Rethinking Educational Transitioning in South African Primary Schools in Grades 3 and 4

Abstract

In South Africa, Grade 3 learners are taught by a class-teacher who teaches all the subjects in this specific grade, but once they are promoted to Grade 4, they are taught by specialist subject teachers. This implies that the learners suddenly transition from one teacher to being taught by four or five specialist subject teachers; and this adapting to various pedagogical approaches, has disadvantages. Research reveals that Grade 3 learner- performance is usually satisfactory or better as compared to Grade 4 results. In other words, once the learners’ transition to Grade 4, their academic performance drops. This study investigates the foundational problems plaguing learner-transitioning from Grade 3 to 4. This study is significant in that it suggests recommendations that may address transitional challenges. The interpretive worldview and the case study method were used in conjunction with the qualitative approach to collect data. For this purpose, 5 ex-Model-C schools were conveniently selected; this included 10 Grade 3 teachers and 10 Grade 4 teachers from these schools. Research instruments such as lesson observation, interviews and document analysis were utilised. Additionally, Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological Theory was adopted as the theoretical lens which explored the pedagogical relationship between the teacher and the learners. Findings in the study indicated that when Grade 3 learners’ transition to Grade 4 they fail to navigate this process due to contextual barriers. Possibly, the language barrier precipitated by the Language of learning and Teaching (LOLT), affected the learners’ performance. This study recommended changing communication strategies in content subjects as well as re-analysing Grade 4 language pedagogy in curriculum delivery as intervention strategies to solve the issue of poor performance when learners transition from Grade 3 to 4.