Prof Wassermann completed his undergraduate and Honours degrees at North-West University, two Master’s degrees (in Geography Education at Rhodes University and in History at the University of Free State). He completed his DPhil. in History at the University of Pretoria in 2005. He has extensive teaching experience in higher education, which includes eight years lecturing at the Durban College of Education, and 16 years teaching History Education at the University of KwaZulu-Natal before joining the University of Pretoria as a full professor of History Education in 2016.

He has an impressive research portfolio that includes over 40 publications in accredited journals, book chapters and contributions to conference proceedings. He supervised to completion 25 Master’s and PhD. students, and one post-doctoral fellow. His research focuses on History textbooks, youth and History, teaching controversial issues in History and the position of minoritised peoples in Colonial Natal. He has been a visiting scholar to a number of African and overseas universities.

Prof Wassermann has administration and management experience at higher-education level, which includes working as Head of Department for History and Geography at the Durban College of Education and as Cluster Leader for Social Science Education at the University of KwaZulu-Natal.

He serves on numerous editorial boards and scientific committees and has acted as the Vice-President of the Historical Association of South Africa. He is a founder member of the International Research Association for History and Social Sciences Education and serves on its scientific committee. He is also the co-founder and chairperson of the African Association for History Education.