The Covid-19 global pandemic has resulted in many countries moving teaching and learning online. South Africa is a country with major inequalities in terms of access to electricity, internet and information technologies, which have created considerable problems for online learning at institutions of higher learning in the country. In this paper, we analyse student feedback from two large undergraduate English courses at a school of Education of a major South African university. We specifically focus on two qualitative questions which asked students about the challenges they faced and the skills they developed in online learning. Results are considered through the lens of critical digital pedagogies and decolonisation. Our findings indicate that a lack of access and resources, disruptive home environments and unfamiliarity with online learning methods were significant obstacles for students. In addition, many students indicated developing computer skills and learning how to use online resources during the courses. The study suggests that online teaching and learning in South Africa and similar contexts exacerbates inequalities, and must be accompanied by rigorous support structures for students who are vulnerable in these contexts.

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However, coherent frameworks for QCL are still emerging (Govender & Andrews 2021).Educators are still grappling with how to approach (a)gender and (a)sexuality diversity in meaningful and transformative ways, especially in societies with widespread homophobia. The authors of this chapter work in initial teacher education (ITE) at universities in Johannesburg, South Africa, and Glasgow, Scotland, and we have both incorporated QCL in different ways in our courses. Our approaches to QCL have been influenced by socio-political factors including the histories of queer rights in our respective contexts. In this chapter, we use autoethnographic research methods (Adams & Holman Jones 2011) to reflect on courses and lessons where we incorporate QCL into ITE. This, in many ways, is reflected in the queer border crossings we make from reflecting on processes of teaching and learning, to personal and cultural experiences, to emotional tensions tied to ways of doing QCL in teacher education. First, we present brief comments about our positionality as educators and discuss policies and historical factors that influence the teaching of QCL in Johannesburg and Glasgow. Second, we unpack the queer critical literacies approach and explain its utility in diverse contexts, and describe the autoethnographic method employed in this chapter. We then discuss key moments in our teaching and how we incorporated QCL in our classrooms. We conclude the chapter by reflecting on these transnational approaches and how they reflect the context-specific ways that QCL might be brought into ITE. We argue that QCL is important in ITE in diverse global contexts because teachers can play a role in transforming school contexts and challenging heterosexism and queerphobia, if they are empowered to teach in ways that interrupt heteronormativity

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