Education in the New Normal: A Need for Alternative Strategies in Supporting Teaching and Learning in South African Schools in the Post-COVID-19 Era

Kayode Babatunde OlawumiORCID iD  & Mzuyanda Percival Mavuso ORCID iD

Issue: Vol.3  No.11 October 2022 Post COVID-19 Special Issue  Article 9 pp.116-125
DOI: https://doi.org/10.38159/ehass.2022sp31110 |   Published online 31st October 2022.
© 2022 The Author(s). This is an open access article under the CCBY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).

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The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic has negatively impacted the educational system all over the world in many ways, including teaching and learning. Schools had to abandon face-to-face teaching and learning and adopt online teaching approaches.  This means that teaching through mobile digital tools and blended approaches is to be enhanced post-COVID-19 era. This paper critically reviewed the literature on the strategies used to support teaching and learning in South African schools during the post-COVID-19 era amid the challenges experienced by the education system in South Africa. The literature review approach was adopted to gather literature on strategies to support teaching and learning in South African schools. Having considered teaching and learning in South African schools which is primarily based on face-to-face traditional pedagogical strategies before the outbreak of COVID-19 and the challenges experienced during the pandemic. The paper argues the need for educational planners to rethink how teaching and learning could be enhanced in the new normal. The digital learning, blended teaching, and eLearning/online learning approaches response of South Africa during the outbreak of the pandemic should be sustained. It emerged from the literature that although teachers and learners have embraced technology, there is no clear policy on how ICT should integrate with teaching, learning and assessment. Therefore, this study recommends that the Department of Basic Education develop an ICT integration policy providing a clear strategy that will accommodate both rural and urban schools. Furthermore, it is recommended that increased funding on education resources and the provision of continuous teacher professional development program be considered.

Keywords: New normal, Post-COVID-19, Blended teaching and learning, Online learning

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Dr. Kayode Babatunde Olawumi is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the University of Fort Hare, South Africa. He holds a PhD Education from the University of Fort Hare, South Africa. His research focuses on Curriculum development, Teaching and Learning.

Dr. Mzuyanda Percival Mavuso is the Deputy Dean, Teaching and Learning at the University of Fort Hare, South Africa. He holds a PhD from the University of Fort Hare. His research focuses on School leadership Management and Governance and Curriculum Management.

Olawumi, K.B. & Mavuso M.P. “Exploring Vocabulary Knowledge as a Strategy to Enhance English First Additional Language in the Post Covid -19 Era,” E-Journal of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences 3, no.11 (2022):116-125.  https://doi.org/10.38159/ehass.2022sp31110

© 2022 The Author(s). Published and Maintained by Noyam Publishers. This is an open access article under the CCBY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).

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