Pre-Service Teachers’ Academic Identity and their Lived Experiences in Remote Learning: The New Normal in Curriculum Practice

Mochina Mphuthi ORCID iD & Molaodi Tshelane ORCID iD

Issue: Vol.3  No.11 October 2022 Post COVID-19 Special Issue  Article 12 pp.158-170
DOI: https://doi.org/10.38159/ehass.2022sp31113 |   Published online 2nd November 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 Ministry of Tertiary Institutions of South Africa charged post-secondary institutions to implement measures to achieve the government’s social distancing policy. Institutions shifted to remote learning to sustain their core business of teaching and learning. However, there were concerns with the implementation of these measures. For instance, pre-service teachers were seen as ill-equipped and poorly supported during remote learning. This paper aims to contextualise the identity of pre-service economic and management science teachers and reflect on their experiences of curriculum practice during remote learning. Architecture theory was used as the main lens for this study. Furthermore, the goal is to reflect on their adaptation to remote learning as the new normal. Participants’ experiences and factors that affected them are discussed as data collected using the critical participatory action learning and action research (CPALAR) approach as a form of critical education science. Critical discourse analysis was used to arrive at the following broad findings: firstly, higher learning institutions are obligated to create practical learning experiences for pre-service teachers. Secondly, participants were directly affected academically, socially, and psychologically. This paper concludes with the recommendation that hybrid learning as the new normal is the future of teaching and learning and should be embraced.

Keywords: Pre-service teachers, New normal, Curriculum practice, Architecture theory

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Mochina Mphuthi (B. Ed Honours, Education Management), works as Student Support Official at the Central University of Technology, South Africa. His research focuses on Pre-service teaching, Economic and Management Science, Remote Learning and Teacher Education Research.

Dr. Molaodi Tshelane is a Senior Lecturer: School of Education, Department of curriculum Studies at the Sol Plaatje University, South Africa. He holds a Ph.D. in Curriculum Studies. His research interests focus on Scholarship of sustainable curriculum practice, ICT and Teacher Education.

Mphuthi, M & Tshelane M. “Pre-Service Teachers’ Academic Identity and their Lived Experiences in Remote Learning: The New Normal in Curriculum Practice,” E-Journal of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences 3, no.11 (2022):158-170.  https://doi.org/10.38159/ehass.2022sp31113

© 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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