Mail & Guardian offers hottest topics in education sector - and insights into those

Issued by Mail & Guardian
Johannesburg, Nov 29, 2010

The Mail & Guardian (M&G) newspaper's education pages offer the most in-depth, incisive analysis and up-to-date hard-news coverage on South African education today - on the widest range of education sectors in the media.

M&G education editor David Macfarlane is available for interviews on these topics to encourage critical discussions on the education issues that matter most in South Africa now.

Herewith is a sneak-peek into the topics that will be covered in the M&G over the next few weeks in November.

November 19: Learning from Birth supplement

Learning from Birth, the only special focus on Early Childhood Development (ECD) in SA's media, will be published again on 19 November. The United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) advocates ECD programmes that provide for a child's holistic development - programmes included are health, nutrition, security and learning.

Learning from Birth reflects Unesco's advocacy and showcases all organisations active in ECD - including NGOs offering ECD training programmes, government departments, corporate sponsors and university departments.

Special focuses of Learning from Birth include:

* Career paths in ECD: We celebrate the unsung heroes - but especially heroines - who run our ECD centres. * United Nations Children's Fund (Unicef) on how the international financial crisis has impacted on child poverty in South Africa.

November 26: Getting Ahead: What's up with PhDs? - Plus Part 3 of Collegiality at universities.

The PhD Study, launched by the Academy of Science of South Africa (Assaf) in October, made 10 recommendations to improve both the quantity and quality of the country's doctoral degrees. These recommendations take in the whole of South Africa's postgraduate landscape - from honours through masters' degrees, to postgraduate diplomas, to PhDs themselves.

Getting Ahead is the M&G's last postgraduate supplement of 2010 and will unpack the implications of Assaf's PhD report: How will postgraduate study be affected at all 23 of South Africa's universities if the government implements the Assaf recommendations?

Concluding the year's successful publication of the M&G's flagship monthly university title, Getting Ahead will feature the third and final instalment on university collegiality. And it will also feature the finest and latest in postgraduate programmes.

The Aims of Higher Education:

We take a look at these aims through the eyes of a Rhodes University Roundtable.

To request an interview to discuss these topics, please contact: Nabila Mayet Media Liaison Stone Soup PR Tel: (011) 447 7241 Mobile: (082) 266 3957 E-mail: [email protected]