Teacher Education through Flexible Learning in Africa (TETFLE)

Teacher Education through Flexible Learning in Africa and other Developing Contexts (TETFLE) open journal

Topic: Teacher education through flexible learning in Africa and other Global South contexts: International comparative perspectives

Guest-editors:

Prof CC Wolhuter, Professor in Comparative and International Education, North-West University, Potchefstroom, South Africa

Prof NK Dash, Indira Ghandi National Open University, India

The COVID-19 pandemic of 2020/21 has precipitated a change in many teacher education systems, inducing the embracement of the latest technology in enhancing the education effort. In this way, a new normal has been created (Nel & Marais, 2021). Post-pandemic, many experiments are being carried out by higher education and school education systems in the Global South to design, develop and offer teacher education programmes online (Glietenberg et al., 2022). Many teacher education courses are also provided through massive open online courses (MOOCs). Such experiments, many times, extend beyond national frontiers. The aim of this special issue is to place the focus on how flexible learning systems in teacher education in Africa and other Global South regions were created and how these are operating in various Global South contexts.

In this volume, we seek to publish articles related to the changes teacher education has undergone due to the pandemic and the focus on innovative technology, the possible opportunities this offers to the way societies educate their prospective and in-service teachers, and how these changes were tailored for the various national Global South societal contexts.

As such, this special edition focuses on research and innovation with regard to teacher education practices, including:

• Research practices
• Academic practices
• Assessment practices
• Internationalisation practices
• Practices related to teaching practice or workplace experience
• Teaching portfolios
• Administrative practices

Types of manuscripts sought

Volume 8 seeks to publish original research contributions that discuss issues relevant to teacher education practices. Practical solutions to a variety of challenges encountered in this field, as well as more theoretical approaches to how pre- and in-service teachers could be effectively and efficiently trained in open distance learning institutions, are expected to address post-pandemic teaching and learning environments.

Two further clarifications are apt. Firstly, it should be mentioned that, while manuscripts that explicitly compare two or more units are welcome, single-unit studies can also be considered comparative research. In fact, most publications in the field of comparative and international education are single-unit studies (see Flessa, et al., 2021; Wolhuter, 2008).  Although this is an apparent negation of the “comparative” in comparative education, comparativists frequently advance several reasons why single-unit studies still constitute comparative research. These include the fact that such studies contribute to the fund of knowledge of education in particular contexts and that such studies hook onto general concepts used in comparative educational scholarship. Their value also lies in the refinement and modification of existing theory and, ultimately, in the creation of new theory when existing explanatory frameworks prove inadequate (Arnove, 2001, p. 496; see also Wiseman, 2023). The general contention is also that, rather than literally meaning the study and comparison of two or more education systems, the term “comparative education” refers to the study of reciprocal education and society relations in particular contexts (Brown & Schweisfurth, 2024). This is evident in David Wilson’s analysis of definitions of comparative education (Wilson, 1994) and Erwin Epstein’s study on the meaning of comparison in comparative education (Epstein, 1992). A case could, however, be made against the overwhelming dominance of single-unit studies and for more two-units-plus studies, as such studies throw into sharper relief education-societal relations in particular contexts. Arnove (2001, p. 496; see also Prakash, 2020) also cautions that it is dangerous to generalise from one case and to view the world only from the lens with which one is most familiar. 

Sharing the experiences of flexible learning teacher education experiments - especially now in the post-pandemic time, when such experiments are in abundance - with global audiences though experiments may not be conceptualised from a comparative perspective, but will still have immense comparative value for readers and practitioners. Hence, articles focusing on such experiments or innovations in the national context may be encouraged.

Secondly, international comparative studies do not only entail research at the level of national education systems. While the national level predominates in publications in the field of comparative and international education research, the much-cited Bray and Thomas Cube (Bray & Hajar, 2024; Bray & Murray, 1995) spelled out that comparative education studies can take place at a variety of geographic levels: global, continental, national, sub-national, institutional, classroom and individual.

References

Arnove, R.F. (2001). CIES facing the twenty-first century: Challenges and contributions. Comparative Education Review 45(4),477-503.

Bray, M., & Hajar (أنس حجّار), A. (2024). Complexity of the contexts: Features of private tutoring and units for comparison in the GCC countries of the Middle East. ECNU Review of Education 7(1),42-65. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1177/20965311221113350.

Bray, M., & Murray, T.R. (1995). Levels of comparison in educational studies. Harvard Educational Review 65(3),472-490.

Brown, R., & Schweisfurth, M. (2024). Making context matter through Massey’s relational space: Methodological and theoretical implications for comparative and international education. Comparative Education Review 68(3),1-20.

Epstein, E.H. (1992). The problematic meaning of ‘comparison’ in comparative education. In J. Schriewer & B. Holmes (Eds.), Theories and methods in comparative education. Frankfurt-am-Main: Peter Lang (3-23).

Flessa, J., Bramwell, D., & Mindreau, G.C. (2021). Education administration research in comparative education, 1995-2018. Comparative Education Review 65(3),1-20.

Glietenberg, S.H., Petersen, N., & Carolin, A. (2022). Teacher educators’ experiences of the shift to remote teaching and learning due to COVID-19. South African Journal of Childhood Education 12(1),a1189. Available at: ps://doi.org/10.4102/sajce.v12i1.1189.

Nel, C., & Marais, E. (2021). Addressing the wicked problem of feedback during teaching practicum. Perspectives in Education 39(1),410-426.

Prakash, S. (2020). The concept of comparative education. In S. Prakash, A.C. Lal Kumar &  A.R. Anandha Krishnaveni (Eds), Comparative Education. Solapur: Laxmi Books (1-14).

Wilson, D.N. (1994). Comparative and international education: Fraternal or Siamese twins: A preliminary genealogy of our twin fields. Comparative Education Review 38(4),161-177.

Wiseman, A.W. (2023). Area studies and regional developments. Annual review of comparative and international education 2022 (International Perspectives on Education and Society 46(B),93-96.

Wolhuter, C.C. (2008). Review of the review: Constructing the identity of comparative education. Research in Comparative and International Education 3(4),323-344.

Proposal for manuscript/abstract

Send a proposal for a manuscript to tetflemanager@up.ac.za

The proposal should include:

1. The title
2. A brief abstract (a maximum of 300 words), including between four and six keywords. The abstract should focus on the main content of the research (rationale, conceptual or theoretical framework, design and methodology, findings and recommendations, areas for further research and conclusion; no references should be included). Authors are also requested to visit the TETFLE website for examples of article abstracts.
3. The author’s name(s), affiliation(s) and contact details

The closing date for the submission of the proposal is 28 March 2025. Authors will be given feedback on their proposal within three weeks of submission.

Manuscript submission instructions

If an abstract is accepted, manuscripts for this special issue will be submitted through the TETFLE online submission system at https://upjournals.up.ac.za/index.php/tetfle/index with the closing date of 31 May 2025.

When submitting your manuscript, please include a note in the comments field that you wish it to be considered for TETFLE Volume 8.

Carefully review the author’s guidelines and submission preparation checklist, and prepare your manuscript accordingly.

Information about the peer review process and criteria is also available on the platform.

Planned publication date

Timeline: Call for papers

1. Abstract

1.1 Call for abstracts: 25 October 2024

1.2 Closing date: Submission of abstracts: 28 March 2025

1.3 Feedback on submitted abstracts: 18 April 2025

1. Manuscript

2.1 Invitation to submit manuscript for review: 18 May 2025

2.2 Closing date for manuscript submission: 31 July 2025

2.3 Feedback on manuscripts (tentative): 31 October 2025

2.3 Accepted manuscripts to be published (tentative): December 2025