The challenges to maintaining pedagogical effectiveness in an ever-changing education landscape not only turn focus on the professional development of teachers and their teaching practices but also emphasise the preparation of pre-service teachers and their skill development to practice pedagogical flexibility and mobility while focusing on context-consciousness

The objective of this book is to highlight the need and value of imbuing the dynamic intersections between education, human rights and diversity with perspectives from the Global South. The chapters approach key intellectual conundrums of the day from a Global South perspective to reflect a credible scholarly footprint in Africa and in the SADC region. This is deemed timely considering that the field is deeply embedded in western, Eurocentric and overall Global North dominance. This book will provide a Southern perspective on education and human rights in diversity by unpacking each of the following key areas in the intersection between education, human rights and diversity from a Southern perspective: comparative international perspectives, citizenship education, human rights literacies, human rights education pedagogy, learner discipline in schools, aggression and bullying in schools, addressing human trafficking by means of human rights education, social justice, and the decolonisation of human rights and human rights education.

The focus of this publication is on answering the central research question: How can Human Rights be advanced with regard to different kinds of diversities, and in different educational settings? The publication pays special attention to the advancement of human rights in a variety of education-related contexts, in keeping with human rights as a declared national priority for both society at large and the education system. One strategic priority of the Faculty of Education is research based on market requirements and needs. This book strives towards meeting this expectation by directly aiming at building human rights and social justice in the South African society, public schools and higher education institutions. Adjudication in the education context of the constitutional values of dignity, equality and freedom focusses regularly on learners. The book highlights the value of education for full-fledged citizenship by delineating what schooling should entail to inspire learners towards both claiming equal freedoms and rights and taking accountability for the responsibilities attached to citizenship.

Empowering 21st-century skilled teachers: A holistic approach brings together original research from scholars at the Faculty of Education at North-West University in South Africa, examining how teachers can be holistically prepared for the demands of contemporary and future classrooms. This scholarly book explores how pre-service and in-service teachers can be equipped to develop and teach 21st-century skills, navigate emerging technologies such as the Internet of Things, artificial intelligence, Thinking Maps®, open educational resources (OERs), etc., and address issues of social justice and diversity, offering new contributions to scholarship on holistic teacher education in varied South African contexts. The volume covers themes ranging from ethics of care and education law to innovative, discipline-specific didactics in Mathematics education, History education, Accounting education, Afrikaans, English and Sesotho language education. Across these areas, the chapters foreground key competencies such as self-directed learning, play-based pedagogies, critical thinking, mathematical noticing and other essential 21st-century competencies needed for effective teaching in inclusive classrooms. The research employs a range of mixed methodologies, including exploratory and experimental designs, case studies, systematic reviews, educational design research, and participatory action learning and action research (PALAR), providing a holistic and practice-informed perspective on teacher development. Aimed at scholars and researchers in teacher education, didactics, education ethics, education law, self-directed learning and emerging pedagogies, this volume provides a substantial and original contribution to knowledge. It serves as a comprehensive resource for academics investigating how to prepare teachers for the complexities of 21st-century and future learning environments.

Empowering 21st-century skilled teachers: A holistic approach brings together original research from scholars at the Faculty of Education at North-West University in South Africa, examining how teachers can be holistically prepared for the demands of contemporary and future classrooms. This scholarly book explores how pre-service and in-service teachers can be equipped to develop and teach 21st-century skills, navigate emerging technologies such as the Internet of Things, artificial intelligence, Thinking Maps®, open educational resources (OERs), etc., and address issues of social justice and diversity, offering new contributions to scholarship on holistic teacher education in varied South African contexts. The volume covers themes ranging from ethics of care and education law to innovative, discipline-specific didactics in Mathematics education, History education, Accounting education, Afrikaans, English and Sesotho language education. Across these areas, the chapters foreground key competencies such as self-directed learning, play-based pedagogies, critical thinking, mathematical noticing and other essential 21st-century competencies needed for effective teaching in inclusive classrooms. The research employs a range of mixed methodologies, including exploratory and experimental designs, case studies, systematic reviews, educational design research, and participatory action learning and action research (PALAR), providing a holistic and practice-informed perspective on teacher development. Aimed at scholars and researchers in teacher education, didactics, education ethics, education law, self-directed learning and emerging pedagogies, this volume provides a substantial and original contribution to knowledge. It serves as a comprehensive resource for academics investigating how to prepare teachers for the complexities of 21st-century and future learning environments.

The book is devoted to scholarship in the field of pre-service teacher education, with a specific focus on research into the enhancement of self-directed learning, and contributes to the discourse on creating a disposition towards self-directed learning during the social and academic integration of first-year students within higher education institutions. Two chapters also deal with research on the development of self-directed learning and nuanced understandings of the chosen professions of Law and Health Sciences students. The target audience is scholars working in the fields of teacher education, self-directed learning, engaging pedagogies, problem-based learning, cooperative learning and gamification. Whereas social constructivist learning theory served as an overarching theoretical framework for the virtual excursions, the various chapters in the book also draw on other secondary theories, such as self-determination theory, social interdependence theory, gender theory and the with fitness model of Kounin (1970).