South Africa performs poorly in both national and international assessments, such as the Annual National Assessment (ANA 1 ) and the Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS). In the ANA Home Language (as referred to by the Curriculum and Assessment Policy Statement [CAPS]) tests conducted in 2014, Grade 1 learners reached an average of 63%, Grade 2 learners had an average of 61% and Grade 3 learners had an average of 56%. In the 2016 PIRLS assessment, the South African literacy results were also alarming. Grade 4 learners averaged a reading score of 320 out of a 1000 on the PIRLS scale 2 , which is concerning because it falls far below the PIRLS 'low international benchmark' of 400 (Mullis et al. 2017:20). This describes a disturbing picture of education and its 'outcome quality' in South African schools (Modisaotsile 2012:s.p.). These results indicate the urgency for improvement in the quality of education, especially during the Foundation Phase because it is one of the phases (early years of schooling: grades 1-3) that directly affect learners' academic success later in life (Department of Basic Education [DBE] 2014a:42). In 2008, the South African Ministerial Committee on Learner Retention observed high repetition rates as early as Grade 1 (Department of Education [DoE] 2008:xii). The then DoE reported that out of 1000 people born between 1980 and 1984 (aged 23-27 years in 2007), about 984 entered Grade 1 and only 456 reached Grade 12. This means that not even 50% of this cohort who started Grade 1 reached Grade 12 (DoE 2008:xiii).1.The ANA's are no longer used as a standardised measure of assessment in South Africa. 2.PIRLS depends on ItemResponse Theory (IRT) scaling to combine each participating country's learner population and to provide accurate estimates of learner reading achievement. Background:The South African education system is characterised by a shortage of teachers and inadequate school infrastructure which is contributing to the overcrowded nature of South African classrooms. The current national learner-educator ratio (LER) is 33:1, and some classes have even reported an LER value of 50:1 and higher. The South African LER is more than double the average of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development's international average of 16:1.Aim: This research has been conducted to identify overcrowdedness in classrooms as a factor associated with poor academic achievement.Setting: A qualitative research approach served this study best when an investigation was launched into the impact of overcrowded classrooms in the Foundation Phase in the Tshwane-West district.Methods: The study's sample comprised 10 purposefully chosen participants who are knowledgeable and experienced in the field of teaching in overcrowded classrooms in the Foundation Phase. The participants included heads of departments, primary school principals, higher education lecturers and a department of basic education official. In-depth, semistructured interviews were conducted with each of the participants.F...

Vocabulary knowledge plays an important role in determining a person's language proficiency level. This study investigates the role vocabulary plays in determining students' performance within research modules at private higher education institutions (HEIs). The discipline-specific vocabulary in this study includes target words, sampled from an undergraduate research module's prescribed textbook. A mixed-method design is used to explain students' challenges and concerns with regard to research modules. An investigation is launched into students' research vocabulary acquisition by administering pre-and post-testing with regular reliability. By measuring the students' research vocabulary acquisition, the effectiveness of the research module's (mostly incidental) learning process is determined. The relationship between the students' research vocabulary acquisition and their research module performance as part of a Bachelor of Education degree (B.Ed.) curriculum is also established. This study contributes to the development of best practices and the advancement of institutional research development across HEI; it also stimulates interdisciplinary engagement within the research field research modules at HEI in South Africa.

High degrees of ethnocentrism indicate intolerance towards that which is not one's own. When displayed by teachers towards learners, such attitudes may have detrimental effects on learner performance and hinder transformation in South African classrooms. Using Vygotskian sociocultural theory of human learning as a theoretical framework, this quantitative case study reports on the outcome of the electronically administered Generalised Ethnocentrism survey that measured 1,164 preservice teachers' ethnocentrism at a private higher education institution. Apart from providing biographical data, respondents answered 22 statements on a 5-point Likert-type scale about their beliefs pertaining to their own and others' culture, customs, and values. Results showed that preservice teachers manifest varying degrees of ethnocentrism but that those who attended multicultural schools scored significantly lower on the ethnocentrism scale than those who attended mono-ethnic schools. Respondents in the last stretch of their studies also obtained lower scores on the GENE scale than first and second years. This would suggest that greater exposure to social diversity and interaction across cultures plays a fundamental role in shaping ethnocentric beliefs and attitudes. An unexpected finding was that the instrument did not provide similar results as found in several studies, thus creating misgivings about its applicability in a context in which a minority ethnic grouping no longer held power. Policy makers and teacher educators should consider interventions to create more explicit and purposeful opportunities for preservice teachers to gain multicultural exposure and develop cultural competence. Assisting prospective teachers to identify their own ethnocentrism and knowing how to counter the many prevailing ideologies that promote, however inadvertently, ethnocentrism would prepare them for the realities of their future classroom and equip them to act as agents of change.

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Amongst the contemporary needs of societies in the fourth industrial revolution, are student-teachers who are adaptable, ethical, and literate in developing technology-mediated environments. Cultivating such teachers requires engaging them experientially in blended learning practices. We explored 155 student-teachers’ experiences of blended learning, at a South African institution for higher education, by using the Community of Inquiry (CoI) as theoretical framework. We created cognitive, social, and teaching presences within the initial teacher education module on their learning management system, Blackboard LearnTM. Utilising explanatory mixed-method as research approach enabled us to compare student-teachers’ experiences of the three presences using a Likert-type questionnaire and reflective feedback. Studentteachers’ online engagement reflected a good cognitive and teaching presence; whilst their social presence was maintained using disparate social media applications and consequently sidestepping this higher education institution’s learning management system. Social constructivists endorse socially situated knowledge, collaborative validation of understanding, and one’s own construction of meaning. Supposing that student-teachers education social studies for democratic citizenship education necessitate social presence as it precedes cognitive and teaching presences. The implication for higher education institutions is to create a sustainable online social presence within their learning management systems for prospective teacher citizens to be better prepared for technology-mediated milieus.