An Overview of South African Human Resources Development

Textbooks and learning support materials are a critical resource for teachers. They play a vital role in shaping children's sense of themselves and the society in which they live. But to what extent do schoolbooks reflect images and representations of the diverse learners in South African schools?

This richly illustrated publication about scientific visual literacy critically examines the images and icons of evolution as they appear in scientific and in popular contexts. It seeks to help teachers to understand the complexities of evolution through visual means and, in the process, to acquire the skills needed to read the visuals with accuracy and depth of interpretation.

This study is the second in the 'Student Choice Behaviour Project'. It traces learners who entered higher education and further education institutions and investigates the factors which influenced them. It also considers the achievability of two of the key objectives of the National Plan for Higher Education: to increase the participation rate in the system; and to shift the balance of enrolments away from the humanities and towards the study of business and commerce, and science, engineering and technology.

This research monograph is part of a series that explores the ways in which South African higher education and industry have formed research partnerships in response to global trends and national policy imperatives. The series examines these partnerships in relation to knowledge production, enterprise productivity and innovation in biotechnology, ICT and new materials development.