EDUCATION AS SOCIETAL REFORM
EDUCATION AS SOCIETAL REFORM
Highlights from the Integrated Strategic Planning Framework for Teacher Education and Development in South Africa (2011–2025)
The challenges facing Teacher Education and Development (TED) in South Africa are considerable. They include a lack of ac- cess to quality TED opportunities for pro- spective and practising teachers; a mismatch between the provision of and demand for teachers of particular types; the failure of the system to achieve dramatic improve- ment in the quality of teaching and learning in schools; a fragmented and uncoordinated approach to TED; the tenuous involvement of teachers, their organisations and other role-players in TED planning; and inefficient and poorly monitored funding mechanisms.
To meet these challenges, the Declaration of the Teacher Development Summit of 2009 called for the development of a new, strengthened, integrated national Plan for teacher development. The collaborative work towards the development of such a plan has led to the production of this plan.
The plan pertains to all teachers that ser- vice the schooling system – from Grade R to Grade 12 – including classroom teachers, school leaders and managers, subject advi- sors and other professionals who support teaching and learning at the school level. This includes all educators described in the Em- ployment of Educators Act (No. 76 of 1998).
The Plan addresses the career of a teacher through a number of phases from recruit- ment through to retirement:
n Recruitment of potential teachers. n Preparation of new teachers.
n Career-long (continuing) professional learning and development.
The Plan recognises that the ultimate re- sponsibility for recruiting, preparing, induct- ing, developing and utilising human resourc- es in public education lies with the public authority, and must be operationalised and coordinated through its structures, and in particular the two national education de- partments (the Department of Basic Educa- tion, or DBE, and the Department of Higher Education and Training, or DHET) and the nine Provincial Education Departments (PEDs). However, stakeholders in education and, most importantly, teachers themselves, are essential contributors to the structure of the Plan and to its implementation.
The Plan places teachers firmly at the cen- tre of all efforts to improve teacher de- velopment, and enables teachers to take substantial responsibility for their own de- velopment, with the support of the DBE and the PEDs,
the DHET, the teacher
unions, the South African Council for Edu- cators (SACE) and the Education, Training and Development Practices Sector Educa- tion and Training Authority (ETDP SETA).
As required by the Teacher Development Summit Declaration, the Plan delinks teach- er appraisal for purposes of development from appraisal for purposes of remunera- tion and salary progression, which will be taken up through an Education Labour Re- lations Council (ELRC) exercise to stream- line and rebrand the Integrated Quality Management System (IQMS).
The Plan must be considered by other planning processes such as those related to the IQMS, Whole School Evaluation
(WSE), the National Education Evaluation and Development Unit (NEEDU) and the SACE Continuing Professional Teacher De- velopment (CPTD) Management System.
The Plan is strongly aligned with na- tional imperatives that are currently in place, including the following:
The DBE’s Action Plan 2014, which includes:
n Goal 14: Attract a new group of young, motivated and appropriately trained teachers into the teaching profession each year.
n Goal 16: Improve the professional- ism, teaching skills, subject knowl- edge and computer literacy of teachers throughout their entire careers.
n Goal 17: Strive for a teaching work- force that is healthy and enjoys a sense of job satisfaction.
The DHET’s Revised Strategic Plan (2010/11–2014/15):
n To monitor the production of ini- tial teachers and the development of practising teachers for the pre- school and school system through qualification programmes, in order to inform planning and determine enrolment and graduation targets.
n To strengthen the capacity and capability for the provision of pre- school and school teacher edu- cation in universities in order to produce
and develop sufficient
quality teachers for the pre-school and school system in line with Min- isterial targets.
The Plan adopts a two-pronged approach to teacher education and development, and makes provision for quality teacher development to happen through activities that may or may not be linked to formal qualifications. Qualification-linked activities will primarily be led by the DHET, while ac- tivities that are not directly linked to quali- fications will primarily be led by the DBE and PEDs.
The DBE is considered to be the lead agen- cy responsible for: the establishment of a National Institute for Curriculum and Pro- fessional Development (NICPD); the de- velopment of processes to assist teachers to identify their development needs and to enable expanded opportunities for access to quality Continuing Professional Devel- opment (CPD) activities and programmes to meet these needs; and the identification of system priorities for targeted teacher development.
The PEDs are considered to be the lead agencies responsible for the establishment and development of: Provincial Teacher De- velopment Institutes (PTDIs); District Teach- er Development Centres (DTDCs); and Professional Learning Communities (PLCs).
The DHET is considered to be the lead agency responsible for: ensuring a sufficient supply of new teachers for all teaching spe- cialisations (phases, learning areas and sub- jects) steered by information on the supply, demand and utilisation of educators in the schooling system; ensuring the develop- ment and provision of qualification-based CPD programmes for all types of teachers working in the schooling system; establish- ing a network of viable, accessible Teacher Education Institutions (TEIs), Teaching Schools (TSs) and Professional Practice Schools (PPSs); and establishing Provincial Teacher Education Committees (PTECs) that will assist to inform enrolment plan- ning for teacher qualification programmes.
All role-players need to continue to par- ticipate collaboratively in implementing
The primary outcome of the Plan is to improve the qual- ity of teacher education and development in order to im- prove the quality of teachers and teaching.
120
CHAPTER 7 | THE TEACHER AND THE TEACHING CAREER
www.ed.org.za
www.ed.org.za
CHAPTER 7 | THE TEACHER AND THE TEACHING CAREER
121
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104 |
Page 105 |
Page 106 |
Page 107 |
Page 108 |
Page 109 |
Page 110 |
Page 111 |
Page 112 |
Page 113 |
Page 114 |
Page 115 |
Page 116 |
Page 117 |
Page 118 |
Page 119 |
Page 120 |
Page 121 |
Page 122 |
Page 123