The Human Side Of Post Graduate Supervision

Editors note - coming soon

topic 1 - navigating doctoral challenges

topic 2 - Why do math?

Balancing Acts: Navigating Doctoral Challenges as a Multitasking Scholar

From juggling roles as a mother, wife, and professional to overcoming social stress and isolation, Dr. Mmabaledi K. Seeletso shares her remarkable experience as a multitasking Ph.D. candidate. Her narrative offers valuable insights for both supervisors and doctoral students, emphasizing the importance of understanding and supporting the multifaceted lives of scholars. Read more

Reversing the curse of math trauma

Summary: Traore Maïmouna unveils the undocumented struggles of women navigating the demands of childbirth and parenting while pursuing their doctoral studies. From the absence of maternity leave policies to the strategies employed by these resilient women, the narrative sheds light on the humanization of doctoral supervision and calls for institutional changes to support the holistic well-being of doctoral candidates. Read more

Embracing Humanity for Stronger Supervision    

In this article, Dr Kati reflects on how the high drop-out rate of PhD students in Kenya prompted him to re-evaluate his role as a research supervisor. Dr Kati writes about the importance of mentorship, empathy and nurturing professional development during a student’s journey Read more

Table of Contents

topic 2 - Crafting a Compassionate Doctoral Journey

Crafting a Compassionate Doctoral Journey: Humanizing Supervision in African Academia

From demystifying supervisor-student interactions to encouraging work-life balance, this insightful article by Anastasiah Ngigi explores key practices to humanize doctoral supervision. Read more

A Holistic Approach to Humane Doctoral Supervision for Growth and Inclusivity

Dr Macharia from Kenya reflects on their experience as a doctoral candidate in Germany and how this experience shaped their approach to supervision. Dr Macharia advocates for a human approach in supervision, that foster growth and inclusivity. These are vital considerations when thinking about the future of academia. Read more

topic 3 - inspirational stories

Inspirations from Within: A Supervisor’s Journey of Encouragement and Vision

Dr. Winnie Waiyaki’s captivating narrative describes her journey from a modest background to doctoral success, entwined with her mother’s unwavering encouragement. As she traces her path from mentee to mentor, Waiyaki shares invaluable insights into the transformative power of inspiration in academic supervision. Read more

Addressing Challenges in South African Mathematics Education

Prof. Jonathan Jansens identifies key challenges in South African mathematics education, including teaching without meaning, fear of failure, curriculum constraints, teacher content knowledge, pedagogical shortcomings, poor numeracy foundations, and lack of educator enthusiasm. He urges mathematicians to engage in early-grade teaching to enhance mathematical competence and address these issues.  Read more

topic 4 - Doctoral Inteligence

The X-factor for Quality Research: Research Intelligence for Humanising Supervision

Ruth Albertyn highlights the need to broaden research education and support. She proposes conceptualizing doctoral intelligence and developing higher levels of thinking to produce quality research. Read more

Girls’ Challenges To Education

Dr R Poornima describes the educational rough journey towards the position she is right now. She reminds that, endurance, persistence, determination and consistency are the sole weapons towards educational achievements she has today. Read more

Editor's Note

WISAARKHU aims to provide a diversity, not necessarily a jointly exhaustive collection, of perspectives on a chosen theme related to the learning and teaching of Mathematics. It is a magazine for inspiring, for creating awareness, for sharing experiences, for communicating, for connecting, and for reflecting.

It is not a research journal. It does not purport to endorse any particular opinion or approach to the learning and teaching of mathematics. Its readership is intended for all from across the globe with an interest in mathematics.

Each perspective expressed in the content of WISAARKHU is that of the author. It does not purport to reflect the opinions of the editor or Stellenbosch University or the affiliations of the authors.

Each theme aligned with one of the quarterly Psychology of Abstract Mathematics discussions. The choice of each discussion theme is inspired by a challenge encountered in the learning and teaching of mathematics;

In this way the theme ‘Competition or Collaboration in Mathematics’ evolved for the first volume of WISAARKHU. There are four topics each speaking to a sub-theme of the overall theme that evolved from the contributions, namely, perspectives within and beyond mathematics, voices of students, impact on the self, influence on learning and teaching of mathematics. Throughout the magazine you will meet students, mathematicians, teachers, psychologists, educationalists, and others interested in mathematics.

No matter your interest in or experience of Mathematics, I hope you will read this magazine acknowledging the intention with which it has been written.

Prof. Ingrid Rewitzky

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF