Address by the Deputy Minister of Higher Education, Science and Innovation, Mr Buti Manamela at the International Task Force on Teachers for Education 2030- 14th Policy Dialogue Forum and Governance Meeting, Sandton, 27 February 2024
Progamme Director;
Ms Nacy Lorena Morocho Quimbiulco, Deputy Minister from Ecuador;
Hon. Mr John Ntim Fordjour, Deputy Minister of General Education from Ghana;
Prof Mohammed Belhocine, African Union Commissioner;
Mrs Stefanie Giannini, Assistant Director-General for Education at UNESCO;
Dr Heike Kuhn, Co-Chair of the International Teacher Task Force for Education.
Government Departments;
Officials of our Department of Higher Education and Training;
Distinguished guests:
Ladies and Gentlemen:
Thank you for the honour of inviting me to come and share our department’s perspective on the important subject of strengthening policies for the professionalisation of the teacher workforce. As part of our input here today, I wish to reflect on several key issues.
The first is our historical context. Governments regard as critical the benefits of a literate and well-educated citizenry in nation building and in social, economic, and political development. In this connection, teacher professionalisation is a necessary imperative in education policy reform.
In the South African context, the transition from an apartheid state to a democratic one was underpinned by human rights and social justice and has included reforms across all sectors of our lives.
One of the distinguishing features of South Africa’s post-apartheid education reform is the expansive institutional and policy architecture that was put in place by the democratic state with the view of ensuing quality education for all.
The temporal space afforded by the collapse of apartheid and de-racialised education provided opportunities to disrupt the inequities of the past, and intentionally design an education system symbolic of a right-based, democratic South Africa.
The second issue I wish to focus on is our contemporary policy context. A 2014 report by the Human Sciences Research Council entitled ‘Building teacher professionalisation for quality basic education’ recognised that the policy landscape for teacher development in South Africa is a supportive one.
However, we also acknowledge that there continues to be policy gaps and that these will need constant research and evidence-based interventions. For instance, a survey of education our policies shows that we still have challenges in implementation.
For these and other reasons, our commitment to quality education for our country’s young people is aptly articulated in our country’s National Development Plan. With the benefit of hindsight, we have also learnt that the commitment to quality education cannot be seen in isolation.
Our programme to deliver quality education for all continues to be impacted by a plethora of complex historical and structures factors. These factors include a network of competing priorities such as the eradication of poverty, unemployment, and the persistence of under development.
For this and other reasons, over the past three decades, our interventions have also sought to respond to continental and global commitments. These include UNESCO’s Sustainable Development Goal 4, the Incheon Declaration (2015) towards inclusive and equitable quality education and lifelong learning for all, the Continental Education Strategy for Africa (2016-2025) that resonates the African Union 2063 Agenda. The third issue I wish to focus on is the journey of professionalisation. In the realm of our policy discourse, the journey of professionalisation unfolds across various stages, starting from initial teacher education, traversing through registration with institutions like the South African Council for Educators (SACE), induction into the teaching profession, and onward to continuous professional development.
This trajectory underscores the principle of collaborative engagement and emphasises the interdependence and shared responsibility across government bodies, educational institutions, and educators themselves.
Such collaboration is indispensable for the crafting of wholistic and effective policies that nurture the growth and efficacy of teachers, thereby enhancing educational outcomes and contributing to broader societal progress.
Furthermore, in instances where policy has not kept abreast with emerging national and global imperatives, we have demonstrated our competence and capacity for innovation by developing strategic and responsive plans to meet our needs.
This brings me to the fourth issue I wish to focus on which is our interventions as the Department of Higher Education and Training. Our 2007 National Policy Framework for Teacher Education and Development in South Africa, succinctly encapsulated its purpose in the caption, "More teachers, better teachers."
It is centred on addressing issues of supply and demand while simultaneously enhancing the quality of teachers within the system. The framework recognises that teachers were inadequately prepared to meet the educational needs of a fast-growing democracy in the rapidly evolving global landscape of the 21st century.
To address these challenges, we have significantly increased the number of graduates from 6,000 in the year 2000 to just under 30,000 in 2023.
In 2009, the national Teacher Education Summit. This Summit aimed to identify and address the prevailing challenges in teacher education and development.
As an outcome of this Summit, the Integrated Strategic Planning Framework for Teacher Education and Development (2011 – 2025) was formulated. Under this Framework, higher education institutions were tasked with the responsibility of establishing an expanded and accessible formal teacher education system.
This endeavour was successfully realised through the establishment of two new universities, thereby ensuring that 24 out of 26 public universities now offer initial teacher education and continuous professional development programmes.
Unsurprisingly, the Summit also highlighted the need for attention to teacher quality in terms of professionalisation. Research on curriculum content in teacher education programs revealed discrepancies across universities, impacting teacher knowledge in their specialisations and ultimately compromising professionalisation and quality.
In response, the Integrated Strategic Planning Framework for Teacher Education and Development (ISPFTED) recommended the development of specific teacher knowledge and practice standards to guide curriculum content in teacher education programmes.
This move toward standardisation aimed to ensure consistency across universities regarding specialisation content, superseding the autonomy previously granted to institutions in curriculum development.
Then in 2011, we enacted the Policy on Minimum Requirements for Teacher Education Qualifications (MRTEQ) and in 2015, we revised it to align with the new Higher Education Qualification Sub-Framework of 2013.
The revised MRTEQ embraced the recommendation from the ISPFTED to involve subject experts in developing knowledge and practice standards for specialisations, improved the teaching practice component and clarified the Language specialisations at different levels.
To ensure its continued relevance, the MRTEQ is undergoing further review. The revised version will address new areas for professionalisation, including education for sustainable development, digitalisation, and the elevation of African languages.
The fifth issue I wish to focus on is that of strategic partnerships across government. Our interventions in this respect were supported by the Department of Basic Education through the Funza Lushaka bursary scheme, and the National Student Financial Aid Scheme of the Department of Higher Education and Training.
Additionally, our department supported universities in developing knowledge and practice standards for primary Maths and literacy, as well as offering special needs and inclusive teaching programmes. While these initiatives did not directly amend existing policies, they effectively utilised resources to address emerging priorities.
The Department of Basic Education also embarked on a targeted campaign to strengthen Mother Tongue Based Bilingual Education. We expect our universities to be responsive to this the development of some specialisations in the African languages.
Through these concerted efforts, teacher professionalisation was significantly strengthened, ushering in an era where teaching became recognised as a graduate-level profession.
The last issue I wish to focus on is that of the impact of artificial intelligence (AI) on teaching practice. In view of the rapid development in AI, it concerns us deeply that we don’t have a policy on AI in teaching and education.
Many young people who have studied hard to hone their skills are increasingly worried about technologies such as ChatGPT, which they have discovered can generate eloquent answers which are not only erroneous and misleading, but also fail to incorporate diverse voices.
While it has inherent risks, I believe that AI can also be harnessed to improve the quality of teaching and it is my hope that a forum such as this one can help us with ideas on what policy interventions to make.
In conclusion, it goes without saying that, by investing in teacher development, we are investing in the futures of our countries and ensuring that we build the necessary human resources and knowledge not only to respond to the challenges of our time, but also to contribute to the building of a world wherein each person can realise the gift of a dignified life.
Thank you.
