India's linguistic diversity is reflected in classrooms across the country, where multiple languages are used by teachers and learners to negotiate meaning and instruction -- a multilingual, multicultural student body is the norm, whether in urban or rural contexts. This study documents teaching practices in English language and maths lessons in…

A governmentality ethnographic approach is adopted to examine the everyday making of school in Buenos Aires slums. By addressing events at the intersection of the life of school and of the neighborhood, in this article we problematize schooling -- how it is put together and the tensions that beset it on a daily basis. The notion of the self-made…

This article, based on a research project with learners in a township school in South Africa, seeks to discuss whether WhatsApp was able to transform the space of the poetry classroom in positive and productive ways. The project was designed in response to research in EFAL (English First Additional Language) classrooms that revealed the…

Background: Despite South Africa's huge investment in professional development, there is not a lot of research that shows that teachers change their teaching practices by attending formal interventions. This article focuses on English as First Additional Language (EFAL) and explores how one Grade 2 teacher changed her practice of oral language…

A qualitative based study was undertaken to explore the impact of teacher professional conduct on learner experiences and performance in three poor primary schools in a disadvantaged community in Cape Town, South Africa. Data was gathered through individual and focus-group interviews, observations and document reviews. The paper uses the…

Background: Mother-tongue education in South African primary schools remains a challenge to policymakers. The situation is problematic in multilingual "lok'shin" (township) schools where the "lok'shin" lingua is not recognised as 'standard' language. This article raises the controversial possibility of positioning of…

Background: South African learners have performed consistently poorly in reading assessments. This paper addresses two key components in improving reading literacy: vocabulary development and teacher knowledge and skills required for quality vocabulary instruction. Aim: This small-scale exploratory study reports on the English vocabulary teaching…

The purpose of the present report is to show a comprehensive diagnosis of the situation of two low-cost private schools (Destiny and Saint Martin's schools) located in two slums (Mathare and Kibera) of Nairobi, capital city of Kenya, that Educafrica's team found before starting a collaboration programme through field volunteers work. A wide…

A Grade 4 English language teacher in a township school in Cape Town, South Africa, in her quest to equip learners with new target language resources, is not held back by the perceived boundaries dividing named languages. Instead she employs language in creative and goal-directed ways that we believe have not received enough focused linguistic…

THE AUTHOR SUBMITTED THAT NEGATIVE PRECONCEPTIONS OFTEN HINDER THE EFFECTIVENESS OF TEACHERS AND ADMINISTRATORS IN CULTURALLY DEPRESSED AREAS. MOST DISADVANTAGED CHILDREN ARE NOT SPECIAL DISCIPLINE PROBLEMS, NOR EXCEPTIONALLY HOSTILE OR UNRESPONSIVE. THEY AND THEIR PARENTS HAVE HIGH, EVEN UNREALISTIC, EDUCATIONAL ASPIRATIONS. TEACHERS SHOULD…

ACCORDING TO A SURVEY OF 294 ELEMENTARY SCHOOL TEACHERS IN 16 SCHOOLS SERVING DISADVANTAGED PUPILS, HIGH TEACHER TURNOVER IS PROMPTED BY THE "PECULIARITIES" OF THE DISADVANTAGED STUDENT, BY ADMINISTRATIVE AND ORGANIZATIONAL DEFICIENCIES IN THE SCHOOLS, AND BY THE TEACHERS' OWN SHORTCOMINGS. TO REDUCE THE RATE OF TURNOVER, FOUR EDUCATIONAL…

IN THIS ARTICLE THE ATTITUDES OF TEACHERS AND STUDENTS TOWARD THEIR EXPERIENCES IN GHETTO SCHOOLS ARE SET FORTH, AND THE EFFECTS OF PUBLIC SCHOOL SEGREGATION ARE CATALOGED. THE RACISM IN AMERICAN SOCIETY AND THE EFFECTS OF SUMMER RIOTS ON EDUCATION ARE ALSO BRIEFLY DISCUSSED. THIS ARTICLE WAS PUBLISHED IN "EDUCATIONAL LEADERSHIP," VOLUME 25,…

Written by teachers for other teachers, this book is a collection of statements which show the changes that have occurred in British primary schools in recent years. Recollections of 80 years of change are followed by teacher's eye views of how teaching had changed, as have attitudes towards children and parents. Several accounts show how…

Analyzing the serious discipline problems existing in inner-city secondary schools plus teacher and administrator perceptions of it, the author tells educators that they cannot expect to alter the home/school socioeconomic clash which generates the problem, but they can create a positive learning climate which will raise student achievement. (SJL)