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The purpose of this paper is to explore teaching methods that can allow learners to be creative and proactive. The learners should be able to solve problems, make decisions, think critically, communicate ideas effectively and work efficiently. Teaching and learning are evolving and developing in many countries, with a focus concerning what is actually learned through effective teaching methods.

A qualitative research was carried out, identifying effective teaching methods and exploring their roles in teaching and learning in physical sciences in selected rural secondary schools. Face-to-face interviews with physical sciences teachers, school principals and curriculum advisers were used to collect data.

A range of teaching methods that may be integrated into teaching and learning activities is identified. The teaching methods ensure that topics are discussed and explored through interaction and sharing of perspective, views and values through which new learning can emerge. Viewed from this perspective, there is a need to create a stimulating, enriching, challenging and focused environment for physical sciences learners through the use of multiple teaching methodologies.

The improvement of science learner’s academic achievement requires also the teachers to develop new skills and ways of teaching the subject. Improving learner academic achievement in physical sciences requires an approach to improve the skills of teachers as well, which focuses on the effective use of teaching methods such as experiments. This means attempting to change the attitude of teachers to regard the processes of teaching and learning as central to their role. In addition, the achievement of learners in science could possibly solve the problem of shortages of engineers, skilled artisans, technicians, doctors and technologists for sustainable development. It is important to create conducive conditions for learning and teaching in physical sciences, and continue to progressively and within available resources, realise that collaboration, problem-solving and hands-on activities are effective teaching methods to improve learner academic achievement.

The learners should be able to solve problems, make decisions, think critically, communicate ideas effectively and work efficiently. The study is limited to the teaching methods used in physical sciences. Hands-on activities are essential in science teaching and learning.

The use of collaborations, peer teachings and hands-on activities allows learners emphasise the creation of a classroom where students are engaged in essentially open-ended, student-centred and hands-on experiments.

The paper is original work, in which face-to-face interviews were carried out. Qualitative research was carried out. The paper could assist educators in the teaching of physical sciences in secondary schools using the identified methods. The results were obtained from physical sciences educators, school principals and curriculum advisors in South Africa. Poor academic achievement in rural areas is a concern, and therefore, the paper provides effective methods which can be used by educators in the teaching of physical sciences in rural areas.

The proliferation of e‐learning is challenging the convention, not only of where and how it is possible to learn, but also of who is able to learn. For a number of the UK’s disabled, those whose early education either was not completed or was not even possible, online courses have enabled them to finally close the gaps in their education and gain the skills necessary to further their careers.

The chapter on special education in South Africa initiates with a very comprehensive historical account of the origins of special education making reference to the inequalities linked to its colonial and racist past to a democratic society. This intriguing section ends with the most recent development in the new democracy form special needs education to inclusive education. Next, the chapter provides prevalence and incidence data followed by trends in legislation and litigation. Following these sections, detailed educational interventions are discussed in terms of policies, standards and research as well as working with families. Then information is provided on regular and special education teacher roles, expectations and training. Lastly, the chapter comprehensively discusses South Africa’s special education progress and challenges related to budgetary support, staff turnover, and a lack of prioritizing over the number of pressing education goals in the country’s provinces.

The purpose of this paper is to critically review the well-intended plan by the government through the Ministry of Education to continue providing quality learning through online learning and in an equitable and inclusive manner during school closures due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

This paper is based on a review of the available literature including assessment reports, academic studies and media reports.

The paper revealed that despite the visionary plan by the government that the development and implementation of an emergency response plan would ensure equitable and inclusive continued learning for all students, those learners who were disadvantaged, including those living in remote areas and urban informal settlements, girls and learners from low–socio-economic households, found it even harder to access lessons. In fact, the existing digital divide on the part of the learners and schools served to reproduce or even widen inequities in learning. The COVID-19 pandemic evidently made these inequities more visible or even worse. What had been conceived as and intended to be an equitable and inclusive learning exercise ended up marginalising learners in already marginalised spaces.

While the researchers made an attempt to search for as many documents as possible, the documents selected for the paper are limited to those that explored the online learning during COVID-19 in Kenya. These reports were critically examined with a view to providing a clear picture of what online teaching and learning was like and how this picture embraced notions of fairness and inclusivity hence equity. Despite all these, there was the possibility of having some biases in the used reports. However, the researchers carefully read them triangulating them with others with similar information in an attempt to filter biases.

The paper has demonstrated how the learning process can be influenced by the provision of the relevant teaching and learning materials, tools and infrastructure.

This paper has clearly demonstrated the position that learning is a social process and which is affected by the social factors such as gender roles, socio-economic status and the social environment in which it occurs.

The paper contributes to ongoing discussion about the potentials and challenges of online learning particularly in a country like Kenya where equity in learning still remains a considerable challenge mainly as a result of the existing socio-economic, regional and gender disparities in learning. The paper makes a contribution in terms of an authentic mode of thinking that should guide the process of provision of “learning for all”.

The lifelong learning agenda maintains a pivotal role in educational discourse. It reflects government policy that as a conceptual framework it is shaping a new model of learning. Moreover, it reinforces the view that the establishment of a learning society is vital to meet the growing diversity of economic and social imperatives. This paper explores some of the challenges facing further education in constructing an effective and vocational paradigm for lifelong learning that addresses the impact of widening participation and accessibility. It highlights the significance of recent post‐16 government initiatives and the relationship between a knowledge economy and the inclusive learning agenda in the context of policy and practice.

This chapter illustrates the ways in which The Open University (OU), one of the leading distance learning universities in the world, uses a range of social media to engage members of the public in learning. The OU has been an early adopter of innovative technologies which enabled public engagement right from its inception, forty years ago, contributing to fulfilling its ethos of social justice. It is this aim to remove barriers and provide learning materials to a wide audience, including those who may be excluded from other learning institutions, which has been a major strategic driver of recent changes. Today the OU harnesses a range of social media to continue to develop this strategic policy. The OU's ecology of openness includes a presence on externally developed social media such as YouTube, iTunesU, Facebook and Twitter, which are used as platforms to transfer knowledge and expertise to interested members of the public and encourage academic debate. Alongside these, the OU has also developed its own cutting edge social media platforms, which also allow public engagement. Key OU platforms include OpenLearn, a website that gives free access to a vast range of OU course materials; and Cloudworks, a site for finding, sharing and discussing learning and teaching ideas, experiences and issues. This chapter explores the achievements of the OU in using social media to engage with public audiences, as well as highlights the challenges and issues encountered.

Internationally, and more specifically in South Africa, education is regarded as a guiding force to achieve a more humane and inclusive society by ensuring that human rights and social justice principles are embedded and implemented in all educational practices. Inclusive education policies encourage a growth mindset in asserting the belief that all children can learn. However, the implementation of a successful inclusive education system continues to be a challenge. Through an autoethnography, I have identified three main concerns that I believe contests the conceptualisation, philosophical framework and practice of inclusive education. These include understanding inclusion, a fixed mindset and curriculum inflexibility, i.e. stuck in a fixed mindset. I also make some suggestions on how to address these concerns.