Good teachers are the single most important contributor to good education
In 1993, the renowned educationist Michael Fullan stated: “Teacher education has the honour of being the worst problem and the best solution in education.” Twenty-seven years later, these words still ring true.
On the one hand, we are responsive to Mckinsey’s dictum that “the quality of an education system depends on the quality of its teachers” by developing and implementing programmes and courses to strengthen the quality of pre- and in-service teachers. On the other hand, we are still bedevilled by research findings that show that many of our teachers still require extensive engagement to improve their subject content and pedagogical knowledge, and to apply this knowledge in their teaching.
The Department of Higher Education and Training (DHET) supports 24 of the 26 public universities to develop and offer Teacher Education programmes from initial teacher education through to postgraduate qualifications. In 2018, 28 203 new teachers graduated into the system, a figure that exceeds the national targets set for teacher education.
The question regarding the quality of these graduates to act as change agents leading to quality teaching and learning is a priority that frames all the DHET interventions in teacher education. How can we support our universities to strengthen their capacity to produce quality teachers? How do we work towards ensuring that our universities produce teachers across the post school education sector and in scarce skills areas?
The DHET acknowledges that the availability of quality teachers is the single most important contributor to education quality. If new teachers are developed in a manner that ensures that sufficient numbers of quality teachers who hold appropriate and relevant specialisations enter the workforce, this can have a significant positive impact on education quality in all education sub-sectors.
A key point of intervention therefore is in the manner that universities prepare new teachers through their ability to offer research-led and evidence-based, high quality initial teacher education programmes that are responsive to contextual and curriculum delivery requirements in the various education sub-sectors.
The background above provides the context that led to the signing of the Teaching and Learning Development Sector Reform Contract (TLDSRC) between the European and the DHET (2015–2020). The TLDSRC was conceptualised within the framework of the South Africa–european Union Multiannual Indicative Programme 2014–2020, as a response to specific developmental needs within the education, training and innovation sector.
The multiannual indicative programme’s overall objective was to “assist the government in transforming the education, training and innovation system so that it contributes to improved economic performance of the country”. The contract ended in August 2020, and the DHET is now finalising the closure of all the programmes supported by the European Union through the TLDSRC.
The Teaching and Learning Development Capacity Improvement Programme (TLDCIP) is one of the programmes supported through a budget sector support grant of R200-million from the EU, through the TLDSRC. It is the DHET’S main vehicle to strengthen the capacity and quality of teacher education in the university sector, and is focused on strengthening university capacity for the preparation of Early Childhood Development (ECD) educators, primary school teachers, teachers for inclusive and special needs education, Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) college lecturers, Community Education and Training (CET) college lecturers, and university teaching. Universities are the primary beneficiaries of the TLDCIP.
As shown in the figure1, the TLDCIP has five main thrusts, addressed through five projects, namely: • The Teacher Education for Early Childhood Care
and Education Project (TEECCEP)
• The Primary Teacher Education Project (Primted) • The Teacher Education for Inclusive Teaching
(TEFIT) Project
• The College Lecturer Education Project (CLEP) • The University Teaching and Research
Enhancement Project (UTREP).
The figure also shows six cross-cutting activity and focus areas that are integrated into each of the five projects.
There have been many achievements across the five projects in the TLDCIP. The DHET plans to publish four supplements through the Mail & Guardian, each one focusing on a different project. This supplement focuses on the Teacher Education for Early Childhood Care and Education Project (TEECCEP).
A brief overview of the TLDCIP follows below.
The TLDCIP project activities fall within the overall strategy to improve the quality of teacher education that is embedded within the three quality goals illustrated in the figure2.
Through the support from the TLDCIP, universities offering initial teacher education programmes produced annual increases in teacher education enrolment and graduate numbers, as evidenced in the graph figure3.
The DHET is now placing considerable attention on whether the universities are producing the right kind of teachers to offer various school subject specialisations that fall into the scarce skills categories.
The TLDCIP has also implemented activities to professionalise teachers in the early childhood development, adult and community education and technical and vocational education sub-sectors. To this end, three policies have been published that allow universities to develop and offer programmes leading to the professionalisation of these subsectors. The policies are: a. Policy on Professional Qualifications for Lecturers in Technical, Vocational Education and Training (2013);
Policy on Minimum Requirements for Programmes leading to Qualifications for educators and lecturers in Adult and Community Education and Training (2015);
Policy on Minimum Requirements for Programmes Leading to Qualifications in Higher Education for Early Childhood Education educators (2017).
The DHET is aware of negative reports that testify to the poor quality of some teacher education programmes. The TLDCIP is responsive to this criticism by supporting academic communities of practice focused on priority teaching subject specialisations (mathematics, languages and literacy) to undertake research on university
b.
c. practices across the system with respect to the specialisation with a view towards the development of knowledge and practice standards for the teaching specialisations. In this way, the TLDCIP could assist to achieve greater convergence and rigour in teacher education curricula.
The TLDCIP has also afforded an opportunity for the strengthening of African languages through the establishment of Centres for African Languages Teaching (CALT). Thus far, two CALTS have been established — isixhosa CALT at the University of the Western Cape and Sesotho and isizulu CALT at the University of Johannesburg. Two further CALTS are in the planning stages.
Through the TLDCIP, 165 scholars have been supported to obtain their master’s or doctoral qualifications, with 95% of these being black and/ or women scholars. 102 publications have thus far been generated, with more to follow by the end of the close out period in December 2021.
Finally, the education of the most vulnerable of our children — those with special needs — is also strengthened through the TLDCIP. Three Centres of Specialisation have been established for the development of programmes and resources in special needs education. These are listed in the table below.
In conclusion, we would be foolish not to acknowledge the complexity of our country and the historic inequalities that have followed us into democracy. Some people might say that South Africa has too many systemic problems that will prevent all our children from having access to quality teaching and learning. However, we would also be foolish to simply throw our hands in the air and give power to the naysayers. Mandela firmly believed in our ability to be innovative, committed and daring when he said: “It is not beyond our power to create a world in which all children have access to a good education. Those who do not believe this have small imaginations.”
We acknowledge and appreciate the European Union for the financial support that has allowed our academics the opportunities to use their imaginations and expertise to be innovative, daring and tireless in their efforts to strengthen the capacity of universities to offer quality teaching and learning in teacher education.