About me
My career in education spans four decades – ten years as a pre-primary and primary school teacher and thirty years as a teacher educator.
Early Years
While completing a BA with specialisation in Children’s Literature from the University of North- West in 1977, I developed my passion for education and went on to complete a BEd HED (UNISA), Honours (UNISA) and MEd (UP) CUM LAUDE in Education. In 1997 I honed in on literacy in democratic citizenship education as specialisation with the thesis of my PhD in Learning Support, Guidance and Counselling (UP) entitled: The life experiences and understandings of children as citizens in a democratic South Africa.
Teaching
My teacher training experience in higher education has included the development and presentation of material on every level to pre-service teachers enrolled with the University of Pretoria (UP) as well as students enrolled in the Postgraduate Certificate in Education (PGCE): Early Childhood Education (UP).
I have lectured at various universities including Vista University (VUDEC-distance), South African College for Teacher Education (SACTE-distance), UP and SANTS. I have guest lectured at various international universities in Australia, Italy, the UK and USA including: Melbourne University, Australia; University of Alberta, Canada; Fordham University, New York, USA; James Madison University, Virginia, USA.
Community Outreach
From 2003 to date I have been actively involved with training and development of various enrichment courses of the Ntataise Enrichment Program, based in Viljoenskroon in the Free State Province of South Africa. Ntataise, meaning to lead the child by the hand, was founded in 1980 and has since established a national network of independent organisations with the help of national and international donors. The network offers accredited Early Development training programmes, courses, assessment and monitoring services to disadvantaged rural communities. To date, over 10,000 women have been empowered who in turn have reached approximately 50,000 children in South Africa’s most disadvantaged areas.
Research
My research focuses on literacy in early childhood education, with specialisation in Citizenship Education.
Awards
The South African Academy for Science and Art/Suid-Afrikaanse Akademie vir Wetenskap en Kuns has honoured me with a special achievement award for the lifelong development of Afrikaans in Early Childhood Education (2018).
I won two Dean’s Awards (2010) as well as two Teaching Innovation Awards (2006 & 2010) at the University of Pretoria.
My PhD presentation (2006) was awarded best at the Faculty of Education Research Indaba.
Interest
The majority of my free time is spent with my husband exploring our beautiful country or planning our next international expedition. I love celebrating happenings and holidays with my four children, their spouses and my grandchildren. My faith has been my anchor throughout my life and I am forever grateful to my heavenly Father for His unwavering love.
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