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This article argues that imaginative play can fulfil a valuable role in the development of reading among pre-school children. It uses Feuerstein's Mediated Learning Experience as a theoretical lens and defines the concepts related to imaginative play, focussing particularly on symbolic and dramatic play. Drawing on an ethnographic case study of the reading development of four pre-schoolers, aged between 5 and 6, in their home environments in KwaZulu-Natal, it shows how imaginative play is a generative aspect of early reading in the home. It is through imaginative play that the children were able to make sense of what they had read, transfer it to other contexts and explore its implications in a child-centred way. Imaginative play can take early reading from the realms of print and digital media into those of movement, dressing-up, role-playing, visual and aural stimulation--holistic and integrative ways of 'comprehending' the text. The article concludes with a discussion of the challenges and potential pedagogical implications of the research findings.

Whilst research has been conducted on reading skills at primary school level in South Africa, not much research exists on writing, especially boys' writing. This article focuses on the use of an interactive questionnaire to get Grade 6 boys involved in research that is based on a cycle of the writing programme as prescribed by the Curriculum and Assessment Policy Statement. Underpinned by literature on research with children and on boys' learning and writing, a questionnaire was developed, piloted and adapted to engage boys actively in the research process and facilitate ease of use. The questionnaire was then administered to 39 Grade 6 boys from two schools in KwaZulu-Natal. An evaluation of the use of the questionnaire found that four key lessons emerged: attention to affective responses, supporting and scaffolding the process, using appropriate multi-modality and using incentives to engage participants. The article argues that careful consideration of the research participants' interests, age, gender and cultural motivation is an important part of affording them agency in the research process.

The number of young people not in employment, education or training (NEET) is increasing worldwide. In Eswatini, the setting of this study, these numbers are proportionally higher than elsewhere due to high unemployment, low life expectancy and a "youth bulge". The purpose of this article is to present a critique of the neoliberal term "NEET" as a description of out-of-school youth. Based on a narrative study which used focus group discussions and questionnaires to investigate the educational experiences of 55 Emaswati out-of-school youth, the article elaborates four themes that emerged from an analysis of the data: poverty, livelihoods, stigma and social efficacy. It argues that the "NEET" label is reductive of young people's potential and sidelines their contributions to their families, communities and wider society. It proposes the term FILLL (Family involvement, social Insertedness, Learning, Livelihoods, Legacies) as an alternative which better captures young people's agency and situatedness in an African context. This concept may contribute to reimagining the relationship between formal and informal learning and livelihoods, and between Western and African knowledge systems, in Eswatini and other developing countries.

This article argues that we have lost the plot in South African reading education. To find it, we need to move beyond the predominant mode of reading as oral performance, where the emphasis is on accuracy and pronunciation, to reading as comprehension of meaning in text. While reading research in South Africa has been conducted mainly in school contexts, this case study is of a school and Adult Basic Education and Training Centre in a rural KwaZulu-Natal community near Pietermaritzburg. It found that an oratorical approach to reading dominated in both settings. It suggests that developing the way in which teachers understand the teaching of reading and transforming the teaching practices of those who teach as they were taught in the education system of the apartheid era are key to improving the teaching of reading.

Many adults with disabilities in South Africa never had a chance to attend school or dropped out at an early age because of poverty and discrimination. This article investigates the attitudes and experiences of adults with disabilities regarding education. It draws on an interactional model of disability and an embodied understanding of cognition as theoretical frames. The study attempted to adopt an emancipatory action research approach that involved persons with disabilities in conceptualizing and conducting the research. It found that adults with disabilities had generally negative experiences of education as children but a strong desire to learn as adults. Involvement in collective learning and action has the potential to transform the body images and self-efficacy of adults with disabilities. The research findings suggest a perspective on adults with disabilities as potentially powerful and resourceful learners and citizens. (Contains 3 tables.)

Sub-Saharan Africa is the region of the world most affected by HIV & AIDS, accounting for two-thirds of the global burden of the pandemic. People with disabilities are regarded as a high-risk group for HIV but have been largely neglected in programmes of education, treatment and support. This paper examines the possibilities for a learning dialogue between the HIV & AIDS and disability movements in an African context. It draws on a three-country research study into HIV & AIDS and disability in Uganda, Zambia and South Africa. The research made use of multi-case study approach based on a range of data, including interviews, focus groups, site observations and documentary analysis. The paper presents a model for articulating learning across these social movements by describing best learning practices and examining struggle milestones in the HIV & AIDS and disability movements, as well as cross-cutting priorities that apply to both the AIDS and disability movements. Drawing on theories of social movement learning and intersectionality, it argues for the importance of crosscutting dialogue on a range of themes and in various formats between the two social movements. (Contains 1 figure.)

This article explores the practices undertaken by early childhood development practitioners (ECDPs) to support poor and vulnerable children from birth to four years outside centre-based provision. The article draws on part of a UNICEF (United Nations International Children's Fund) commissioned evaluation on family and community-based ECD (Early Childhood Development) programme in the Free State Province of South Africa. The respondents in the study were ECDPs, managers and participants in community projects. The data were produced through interviews, focus group interviews, site visits and document analysis. The findings suggest that ECDPs play an enabling and facilitating role through multiple practices to reach young children and their families both in their immediate and broader environments. Challenges emerge from a lack of recognition of ECDPs as public service workers and contextual factors in poor and vulnerable circumstances. The article concludes with policy implications.

Context The outcome of patients requiring intensive care can be influenced by the presence of previously undiagnosed diabetes (undiagDM). Objective This work aimed to define the clinical characteristics, glucose control metrics, and outcomes of patients admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU) with undiagDM, and compare these to patients with known DM (DM). Methods This case-control investigation compared undiagDM (glycated hemoglobin A1c [HbA1c] ≥ 6.5%, no history of diabetes) to patients with DM. Glycemic ratio (GR) was calculated as the quotient of mean ICU blood glucose (BG) and estimated preadmission glycemia, based on HbA1c ([28.7 × HbA1c] – 46.7 mg/dL). GR was analyzed by bands: less than 0.7, 0.7 to less than or equal to 0.9, 0.9 to less than 1.1, and greater than or equal to 1.1. Risk-adjusted mortality was represented by the Observed:Expected mortality ratio (OEMR), calculated as the quotient of observed mortality and mortality predicted by the severity of illness (APACHE IV prediction of mortality). Results Of 5567 patients 294 (5.3%) were undiagDM. UndiagDM had lower ICU mean BG (P <.0001) and coefficient of variation (P <.0001) but similar rates of hypoglycemia (P =.08). Mortality and risk-adjusted mortality were similar in patients with GR less than 1.1 comparing undiagDM and DM. However, for patients with GR greater than or equal to 1.1, mortality (38.5% vs 10.3% [ P =.0072]) and risk-adjusted mortality (OEMR 1.18 vs 0.52 [ P <.0001]) were higher in undiagDM than in DM. Conclusion These data suggest that DM patients may develop tolerance to hyperglycemia that occurs during critical illness, a protective mechanism not observed in undiagDM, for whom hyperglycemia remains strongly associated with higher risk of mortality. These results may shed light on the natural history of diabetes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper develops the notions of dialogue and dialogic space in relation to adult education projects with emancipatory agendas. It explores the philosophical genealogy of the notion of dialogue in order to establish a basis for the concept of dialogic space, surveying the works of seminal figures such as Plato, Buber, Bakhtin, Habermas and Freire. The literature survey identifies key themes and linkeages among theorists of dialogue. The paper goes on to discuss dialogue in relation to adult education projects and develops the concept of dialogic space. It draws on a historical case study of a South African adult education project, the Tuition Project, to illustrate the concept. It concludes by examining the conditions which make dialogue possible in adult education and discusses the broader application of the notion of dialogic space in the field.