Career and experience

Over the past few years, my journey in academia has been an enriching and diverse experience. From August 2018 to June 2021, I had the privilege of being a Language coordinator at the Law Faculty, Stellenbosch University (SU). In this role, I not only provided crucial academic support across different faculty and departmental committees but also took part in teaching and assessing various modules. Additionally, I had the opportunity to conduct academic literacy consultations, guiding postgraduate students on their academic journey. During this period, I was also involved in the development of content for a Legal writing development short course, aiming to empower students with essential writing skills.

Continuing my passion for education, from July 2021 to December 2022, I embraced a new opportunity as a lecturer at Senior Phase Further Education and Training (SPFET), Education Faculty, Cape Peninsula University of Technology (CPUT). Here, my focus was on designing comprehensive teaching, learning, and assessment resources for diverse modules. I thoroughly enjoyed facilitating learning and teaching within these modules and evaluating teaching practices at various schools.

Currently, my journey has led me to the Language Education department at the Education Faculty, University of the Western Cape (UWC). As a lecturer, I continue to engage in the development of teaching, learning, and assessment resources, ensuring an enriching academic experience for students. My dedication to facilitating learning and teaching remains unwavering, and I actively participate in evaluating teaching practices at schools. My academic career is consolidated around a distinct research niche: Critical Language & Literacy Education in Multilingual and Digital Contexts. Since completing my PhD in 2023, my trajectory has transitioned from academic literacy coordination to full-scale independent leadership in Language Education, where my work interrogated the intersections of gender, power, and literacy.

Central to my current practice at UWC is AI-enhanced pedagogy. I have co-developed a critical AI-study buddy framework and operationalised it through the 'My Afrikaanse pel' ChatGPT-bot, an innovation that supports multilingual acquisition and was recently recognised at a regional symposium at the University of Cape Town.

In addition to my teaching responsibilities, I served as Postgraduate coordinator for the Language Education Department from 2023 to 2025. In this leadership role, I supported postgraduate student development, coordinated departmental postgraduate processes, implemented structured supervision schedules, and organised academic workshops. My institutional leadership extends beyond postgraduate coordination; I currently represent the Education Faculty on Senate (2026–2028) and serve on the Faculty Higher Degrees Committee, contributing to university-wide academic oversight and quality assurance.
I have supervised six honours students and one MEd graduate (2025) to completion. Currently I supervise 3 honours', 11 masters' students and co-supervise two PhD candidates. My second MEd-'s thesis was just succesfully examined. My scholarly standing is increasingly international, evidenced by my 2026 Global Minds Research Stay at Ghent University and my co-leadership of the UWC–HAN University project, which fosters global teacher-education competencies. I have also played a key role in collaborative projects, notably the “Wêreldtaal” Project, which facilitated partnerships between UWC, HAN University, and other institutions. This initiative not only connected education students across linguistic and cultural divides but also enriched their understanding of linguistic differences between Afrikaans and Dutch.

These diverse experiences – spanning language coordination, digital innovation, and institutional governance – demonstrate a mature academic profile. By synthesising sustained research productivity, supervision depth, and engaged scholarship, I am already functioning at the rank of Senior lecturer, dedicated to fostering the UWC Graduate Attributes of critical citizenship and digital literacy in the next generation of South African educators.