On 10 September 2020, the Department of Early Childhood Education hosted a webinar in collaboration with the University of Pittsburgh Bradford (USA). Dr Joyce West from the University of Pretoria and Dr Jonathan Chitiyo discussed the importance of Family involvement during the earlier years of development. Epstein’s parent-involvement, Vygotsky’s sociocultural theory as well as Bronfenbrenner’s ecological systems theory served as framework to determine the role of the family, school, teacher and community.

On 18 September 2020, the Department of Early Childhood Education hosted another webinar in collaboration with Dordt University in the USA. Mrs Joyce West from the University of Pretoria and Dr Ulrike Brons discussed the use of Translanguaging when teaching English as a second language. Critical discourse took place about the legitimacy of the critical language period hypothesis as well as Cummins’ interdependence theory and threshold hypothesis.