Abstract:

This study assessed rural primary teachers’ experiences of quality teaching and learning in multi-grade schools. Based on the teaching of learners of different grades in the same classroom setting, multigrade teaching is seen as a key pedagogical tool that can assist rural schools in the context of a number of challenges facing the Department of Basic Education. The study was guided by a qualitative research methodology where a face-to-face semi-structured interview was used as a primary data collection procedure. The population for the study was composed of rural primary school teachers who were sampled through purposive sampling. The findings of this study revealed that teachers experience challenges in the actual teaching and learning process. This results from the absence of teacher education for teachers of rural multi-grade schools. This study concluded that it is awkward for the department of education to offer the normal mono-grade teacher education to multi-grade teachers.

Keywords:

Rural, Quality teaching, Learning, Multi-grade teaching, Teacher education, Mono-grade teaching.