Welcome to the Department of Humanities Education!

Humanities Education provides insight into and understanding of the world we live in, and provides the tools to imagine the future. It is by means of Humanities Education that our students, both under and postgraduate, are empowered to make educational, moral and intellectual sense of the world at the local, regional, continental and global level. And as teachers they in turn will aid their learners to make sense of the world in a similar manner. This is being done by means of a range of disciplines that co-exists in an interdisciplinary manner, namely:

The disciplines as outlined are offered by means of a range of qualifications, which include:

B.Ed. in which the focus is to, by means of a four-year degree, prepare students to teach Humanities Education subjects to secondary school learners.

PGCE (the qualification is housed in the Department of Humanities Education) and is a one-year qualification preparing students who already have degrees to become secondary school teachers.

HCSS (the qualification is housed in the Department of Humanities Education) and is a one-year qualification aimed at preparing students with a keen interest in sport to become, amongst others, community workers, coaches, adjudicators and other roles as sport educationists.

PG Diploma TVET (the qualification is housed in the Department of Humanities Education) and is a one-year qualification aimed at preparing TVET College educators for their world of work.

B.Ed. Honours (Teacher Education Professional Development) is the Humanities Education speciation within the B.Ed. Hons qualification in which students can focus on electives in African Language, Creative Arts, Diversity, Gender, Geography, History, Life Orientation, Multiliteracies, Sport and Professional Development. The overall aim being to induct students into the world of postgraduate research.

M.Ed. by research is a Masters Degree with a focus on the disciplines in the Department of Humanities Education in which students work towards mastering the craft of research in their respective fields.

Ph.D. by research is a Doctorate with a focus on the disciplines in the Department of Humanities Education with the aim to contribute to, and advance knowledge and theory in Humanities Education.

The above qualifications are offered by dedicated staff who, through on-going research and local and international collaboration, keep abreast of new developments in their specialised fields of teaching and research.

Alongside teaching, research is an important component of the work done in Humanities Education. The Department has an NRF C1 rated, an NRF C2 rated and two NRF C3 rated researchers, is the home of the Centre for Diversity and Social Cohesion (CDSC) and is also home to two accredited journals, Yesterday & Today and the Journal of Geography Education in Africa. A third, the Journal of Student Affairs in Africa is located in the Centre for Diversity and Social Cohesion. Humanities Education places great emphasis on the research work done by all its members, including our extraordinary lecturers, research associates, emeritus professors and postgraduate students. As active researchers those involved in Humanities Education are publishing widely in international and local accredited journals, are presenting papers at international and local conferences, and are producing other research outputs of a high standard. Through our research and teaching we have built a network of international collaborators. Staff also serve on the editorial boards of international and national journals and are active in the management structures of a number of local and international scholarly organisations.

Alongside research many staff members are also involved in community work.

In all that we do in Humanities Education we strive to be true to our Departmental motto:

If you want to go fast, go alone

If you want to go far, go with colleagues

Humanities Education greetings.

Prof Johan Wassermann