This article reports on an inquiry that explored how a school management team (SMT) in a rural school in Limpopo Province, South Africa, understood their role in creating a school climate conducive for improving teaching and learning. I used a qualitative case study design to investigate how their understanding informed their practices. A single…

The purpose of this study was to investigate the challenges faced by SMTs in dealing with poor academic performance in the Mopani-West District of Limpopo Province, South Africa. Studies have indicated that schools in rural areas fail to meet their full potential due to a combination of factors including insufficient instructional resources,…

The experiences of pre-service teachers who come from rural backgrounds differ widely from those who are from urban schools. It can be assumed that these experiences play a crucial role in shaping their teaching careers during and after the formal teacher training. Even though much research has already dwelt on the various challenges experienced…

The Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996 confers equality on all South African citizens regardless of race and gender. It has been reported that, under apartheid, gender inequality was a way of life and even social liberation movements observed it. Education is not exempt from gender inequality; the Department of Education in 2003…

In this article, I hope to provide some novel insights into teacher resilience and poverty on the basis of ten-year long-term ethnographic participatory reflection and action data obtained from teachers (n?=?87) in rural (n?=?6) and urban (n?=?8) schools (n?=?14, high schools?=?4, primary schools?=?10) in three South African provinces. In…

The year 2006 saw the implementation of a new curriculum for teaching English First Additional Language (FAL) in grades 10-12 in South African high schools. The curriculum includes the teaching and assessment of visual literacy--a challenge for teachers whose apartheid-era teacher education did not address visual literacy at all. The article is a…