Research Foci
English Language Teaching
Our research and supervision focus on the three disciplines under the broader field of English Studies: Language, Literature and Culture, Communication and Media. Our scholarly work engages critically with theoretical, philosophical, and research-based study of the English Studies field, and the implications for teaching, research, curriculum design and assessment, both within schooling and teacher education contexts. The debates characterising and informing different approaches to thinking about what it means to teach English in the 21st century, on the one hand, and in multilingual, multicultural, and multiracial contexts, on the other hand, form the basis for our work.
isiXhosa Language Teaching
Our main research focus is on isiXhosa teacher education and practice. Our current interests are in identifying the types of knowledge that teachers need in order to teach isiXhosa language and literacy effectively, and in researching how teachers enact the curriculum and ways in which the context enables and constrains teaching. Currently, we are drawing on Shulman’s work on teacher knowledge, and on Kemmis’s theory of practice architectures to understand teachers’ practice. We are interested in exploring how particular aspects of the structure of isiXhosa, such as morphology, influence early reading development and how pedagogies could be developed to take account of this.
Ntsika Kitsili, Pretty Maganxa
Life Skills Teaching
Our research focus here is on strengthening the four components of Life Skills; Beginning Knowledge; Personal and Social Well-being; Creative Arts; and Physical Education. Each component is explored through an intergrated teaching approach that ensures that topics and content are applied across the curriculum.
Dr PJ Hellerman, Prof Ingrid Schudel
Mathematics
The focus of our research is on teaching and learning for mathematical thinking that is meaningful for the child. This includes interrogating the use of visualisation, visual representations in place value, practical action and structural models for understanding mathematics. We also acknowledge the important place of reasoning in mathematical thinking and are working to understand how to help children develop and present their mathematical reasoning. Literacy and language are very important in many of these processes and is another important area for research in our multilingual Southern African society. The rationale for research in this field arises out of the identified need for quality mathematics classrooms and teaching, which will be the key to transforming mathematics education in Southern Africa..
Prof Bruce Brown, Mel, Dr Samukeliso Chikiwa, Lise, Mrs Tammy Booysen, Doc Wellington Hokonya
CROSS-CUTTING INTERESTS
Curriculum Development in Primary Schools
Key curriculum questions regarding critical engagement of curriculum content, innovative pedagogies, integration of ICTs, and assessment are core to this research programme; with a broad range of points of access, that is, from curriculum development to reinterpretation in teacher training and textbooks to classroom engagement.
Prof Callie Grant, Prof Ingrid Schudel
Education Policy
Education for Sustainable Development
This specialism explores the cross-cutting emphasis of Education for Sustainable Developmet (ESD) in curriculum and whole school development. The emphasis is on innovative curriculum design, pedagogies to support active learning and critical thinking, and assessment for learning. That is teaching and learning in search of creative and diverse solutions to social and ecological challenges, to change how we live for the better.
Education Leadership and Management
Our research focus in the educational leadership and management specialism is educational leadership. For, us, leadership is not situated in an individual but in the relationship between individuals, and is oriented outwardly towards contestations of power, social vision and change rather than merely inwardly to organisational goals (Foster, 1989; Morrison, 2009). Thus, critical educational leadership is fundamentally a display of social critique, and “its ultimate goal is the achievement and refinement of human community” (Foster, 1989, p. 48). We are therefore interested in leadership studies which question and disrupt current injustices in educational institutions and offer novel solutions to complex leadership problems. Leadership for us is not restricted to principalship but includes the leadership of all education stakeholders. Thus studies of teacher leadership, learner leadership and parent leadership, for example, are of particular interest to us, as are studies which explore leadership in relation to transformative agency, democracy, relationality, community, inclusivity, justice, collaboration, equality and context. Leadership preparation and development is also an important research interest in our department.
History of Education
Our research focus here is on the historical background of education systems and ideologies in South Africa and surrounding countires and how those have evolved through the ages. Researchers are invited to explore past training and teaching practices, ideologies and approaches to uncover or analyse how past education systems and ideals influenced decisions and approaches in the present education system.
Inclusive education in Primary Schools
This specialism focuses on the development of innovative strategies to advance the objectives of Education for All, with particular emphasis on fostering inclusive teaching and learning environments. The aim is to ensure the full participation and equitable access to educational opportunities for students with disabilities within mainstream educational settings.
Numeracy in School and Community All our students participate in research projects related to various development projects that are inscribed within the South African Numeracy Chair project’s Research and Development brief. For example, after-school maths clubs, in-service teacher development programmes and in-service teaching, and pre-service teacher education.
STEAM Education in Primary Schools
In the Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics (STEAM) specialism we ask important questions regarding development as raised in the 2022 Human Development Report. That is how our 'social, economic and political choices - about where innovation can be directed, to what priorities and to serve which people - determine how technology changes and how innovations advance human development’ (HDR, 2022, p. 160). This new way of thinking about human wellbeing and planetary health calls for critical thinking and creativity (an important CAPS curriculum principle) across all the sciences and a broad range of the arts from fine art to literature. The specialism focuses on exploring questions about the nature of interdisciplinary knowledge, and pedagogy and curriculum innovations in these fields, in school contexts. We explore how ways of knowing across these disciplines can be designed and coordinated, and investigate possibilities for materials development and online innovations to create new curriculum opportunities in support of new ways of living and working in the world.
Prof Ingrid Schudel, Prof Bruce Brown
Drama-in-education
The research focus in this field aims to explore teachers's engagement with the Life Skills: Creative Arts in a Foundation Phase Classroom. We invite research interests that look at developing content and pedagogical knowledge and competencies in the subject through the uses of drama and teaching approaches and processes in the drama-in-education field. D-i-E is defined as the use of drama techniques to support or enhance classroom learning (Andersen, 2004, p. 284).
Last Modified: Fri, 03 Oct 2025 10:58:58 SAST