Promoting student teachers’ adaptive capabilities through community engagement

The gap between student teachers and their ability to adapt to the school situation remains a challenge. The literature further indicates that there is an under-utilisation of students’ abilities in an ever-changing curriculum that should be responsive to the challenges with which communities are faced. This paper aims to report on the students’ adaptive capabilities through a school-initiated community engagement project. Approximately nine students were placed at schools on Saturdays while offering lessons to grade nine learners. A focus group interview was held with the students who offered natural sciences, mathematics and social sciences after the initiative. Findings of this study included raising the students’ awareness for the need and ability to improvise in order to attend to the needs of the school and their ability to go out and seek information from other schools, the university and experienced teachers. The students were also able to leave the handouts they had designed for the school. The study provides insights into the adaptability of students in schools and recommends further empowerment spaces for student teachers and the school community

Sustainable learning for refugee children in South African primary schools: A theoretical approach

Background: The advent of democracy in South Africa brought about many changes in the education system. Policies and frameworks that guide the embracement of refugee children were formulated and later implemented. However, there are ongoing challenges experienced by this group and the incidents of poor access and quality of provision experienced by a larger population of refugee children, calls for urgent redress. Aim: This is a theoretical article that examines and analyses the education access, school integration and participation of refugee children. Setting: Focusing on refugee children in a primary school in South Africa. Method: Empirical study articles and reviews carried out on the education and resettlement of refugee children in their host countries between 2005 till date were randomly selected for inclusion in our analysis. Our intention was to understand how the education for refugees is generally conceptualised and the extent to which their lived experiences are captured. Result: Using Gibson’s theory of affordances as a lens, this article analyses the relationship between the new school environment and refugee children and evaluates the possibilities of sustainable learning for all. Conclusion: We argue for an expansive access, including social and academic support interventions that are balanced in terms of promoting the individual child’s abilities and needs for optimal development

The Understanding of learner integration in a selected Ex-Model C school

Learner integration has become an asset for the meaningful resettlement of learners from different backgrounds in a one learning environment. Psychologically, the learner integration phenomenon is a crucial component in a teaching and learning context because it is linked to psycho-socio elements for the learners’ well-being. This study aimed to explore the understanding of learner integration in an Ex-Model C school. This paper identified the central elements of the diverse perceptions constituting successful learner integration in an Ex-Model C school. Moreover, the key traits in the understanding of learner integration were presented about the three overall themes that emerged from the findings of the study. The study was conceptualised within the Critical Emancipatory Research (CER) theoretical framework. The participants and research site were selected using purposive and convenience sampling. Data were generated through photovoice and multi-stakeholder meetings. Based on the South African historical background, this study maintains that learner integration has a transformative agenda as the phenomenon leans towards the democracy, social justice, and emancipation of education practices that are negatively affected by the inherent issues from the previous education system in South Africa. This implies that effective learner integration plays an essential part in ensuring equity, equality, and democracy in South African schools specifically Ex-Model C schools

Challenges Experienced with the Implementation of Supplemental Instruction at Institutions of Higher Education

This paper examines the challenges experienced with the implementation of supplemental instruction in institutions of higher education. Supplemental Instruction (SI) is a cooperative learning model designed to improve student performance in high-risk courses with a history of high failure rates. It is aimed at facilitating understanding of course content while at the same time assisting students to develop better learning skills. Although there is substantial evidence of the benefits of SI in institutions of higher education which have adopted it, there are challenges that hamper its successful implementation. The main findings in terms of the challenges were: lack of a coordinated plan; lack of articulated vision and ownership; SI leaders’ inability to model effective instructional strategies; SI leaders’ inability to effectively engage students in their own learning; and no feedback offered within the setup to keep stakeholders abreast and to promote individual growth DOI: 10.5901/mjss.2014.v5n27p74

University Access and Social Justice

This article provides an analysis and critique of contemporary practices and debates concerning inclusion and university access programmes from a social justice perspective. Agarwal, Epstein, Oppenheim, Oyler and Sonu (2010:238) indicate that social justice has “proliferated in education in recent years and is an umbrella term encompassing a large range of practices and perspectives”. It has become evident that students in some quarters of the education system frequently experience ‘negative and inequitable treatment’ (Brown, 2006; Ladson-Billings, 1994). Inclusion calls for students never to be seen in isolation from the broader societal changes and constitutional imperatives (Coates, 2007; Alexander, 2009). According to Bornman and Rose (2009), what is central to the understanding of inclusion is the notion of participation. The article addresses and examines university access programmes as social structures and institutional contexts or spaces with specified rules and regulations. Some of these rules are clearly known and well articulated; others are not so clear, whilst some are largely invisible. These institutional rules govern students’ behaviour, their thoughts and the shape of their lives