The absence of official codes of ethics and conduct for teaching practice at many traditional South African universities is of great concern. With this sequential explanatory, triangulation, mixed-method study we aimed to provide a valuable framework for universities developing and implementing these codes. In this study, quantitative content…

In the study reported on here we investigated the use of post-method practice to optimise pre-service teachers' teaching practice and English First Additional Language (EFAL) proficiency. This study was premised on the theoretical framework of Paulo Freire's critical pedagogy which promotes diverse perspectives in language learning and teaching…

Epistemic beliefs can have an important effect on teaching practices determining how teachers approach a discipline in the classroom in different contexts. The research reported on here focused on initial teacher education, assessing the pre-service social studies teachers' epistemic beliefs about history, and their ideas regarding history…

The research reported on here was designed in a qualitative approach to present the opinions of pre-service pre-school teachers on the use of mathematics activities. The sample consisted of 10 pre-service teachers, who in their fourth year of pre-school education in the teaching department in 2017 to 2018. The pre-service teachers in the study…

Education stakeholders and researchers in South Africa have emphasised the need to enhance teachers' creativity through problem-solving tasks. Teachers' creativity entails using new ideas of creative devices to solve problems, implement solutions, and make learning more effective. In the research reported on here, Guilford's theory was used to…

In science education, only teachers that are competent in skills, methods and procedures relevant to a science discipline can help learners to develop scientific skills and processes associated with investigating natural phenomena. The purpose of this study was to explore views of pre-service science teachers with regard to science process skills…

This study presents the perceptions of trainee teachers regarding the realisation of practical mathematical sessions to expand on the concepts that are taught in primary education using manipulatives. For a 4-month period, a practical session with the mentioned characteristics was carried out weekly with Year 1 students of the Primary Education…

Promoting teacher professionalism is regarded as a strategy to address the disparate quality of learning in South African classrooms. Through a qualitative analysis of initial teacher education (ITE) programmes offered by five universities, this paper analyses the messages of teacher professionalism transmitted to pre-service teachers. Findings…

This article explores the contribution that a teaching strategy, such as metaphoric body-mapping, can make towards the discourse on the development of professional teacher identity. Second-year students in a Life Orientation methodology module in a B.Ed programme were offered the opportunity to validate their local knowledge and make new meaning…

The effects of overcrowded classrooms are far-reaching for teachers and learners. Many parents base their decision on whether to send their child to a particular school on the prospective number of learners in the child's classroom (Mustafa, Mahmoud, Assaf, Al-Hamadi & Abdulhamid, 2014:178). All teacher training institutions ought to ascertain…

Rapid global technological developments have affected all facets of life, including the teaching and learning of mathematics. This qualitative study was designed to identify the ways in which technology was used and to explore the nature of this use by a group of 52 mathematics student teachers. The participants were pre-service Mathematics…

The aim of this study was two-fold. The first aim was to determine the levels of critical thinking disposition and perception of problem-solving ability of pre-service teachers. The second aim was to compare the effects of problem-based learning and traditional teaching methods on the critical thinking dispositions and perceptions of…

Although becoming a more racially-integrated society, the legacy of Apartheid still affects learners' social engagements in and outside their classrooms. Adopting Nussbaum's (2010) capabilities framework for a socially just democracy, this paper examines 27 pre-service teacher education students' perceptions of a digital storytelling project and…

In this paper I analyse the potential that participatory action research holds for educating pre-service teachers to become more critically reflective and socially conscious. I also describe the rationale for and process of engaging pre-service teachers in their teacher education programme. Involving these candidate teachers in participatory…

We argue that the "community of inquiry" approach, using reading materials modelled on Lipman's Philosophy for Children programme, is a theoretically justified and teacher-friendly means of promoting effective thinking skills. The stimulus materials, used by the pre-service teachers, consist of short stories of classroom life designed to…