International journal of educational research, 2024
An integrated environmental education curriculum has proven to be a highly effective approach in ... more An integrated environmental education curriculum has proven to be a highly effective approach in cultivating students’ knowledge, skills, attitudes, and values that are essential to becoming responsible and engaged citizens who are cognizant of their impact on the environment. The inclusion of environmental education in the school curriculum is a strategic means of fostering a generation of environmentally conscious citizens who are committed to protecting and conserving the environment. By doing so, a wider awareness and appreciation of environmental issues can be instilled in students, paving the way for them to become agents of change for a sustainable future. This qualitative interpretivism study employed semi-structured interviews to purposefully seek the view of ten school principals on the pathways of incorporating environ- mental education into the school curriculum, hinged on phenomenological design to understand the lived experiences of respondents. The study’s findings indicate the presence of Environmental Education themes across various aspects of the educational system, including textbooks, extra- curricular activities, school code of conduct, and classroom teaching and learning. However, the curriculum does not command a uniform teaching technique to incorporate Environmental Ed- ucation into classroom teaching and learning, leading to a hybrid teaching strategy adopted by most teachers. The selection of Environmental Education content to teach in class is based on the teachers’ personal experience and the learners’ interests. Regrettably, the integration of Envi- ronmental Education into teaching and learning is limited, and both teachers’ and learners’ perceptions and understanding of it are uninspiring. The study highlights the need for a more structured approach to incorporate EE into the curriculum to ensure its effective integration into the educational system. This approach would help to address the limited understanding and perceptions of both teachers and learners and ensure a more comprehensive and engaging learning experience.
The importance of mentor teachers in assisting preservice teachers in their transition into the t... more The importance of mentor teachers in assisting preservice teachers in their transition into the teaching profession has increased significantly over time. Mentor teachers' practical experience in the classroom is highly valued as it complements the theoretical knowledge that trainees acquire. This paper discusses the constructivism theory and Hudson's five-factor model, which includes personal attributes, system requirements, pedagogical knowledge, modeling, and feedback. The paper explores the role of mentor teachers, the characteristics of constructivist mentors, challenges that mentors face, and ways to improve mentorship to develop preservice teachers' professional competencies during their teaching practice. The recommended strategies include classroom observation, professional learning communities, reflection, technology integration, and field experience, among others. Constructivist theory is a valuable addition to field experience models as it enables mentors to build on the mentee's previous knowledge to assist in their acquisition of the necessary knowledge and skills to teach.
Climate change is a worldwide phenomenon and it is a great concern to all countries as it brings ... more Climate change is a worldwide phenomenon and it is a great concern to all countries as it brings about a global warming climate system that affects human behavior. South Africa, like other countries, is severely affected by climate change. Although attempts are increasingly made to integrate climate change into school curricula, teachers have challenges in preparing and implementing climate change lessons. This study, therefore, sought to review literature related to the integration of climate change education in the school curriculum and to identify the strategies teachers use when integrating climate change education in teaching and learning. The study adopted a literature review approach and a comprehensive electronic search for relevant literature was done using Google Scholar search and springer which led to the discovery of a research article suitable for the study. Three African countries Kenya, Nigeria, and South Africa were selected as case studies. It emerged from the literature that although governments of South Africa, Nigeria, and Kenya, are making concerted efforts to raise climate change awareness and education, there appear to be no clear strategies for teachers to use when integrating climate change education into their lessons. What appears is that these countries are concerned about the effects of climate change and are attempting to achieve its integration in the school curriculum. The study concludes that attempts to address climate change in these countries are made although with varied strategies and paces.
International Journal of Learning, Teaching and Educational Research
Many teachers globally are faced with the challenge of teaching subjects without specialised trai... more Many teachers globally are faced with the challenge of teaching subjects without specialised training in those subjects, and the researchers of this study form part of those teachers. This study investigates the challenges experienced by Economics teachers who did not receive specialised training in the subject. The problem identified by this study was the poor academic performance of learners in Economics, which could be attributed to the teaching of the subject by teachers who have not specialised in this subject. The study was grounded in systems theory and pedagogical content knowledge theory. The study adopted a qualitative research approach that used face-to-face semi-structured interviews and document reviews to collect the required data. Purposive sampling was used to select participants: four educators who teach Economics without specialisation, one School Management Team (SMT) member, one principal, and one subject advisor. The study uncovered challenges such as learners’ ...
This qualitative research study was aimed at exploring Covid-19 pandemic and its impact via onlin... more This qualitative research study was aimed at exploring Covid-19 pandemic and its impact via online engagement on disadvantaged undergraduate students resulting in digital divide. The study was supported by the connectivism theory. The methodology approach was an eight year (2014-2022) duration systematic literature review using Educational Resources Information Center (ERIC), Google Scholar, Scopus, and Web of Science (WoS) databases as advanced search strategies. Findings from the SLR provided 56 included relevant publications as confirmed in the Reference Section. Here, findings justified factors responsible for digital divide and the digital divide impacts. Connectivism was suggested as an approach to control digital divide. This study recommends connectivism to control digital divide experienced among disadvantaged undergraduate students in South African universities via numerous supports for free trainings in computer skills, while the government provides low data cost and free...
International Journal of Environmental, Sustainability, and Social Science
The devastating effect of climate change (CC) on the environment all over the world has been a wo... more The devastating effect of climate change (CC) on the environment all over the world has been a worrisome phenomenon. The effort by the government and other stakeholders at integrating climate change education (CCE) into the school curriculum in South Africa has not yielded the desired result because of the lack of teacher professional training programs for teaching CCE in the classroom. Using the pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) theory as lenses, this qualitative study investigated the implementation of the in-service teacher development programs and their role in enhancing the integration of CCE in Natural Sciences lessons. Five secondary schools out of twenty schools that participated in the in-service teacher training program conducted by one higher education institution (HEI) were purposely selected. Data for this study were generated through one-on-one semi-structured interviews conducted with four participating Natural Sciences teachers at the selected schools. It emerged f...
International Journal of Learning, Teaching and Educational Research, Nov 30, 2022
Countries all over the world are experiencing the devastating havoc of climate change. Drastic ef... more Countries all over the world are experiencing the devastating havoc of climate change. Drastic efforts directed at integrating climate change education into the school curriculum in South African Secondary schools have been unsuccessful due to a lack of training support for teachers teaching Climate Change Education in secondary schools. The purpose of this paper was to explore the role of teacher capacitation programs in assisting Geography teacher to integrate climate change education in their lessons. Shulman's Model of Pedagogical Reasoning served as theoretical lenses for the study. Five secondary schools out of twenty which participated in the five days' training program conducted by one higher education institution were purposefully selected. Data for the study was generated through one-on-one semi-structured interviews conducted with five participating Geography teachers in the selected schools according to the geographical location and close proximity to the training provider. It emerged from the data that teachers were lacking content and pedagogical knowledge on Climate Change Education and this capacitation program assisted in bridging that gap. The study concludes that training programs were according to selected Geography teachers' views responsible for the improved pedagogical practices in the classroom. It is therefore recommended that teacher professional development programs on Climate Change Education for Geography teachers be organized on a continuous basis.
Eurasia Journal of Mathematics, Science and Technology Education
This study examined the relationship between language difficulties and learner's errors in financ... more This study examined the relationship between language difficulties and learner's errors in financial mathematics, and it employed a quantitative research approach using a case study design. The population for the study consisted of all grade 10 mathematical literacy (ML) learners from three selected schools in East London District, from which 40 learners and two ML teachers were randomly selected from each school. Data was collected using a content-based questionnaire and structured questionnaires. Descriptive statistics were used to analyze the questionnaires. Hence, the findings revealed a significant relationship between language difficulties and the errors committed by learners. As a result of the findings, the study recommended, among other things, that teachers incorporate error analysis into the planning of their lessons to understand why students make mistakes and how to prevent them.
The main aim of the study was (1) to identify errors committed by learners in financial mathemati... more The main aim of the study was (1) to identify errors committed by learners in financial mathematics, and, (2) to understand why learners continue to make such errors so that mechanisms to avoid them could be devised. It has been hypothesised that errors committed by learners in financial mathematics are not due to a lack of prerequisite skills, facts and concepts. Using Newman's Error Analysis as a theoretical framework, a four-point Likert scale and a content-based structured-interview questionnaire was developed to identify the errors committed. The study was conducted by means of a case study guided by the positivists' paradigm where the research sample comprised of 105 Grade 10 Mathematics Literacy learners as respondents. A structured-interview questionnaire was used for collecting data, aimed at addressing the main objective of the study. In order to test the reliability and consistency of the items in the questionnaire, Cronbach's Alpha was calculated for standard...
Motivated in part by a sustained amount of research in South Africa and principally guided by tec... more Motivated in part by a sustained amount of research in South Africa and principally guided by techniques of problem-solving suggested by Polya as well as error analysis by Newman, the current research examines fundamental influencers (underlying factors) relating errors due to language difficulties in financial mathematics concerning the language of instruction. The current research was accomplished using a case study design. The sample size was 105 out of a population of 186, with assumption of confidence and precision levels at 95 per cent and 0.5 respectively. The aim of the study was addressed by using both sets of structured-interview and document analysis for collecting data. Analysis of data was conducted by both content analysis as well as correlation analysis, wherein, the analysis revealed that errors committed by learners in financial mathematics were due to language difficulties. In contrast, misinterpretation of the mathematical semantics was not as a result of not indi...
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF EDUCATIONAL SCIENCES, 2015
Inevitably, life in the twenty-first century globalised world brings people into contact with "ot... more Inevitably, life in the twenty-first century globalised world brings people into contact with "others". Through these contacts, the need for interactions demands that these people find different ways of understanding one another to generate knowledge. In order for them to achieve this objective, they need a strong and coherent medium. First additional language education has been developed in South Africa to unravel as well as address challenges posed to competence in intercultural communication, with the emphasis placed on how to communicate with a different "other" since the world now has become a small village. The study made use of a qualitative research methodology, revolving around an ethnographic design. The research population constituted lecturers, tutors and students from the University of Western Cape. The four principal tools used for data collection included: Interviews, Questionnaires, Naturally Occurring data and Participant Observation.
International journal of educational research, 2024
An integrated environmental education curriculum has proven to be a highly effective approach in ... more An integrated environmental education curriculum has proven to be a highly effective approach in cultivating students’ knowledge, skills, attitudes, and values that are essential to becoming responsible and engaged citizens who are cognizant of their impact on the environment. The inclusion of environmental education in the school curriculum is a strategic means of fostering a generation of environmentally conscious citizens who are committed to protecting and conserving the environment. By doing so, a wider awareness and appreciation of environmental issues can be instilled in students, paving the way for them to become agents of change for a sustainable future. This qualitative interpretivism study employed semi-structured interviews to purposefully seek the view of ten school principals on the pathways of incorporating environ- mental education into the school curriculum, hinged on phenomenological design to understand the lived experiences of respondents. The study’s findings indicate the presence of Environmental Education themes across various aspects of the educational system, including textbooks, extra- curricular activities, school code of conduct, and classroom teaching and learning. However, the curriculum does not command a uniform teaching technique to incorporate Environmental Ed- ucation into classroom teaching and learning, leading to a hybrid teaching strategy adopted by most teachers. The selection of Environmental Education content to teach in class is based on the teachers’ personal experience and the learners’ interests. Regrettably, the integration of Envi- ronmental Education into teaching and learning is limited, and both teachers’ and learners’ perceptions and understanding of it are uninspiring. The study highlights the need for a more structured approach to incorporate EE into the curriculum to ensure its effective integration into the educational system. This approach would help to address the limited understanding and perceptions of both teachers and learners and ensure a more comprehensive and engaging learning experience.
The importance of mentor teachers in assisting preservice teachers in their transition into the t... more The importance of mentor teachers in assisting preservice teachers in their transition into the teaching profession has increased significantly over time. Mentor teachers' practical experience in the classroom is highly valued as it complements the theoretical knowledge that trainees acquire. This paper discusses the constructivism theory and Hudson's five-factor model, which includes personal attributes, system requirements, pedagogical knowledge, modeling, and feedback. The paper explores the role of mentor teachers, the characteristics of constructivist mentors, challenges that mentors face, and ways to improve mentorship to develop preservice teachers' professional competencies during their teaching practice. The recommended strategies include classroom observation, professional learning communities, reflection, technology integration, and field experience, among others. Constructivist theory is a valuable addition to field experience models as it enables mentors to build on the mentee's previous knowledge to assist in their acquisition of the necessary knowledge and skills to teach.
Climate change is a worldwide phenomenon and it is a great concern to all countries as it brings ... more Climate change is a worldwide phenomenon and it is a great concern to all countries as it brings about a global warming climate system that affects human behavior. South Africa, like other countries, is severely affected by climate change. Although attempts are increasingly made to integrate climate change into school curricula, teachers have challenges in preparing and implementing climate change lessons. This study, therefore, sought to review literature related to the integration of climate change education in the school curriculum and to identify the strategies teachers use when integrating climate change education in teaching and learning. The study adopted a literature review approach and a comprehensive electronic search for relevant literature was done using Google Scholar search and springer which led to the discovery of a research article suitable for the study. Three African countries Kenya, Nigeria, and South Africa were selected as case studies. It emerged from the literature that although governments of South Africa, Nigeria, and Kenya, are making concerted efforts to raise climate change awareness and education, there appear to be no clear strategies for teachers to use when integrating climate change education into their lessons. What appears is that these countries are concerned about the effects of climate change and are attempting to achieve its integration in the school curriculum. The study concludes that attempts to address climate change in these countries are made although with varied strategies and paces.
International Journal of Learning, Teaching and Educational Research
Many teachers globally are faced with the challenge of teaching subjects without specialised trai... more Many teachers globally are faced with the challenge of teaching subjects without specialised training in those subjects, and the researchers of this study form part of those teachers. This study investigates the challenges experienced by Economics teachers who did not receive specialised training in the subject. The problem identified by this study was the poor academic performance of learners in Economics, which could be attributed to the teaching of the subject by teachers who have not specialised in this subject. The study was grounded in systems theory and pedagogical content knowledge theory. The study adopted a qualitative research approach that used face-to-face semi-structured interviews and document reviews to collect the required data. Purposive sampling was used to select participants: four educators who teach Economics without specialisation, one School Management Team (SMT) member, one principal, and one subject advisor. The study uncovered challenges such as learners’ ...
This qualitative research study was aimed at exploring Covid-19 pandemic and its impact via onlin... more This qualitative research study was aimed at exploring Covid-19 pandemic and its impact via online engagement on disadvantaged undergraduate students resulting in digital divide. The study was supported by the connectivism theory. The methodology approach was an eight year (2014-2022) duration systematic literature review using Educational Resources Information Center (ERIC), Google Scholar, Scopus, and Web of Science (WoS) databases as advanced search strategies. Findings from the SLR provided 56 included relevant publications as confirmed in the Reference Section. Here, findings justified factors responsible for digital divide and the digital divide impacts. Connectivism was suggested as an approach to control digital divide. This study recommends connectivism to control digital divide experienced among disadvantaged undergraduate students in South African universities via numerous supports for free trainings in computer skills, while the government provides low data cost and free...
International Journal of Environmental, Sustainability, and Social Science
The devastating effect of climate change (CC) on the environment all over the world has been a wo... more The devastating effect of climate change (CC) on the environment all over the world has been a worrisome phenomenon. The effort by the government and other stakeholders at integrating climate change education (CCE) into the school curriculum in South Africa has not yielded the desired result because of the lack of teacher professional training programs for teaching CCE in the classroom. Using the pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) theory as lenses, this qualitative study investigated the implementation of the in-service teacher development programs and their role in enhancing the integration of CCE in Natural Sciences lessons. Five secondary schools out of twenty schools that participated in the in-service teacher training program conducted by one higher education institution (HEI) were purposely selected. Data for this study were generated through one-on-one semi-structured interviews conducted with four participating Natural Sciences teachers at the selected schools. It emerged f...
International Journal of Learning, Teaching and Educational Research, Nov 30, 2022
Countries all over the world are experiencing the devastating havoc of climate change. Drastic ef... more Countries all over the world are experiencing the devastating havoc of climate change. Drastic efforts directed at integrating climate change education into the school curriculum in South African Secondary schools have been unsuccessful due to a lack of training support for teachers teaching Climate Change Education in secondary schools. The purpose of this paper was to explore the role of teacher capacitation programs in assisting Geography teacher to integrate climate change education in their lessons. Shulman's Model of Pedagogical Reasoning served as theoretical lenses for the study. Five secondary schools out of twenty which participated in the five days' training program conducted by one higher education institution were purposefully selected. Data for the study was generated through one-on-one semi-structured interviews conducted with five participating Geography teachers in the selected schools according to the geographical location and close proximity to the training provider. It emerged from the data that teachers were lacking content and pedagogical knowledge on Climate Change Education and this capacitation program assisted in bridging that gap. The study concludes that training programs were according to selected Geography teachers' views responsible for the improved pedagogical practices in the classroom. It is therefore recommended that teacher professional development programs on Climate Change Education for Geography teachers be organized on a continuous basis.
Eurasia Journal of Mathematics, Science and Technology Education
This study examined the relationship between language difficulties and learner's errors in financ... more This study examined the relationship between language difficulties and learner's errors in financial mathematics, and it employed a quantitative research approach using a case study design. The population for the study consisted of all grade 10 mathematical literacy (ML) learners from three selected schools in East London District, from which 40 learners and two ML teachers were randomly selected from each school. Data was collected using a content-based questionnaire and structured questionnaires. Descriptive statistics were used to analyze the questionnaires. Hence, the findings revealed a significant relationship between language difficulties and the errors committed by learners. As a result of the findings, the study recommended, among other things, that teachers incorporate error analysis into the planning of their lessons to understand why students make mistakes and how to prevent them.
The main aim of the study was (1) to identify errors committed by learners in financial mathemati... more The main aim of the study was (1) to identify errors committed by learners in financial mathematics, and, (2) to understand why learners continue to make such errors so that mechanisms to avoid them could be devised. It has been hypothesised that errors committed by learners in financial mathematics are not due to a lack of prerequisite skills, facts and concepts. Using Newman's Error Analysis as a theoretical framework, a four-point Likert scale and a content-based structured-interview questionnaire was developed to identify the errors committed. The study was conducted by means of a case study guided by the positivists' paradigm where the research sample comprised of 105 Grade 10 Mathematics Literacy learners as respondents. A structured-interview questionnaire was used for collecting data, aimed at addressing the main objective of the study. In order to test the reliability and consistency of the items in the questionnaire, Cronbach's Alpha was calculated for standard...
Motivated in part by a sustained amount of research in South Africa and principally guided by tec... more Motivated in part by a sustained amount of research in South Africa and principally guided by techniques of problem-solving suggested by Polya as well as error analysis by Newman, the current research examines fundamental influencers (underlying factors) relating errors due to language difficulties in financial mathematics concerning the language of instruction. The current research was accomplished using a case study design. The sample size was 105 out of a population of 186, with assumption of confidence and precision levels at 95 per cent and 0.5 respectively. The aim of the study was addressed by using both sets of structured-interview and document analysis for collecting data. Analysis of data was conducted by both content analysis as well as correlation analysis, wherein, the analysis revealed that errors committed by learners in financial mathematics were due to language difficulties. In contrast, misinterpretation of the mathematical semantics was not as a result of not indi...
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF EDUCATIONAL SCIENCES, 2015
Inevitably, life in the twenty-first century globalised world brings people into contact with "ot... more Inevitably, life in the twenty-first century globalised world brings people into contact with "others". Through these contacts, the need for interactions demands that these people find different ways of understanding one another to generate knowledge. In order for them to achieve this objective, they need a strong and coherent medium. First additional language education has been developed in South Africa to unravel as well as address challenges posed to competence in intercultural communication, with the emphasis placed on how to communicate with a different "other" since the world now has become a small village. The study made use of a qualitative research methodology, revolving around an ethnographic design. The research population constituted lecturers, tutors and students from the University of Western Cape. The four principal tools used for data collection included: Interviews, Questionnaires, Naturally Occurring data and Participant Observation.
Uploads
Papers by Xolani Khalo