All major stakeholders in school education have launched a new 15-year planning framework for teacher education and development.
The stakeholder education departments, teacher unions, the educator professional body, the education bargaining council, the education Sector Education and Training Authorities (SETA) and university education deans are convinced that learners will achieve better if the quality of teachers’ knowledge and skills is improved.
The new Integrated Strategic Planning Framework for Teacher Education and Development in South Africa is a product of the landmark consensus of all role-players participating in the 2009 Teacher Development Summit.
Within a 15-year horizon, the plan has immediate, medium and long-term priorities. All activities begin immediately and will be completed over time. Priorities will be re-evaluated as the plan unfolds.
In the first five years the Department of Basic Education’s Action Plan to 2014 and the Ministers of Higher Education and Basic Education’s Delivery Agreements will form critical guiding frameworks to determine priorities towards improving the quality of learning outcomes in the education system.
The framework will help ensure a coherent approach to teacher development focused on clear evidence-based priorities and channel available funds to these priorities.
School leaders, teachers and district subject advisors will be supported to implement the National Curriculum Statement more effectively; they will complete courses to improve their content knowledge and will be supported to develop their schools into genuine centres of learning. Educators across all levels will be supported to work together in professional learning communities to achieve better quality education across all schools.
Attention will be paid to supporting teachers in underperforming high schools and their feeder schools. In these schools specific learning areas have been identified as priorities: numeracy, literacy, physical science, mathematical literacy and English first additional language.
At the same time there will also be a focus on improving the provision of teacher education through our universities. The number of institutions offering Foundation Phase teacher education will increase from 13 to 20 over the next four years and earmarked bursary funds will ensure that more African language Foundation Phase teachers are recruited and trained.
Partnerships between universities and further education and training (FET) colleges will be explored to expand the training of Early Childhood Development (ECD) practitioners.
Up to 50% of current funding streams available for teacher development will be directed to fund immediate priorities. Current budgets in provincial departments of education suggest that half of these amounts would make available over half a billion rand to finance these areas. Urgent attention will therefore be on the effective and efficient use of available funds.
The framework places teachers at the centre of professional development initiatives. It expects teachers to take full responsibility for their own professional development, supported by their employers, their unions, South African Council of Educators (SACE) and the Education, Training and Development Practices(ETDP SETA). It describes an accessible, relevant process to enable teachers to identify their individual needs and access opportunities for development.
Key new structures will be established to provide teachers with support and meaningful access to development opportunities.
These include:
- A National Institute for Curriculum and Professional Development (NICPD)
This will be responsible for developing courses that meet specific teacher professional needs, diagnostic tests for teachers to assess their own subject knowledge; activities and materials to support the curriculum; and an ICT system to manage and coordinate these professional development activities. - District Teacher Development Centres (DTDCs)
These are local support sites from which curriculum support staff operate; where teachers can access shared resources; be assisted with diagnostic tests (paper-based or online); meet in their professional learning communities and attend CPD courses. - Professional Learning Communities (PLCs)
These are supportive groups made up of teachers, school managers and subject advisors, who help determine members’ developmental pathways and organise or facilitate their professional development activities. - Teacher Education Institutions (TEIs), Teaching Schools (TSs) and Professional Practice Schools
This strengthened network including TEIs and schools will strengthen teaching practice and school experience opportunities and ensure better quality initial teacher education.
The framework was developed collectively by the national teacher unions South African Democratic Teachers' Union(SADTU), National Professional Teachers' Organisation of South Africa (NAPTOSA), SAOU-SATA, PEU and NATU), the Education Labour Relations Council (ELRC), the ETDP SETA, the Education Deans’ Forum (HESA-EDF), SACE, the Department of Basic Education and the Department of Higher Education and Training.
Enquiries:
Hope Mokgatlhe (Department of Basic Education)
Cell: 071 680 6849
Palesa Mpur
Department of Higher Education and Training
Cell: 082 727 4109
Source: Department of Basic Education
