Background: In South Africa socio-economic problems such as poor health conditions, juvenile delinquency, high rates of school dropout and teenage pregnancy are increasing. Therefore, it is vital to prepare foundation phase (FP) pre-service teachers to fortify children with basic life skills (LS) that will help them to cope with real-world challenges and demands.Aim: The study is aimed to explore the experiences of pre-service FPLS teachers during their teaching practice.Setting: This qualitative case study was conducted in the FP department of a teacher-training institution at a South African university.Methods: Twenty final-year pre-service teachers were purposively selected to participate in semi-structured interviews and reflective writing exercises. Thematic analysis was used to analyse the data, and the classification of the emerging themes was informed by Vygotsky’s sociocultural theory.Results: The findings revealed pre-service teachers’ experience of support from mentors, a struggle with implementation of FP curriculum, realities of classroom interaction, inefficient language of interaction for the FP classroom, and a lack of awareness of the importance of LS as a subject.Conclusion: The study argues that to improve the pedagogy of future LS teachers, a review and reform of the LS teacher-training curriculum are necessary. This curriculum needs to provide more extensive micro-teaching that promotes teachers’ general proficiency in the home languages of their learners and equips them with effective teaching strategies. The implementation of the LS curriculum needs to be regularly evaluated to ensure that these skills are imparted to young learners for their individual benefit and for the benefit of society.

Background: Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) learners have unique needs, and specific pedagogies, therefore, need to be employed to support the acquisition of their essential skills. A great deal of research has been conducted on the use of music-based pedagogies to teach mathematics, life skills, civics and literacy at various levels of education. In South Africa, where ECCE is a relatively new educational sector, very little structure has been put in place to facilitate using music-based pedagogies to teach communication skills to ECCE learners. Aim:The aim of this study was to explore ECCE educators use music-based pedagogies to positively impact children's communication skills and language development. Setting:The qualitative case study was conducted at two Urban ECCE centers in Durban, KwaZulu Natal Province, South African. Method:The study was informed by a social constructivist paradigm underpinned by Vygotsky's sociocultural theory, focussing on ECCE learners' interaction with the more knowledgeable other (MKO). Data were generated through semi-structured interviews and classroom observations with six educators, and through document analysis. The data were analysed using thematic analysis. Findings:The study confirmed that the ECCE educators have some levels of understanding of using music-based pedagogies as a strategy for teaching communication skills to children aged from three to four, but there are constraints. These limitations include insufficient training, a lack of musical resources and the non-inclusion of music-based pedagogies in both the pre-service teachers' curriculum and the ECCE curriculum. Conclusions:The study recommended a comprehensive review of the content and implementation of the ECCE curriculum in relation to music pedagogy.