BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE

PROF J L (HANNES) VAN DER WALT

In December 2000, Hannestook early retirement as Dean of the Faculty of Education at the Potchefstroom University in order to return to his first academic interest, research. He currently holds the position of specialist researcher in the Faculty of Education Sciences of the North West University (Potchefstroom Campus) as well as that of presenter of an annual course taken by newly appointed academic staff. The course is presented on behalf of the School of Philosophy. He works from Port Elizabeth in the Eastern Province of South Africa, where he has become involved in community work. He also presents courses on article writing.

He obtained a B.A. in Afrikaans-Dutch, English and History, M.Ed. (with distinction), a D.Ed., a D.Phil. (Philosophy) and secondary and tertiary teaching diplomas from the Potchefstroom University. He began his career as a teacher at the Langlaagte Technical High School in Johannesburg (1965). Hebecame a senior teacher (Head of Department) at the J J Pienaar High School in Potchefstroom before joining the Potchefstroom University as a lecturer (1975).

Heserved as Dean of the Faculty of Education for a term of 7 years (1994-2000). Before that he served as Assistant Dean (1989-1993), and as full Professor and Head of the Department of History and Philosophy of Education (1980-1993) at the same University.

He received a series of grants, among others from the Centre for Scientific Development, for educational research and further training in South Africa as well as in several countries abroad (Germany, UK, the Netherlands, Belgium, Austria, Malawi, Korea, to mention a few).Most of the grants were for research in the philosophy and history of education, educational management, and religion and education.

As Professor of Education and as Dean he served in a number of university committees.He was also national chairperson of the Education Association of South Africa for three three-year terms of office; chairperson of the Education Committee of the Reformed Churches of South Africa for two three-year terms, and vice-chairperson of the Interdenominational Committee for Education and Training for several terms; he was also vice-chairperson of the South African Foundation for Education, Training and Development.

He (co-)authored 17 books and contributed chapters to another 18, the most recent of which were published by Springer, and Buijten and Schipperheijn in the Netherlands. He also published116 articles in national and international accredited (refereed) academic journals, wrote 48 research reports, and more than 180 semi-scientific articles in journals in South Africa and abroad. He read papers at more than 50 national and some 20 international conferences. 48 students successfully completed their postgraduate studies under his guidance: 23 Masters and 25 Doctors.

He received various awards: the SANLAM-EASA award for consistent research of outstanding quality; the PU for CHE award for the best article from a reformational perspective; the EASA award for ongoing contributions to education in South Africa; an honorary Doctorate in Education (D Ed) from the University of Zululand in recognition of contributions to education in general and to the University of Zululand in particular. He has just been informed by the South African Academy of Arts and Science that the Stals Prize will be awarded to him in June 2011 in recognition of his scholarly contributions to the field of Education.

His education and training networks are fairly extensive, including regular visits to Korea (South) as a Guest Professor at the Kosin University in Busan, and work with government, private sector, non-governmental, labour and academic individuals and groups. He maintains regular academic contact and co-operation with several foreign scholars.

He also served as a member of the editorial committees of two academic journals, including the South African Journal of Education, as well as of several other ad hoc publications (as guest editor). He developed expertise in managing research projects, in publishing scholarly articles and as a consultant to a wide range of stakeholers and interest groups in the education, training and development field. As Dean, he also managed distance education programmes in South Africa and Namibia on behalf of the Potchefstroom University and in conjunction with the Open Learning Academy.

As a specialist researcher since 2001, he has been concentrating on (inter alia) helping less experienced colleagues with capacity-building,assisting them to publish their research findings in reputable scholarly journals. In the process, he focuses especially on the academic needs of young academics. His experience in teaching Korean students and supervising the post-graduate studies of several of them serves him well in these efforts. His expertise in the fields of research (methodology), philosophy (pure, as well as philosophy of education), religious studies and education enables himto engage in a variety of projects at diverse institutions of higher learning (contact as well as distance).

Updated 26 March 2011