An assortment of education perspectives : staying relevant by challenging educational conventions

Abstract

Editorial: The fourth issue of PiE for 2007 is the second general issue of the year. This issue contains an interesting collection of international, national, transdisciplinary and interdisciplinary contributions that provide a powerful base for interpreting contemporary socio-educational reality. Crafting their contributions with enthusiasm and diligence, and locating themselves in both qualitative and quantitative research traditions, the authors have produced a wide-ranging portfolio of discourses that collectively succeed in helping us gain new insights into educational processes. As always, this issue contains a broad, multidisciplinary range of texts that serve as a basis for interpreting and evaluating data, both quantitative and qualitative, focusing attention on current research developments across the spectrum of educational inquiry. Building on topics covered in previous issues of PiE, one of the contributions deepens the debate on the merits and demerits of an outcomes-based education system, a debate that gains in significance as the current group of Grade 12 learners will be the last to write Grade 12 under the "old" education system. The issues discussed have relevance in educational circles locally and globally.