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We report on the relationships that exist between the critical thinking skills and the academic language proficiency of a group of first-year prospective teachers at a South African university (n = 89). The results revealed the nature of the critical thinking skills as well as the academic language proficiency of the students. Significant correlations between academic language proficiency and making inferences, as well as between academic language proficiency and critical thinking as a general competency, were noted. The article concludes with recommendations on how to enhance critical thinking and language proficiency in the teacher-training curriculum.

Education law and policy currently focus on broader physical aspects of safety and security at schools, as well as, for example, on pedagogical insecurity such as is caused by discriminatory teaching, but law and policy have yet to pay attention to the overall and far-reaching pedagogical safety and security of learners. By means of a descriptive study, quantitative in nature, we explored teacher and learner responses to a questionnaire in order to determine to what extent teachers accommodate diverse pedagogical needs in the classroom. The significance of this article lies in its exploration of pedagogical safety and security in a South African context that extends education law literature beyond the established knowledge base on physical safety and security. The research found (1) discrepancies between teachers' approaches towards teaching and accommodating learning needs, (2) deficient equipment of teachers to meet the pedagogical needs and fundamental rights of learners, and (3) lack of accommodation of learners' preferred learning styles. (Contains 10 tables.)

The emphasis placed on the individualistic and universal nature of cognitive development in some cognitive development models has resulted in the neglect of the cultural context in the development of cognitive abilities. Consequences of this approach for cognitive development are the strong emphasis which is placed on age-dependent patterns of growth and uniformity. Furthermore, the occurrence of changes in the relationship between an individual and the surrounding environment as crucial for the development of cognitive abilities are neglected. In this paper, a cultural approach to the development of critical thinking abilities is proposed in contrast to the traditional, individualistic approach. The linked purposes of this paper are: (1) to elucidate the critical thinking abilities of a mixed cultural group of 114 prospective first-year student teachers studying for a BEd degree at a South African university by means of the Watson-Glaser Critical Thinking Appraisal; and (2) to provide insight into the relationship between the critical thinking abilities of the group of prospective teachers and their various cultures. The study found that (1) a considerable number of the sample of prospective teachers are not yet functioning on Grade 12 level with regard to the execution of critical thinking skills. The sample's apparent inability to execute critical thinking skills is clear from this research and (2) it seems as if the various cultural worlds of these prospective teachers have not prepared them for the execution of critical thinking abilities.