This study explored the perspectives of teachers in both South Africa and Nigeria on professional development using andragogical approach. The quality of teachers translates to the quality of the education system; this is why many African countries have been making a significant impact on the professional development of their teachers. A qualitative method approach was employed to explore the views of South African and Nigerian teachers on the professional development activities available to them. Adult learning theory was used as the theoretical framework to underpin this interpretive study. Data collection was through semi-structured face to face interviews with 6 Heads of Departments and semi-structured focus group interviews with 10 teachers from 16 high schools in both countries. The interviews were audio-recorded with permissions from the participants, further transcribed, coded and analysed through content thematic analysis. Findings from both countries revealed that though there were professional development programmes for teachers. However, they were inadequate and irregular for the teachers every year. The study, therefore, recommends appropriate professional development activities for teachers at least once a term. The study also recommends that these professional development activities should focus on the teachers’ diverse classroom needs.   Received: 12 August 2020 / Accepted: 3 November 2020 / Published: 10 May 2021

The aim and scope of this study are to explore strategies for the encouragement of participative management at secondary schools in patriarchal South Africa. The study adopted the positivism paradigm to explore this empirical investigation, with the use of questionnaires as the data collection instrument. The school principals were the target of the target population. A total of 200 public high schools were selected across the King Cetshwayo district of KwaZulu-Natal province in South Africa. The sampled schools were randomly selected for the study. Findings reveal that principals, deputy principals, and departmental heads in patriarchal South Africa used management and leadership strategies that did not align with the twenty-first century. The adoption of ubuntu (humanness) and lekgotla (Sesotho term for “an African participatory approach to decision-making”) was advocated for, in making various decisions at secondary schools in South Africa. The study also established that the teaching responsibilities of the principals should be reduced or removed to enhance administrative functions through effective implementation of participative management practices at secondary schools in patriarchal South Africa.   Received: 8 March 2022 / Accepted: 13 August 2022 / Published: 2 September 2022

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This study adopted a discursive approach to review the use of the Learning Management System (LMS) popularly known as 'Moodle’ in most South African universities. Moodle as fondly called is one of the online tools that can be effectively used to deliver learning activities as well as online learning assessments to implement curriculum delivery without borders or disruptions during the COVID-19 lockdown across the globe. The author highlights various extant studies on the usage and adoption of LMS into teaching and learning for effective implementation in higher institutions of learning. LMS is a global online tool that has been in use for decades in various higher institutions of learning across the developed countries. It has proved to be an efficient learning platform that has impacted significantly the education sector in these developed countries, as learning experiences are provided to diverse students at their comfort zones. With the break of the COVID-19 pandemic that affects the global world, teaching and learning in most parts of the developed countries continue to be facilitated through various online approaches that include LMS in the developed countries. Unfortunately, the pandemic lockdown in many developing countries like South Africa grossly impacted the delivery of curriculum and educational activities in various learning institutions for several months. The continuous presence of COVID-19 led the South African Department of Higher Education and Training to review approaches to curriculum delivery to salvage academic activities. Thus, declared online learning as an alternative to face-to-face curriculum delivery in higher institutions. The adoption of LMS results as the best approach to engage students in full teaching and learning activities.

The quality of education is central to the Sustainable National Development that can be attained by any country. Hence, the professional development of teachers is critical to classroom practices in the education system. Teachers attend various professional development activities every year to improve their classroom practices. The aim of the study was to establish teachers’ perspectives on professional development activities. The study adopted an interpretive qualitative approach to explore teachers' views on the phenomenon. The study engaged three heads of departments in semi-structured interviews and five teachers in a focus group interview to explore teachers’ lived experiences of professional development. The study employed andragogy as the theoretical framework to understand teachers' views on workshops, subject association meetings, conferences and other professional development activities they attended. Thematic analysis of the data was carried out systematically to generate themes from the findings. Teachers did not regularly attend annual professional development activities. The contents of the professional development activities did not adequately address teachers’ needs for dynamics in the classroom. It is therefore recommended that teachers’ classroom practices be assessed by their heads of departments, vice principals/principals or subject specialists to determine how their classroom practices could be enhanced. The frequency of professional development activities for teachers should be increased every year, to improve their classroom practices.

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