Research demonstrates that teachers' cultural perspectives influence how they teach sexuality education; however, it is not clear how this occurs. Therefore, in my study, I explored how Xhosa teachers' cultural perspectives influenced their practice of teaching sexuality education to adolescent Xhosa learners. I purposively selected 9 female Xhosa…

There is concern about mathematics success and its related pedagogy. Society has seen rapid changes in the economy and technology with a call for these changes to be reflected within the classroom. New methods of teaching mathematics are being sought with the purpose to improve teaching and learning while making mathematics relatable to the new…

In this article I report a study into the effectiveness of a 6 week intervention aimed at promoting learning of electricity concepts by 91 Grade 8 and 9 township learners. Each week I taught these learners for an hour and they engaged with educational software for another hour. Analogy usage and predict-explain-observe-explain pedagogy were…

An adequate understanding and classroom application of the Nature of Science (NOS) has become imperative for science teachers. Current research in senior high school science teachers' understanding of NOS is extensive but junior high school natural sciences teachers' understanding of NOS and planning of lessons requires further exploration. Six…

The Soweto Uprising comprised a series of protests led by secondary school students in South Africa that began on 16 June 1976. Historians and political analysts concur that the Soweto Uprising was a watershed in the national liberation struggle and ushered in the demise of the apartheid system. This article examines the presentation of the Soweto…

Recent years have witnessed violence in educational settings becoming an object of public concern and global mobilisation. International initiatives indicate rising levels of awareness regarding the interconnectedness of violence and education. In this context, international educational agendas identify violence in schools as a challenge to the…

Choice of instructional language is influenced by both previous and current perceptions of the value of a given language. For many South African learners, this has contributed to their education being presented either partially or entirely in a second or third language. This effectively limits their cultural capital and educational opportunities.…

The phenomenological study on which this article is based inquired into Grade 9 Technology teachers' professional development through workshops on pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) as well as their training needs. The workshops took place in Nelspruit in Mpumalanga, South Africa. Data were gathered from two groups of teachers who attended the…

Resilience can be viewed as successful adaptation despite challenging or threatening circumstances (e.g. poverty). This article reports on an investigation of which the primary aim was to establish how additional educational support enhances adolescents' resilience and academic performance. A quantitative approach was followed using two schools.…

Non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI) has become an increasingly worrying phenomenon among adolescents and young adults. This study sought to address the paucity of data about the prevalence, nature, and functions of NSSI in the South African context. The Inventory of Statements about Self-harm and the Beck Depression Inventory-II were administered to…

The poor performance of learners in the 2017 National Senior Certificate accounting paper has raised concern. One way to improve the results in accounting over time is to ensure that the first introduction of accounting as financial literacy in the senior phase is done properly. The training of Grade 8 and/or 9 financial literacy teachers was…

Textbook content has the ability to influence mathematical learning. This study compares how linear functions are presented in two textbooks, one of South African and the other of German origin. These two textbooks are used in different language-based streams in a school in Gauteng, South Africa. A qualitative content analysis on how the topic of…

This article reports on the influence of communication skills on rural students' resilience and well-being. Purposive sampling was used to retrospectively select 40 (f: n = 20; m: n = 20) Grade 9 students in a rural school that were involved in a larger youth project that aimed to deliver pathways towards resilience in rural schools through…

This non-experimental, exploratory and descriptive study, using a qualitative case study approach, aims to investigate whether there is evidence of variance in the quality of school-based assessment (SBA) in Grade 9 mathematics. Participants were purposefully selected from five schools in a district in the Northern Cape in South Africa. After…

Classroom practitioners are expected to facilitate effective learning under the "Curriculum and Assessment Policy Statement" (CAPS) in South Africa. During this facilitation process, educators are required to become more resourceful in terms of their learning and teaching strategies. This article is based on a case study -- within the…