Bricolising Retired Teachers in South Africa: Challenges and Opportunities

This paper interrogates the challenges and opportunities related to re-engaging retired teachers in mainstream curriculum practice in South Africa. Some rural schools report poor performance, whereas retired teachers in their locality could help to mitigate this challenge. The paper used bricolage as a theoretical lens, because of its emphasis on using available resources to address ambivalence. The qualitative paper responds to two questions: What are the challenges facing integration of retired teachers? and How could retired teachers assist to mitigate poor performance? The paper found that many retired teachers are still active and can assist with mentoring and teaching and learning; however, there is no policy framework to guide their re-engagement. The paper argues that South Africa should tap into best practices of retired teachers through formulation of a policy framework that ensures the knowledge of retired teachers is not wasted, but harvested to address various trajectories, including poor performance.