Abstract
Multi-grade teachers are faced with some difficulties in their classrooms and there is a need to mitigate such difficulties. In the context of social justice, this article explores the difficulties multi-grade teachers face and how these difficulties can be mitigated to achieve effective teaching and learning. The theoretical framework that underpins this study is the theory of social justice. Data were collected through face-to-face interviews with nine teachers who teach in multi-grade classrooms. Thematic data analysis was employed to analyse the data. The findings revealed that multi-grade teachers struggle to achieve effective teaching and learning in such classrooms because of the following: inadequate welfare as they are overloaded with work; lack of just opportunities in terms of training; inadequate human resources as the support service staff is not trained in multi-grade teaching; lack of respect for learners’ rights because learners use curriculum that is not meant for their classrooms; lack of equity because multi-grade teachers are expected to perform in the same way as monograde teachers. The article concluded that social justice can contribute to the mitigation of difficulties faced by multi-grade teachers when: there is consideration of many grades and subjects taught in multi-grade classrooms; support for multi-grade teaching is focused on the approach; multi-grade teachers are supported by multi-grade specialists; curriculum development and implementation focuses on multi-grade teaching; the focus is on equity rather than equality between multi-grade teachers and monograde teachers.