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​Head of Departme​nt

Prof Nuraan Davids

BA (Hons), HDE, MPhil (UCT), PhD (SU)

021 808 2877
nur@sun.ac.za​
Curriculum Vitae​

FOCUS AREAS:
Philosophy of (higher) education; democratic citizenship education; Islamic philosophy of education; educational leadership & management​

BIO NOTE:
Nuraan Davids is Professor of Philosophy of Education, and Chairperson of the Department of Education Policy Studies. She is an NRF rated researcher, whose research interests include democratic citizenship education; Islamic philosophy of education; philosophy of (higher) education, and educational leadership & management. She was a fellow of the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences (CASBS) at Stanford University (2020 -2021). She is a Co-Editor of the Routledge series, World Issues in the Philosophy and Theory of Higher Education; Co-Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Education in Muslim Societies; Associate Editor of the South African Journal of Higher Education, and an Editorial Board Member of Ethics and Education. She is the recipient of a number of research and teaching awards, which includes the NRF Research Excellence Award for Female Emerging Researcher (2015); the Stellenbosch University Distinguished Teacher Award (2017); the CHE/HELTASA National Excellence in Teaching and Learning Commendation (2017); Stellenbosch University Research Excellence Award (2015, 2016, 2018, 2019, 2020; 2021); Stellenbosch University Media Thought Leader Award (2018, 2019); and Stellenbosch University Chancellor's Award: Research (2020). Recent books include Out of place: An autoethnography of postcolonial citizenship (African Minds, 2022); Democratic education as inclusion (Rowman & Littlefield – Lexington Series, 2022, with Y. Waghid); Academic Activism in higher education: A living philosophy for social justice (Springer, 2021, with Y. Waghid);  Teaching, friendship & humanity (Springer, 2020, with Y. Waghid); Teachers Matter: Educational Philosophy and Authentic Learning (Rowman & Littlefield – Lexington Series, 2020, with Y. Waghid).​

    Prof Aslam Fataar

BA (UWC), HDE (UWC), BAHons (UWC), MEd (UWC), MPhil (UWC), PhD (UWC) 

021 808 2281
afataar@sun.ac.za​
Curriculum Vitae​

FOCUS AREAS:
Sociology of Education

BIO NOTE:
Aslam Fataar is a professor in the Department of Education Policy Studies at Stellenbosch University and currently a Research & Development Professor attached to the university's Transformation Office. He is a member of Stellenbosch University's Council and of the Academy of Science of South Africa (ASSAf). His latest books are:

• Hlatswayo, M, Blackie, M, Adendorf, H, Maluleke, P. Fataar, A. (eds) 20212 (forthcoming) Decoloniality and Curriculum Knowledge Building. Routledge, London.
• Fataar, A and Costandius, E. (eds) 2021. Evoking Transformation: Visual Redress at Stellenbosch University. African Sun Media Press, Stellenbosch University. 
• Burger, A, and Fataar, A. 2020. Educational leadership and the production of learning spaces. African Sun Media Press, Stellenbosch.
• Fataar, A. 2019. Searching for Islamic Ethical Agency in Post-Apartheid Cape Town: An Anthology. Africa Sun Media Press, Stellenbosch.
• Fataar, A. 2018. The educational practices and pathways of students across power-marginalised regions (editor). Africa Sun Media Press, Stellenbosch.
• Fataar, A. 2015. Engaging student subjectivities across the postapartheid city. Africa Sun Media Press, Stellenbosch.
• Fataar, A. 2012 (ed). Debating Thesis Supervision. African Sun Media Press, Stellenbosch.
• Fataar, A. 2011. Educational policy development in South Africa's democratic transition: 1994-1997. African Sun Media Press, Stellenbosch. ​
  

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Dr Jennifer Feldman

BEdHons (SU), PhD (SU)

FOCUS AREAS:
Sociology of Education

BIO NOTE:
Dr Jennifer Feldman, a lecturer in Education Policy Studies, lectures the PGCE History and Sociology of Education, the Honours Development, Organisation and Education Policy and the Advanced Diploma of School Leadership and Management Professional Portfolio and Workplace Project module. Previously a teacher, and school principal, she was involved in public and private schooling. Moving into higher education studies, Jennifer has produced several article publications and a 2022 co-authored book titled Scholarship Students in Elite South African Schools: The Gift of a Scholarship published by Springer.

Her current research, which is situated in the sociology of education, focuses on aspects of social justice in teaching and learning, teacher development, education policy, public-private partnerships and technology in education. Her National Research Foundation research project titled: Changing sociologies of education in the context of technological innovation and disruption, considers, how technology is both innovating and disrupting education, particularly given the recent pandemic conditions.​ ​

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Dr Jerome Joorst

HDE (Bellville College of Education), BEd Hons(UWC), MEd (UWC), PhD (SU)

FOCUS AREAS:
Sociology of Education, Rural Youth Agency Educational Governance, Management & Leadership, Education Law

BIO NOTE:
Dr Joorst is a lecturer in the Department of Education Policy Studies in the Education Faculty of Stellenbosch University. He has 18 years of teaching experience in rural high and primary schools as well as field experience as a Whole School Evaluator in the Western Cape Education Department. His current teaching modules include PGCE Educational Governance, Management and Leadership as well as B. Ed Hons Introduction to Research Methods. Dr Joorst also supervises M. Ed and co-supervise PhD students in the area of Sociology of Education and Rural Education. His research interest is on rural teachers and learners' positionality in the education system. Dr Joorst is also work on international student collaboration projects. His recent publications include:

• ​2021: Why should an ethics of care matter in education? ​Transformation in Higher Education.

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Dr Elzahn Rinquest

BEd (SU), BEdHons (SU), MEd (SU), PhD (SU)

021 808 2263​
erinquest@sun.ac.za
Curriculum Vitae​

Sociology of Education, Rural Youth Agency Educational Governance, Management & Leadership, Education Law

BIO NOTE:
Dr Elzahn Rinquest obtained her BEd (2007), BEdHons (2013), MEd (2016) and PhD (2021) degrees from Stellenbosch University. As a lecturer in the Department of Education Policy Studies, she teaches Sociology of Education and Education Policy and Management.

Her doctorate research study was conducted under the supervision of Professor Aslam Fataar and explored the pedagogical place-making practices of teachers at a special needs school in Cape Town. Dr Rinquest received an NRF Thuthuka research grant (2022 – 2024) to conduct further research in the Sociology of Inclusive Education. The research project aims to understand the subjectivities and practices of school principals who are 'leading inclusion' at selected public schools in the Western Cape province.

Twelve years of experience as a teacher and later manager at various public mainstream and special needs schools informs her current research interests and community service efforts. These entail exploring sociological aspects related to inclusive education, diversity, social justice, and teacher well-being. ​

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Dr Precious Simba

ORCID ID: ​https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0626-3704​

BIO NOTE:
Dr Simba is an ad hoc lecturer in the Department of Education Policy Studies at Stellenbosch University. Her background is in after-school programmes, having founded a girls' education initiative in Bulawayo in 2011. Her doctoral research was a feminist critique of Ubuntu as a philosophy of education centred on education policy in Zimbabwe. Her research interests are ubuntu as a philosophy of education, education policy, feminist theory, intersectionality, and democratic citizenship education. She has an MA from University of Sussex's Institute of Development Studies (IDS) where her studies focused on gender and development with a special interest in education. Dr Simba is a Mandela scholar (2013/14), a Sol Plaatjie scholar (2018/2020) and an Andrew W. Mellon Ubuntu Dialogues fellow (2020).​

    Prof Yusef Waghid

DEd (UWC), PhD (SU), DPhil (SU) (Distinguished Professor)

021 808 3948​
yw@sun.ac.za​
Curriculum Vitae​

FOCUS AREAS:
Philosophy of Education; African Philosophy of Education; Democratic Citizenship Education; and Moral Education

BIO NOTE:
Yusef Waghid, a leading African philosopher of education, holds three doctorates in the fields of education, policy, and philosophy from the University of the Western Cape and Stellenbosch University in South Africa, respectively. As a tenured professor since 2002 he was honoured with the title of distinguished professor (2014-2023) on the grounds of his research excellence at Stellenbosch University. He has been a prolific author with 419 publications to date of which 54 are academic books and edited collections and, 89 invited contributions to books. He promoted 35 PhD candidates to completion, examined 58 doctorates and, received the Association for the Development of Education in Africa's prestigious Education Research in Africa Award: Outstanding Mentor of Education Researchers (2015). Throughout his tenure, he occupied leading management positions at Stellenbosch University, such as having been appointed Chair of the Department of Education Policy Studies (2003-2007, 2022); and Dean of the Faculty of Education (2007-2012; 2017-2018). In the main, his long-standing relationship with education began as a high school science teacher (1979-1996) before he joined higher education as a senior teaching advisor to advance his professional career in higher education (1996-).  

His most notable scholarly contributions in the field of African philosophy of higher education feature in significant international scholarly books which include, inter alia, Towards an Ubuntu University: African Higher Education Reimagined (Palgrave-MacMillan, 2023, with Zayd Waghid, Judith Terblanche, Faiq Waghid, Lester Shawa, Joseph Hungwe, Thokozani Mathebula & Foreword by Carlos Alberto Torres); Education, Crisis, and Philosophy: Ubuntu within Higher Education (Routledge, 2022); Democratic Education as Inclusion (Lexington, 2022, with Nuraan Davids); Higher Teaching and Learning for Alternative Futures (Palgrave-MacMillan, 2021, with Zayd Waghid, Judith Terblanche & Faiq Waghid); Academic Activism in Higher Education: A Living Philosophy for Social Justice (Springer, 2021, with Nuraan Davids); Towards a Philosophy of Caring in Higher Education: Pedagogy and Nuances of Care (Palgrave-MacMillan, 2019); Education for Decoloniality and Decolonisation in Africa (Palgrave-MacMillan, 2019, with Chikumbutso Herbert Manthalu); Rupturing African Philosophy of Teaching and Learning (Palgrave-MacMillan, 2018, with Faiq Waghid & Zayd Waghid); and African Philosophy of Education Reconsidered: On Being Human (Routledge, 2014). In recognition of his high quality scholarly works that also appear in many leading education journals, the National Research Foundation in South Africa rated him as an internationally acclaimed scholar who provides exemplary leadership in advancing philosophy of higher education in Africa (B-1).

He pioneered Africa's novel MOOC (Massive Open Online Course) on Teaching for Change, selected by the Sustainable Development Goals Academy of the United Nations: Class Central as a free online international course to learn about the United Nation's sustainable development goals (2016-2020). He was honoured with the editorships of two prominent academic journals, namely Citizenship, Teaching and Learning (2018-2023), and South African Journal of Higher Education (2005-2030). Between 2020 to 2021, he collaborated with renowned international scholars on a leading UNESCO pioneered research project, Education for Flourishing and Flourishing in Education initiated by the Mahatma Gandhi Institute of Education for Peace and Sustainable Development. His advancement of higher education in Africa is also acknowledged by the Council of Higher Education in South Africa of which he has been a board member (2019-2026).