Education in the New Normal: A Need for Alternative Strategies in Supporting Teaching and Learning in South African Schools in the Post-COVID-19 Era

Abstract

The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic has negatively impacted the educational system all over the world in many ways, including teaching and learning. Schools had to abandon face-to-face teaching and learning and adopt online teaching approaches. This means that teaching through mobile digital tools and blended approaches is to be enhanced post-COVID-19 era. This paper critically reviewed the literature on the strategies used to support teaching and learning in South African schools during the post-COVID-19 era amid the challenges experienced by the education system in South Africa. The literature review approach was adopted to gather literature on strategies to support teaching and learning in South African schools. Having considered teaching and learning in South African schools which is primarily based on face-to-face traditional pedagogical strategies before the outbreak of COVID-19 and the challenges experienced during the pandemic. The paper argues the need for educational planners to rethink how teaching and learning could be enhanced in the new normal. The digital learning, blended teaching, and eLearning/online learning approaches response of South Africa during the outbreak of the pandemic should be sustained. It emerged from the literature that although teachers and learners have embraced technology, there is no clear policy on how ICT should integrate with teaching, learning and assessment. Therefore, this study recommends that the Department of Basic Education develop an ICT integration policy providing a clear strategy that will accommodate both rural and urban schools. Furthermore, it is recommended that increased funding on education resources and the provision of continuous teacher professional development program be considered. Keywords: New normal, Post-COVID-19, Blended teaching and learning, Online learning

The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on educational transformation in African higher education: a systematic literature review on rural universities

“…The pandemic's uncertainty and rapidly changing nature made it challenging for universities to plan and make informed decisions. South African rural universities faced several challenges in terms of educational transformation during the COVID-19 pandemic (Olawumi & Mavuso, 2022). These challenges included the digital divide, lack of resources for online learning, adjustments in teaching practices, existing inequalities in the higher education system, impact on well-being and mental health, and navigating through changing regulations.…”

Mitigating the COVID-19 Induced Learning Loss in Rural Primary Schools: How Do Teachers Prepare English FAL Learners for Self-Directed Learning in the ‘New Normal’?

“…That is, online learning was not a feasible mode of teaching for many learners in rural South African schools. While many of these schools lacked the infrastructure to carry out online learning, teachers were inadequately skilled to teach through online platforms (Molise & Dube, 2020;Olawumi & Mavuso, 2022). As a result, prolonged school closures became an obvious alternative which left many rural learners with access to little or no education at all (Soudien et al, 2022).…”

“…Gustafsson and Deliwe (2020) endorse policy-driven catch-up strategies, while Olawumi and Mavuso (2022) highlight the need for an ICT integration policy for all schools and programs for teacher development. However, these studies do not endeavor to explore how learners could be empowered to play an active role in mitigating COVID-19-induced learning loss, especially in reading skills.…”

“…ForDamoah and Omodan (2022), the lack of official guidelines regarding the implementation of blended learning in the post-pandemic era compounds this situation. Other contributory factors to the slow adoption of digital pedagogies include poor technological infrastructure, teachers' low digital competency, and access to resources(Ajani & Gamede, 2021;Olawumi & Mavuso, 2022). The findings of the study bySikhakhane and colleagues (2020) indicated the prevalence of teacher-centered pedagogies in many rural classrooms.…”