How to Overcome Challenging Learning Conditions: Lessons Learned from South Africa

In a world where one tenth of the population around you does not have a formal education (Statistics South Africa, 2006b) and the average yearly income for your family will be under $1,000 would literacy education be a part of your future? These are not the only hurdles that lie ahead of children in sub-Saharan Africa. Teachers have class sizes anywhere from 26-67 students (UNESCO 2011), children walk across desks due to overcrowding in classrooms, and 10% of the population will use a bucket for a toilet.These schools are referred to as “historically disadvantaged” (Prinsloo & Janks, 2002). How can we teachers as a community bridge the gap between conditions that are not in our favor and engage student literacy learning? This starts with access to texts and effective teacher literacy training. An exposed understanding of the teaching conditions and the literacy teaching focus for teachers will be addressed.