1 Editorial 2021 39(4): 1-2 http://dx.doi.org/10.18820/2519593X/pie.v39.i4.1 Published by the UFS http://journals.ufs.ac.za/index.php/pie © Creative Commons With Attribution (CC-BY) EDITORIAL In 1913, Rabindranath Tagore was awarded the Nobel Prize for his sensitive, fresh and beautiful poetry. He wrote that the butterfly counts not months, but moments and has enough time. When people realise how short life is, they often develop a new gratefulness for life. But it also makes people more focused. Often in life we are faced with emergencies that call for urgent actions. These become our butterfly moments. For all education institutions across the globe COVID-19 has become a butterfly moment. It seems to me that butterflies have inspired scientists over many centuries also realising that a single moment can change the course of society for a lifetime. In the 1960s scientist, Edward Lorenz, began exploring the phenomenon we now know as the butterfly effect. We also now know that COVID-19 was such a butterfly-effect event. There are many examples of how COVID-19 has impacted on education in countries all over the world. For many educational authorities the butterfly moment was to plan education on a day-to-day basis. Every day was important to ensure that children do not lose valuable teaching and learning time. For educational institutions the challenge was to migrate from a traditional face-to- face learning situation to an online mediated teaching and learning situation. There was little conceptualisation of how online mediated learning should be and for many it was a trial and error approach. It is here that research can make a huge difference and the articles that are taken up in this issue make a valuable contribution to the educational thinking and deliberations about changing to online mediated approaches. We open with an article by Ilsa Basson in which she looked at 20 years into the new millennium and asked the question how aligned and integrated is mathematics, physics and computer science at secondary school level? She found that there is no clear indication of an alignment between the disciplines, which, to a certain extent, puts South Africa outside the international frame. This article is followed by research done on the influence and value of science and technology in the education system of South Africa and Russia (Niconette Maree and Deon Vos). This study provides ample evidence of the value that technology adds if successfully implemented and how much value it can bring to an education system. We conclude our focus AUTHOR: Jan Nieuwenhuis1 AFFILIATION: 1University of the Free State DOI: http://dx.doi. org/10.18820/2519593X/pie. v39.i4.1 e-ISSN 2519-593X Perspectives in Education 2021 39(4): 1-2 PUBLISHED: 6 December 2021 http://dx.doi.org/10.18820/2519593X/pie.v39.i4.1 http://www.statssa.gov.za/?p=11341 http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/530481521735906534/Overcoming-Poverty-and-Inequality-in-South-Africa-An-Assessment-of-Drivers-Constraints-and-Opportunities http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/530481521735906534/Overcoming-Poverty-and-Inequality-in-South-Africa-An-Assessment-of-Drivers-Constraints-and-Opportunities http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/530481521735906534/Overcoming-Poverty-and-Inequality-in-South-Africa-An-Assessment-of-Drivers-Constraints-and-Opportunities http://dx.doi.org/10.18820/2519593X/pie.v39.i4.1 http://dx.doi.org/10.18820/2519593X/pie.v39.i4.1 http://dx.doi.org/10.18820/2519593X/pie.v39.i4.1 22021 39(4): 2-2 http://dx.doi.org/10.18820/2519593X/pie.v39.i4.1 Perspectives in Education 2021: 39(4) on ICT in teaching and learning with a contribution from Reina Abraham where she reports on research that she has conducted into turning constraints into opportunities. She has looked at the online delivery of communication skills simulation sessions to undergraduate medical students. In her conclusion she argues that there is the need to consider how online simulation can be sustained after the pandemic and not just returning to the conventional face-to-face teaching and learning. In the next group of articles, we focus on issues of diversity. Lunga, Koen and Mthiyane discuss managing disrupted learner behaviour in a rural learning ecology while Tanita Reddy and Yolandi Woest consider the influence of learner behaviour on beginning teachers’ perceptions of their own credibility. Van der Walt and Oosthuizen interrogate Ubuntu in South Africa. This paper examines the phenomenon that the actual modern-day practical, day-to- day life in South Africa does not seem to attest to application of the ubuntu ideal of maintaining and improving the human condition. Keeping with the rights discourse, Linda van Aardt, Roy Venketsamy and Ina Joubert discuss children’s experiences and perceptions of rights and responsibilities. The findings were that education advances children’s understanding and knowledge of their rights and responsibilities. The final group of articles look at several diverse aspects relating to teaching and learning at school level. These articles raise a number of important concerns that should be taken further in the educational discourse as it touches on vital aspects in the provision of education not only in South Africa but also across the globe. May you find pleasure in reading the stimulating articles and research presented in this edition of Perspectives of Education. http://dx.doi.org/10.18820/2519593X/pie.v39.i4.1