Background: Formative assessment has been reported to improve learners' learning in affluent contexts. However, very few studies have reported the impact of formative assessment on teachers' knowledge and understanding in no-fee public schools located in a low socioeconomic context. Aim: This article investigates the impact of the Assessment for…

Background: Mathematics education is a significant issue in the South African context. Learners' achievement levels are markedly low as suggested by both national and international studies. The teaching and learning of fractions in particular have been identified as challenging. Aim: The aim of this article is to share some of the outcomes derived…

This paper explores and compares the language learning strategies of high and low performing second language (L2) learners participating in peer tutoring. The participating learners were grouped into high and low performing learners based on their scores in English second language. The classification of strategies by Griffiths into base, core and…

Teachers play a role in promoting teaching and learning strategies to address the complexity of concepts. Systems thinking is a strategy for achieving meaningful learning. Doubt exists over the extent to which the latter has been converted into appropriate classroom practice at under-resourced rural schools in one province in South Africa. This…

Higher-order comprehension skills are necessary to understand a text, yet many South African learners have not been taught these skills. The aim of this study is to explicitly teach higher-order reading comprehension strategies to a Grade 2 learner who could not read for meaning. This study is based upon Vygotsky's Social Constructivist theory.…

Background: Formative assessment, as an integral component of teaching, has recently gained prominence in educational environments globally. Poor performances in mathematics by learners in early grades, and its negative effect on later learning, have been an ongoing concern in South African schools. Several former studies tend to generalise the…

This article analyses conversation around classroom discipline to establish how teachers learn through professional conversation. The study was a qualitative study that originally adopted an ethno-methodological research design. Purposive sampling was used to select 6 primary school teachers from the East London Education District in the Eastern…

This study qualitatively explores expertise as a critical resource on which quality teaching depends. The study sample is comprised of six South African schools from the poorest poverty quintiles achieving relatively higher and lower academic outcomes. From interview data gathered over three years with teachers and other school staff, findings…

Background: Poor mathematics performance in South Africa is well known. The COVID-19 pandemic was expected to exacerbate the situation. Aim: To investigate Grade 7 learners' mathematical knowledge at the end of primary school and to compare mathematical performance of Grade 7 and 8 learners in the context of the pandemic. Setting: Data were…

The COVID-19 pandemic continues to present severe challenges to the education sector more than 2 years after the first case was detected. We explore the strategies South African teachers used to support continued mathematics learning at home during the COVID-19 pandemic across different stages of the response to it and across different contexts.…

Background: Learners from predominantly less priviledged South African schools encounter English as a language of teaching and learning for the first time in Grade 4. The transition from the use of home language to second language, namely English first additional language, is complexly related to the learners' inability to read text meaningfully.…

The extended lockdown in 2020 found South African educators employing innovative strategies to teach and assess Foundation Phase learners. Educators had to make do with reduced hours in the classroom and experienced new challenges in delivering curriculum content to learners that had barely grown accustomed to the formal classroom setup. Empirical…

The teaching of natural sciences and technology in primary schools presents an opportunity to use innovative approaches to teach STEM-based activities. The subject presents opportunities for learners to experience STEM-based instructional approaches in their early school years; therefore, it is essential that preservice primary school teachers are…

These proceedings contain the papers and posters of the 15th International Conference on Mobile Learning 2019, which was organised by the International Association for Development of the Information Society and co-organised by the University of Applied Sciences, in Utrecht, The Netherlands, April 11-13, 2019. The Mobile Learning 2019 Conference…

The focus of this paper is on selected recent South African research studies that have explored efforts to promote the discussion, writing, and arguing aspects of scientific literacy in primary and middle schools, particularly amongst second-language learners. These studies reveal improvements in the participants' abilities to both use the…