Teachers’ Voices Matter

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  • Title: Teachers’ Voices Matter: Is Cooperative Learning an Appropriate Pedagogy for Multigrade Classes?
  • Author(s): Micheal M Van Wyk
  • Publisher: Common Ground Research Networks
  • Collection: Common Ground Research Networks
  • Series: The Learner
  • Journal Title: The International Journal of Pedagogy and Curriculum
  • Keywords: Convenient Purposive Sampling, Cooperative Learning, Face-to-Face Interviews, Multigrade Class, Telephonic Interviews
  • Volume: 26
  • Issue: 2
  • Date: August 23, 2019
  • ISSN: 2327-7963 (Print)
  • ISSN: 2327-9133 (Online)
  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.18848/2327-7963/CGP/v26i02/19-34
  • Citation: Van Wyk, Micheal M . 2019. "Teachers’ Voices Matter: Is Cooperative Learning an Appropriate Pedagogy for Multigrade Classes?." The International Journal of Pedagogy and Curriculum 26 (2): 19-34. doi:10.18848/2327-7963/CGP/v26i02/19-34.
  • Extent: 16 pages

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Abstract

The multigrade class setting involves learners from different grades learning together in a single classroom, with their teacher having to cater to, and accommodate, the learners’ diverse learning styles. This article investigates the perceptions of teachers who teach multigrade classes by using cooperative learning as a pedagogical approach. A qualitative research design was used to obtain the views of four multigrade teachers, who responded to the telephonic interviews and open-ended emails used as data-collection instruments. The empirical inquiry employed a convenient purposive sampling of teachers from the Free State province in South Africa. In this study, this study has shown that rural teachers’ voices do matter because they work daily with this reality. They expressed the view that they are professionally competent to teach and adapt the cooperative learning pedagogies to changing circumstances. Further research is needed, using a much bigger sample, which might yield different or more nuanced results regarding multigrade teachers’ views on cooperative learning.