Educational paradigms and engineering educators in South Africa

In this response to Waghid (2000) the authors question the validity of conclusions reached from an examination of the proceedings of an engineering education conference in South Africa. The authors argue that these papers do not represent the views of engineering educators in general. Furthermore they query the way in which Waghid uses reference to teaching methods in these papers to deduce the theoretical perspective of the presenters. It is suggested that the views of the educators involved in this conference and others like it in South Africa, can be characterised as falling within a broad interpretivist (constructivist) perspective. Finally, the authors agree that an engagement with a critical perspective would contribute significantly to the transformation of the culture of engineering education in South Africa.