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Following the political changes of 1994 in South Africa, the decision was taken to replace the traditional skills-based education system at primary and secondary school level (Grades 1 - 12) with an outcomes-based education system (OBE). The OBE approach, referred to as Curriculum 2005, was introduced into schools in 1998. The implementation of the OBE system did not occur without problems, giving rise to revised initiatives and a fair amount of criticism. The 2009 intake of students at universities is the first group of students that had been subjected to the OBE approach for their entire school career. This is also the first group of students for whom some form of mathematics was compulsory up to Grade 12 level in the form of mathematics or mathematical literacy. These students were characterised by the fact that their mathematics marks for Grade 12 were exceptionally high and that many more students qualified for university entrance. This article reports on the impact of this new education system on the mathematics prepared-ness of students entering university. The study involves an empirical analysis of the students in the first-year mathematics course for engineering students at the University of Pretoria as well as an analysis of a questionnaire completed by experienced lecturers at this university. The question addressed in this article is how the 2009 intake of students cope with mathematics at university level with regard to Performance General attributes Mathematical attributes Content-related attributesResults indicate a decrease in mathematics performance of these students at university level and that the inflated matric marks result in unjustified expectations. However, it is not unusual for marks to decrease from school to university and there is still too little evidence for serious concern. The study also indicates that these students seem to be better equipped with regard to personal attributes such as self-confidence and the will to work. However, in many instances, their general mathematical attributes such as algebraic manipulation skills and their general mastery of mathematical writing are worse than those of students in the past. There are also areas where their content knowledge is either lacking or unexpectedly shallow. It therefore appears that these students have improved personal attributes but not necessarily the knowledge and mathematical skills to back them up. Some recommendations are made with regard to handling the situation. It is clear that the new school system necessitates changes at school level with a view to university level in order to ensure a transition that is surmountable.

In the late 1970s and early 1980s, female characters that are different from the sexualised and passive women of the 1960s started appearing in science fiction film and television. Three prominent women on screen that reflect the increasing awareness of women's sexualisation and lack of representation as main protagonists in film, and that appeared at the height of feminism's second wave, are Ellen Ripley from the Alien franchise (1979-1997), Sarah Connor from the Terminator film series (1984-1991;2019) and Kathryn Janeway from the Star Trek: Voyager (1995-2001) television series. These female characters were, in contrast to their predecessors, the main protagonists and heroes at the centre of their respective narratives, they were desexualised, and they were not subservient to their male contemporaries. Most importantly, and as I show in this paper, they are complex, hybrid characters that do not perpetuate the masculine/ feminine dichotomy as their predecessors did. I further argue that it is these characters' hybridity that makes them heroines instead of simply being male heroes in female bodies, which they are often accused of. I term the heroine archetype presented by these characters the "original action heroine", and I argue that these women are likely candidates to be regarded as the first heroine archetype on screen.

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Over the past decade, powerful mothers in cinema have reappeared in the fantasy genre in the form of "witches". Some witches' stories, such as that of Maleficent (the wicked witch from the classic fairy tale Sleeping Beauty), have even been rewritten to place greater emphasis on maternal values, while simultaneously having feminist undertones and subverting the ways in which witches' stories have been told previously. In contrast to the widely regarded belief that only evil witches (who are often also read as femme fatales) are considered to be "feminist", the author argues that recently, witches that are both good and feminist have started to come to the fore. Significantly, the source of these witches' power is their display of motherhood, which is an issue that many feminists (especially those who deny gender difference) have been grappling with for some time, as motherhood and feminism seem to be on two opposite ends of the spectrum. Thus, the author argues that, as is displayed in science fiction heroines from the 1980s and 1990s who are often discussed in feminist circles, these witches' maternal values do not undermine their transgressive potential, as it is conventionally assumed, but rather become the source of their empowerment.