Page 98 - EDUCON 2022 Book of Abstracts

GUEST SPEAKER

Dr Roy Venketsamy
Senior Lecturer and Foundation Phase
specialist in the Department of Early Childhood
Education

TOPIC:
The epiphanies of offer Masters and PhD programmes for Early Chididhood Education and
Care at the University of Pretoria: Experiences to learn from University of Pretoria

Dr Roy Venketsamy is a Senior Lecturer and a Foundation Phase specialist in the Department
of Early Childhood Education responsible for Early Grade Mathematics (B.Ed Foundation
Phase) and coordinating the B.Ed Hons learning support programme in the department.
He has several years of teaching experience and has worked at different levels in the
education system, from the classroom to the National Department of Basic Education.
Dr Roy comes from a strong curriculum background, having been involved in the
development of the National Curriculum Statement and the Curriculum and Assessment
Policy Statement for South African schools.

The University of Pretoria is a leading research intensive university in South Africa. For this
reason, academics are required to be involved in post graduate supervision and support.
The ECE department offers a number of programmes, including a M.Ed and PhD degree in
Early Childhood Education. The programme is predominantly research based, focussing on
current and world class debates. The department has a staff complement of 9 academics.
Supervision of M.Ed and PhD is the responsibility of the full time academics. Since there
are only 4 academic who are qualified to supervise Phd studies, Dr Roy has adopted
a mentoring model to guide and support emerging academics. The policy at UP is that
emerging academic must supervise three M.Ed students to completion to become a sole
supervisor. On completion he/she is allowed to join a senior academic to co-supervisr a
PhD study. We have an intensive mentoring programme for both academics and students
alike. M.Ed students are required to complete their studies within 2-years and PhDs within
a minimum of 3-years of registration. The outline of the programme is demanding is and
students have to commit by signing an agreement with their supervisors. This process will be
explained in details together with the support and orientation sessions that are planned for
both students and emerging academics. Our programme has yielded success each year.