Inaugural open-access online issue of African Journal of Pedagogy and Curriculum

I am pleased to present the inaugural open-access online issue of the African Journal of Open Pedagogy and Curriculum (AJOPAC). Previously published exclusively in print, the journal’s transition to an online open-access format—conceptualised in 2024—marks a significant milestone in its development. While the vision for an open journal was clear from the outset, the work required to bring this first issue to fruition proved far more demanding than anticipated, resulting in a steep but invaluable learning journey.

Although we are affiliated with a public higher education institution, AJOPAC originated as a personal initiative aimed at creating a scholarly platform for emerging and early-career researchers, whose work is often underrepresented in established journals. As Editor-in-Chief, AJOPAC is truly a labour of love. I extend my sincere gratitude to the contributors and members of the Editorial Board for their dedication, collegiality, and scholarly commitment. I am equally humbled by the wide-ranging support that enabled the publication of this issue.

The establishment of AJOPAC as an open-access journal required financial investment, including funding for the Open Journal Systems (OJS) platform and Crossref membership to ensure the allocation of Digital Object Identifiers (DOIs) to all published articles. These steps were essential to ensure academic credibility, discoverability, and long-term impact. Given ongoing debates and confusion surrounding open access (OA) publishing, it is important to state clearly that AJOPAC is an open-access journal. All content is freely accessible to readers, while authors and the journal retain copyright. AJOPAC does charge article processing charge (APC) or in most cases waived such APC. AJOPAC receives no external financial support; rather, the journal is sustained through the personal generous funds of the Editor-in-Chief, which enable its continued operation and the publication of fully peer-reviewed, final versions of scholarly work directly on its platform.

Volume 7, Issue 1 (2025) includes eight peer-reviewed research articles. While future issues will broadly follow this structure, AJOPAC remains open to growth and innovation. The contributions in this inaugural volume address critical issues in contemporary education, including digital game-based learning in higher education; unemployment among Engineering graduates in selected TVET colleges; STEM integration for Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR)-ready Technology Teacher preparation; simulated pedagogy in Finance education; play-based pedagogy in Early Childhood Education; 4IR as a form of digitalised neo-colonialism in Africa; the integration of Indigenous Knowledge in early childhood literacy; and school principals’ instructional leadership in curriculum delivery.

We invite scholars, practitioners, and policymakers to engage critically with this work and to join AJOPAC on its journey towards advancing open, inclusive, and contextually responsive pedagogical and curriculum scholarship.