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This interpretivist qualitative study explored lived experiences of rural secondary schools’ female principals' career development. Participants were female principals who were purposively selected from rural schools in South Africa to provide in-depth information to the study. Thus, eleven female principals from 11 public secondary schools within Ilembe District, Limpopo were engaged in semi-structured interviews, which lasted between 20-30 minutes each. The interviews were audio-recorded with permission of the participants to capture exact information. The audio-recorded data was systematically transcribed, coded to generate common themes for the presentation and discussion of findings. Findings revealed that some communities’ cultures continue to dominantly influence women principals’ career pathways, despite policies or efforts to promote gender equality in South Africa. The social attitude or ‘injustice’ against female principals in rural environments has limited their quest to pursue their career further or to aspire top administrative leadership positions in education. It is recommended that necessary government structures and other stakeholders in education sector should provide necessary support to female principals in rural schools.

The concept, 'scarce skills' and learners' performance in scarce skills subjects has been a subject of scholarly and political discussion, for more than three decades, especially in South Africa. Unfortunately, despite efforts to increase the population of qualified individuals with scarce skills, South Africa is yet to achieve the desired result. While the focus on development of scarce skills in South Africa has largely centered on citizens within the urban areas, less research has concentrated on the development of scarce skills in South African rural areas. Therefore, using choice theory as a framework, this study explored associated issues of retaining SST in the Mutale area, located in the Vhembe district, Limpopo province, South Africa. This study employed a qualitative research design comprising eight purposively selected participants. Data was gathered using a semi-structured interview. Data were analysed using thematic content analysis. The following themes resulted from the analysis: Availability; emigration; motivation; and limited production and supply of scarce skill teachers. Based on the findings, the study recommends an improvement in the production and deployment of qualified scarce skill teachers to rural secondary schools. Scarce skill teachers in rural secondary schools should be highly motivated and encouraged to stay as teachers in rural secondary schools.

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Sexuality Education aims to reduce teenage pregnancies and other consequences of risky sexual practices such as sexually transmitted infections including human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) among young people. This descriptive-explorative study explored and described how teachers in the senior phase at Soutpansberg West Circuit, South Africa perceived Sexuality Education in their schools. Ten purposively recruited teachers in the research setting were individually interviewed in 2019. The collected data were thematically analysed. The research findings revealed the teachers’ perceived benefits of Sexuality Education, the barriers to Sexuality Education and impact of Sexuality Education on senior level learners in the study setting. Furthermore, it emerged that teachers used different approaches such as lectures, questions and answers, class discussions, and targeted individuals to facilitate Sexuality Education lessons in their schools. This study recommends the provision of support to teachers through training, access to relevant curriculum resources, as well as the monitoring and evaluation of Sexuality Education programmes in the study setting.    Received: 29 November 2021 / Accepted: 29 June 2022 / Published: 5 July 2022