Adam Cooper is a Chief Research Specialist focused on Equitable Education and Economies at the Human Sciences Research Council. He is also Chair in Youth Unemployment, Employability and Empowerment at Nelson Mandela University. Adam works at the intersection of the Sociologies of Youth and Education, looking at the practices and policies that empower young people to realize their aspirations. He is the author of Dialogue in Places of Learning: Youth amplified from South Africa and an editor of the Oxford University Press Handbook of Global South Youth Studies. Recently, his work has focused on the complex ways young people navigate the worlds of education and work, and the relationships between them.

Ashnie Mahadew is an academic from the School of Education at the University of KwaZulu-Natal. She has taught qualifications and an honours degree in Psychology. She completed her master’s and PhD degrees at the University of Kwa-Zulu-Natal (UKZN). She has spent 20 years as a foundation phase teacher before joining UKZN where she presently lectures to the Bachelor of Education students. Mahadew also supervises postgraduate students, and her research focuses on community-based action research in the early childhood care and education sector. She is a mother of two children, and she enjoys spending quality time with her family.

Zahraa McDonald is Associate Professor in the Department of Religion Education at the University of Johannesburg, South Africa. She is a sociologist who focuses on the intersection between education and religion. After her PhD, which examined the intersection of Islamic education and post-secular citizenship, she completed post-doctoral fellowships at Stellenbosch University, the University of Cape Town, Cape Peninsula University of Technology and University of Johannesburg. She has published on the intersections of education and religion.

Noxolo Xaba is an academic advisor at the South African College of Applied Psychology in Johannesburg. She graduated from the University of Johannesburg with a Bachelor of Humanities in Psychology and a Bachelor of Honours in Sociology. She has educational experience in academic support roles and has worked as an ELOM assessor with younger children aged between 4 and 5; and 6 and 7. She is raising her own son, who is currently three years old. Noxolo worked at JET Education Services in the Research and Data Ecosystems Division where she worked closely in the development of the book chapters and co-authored the first chapter of the book. Topics regarding parental involvement in education are close to her heart as she has been involved in the school affairs of her younger sibling and her nieces.

Endorsements

“This is an extremely timely contribution. As we grapple with the challenge of radically improving the South African educational system, the contributors to this volume tell us about the structural, affective and practical issues that stand in the way of bringing parents and caregivers properly and fully into the process of education. The chapters are informative and are written with feeling and insight.” Crain Soudien, Emeritus Professor, University of Cape Town