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.

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This paper reports on a case study of male foundation phase pre-service students who were among the first cohort to specialise in the foundation phase since the inception of the programme at one South African university. The students reported on their experiences of teaching in a female-dominated field and their views about their preparedness to teach in the field. This qualitative study is interpretive in nature. Using purposive sampling, eighteen students were sampled from a population of twenty. Data was generated through focus group interviews and then analysed and categorised. The patterns across categories showed that the pre-service teachers had faced an unwelcoming environment in the schools at the outset, but that this changed over time. Some parents were negative about male teachers in the foundation phase. However, the pre-service teachers were able to work hard and show that they can work with foundation phase learners. The study concluded that male students who enter foundation phase teacher education programmes need a lot of encouragement to boost their self-confidence and to realise the important role they can play in working with young children in a country where many young learners grow up in fatherless homes.

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In this article, we explore and seek to understand transnational teacher migration from the narrative expressions of two women who migrated from their home countries to another southern African country. The data are complemented by a self-constructed narrative of a woman who left her home country. Framed through Appreciative Inquiry, the study observes that all individuals, organizations, and institutions are powered by positive thought and have some good or something that works well for them at some point. The data generated from two narrative expressions were analyzed through narrative analysis with emerging themes presented. In addition, data were complemented by a coconstructed narrative of a woman who gave up her career aspirations to migrate with the family. With the latter, the situation got more complicated when the husband untimely passed away. Issues such as gender discrimination and socialization as well as imaginations of positive futures do play a role in women teachers' transnational migration decisions. We conclude that transnational women teacher migration should be understood within its own socially constructed, relativist ontology and subjectivist epistemology, which may be influenced by the power of appreciative, positive thought.

Background: Integrating teaching and learning activities around the selected themes was acknowledged as an effective way to manage learning in the Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) sector. It was also ensured for the desired results and highest opportunity to prepare young children for school readiness in the South African National Curriculum Framework (NCF).Aim: The aim of this study was to explore ECCE teachers’ experiences of integrating activities from the six early learning developmental areas (ELDAs) of the NCF into the selected themes.Setting: This interpretive case study was conducted with six purposively selected ECCE teachers from three centres that followed the guidelines of the NCF for the development of young children in the Umbumbulu rural area in KwaZulu–Natal province.Methods: The study was framed within the transformative learning theory and qualitative data were generated using semi-structured interviews and document analysis that were inductively analysed using the data analysis spiral.Results: The findings show integration as a collaborative venture for teachers to interpret the NCF, select themes, and identify and integrate activities from the six ELDAs when planning lessons. Natural, indigenous themes and man-made resources were used to overcome the shortage of teaching resources. Challenges occurred from the lack of play resources and the support from department officials.Conclusion: This study recommends more teamwork for ECCE teachers to understand the objectives of the NCF for purposeful planning to meet young children’s learning needs and school preparedness in the ECCE sector. Further research is recommended in the ECCE sector.

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