Teaching in extended programmes in South Africa is an edited collection recently published by the ECP Unit at Fundani CHED, at Cape Peninsula University of Technology. The collection offers a window into the daily teaching realities of university lecturers working in the extended curriculum and first year domains at local universities.
Presented as short case studies, each chapter offers critical reflections on how ordinary lecturers are trying to make sense of and improve their teaching practices. The case studies, which take a strong practitioner-focus, offer personal narratives of the kinds of teaching challenges which extended curriculum lecturers are grappling with. By bringing together extended curriculum lecturers working at five universities and a range of faculty and disciplinary environments – this collection provides an opportunity for practice sharing across institutional boundaries and creates access to the contextual realities experienced at other institutional environments. All the case studies offer salient commentary on the crucial impact of the teaching context on what possibilities are available to the lecturer with respect to their classroom practices.
A key assertion made by the book is that lecturers, through critical reflection on their teaching practice, have a valuable contribution to offer to ongoing scholarly debates about enhancing our understanding of teaching and learning in the university. This approach of drawing on reflective inquiry and a range of conceptual frameworks, places attention on the value and importance of theoretical variance. The diversity of conceptual and methodological tools also allows lecturers to use frameworks and approaches that more closely match their own teaching philosophies and can be adapted and tailored to the situational realities of their classrooms.
More information about the book, its authors and their insights about the ECP teaching context can be found at teachinginecp.co.za. Copies of the book can also be requested via the website.
