This paper reports on the findings of a formative evaluation of the mentorship support programme run by the Maskh'iSizwe Centre of Excellence for recipients of its bursaries. Learning theory traditions have typically been divided into those that prioritise individual cognition versus those that prioritise the context in which learning occurs. In both these traditions, the individual agent is dissolved. This paper interrogates the ontological assumptions held by dominant learning theories regarding relations between individual and society that neglect agency in the learning process. Archer's social realist ontology offers a way forward by reinstating the full properties and powers of learners as agents. Archer's social theory supports theories of learning that emphasise ontology and practice, as well as epistemology. It is therefore suggested that support programmes for undergraduate financially disadvantaged learners ensure that they first develop a sense of personal identity and social agency as a pre-condition for succeeding academically and developing a professional identity.

students at the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits) in Johannesburg, South Africa, launched a protest against the annual increase in student fees at the university. In the subsequent days and weeks, the protest spread to universities across the country, and came to be known as the #FeesMustFall (FMF) movement, which built on student movements earlier in the year, most notably the #RhodesMustFall movement. This was the biggest university protest wave in South Africa since the end of apartheid in 1994 and, some say, the most significant student protest since the 1976 Soweto riots. While the protests began with a focus on the student fee increase for 2016, demands were soon expanded to include issues such as free education, the cancellation of student debt, the decolonisation of the curriculum, and the insourcing of all university workers.While the protests have been widely analysed as a student movement, low-paid and outsourced university workers have also been key actors. At the University of the Witwatersrand, outsourced workers joined protesting students from the first day. By the end of 2015, students and workers in at least eighteen tertiary institutions in different parts of South Africa had participated in protest action. They put their bodies on the line occupying university spaces and marching to the Johannesburg party headquarters of the ruling African National Congress, to the national Parliament in Cape Town, and to the Union Buildings in Pretoria which house the executive branch of the national government.In a dramatically short space of time major victories were achieved. The ANC government agreed to no fee increase for 2016, and one by one university managements started to agree, in principle, to insource workers, meaning that all outsourced support staff would be directly employed by the university. This commitment was made by the University of Cape Town (UCT), the University of the Witwatersrand, the University of Johannesburg (UJ) and the University of Free State (UFS) among others. Protests and strikes are continuing in 2016 for insourcing at other universities. This is arguably the biggest victory against the privatisation of the public sector in South Africa since 1994.The struggle against outsourcing at universities started over fifteen years ago. In 1999, the University of Cape Town engaged in extensive retrenchments and outsourcing of all "support services", such as cleaning, catering, maintenance and so on. UCT was the pioneer of outsourcing in South African Higher Education institutions. Wits University and others were soon to follow. This was part of a global trend in the context of neo-liberalism. Cuts in public spending for tertiary institutions encouraged public-private partnerships and third-stream income, as well as a focus on productivity and competitiveness in both the public and private sectors, promoting the model of the "market university" (Adams, 2006;Bardill, 2008).

This article addresses the tensions and contradictions of applying a popular education approach in the current context of South Africa. It draws upon data from an eighteen month research project into traditions of popular education. It presents an extended discussion on the meanings of popular education, and their varied implications for practice. It presents a heuristic device in the form of a `compass`, to assist popular educators locate themselves in their work at different historical moments.

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