Leadership plays a central role in improving and sustaining quality in Early Childhood Development (ECD) settings in the South African context. This article explored the leadership of the Inclusive Education Policy (IEP) and the challenges experienced by ECD centre managers and teachers. Children with disabilities are most vulnerable, marginalised, and denied access to early education, especially in rural communities. Grounded in Bronfenbrenner’s ecosystems theory, the study adopted a qualitative approach. The participants included three centre managers and three teachers from Early Childhood Development centres in the Eastern Cape, South Africa. The findings revealed that most participants had minimal knowledge and understanding of the policy and its implementation. There was also a lack of leadership from the policymakers to ensure that the IEP was monitored, supported, and implemented. Our recommendations are that all ECD practitioners receive appropriate training and development on the policy, ongoing support and guidance in implementing the policy, and proper resources for their centres and playrooms (financial, physical, and human resources).

The Department of Education introduced the policy on e-Education in 2004, encouraging all teachers to implement technology for teaching and learning. Despite this encouragement, most South African teachers are experiencing many challenges to effectively use technology for teaching and learning in the foundation phase. This study explored the challenges experienced by foundation phase teachers in using technology for teaching and learning in two schools in one district in Gauteng Province: South Africa. The Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge framework was used as a lens to understand the challenges experienced by foundation phase teachers. The authors applied a qualitative research approach within the interpretivist paradigm to explore and understand participants' lived experiences of their challenges. Purposive sampling was used to select eight foundation phase teachers from two schools in Gauteng Province. The findings revealed that most teachers experienced challenges due to lack of knowledge and understanding of how to use technology effectively for teaching and learning; a lack of support from management to promote the use of technology and inadequate, inappropriate and outdated technological resources and equipment. Teachers also indicated that they did not enjoy the support from their senior managers and education officials. They recommended that all teachers undergo focused training and development on the use of technology for teaching and learning and that the education department should consult teachers and ensure that all systems are in place prior to mandating the implementation of technology in the foundation phase.

Continuous professional development is an integral part of the professional life of teachers since learning is a life-long activity. Lesson study is a practical approach to promoting teachers’ professional development. Lesson study refers to teachers’ classroom-based collaborative research to bring teachers together to work collaboratively to plan a lesson. In South Africa, there is a dire need for teachers’ professional development due to many challenges in professional development in this country. However, there is very little documented research into the implementation of lesson study in South Africa. This study explored the Japanese Lesson Study to improve teaching quality and to learn in South Africa. The researchers adopted qualitative research with an interpretivist paradigm to explicit participants’ experiences of lesson study. A purposive sampling technique was employed to select three participants in a school from Gauteng Province, South Africa. The findings revealed that participants appreciated the workshop and gained knowledge of a good understanding of the lesson study. All the participants acknowledged the awareness of their professional development as a motivating factor for them to continue to plan and work together. The researchers recommended that lesson studies be implemented with teachers from different grades and phases. School leaders should become ambassadors for setting up communities of practice within their schools, districts and provinces. Further studies should be carried out with similar grades in a phase and also in phase planning.

There has been a rapid growth in learner enrolment in all South African public schools. The increased number of learners per teacher has created many challenges in the quality of teaching and learning. Various authors and educationist have argued and agreed that the teacher-learner ratio has an impact on invitational teaching and learning. Invitational teaching and learning (education) was coined by Purkey and Novak to ensure a conducive learning environment. They proposed the five powerful Ps, namely, people, places, policy, programmes and procedures which, if applied effectively will ensure classroom success. In this paper a quantitative descriptive study was undertaken to investigate the effect of the teacher-learner ratio on invitational teaching and learning using a survey to 150 participants in primary schools. Data was analysed using frequency tables. The findings of this study revealed that the teacher-learner ratio has a negative impact on the quality of teaching and learning. Teachers found it extremely difficult to offer support to learners who experienced barriers to learning. Furthermore, the large class size and overcrowding had an impact on the provisioning of resources to learners. The study recommended that the post-provisioning norms for South African schools should clearly articulate 1:30 so that school principals adhere to the policy. Finally, it is also recommended that all teachers should be capacitated through a formal programme on classroom management, especially large classes.

Background: Rural health is a global crisis across different continents. Most of Africa is predominantly rural and is experiencing financial constraints. Medical support and supplies are a dire need in rural Africa. An alternative option to support the rural population is through traditional Chinese medicine (TCM). Studies have highlighted the efficacy and cost-effectiveness of Chinese medicine in improving health.Aim: This article aims to investigate how rural health can be improved through alternative medicine options, focusing primarily on TCM.Setting: An identified TCM practice in Gauteng province was selected as the research setting.Methods: This study adopted a qualitative case study design to explore 10 participants’ views on TCM to improve rural health. The health belief model was used as a theoretical framework, and thematic analysis was used for this study.Results: Findings revealed that most participants accepted TCM as an alternative medical health care option as it resonated with African herbal medicine. Participants agreed that TCM is cheaper and has no side effects.Conclusion: There is a lack of appropriate medical service providers in most rural areas, and often, people depend on traditional medicines as a quick remedy. As TCM is cost-effective and has proven to treat numerous ailments successfully, it is recommended that it be further explored as a health care option available to rural populations.Contribution: This was the first study on South African patients’ views on TCM in the South African context.