Prof Jonathan Jansen, a distinguished professor and renowned education expert in the Department of Education Policy Studies, received a coveted Lifetime Achievement Award for his dedication to education and change. This award celebrates extraordinary contributions to the development of science in and for South Africa, and for the extent to which someone’s work has positively touched and shaped the lives and views of many South Africans.
A public intellectual and one of the world’s leading curriculum theorists, Jansen has used his expertise in curriculum change, institutional analysis, political science and the politics of knowledge to help improve education in South Africa. A theorist and practitioner in equal measure, there is an urgency to his work in both schools and universities, where he has brought about meaningful change. His scholarship has informed how South African schools and universities think about curriculum, access and institutional culture, and much of it has been produced and supervised at SU, where he continues to teach and mentor a new generation of education researchers.
Jansen is a prolific writer with journal publications in all the major education research outlets in the world. He also boasts numerous national and international awards. Jansen achieved the rare feat of having a lifetime of scholarship recognised on both sides of the Atlantic by elected peers in two of the most prestigious learned societies in the world, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the British Academy for the Social Sciences and Humanities.
His contributions to science and science development have been recognised through awards such as the Science-for-Society Gold Medal of the Academy of Science and the Human Sciences Research Council/Universities South Africa Medal for the Social Sciences and Humanities.
Commenting on another milestone in his illustrious career, Jansen said, “the NRF Award represents a wonderful recognition from among your peers from the premier research foundation in South Africa. It is something to treasure and hopefully this inspires students and colleagues to produce scholarly or scientific work that counts over a lifetime in the academy. Of course, it feels very good to be recognised for your work among international academies but there is something special about getting awards at home.”
