Berte Van Wyk

Lifelong learning revisited: an African educational discourse

In this essay we argue for an African discourse on lifelong learning in South Africa, in so doing exploring its impact on education policy statements, and how it plays itself out in issues related to the nature of learning, equity and redress, and access to higher education. Our exploration is located within the context of the African Renaissance and educational discourse. We prefer to speak of ‘resourceful human beings’, which we believe is a more humane metaphor, emphasising the social imperative of such a discourse. This essay posits learning as central to both economic and social cohesion, which suggests that lifelong learning cannot simply be driven by a need to secure economic prosperity but has to focus on the ‘capacity of citizens to exercise and enforce democratic rights and participate effectively in decision making’, as the National Plan for Higher Education (Ministry of Education 2001:7) indicates. We discuss endeavours towards equity and redress in terms of the creation of a more humane socie...

Universities as organisations or institutions? : The culture debate and one institution

CITATION: Van Wyk, B. 2009. Universities as Organisations or Institutions?: The Culture Debate and One Institute, in E. Bitzer (ed.). Higher Education in South Africa: A Scholarly Look behind the Scenes. Stellenbosch: SUN MeDIA. 331-347. doi:10.18820/9781920338183/15.

The Khoisan Indigenous Educational System and the Construction of Modern Khoisan Identities

This chapter explores educational perspectives of the indigenous Khoisan people of South Africa. My argument is that any attempt to understand ways of education of the Khoisan people cannot solely rely on Western notions and understandings of education. To this end, I explore three key notions pertaining to Khoisan education, namely community, traditional leadership, and the land question. In these discussions, I briefly touch on initiatives aimed at promoting Khoisan culture, languages, heritage, and the struggles for the restoration of ancestral lands dispossessed under colonialism and apartheid. In doing so, I will also dispel and challenge myths and distortions by European settlers of the Khoisan people.

The Courageous Conversations Project: Interrogating Perspectives and Perceptions of Race, Poverty, and Schooling in South Africa and the United States

Issues of race, poverty, and injustice are woven into the historical narratives of South Africa and the United States. Hundreds of years of tumultuous social upheavals in both countries – enslaving and marginalizing minorities, civil wars, power struggles between the powerful and the more powerful, periodic bursts of egalitarian initiatives – bring us to the modern era where we witness firsthand the continuation of racial and social strife and the attempts to address it. The Courageous Conversations Project attempts to elicit frank discourse on the subject of race, poverty, and schooling, understanding that present-day educational matters reside within the larger context of historical narratives. The project, coordinated by educational leaders in both countries, is committed to moving in a positive direction and is fueled by the courage of the participants to be actors in uncharted territory. The participants are creating an “aspirational space” to motivate others to join us in these conversations. This “space” bestrides the twin phenomena of poverty and race and attempts to unpack the economic forces at work as well as the family and social capital inheritances of youngsters in South African and US schools. For the school leaders who are involved in this project, we expect no less than steadfastness of purpose and a resolve to “make things happen.” They have all pledged to contribute to the project in the spirit of social change.