49

Mutual benefits of an experiential

learning community project in South
Africa: Perceptual skills development
and learning support1 2
Nkhensani Susan Thuketana, University of Pretoria, South Africa

ABSTRACT
This paper draws on Kolb’s experiential learning theory. Experiential learning can be used to create
and verify knowledge or to analyse truths and belief systems. The experiences of third-year Bachelor of
Education (BEd) students and the benefits of stakeholder engagement in the delivery of teacher training
are highlighted in this paper. Although learners were the focal point of this community engagement
project, both in-service and pre-service teachers benefitted in terms of skills transfer and upskilling. Special
emphasis was placed on reading comprehension and the effects of the underdevelopment of perceptual
skills on learning. The epistemological theoretical insights in this paper contribute to teaching practice,
equipping in-service teachers with the skill to link perceptual skills development to learning. The project
made use of participatory action research (PAR) underpinned by Kolb’s interactive learning cycle of active
experimentation, reflective observation, concrete experience and abstract conceptualisation. Two hundred
and seventeen (217) student teachers, 20 Foundation Phase teachers and 300 learners from one school
participated in this project. The results of this community engagement project revealed that community
projects are essential in disseminating theoretical knowledge to in-service teachers, and thus, in sharing
learning support strategies for children with special needs.12

Keywords: Community engagement, experiential learning; in-service teachers, mutual benefit, perceptual
skills development, pre-service teachers: school readiness, teacher development

INTRODUCTION
According to the Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS), which is conducted every five
years, 78% of children in South African Grade 4 classes lack reading comprehension skills (Zimmerman
& Smit, 2014). Reading comprehension encompasses skills such as phonological awareness, word
decoding, vocabulary, spelling, and handwriting, which are all considered prerequisites for children to be
able to read and understand written text (Zimmerman & Smit, 2014; Nel, 2011). Children whose reading
comprehension competency is not well developed have difficulty excelling academically (McClelland, Pitt
& Stein, 2015) and being adept professionals (Ness, 2016). In this regard, Kivunja (2015) reiterates that

1 There was no competing interest that may have induced the author to write this article. However, the paper reports on the work
funded by the Department of Higher Education’s Scholarship of teaching and learning programme.
2 Date of submission 30 May 2019
Date of review outcome 2 September 2019
Date of acceptance 3 March 2020

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the world of the 21st century requires a population with information, literacy, social and communication
skills for survival.

In support of the above, Wickramasinghe et al. (2019) state that countries everywhere require an
accountable citizenry – that is, they must be able to make transparent decisions, among others. It is evident
that a workforce without these core skills would remain underprivileged, which would be detrimental to
national progress. In many African countries, children’s ability to acquire reading comprehension skills
that are necessary for progress at schools is impeded by a number of factors, most notably socioeconomic
factors, a lack of conducive and stimulating environments, and structured developmental opportunities for
them (Murray-Kolb et al., 2014).

The interaction of the realities in a South African context results in most children in the Foundation Phase
starting school without the necessary competencies to be able to learn, therefore being labelled as children
with learning difficulties. Cortiella and Horowits (2014) refute this claim and state that learning difficulty
is neurological in origin, as children with learning difficulties struggle to store, process, and retrieve
information as required. Nevertheless, the above authors agree that children from a disadvantaged
environment are at risk and call for early identification of specific learning difficulties and support.

In South Africa’s inclusive classrooms, consisting of children with diverse cognitive abilities, Donohue
and Bornman (2015) and Forlin (2010) found that teacher attitudes impacted on the learning abilities
of learners with special needs. They recommended a holistic assessment of the environment, including
children’s cognitive abilities, to garner the support needed. Although the underdevelopment of perceptual
skills greatly affects reading comprehension in children, the skill is underrepresented in research.

The South African school curriculum prescribed in the Curriculum and Assessment Policy Statements (CAPS)
states that children in schools should be able to read and write fluently at the end of Grade 3 (Department
of Education, 2009). However, Grilli et al. (2016) point out a worrying factor: according to the PIRLS,
children in Grade 4 still have not acquired reading comprehension skills. Spaull (2015) investigated
teacher content knowledge and the unavailability of resources in schools in order to determine real
factors contributing to learners’ inability to develop reading comprehension skills. The findings confirm that
teachers’ poor content knowledge is a causal factor and recommend the retraining of in-service teachers,
among other things. However, retraining of teachers may not be practicable. It is from this perspective that
authors such as Thompson et al. (2013) recommend an upskilling and reskilling approach to deal with
in-service teachers’ inadequate skills and knowledge.

This paper reports on a community project implementing such an approach with pre-service teachers
in their third-year teacher training programme. The aim was twofold: firstly, to offer students hands-on
experience in assessing perceptual skills development in children and the effects of the underdevelopment
thereof, focusing specifically on reading comprehension; secondly, to investigate in-service teachers’
knowledge of perceptual development and their understanding of the effect of underdevelopment of
these skills when learning. The process lent itself to sharing theoretical knowledge with in-service school
teachers. The interface between in-service and pre-service teachers does not only have the potential to
initiate a scientific debate on the insufficient knowledge of in-service school teachers but may also (among
other things) influence the way teachers support learners with learning difficulties in their classrooms.

BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

Having identified the factors impacting reading comprehension, this section discusses the development
of perceptual skills and then merges these skills to highlight the effect of a lack of such skills on reading
comprehension. Perceptual skills underlie a child’s ability to read, write, learn and behave appropriately.

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The brain plays a key role in the development of perceptual skills, which is the process of taking in
and processing visual and auditory information and responding accordingly (Durso, Rawson & Girotto,
2017). Grossman, a neuroscientist (2015), points out that brain injury (as well as the side of the brain
injured) determine, among other things, the type of perceptual skill that is affected in children. This paper
does not discuss brain functioning in depth, but concentrates on the development of perceptual skills and
the effect it has on learning.

The literature reports on many types of perceptual skills, such as visual memory, figure-ground discrimination,
and form constancy and visual discrimination (Joubert, Bester & Meyer, 2008). What sets these apart is
their manifestation during learning. In his study, Goswami (2015) reports that while investigating skills
such as visual processing and offering early intervention for children with special needs may improve their
reading ability and quality of life, he questions the authenticity of the research results of many studies.
Goswami (2015) recommends a combination of longitudinal studies, training of teachers and testing
cognitive systems of children in order to improve the credibility of the results. Goswami (2015) also
acknowledges the absence of studies reporting on factors affecting reading comprehension in typically
developing children. In his argument, he states that the lack of a base to work from renders results of
studies of children with special needs obsolete. In different circumstances, Karmiloff-Smith (2018) argues
that genes and environmental factors also contribute to developmental disorders and the inability to read.
With this in mind, the following section discusses the skills required for reading comprehension.

In a study on the relationship between phonological awareness, Rapid Automatized Naming (RAN) and
reading, Song et al. (2016) found phonological awareness and an inability to decode words to affect
reading comprehension. Song et al. (2016) opine that a holistic assessment, including cognitive functions
required for reading comprehension, should be conducted before stating that this relationship was an
outright cause. In a longitudinal study, van Steensel et al. (2016) analysed the effects of word decoding and
metacognitive knowledge on reading comprehension for children in Grade 7. These authors found there
was no significant effect on their literacy skills; however, they found the reading comprehension of Grade
9 learners to be below proficiency when prerequisite skills were underdeveloped. As these results were
inconclusive, the authors recommended that multi-samples with a clear scientific basis must be provided
to present clear causes of reading comprehension difficulties. Nevertheless, the underdevelopment of the
necessary skills was assumed to be responsible for affecting reading comprehension.

In the multilingual South African context, many children in the Foundation Phase are taught in mother-tongue,
but switch to English (which is their second or third language) in Grade 4 (Evans & Nthulana, 2018).
Teachers in these schools use a translanguaging approach to teaching. While Makalela (2015) argues
that multilingualism exacerbates reading comprehension challenges in children, Roskos and Newman
(2014) believe that it has dire consequences for children with limited second language proficiency. The
research was carried out involving children between the ages of 10 and 14 years in the Intermediate
Phase. Regarding the research conducted with children in this age group, Suggate (2016) argues that
phonetic awareness interventions are mostly beneficial for younger children.

Indeed, it is worth noting, as Silva and Cain (2015) reiterate, that early identification of the prerequisite
skills may be beneficial for children in the Foundation Phase. Furthermore, the above authors hold that
the level of these skills depends on the availability of teachers with professional competency to identify
any lack of the required skills and systematically planned remedial strategies. In addition, Nel (2011)
states that it cannot be disputed that the teachers will also need to have the capability to differentiate the
curriculum for the benefit of children with heterogeneous abilities. Winch (2014) is yet another author who
highlights the significance of early screening and intermediation. In short, it cannot be disputed that the
early identification of deficiencies and the continuous assessment and remediation of literacy abilities are
some of the strategies to improve reading comprehension.

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The dearth of teacher skills to address reading comprehension issues in a diverse South African context
has long been a matter of concern. Zimmerman and Smit (2014) argue that the lack of teacher training
contributes to illiteracy and the social exclusion of many South African citizens; likewise, Maringe and
Moletsane (2015) note that the lack of teacher skills to remedy reading comprehension challenges
perpetuates children’s inability to read and write as adults.

Zimmerman and Smit (2014) also consider important that the skills needed for reading are taught during
children’s early education years. A longitudinal study conducted on children between four and six years
of age confirmed improved reading comprehension when literacy skills were assessed and remedied
in children’s Foundation Phase years (Silva & Cain, 2015; Kendeou et al., 2009). Additionally, Lepola
et al. (2016) found that reading literacy contributed to reading fluency, and, therefore, to reading
comprehension, in children whose lack of prerequisite skills was identified early in their school years. Nel
(2011) postulates the importance of using multi-theories and assessment strategies to develop a functional
model to remedy challenges associated with reading comprehension.

It is because of teachers’ inability to identify the underdevelopment of perceptual skills and to understand
its effect on learning that the community engagement project was initiated. Within the abovementioned
context, the researcher sees Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) as key collaborators in continuously
engaging student teachers in community service projects aimed at upskilling in-service teachers to improve
teaching and learning. Soini, Piettarinen and Pyhalto (2016) also support continuous training for in-
service teachers to enable them to keep up with renewed demands in their classrooms. The collaboration
will not only produce teachers that are ‘fit for purpose’ (Richmond, 2017), but also reduce discrepancies
between learners’ needs and the training that pre-service teachers receive.

EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING AS THE CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK

Experiential learning is conceptualised differently in the academic literature. Roodhouse and Mumford
(2010) call it work-based learning, Peach and Matthews (2011) and Sharlanova (2004) conceptualise
it as Work Integrated Learning (WIL), and Kolb (2014) calls it experiential learning (EL). What seems
common among these authors is that the strategy aims to integrate theory and practice for students in
different fields of study, thereby enhancing workforce competency. Ferns, Campbell and Zegwaard (2014)
declare the strategy to be the future of learning, as it offers students opportunities to work alongside
experienced staff, and to draw on the economic, cultural, environmental and social practices of those
communities. This paper was premised on Kolb’s experiential learning (EL) as the conceptual framework.
According to Kolb (2014), EL is widely applied in beginner teacher education to provide opportunities
for pre-service teachers to learn the principles of the teaching profession in real-life school settings. In this
particular case, the key consideration is co-sharing of experiences between pre- and in-service teachers to
identify the underdevelopment of perceptual skills in children and the effect thereof.

The ultimate aim of this community engagement project was the mutual benefit to all participating
stakeholders. The project was explicitly designed to support practical understanding of the effects of
the underdevelopment of perceptual skills on learning at Foundation Phase level. It was assumed that
student teachers would benefit by practically learning how to assess perceptual skills development in real-
life contexts. Furthermore, exposure of student teachers to research-based intervention strategies would
support children experiencing barriers to learning in inclusive classes which could benefit teachers at
school.

A baseline assessment was conducted with Foundation Phase teachers at school to establish their
understanding of the impact of the underdevelopment of perceptual skills on reading comprehension skills.
The body of this paper will critically examine the extent to which the expected mutual benefit of the WIL

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project was achieved. The results of this scrutiny will contribute to future practice and the improvement of
both community engagement projects and teacher training programmes.

THEORETICAL PERSPECTIVE ON EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING

The theoretical background underpinning this paper is Kolb’s experiential learning (EL) theory (Kolb,
1984). The theory suggests that learning is not linear but cyclical – a ‘process whereby knowledge is
created through the transformation of experience’ (1984: 38). Authors differ with regard to the theoretical
base of Kolb’s theoretical framework. In 1993 already, Hopkins (1993: 48) asked: ‘How can we know
what experiential learning is when we do not have a coherent theory of its main constitutive component
experience?’ In support, Austin and Rust (2015) criticised EL for its lack of theoretical foundation. On the
other hand, authors such as Scogin et al. (2017) hold the theory in high esteem for its ‘firm theoretical
base’. Nevertheless, these authors are firmly grounded in Kolb’s (1984: 41) statement that ‘[k]nowledge
results from the combination of grasping and transforming experience’.

Kolb’s EL theory posits that individuals/children learn differently and that they benefit optimally when
a learning style compatible with their learning needs is employed. Furthermore, the theory holds that
individuals/children are either visual, auditory or kinesthetic learners. Willingham, Hughes and Dobolyi
(2015) dispute these claims and state that until relevant evidence is presented, this claim still lacks validity.
They further argue that the learning ability and style of children in different classrooms have yet to be
distinguished for these claims to be accepted.

It is from the perspective above and the interactive learning styles, encompassing concrete experience,
reflective observation, active experimentation and abstract conceptualisation, that EL was selected as the
lens through which this community project was conceptualised. This paper does not aim to ascertain which
of the learning styles is better than the other, but to illustrate the outcomes of socially and culturally based
practical experiences in decontextualising learning and pedagogy. Furthermore, although it is not the aim
of this paper to develop theories through which community projects may be conceptualised, it may prompt
debate in this regard.

The reality is that schools in many countries, including in South Africa, comprise linguistically, culturally,
cognitively and socially diverse learners (Alexander, 2016). Hence, the preparedness of student teachers
for the envisaged realities is key. Since this project aims to benefit all stakeholders, no attempt will be
made to demarcate who benefited the most or the least from this stakeholder involvement.

In this community project, student teachers were exposed to a concrete experience where they assessed
perceptual skills development hands on while in-service teachers were watching. This stage was abstract
for in-service teachers and is called reflexive observation, in the sense that they begin to link the
underdevelopment of perceptual skills to the learning difficulties that learners present in class. It was also
during this stage that students and in-service teachers met to discuss assessment results and to challenge
perceptions regarding perceptual development. As teachers watched the student teachers performing
the exercises, they started planning for the exercises that they would conduct with the excluded learners.
In this cyclic and iterative process, students and teachers began to form an idea of perceptual skills
development. In Kolb’s theory (1984), this stage is called ‘abstract conceptualisation’.

RESEARCH QUESTIONS
The research questions below were posed at the beginning of the research project. The first question was
aimed at directing the project to ascertain whether the mutual benefits were harnessed by all participants.
The second question was posed in focus groups interviews during the baseline assessment to both pre- and

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in-service teachers. For in-service teachers, it was meant to assess their comprehension of perceptual skills
development and how it affects learning. Whereas, for pre-service teachers, it was meant to verify the
understanding of theoretical knowledge learned in class, to provide an assessment platform for perceptual
skills development and to share the skill with in-service teachers.

• What are the benefits derived from stakeholder involvement in community projects conducted with
student teachers studying a Learning Support module?

• How does the underdevelopment of perceptual skills affect reading comprehension in children in
the Foundation Phase?

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
Qualitative research, using a participatory action research approach, was employed in this project.
This research design was premised on Paulo Freire’s (1998) view that reflection without view is sheer
verbalism. The idea is that reflection by teachers at the school and by student teachers would result in
mutual enrichment of the teaching experience. According to Morales (2016) and Alexander (2016),
reflection is part of participatory action research, and community participation reduces inequalities and
improves peoples’ lives.

Research design: Participatory action research (PAR)

An interpretivist paradigm was used as proposed by Creswell (2013) which involved conducting research
engaging in-service teachers’ views regarding their understanding of perceptual skills development. These
detailed responses were collected and analysed. The co-construction and co-sharing of assessment strategies
between pre- and in-service teachers were developed during the research project. PAR characterised by
the collaboration of the researchers, community-based organisations and the ability to appraise the entire
research process (Morales, 2016). Most importantly, the roles of the different participants in the research
process was clearly designated, and the idea was to carefully determine whether the intended outcomes
were reached or not.

Mayan et al. (2016) opine that PAR bridges the gap between theory and practice through stakeholder
participation. They further state that the process is not linear, but involves a cyclical and systematic method
of planning, taking action, observing, evaluating and critically reflecting prior to planning the next cycle
of the project. In this study, the process was aimed at integrating new insights into participating in-service
teachers’ knowledge of the effect of the underdevelopment of perceptual skills on learning.

Selection of research sites and participants

A school was purposefully selected as the unit of analysis for this community project. The criteria for inclusion
were, firstly, that the school had to be located in a semi-rural area, as factors related to the socioeconomic
status of communities (among others) affect perceptual skills development. Secondly, the school had to be
close to the university because of the cost of transporting the participating students. Thirdly, learners at the
school had come from diverse economic and cultural backgrounds. Hence it was assumed that learners
who would avail themselves would have varied levels of perceptual skills development.

Participants consisted of 217 student teachers clustered into 10 groups, 20 in-service teachers, nine
Foundation Phase classes with between 26 to 35 learners, the lecturer of the module that the pre-service
teachers were enrolled for as the researcher and the facilitator of the research process, and two research
assistants. Pre-service teachers were expected to both provide resources and use the theoretical knowledge
learned in class to assess perceptual skills development from learners at the schools on a weekly basis.

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Each student was allocated two learners. Twenty learners (20) were excluded from participating in student
assessments. However, since assessments were play based, the learners were allocated to the research
assistants, who used other resources than those used by student teachers to assess the learners included
in the project. The excluded learners were deliberately left under the impression that they were doing the
same assessments as the assessed learners. The reason for excluding 20 learners from the initial assessment
with student teachers was that in-service teachers could then use these learners to assess perceptual skills
development after concrete observation of student teachers’ assessments. In-service teachers’ assessments
were facilitated by the researcher after the community project had been concluded.

Data collection strategies

Strategies for data collection as discussed by Fusch and Ness (2015) were used in this community
engagement project. The project commenced with baseline semi-structured focus group interviews with
teachers at the school to ascertain how they perceived perceptual skills development and its effects on
learning. Subsequently, assessments were conducted by student teachers, with teachers at the school
observing, and both groups making notes in their reflective journals. After the sessions, pre-service and
post-service teachers met to discuss the findings of assessments conducted and to link perceptual skills to
learning difficulties whenever necessary.

Focus group interviews

Two sets of focus group interviews comprising 20 teachers from the Foundation Phase (Grades 1-3) were
conducted using a research schedule with five questions. The initial focus-group baseline assessment with
the teachers took place at the school and ran for an hour. The second focus group interview with in-service
teachers took place at the school after the project had ended to establish the benefit of the project to the
participating teachers.

Learner assessments
The assessments of learners ran for 11 consecutive weeks, for an hour at a time. The assessments were
conducted at the schools and teachers were expected to observe how student teachers conducted the
assessments. Both the teachers and the student teachers recorded the findings of the assessments in
reflective journals provided by the researcher. Following the weekly assessments, a meeting was held
between class teachers and student teachers to discuss the findings of the assessments. The resources that
students made were used on a weekly basis to conduct assessments and exercises aiming to improve
the underdeveloped perceptual skills in children and linking the skills to learning difficulties, particularly
reading comprehension in this case.

According to Joubert, Bester and Meyer (2008), a psycholinguistic view incorporating the convergence
of perceptual skills and language development was key to identifying points of intervention. Holistic
observations, including the inability of children to make decisions, were made for the purpose of suggesting
interventions in this community engagement project (Thuketana & Lieshof, 2018).

After the 11 weeks, a follow-up focus group interview was conducted with teachers at the school. The
aims were, firstly, to ascertain whether the teachers’ conceptualisation of perceptual skills and how their
underdevelopment manifested in learning had improved, and, secondly, to determine whether teachers
had mastered the skill of using the resources to assess perceptual skills development and to identify its
effect on learning.

To follow up the focus group interviews with in-service teachers, the researcher randomly assigned two
learners to the teachers at the school from those excluded from students’ assessments. Each teacher
was expected to assess and record their findings, and to present for discussion with the lecturer/project

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coordinator the identified learning barriers/difficulties identified and associated with perceptual skills
development in the allocated learners.

Focus group interviews with pre-service teachers

After every visit to the school, reflections were submitted to the lecturer by pre-service teachers. At the end
of the assessment period, focus group interviews were conducted with student teachers to ascertain the
gains from the community project conducted at the school.

Photographs
The consent of the parents and the assent of the learners were obtained, and student teachers were
encouraged to take photographs of the perceptual skills assessment exercises conducted using the
resources they had provided. The photographs were used to present the project at the University Social
Responsibility (USR) week where all community engagement projects of the University were showcased. In
order to comply with the ethical rules of the study, learners’ faces were not revealed.

Ethical considerations
Permission to conduct the research project was issued as part of the module requirement for community
engagement at the University of Pretoria. Ethical clearance from the ethics committee and permission from
the dean were sought and provided. The ethical clearance and permission were issued on condition that
the data would be handled with confidentiality, including the identities of all participants. Furthermore, the
data would be safely stored in the Department of Early Childhood Education for a duration of 15 years.

Data analysis
The saturated data collected were transcribed, coded, categorised and inductively hand analysed
according to the emerging themes as identified by Gunawan (2015) and Saldana (2015) from the
baseline focus group interviews, observing in-service teachers assessing learners and the reflections of
data sets captured in research journals by both in- and pre-service teachers. Descriptive data analysis,
as elucidated by Nowell et al. (2017), is incorporated in this paper. Sutton and Austin (2015) and
Mackenzie et al. (2012) indicate as limitation a tendency by researchers to exclude parts of data from
different stages in PAR for the purpose of steering the findings to their advantage. Furthermore, Mackenzie
et al. (2012) opine as a limitation the time aspect in PAR. However, this paper presents empirical data as
captured from different data sets and sources by means of the services of research assistants to analyse
the data. The richness and accuracy of the data presented enhanced the trustworthiness at the end of the
project.

Trustworthiness
The interpreted data from different data sources were triangulated and member-checking was conducted
(Gunawan, 2015) with the help of the research assistants. The credibility and conformability of the data
were ensured in this project. Consequently, the data collected guaranteed reliability in answering the
research questions.

FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS

The findings and discussions below are presented according to the research questions asked, keeping in
mind the results of in-service teachers’ baseline interviews, and the observations of and reflections on all
the participants.

In-service teachers’ baseline interviews

The results of the baseline focus group interviews with in-service teachers from the school varied
considerably. The teachers’ conceptualisation of perceptual skills development was vague as stated by

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Donohue and Bornman (2015), Forlin (2010), Spaull (2015) and they were, therefore, unable to identify
its manifestation during learning (Lepola et al., 2016; McClelland et al., 2015). Three teachers explained
the concept as follows:

Perceptual skills are children’s understanding of the content that is taught in the classroom.

Perceptual skills are the skills that children need to have to be able to understand teachers in the
classroom.

Perceptual skills are learners’ ability to explain what is taught in the class.

Although in-service teachers were of the view that learners with learning difficulties such as difficulties
related to reading, writing and language comprehension were found in different classes, they could
not link these difficulties with the underdevelopment of perceptual skills (Song et al., 2016). One of the
teachers said,

I ended up thinking the struggling learners were acting or were attention seekers as I did all I could to
support them but they could not improve.

Interestingly, during the active experimentation phase, teachers could ascribe learning difficulties in
children to the underdevelopment of specific perceptual skills. At the end of the project, the teachers had
a clear understanding of the concept and how it manifests in learning. Furthermore, they were able to use
the resources that students provided to assess learners and conduct exercises to improve perceptual skills
development.

The in-service teachers’ attainment of the skill to identify the underdevelopment of perceptual skills and
assign the effect to a specific learning difficulty was confirmed during the observation and discussion stage.
The teachers could use the relevant resources and associate learning issues to the underdevelopment of
specific perceptual skills.

Of the 20 learners assessed by in-service teachers, five had one or a combination of two perceptual skills
difficulties. Five learners battled with fine motor skills and had difficulties with handwriting. Six learners
struggled with visual discrimination, form constancy and visual analysis, and synthesis. The learners
struggled with b/d, n/u, f/t confusion, which affected sound and word recognition. Three of the learners
also experienced difficulty with visual analysis and synthesis: they would see the word ‘cat’ and read it as
‘dog’. Two of these learners also had trouble segmenting words and joining them, e.g. bed – b-e-d and
dog – d-o-g. It was interesting to note that five of the children discussed above struggled with reading,
writing and had reading comprehension issues. This supports the assumption that the underdevelopment
of perceptual skills affects reading comprehension in children (Lepola et al., 2016).

Pre-service teachers’ reflections

Time was an issue during the community project (Mackenzie et al., 2012), as students only had 11
weeks to conduct assessments at school. However, they were able to apply theoretical knowledge taught
in class, carry out the assessments and discover hands on the influence that the underdevelopment of
perceptual skills has on learning. The theoretical background allowed pre-service teachers to plan for the
community project and prepared them for the forthcoming responsibility as school teachers (Ferns et al.,
2014). Remarkably, pre-service teachers could pin down the relationship between the underdevelopment
of specific perceptual skills and reading comprehension (Kolb, 2014). As envisaged, the research-based
strategies were transferred to in-service teachers at the school. During the discussions with in-service

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teachers, it was confirmed how learning difficulty was associated with the perceptual skills identified
during assessment. One of the student teachers mentioned that

It is interesting to link the theory that was taught in class to the real-life situation of learners with learning
difficulties.

In-service teacher’s interviews at the end of the project

A clear understanding of perceptual skills development was established following the participation of
in-service teachers in assessments and interventions conducted by student teachers. In this regard, one
teacher said,

Ah, this is why this learner has a problem with reading.

At the end of the community project, in-service teachers were able to assess the learners and use the
resources that students had provided to give learners exercises to facilitate the development of perceptual
skills. Interestingly, at the end of the community engagement project, the principal of the school realised
the benefits the project had brought to the school. The principal said:

We have many problems presented by learners with learning difficulties. Some become frustrated,
drop out of school and begin traumatising the communities. If universities could share with us strategies
to help, it would help us understand children’s learning challenges and offer the support they need.

As a result of children’s poor socioeconomic backgrounds, Cortiella and Horowits (2014) and Murray-
Kolb et al. (2014) observe that many parents from these poor socioeconomic environments cannot afford
the psychological and physiotherapeutic support that children need. The principal asked if the lecturer
could arrange with students from the university studying the relevant modules to follow up the assessments
with interventions. Unfortunately, this was not possible, as in South Africa students may not practise until
they are registered with the Health Professionals Council (HPC). However, this should not deter universities
from conducting community engagement projects in the future but should motivate them to act as anchor
institutions and upskill teachers to the benefit of underprivileged communities.

CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS

In conclusion, the findings of the community project presented in this study confirm that in a South African
context where skills shortages and teacher training issues are continuously under investigation, EL can be
used as a skill-transfer strategy for in-service teachers in schools. Education is a societal matter. Therefore,
combined efforts by multiple sectors to address the challenges in schools may be of mutual benefit to
all stakeholders and may improve the sustainability of the intervention strategies applied. Based on
the contention that the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SOTL) encompasses issues of discovery,
integration, practice and teaching, this paper recommends that HEIs conduct community engagement
projects to address skills shortage and to benefit schools in need.

This research paper described one collaborative effective strategy to upskill teachers in schools and to assist
learners with learning difficulties due to perceptual development, to improve reading comprehension and
to enhance implementation of the prescribed curriculum. Significantly, not only did the school benefit from
the skills transfer predicted, but each of the 10 groups of students donated the boxes of resources to each
class teacher who had participated, thus enabling the teachers to continue assessing the underdevelopment
of perceptual skills in learners in their classrooms long after the project had been completed.

There is a strong case in South Africa to come up with strategies to upskill in-service teachers’ pedagogic
and content knowledge against the backdrop of the skills required to teach children on a spectrum of

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abilities. This study found mutual benefit in the collaboration between in-service and pre-service teachers
and recommends that HEIs collaborate with schools to share research-based strategies and identify teacher
support needs for the benefit of learners in schools. It is hoped that the findings inform policy and practice
on teacher requirements for improving learner outcomes. The study recommends that follow-up studies are
conducted in deep rural areas to determine if socioeconomic factors and low literacy levels of parents
contribute to the underdevelopment of perceptual skills. Furthermore, the study recommends that parents
should be involved and trained in facilitating the identification of the learning difficulties that children
experience, and that parents should work with schools to outsource relevant support from the Department
of Basic Education.

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