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This paper responds to a question posed by [Shay, Suellen. 2012. "Educational Development as a Field: Are We There Yet?" "Higher Education Research and Development" 31 (3): 311-323. doii:10.1080/07294360.2011.631520] about the status of knowledge building in the field of Educational Development. In her paper, Shay critiques knowledge produced in the field arguing that it is 'codified practice' [Gamble, Jeanne. 2001. "Modelling the Invisible: The Pedagogy of Craft Apprenticeship." "Studies in Continuing Education" 23 (2): 185-200. doii:10.1080/01580370120101957; Gamble, Jeanne. 2004. "Retrieving the General from the Particular: The Structure of Craft Knowledge." In "Reading Bernstein, Researching Bernstein," edited by J. Muller, B. Davies, and A. Morais, 189-203. Abingdon: Routledge; Gamble, Jeanne. 2006. "Theory and Practice in the Vocational Curriculum." In "Knowledge, Curriculum and Qualifications in South African Further Education," edited by M. Young and J. Gamble, 87-103. Pretoria: HSRC Press] rather than applied theory which could succeed in reconceptualising problems rather than simply trying to address them. This paper draws on a review of research produced in the field in recent years in South Africa to argue that, although some work does result in the reconceptualision of problems the higher education, it is limited in that (1) it has been produced by a relatively small group of practitioners located at a few universities and (2) draws on theory developed in the Global North. The paper then proceeds to offer some tentative suggestions for the way future work aimed at knowledge building could proceed.

This paper uses an analytical framework developed from the work of philosopher Roy Bhaskar and sociologist Margaret Archer to explore the emergence of a body of research on teaching and learning in South African higher education. This research, generated in a field known as "Academic Development" in South Africa and as "Educational Development" in other countries, was produced during 30 years of political, social, cultural and economic upheaval in the country. The analytical framework allows for an exploration of the way structural and cultural conditions and the exercise of individual and corporate agency led to three main shifts in the practice of Academic Development and the emergence of characteristic bodies of research associated with those shifts, often closely reflecting the broader societal changes. The paper, thus, allows for an identification of the sets of conditions that enabled and constrained research production at particular periods and in some locations. In spite of the specificity of its geo-historical context, the paper describes and applies a theoretical frame that could be useful in similar analyses elsewhere. It contributes generally to our understanding of conditions that promote research production in this field and, by implication, in others. (Contains 1 note and 1 table.)

Drawing on an analysis of the history of the area of endeavour known, in South Africa, as Academic Development and, internationally, as Educational Development, this article argues the need for a Third Generation model of Academic Development Practice in South Africa. The Third Generation model links Academic Development with quality management and promotion and requires a reconceptualisation of Academic Development practices, the theories which underpin those practices, and the structures in which Academic Development practitioners work and the processes they engage in.

At an international level, the peaceful transition to democracy in South Africa has often been lauded as miraculous. While political transformation might have been highly successful, changes in other spheres have proved to be much more problematic. This paper examines the change in higher education in South Africa and, more particularly, the role played by the field of Academic or, as it tends to be known elsewhere, Educational Development in that change. In order to do so, it uses Dale's understanding of mutual contradiction of the state's need to foster the conditions for capitalist expansion while, at the same time, guaranteeing the conditions for social reproduction as providing a space for policy activity. The role played by the South African Educational Development movement from the early 1980s onwards is then analysed within the context of this policy activity.