Background: Teachers are responsible for developing and enhancing communication skills amongst young learners. Unfortunately, the overly structured pedagogy which many teachers adopt inhibits the optimal development of oral communication skills. Hence, the researchers investigated ways of strengthening group-work play-based pedagogy to stimulate oral communication.Aim: This research aimed to find out (1) what prior knowledge, skills and classroom practice teachers have and how they demonstrate their competence in implementing group play-based pedagogy; and (2) how a professional development programme assists teachers to implement play-based group pedagogy to develop oral communication skills in young learners.Setting: The study took place in the Owerri Education Zone in the eastern part of Nigeria.Methods: The researchers implemented a participatory action research (PAR) design. Nine participants were purposively selected from a cohort of teachers who taught the 5–9-year age group. Teacher participants responded to the semistructured interviews and observational schedules used as tools for data collection. The researchers used inductive thematic data analysis techniques to make sense of the data. This was performed in three phases: sorting the data and organising them in data sets, after which the analysis process commenced.Results: Findings from the study showed that although the participants had a fair understanding of play-based pedagogy, they did not know how to operationalise their understanding of play-based pedagogy directed at oral communicationConclusion: The participants gained expert knowledge of play pedagogies that require children to increase oral language use in interaction with each other, using vocabulary and phrases introduced by the teacher as scaffolding for their communication.

This chapter aims to provide an understanding of intellectual disabilities, which are problems with general mental abilities. It describes the understanding of intellectual disabilities in African context and indigenous knowledge beliefs. The chapter describes the term intellectual disabilities where learners with intellectual disabilities typically begin walking and talking later than what is developmentally acceptable. It explains the African perspective that shifts paradigms of intellectual disability learners in school settings. There are common causes of intellectual disabilities such as genetic conditions, problems during pregnancy, problems during childbirth, and illness or injury. This chapter discusses symptoms of learners with disabilities that assist teachers to diagnose the type of intellectual disabilities, and different levels of support needed by the learner to succeed and function in daily life. The effect and strategies of managing and support learners with intellectual disabilities from rural and urban school settings were included in the content of the chapter. Request access from your librarian to read this chapter's full text.

Background: The Foundation Phase in education provides the primary building blocks for children's foundation and development. From personal experiences as educators, we observed that young learners who work together in small groups during art activities gain self-confidence faster than indecisive learners who work alone. Indecisive learners become hesitant and lack confidence when they are allowed own choices during art activities. In line with Vygotsky's social constructivism, this article assumed that social interaction fosters learning and development in learners. Aim: The aim of this study was to observe whether group work promotes decisive behaviour and self-confidence in learners. Setting: A group of five Grade R learners in a privately owned pre-primary school in Pretoria was targeted for the purpose of this investigation. Methods: This article followed a qualitative approach in the form of a multiple case study that focused on four young learners who showed indecisive behaviour and one learner who showed decisive behaviour during a visual art activity. Learners' conversations and participation were observed and recorded as they used photographs and artefacts in the group art activity. Results: Over time, the four indecisive learners had improved and gained confidence towards decisiveness. These results support Vygotsky's theory that skilled learners can scaffold the unskilled ones to reach their full potential. Conclusion: The results in this article point to the importance of collaborative learning in classrooms to improve confidence and decision-making. It is, therefore, recommended that teachers use a group work strategy to improve learning and decisiveness in classrooms.

In contrast to their typically developing peers, learners experiencing barriers to learning have to contend, among other things, with physical, emotional, and psychological factors that inhibit their access to quality education. These factors not only hamper their access to the general curriculum in inclusive education contexts, but also perpetuate their exclusion and participation as equal members of society. They furthermore impede the acquisition of language and mathematics, which is essential for supporting learners’ development and progress through school. The ability to learn, process, recall, and apply learned knowledge before deciding on a plan of action is key and encompassed in well-developed cognitive skills. When the ability to internalise and operationalise such skills is not inborn, they have to be taught. In the case of learners experiencing barriers to learning, the latter is the case. Inherent in the learners’ disabilities are deficits that hamper executive functioning skills and their ability to learn. It is therefore crucial that 21st century teachers in inclusive classrooms be conscious of any impediments to child development and incorporate the use of information communication technology where necessary. They have to differentiate the curriculum to facilitate the development of cognitive skills and ensure the full participation of learners experiencing barriers to learning.

After more than two decades and many interventions, the education system in South Africa, particularly regarding inclusive education implementation, still faces insurmountable transformation challenges. The sustainable developmental goal four (SDG 4) on quality education constitutes one instrument to drive the evolution process. However, research has shown that Western paradigms are partly to blame for the slow shift from the social rights model to offering quality education to children with disabilities in mainstream schools. Additionally, a need exists for policies and legal frameworks to metamorphose, be responsive to the needs of children with disabilities, and become aligned to the African perspectives. This chapter discusses the dominant Western paradigms that ignore African beneficiaries' voices on intervention provision, and intermittently highlights the African legal framework's benefits towards encouraging indigenous knowledge systems within a globalised world. Request access from your librarian to read this chapter's full text.

Inclusive education in Zimbabwean foundation phase classrooms faces the critical challenges of addressing the diverse cognitive, social, and cultural needs of young learners. Despite policy commitments, teaching pedagogies often remain standardiesd and insufficiently responsive to learner variability. This study introduces the Social-Cognitive Inclusion model (SCI), grounded in constructivism learning theory, which conceptualises learning as an active, socially mediated, and cognitively driven process. The SCI model encompasses social factors, including teacher attitudes, scaffolding and learner interaction, alongside cognitive factors such as cognitive diversity, metacognitive skills, and the promotion of an inclusive classroom environment. A qualitative research design was employed to explore how foundation phase teachers implement teaching pedagogies that promote inclusivity. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews, classroom observation, and document analysis involving twelve purposively selected foundation phase teachers from Hwange district. Thematic analysis was used to explore how teaching pedagogies are applied in contexts characterised by a lack of parental support, limited infrastructure, and inadequate training. Findings reveal that while teachers demonstrate inclusive intent, the teaching pedagogies that promote inclusivity often remain inflexible and fail to adequately accommodate learners' cognitive and social differences. The SCI model addresses this gap by suggesting adaptable strategies aligned with learners' developmental readiness and contextual realities.