Small schools due to a variety of reasons, are compelled to opt for multi-grade teaching in which learners of more than one grade are taught in one class. Resultantly, the purpose of this study was to evaluate the capacity of South African schools in the implementation of multi- grade teaching. The study followed a qualitative approach to evaluate the implementation of multi-grade teaching. A case study research design was followed with an interpretive paradigm to evaluate day-to-day offering of multi-grade teaching. The population in this study consisted of principals and teachers who were selected through purposive sampling. Data were collected through focus-group and face-to-face semi-structured interviews as well as document analysis. Kolb's experiential learning theory was used as a theoretical framework for this study to evaluate the offering of multi-grade teaching in case study schools. The thematic approach was used to analyse data. To ensure issues of ethical consideration, the researcher ensured that there is anonymity, confidentiality, informed consent, voluntary participation, participants' privacy, and safety. The study found that schools in Sekhukhune South Education District could not offer multi-grade teaching. This was mainly based on the lack of central policies on multi-grade teaching as well as inappropriate teacher development programmes. Insufficient human and financial resources were also identified as key hindrances in the implementation of multi-grade teaching. Resultantly, the study suggested that the serving teachers, their SMTs, and their Curriculum Advisors must be provided with in-service training on multi-grade teaching. On the other hand, teacher-training universities should have a compulsory module on multi-grade teaching. The study also recommended the establishment of a DoBE unit that solely focuses on matters related to multi-grade teaching. The study further recommended that the DoBE should develop central policies on multi-grade teaching. It was also recommended that the DoBE’s Post Provision Model and the National Norms and Standards for School Funding must be revised to cater for the needs of multi-grade schools. The study further proposed a new framework to engender collaboration amongst principals, parents, and Curriculum Advisors in school-based multi-grade policy formulation, advocacy, training, as well as monitoring, and support.

This book contains the results of research projects carried out in relation to multigrade teaching in Australia and South Africa. Research in multigrade contexts is not commonly reported and rarely in book form. The research results have implications for multigrade teachers, government education personnel, and university teacher educators. The book also contains chapters with practical advice for multigrade teachers, including examples of multigrade teaching used in an Australian seven-grade class (kindergarten to grade 6). Other chapters contain suggestions for practical strategies a multigrade teacher can use to reduce the workload involved in planning for multiple grades. Very little is published in the area of multigrade teaching, yet the number of multigrade schools worldwide is huge. Developed countries still have a significant proportion of multigrade schools (commonly one fifth to one third of all primary schools or classes). Despite decades of centralisation of schools and expansion of transport networks, the number of these schools remains high, mostly in rural areas. Developing countries established multigrade schools in rural areas in order to achieve the UN Millennium Development Goal of Universal Primary Education. Yet, specific training to teach a multigrade class remains virtually non-existent in initial teacher education programs worldwide. The value of this book is thus to report specific research carried out in multigrade contexts but also to provide practical help for multigrade teachers. This help is needed as the teachers strive to achieve the UN Sustainable Development Goal of a quality education, through helping their students develop the skills and behaviours required for 21st-century learning.

This book, based on original research, explores the challenges and opportunities in multigrade teaching in Colombia, England, Ghana, Malawi, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Peru, Turks and Caicos Islands, and Vietnam. It raises awareness among policymakers and practitioners in education of the realities of multigrade classes. Moreover, the book explores the implications for teachers, teacher educators, curriculum developers, and educational planners.

While South Africa has made significant improvements in basic and tertiary education enrollment, the country still suffers from significant challenges in the quality of educational achievement by almost any international metric. The paper finds that money is clearly not the main issue since the South Africa’s education budget is comparable to OECD countries as a percent of GDP and exceeds that of most peer sub-Saharan African countries in per capita terms. The main explanatory factors are complex and multifaceted, and are associated with insufficient subject knowledge of some teachers, history, race, language, geographic location, and socio-economic status. Low educational achievement contributes to low productivity growth, and high levels of poverty, unemployment, and inequality. Drawing on the literature, the paper sketches some policy considerations to guide the debate on what works and what does not.

Grade level: k, t.

Classroom Innovations through Lesson Study is an APEC EDNET (Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Education Network) project that aims to improve the quality of education in the area of mathematics. This book includes challenges of lesson study implementation from members of the APEC economies.Lesson study is one of the best ways to improve the quality of teaching. It is a model approach for improvement of teacher education across the globe. This book focuses on mathematics education, teacher education, and curriculum implementation and reforms.

This is a collection of bold and visionary scholarship that reveals an insightful exposition of re-visioning African development from African perspectives. It provides educators, policy makers, social workers, non-governmental agencies, and development agencies with an interdisciplinary conceptual base that can effectively guide them in planning and implementing programs for socio-economic development in Africa. The book provides up-to-date scholarly research on continental trends on various subjects and concerns of paramount importance to globalisation and development in Africa (politics, democracy, education, gender, technology, global relationships and the role of non-governmental organisations). The authors challenge the familiar paradigms in order to show how imperfectly, if at all, assumptions about globalisation and development theories have failed in their depictions and applications to Africa. The scholars in this volume both inform and advocate for a re-visioning of perceptions on Africa and how it navigates global processes.