Effective teaching and learning in large classes at tertiary institutions

D.Ed. (Teaching Studies)Institutions of higher education in South Africa are being affected by widening access to students since the eighties. Student numbers have risen dramatically Since then and the composition of the student population has also been altered considerably with, for example, the enrolment of black students in historically white universities as well as the enrolment of white students in historically black universities becoming a trend (Wade, Hodgkinson, Smith and Arfield, 1994:12; Saunders, 1992: 67; Education reporter, 1996:1; Taylor, 1992:36). Pressure for the expansion of post-secondary education is inherent in the development of modem society and is seen as a global trend, which means that South Africa is part of this expansion (Trow, 1987:289; Hinchcliffe, 1987:1; Aamodt & Arnesen, 1995:65; Fransman, 1995:173; Kirkwood, 1996: 41).This expansion in student numbers is often without a proportionate increase in the funding resources available . The situation, with regard to South Africa, was predicted by, amongst others, Booysen (1990: 1), who maintains that South Africa faces many challenges in ,the field of education because of the expected removal of the disparities in the provision of education amongst the various race groups. The historical and political circumstances in this respect are seen as factors aggravating the complexity of such a challenge. A simple case of numbers seeking higher education would be a serious misconception leading, for example, to the misunderstanding which prompted ministerial action a few years ago through which an injunction of zero growth on ten out of the fifteen residential universities in South Africa was decreed. A different approach to dealing with numbers seeking admission at higher education institutions was seen a few years before the Government of National Unity was in place. It is, noticeable that since 1986 there has been an urge to change higher education admission practices in South Afric