Prof MLA Le Cordeur, STD (UWC), BEd (Unisa), BAHons (UWC), MEd, PhD (Stell)
Head of Department
Language Education and Language in Education
BIO NOTE OF MICHAEL LE CORDEUR
Michael le Cordeur who chairs the Department of Curriculum Studies is full professor, NRF-rated researcher, a former language teacher, high school principal and Circuit Manager of Education. His research deals with learners' reading skills, language policies and language in education. He holds a doctorate from Stellenbosch University and qualifications from the Universities of the Western Cape, South Africa and Stellenbosch's Graduate School of Business. He is the author/ co-author/ editor of various books, book chapters and refereed articles and presented numerous papers nationally and internationally. He has succesfully supervised various doctoral and masters students. As a regular columnist he has published 270 opinion pieces and was twice rewarded with the university's Media Award of Excellence. He served the community in various positions: Being the chair of the Western Cape Language Committee he co-authored the Western Cape Language Policy. Currently he serves on the board of directors of the Stigting vir Bemagtiging vir Afrikaans, and is a member of the Internationale Centrum voor het Afrikaans at Gent University and the International Association for Research in Language Education. Le Cordeur is the recipient of the Elisabeth Steijn medal from the South African Academy, five Rector Awards and Stellenbosch University's Chancellors Award.
Office number: 4023
Phone number: 021 808 2265
Email address: mlecorde@sun.ac.za
Dr Zelda Barends, B Ed (US), B Ed Hons (US), M Ed (NWU), PhD (NWU)
Language Education and Language in Education - Foundation Phase
BIO NOTE OF ZELDA BARENDS
Zelda Barends is a lecturer in the Department of Curriculum Studies at the Faculty of Education at Stellenbosch University (South Africa). Her research interests are within the broader field of early childhood education (5 – 9 years), with a particular focus on aspects of reading literacy, reading teachers professional development, foundation phase teacher education and work integrated learning. Zelda is a member of the South African Research Association for Early Child Education (SARAECE) and her published research papers has highlighted teachers content knowledge for reading literacy as well as using work integrated learning to better prepare reading literacy teachers.
Office number: 4015
Phone number: 021 808 3930
Email address:
zbarends@sun.ac.za
Dr O Esau, BA, BEd (Hons), MEd, PhD (UWC), Dip in Ed (Hewat)
Curriculum Studies
BIO NOTE OF OMAR ESAU
Omar Esau is a senior lecturer in the Department of Curriculum Studies at Stellenbosch University. His teaching and research are in the fields of teacher education, curriculum development, action-research, HIV/Aids education, sport education and multi-cultural & multi-religious education. He holds PHD, MEd, BEd (Hons) and BA degrees from the University of the Western Cape. He started his teaching career at the age of 19 after completing a three years Diploma in Education at the Hewat Teachers College. During his teaching career of 23 years in the WCED, he acted and served as an Educator, Head of Department, Deputy Principal and Principal.
His master's and doctoral students work more broadly in school improvement and teacher development. As a specialist in emancipatory action research and sports and education, he published a book on Checkmating HIV/Aids as a Teacher Researcher in 2010. In his recent published works, he concentrates on preparing pre-service teachers for the diverse and multi-cultural classroom and for teaching in COVID-19 and beyond.
Office number: 4020
Phone number: 021 808 3336
Email address: oesau@sun.ac.za
Prof BL Frick, B Home Econ, M Consumer Sc, PhD (Stell)
Director: Centre for Higher and Adult Education
BIO NOTE OF LIEZEL FRICK
Liezel is an associate professor in the Department of Curriculum Studies and the director of the Centre for Higher and Adult Education at the Faculty of Education at Stellenbosch University (South Africa). Her research interests are within the broader field of doctoral education, with a particular focus on aspects of doctoral creativity and originality, learning during the doctorate, and doctoral supervision. Her Master's and Doctoral students work more broadly within the fields of higher and adult education, where most tend to focus on workplace learning. Liezel is a member of the International Doctoral Education Research Network (IDERN), as well as the Special Interest Group of the European Association for Research on Learning and Instruction (EARLI) on Researcher Education and Careers. In 2015 she received the Best African Accomplished Educational Researcher Award for 2013-2014 by the African Development Institute (ADI) and the Association for the Development of Education in Africa (ADEA). She currently holds a South African National Research Foundation C1 rating.
Office number: 3049
Phone number: 021 808 3807
Email address: blf@sun.ac.za
Dr Nompilo Tshuma, BBA (Andrews), MSc (NUST), PG Dip (HE) (Rhodes), PhD (Rhodes)
Centre for Higher and Adult Education
BIO-NOTE OF NOMPILO TSHUMA
Nompilo Tshuma is a lecturer in the Department of Curriculum Studies and the Centre for Higher and Adult Education, Faculty of Education, Stellenbosch University. She has been working with educational technology since 2005 as both a lecturer and an academic staff developer. Nompilo holds a PhD from Rhodes University which focused on exploring how academics develop a culture of resistance to counter the effects of a range of oppressive structural forces in the university, and how this resistance plays out in their integration of educational technology. Her current research broadly focuses on exploring a range of ICTs in higher education by interrogating the unequal and often oppressive social context within which technology integrations take place.
Nompilo's current Masters and PhD students are researching a range of topics in Higher Education Studies, including educational technology, research administration, leadership and student performance. She coordinates and teaches on the regional Postgraduate Diploma in Higher Education programme. She also teaches various modules in the MPhil in Higher Education and the MPhil in Life Long Learning in the Centre for Higher and Adult Education.
Office number: 3048
Email address: ntshuma@sun.ac.za
Phone number: 021 808 3908
Dr CG America, TDC (Pen Tech), BA, BAHons, MComm (UWC), PhD (Stell)
Business Education
BIO NOTE OF CARINA AMERICA
Carina America is a senior lecturer and subject co-ordinator of Business Education in the Faculty of Education at the Stellenbosch University. She graduated from the University of the Western Cape with a Master's degree in Commerce and completed her PhD in Education at the University of Stellenbosch. Her work and academic experience over the past three decades have been largely linked to business and business education. After qualifying as a schoolteacher, she taught in the fields of Accounting, Economics and Business Studies. Thereafter, she worked in the financial services sector, after which she joined the higher education sector as a commerce lecturer, first in a Business Faculty and then in an Education Faculty. She has published in accredited journals and presented papers at various local and international conferences, focussing on issues related to in-service and pre-service teaching in Business Education. She was also involved in research projects on curriculum and assessment for Umalusi and written several technical reports as the leader of the Business Studies team. She has and still is a supervisor and co-supervisor of postgraduate students and an external examiner for numerous masters and doctoral theses. She also regularly reviews articles written for publication related to Business Education.
Office number: 3010
Phone number: 021 808 3793
Email address:
camerica@sun.ac.za
Dr ML Botha, BSc. Ed, BSc (Hons) Botany, MSc and PhD Plant Physiology (RAU)
Mathematics, Science and Technology
BIONOTE OF LOUISE BOTHA
Dr Marie Louise Botha is a senior lecturer in the Department of Curriculum Studies, Faculty of Education at the University of Stellenbosch. She holds a BSc.Ed, BSc (Hons), Master's degree and Doctoral degree in Plant Physiology which she obtained from the then Rand Afrikaans University. She has published research articles in accredited journals and conference proceedings, presented papers nationally and internationally at various education conferences. She has edited, authored and co-authored various chapters in books regarding science teaching. Dr Botha is a recipient of a Fulbright scholarship on investigating the role of university-school relationships in enhancing science teacher education and training. Dr Botha is currently module coordinator for Natural- and Life Sciences, and Curriculum Studies. Dr Botha specalises and lectures in Natural Sciences in the BEd programme, and Life Sciences and Curriculum Studies in the PGCE and BEd Hons programmes. Her areas of interest includes curriculum inquiry, science teacher education, teaching and learning, teaching practice and mentorship. She has supervised and co-supervised MEd and PhD students successfully and has been an external examiner for numerous PhD and Masters' degree theses. She is a member of the South African Educational Research Association (SAERA) with special interest in the Curriculum Studies SIG.
Office number: 4017
Phone number: 021 808 2293
Email address: lbot@sun.ac.za
Dr N Edwards, BSc, HDE (PG Sec), BEd (Hons), MEd (UCT) , PhD (SU)
Mathematics, Science and Technology
BIONOTE OF NAZEEM EDWARDS
Nazeem Edwards is a lecturer in the Department of Curriculum Studies and is currently the coordinator of the Postgraduate Certificate in Education (PGCE) programme in the Faculty of Education at Stellenbosch University (South Africa). His research interests are within the broader field of Science Education, with a particular focus on the development of students' conceptual understanding through inquiry-based science teaching. Dr Edwards has a keen interest in the use of computer-based simulations to expose students to multimodal representations of concepts. He also works collaboratively with colleagues in Chemistry to provide high school students opportunities to learn practical skills in the laboratory. He has been a member of the South African Educational Research Association (SAERA) since its inauguration in 2013.
Office number: 4051
Phone number: 021 808 2291
Email address: nedwards@sun.ac.za
Dr MF Gierdien, BSc, HED (Cape Town), PhD (Michigan State)
Mathematics, Science and Technology
BIONOTE OF FAAIZ GIERDIEN
Faaiz Gierdien works in the Department of Curriculum Studies as a senior mathematics educator. His research interests are in mathematics education and teacher education, with a particular focus on aspects of continuing professional development and the use of information and communications technology in relation to school mathematics reform. His master's and doctoral students work more broadly within the field of mathematics education and its intersections with teacher education. Dr Gierdien is an associate editor of Pythagoras, the premier mathematics education journal in South Africa. Faaiz is currently a co-investigator in the Local Evidence-Driven Improvement of Mathematics Teaching and Learning Initiative (LEDIMTALI) based at the University of the Western Cape. During December 2017 he will be spending a sabbatical period at Hamburg University where he will be sharing his evolving expertise in continuing professional development-related issues.
Office number: 4025
Phone number: 021 808 2289
Email address: faaiz@sun.ac.za
Dr E
Lampen, BScHons (RAU), MEd (Stell), PhD (Witw)
Mathematics, Science and Technology
BIONOTE OF ERNA LAMPEN
Erna Lampen is a lecturer in the Department of Curriculum Studies at the Faculty of Education at Stellenbosch University (South Africa). Her research interests are within the broader field of pre-service teacher education, with particular focus on aspects of learner and teacher identities in relation to problem-centred mathematics; learning to notice and respond to learner reasoning; and developing conceptual teacher talk specifically in the content areas of geometry and statistics. Her Master's and Doctoral students work broadly within school mathematics education and mathematics clubs.
Office number: 4026
Phone number: 021 808 2292
Email address: ernalampen@sun.ac.za
Agatha Lebethe, HDE (UWC), DME (UCT), MA (UCT)
Mathematics, Science and Technology
BIO NOTE OF AGATHA LEBETHE
Agatha Lebethe is a lecturer in the Department of Curriculum Studies at the Faculty of Education at Stellenbosch University (South Africa). Her experience and interests in primary mathematics education includes: the encouragement of mathematical thinking, purpose of multiple representations, young children's mathematical recording, the design of maths assessment questions and tasks, the research of own practice using the Discipline of Noticing , the narratives of beginner maths teachers and structure and trajectories within Primary Mathematics Curriculum.
Agatha is currently working on her PHD, which focuses on understanding the nature of measurement units in primary mathematics learning and possible teaching tasks and questions that allow for a theory of unit iteration.
Office number: 4024
Phone Number: 021 808 2286
Email address: alebethe@sun.ac.za
Mr J Ruiters, DipEd (Dover College), FDE-Language-in-Education (UPE), Teacher Trainer Certificate (TVU-London), MA-ELT (TVU-London)
Language Education and Language in Education
BIONOTE OF JOHN RUITERS
John Ruiters is a lecturer: English Education in the Department of Curriculum Studies. His research interests are in Applied Linguistics, broadly, but more specifically in Language Policy and Planning, Multilingual Education, Integrating Language and Content, Teacher Education and Assessment for Learning. He teaches modules on Multilingual Education at PGCE and Honours level. John has completed a MA in English Language Teaching, and a Teacher Trainer Certificate at Thames Valley University in London. His current Doctoral research focusses on lecturer decision-making in complex multilingual settings.
Office number: 3018
Phone number: 021 808 3968
Email address: johnr@sun.ac.za
Prof PN Rule, BA, BAHons, MA TESOL (London), HDipEdAd, PhD (Wits)
BIONOTE OF PETER RULE
Peter Rule is an associate professor in the Department of Curriculum Studies and the Centre for Higher and Adult Education in the Faculty of Education at Stellenbosch University. His research interests include various aspects of adult and higher education: adult learning in Africa; dialogue and learning; learning in relation to HIV and AIDS; disability and learning; community education; curriculum; students' conceptions of research; and case study research methodology. He has chaired the boards of a number of educational non-governmental organisations and is a member of Umalusi's Assessment Standards Committee and Research Forum. His books include, Dialogue and boundary learning (Sense Publishers, 2015) and, with Vaughn John, Your guide to case study research (Van Schaik, 2011).
Office number:
Phone number: 021 808 2297
Email address: prule2015@sun.ac.za
Prof M Robinson, BA (Cape Town), Drs Onderwijskunde (Leiden), HDE (Cape Town), MEd, DEd (UWC)
BIONOTE OF MAUREEN ROBINSON
Maureen Robinson is a Professor in the Department of Curriculum Studies. She has worked as a high school teacher, teaching English and various others subjects at Windermere and Heideveld Senior Secondary Schools, and a lecturer and materials developer at the University of the Western Cape, teaching in the fields of action research and curriculum innovation. She has served as Dean of the Faculty of Education at two universities: the Cape Peninsula University of Technology (2002-2012) and Stellenbosch University (2012-2017). Her research interests are teacher education, professional learning and educational reform and she has published widely on this topic. She has served on the executives of various national and international policy structures, most recently the South African Education Research Association (SAERA) and the Education Deans' Forum. In 2013 she was a Fulbright scholar to the USA. She currently holds a NRF C1 rating.
Office number: 1006 (from 2018, room 3015)
Phone number: 021 808 4812
Email address: mrobinson@sun.ac.za
Dr M van der Merwe, BA, Hons, MA, D.Litt
(US) , B.Tech.Ond.cum laude (TSA)
Language Education and Language in Education
BIONOTE MICHELE VAN DER MERWE
Michele van der Merwe is a senior lecturer at the University of Stellenbosch where she lectures Afrikaans in the Curriculum Studies Department in the Faculty of Education. She obtained a D.Litt. at the University of Stellenbosch in 1999 with the following title: Die Gebruikersperspektief in die Afrikaanse leksikografie (The User Perspective in Afrikaans Lexicography) . Her professional qualifications include B.Tech.: Education: Tertiary (cum laude) from Technikon SA.
Her research foci include lexicography, lexicography in education, as well as language teaching at school as well as university level. Her fields of interest lie in the pedagogical lexicography, as well as LSP dictionaries. Michele has presented various international conference papers on lexicography and has published in international journals on lexicography. She also acts as study leader for postgraduate students and as external examiner of postgraduate students. Dr Van der Merwe is coordinator of the Language Focus Group, member of the DESC, as well as the M&D proposal committee.
Her social impact projects include the South African Trilingual Wine Industry Dictionary as well as MobiLex LSP Dictionary.
Office number: 4011
Telephone number: 021 808 2396
Email address: michelevdm@sun.ac.za
Dr PP Kese ,MTech (Pentech), PhD (SU), Assessor (ETDP SETA SoR No. 201433)
Language Education and Language in Education
BIONOTE OF PHUMLA KESE
Phumla Kese is a lecturer in the Department of Curriculum Studies at Stellenbosch University (SU). Her Master's degree in Education Management entailed course work in Curriculum Studies and her study was on listening practices to promote academic success. Her PhD work is about the use of African languages for advancing discipline-specific academic literacy practices in a multilingual higher education environment. She likes Onomastics as part of the African culture. Her research interests are on alternative ways of knowledge construction to supplement traditional pedagogical methods. Phumla has deep passion for creative writing and story-telling in English/isiXhosa for literacy enhancement. Her academic research initiatives are premised on Humanising Pedagogies and the Pedagogy of Presence. She is a member of the Language Focus Group in the Department of Curriculum Studies, SU. In 2016, she received Stellenbosch University Scholarship of Teaching and Learning Conference Award for best practice-based presentation for a paper titled: Story-telling for enhancing facilitation of listening comprehension: The homecoming of the spoken word.
Office number: 2003
Phone number: 021 808 3971
Email address: phumla@sun.ac.za
Prof LLL le Grange, Distinguished Professor, BSc (UWC), HDE, BA, MEd (Cape Town), PhD (Stell)
Science Education and Environmental Education, Research Methodology, Curriculum Development
BIOGRAPHY OF LESLEY LE GRANGE
Lesley Le Grange is Distinguished Professor in the Department of Curriculum Studies at Stellenbosch University. He holds a BSc degree from UWC, BA, HDE(P/G)sec, BEd, MEd cum laude from UCT and a PhD from SU. He is a former chair of the Department of Curriculum Studies and former Vice-Dean (Research) of the Faculty of Education at Stellenbosch University. Lesley teaches and/or researches in the fields of environmental education, research methodology, science education, curriculum studies, higher education studies and assessment. He has 193 publications and serves on editorial boards of eight peer-reviewed journals. He has delivered 145 academic presentations (53 as invited speaker) and is recipient of several academic awards and prizes. He is a member of the Accreditation Committee of the Council on Higher Education in South Africa and Vice-President of the International Association of the Advancement of Curriculum Studies (IAACS). Lesley is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Biology (UK) and a rated social scientist in South Africa.
Office number: 4013
Phone number: 021 808 2280
Email address: llg@sun.ac.za
Prof CPS Reddy, BScHons, MPhil (UWC), PhD (Stell)
Curriculum Studies, Social Sciences, Mathematics, Science & Technology
BIONOTE OF CHRIS REDDY
Chris Reddy is a professor in Curriculum studies in the faculty of Education at Stellenbosch University. His research interests include Curriculum Studies, Environmental Education and Teacher Education. He has published regularly in all three areas and publications include journal articles, book chapters and popular articles in professional journals. He lectures on and co-ordinates post graduate teacher education programmes and co-ordinates the Masters in Education (MEd) in the Department of Curriculum Studies. Chris Reddy is also the co-ordinator of the Environmental Education Programme, University of Stellenbosch (EEPUS), a unit which does research and development work as part of social impact of the faculty. He has been awarded many research grants for conducting his research projects from parastatal organisations as well as private foundations and trusts. He has been involved with funded national research projects and also served as project leader for projects in Stellenbosch and other parts of the country with in-service teachers.
Office number: 4052
Phone number: 021 808 2259
Email address: cpsr@sun.ac.za
Prof C van der Walt, NHD, MA (PU for CHE), DLitt (Pret)
Language Education and Language in Education
BIONOTE OF CHRISTA VAN DER WALT
Christa van der Walt is professor in the Department of Curriculum Studies at Stellenbosch University, South Africa. Her area of specialisation is in the use of English as a language of learning and teaching in multilingual contexts, at school and at tertiary level. Her postgraduate students focus their projects on English language teaching, academic literacy development and curriculum change within multilingual contexts. She received the prestigious Von Humboldt fellowship and is editor of the academic journal Per Linguam. She is an NRF-rated researcher and sole author of a book Multilingual Higher Education: Beyond English-medium Orientations, published in 2013 by Multilingual Matters. Her latest book publications are Multilingual Universities in South Africa (2014, co-edited with Liesel Hibbert) and Academic Biliteracies: Multilingual Repertoires in Higher Education (2017, co-edited with David Palfreyman), both published by Multilingual Matters.
Office number:
Phone number: 021 808 2284
Email address: cvdwalt@sun.ac.za
Mr AS Xeketwana, BA (Rhodes), NOS (Rhodes), MA (Stell)
IsiXhosa Education
BIONOTE OF SIMTHEMBILE XEKETWANA
Simthembile Xeketwana is a lecturer in the Curriculum Studies, Faculty of Education at Stellenbosch University (South Africa). His research interest is within the language and education, in particular genre-based pedagogy in schools. He emphased on teaching different genres as per the CAPS specifications. His students are prepared to teach in South African schools, more especially with regards to teaching of isiXhosa. Simthembile is currently working on his Phd, where he is looking at the intersections between research, policy and practice. He is particularly interested in investigating the way previosly disadvantaged African Languages are being taught in schools.
Office number: 2002
Phone number: 021 808 3935
Email address: asx@sun.ac.za
Ms Tarryn Halsall, B Ed (UKZN), B Ed Hons (UKZN), M Ed (UKZN)
History Education
BIO NOTE OF TARRYN HALSALL
Tarryn Halsall is a lecturer in the Department of Curriculum Studies, Faculty of Education at Stellenbosch University. She has been a High School teacher for the past 11 years and has taught History in South Africa and Vietnam. Her research interest lies in History education with particular focus on history textbook research.
Tarryn is currently working on her PHD which focuses on the representation of BRICS countries in South African history textbooks.
Office number: 4048
Phone number: 021 808 2108
Email Address: thalsall@sun.ac.za
Me Mariana Clift, BA (SU), HDE (NMMU), B Ed Hons (cum laude) (SU), MEd (cum laude) (SU)
BIO NOTE OF MARIANA CLIFT
Mariana Clift started her career at SU in 2015 as an educational interpreter at the Stellenbosch Language Centre. During her time at the LC, she lectured in the IEP (Intensive English Progamme), as well as the EAP (English for Academic Purposes). For the last two years at the centre, she was primarily involved in the design and presentation of business writing courses for external clients in the LC's Comms Lab.
Before moving to SU, Mariana was a secondary school subject music teacher. During the last few years of her teaching career, she became interested in TEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language) and TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages), and her return to academia was prompted by a need to learn more language acquisition.
In 2016 she received her honours degree in SLA (Second Language Acquisition) cum laude. In December 2019 she received her master's degree (cum laude). Her thesis dealt with CLIL (Context and Language Integrated Learning) and the affordance this model could offer for accelerated language learning for foreign students in South African independent high schools. She was consequently awarded with the rector's medal for the top magister student in the Faculty of Education in October 2020. In the same year she published her first scholarly article and co-authored a chapter for CTL's (Centre of Teaching and Learning) online book dealing with the Covid crisis and its many ramifications. She will start on her PHD early in 2021.
Office number: 3018
Phone number: 2282
Email address: mclift@sun.ac.za
Dr Kudzayi Savious Tarisayi, Dip Ed (UZ), BEd (MSU), MSc (NUST), PhD (UKZN)
BIO NOTE OF KUDZAYI SAVIOUS TARISAYI
Kudzayi Tarisayi is a Geography lecturer in the Department of Curriculum Studies, Faculty of Education at the University of Stellenbosch. He holds a PhD in Social Science Education from the University of KwaZulu-Natal and qualifications from Midlands State University and National University of Science and Technology. He completed a Postdoctoral Fellowship at the University of KwaZulu-Natal focusing on teacher migration in South Africa. After completing a Diploma in Education at Hillside Teachers College, he started his teaching career as a high school teacher for 12 years. He has authored several journal articles on land reform, teacher migration and GIS pedagogy.
Office number: 4050
Telephone number: 2645
Email address: ktarisayi@sun.ac.za
