The South African Journal of Childhood Education journal 2026 Special Collection: We invite you to submit

AOSIS calls on all authors to participate in the South African Journal of Childhood Education (SAJCE) journal’s 2026 special collection, Teaching and learning in the context of Mother Tongue-Based Bilingual Education, that will be published in the open-access scholarly journal. Submit your latest research for consideration, contribute to the open-access content available to everyone, and share your expertise with a wider audience.

Timeline:

• Email abstract submission open: 01 June 2025
• Email abstract submission closes: 01 August 2025
• Notification of abstract acceptance: 20 August 2025
• Online full manuscript submission closes: 15 January 2026
• Online full manuscript resubmission closes: 30 April 2026
• Expected publication date: 30 September 2026

South African Journal of Childhood Education 2026 special collection: Teaching and learning in the context of Mother Tongue-Based Bilingual Education

According to UNESCO (2025), language remains a major obstacle to equitable education across Africa. The UNESCO report further highlights that the marginalisation of local and national languages in favour of dominant ones creates systemic issues in curriculum development, particularly regarding the choice of instructional language and materials continent-wide. In multilingual settings such as South Africa, disparities in academic achievement linked to language are especially severe, highlighting the urgent need for more inclusive language strategies that support learning and reduce these gaps.

Across many African countries, the predominant approach to incorporating indigenous languages in education is the transitional model, where learners begin in their mother tongue and later switch to a global language (UNESCO, 2023). Until 2024, South Africa followed this model, with the shift to English as the medium of instruction occurring in Grade 4. However, starting in 2025, South Africa adopted a new policy: mother tongue-based bilingual education (MTBBE). Under this model, learners continue to study subjects like mathematics, science, and technology in their home language through Grade 7, with English introduced gradually. For Grade 4, instruction consists of 80% in the home language and 20% in English, moving to 70%:30% in Grade 5, 60%:40% in Grade 6, and 50%:50% by Grade 7.

Research consistently shows that instruction in a learner’s mother tongue during the early years of education supports stronger academic outcomes, reinforces cultural identity, and improves assessment performance (Setati, 2016; Stoop, 2017). This perspective is supported by a substantial body of work in language education (e.g., Barwell, 2020; Setati, 2016; Heugh, 2011). UNESCO (2025: p.66) emphasises that improving education quality requires embracing multilingual models that elevate local languages within the curriculum. The case for using the mother tongue in early education remains persuasive, even when achieving proficiency in a second language remains a key policy aim.

The implementation of mother tongue-based bilingual education, however, brings with it a range of complex linguistic considerations, many of which require further investigation—particularly within South Africa’s uniquely diverse and intricate language landscape. In addition, the question of how to effectively integrate language development objectives with subject content learning, in a way that fosters meaningful understanding in the South African context, remains underexplored. This special issue seeks to lead research in this area, broadening the focus beyond just mathematics, science, and technology education. It centres on two key questions concerning 1) how teacher educators are currently being prepared—or should be prepared—to facilitate meaningful learning within the framework of the newly introduced mother tongue-based bilingual education policy; and 2) how multiple languages can be strategically used to support teaching, learning, and epistemic access to the discipline-specific language demands across various educational fields.

This call for papers invites critical, well researched, innovative, and reflective contributions on teaching for meaning making in the context of mother tongue-based bilingual education. Contributions can be on productive practices, methodologies, innovations or possibilities occasioned by mother tongue-based bi-/multilingual classrooms in teaching and learning across different linguistic contexts in South Africa.

Recommended topics:

Papers should pertain to both the concerns of the special issue and the focus of the journal, the details of which appear below.

Key themes in which research articles are invited include (but are not limited to) the following:

• Frameworks for MTBBE that are domain specific, but also frameworks that can bend flexibly to the needs of the different knowledge domains, with accessible appendices highlighting specific disciplinary entailments
• Language practices evident in bi/multilingual classrooms in the context of mother tongue-based education in Grades 4 to 7, and what these entail for teaching, learning, and teacher development
• How teachers harness the epistemic potential of the multiplicity of languages present in their classrooms to teach mathematics, science, and technology, etc. for meaning making
• Teacher education that accounts for preparing teachers (in-service or preservice) to engage with ‘productive practices’ in the context of mother tongue-based bilingual education
• How lessons learnt from the implementation of mother tongue-based bilingual education in Grades 4-7 can inform teaching, learning, and teacher preparation in the early grades (Grades 0-3)
• What role AI can play in enabling the harnessing of multiple languages for meaning-making in the context of mother tongue-based bilingual education?

All submissions must have a clear issue or problem that is addressed and must make reference to the relevant literature. Where applicable, methodology, results and evaluation of findings must be clearly discussed and related to the wider field. Submissions relating to local studies should make clear the applicability to a wider context and international readership.

The SUBJECT line of the email should read: “Teaching and learning in the context of Mother Tongue-Based Bilingual Education”

Abstract submissions should include:

• A succinct title;
• An extended abstract (Maximum 500 words), addressing any of the themes aforementioned;
• The focus and purpose of the study;
• Data sources/participants/respondents;
• The methodology and methods to be followed in the research;
• Exciting findings and implications expected, or which could be postulated as a hypothesis;
• Author/s name/s and Surname/s;
• Author/s institutional affiliation/s;
• Author/s institutional email address;
• Authors Orcid;
• Contact details.

Editorial criteria

The papers submitted to the special issue will be evaluated based on the following:

• A critical framing to meet the journal’s aims and scope.
• Multi/inter/transdisciplinary approaches.
• Relevance to South African and international readership.
• Focus on mother tongue-based bilingual education as it pertains to teacher education.
• Teaching and learning.

Interested contributions

Please submit extended abstracts to the guest editors Anthony Essien (Anthony.essien@wits.ac.za) with cc to Jabulani Sibanda (Jabulani.sibanda@ru.ac.za) and Ingrid Sapire (ingrid@fundawande.org) by 01 August 2025.

Manuscript information:

The author guidelines include information about the types of articles received for publication and preparing a manuscript for submission. Read the full submissions guidelines.

Submission procedure:

When submitting your manuscript to the South African Journal of Childhood Education (SAJCE), choose ‘Teaching and learning in the context of Mother Tongue-Based Bilingual Education’ as the article type. You can access the submission portal on the journal’s website after logging in with your personal credentials. For further information on the submission process, visit the journal procedure page.

All submissions will undergo an anonymous review process to guarantee high scientific quality and relevance to the subject. The Editor-in-Chief will make the final decision on acceptance, revision, or rejection based on the feedback from the reviewers.

We will be happy to provide you with any assistance during the submission and application process. Kindly enquire at submissions@sajce.co.za.

All submissions and inquiries should be directed to the attention of the guest editors:

• Prof Anthony Essien (University of the Witwatersrand), Anthony.essien@wits.ac.za (correspondence)
• Prof Jabulani Sibanda (Rhode University), Jabulani.sibanda@ru.ac.za
• Dr Ingrid Sapire (University of the Witwatersrand and Funda Wande), ingrid@fundawande.org

We would be honoured to receive a positive reply from you and look forward to receiving your manuscript.