More Momentum for the Amathuba Research Project!

Today marked another significant milestone as Life Orientation teaching experts gathered at North-West University to advance the Amathuba project. Meetings like this remind me why interdisciplinary collaboration is not just valuable — it is essential.

Why do Life Orientation experts in educational faculties matter so much to a project like this? The answer is straightforward: young people’s well-being cannot be understood through a single lens. Life Orientation sits at the intersection of identity development, social resilience, emotional health, and civic responsibility. Scholars who work in this space bring something irreplaceable to the research table.

Here is what Life Orientation experts contribute to an interdisciplinary research project like Amathuba:

📌 Curriculum insight — deep understanding of how well-being and life skills are taught (or not taught) in real classrooms

📌 Psycho-social expertise — knowledge of the developmental and emotional needs of learners across diverse contexts

📌 Educational psychology — bridging clinical understanding of behaviour and learning with practical school-based realities

📌 Policy literacy — familiarity with national curriculum frameworks and how research can influence what actually happens in schools

📌 Practitioner perspective — lived experience of what works in classrooms, which grounds theory in reality

📌 Cultural and contextual sensitivity — understanding how socio-economic, community, and family factors shape learner well-being

📌 Assessment and measurement — skills in evaluating programme outcomes within educational settings

Today’s meeting brought together an exceptional group of scholars whose expertise reflects exactly this breadth:

🔹 Dr Amanda Erasmus — Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Optentia

🔹 Prof. Ian Rothmann — Research Professor, Optentia

🔹 Dr Alfred du Plessis — Senior Lecturer and Educational Psychologist specialising in Psycho-Social Education

🔹 Dr Jaco van der Merwe — Lecturer and Educational Psychologist, Faculty of Education, specialising in Psycho-Social Education

🔹 Prof. Julialet Rens — Professor, School of Psycho-Social Education

Having scholars of this calibre engaged with Amathuba means the project is building research that speaks both to scientific rigour and the lived realities of South African learners and educators. That combination is rare — and powerful.

Watch this space. The best is still to come.