The Teaching and Learning Development Capacity Improvement Programme

• Published date: 08 April 2021
• Publication title: Mail & Guardian: Web Edition Articles (Johannesburg, South Africa)

teacher education in South Africa

The Teaching and Learning Development Capacity Improvement Programme (TLDCIP) and the Teaching and Learning Development Sector Reform Contract (TLDSRC) is contributing massively to strengthening teacher education in South Africa, says Dr Diane Parker, Deputy Director-General: University Education at the Department of Higher Education and Training (DHET).

In an interview with the Mail & Guardian, Parker said that for the first time in South Africa's history, universities that offer teacher education programmes have joined forces to collaborate on a range of projects that have enabled the development of research-informed teacher education programmes and materials available to all institutions that offer pre-service teacher education programmes.

She said that 21 universities are now offering Foundation Phase Teacher Education programmes, focusing specifically on African languages.

The TLDCIP is funded by the TLDSRC, a partnership programme between the DHET and the European Union (EU).

"This partnership has been incredibly important, with an international framework in terms of access to expertise in other countries from a budget perspective, and growing the teacher education system. The current programme is strengthening teacher education across a range of programmes," she said.

"Basically, the TLDSRC is a contract we've had with the EU for five years, and it started off with a previous partnership, where we were funded through a budget support programme to strengthen foundation phase teacher education in South Africa.

"It cemented an incredibly good relationship with the EU through their budget support programme. That programme also lasted for 5 years."

She said the current initiative fell under the University Capacity Development Programme (UCDP), which seeks to develop teachers for all parts of the education system.

The programme covers several aspects, such as teaching special needs students, primary mathematics and literacy teachers and training TVET teachers.

She said while there have also been substantive gains in this capacity building through the TLDCIP, the Covid-19 pandemic has negatively impacted on teaching and learning in Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) that are offering the accredited programmes — something that the TLDCIP had not envisaged.

"It was unprecedented. Teaching and learning were initially impossible, because apart from UNISA, all other universities predominantly used a contact delivery mode. The system had to quickly move to delivering teaching and learning through multi-model means, including online and digital modes, and not all universities had that in place," said Parker

"Some institutions had to quickly produce printbased materials and use social media platforms such as WhatsApp to try and ensure the safety of staff and students whilst continuing with teaching and learning. In addition to online delivery, some universities had to make teaching and learning materials available on USBs and in print-based form, and deliver across the country. All universities had to develop multi-model plans and the Department identified funding – which altogether came to about R2-billion, to support the implementation of the plans. It was quite substantial."

Parker said the Covid-19 pandemic also exposed the deep inequalities in South Africa, as students who lived in rural and remote areas were less able to access remote online teaching and learning due to infrastructure and connectivity issues.

"Those who couldn't be supported adequately were those students living in remote areas, and those living in conditions which made remote teaching and learning very difficult. About 94% of students had access to data. Mobile network operators also came on board and offered favourable rates for data bundles for students and paid about R65 per student for a 30G [package]," said Parker.

"Students, including those funded by the National Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) also needed laptops in order to access education. The pandemic posed many huge challenges for us. However, among others, and in support of teacher education in particular, JET Education Services came on board and we developed an online module called Teacher Choices in Action, which allowed teacher education students to undertake a component of their teaching practice requirements remotely. It was an interesting learning curve."

She said, however, everybody came together collaboratively to ensure access to teaching and learning to the majority of students.

"We tried our best and supported institutions. An example was at Tshwane University of Technology, where there were too many students, and where the processes to acquire laptops for all students required a massive investment and is now underway. However, 90 million printed materials were sent out to where students are living."

In the past, there have been some concerns that branches in the DHET work in silos and yet the TLDCIP projects intersect across TVET and CET branches. Parker said there was indeed a perception of silo working, but the university branch is responsible for teacher education which cuts across all sectors — ECD, TVET colleges, CET and universities.

"It is cross-sector work. Our programme right from the beginning was about collaboration. It's been about drawing on the potential of people, creating collaborations between the Universities, civil society and the departments," said Parker.

"The Department of Basic Education is responsible for ECD and schooling and collaborates with the Department of Higher Education and Training on teacher education. The cross-cutting responsibility for teacher education has enabled us to create stronger relationships and better synergies. It's an incredible collaboration."

Parker has also played a strong leadership role in the development of the Integrated Strategic Planning Framework for Teacher Education and Development (ISPFTED).

She said the Framework has had a massive impact on teacher education and development.

"I had just arrived at the Department as Chief Director for teacher education. There was a proposal that we needed to convene a national teacher education summit and we decided to do so. The main outcome of the Summit was the ISPFTED. It was an important piece of work and involved significant contributions from the ETDP SETA, the ELRC, SACE, the Education Deans Forum, the national and provincial education departments, teacher unions and other professional organisations which all worked together to develop the Framework," said Parker.

"It was gratifying. Since the joint release of the Framework by the national Ministers of the two education departments, it has had good traction in the system. It really has given us direction in terms of implementation — at the time we projected to graduate about 8 000 initial teacher education students per annum and one of the big problems was that we needed 18 000 initial teacher education graduates per annum for basic education. We now produce over 26 000 teachers every year. The department itself has invested money in infrastructure, supporting institutions, including through our partnership with the EU. We've invested in teacher education and in particular in developing capacity for the teaching of African languages. We've also invested in a Teaching School at the University of Johannesburg and further work in terms of teaching practice standards on a range of programmes. I think we've developed partnerships across sectors and phases of education. It has been critical."

In 2021, a second teacher development summit is planned to take place, Parker indicated. She said various issues would be discussed at the teacher development Summit that will lead to the further strengthening of teacher education and development.

We need to strengthen the Teaching Practice component of teacher education as an important priority. We need to engage collaboratively on this, and garner support from all the roleplayers because we think it's something very important," she said, adding that it would be important for the summit to continue the focus on primary school teachers and on ECD.

"We will also need to discuss the responsiveness of teacher education and critical issues of teacher responsiveness during major disruptions, such as we have seen during the Covid-19 pandemic."

The summit should also focus on the fourth industrial revolution and new technological developments and the implications of this for teacher education and development.

"This means harnessing the digital transformation and how do we create access for teachers wherever they are, and how do we really develop the IT network capability across our entire country so our citizens are not left out, especially those in rural schools," said Parker.

"The bigger issue is how do we prepare our learners for a rapidly evolving world of work. Teachers are able to contribute effectively to the achievement of the ideals behind the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). I think we face enormous challenges, particularly in poorer communities and child-headed households, and we need to more decisively address inequality. Education is one of the ways we can do this.

Parker said the upcoming teacher development summit must reflect on all these issues.

"Sustainable developmental goals are so broad and at the same time, some of the enduring problems need to be looked at again in order to strengthen and reflect on the Framework."

Parker indicated that the purpose of the university education programme in the Department of Higher Education and Training is to develop and co-ordinate policy and regulatory frameworks for an effective and efficient university education system, by providing financial and other support to universities, the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) and national institutes for higher education. The Department thus plays a strategic implementation support and oversight role in university education.

About Diane Parker

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