Sithole et al (986-1003)
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Reflection as Transformative Praxis: An Exploration of Early-Career Lecturers’ Pedagogical Reflections in Academic Induction
Mashango Phillemon Sithole
Center for Academic Excellence, University of Limpopo, Mankweng, Limpopo, Republic of South Africa
ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5119-1183
Evelyne Chia
Center for Academic Excellence, University of Limpopo, Mankweng, Limpopo, Republic of South Africa
ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0002-3467-4436
Owence Chabaya
Center for Academic Excellence, University of Limpopo, Mankweng, Limpopo, Republic of South Africa
ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2051-9064
Newman Wadesango
Center for Academic Excellence, University of Limpopo, Mankweng, Limpopo, Republic of South Africa
ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2942-5112
Abstract
This study investigates how early-career lecturers in a South African university reflect on their teaching philosophies and practices during academic induction, and how such reflection shapes their professional identities within contexts of institutional constraint. Drawing on Schön’s Reflective Practice Theory, Mezirow’s Transformative Learning Theory, and Barnett’s notion of critical being, the study conceptualises reflection as transformative praxis. Herein, it is a recursive process that fuses cognition, emotion, and ethics. Using interpretive thematic analysis of thirty-eight induction reflective homework submissions, the findings reveal reflection as both a pedagogical and moral act that enables lecturers to adapt, humanise, and reimagine teaching amid systemic inequalities. Reflection functions as an instrument of agency, resilience, and epistemic justice, bridging personal transformation with curriculum renewal. The study contributes to scholarship on academic induction by reframing reflection as a moral and relational project that underpins professional becoming and decolonial transformation in African higher education.
Keywords: Reflective Practice, Transformative Learning, Academic Induction, Early-career Lecturers, Professional Identity, Higher Education
How to cite this article: Sithole, M.P., Chia, E., Chabaya, O., & Wadesango, N. (2025). Reflection as transformative praxis: an exploration of early-career lecturers’ pedagogical reflections in academic induction. African Perspectives of Research in Teaching and Learning, 9(7), 986-1003.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.70875/v9i7article5