Vaccine education to the rescue of students in the COVID-19 revolution

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Promoting dynamics of curriculum implementation that help all teachers and learners meet their needs and understand who they are is critical. Such is equally needful in special schools which use the mainstream curriculum to teach learners with disabilities. This study sought to explore the dynamics that enhance implementing a mainstream English curriculum at a school for the deaf in Eswatini. This was aimed to assist teachers in reflecting on and critiquing their practices and experiences to improve their classroom actions; and to raise awareness of the natural identity of both teachers and learners at the school with the hope of meeting individual needs and, ultimately, the teaching and learning goals. Utilizing purposive sampling, this qualitative study selected six teachers of English Language at the school. The pragmatic paradigm, action research design, and natural identity theory framed the study. Semi-structured interviews, Zoom focus-group discussions, document review, and reflective activities were used as data-generation methods. Findings revealed that implementing the mainstream English curriculum at the school seemed to overlook the importance of individual dynamics, which are vital in meeting unique individual needs. Personal dynamics combine the strengths of top-down and bottom-up dynamics Thus, relieving the remarkable tension between the dominant top-down and bottom-up dynamics. Consequently, this study recommends a balance between the top-down, bottom-up, and individual dynamics to successfully implement the mainstream English curriculum at the school.

Section: Intended Content For Learnersmentioning

confidence: 87%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Adjusted Curriculum Contentmentioning

confidence: 94%

Section: Theme Three: Individual Dynamicsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Teaching and Learning Supportmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 3 more Smart Citations

Individual dynamics for effective implementation of mainstream English curriculum at a school for the deaf

Khumalo

Shoba

Khoza

2023

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Neutralising the digital divide: is blended learning a viable solution?

Makumane,

Mataka,

Sengai

et al. 2023

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The digital divide (DD), which refers to the gap resulting from unequal access to digital technology hardware, software and ideological-ware resources, arises from disparities in accessing, material and physical resources that enable internet access. In the contemporary world, this divide extends beyond internet access to include the ability to manipulate educational technologies in the knowledge building process. Therefore, the installation of the internet infrastructure in communities should not be considered as the sole facility to access. In attempting to curb the DD, blended learning is seen to be a possible viable option. It is against this backdrop that this article sought to explore the role of blended learning in neutralising DD. This qualitative case study employed the resources and appropriation theory as a lens to analyse DD as a result of societal inequalities and unequal distribution of resources. The community of Inquiry (COI) framework was also used as a theoretical lens to guide the implementation of social and cognitive knowledge-building in a blended learning context. The reported study employed purposive sampling involving 26 participants who were the recipients of blended learning in one institution of higher learning (HEI) in Lesotho. Data were generated through reflective journals and one-on-one semi-structured interviews, and guided analysis was used to interpret the generated data. The findings established that blended learning has the capacity to neutralise DD, as it affords students the flexibility to design and engage in individualised learning experiences through both offline and online modes of teaching and learning, thereby meeting their access needs. The recommendation proposed in this article, thus, is for HEIs to adopt blended learning to eliminate categorical inequalities and social divisions in education, ideally promoting equilibrated inclusion of individuals from diverse socio-economic backgrounds in the teaching and learning process.

Currere on the rescue: exploring teachers voices that shape teachers’ actions and identities

Dlamini

2023

Exploring teachers’ voices in curriculum spaces is critical. As enactors of the curriculum, teachers need to reflect and critique their teaching actions in order to recognize voices that summon their actions. The study employed the currere curriculum model to engage Eight (8) geography teachers purposively selected from four (4) high schools in Eswatini. The aim was to explore the teachers’ voices that shape their actions and identities. The qualitative approach under the pragmatic paradigm and the educational design research guided the study. To generate data, semi-structured interviews, reflective activities and focus group discussions were used. Guided/thematic data analysis was used. The findings revealed that two (2) giant voices dominate and drive teachers’ actions: professional and societal voices. These two voices are in constant tension, resulting to the loss of teacher’s personal voice and identity. In essence, the tension causes teachers’ voices to be silenced or absent in curriculum enactment spaces. It was discovered that it was possible to sort the tension between the two giant voices through applying currere reflective moments, that would develop a neutral voice, the personal voice of teachers, thus a theory of teachers’ voices developed. The study concluded that teachers should identify strengths of both societal and professional voices to relieve the tension between the two and embrace teachers’ personal voices which are critical for understanding natural identities and for effective curriculum enactment. Key Words: Teacher’s voices, professional voice, societal voice, personal voice, currere, teacher’s identity