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Indigenous groups across Africa mobilized Indigenous Knowledge (IK) practices, albeit not without challenges, to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic. Yet Indigenous Knowledge Systems (IKS) continue to be sidelined in formal healthcare policies and programmes. This underscores the urgency to liberate Africa’s epistemologies. Employing the decoloniality lens, this paper examined the colonial influences inherent in African responses to COVID-19 while also exploring the role of IKS in the uMkhanyakude District Municipality (UKDM). The argument is made that, in the case of the UKDM, the efficacy of IKS was demonstrated in the response to and fight against the COVID-19 pandemic. This is the basis for the call to embrace and recognize that IKS is a legitimate body of knowledge comparable to Western science. Such recognition paves the way for more equitable, contextually relevant, and sustainable health strategies that can better address the complexities of current and future pandemics.

BackgroundThe South African curriculum policy mandates the introduction of the first additional languages (FALs) teaching in Grade 1. Research on FAL teaching has been on the agenda in South Africa for more than a decade now. Several interventions in response to systemic findings have been made, yet little success is noted in terms of the advancement of FAL teaching in the foundation phase to a sustainable degree. Thus, there is a need for ongoing research in this focus area to enrich scholarly debates and the practice of FAL teaching with new insights.AimThis paper seeks to further these debates through its attempt to explore and present findings on whether the contextual variations in which schools are located have any influence on Grade 1 FAL teachers’ pedagogical practices.SettingThe study was conducted in three geographically different Grade 1 classroom contexts, namely, urban, peri-urban and rural.MethodsThis is an interpretivism qualitative small-scale multi-case study involving three Grade 1 teachers who taught FAL in three geographically different schools. Data were generated through semi-structured interviews, observations and post-observation interviews. Thematic data analysis was applied, and the results are presented as collated essential findings.ResultsFindings revealed variances in the way teachers taught FAL. These variances were linked to their pedagogical practices as influenced by spatial variation, learners’ exposure to second sites of FAL learning, to name a few.ConclusionThe study calls for teachers to be courageous in developing innovative FAL teaching approaches, thereby influencing curriculum policy on how FAL may be taught in Grade 1 classrooms in different geographical contexts.

BackgroundEarly childhood is a formative period during which distinguishable development has projections of bearing desirable outcomes within an individual. Hence, physical, language, cognitive, emotional and social independence are healthy components of a typical child’s development that early childhood development (ECD) educators deem essential for Grade R readiness.AimThis article aims to explore ECD educators’ perceptions of typical 4-year-old learners’ aspects of development and how this supports their readiness for Grade R.SettingThis study was conducted in an ECD centre in a marginalised rural context of the Mandlankala area, Empangeni, north of Zululand.MethodsAn interpretive qualitative case study methodological design framed within Bronfenbrenner’s person-proximal processes-context model was adopted. Purposive convenient sampling was used to select three ECD educators from an ECD centre. Semi-structured interviews and learners’ physical, language, cognitive, emotional and social behaviour observations were used to generate data. Data were analysed thematically.ResultsFindings revealed that early childhood educators perceive 4-year-old learners’ readiness for Grade R differently based on criteria such as their personalities based on developmental milestones and the educator’s experience in the field and training.ConclusionThis study concluded that the learner’s level of physical, language, cognitive, emotional and social development influences their readiness for Grade R.ContributionSchool readiness skills allow school teachers to expand and further develop learners’ skills in the specific areas of social interaction, play, language, emotional development, physical skills, literacy and fine motor skills.

Given the reality of unprecedented climate change, which has negatively impacted and continues to impact societies and economies, exploring the collective efficacy (CE)-)–adaptation nexus is urgent. Against this backdrop, the current contribution systematically reviews the literature on CE and adaptation by utilising the reporting standards for systematic evidence syntheses (RoSES). The aim is to establish the state of knowledge on the association between CE and adaptation to climate change and its variability globally. The appraisal of eight articles that satisfied the inclusion criteria demonstrates the limited and geographically skewed distribution of publications on the CE–adaptation nexus. CE has not been extensively operationalized in parts of the highly vulnerable African continent. CE and adaptation research in African countries is imperative considering their collectivistic culture, high vulnerability, and low adaptive capacity. Evidence on the positive association between CE and adaptation to climate change and climate-related hazards has been accrued. This is the context within which this paper advances the need for increased research across socio-cultural contexts to advance knowledge on the CE–adaptation nexus and facilitate effective and sustainable adaptation.