The Department of Educational Foundations nurtures critical thinkers who can meaningfully engage with and contribute towards addressing educational, philosophical, political, historical, sustainability, and social issues related to basic and higher education locally and internationally.  

What Makes Us Unique

The department offers programmes in the following areas of specialisation:

• Philosophy of Education, Sociology of Education, International and Comparative Education, and History of Education.

We also do research and supervise master’s and doctoral studies in:

• Gender and Sexuality in Education, Higher Education Studies, Sustainability Education, and Educational decolonialisation and Africanisation

We have partnerships with international scholars in Sub-Saharan Africa, Cuba, the UAE, the USA and other parts of the world.

Our Programmes

We are home to the B.Ed. Honours programme which:

• Prepares students for research-based post-graduate study in Education.
• Serves to consolidate and deepen students’ expertise in Foundations of Education and the use of these understandings in an integrated way to explore a range of educational issues related to their areas of major combinations or streams.
• Develop research capacity with special attention to methodology and techniques in education research.
• The qualifying students will demonstrate a high level of theoretical knowledge in major combinations and the ability to conduct research in a particular discipline.

We offer Master’s and Doctoral qualifications in all the educational foundation disciplines

•  Philosophy of Education, History of Education, Sociology of Education, Comparative and International Education,

Master’s and Doctoral studies are offered in the following area which are sub-disciplines of one or more of the above:

• Higher and Basic Education Policy (under Philosophy of Education)
• Gender and sexuality Education & Peace Education (under Sociology of Education)
• Sustainability Education (Under Comparative and International Education)
• Environmental History (Under History of Education).

Learning That Goes Beyond the Classroom

Our postgraduate students participate in several research and community engagement projects that we lead, related to:

• Women in Leadership and Management
• Widowhood and social justice issues
• Progressed and at-risk learners
• Educational leadership support
• Support of vulnerable learners

Impact and Relevance

Goal: Emphasise how your department contributes to solving national/global challenges or supports strategic priorities.

Our research on Women in Leadership and Management empowers female school principals and management teams with skills and knowledge related to managing diversity, challenges, and maintaining peace and security in schools.

Collaboration & Networks

We have a partnership with the Department of Basic Education to support schools in identifying projects to support both in and out of school youths in their neighbourhood with skills and knowledge for small businesses.

 Call to Action / Learn More

The world requires critical and forward thinkers whose innovative practices are informed by history, society, and comparable with the international spaces. Click on the following link to follow, apply, and enrol to the Department of Educational Foundations.

 https://www.unisa.ac.za/sites/corporate/default/Colleges/Education/Schools,-departments,-centres-&-instututes/School-of-Educational-Studies/Department-of-Educational-Foundations