Four NRF ratings in the Faculty of Education of Education

Posted on October 21, 2016

The Faculty of Education is happy to announce that four of our staff members have received new ratings from the National Research Foundation (NRF).

Prof Kobus Maree is full-professor in the Department of Educational Psychology and received a B1 rating from 1 January 2016. Prof Maree’s main research interests are career counseling, career construction (counseling), life design (counseling), emotional-social intelligence and social responsibility, and learning facilitation in mathematics. He links research results to appropriate career choices and to life designing.

He is a former editor of the South African Journal of Psychology, managing editor of Gifted Education International, executive editor of the SA Journal of Science and Technology and a member of several national and international bodies, including the National Career Development Association (USA), the Society for Vocational Psychology (SVP) (USA), the International Association of Applied Psychology (IAAP) (USA), the Psychology Association of South Africa (SA), the South African Academy of Science and Arts (SA Acad), and the Association of Science of South Africa (ASSAf). He has been the author of more than 120 peer reviewed articles and 60 books or chapters in books since the beginning of 2004.

In 2009, he was awarded the Stals Prize of the South African Academy of Science and Arts for exceptional research and contributions to Psychology. In June 2014, he was awarded the Stals prize for exceptional research and contributions to Education, and in September 2014 he received the Psychological Society of South Africa’s (PsySSA) Award for Excellence in Science during the 20th South African Psychology Congress in September 2014. Prof Maree was awarded Honorary Membership of the Golden Key International Honour Society for exceptional academic achievements, leadership skills and community involvement in October 2014He was awarded the Chancellor’s Medal for Teaching and Learning from the University of Pretoria in 2010 and has been nominated successfully as an Exceptional Academic Achiever on four consecutive occasions (2003-2016).

Prof Linda Theron is a full-professor in the Department of Educational Psychology and received a B3 rating from 1 January 2017. Prof Theron is an extraordinary professor in Optentia Research Focus Area at North-West University. She is registered with the Health Professions Council of South Africa as an educational psychologist.

Prof Theron’s research explores the resilience processes of South African young people challenged by chronic adversity and accounts for how sociocultural contexts shape these processes of resilience. Together with Dr Michael Ungar from the Resilience Research Centre in Canada she was the principal co-investigator of the 5-country Pathways to Resilience Study (2009-2015). In 2013, she received the Education Association of South Africa’s research medal for her rich contributions to understanding, and promoting, resilience processes that support the positive adjustment of South African youth.

She is lead editor of Youth Resilience and Culture: Complexities and Commonalities (Springer, 2015) and an associate journal editor of Child Abuse & Neglect (Elsevier).

Prof Johann Engelbrecht is a Professor in mathematics education in the Department of Science, Mathematics and Technology Education. He received a C1 rating for his research from 1 January 2017.

He is a former Deputy Dean of the Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences at UP as well as Vice-Principal.  

He is the current Executive Director of the SA Mathematics Foundation. He was one of the founders of SAMF. He is an active researcher in the field of mathematics education on tertiary level and his international involvement in the teaching of undergraduate mathematics includes numerous research and keynote presentations, membership of international scientific committees for international conferences research papers on mathematics education in international academic journals and joint research projects with colleagues in many countries. He represented South Africa on the International Programme Committee for ICME 2012 in Seoul and was member of a survey team on blended learning at ICME 2016 in Hamburg.

Prof Engelbrecht was one of the founders of the international Delta movement, a southern hemisphere collaboration in the field of undergraduate mathematics education. He received awards for teaching, including the Claude Harris Leon Award “Championship in Mathematics Teaching” in 1998 and the South African Mathematical Society Award for the Advancement of Mathematics in 2005.

He was the founder of the Mathematics for Undergraduates Teaching Initiative (MUTI), fostering ties between the mathematicians and other role-players, including other departments, faculties and universities and also initiated the UP Mathematics competition.

Prof Chaya Herman is Professor in the Department of Education Management and Policy Studies. She received a C2 rating for her research from 1 January 2017.

Her field of interest includes: doctoral education; education policy and well as higher education qualitative research methodology. In 1994, she received the best PhD award. She was also with a RDP award.

Some of her publications include the following:

Meltz, A., Herman, C. & Pillay, V. 2014. Inclusive education: a case of beliefs competing for implementation. South African Journal of Education, 34(3)

Herman, C. 2013. Industry perceptions of Industry-University partnerships related to doctoral education in South Africa. Industry and Higher Education, 27(3) 217-225.

Herman, C. 2012. The purpose of the PhD – A South African perspective. Higher Education Policy, 25: 1-18.

Herman, C. 2011. Doctoral education in South Africa – research and policy: editorial introduction. Perspectives in Education, The changing face of doctoral education in South Africa, Special issue 3, 29: i-v.

Herman, C. 2011. Obstacles to success: Doctoral students’ attrition in South Africa. Perspectives in Education, The changing face of doctoral education in South Africa, Special issue 3, 29: 40-52.

Herman, C. 2011. Expanding doctoral education in South Africa: Pipeline or pipedream? Higher Education Research & Development, 30(4): 1-13.

Herman, C. 2011. Elusive equity in doctoral education in South Africa. Journal of Education and Work. 24 (1-2): 163-184.

The Faculty of Education's four NRF staff, from left to right: Profs Kobus Maree, Chaya Herman, Johann Engelbrecht and Linda Theron.

 

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