HSRC Press
New African Thinkers Agenda 2063
Culture at the heart of sustainable development
Volume editor: Olga Bialostocka
Pub month and year: February 2017
ISBN soft cover: 978-0-7969-2565-7
ISBN (pdf): 978-0-7969-2566-4
Format: NC 240 x 168
Extent: 192
Rights: World Rights
About the book
Does the African continent want to be economically and socially sustainable as well as environmentally safe? What is the role of culture and how does it shape development strategies? In New African Thinkers: Culture at the Heart of Sustainable Development, the authors argue that culture – defined broadly as the way of life, system of values and controls, and modes of practice and expression – lies at the heart of a re-imagined Africa as a place of prosperity and socio-economic well-being, integration, and self-determination. By contextualising the discourse of development, the authors hope to influence policy and practice towards shifting the narrative from ‘one size fits all’ to a more morally justified and socially diverse model.
About the editor
Olga Bialostocka (PhD) works for the HSRC’s Africa Institute of South Africa. She is interested in the broad field of culture as a pillar of and a resource for sustainable development.
Moral Eyes
Youth and justice in Cameroon, Nigeria, Sierra Leone and South Africa
Authors: Sharlene Swartz, Anye Nyamnjoh, Emma Arogundade, Jessica Breakey and
Abioseh Bockarie
Pub month and year: March 2018
ISBN soft cover: 978-0-7969-2511-4
ISBN (PDF): 978-0-7969-2475-9
Format: 168 x 240
Extent: 176
Rights: World Rights
About the book
‘Moral Eyes is based on interviews with university students in four African countries: Cameroon, Nigeria, Sierra Leone and South Africa. Each country exemplifies a distinctive axis of discrimination and privilege—religion, language, ethnicity, and race—though with a good deal of intersectional overlap. The authors use the interviews to theorise about deep issues of injustice, history, and restitution. Through an emphasis on the historical dimension of contemporary injustice, they insightfully expand the familiar moral framework of victim-perpetrator-bystander to include ‘inheritors of unjust benefit’ and ‘resisters’.
They also reveal significant differences in how historical memory plays out in these four countries. Global North readers, of whom I hope there will be many, will derive great illumination from seeing familiar issues of social justice discussed in a wholly African context, including a diversity unlikely to be familiar to these readers. Moral Eyes is a wonderful book and an excellent contribution to the literature on moral education, social justice, and the moral character of transitions to a more just society.’
–Lawrence Blum - Professor of Philosophy | Distinguished Professor of Liberal Arts and Education, University of Massachusetts, Boston | Author of High Schools, Race, and America’s Future: What Students Can Teach Us About Morality, Diversity, and Community
TIMSS 2015 Grade 5 National Report
Understanding mathematics and science achievement amongst Grade 5 learners in South Africa
Authors: Kathryn Isdale, Vijay Reddy, Andrea Juan & Fabian Arends
Pub month and year: January 2018
ISBN soft cover: 978-0-7969-2484-1
Format: 297 x 210 mm
Extent: 120
Rights: World Rights
About the book
The 2015 TIMSS grade 5 study was administered for the first time in South Africa in August 2015. The study was led by a team of HSRC researchers in collaboration with the Department of Basic Education and the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement. Providing the first, nationally representative, internationally comparative compendium of data on grade 5 learners in South Africa, the report is a new indicator of the health of our educational system.
The analyses describe in detail the current picture of achievement for learners in the country, highlighting key individual, family, school and provincial differences. The results also include key developments concerning preschool attendance, early learning environments, as well as the importance of educational expectations and academic beliefs, and the damaging effects of bullying. The findings highlight the importance of early achievement and the need to understand the multiple layers of influence on educational pathways, with the conclusions and recommendations highlighting an unequal, yet treatable system.
The grade 5 study sits alongside the grade 9 study which has been carried out in South Africa since 1995, recently completing its fifth round.
TIMSS 2015 Grade 9 National Report
Understanding mathematics and science achievement amongst Grade 9 learners in South Africa
Authors: Linda Zuze, Vijay Reddy, Mariette Visser, Lolita Winnaar, Ashika Govender
Pub month and year: January 2018
ISBN soft cover: 978-0-7969-2502-2
Format: 297 x 210 mm
Extent: 112
Rights: World Rights
About the book
The 2015 TIMSS grade 9 study was administered in August 2015 by a team of HSRC researchers in collaboration with the Department of Basic Education and the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement. This was the fifth time that South Africa has participated in TIMSS since 1995. In addition to the learner assessment data, the study also collected contextual information from learners, teachers and school principals, making it possible to explore the factors that are related to grade 9 mathematics and science achievement. This report was written to provide some perspective about how the results of international assessments can be used to provide meaningful national insights. Sections of the report bring together the main findings based on descriptive, inferential and psychometric analysis of the data.
The report concludes with recommendations of how the results relate to policy and practice for improving educational quality.