ARTICLE TEXT
DOI DOI: 10.38140/ijsie.v2i3.2287

Lecturers’ strategies for inclusive spaces in preparing pre-service teachers at a selected university in the Western Cape

Zandisile Zandisile Sitoyi 1, Moletsane Mokgadi2
  1. 1 Cape Peninsula University of Technology, South Africa
  2. 2 University of the Western Cape, South Africa

Abstract

Inclusive teaching in South African universities remains a continuous challenge for many lecturers. Although national and institutional policies acknowledge diversity and commit to supporting all students, classroom experiences often tell a different story. Many lecturers struggle to ensure that every student feels seen and valued. Creating spaces of belonging goes beyond policy; it involves how lecturers teach, speak, and relate to their students in everyday practice. This work is often undertaken independently, with limited institutional support. This study explores how lecturers within a teacher preparation programme engage in inclusive practices and foster learning environments that affirm diversity. It focuses on the everyday pedagogical strategies used when teaching pre-service teachers from diverse social, cultural, and linguistic backgrounds. Situated within an interpretive phenomenological framework, the study draws on narratives from three lecturers at a university located in Cape Town, South Africa, each with over ten years of teaching experience. Their narratives reveal how they strive to create inclusive classrooms, often within systems that inadvertently reproduce exclusion. The study draws on four theoretical lenses: Nel Noddings’ Ethics of Care, the philosophy of Ubuntu, Critical Pedagogy, and the concept of Epistemic Injustice. Together, these frameworks highlight inclusion not merely as a set of teaching strategies, but as an ethical and relational process shaped by institutional culture and power relations. The findings show that lecturers employ practical yet meaningful strategies, such as building caring relationships, adapting their teaching to meet diverse needs, and maintaining open communication to ensure students feel recognised and supported. Through continuous reflection, lecturers adjust their practices and model inclusive teaching for pre-service teachers. However, these individual efforts often occur in isolation, within systems that continue to prioritise efficiency over care. The study concludes that inclusion in higher education is not a quick fix or merely a technical adjustment, but an ongoing ethical practice. Achieving sustainable inclusion demands both personal commitment from lecturers and structural transformation within teacher education programmes.

How to Cite

Zandisile Sitoyi , Z., & Mokgadi, M. (2025). Lecturers’ strategies for inclusive spaces in preparing pre-service teachers at a selected university in the Western Cape. International Journal of Studies in Inclusive Education, 2(3), 52–62. https://doi.org/10.38140/ijsie.v2i3.2287
Endnote/Zotero/Mendeley (RIS) BibTeX

References

  1. Ainscow, M. (2020). Promoting inclusion and equity in education: Lessons from international experiences. Nordic Journal of Studies in Educational Policy, 6(1), 7–16. https://doi.org/10.1080/20020317.2020.1729587
  2. Albertyn, R. M. (2024). Doctoral intelligence: A framework for developing mindsets for doctorates in changing doctoral contexts. Higher Education Research & Development. Advance online publication.
  3. Andreotti, V., Stein, S., Ahenakew, C., & Hunt, D. (2015). Mapping interpretations of decolonization in the context of higher education. Decolonization: Indigeneity, Education & Society, 4(1), 21–40.
  4. Badat, S. (2010). The challenges of transformation in higher education and training institutions in South Africa. Midrand, South Africa: Development Bank of Southern Africa.
  5. Badat, S. (2020a). Inequality and higher education: Key debates and challenges. South African Journal of Higher Education, 34(6), 1–15.
  6. Badat, S. (2020b). Reproduction, transformation and public South African higher education during and beyond COVID-19. Transformation: Critical Perspectives on Southern Africa, 104(1), 24–42. https://doi.org/10.1353/trn.2020.0030
  7. Boughey, C., & Bozalek, V. (2012). Social inclusion and exclusion in a changing higher education environment. Multidisciplinary Journal of Educational Research, 2(2), 133–151. https://doi.org/10.4471/remie.2012.08
  8. Buthelezi, J. (2019). School-based support team responses to the care and support of learners with same-sex sexual orientations in a township school (Master’s dissertation). University of Johannesburg, South Africa.
  9. Carballo-Delgado, A., Martínez-García, M., & Sánchez-Gómez, M. C. (2019). University lecturers and inclusive practices: Challenges and opportunities. International Journal of Inclusive Education, 23(12), 1256–1272.
  10. Carballo-Delgado, R., Cotán-Fernández, A., & Spínola-Elias, Y. (2019). An inclusive pedagogy in arts and humanities university classrooms: What faculty members do. Arts and Humanities in Higher Education, 20(1), 21–41.
  11. Chisale, S. (2018). Ubuntu as care: Deconstructing the gendered Ubuntu. Verbum et Ecclesia, 39(1), 1–8.
  12. Council on Higher Education. (2004). South African higher education in the first decade of democracy. Pretoria, South Africa: CHE.
  13. Cornell, D., & van Marle, K. (2015). Ubuntu feminism: Tentative reflections. Verbum et Ecclesia, 36(2), a1444. https://doi.org/10.4102/ve.v36i2.1444
  14. Davids, N. (2021). Democratising South African universities: From activism to advocacy. Policy Futures in Education, 19(5), 568–581. https://doi.org/10.1177/14782103211003421
  15. Davids, N., & Waghid, Y. (2024a). Curiosity as Ubuntu justice in higher education. Higher Education Research & Development, 43(3), 673–687.
  16. Davids, N., & Waghid, Y. (2024b). Higher education and democratic citizenship in South Africa. Stellenbosch, South Africa: African Sun Media.
  17. De Vos, A. S. (2009). Research at grass roots: For the social sciences and human service professions (3rd ed.). Pretoria, South Africa: Van Schaik.
  18. Deardorff, D. K. (Ed.). (2009). The SAGE handbook of intercultural competence. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications.
  19. Department of Basic Education. (2016). Safer schools for all: Challenging homophobic bullying. Pretoria, South Africa: Department of Basic Education.
  20. Department of Education. (1997). Education White Paper 3: A programme for the transformation of higher education. Pretoria, South Africa: Government Printer.
  21. Department of Education. (2001). Education White Paper 6: Special needs education: Building an inclusive education and training system. Pretoria, South Africa: Government Printer.
  22. Devlin, M., & McKay, J. (2018). Inclusive teaching in Australian universities: A case study. Teaching in Higher Education, 23(8), 954–969.
  23. Fataar, A. (2018). Decolonising education in South Africa: Perspectives and debates. Educational Research for Social Change, 7(Special Issue), vi–ix.
  24. Florian, L., & Beaton, M. (2017). Inclusive pedagogy in action: Getting it right for every child. International Journal of Inclusive Education, 22(8), 870–884.
  25. Francis, D. A., & Msibi, T. (2011). Teaching about heterosexism: Challenging homophobia in South Africa. Journal of LGBT Youth, 8(2), 157–173.
  26. Fricker, M. (2007). Epistemic injustice: Power and the ethics of knowing. Oxford, England: Oxford University Press.
  27. Gallant, A., & Riley, P. (2014). Early career teacher attrition: New thoughts on an intractable problem. Teacher Development, 18(4), 562–580.
  28. Giroux, H. A. (2004). The terror of neoliberalism: Authoritarianism and the eclipse of democracy. Boulder, CO: Paradigm Publishers.
  29. Giroux, H. A. (2009). Youth in a suspect society: Democracy or disposability? New York, NY: Palgrave Macmillan.
  30. Gopal, R. (2020). Decolonising teacher education: Experiences from India. Educational Research for Social Change, 9(Special Issue), 1–15. https://doi.org/10.17159/2221-4070/2020/v9i0a1
  31. Hartley, R. I., & Sturm, P. (1997). Triangulation. Computer Vision and Image Understanding, 68(2), 146–157.
  32. Heleta, S. (2016). Decolonisation of higher education: Dismantling epistemic violence and Eurocentrism in South Africa. Transformation in Higher Education, 1(1), a9. https://doi.org/10.4102/the.v1i1.9
  33. Heugh, K. (2015). Epistemologies in multilingual education: Translanguaging and genre – companions in conversation with policy and practice. Language and Education, 29(3), 280–285. https://doi.org/10.1080/09500782.2014.994529
  34. Kerfoot, C., & Winberg, C. (1997). Learning about action research. Cape Town, South Africa: Juta & Company.
  35. Lave, J., & Wenger, E. (1991). Situated learning: Legitimate peripheral participation. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
  36. Leask, B. (2015). Internationalizing the curriculum. Abingdon, UK: Routledge.
  37. Luescher, T. M. (2016a). Student representation in university decision-making: Good reasons, a new lens? Studies in Higher Education, 41(3), 457–468. https://doi.org/10.1080/03075079.2014.927849
  38. Luescher, T. M. (2016b). Student representation in a context of democratisation and massification in Africa. In Student politics in Africa: Representation and activism (African Higher Education Dynamics Series, Vol. 2). Cape Town, South Africa: African Minds.
  39. Mabvurira, V. (2020). Hunhu/Ubuntu philosophy as a guide for ethical decision making in social work. African Journal of Social Work, 10(1), 73–77.
  40. Maree, K. (2019). First steps in research (2nd ed.). Pretoria, South Africa: Van Schaik.
  41. Marginson, S. (2016). The worldwide trend to higher participation higher education: Dynamics of social stratification in inclusive systems. Higher Education, 72(4), 413–434. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10734-016-0016-x
  42. Mbembe, A. (2016). Decolonizing the university: New directions. Arts and Humanities in Higher Education, 15(1), 29–45.
  43. McKenna, S., & van Schalkwyk, S. (2023). A scoping review of the changing landscape of doctoral education. Compare: A Journal of Comparative and International Education. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1080/03057925.2023.2168121
  44. Meeuwisse, M., Severiens, S. E., & Born, M. P. (2010). Learning environment, interaction, sense of belonging and study success in ethnically diverse student groups. Research in Higher Education, 51(6), 528–545.
  45. Metz, T. (2011). Ubuntu as a moral theory and human rights in South Africa. African Human Rights Law Journal, 11(2), 532–559.
  46. Moletsane, M. (2021). Gender, social justice and transformation in South African higher education. Agenda, 35(1), 3–10.
  47. Moletsane, R. (2012). Repositioning educational research on rurality and rural education in South Africa: Beyond deficit paradigms. Perspectives in Education, 30(1), 1–8.
  48. Moriña, A., López, R. G., & Molina, V. M. (2015). Students with disabilities in higher education: A biographical-narrative approach to the role of lecturers. Higher Education Research & Development, 34(1), 147–159.
  49. Morrow, W. (2007). Learning to teach in South Africa. Cape Town, South Africa: HSRC Press.
  50. Morrow, W. (2009). Bounds of democracy: Epistemological access in higher education. Cape Town, South Africa: HSRC Press.
  51. Mosito, C. P. (2025). Education and the working class: Is there hope for an inclusive approach? https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.15312396
  52. Mzangwa, S. T. (2019). The effects of higher education policy on transformation in post-apartheid South Africa. Cogent Education, 6(1), 1592737.
  53. Ndlovu-Gatsheni, S. J. (2013). Coloniality of power in postcolonial Africa: Myths of decolonization. Dakar, Senegal: CODESRIA.
  54. Nichols, H. J. (2023). School principals’ responses in creating an inclusive schooling space for gender and sexually diverse learners. African Journal of Career Development, 5(1), 7.
  55. Nieminen, J. H. (2024). Assessment for inclusion: Rethinking inclusive assessment in higher education. Teaching in Higher Education, 29(4), 841–859. https://doi.org/10.1080/13562517.2022.2129355
  56. Noddings, N. (1984). Caring: A feminine approach to ethics and moral education. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.
  57. Noddings, N. (2013). Standardised curriculum and loss of creativity. Theory into Practice, 52(3), 210–215.
  58. Nyamnjoh, F. B. (2017). Incompleteness: Frontier Africa and the currency of conviviality. Journal of Asian and African Studies, 52(3), 253–270. https://doi.org/10.1177/0021909615577499
  59. Probyn, M. (2009). Smuggling the vernacular into the classroom: Conflicts and tensions in classroom codeswitching in township/rural schools in South Africa. International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism, 12(2), 123–136. https://doi.org/10.1080/13670050802153137
  60. Republic of South Africa. (1996). The Constitution of the Republic of South Africa. Pretoria, South Africa: Government Printer.
  61. Richardson, T. A. (2017). Review of Decolonizing the westernized university: Interventions in philosophy of education from within and without (R. Grosfoguel, R. Hernández, & E. R. Velásquez, Eds.). Philosophical Inquiry in Education, 24(4), 419–424. https://doi.org/10.7202/1070673ar
  62. Riessman, C. K. (2008). Narrative methods for the human sciences. Los Angeles, CA: Sage.
  63. Riddell, S., & Weedon, E. (2014). Disabled students in higher education: Discourses of disability and the negotiation of identity. International Journal of Educational Research, 63, 38–46. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijer.2013.02.008
  64. SACE. (2019). Professional teaching standards. Pretoria, South Africa: South African Council for Educators.
  65. Scott, I. (2018). Designing the South African higher education system for student success. Journal of Student Affairs in Africa, 6(1), 1–17. https://doi.org/10.24085/jsaa.v6i1.3066
  66. Slee, R. (2011). The irregular school: Exclusion, schooling, and inclusive education. London, UK: Routledge.
  67. Smith, J. A., Flowers, P., & Larkin, M. (2009). Interpretative phenomenological analysis: Theory, method and research. London, England: Sage.
  68. Sockett, H. (1993). The moral base for teacher professionalism. New York, NY: Teachers College Press.
  69. Stites, M. L., Rakes, C. R., Noggle, A. K., & Shah, S. (2018). Preservice teacher perceptions of preparedness to teach in inclusive settings as an indicator of teacher preparation program effectiveness. Discourse and Communication for Sustainable Education, 9(2), 21–39.
  70. Strydom, J. F., Kuh, G. D., & Mentz, M. (2010). Enhancing success in South Africa’s higher education: Measuring student engagement. Acta Academica, 42(1), 259–278.
  71. Tikly, L. (2020). Education for sustainable development in Africa: A critique of regional agendas. Comparative Education, 56(2), 236–254.
  72. Tronto, J. C. (1993). Moral boundaries: A political argument for an ethic of care. New York, NY: Routledge.
  73. Tronto, J. C. (2013). Caring democracy: Markets, equality, and justice. New York, NY: New York University Press.
  74. UNESCO. (2017). Education for sustainable development goals: Learning objectives. Paris, France: UNESCO Publishing.
  75. Veitch, K. (2019). The usability of repository user interfaces: An evaluation of Scottish higher education institutional repositories (Master’s dissertation). University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, Scotland.
  76. Veitch, R. (2019). Language barriers in South African higher education: Implications for access and success. Journal of Language and Education, 5(3), 45–59.
  77. Volmink, J. (2018). Foreword. In T. Majoko & N. Phasha (Eds.), The state of inclusive education in South Africa and the implications for teacher training programmes: Research report 9–10). Johannesburg, South Africa: British Council South Africa.
  78. Yin, R. K. (2013). Qualitative research from start to finish. London, England: Guilford Press.
  79. Zembylas, M. (2021). Theorizing “care” in higher education: Implications for pedagogy, policy and practice. Higher Education, 81(2), 325–340.