Reading has been touted as the most crucial and lacking skill for young South African children. This book delves into the issues and measurement considerations surrounding reading literacy using the Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS) data. The contributors to this volume explore the complexities of measuring reading literacy with an international survey, curricula misalignment, and how the PIRLS framework can inform teaching and learning. Contributors are: Caroline Böning, Celeste Combrinck, Peter Courtney, Martin Gustafsson, Nompumelelo L. Mohohlwane, Nangamso Mtsatse, Elizabeth Pretorius, Karen Roux, Claudia Schreiner, Tobias Schroedler, Nick Taylor, Stephen Taylor, Surette van Staden and Hans Wagemaker.

This volume is the first published collection of papers on the impact of diglossia and dialectal variations on language and literacy acquisition, impairment, and education. The authors are pioneering in this field and are leading researchers with substantial experience in conducting research in this area. A wide range of areas and languages are covered, including the US, South Africa, Israel, and various European countries. The chapters present novel data and insights regarding the role of dialectal variations on language and literacy, from a wide range of countries and perspectives. These insights have significant theoretical and practical implications. A majority of literacy learners worldwide are taught to read and write in a language variety or a dialect that is not the same as their spoken language. Not only is this the global norm, but it is probably also the greatest obstacle to literacy learning. This volume is the first published collection of papers on the role of dialect in language and literacy acquisition, impairment, and education in a variety of languages and situations across Europe, the Middle East, North America, Africa, and Asia.The authors are pioneers in this field.

The literature on Educational Change has been dominated by research published in the established, liberal democracies. This volume examines Educational Change in South Africa, a country undergoing rapid social and political change, and situated geographically, historically and culturally in the South. What are the meanings and processes of change? How do we explain the contours and contexts of change? What has changed? What has remained the same?

The Early Grade Reading Assessment (EGRA) measures students' progress towards reading. EGRA gauges early literacy skills through a 15-minute individual oral assessment of five fundamental reading skills. RTI worked with education experts to develop the EGRA in 2006, and it has been piloted and implemented in more than 40 countries. This volume aims to take stock of the substantial amount of information and experience generated through the use of EGRA, and to share this knowledge with practitioners, policymakers, and international donors. Chapters cover not only particular applications of the instrument but also put EGRA in the context of broader issues and developments in literacy and education.

The field of education has experienced extraordinary technological, societal, and institutional change in recent years, making it one of the most fascinating yet complex fields of study in social science. Unequalled in its combination of authoritative scholarship and comprehensive coverage, International Encyclopedia of Education, Third Edition succeeds two highly successful previous editions (1985, 1994) in aiming to encapsulate research in this vibrant field for the twenty-first century reader. Under development for five years, this work encompasses over 1,000 articles across 24 individual areas of coverage, and is expected to become the dominant resource in the field. Education is a multidisciplinary and international field drawing on a wide range of social sciences and humanities disciplines, and this new edition comprehensively matches this diversity. The diverse background and multidisciplinary subject coverage of the Editorial Board ensure a balanced and objective academic framework, with 1,500 contributors representing over 100 countries, capturing a complete portrait of this evolving field. A totally new work, revamped with a wholly new editorial board, structure and brand-new list of meta-sections and articles Developed by an international panel of editors and authors drawn from senior academia Web-enhanced with supplementary multimedia audio and video files, hotlinked to relevant references and sources for further study Incorporates ca. 1,350 articles, with timely coverage of such topics as technology and learning, demography and social change, globalization, and adult learning, to name a few Offers two content delivery options - print and online - the latter of which provides anytime, anywhere access for multiple users and superior search functionality via ScienceDirect, as well as multimedia content, including audio and video files

Lessons from the Kalahari: Tracking Teachers’ Professional Development explores how Northern Cape teachers, who were enrolled in a Bachelor of Education (in-service) course, responded to three professional-development modules specialising in mathematics education, English language teaching, and Foundation Phase teaching, respectively. Mainly through fine-grained analyses of their classroom practice, the studies in this volume demonstrate how these teachers grappled with new content knowledge and pedagogical innovations to improve the quality of teaching in their classrooms. The chapters include case studies that range across a variety of pedagogical topics, including mathematics and English teachers’ classroom practices, involvement of parents of Foundation Phase learners, and learners’ autonomous mathematics learning. The book makes an original, empirically-based contribution to the understanding of the challenges confronting primary and secondary school teachers in remote rural parts of Northern Cape province, South Africa.

This book explores how concepts and values of contemporary democracy are variously understood and applied in diverse cultural contexts, with a focus on children and childhood and diversity. Drawing on a range of methodological approaches relevant to early childhood education, it discusses young children's engagement and voice. The book identifies existing practices, strengths, theories and considerations in democracy in early childhood education and childhood, highlighting the democratic participation of children in cultural contexts. Further, it illustrates how democracy can be evident in early childhood practices and interactions across a range of curriculum contexts and perspectives, and considers ways of advancing and sustaining practices with positive transformational opportunities to benefit children and wider ecological systems. It offers readers insights into what democracy and citizenship look like in lived experience, and the issues affecting practice and encouraging reflection and advocacy.

Democratic science pedagogy has the potential to shape learning outcomes and science engagement by taking on directly issues of pedagogy, learning, and social justice. In this text we provide a framework for democratic science teaching in order to interrogate the purposes and goals of science education in classrooms globally, as well as to call attention to ways of being in the classroom that position teachers and students as important and powerful participants in their own learning and as change-agents of a larger global society. We develop three core conceptual tools for democratic science teaching, that together frame ways of thinking and being in classrooms that work towards a more just world: Voice, Authority, and Critical Science Literacy. Each conceptual tool is developed in the introductory chapters then taken up in different pedagogical and analytic ways in the chapters that span the text. The chapters present researcher, teacher, and student centered lenses for investigating democratic science education and reflect elementary through high school education, both in school and out of school, in the US and globally.