The Education Policy Unit at the University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa
Dr Shireen Motala
Dr Shireen Motala (smotala@uj.ac.za) is now Executive Director of the Post Graduate Centre: Research, Innovation and advancement at the University of Johannesburg. She was previously the Director of Wits EPU. Her research interests and publications have focused on capacity building, adult basic education and training, repetition and dropout in primary schooling, youth, education financing, and quality indicators and school performance.
CREATE outputs:
- South Africa CAR
- Comparative Education article
- Compare article
- Policy Brief 7 - 'No fee' schools in South Africa
- South Africa Policy Brief 1
- South Africa Policy Brief 4
Dr Nazir Carrim
Dr Nazir Carrim is a Senior Lecturer in the Wits School of Education at the University of the Witswatersrand. His area of specialisation is sociology of education and current teaching and research interests focus on human rights (in) education, ‘race’ and gender in education and processes of educational transformation, policy formulation and implementation.
CREATE outputs:
Veerle Dieltiens
Veerle is a researcher with the Wits Education Policy Unit in Johannesburg where she has principally been investigating democratic school governance and gender relations in schools. She is registered for a PhD in philosophy of education tackling the question of the role of education in a developing country.
CREATE outputs:
Professor Brahm Fleisch
Brahm Fleisch is associate professor in the Division of Education Leadership and Policy Studies in Wits School of Education. His research and teaching interests include education planning, school effectiveness/improvement, educational finance, and systemic change. From 1995 to 2000, Prof. Fleisch served as Director of Education for the Gauteng Provincial Government. During his time in the public service, he initiated a number of innovative school improvement projects. Prof. Fleisch is the author of a number of publications in the areas of educational change, education and the law, school improvement and educational finance. His acclaimed book, Managing Educational Change: the State and School Reform in South Africa (Heinemann) provides a comprehensive account of educational transformation in South Africa since 1994. He has recently articles and book chapters have focused on the role of districts in school improvement, gender and learner achievement, teacher costs and effective schools, contextual factors associated with school improvement and has recently completing on a four-year multi-method study of accountability and school improvement. As a founding member of the SADC Centre for Education Policy, Planning and Management, Professor Fleisch has trained senior education planners and policy makers from Namibia, Botswana, Swaziland, Lesotho, Mauritius, South Africa and Zimbabwe.
CREATE outputs:
- PTA 27 - Patterns and Prevalence of School Access, Transitions and Equity in South Africa: Secondary Analyses of BT20 Large-Scale Data Sources
- Comparative Education article
George Moyo
Paul Ngobe
Elvis Ngwenya

Elvis works for the University of Fort Hare in South Africa.