Managing teaching and learning in South African schools

This paper examines the significance of leadership and management in enhancing classroom practice and improving learner outcomes in two provinces of South Africa. It is increasingly recognised, internationally and in South Africa, that managing teaching and learning is one of the most important activities for principals and other school leaders. Managing teaching and learning is one of the core modules in South Africa's new national qualification for school principals. Drawing on case studies of eight schools, mostly in disadvantaged contexts, the paper shows that managing teaching and learning are often inadequate, and largely fails to compensate for the social and educational problems facing learners and their communities.     

Reciprocal peer tutoring in a physical education setting: influence of peer tutor training and gender on motor performance and self-efficacy outcomes

Students often do not take full advantage of peer tutoring instructional strategies because they are not sufficiently prepared to fulfill the role of tutor. This study examined whether implementing a peer tutor training program prior to the beginning of reciprocal peer tutoring (RPT) sessions might help overcome this issue. Gender differences were also explored. In a physical education setting, 48 novice ninth-graders were assigned in symmetric dyads to a physical practice associated with trained RPT condition (TRPT; n = 24) or a physical practice associated with spontaneous RPT condition (SRPT; n = 24). Moreover, 24 participants were assigned to a physical practice without any form of RPT control condition (PP). The peer tutor training, based on an original group interview technique, aimed at enhancing the explanatory potential of the tutor and his/her sensitivity to the specific needs of the tutee. Results indicated a superior motor performance for the TRPT condition and no difference between the SRPT and PP conditions. Interestingly, a positive relation between motor performance and self-efficacy beliefs was found for TRPT females. The assumption that the development of metacognitive awareness is one of the mechanisms underlying RPT’s effectiveness was thus supported.     

Action research,pedagogy, and activity theory: Tools facilitating two instructors' interpretations of the professional development of four preservice teachers

This paper explores the value of action research in the understanding of the professional development of 4 preservice secondary school mathematics (PSSM) teachers and their instructors in a teacher education program. It draws upon data collected from multiple cycles in a research project (2007–2010). The goal of the long term project was to explore how PSSM teachers combined knowledge from their content area and pedagogy courses with the action research course. This paper represents how activity theory facilitated the instructors' interpretations and understandings of the benefits and challenges of using action research as a professional development strategy with PSSM teachers.     

International experience and graduate employability: stakeholder perceptions on the connection

This paper reports the findings of an Australian qualitative study (N = 45) concerned with the way that employers, academics and students perceived connections between international experience and graduate employability. Drawing on the literature, the authors argue that increasing globalisation and internationalisation has heightened the need for graduates with the ability to operate in culturally diverse contexts. Universities have focussed upon exchange as part of internationalisation to prepare students for work but there is still limited literature on the nature of the relationship between international experience, more broadly and graduate employability. The findings suggest that all stakeholders identify clear connections between international experience and employability given outcomes associated with the forging of networks, opportunities for experiential learning, language acquisition and the development of soft skills related to cultural understandings, personal characteristics and ways of thinking.     

Preservice teachers and parents: using a reading course to change perceptions and practice

The authors sought to understand preservice teachers’ views about parents of students who struggle with reading and about their own preparedness to deal with such parents. Research, including surveys, student evaluation and tutoring intervention, indicates that before their work with parents and students, preservice teachers held strong beliefs about parents’ role and responsibilities with respect to their children who find reading daunting. After a semester‐long reading course which provided opportunities to work with struggling readers and their parents, the preservice teachers in this study expressed beliefs that were contrary to the ones they offered at the beginning of the course.