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Dr Ezekiel Majola

Dr Ezekiel Majola is a Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) lecturer in the Faculty of Education at Nelson Mandela University. His scholarly work is located within critical pedagogy and vocational education studies, with a particular focus on repoliticising TVET through humanisation, student agency, and transformative pedagogy.

His research challenges dominant instrumentalist, skills-for-the-market approaches that continue to shape TVET policy and practice in South Africa and internationally. Drawing on Paulo Freire’s critical pedagogy, participatory methodologies, and sustained engagement with public TVET colleges, his scholarship foregrounds the lived experiences of TVET students and graduates, particularly those navigating structural inequality, constrained progression pathways, and marginalisation in the labour market.

Dr Majola’s work contributes a distinctive Southern, critical perspective to international debates on vocational education, curriculum, pedagogy, and social justice. His research interrogates questions of conscientisation, humanising pedagogy, participatory action research, and the politics of knowledge in TVET, while also engaging critically with policy reforms, graduate transitions, and curriculum design in the South African context. He has published widely in accredited national and international journals and collaborates with scholars across TVET, higher education, and critical pedagogy research communities.

Research Interests

  • Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET)
  • Critical pedagogy and Freirean theory
  • Humanising and transformative pedagogies
  • Student agency, conscientisation, and participation
  • Participatory Action Research (PAR)
  • TVET policy, curriculum, and graduate transitions
  • Social justice and inequality in vocational education

Selected Publications

  • Majola, E. (2026). ‘We thought it would change our lives’: refusal, voice, and Freirean praxis in South African vocational education. Pedagogy, Culture & Society, 1–16. https://doi.org/10.1080/14681366.2026.2618999
  • Horne, A., & Majola, E. (2026). Towards a humanising vocational pedagogy: reframing work integrated learning practices in a South African TVET college. Journal of Education and Work, 1–19. https://doi.org/10.1080/13639080.2026.2619954
  • Majola, E. (2025). Reimagining TVET in South Africa: Student agency, conscientisation, and a Freirean pedagogy of transformation. Journal of Vocational Education & Training, 1–15. https://doi.org/10.1080/13636820.2025.2585513
  • Majola, E. (2025). National Certificate Vocational graduates and barriers to progression in South African Technical Vocational Education and Training. Transformation in Higher Education, 10, 10 pages. https://doi.org/10.4102/the.v10i0.579
  • Majola, E. (2025). Vocational education and the relentless struggles of TVET graduates in the Eastern Cape, South Africa: A Freirean approach. Journal of Vocational Education & Training, 1. https://doi.org/10.1080/13636820.2025.2550220
  • Majola, E. (2025). Reimagining career empowerment in South African TVET: A Freirean critique of policy and pedagogy. African Journal of Career Development, 7(1), 8 pages. https://doi.org/10.4102/ajcd.v7i1.173
  • Majola, E., & Madimabe-Mofokeng, M. (2025). Exploring traces of humanising pedagogy in South African TVET colleges: A transformative approach. International Journal of Educational Development in Africa, 10, 16 pages. https://doi.org/10.25159/2312-3540/19130
  • Majola, E., & Geduld, D. (2025). The challenges of implementing a humanising pedagogy in Technical Vocational Education and Training colleges in South Africa. Education As Change, 29, 24 pages. https://doi.org/10.25159/1947-9417/18342
  • Majola, E., Rangana, N., & Geduld, D. (2025). Rethinking Paulo Freire's critical pedagogy: Challenges and relevance in South Africa's TVET sector. Educational Research for Social Change. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.15311356
  • Majola, E., Geduld, D., & Rangana, N. (2025). Critical pedagogy in context: Problematising the application of Paulo Freire’s framework in TVET education in South Africa. International Journal of Training Research. https://doi.org/10.1080/14480220.2025.2531215
  • Majola, E., Powell, L., & Jordaan, C. (2024). Vocational education and graduate struggles in the Eastern Cape, South Africa: A Freirean approach. Education As Change, 28, 23 pages. https://doi.org/10.25159/1947-9417/15943
  • Geduld, D., & Majola, E. (2025). Re-imagining early childhood education: A Freirean critique of eco-pedagogy’s absence in South Africa’s foundation phase. Perspectives in Education, 43(4), 53–65. https://doi.org/10.38140/pie.v43i4.9130
  • Geduld, D., & Majola, E. (2025). Navigating inclusive practices: Experiences of families with neurodiverse learners in early childhood in the Sarah Baartman District. Interdisciplinary Journal of Rural and Community Studies, 7(1), a06. https://doi.org/10.38140/ijrcs-2024.vol7.1.06

 

E Ezekiel.Majola@mandela.ac.za

T 041 504 4583




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