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  • PublicationJournal Article
    This study explores the experiences of novice teachers who are teaching in English across the curriculum in South African rural schools. Their entry period into the profession is vulnerable and makes them novice in practice, characterised by a high rate of attrition, especially during the first five years of their career. Moreover, it becomes worse with some of the novice teachers who are employed in rural areas and have to teach in English across the curriculum. While there is a broad consensus on the importance of using the medium of instruction when teaching, studies that have investigated the experiences of novice teachers in teaching in English across the curriculum are few. This study employed a qualitative research design. Fifteen FET novice teachers were purposively selected for observation and focus group discussion from five high schools located in King Cetshwayo District in KwaZulu-Natal province. Theories of the Skills Acquisition Theory (SAT) and the Second Language (L2) Comprehensible Input through Teacher Talk Theory (CITTT) underpinned this study. Findings revealed that novice teachers face several challenges in curriculum delivery in English. The participants indicated learners' backgrounds as a limitation to the effective use of English as the medium of instructions. Lesson observations affirmed that teachers are comfortable using indigenous languages to teach across the curriculum. It is recommended that pre-service teachers should be prepared and exposed to both rural and urban areas during their teaching practice sessions. English language as a medium of instruction in schools, should be encouraged as a compulsory module for all pre-service students in teacher education.
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  • PublicationJournal Article
    Despite high hopes that schools are institutions of integrity and are properly governed, very few have demonstrated this with distinction. With this article we argue that good governance depends on the partnership between schools and parents in times of emergency. The theoretical framework from Epstein’s theory of overlapping spheres of influence was used to alarm stakeholders to guard against overlapping one’s roles during an emergency. In the study reported on here we used a qualitative research method, which allows data to be collected using semi-structured interviews and focus-group discussions as research instruments. The data were collected from stakeholders of school governing bodies (SGBs) and school management teams (SMTs) through WhatsApp and Zoom meetings. Thematic analysis was used to analyse qualitative data. The research findings reveal, among other problems, that most parents are digital immigrants who refuse to participate in virtual platforms for fear of endorsing remote learning, and that poor teaching and learning is due to a lack of access to digital technology, data, and poor connectivity. We recommend that parents should support remote learning for learners to achieve quality education beyond the Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic.
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  • PublicationJournal Article
    Novice teachers' use of English as the medium of instruction in curriculum delivery across all subjects in rural South African schools is the focus of this study. The duration of their entry into the profession as Post Graduate Certificate in Education holders is short and does not capacitate them enough, thus, making them weak and inexperienced, with a high degree of professionalism, especially at the commencement of their careers. This study investigates the lived experiences of selected novice rural teachers on the tasks of teaching in English across all subjects in the rural schools. Fifteen participants from 15 high schools were purposively selected from 15 different rural high schools from King Cetshwayo District, KwaZulu-Natal province in South Africa. The participants were engaged in a focus group discussion as well as classroom observations of these teachers for data collection. Data analysis for this qualitative study was thematically analysed to generate themes for the
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