The teaching of young children or Foundation Phase (FP) teaching as it is known in South Africa continues to be regarded as 'women's work'. Lately South African research has focused on encouraging men's participation as FP teachers. In this paper, we offer a critical examination of how South African primary school teachers 'embrace' the need for…

Background: Formative assessment, as an integral component of teaching, has recently gained prominence in educational environments globally. Poor performances in mathematics by learners in early grades, and its negative effect on later learning, have been an ongoing concern in South African schools. Several former studies tend to generalise the…

Background: Making predictions on how events might unfold when reading a text improves comprehension. Research on reading and making predictions tends to focus predominantly on the effects of making predictions as a reading strategy in monolingual contexts. So far, there is a paucity of research on the effects of reading development strategies in…

Background: Information Communication Technology (ICT) holds the promise of enabling low-cost teacher professional development at scale. An expert coach, for example, could reach far more teachers virtually, thus reducing salary and transport costs. But the benefits of in-person interaction--such as developing relationships of trust and…

Early literacy teaching and learning in the foundation phase of rural schools in South Africa experience persistent challenges. In order to address some of these challenges, a national reading programme to improve literacy among rural learners was initiated by a nongovernmental organisation. The article provides an overview of how teachers in…

Victims' experiences of learner challenging behaviour in South African primary schools are an ongoing problem that is cause for concern, where additionally, the parents of the perpetrators are unapologetic, and defending their wrongdoing. In this scenario, there is little teachers can do to address ill-disciplined learners. In effect, teacher…

Background: Parents are challenged to choose schools for their Grade 1 learners. They believe that the Department of Education's zoning and admission policy is too restrictive. Schools also do not provide adequate information to allow parents to make their choice. Aim: This article aimed to identify factors that influence parents' choice of…

Undoubtedly the acquisition of mathematical skills for problem solving is critically important in today's sophisticated technological world. There is growing evidence that meta-cognition application is an important component of academic success in general and impacts on mathematical achievement in particular. Teachers' application of…

The management of ill-discipline among learners has become a serious challenge for teachers. This article reports on a study conducted to determine how teachers in the primary schools of the Matjhabeng Municipality, Free State, South Africa, manage ill-discipline among learners. A mixed method approach, which comprised a questionnaire and…

In this paper, illustrative excerpts from mathematics lessons are analysed to examine mathematical and multilingual moves between representations within Sepedi and English medium classrooms. Duval's theory of representational registers and the literature on multilingual practices help foreground similarities within and differences between the…

Background: Children with developmental coordination disorder (DCD) portray motor coordination and perceptual difficulties which can hamper daily activity and academic task execution. Aim: This study examined the association between DCD and academic performance, and explored which perceptual and motor coordination skills had the largest…

According to the South African curriculum, two of the aims of learning history are to learn the process of historical enquiry and to understand historical concepts such as the use of historical sources and examining evidence. This paper explores how a sample of seven social science South African textbooks uses historical sources to enable learners…

There has been limited attention towards the affective aspect in literacy development; yet, reading attitude, an affective component, is a significant element within literacy instruction. This makes a compelling case for investigating Grade 3 learners' attitudes towards reading. In this study, a situational analysis was conducted as Phase 1 of the…

Background: Given the context of low attainment in primary mathematics in South Africa, improving learners' understanding of multiplicative reasoning is important as it underpins much of later mathematics. Aim: Within a broader research programme aiming to improve Foundation Phase (Grades 1-3, 7-9-year-olds) learners' mathematical performance, the…

This study investigated the developmental influence of collaborative games, in the form of game-based worksheets, on the performance and attitudes of sixth-graders in the mathematics classroom. It is posited that games have the potential to enhance learning through positive emotional experiences. Non-digital game-based learning methodologies are…