George, EllisThis perspective article explores foundational shifts required for the conceptualization of future principles and goals to inform the starting re-negotiation process of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) post-2030. Based on a multi-stakeholder consultation and workshop-based focus groups, this article emphasizes integrating non-material aspects of human flourishing, such as cultural, psycho-social, and community-based aspects, in addition to the current focus on material conditions (as represented in the SDGs). Given regional, cultural, religious and other specificities, these non-material aspects need to be based on localized goals and indicators that follow global principles. This in turn, we argue, requires the development of a multi-level governance framework to capture the full spectrum of societal health and human experience allowing for both top-down principle-based governance as well as bottom-up goal and indicator development. Key recommendations include: localized implementation by leveraging local and indigenous knowledge, and fostering adaptable development models rooted in local realities and global principles. This flourishing-based development approach aims to harmonize material conditions with non-material aspects of human flourishing as a process oriented integrated systems approach.Item type: Item , “I think I know it, but I’m not sure”: how pre-service teachers blend conceptual physics problems into solution frameworks(South African Journal Of Education, 2025) Iwuanyanwu, PaulThe purpose with this study was to investigate the challenges faced by second-year pre-service teachers when integrating conceptual physics problems into solution frameworks. The main goal was to understand the complexities involved in this integration process, specifically exploring how pre-service teachers drew upon different levels of knowledge taxonomy (factual, conceptual, procedural, and metacognitive) and the difficulties they encountered at each level when blending conceptual problems into solution frameworks. By categorising the difficulties encountered into minor (D1), major (D2), and atypical (D3) challenges, I aimed to shed light on the effectiveness of different teaching approaches in addressing these challenges. To evaluate pre-service teacher performance, I employed a pre- and post-test control-group design to compare 2 learning conditions: traditional lecture-based instruction and the SPSE (situation, problem, solution, evaluation) blended model in a 6-week advanced physics course for pre-service teachers. Pre-test and post-test data were collected using the conceptual physics problems test (CPPT), and written responses to blended conceptual problems were graded using a moderated memorandum and analysed quantitatively. The results provide evidence of the effectiveness of the SPSE blended model. In particular, performance on tasks categorised as D2 and D3 improved significantly among pre-service teachers who followed the SPSE blended model compared to those who followed the lecture-based approach. However, I found no significant differences in performance on tasks designated as D1 between the two groups. This suggests that while the blended model enhances learning for solving certain types of conceptual problems, it may not universally apply to all types of tasks. Further investigation may be necessary to understand the nuances of how different learning models impact the blending of conceptual physics problems into solution frameworks among pre-service teachersItem type: Item , Wild sea swimming as a slow intimacy: towards reconfiguring scholarship(Lectito, 2024) Bozalek, Vivienne; Shefer, TamaraOur oceanic swimming-writing-reading together practice coincided with the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak and subsequent lockdown in South Africa. Awash with vulnerability, precarity, and isolation, oceanic swimming-writing-reading became one of the few ways in which we, as three academics from different higher education institutions, found respite in a practice of care for ourselves and others. Curious as to whether swimming and free writing could materialise alternative creative scholarly practices, we began to meet regularly to swim, write, read and think together with theoretical perspectives that subscribe to a feminist relational ontology. This article turns to visual and written narratives generated during this period and building on them, considers health and wellbeing at both subjective and planetary levels. Our global southern location articulates with these themes in very particular ways – access, risk and embodiment in relation to seas, beaches and littoral zones. South Africa remains haunted by the continuing geopolitical effects of its slave, colonial, apartheid, and neoliberal past and current contexts of global capitalism that seep into encounters with the ocean. Our swimming-writing-thinking is a reminder of our relationalities with and response-abilities for the hydrocommons as the measure of human, other species and the planet’s capacity to survive and flourish.Item type: Item , Exploring the injustices perpetuated by unfamiliar languages of learning and teaching: the importance of multi-angle, learner-focused research(Routledge, 2024) Adamson, Laela; Desai, ZubeidaThis paper argues for the importance of foregrounding learners’ experiences in language-in-education research, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa and other postcolonial contexts where there is an unfamiliar language of learning and teaching. Standing firmly on the shoulders of decades of research that compellingly demonstrates a range of ways in which the use of an unfamiliar language is detrimental to classroom practice and learning outcomes, we suggest that there are yet further negative consequences that are currently under-researched. We argue that combining observation of learners with methods that create space for learners to explain their experiences in their own words enables important new insights into how epistemic injustices intersect with broader structural injustices in learners’ lives. Our proposition is informed by our work and research in a variety of contexts but draws most heavily from qualitative research conducted with young people in primary and secondary schools in Tanzania, Rwanda and South Africa. Our conclusions demonstrate how learner-focused research could importantly and beneficially extend the evidence base that is available to support calls for changes to language-in-education policy and practice.Item type: Item , Simple climate models that can be used in primary, secondary, and tertiary education(American Chemical Society, 2024) Harrison, Timothy; Davies-Coleman, Michael; Shallcross, DudleyClimate change is of great concern to all age groups but in particular to children. “Simple” climate models have been in place for a long time and can be used effectively with post-16students. For younger children, modifications are required, and we describe in this paper the development and use of two such models. The first (the Granny Model) is a pictorial version of the model that has been used extensively with primary and early secondary school aged children (14 and younger). The second is an online version of the simple climate model that can be used without recourse to the underpinning mathematics and science but allows children to experiment with changing variables and how these changes affect the average surface temperature of the Earth.Item type: Item , Special issue: CSTL in Sub-Saharan Africa(Routledge, 2025) Pather, Sulochini; Msiza, Vusi; Pillay, JaceThis special issue is overdue, given the adoption of the CSTL framework (CSTL Regional Steering Committee 2015) in the SADC region since 2008. Many questions have been asked about the extent to which the CSTL framework has been successful in engendering a strong system of care and support for learners in schools. We begin by providing an oversight of CSTL, when and why it was adopted in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) region and what it hopes to achieve in the development of inclusive schools. We then provide an overview of the 6 articles included in this special issue. The care and support for Teaching and Learning (CSTL) framework emerged as a response to the complex barriers preventing vulnerable children in South Africa from accessing quality education which is a crucial to SDG 4. Despite several policy reforms since post- 1994, vulnerable children across the country face challenges in accessing, completing and succeeding in education. In 2008, the CSTL framework was formally adopted by 14 Southern African Development Community (SADC) member states and subsequently launched in 2010 at the SADC Education ministers’ meeting. CSTL was developed to provide a comprehensive, overarching structure to coordinate implementation efforts, enabling the delivery of integrated care and support in schools under the leadership of the Department of Basic Education. The main aim of the CSTL framework is to create schools that function as inclusive centres of care, learning and support. The intention is to strengthen protective factors in schools to promote children’s well-being and reduce risk factors. CSTL aims to create, amongst others, schools that build on the strengths of learners and educators and have appropriate infrastructure with good water and sanitation. It also aims to create safe, supportive schools, primarily through a range of services that are discrimination-free, involve parents and caregivers, and work through partnerships with multiple stakeholders.