Changing forms of teacher education in South Africa: a case study of policy change

International Journal of Educational Development 22 (2002) 381–395www.elsevier.com/locate/ijedudev

Changing forms of teacher education in South Africa: a casestudy of policy change

Yusuf Sayed∗

Centre for International Education, University of Sussex, Falmer, Brighton, East Sussex, BN1 9RG, UK

Abstract

This paper examines some aspects of teacher education policy change in South Africa. It contextualises the changesby firstly examining the apartheid teacher education system and then mapping the changes that have occurred in teachereducation in South Africa since 1994. Using a case study of the Further Diploma in Educational Management at theUniversity of Pretoria, it provides a critical analysis of one particular current path to teacher education in South Africa,namely the ‘franchise’ public/private teacher education provision. The paper concludes by discussing the related policypossibilities and problems of teacher education policy since 1944. It highlights how institutions have stategicallyresponded to change in a transitional context, and draws attention to the disjunction between policy intentions andoutcomes. 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction

This paper examines teacher education policychange in South Africa. It seeks to contextualiseand map the changes that have affected teachereducation in South Africa since 1994. It providesa critical analysis of one particular path to teachereducation in South Africa since 1994, namely, the‘franchise’ public/private teacher education pro-vision, and discusses the implications of this shiftfor changing policy.

2. The evolution of the system of teachereducation

The emergence of the system of teacher edu-cation has its roots in the apartheid system. As a

∗ Tel.: +44-1273-877-051; fax:+44-1273-678-568.E-mail address: [email protected] (Y. Sayed).

0738-0593/02/$ - see front matter 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.PII: S0738 -0593(01 )00062-1

consequence of the 1910 constitution, whiteteacher training was located under the control ofthe then four provinces. The introduction of theBantu Education Act in 1953 necessitated a systemfor training black teachers. Thus a racially strati-fied teacher education system emerged, with separ-ate teacher education colleges for Coloured, Indian,and Africans. As the ‘homelands’ policy took rootin the early 1960s, each ‘self-governing’ and later‘independent’ African homeland took control ofteacher education in its own area. Thus, by the1960s, teacher education colleges were segregatedalong the lines of race and ethnicity, creating par-tial, multiple, and separate pathways to teachereducation. The segregation of teacher educationcolleges was paralleled by the provision of separateuniversity education for different racial groups.The Bantu Education Extension Act in 1959 cre-ated racially segregated universities with their‘own affairs’ Faculties of Education.

382 Y. Sayed / International Journal of Educational Development 22 (2002) 381–395

For Africans in then ‘white areas’ , teacher edu-cation colleges fell under the jurisdiction of theDepartment of Bantu Education, which came to beknown in 1979 as the Department of Education andTraining. The name change was an attempt to pro-ject a more ‘ friendly’ image onto a racially andethnically fragmented system.

By the early 1970s, teachers were trained in raci-ally and ethnically separate colleges and univer-sities. This was coupled with a system of postingwhich allocated trained teachers to different raci-ally and ethnically segregated schools. In otherwords, each type of college and university trainedteachers for specific schools.

There were six key features of the apartheid sys-tem of teacher education. First, the mushroomingof teacher education providers since the 1950s wasdriven by the political logic of the apartheid sys-tem, which sought to provide separate forms ofeducation for different racial and ethnic groups.The physical location of teacher education traininginstitutions was thus based on the fragmentedracial geography which socially engineered ‘ lifespaces’ of South Africans. Training provision wasdriven by the needs of the system as a whole and,as such, it was motivated by the specific politicaland ideological rationale of the apartheid system.Thus, it would be fair to characterise the teachereducation system under apartheid as a ‘system ofsystems’ , with different teacher education systemsfor different racial and ethnic groups.

Second, the fragmentation of the teacher edu-cation system determined whether individuals weretrained and where they were posted. The supplyand demand for teachers was consequently con-ditioned by the need to maintain racial and ethnicsegregation and not related to an overall nationalplan. Carrim (2001) notes that the apartheid systemresulted in teachers acquiring their professionalcompetencies through socialisation in a racialisedenvironment. In governance terms, the systemresulted in duplication of teacher training insti-tutions, lack of overall coherence and articulationin the system, and limited quality assurance pro-cedures and mechanisms. Economies of scale werenot possible as the ‘own affairs’ approach to policydetermined provision and supply.

Third, by 1994 there were 19 education depart-ments responsible for teacher education, with 32autonomous universities and technikons, and about105 colleges of education scattered throughout theapartheid/homelands system. This resulted in avery expensive system of teacher training (NTEA,1995) with marked differences in costs betweenand within colleges and universities. The NTEAreport notes that teacher education training wasmore expensive at colleges compared to univer-sities. For example, lecturer:student ratios in col-leges were about 1:10 compared to 1:20 in the uni-versity sector; this was partly a consequence of thefact that teacher education colleges were singlepurpose dedicated institutions with a high lec-turer:student ratio.

Fourth, as a result of the ‘system of systems’there was a multiplicity of curricula and qualifi-cations. One important effect of the fragmentedsystem was the fact that the bulk of training inblack colleges and universities was limited to thehumanities and arts subjects. This was a conse-quence of the underdevelopment of mathematics,science and technology in the secondary schoolsystem for the black population. Most of the gradu-ates from black teacher training colleges weretrained in subjects such as religious studies and his-tory. There was thus a ‘vicious education cycle’ ,with too few teachers in maths, science, and tech-nology, resulting in poor quality education in thesesubjects in the school system. A further curriculumdifference, but one that has shifted in the early1990s, was that colleges were primarily respon-sible for training primary school teachers, whileuniversities focussed on secondary school teachers.This distinction was replicated for each of theracial groups under the system of apartheid. Thisrigid binary distinction between colleges and uni-versities prevented the rational sharing ofresources, and prevented collaborative interactionbetween colleges and universities.

Fifth, the ‘homelands’ under apartheid wereeconomically unviable, and the civil service andeducation were the principal means of employ-ment. Teacher education under apartheid educationwas, therefore, the main source of jobs, creating apool of professionals whose prospects were inti-mately connected to its existence.

383Y. Sayed / International Journal of Educational Development 22 (2002) 381–395

Sixth, for the black population, educationalopportunities were extremely limited, with veryfew students successfully completing even basiceducation, and even fewer successfully completingsecondary schooling. Not only were there limitedhigher education opportunities, but even within thesecondary school system, as indicated earlier, thecurriculum was usually limited to humanities sub-jects such as history and religious studies. In thiscontext, the logic of the system resulted in manyenrolling in teacher education training programmesin order to acquire higher educational opport-unities. Under apartheid, the black population’shigher education options were effectively limitedto ‘ teaching or preaching’ . Teacher education wasthus a strategic response to the lack of higher edu-cational opportunities for the black population. Asa result, the historically disadvantaged universitiesthemselves were principally teacher training insti-tutions, and focused on academic provision in thearts and social sciences.

In summary, the legacy of apartheid educationcreated a teacher education ‘system of systems’fragmented along racial and ethnic lines, withconsequences for where teachers were trained, howthey were trained, and where they ended up teach-ing. It was a costly model of teacher education withwasteful duplication and overlap. Its rationale canonly be understood in the context of the social andpolitical logic of apartheid education. It is such alegacy which educational policy since 1994 hassought to address.

The democratically elected government in 1994had to deal with a deeply divided and fragmentedsystem of teacher education provision. The edu-cational commitments of the new government werecaptured in the National Education Policy Act(DoE 1996), which addressed issues of democracy,equity, redress, and transparency. The period since1994 can be best described as a frenzy of policydocuments and acts (Sayed and Jansen, 2001). Thisresulted in a complex policy framework with com-peting policy discourses and a tremendous call onfinancial and human capacity in a number of statu-tory legal bodies and structures.

Parker (2001) notes that, at the beginning of2000, there were approximately 82 public insti-tutions providing teacher education to 110,000 stu-

dents. Colleges of education offered training to15,000 students, while 95,000 were enrolled in thehigher education sector, 60,000 of whom wereenrolled in universities. As indicated below, col-leges were originally established to focus on pri-mary teacher training, while universities concen-trated on secondary teachers.

At the time of writing there was a programmeof rationalisation of teacher education collegeswith the intention that, by mid 2001, all collegeswould be amalgamated with universities. This is asignificant policy shift, one effect of which is thatSouth Africa would not have separate colleges ofeducation, except those that can claim to be largemulti-site institutions (DoE, 1999).

A particular feature of post-apartheid teachereducation policy has been the growth of the privateeducation sector, specifically the growth of public–private partnerships in teacher education. It is thisphenomenon in particular that this paper seeks tounderstand. The importance of the development ofthe private higher education sector is acknowl-edged by the Ministry of Education, which haspublished an Amendment Bill on Higher Educationin order to attempt to regulate and monitor theprivate education sector.

The post-apartheid policy framework for teachereducation encompasses the following:

� The National Education Policy Act (DoE,1996), which empowers the Minister of Edu-cation to set the guidelines for the education andaccreditation of educators and determine matterssuch as the curriculum framework and the certi-fication of qualifications.

� The Curriculum 2005 framework which com-mits the education system to an outcomes-basedapproach with an emphasis on learning areasrather than subjects, with implications forteacher education training and provision.

� The Norms and Standards for Teacher Edu-cation (NSTE) (DoE, 1997a, 2000a, b) whichuses an outcomes-based approach to teachereducation and is an attempt to provide a detailedaccount of what a competent educator can and


should demonstrate. This policy identifies sevenroles1 for teacher educators in South Africa.

� The South African Council for Educators(SACE) set up in 1996, which is responsible forteacher registration, discipline and conduct, andprofessional development.

� The National Qualifications Framework (NQF)and the South African Qualifications AuthorityAct (SAQA) (DoE, 1995a) which is responsiblefor the standards of teacher education and qual-ity assurance of the programme. The work ofSAQA is complemented by the setting up ofNational Standard Bodies (NSBs) and StandardGenerating Bodies (SGBs), which determine thestandards for teacher education. SAQA is in theprocess of establishing an Education and Train-ing Quality Assurance (ETQA) structure fordetermining quality assurance in the teachereducation programme.

� Quality assurance for teacher education bySAQA is shared with the Council for HigherEducation’s (CHE) Higher Education and Qual-ity Assurance Committee (HEQC).

� The governance of teacher education is incred-ibly complex and bureaucratic. As indicated,quality assurance is a shared function of theDoE, SAQA, SATA (South African TrainingAuthority), NSBs, SGBs, HEQC, and other pro-fessional bodies. The governance of teachereducation at a general level involves the Com-mittee for Teacher Education Policy (COTEP),which is a sub-committee of the Higher Edu-cation Committee (HECOM), the Council forHigher Education (CHE), and the DoE(principally the Branch for Higher Education(BHE) and SAQA).

� The Higher Education Act (DoE, 1997b)enabled the Minister of Education to declare theincorporation of a college of education into anational public higher education system. Thiswas acted on with the acceptance by HECOMand CEM of the ‘ Incorporation of Colleges of

1 The seven roles identified in the document are LearningMediator, Interpreter and Designer of Learning Programmes,Leader, Administrator and Manager, Scholar, Researcher andLifelong Learner, Community, Citizen and Pastoral Role, anda Learning Area Specialist.

Education into the Higher Education Sector’report. What in effect occurred, as Parker (2001)notes, is a constitutional function shift in whichcolleges of education were moved from provin-cial to national competence and incorporatedinto universities, a process that has beenunderway over the last two years.

� The ‘conditions of service’ policy framework,which has a crucial impact on teachers, andincludes the Employment of Educators Act(DoE, 1998) and the statutory Education andLabour Relations Council (ELRC) and PSCBC.

� Under consideration by the Department of Edu-cation are the policy for teacher professionaldevelopment and a policy on career pathingand grading.

� The policy framework makes provision for theparticipation in teacher education policy formu-lation of stakeholder and civil society organis-ations. These include teacher unions, such as theSouth African Democratic Teachers Union(SADTU), Committee of College of EducationRectors of South Africa (CCERSA), studentorganisations, labour organisations, andemployer/business organisations.

The above policy framework reflects a complexarray of different policy documents that attempt totackle the difficulties of teacher education in SouthAfrica in relation to regulation, governance, cur-riculum, quality assurance, and stakeholder partici-pation in policy formulation. Samuel (this volume)highlights the challenges generated by the newframework for teacher education providers byusing the University of Durban Westville (UDW)as a case study. His paper, which recounts theintroduction of the BAGET (Bachelor of Educationand Training) programme at UDW, reveals howinstitutions respond to the policy framework andattempt to navigate the somewhat contradictoryand multiple demands made on providers. Hischoice of metaphor of ‘working in the rain’ cap-tures the difficulties UDW faces as an institutionin responding to new policy directions in a rapidlychanging context. This paper examines the variousways in which institutions have responded to thepost-apartheid changes and challenges. Moreimportantly, it explains how institutions positioned


themselves even prior to the changes, showing hownew policies interact with practices that predatethem.

In the above policy framework, four broadstrands can be discerned: the content of teachereducation provision; the governance, quality assur-ance and regulation of teacher education; the costsof training teachers; and the shifting notions ofprofessionalism.

First, with regard to the content of teacher edu-cation provision, the policy framework has effectedchanges to both the providers and the institutionsthey serve. In respect of schools, the new govern-ment, notwithstanding the Curriculum 2005 review(DoE, 2001) has committed the education systemto an outcomes-based education system, with theemphasis on learning areas rather than on discreteand separate subjects. The key epistemologicalshift in this framework has been a focus onlearner–centred approaches, identifying differenttypes of competencies that learners are expected toachieve, and the different roles of educators [seeChristie and Jansen (1998) for a critique of theunderlying epistemology of this shift]. Teachereducation providers are thus expected to providenewly qualified teachers with the skills to operatein an outcomes-based educative framework and tofocus on the learner. In many senses, this is a wel-come shift away from rote and transmission-orien-tated learning approach. But there is a risk that pro-viders might focus only on teaching methods, andignore the need to provide trainee teachers with thecontent knowledge they also require.

The difficulties providers face, as Samuel (2001)notes, are in reorienting their staff, whose pro-fessional development and identity has previouslybeen located in their epistemic claim to subjectdiscipline authority [even though this may, in somecases, be a weak claim (Sayed, 1995)]. For schools,as Jansen (1998) indicates, Curriculum 2005 is apolicy shift which is not possible to achieve givenexisting conditions, such as the low level of teacherprofessional competencies. Like Jansen, Jessopand Tandy (1998) highlight the gap between theseven professional roles identified in policy, andthe practices in classrooms. They point out that, inpractice, teachers are unable to fulfil the require-ments for all seven roles adequately. Teacher edu-

cation in this context is caught between a specificpolicy vision and the existing difficult and debilit-ating educational conditions.

Governance, regulation, and quality assuranceform the second discernible strand in the recentteacher education policy framework in SouthAfrica. Teacher education under apartheid was notonly fragmented, but it was also marked by diver-sity of provision and a glaring lack of quality assur-ance procedures and mechanisms, despite beingexpected to conform to ‘national’ norms. In thisrespect, regulations from SAQA and the panoplyof associated structures and bodies are an attemptto co-ordinate the quality and standards of teachereducation. The structures are designed to ensureuniform norms and standards across all providers,and ensure that all teachers do broadly work withinthe framework of NSTE. Quality assurance isregarded as an important policy goal, aimed atimproving the standards of teaching and learning.Quality assurance, as Parker (2001) notes, is, how-ever, complex and difficult to implement, as thepolicy framework has dispersed this functionacross a number of bodies and structures includingthe HEQC, SAQA, NSB, and ETQA. The keyquality assurance question is how these differentbodies interact and co-ordinate their efforts inmonitoring and assuring the quality of teacher edu-cation provision. The complexity of the qualityassurance system is underpinned by the approachto governance in education more generally. Thepolicy approach of the new government has beento create broad-based participatory structures thatare meant to be inclusive and representative. AsSayed and Jansen (2001) note, the success of thisapproach hinges on the extent to which such foraare able to secure ‘sufficient consensus’ and agreeon binding behaviours. In the absence of such con-ditions, decision-making and co-ordinated actionmay be difficult to achieve.

The key governance issue that has doggedteacher education has been the locus of authority.Teacher education is one area of education that hasbeen shared both as a provincial and nationalresponsibility. University teacher education pro-viders fall within the remit of the national Ministryof Education (specifically the BHE), while collegesof education have in the past been under provincial


control. Steele (2001), Parker (2001), and Carrim(2001) note that the locus of authority for teachereducation has been the subject of much policy con-testation, with some arguing for independencealong the line accorded to universities, others argu-ing for provincial control, and some arguing fortheir incorporation into universities. In the finalinstance, the policy decision has been to ‘ incorpor-ate’ all teacher education colleges into universities,with the provision that some could exist indepen-dently subject to being multi-site institutions withat least 2000 FTEs (full-time equivalents). In otherwords, independent teacher education collegescould function as single-purpose dedicated insti-tutions if they were large enough. Yet in realityonly the programmes offered by the colleges, andin some cases the physical plant, have been incor-porated. Staff have, as yet, not been fully incorpor-ated into the university system because of the com-plexity of budgeting and the differential costs ofstaff of universities and colleges. How this is to beresolved will become evident over time.

One governance question that has only nowbegun to be adequately addressed is that of ‘priv-ate’ teacher education providers. The focus on pub-lic teacher education providers has led to insuf-ficient concern with the growth of the privateeducation sector, which by 2000 accounted forabout 40,000 students (about 37% of all teachereducation students). The majority of these ‘private’students were enrolled in programmes that were‘partnership/franchise’ arrangements with publicuniversities, including the University of Port Eliza-beth (UPE) with Azalia, and the University of Pre-toria (UP) with Success College2. The case studydiscusses the implications of these arrangementsfor UP below.

The third strand in the post-apartheid teachereducation framework has been a concern about thecosts of training teachers. A central thrust of theframework has been the rationalisation of teacher

2 The University of Pretoria started its programme with Suc-cess College. The college was later renamed National PrivateColleges (NPC) as it underwent amalgamation. It is now knownas Education Distance Learning and is part of a larger privateeducation company listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange.This paper refers to UP’s partner as NPC.

education, largely driven by an efficiency perspec-tive. The argument that has been advanced is thatit is four times more expensive to educate teachersin colleges of education than in the university, duemainly to the low lecturer-student ratios in collegesof education (Parker, 2001). In this respect, thecase has been made that universities would bemore efficient providers of teacher education.While not disputing this argument, the collegeshave made a case for being ‘special’ kinds of pro-viders that are more intimately connected with therealities of schooling than universities. Thus, thisdebate has reproduced the traditionaltheory/practice divide, with universities beingtype-cast as theory-driven.

Finally, in the new policy framework, teachinghas been conceptually recast in the discourse ofgeneral education. In his analysis of teacher ident-ity, Carrim (2001) notes how teachers have becomeconceptualised as ‘educators’ . This is a significantpolicy change, based on the grounds that teachingis an activity akin to other aspects of professionaleducation work, such as working with adult lear-ners. This thrust is broadly progressive, but tendsto diffuse the specific occupational activity ofteaching and, potentially, implies interchange-ability between different educational activities.Carrim (2001) foregrounds the loss of agency inthis redefinition, noting the significance of the shiftwith respect to the changing nature of professionalpractices, an issue that has not been adequatelydebated and theorised.

In the above analysis, the policy framework hasbeen examined in relation to the implications forcontent, governance, cost, and teacher professionalidentity. In the framework, the main equity gainshave been in eradicating fragmentation and cre-ating a uniform system of provision. In establishinga framework for quality assurance, there is a stronglikelihood that equity might be achieved withregard to raising the quality of teaching. However,as indicated above, the extent to which the systemmight work effectively is doubtful, given the com-plexity of the different processes and structures.The policy framework has put in place multipleand competing requirements for teacher educationproviders, and compounded this with an edu-cational philosophy which has generated much


contestation from within and beyond the educationsector. The next section analyses one specific path-way to teacher education in South Africa, namely,‘ franchise’ public/private provision at the Univer-sity of Pretoria.

3. Pathways to becoming a teacher in SouthAfrica: the ‘franchise option’

The number of institutions involved in teachereducation in South Africa reflects a wide diversityof pathways to becoming a teacher and provisionof teacher professional development. As mentionedabove, they reflect the historical legacy of theapartheid system, which the new policy frameworkseeks to address. This section explores oneexample of a pathway: the Further Diploma inEducational Management (FDEM)3 at the Univer-sity of Pretoria (UP).

This case study is significant because UP is oneof the largest providers of teacher education inSouth Africa, due partly to its large FDEM pro-gramme, as discussed in this paper4. Moreover, UP

3 A Further Diploma in Education is a qualification that wasdesigned for teachers who had minimum teaching qualificationson entry into the teaching profession, that is, a teacher who hadentered teaching with a school leaving certificate and a two orthree years teaching diploma. The intention was to provide aqualification for such teachers so that upon completion of afurther diploma their qualification would be equivalent to thosewho enter via a degree route. As such, the intention behindthe further diploma qualification was for teacher professionaldevelopment and qualification upgrading. In the case of theFDEM the university requirement indicates that it will enrolstudents who had a recognised diploma in education (M+3)and/or a bachelor’s degree and diploma in education and/or anintegrated degree in education [BA (Ed)] and/or three years’teaching experience and that it regards the FDEM as a pro-gression route into its B.Ed. subject to certain limitations. Inthe new policy framework a further diploma is now regardedas a qualification on Level three and four of the SAQA band(BIRP, 2001).

4 The research on which this paper is based is part of theMUSTER (Multi-Site Teacher Education Research) Projectfunded by DFID. It is based on collaboration between edu-cational research institutes in Ghana, Lesotho, Malawi, SouthAfrica, Trinidad and Tobago and the University of Sussex Insti-tute of Education. There were four main strands to the research:the costs of teacher education, the college context, curriculumissues, and the process of becoming a teacher. The research onwhich the present analysis is based comprised case studies of

is an historically white Afrikaner university whichis undergoing a process of transformation. Inaddition, as the research indicates, all the studentsenrolled for the FDEM programme are black, andit is important to understand how the university ismoving away from its apartheid role and location.Finally, the case study is significant as it reflectsthe growing emergence of the private higher edu-cation sector, which is of concern to policy-mak-ers. Increased enrolment in teacher education pro-grammes in South Africa has largely been inprogrammes offered by public universities in part-nership with private sector education companies.

3.1. The franchise model of teacher education:the FDEM at UP

The FDEM5 began at UP in 1994 and is run asa partnership between Success College/NationalPrivate Colleges (NPC) and UP. In theory, aca-demic responsibility and accountability for the pro-

selected types of teacher education providers, including UP,University of Durban Westville, University of Western Capeand the South African College for Open Learning. The researchtechniques used include the administration of questionnaires toa selected sample of FDEM students, analysis of documentarydata (curriculum text), and interviews with UP staff and staffat the NPC.The case study data comprise seven interviews car-ried out by the author in 2000 with senior staff at the Universityof Pretoria involved in the project, and members of the Depart-ment of Educational Management, Faculty of Education at theuniversity. The author also interviewed two key staff membersfrom the private UP partner, the NPC. The questionnaire datais based on analysis done by staff members at UP involvedin the programme. Heysteck, Smit & Sayed (2001) provide acomprehensive report of the research. While the questionnairedata sampled both the Hammanskraal and distance group, thispaper focuses on the distance education group.

5 The Further Diploma in Education Management is organ-ised as follows:

First Year: Subject Courses Second Year: Subject Courses

1. Education Management 1. Education ManagementOWB 401 OWB 4022. Organisational 2. OrganisationalManagement OBT 401 Management OBT 4023. Law of Education OWR401


gramme is vested in the university, in that aca-demic staff are responsible for course materialsdevelopment and assessment. The franchise partnerhas the responsibility for the reproduction of thesedevelopment materials, their dispatch, and otheradministrative support deemed necessary.

The FDEM was developed from a needs analysisconducted by the Faculty of Education at UP,which indicated educational management develop-ment as a key priority. It was argued that teachers,especially teachers at a management level inschools like heads of departments, deputy princi-pals and principals, had school subject training butthey did not have any management training. Theneeds analysis further argued that the changinglegislation also had a major influence on theirworking conditions and therefore there was a needto equip teachers with knowledge about edu-cational legislation.

There are two versions of the FDEM pro-gramme. One is the distance version, which isavailable to students across the country. These stu-dents have the opportunity to visit study centresacross the country once a year, where tutoring ses-sions are offered by the university. The other ver-sion of this programme is presented at Hamman-skraal, a satellite campus of the University ofPretoria. Whilst the course material is the same,students attend lectures and tutoring sessions at thisvenue, for one week, twice per year. In short, the‘distance version’ is identical to that of the mixed-mode Hammanskraal version. The history of theprogramme is that the Hammanskraal version wasfirst developed and then extended into the distanceversion in partnership with NPC, with the samematerials being used in the distance version.

The target groups for the FDEM are practisingteachers who are in possession of either a recog-nised diploma in education or a bachelor’s degree.The duration of the course is between 18 and 24months, but students have four years to completetheir study. The vision of the FDE is to contributeto the development and capacity building of teach-ers, from managerial, practical and theoretical per-spectives.

While the intentions of the programme are laud-able, the FDEM programme raises a number of

issues in relation to the policy framework dis-cussed above6.

3.1.1. Teacher education priorities and needsThe identification of educational management

training has been recognised as a key priority foreducational reconstruction in South Africa (DoE,1995b; Sayed and Jansen, 2001). The key issue,however, which is addressed in this section, is theextent to which the FDEM programme articulateswith national teacher education priorities.

Data from a questionnaire administered to asample of students enrolled on the FDEM pro-gramme indicate that the majority (81%) wereclassroom teachers, while only about 18% wereholding positions as heads of department, deputiesand principals (Table 1).

Welch and Van Voore (1999) similarly note thatthe majority of those enrolled were teachers ratherthan those for whom the programme was intended.The total number of students in the programme isabout 30,000 (Heysteck et al., 2001) raising thequestion of whether South Africa requires 30,000‘managers’ . Saleem Badat (Chief Executive Offi-cer of the Council on Higher Education) asked inthis context, “Do we need 25,000 people in edu-cation management in the country? Is this really apriority?” (Vergnani, 2000, pp. 46–47). In addition,if the majority of the students are teachers (Table

Table 1Post level of the respondentsa

%

Teacher 81Head of department 8Deputy principal 4Principal 6Other: 1

a N=457.

6 Data about the number of graduates from the programme,pass rates, student results, and dropout figures were unavailableat the time of writing this paper. The interviews with the UPstaff suggest that completion rates are low compared withadmission figures. There was one evaluation of this programmecarried out by Welch and van Moore in 1999.


2), the relevance of the programme coveringcourses such as Organisation Analysis and Edu-cation Management is doubtful.

The data (Table 2) further suggest that themajority who are enrolled on this programme areseeking to study further or obtain promotion(extrinsic motivation), and are therefore not neces-sarily interested in the specific content focus of theprogramme. This raises the issue of whether theFDEM was a response to increasing universityenrolment at a point in the policy process whenthere was no framework for indicating the mainteacher education priorities. The problem of train-ing this many managers is compounded by the factthat there are other institutions offering similartraining programmes.

It is only recently that the Ministry has placeda moratorium on additional enrolment in such dis-tance education programmes, and the CHE hasindicated that subsidy allocation from 2000onwards would not be based on prior FTE allo-cation. While this is perhaps a positive step, it isthe case that the university was previously receiv-ing a subsidy based on the number of studentsenrolled, as the Department of Education had not

Table 2Future plans

FrequencyMaximum457

I want to study for another qualification at the 205University of PretoriaI will be promoted because I did study further 131I want to study for another management 109qualificationI want to work for the Department of 95Education for example at a district or region,or the central officeI want to study for another qualification like a 88subject related courseI will still be teaching in my same post 63I want to move to another better and well- 62resourced schoolI want to study for another qualification at any 49other institutionIf I can find another job I will leave teaching 47I want to move to a school in an urban area 17even if it is at the same post level

yet identified a national plan for higher education.The university has clearly significantly increasedits enrolment by capitalising on a gap in the legis-lative policy process after the elections of 1994.The key issue raised is that one important omissionin the emerging educational policy frameworksince 1994 was a proper identification of teachereducation priorities and needs. The university hasthus merely responded to a particular set of cir-cumstances in the absence of a clearly articulatedand developed policy framework.

3.1.2. CurriculumThe curriculum of the FDEM programme is an

issue that warrants close attention. As indicatedabove, there is a question about whether the focuson management is appropriate for teachers who arethe majority of those enrolled. While the question-naire data from students (Table 3) indicate thatthey are satisfied with the courses and find themto be useful, the quote by Saleem Badat aboveraises a question about the fit between the pro-gramme focus and the emerging priorities forteacher education. Moreover, a key problem ofteaching in South Africa is the content knowledgeof educators. Thus, an important focus of anyteacher educational professional development pro-gramme should be on developing those skills thatmake teachers more effective.

Analysis of the curriculum texts (University ofPretoria, 2000) suggests, similar to Welch and VanVoore (1999)7, that the FDEM is not a distancelearning programme, but rather a classical corre-spondence course where learners work on theirown using printed text, with the examination as theterminal point of assessment. The printed text isthus the only mediator between the lecturer andstudents. This situation is made more difficult asit is evident that many of the learners have noaccess to additional and supplementary reading.

Learners’ engagement in the programme isshaped by the various assumptions that underpin

7 Welch & Van Moore provide an account of the extent towhich the FDEM programme is consistent with NSTE/COTEPrequirement. This paper focuses on a broader curriculum per-spective which located the FDEM in the context of the teachereducation policy framework in SA.


Table 3Quality of teaching per subjecta

Excellent(%) Good(%) Average(%) Poor(%)

Education Management OWB 401 Tot 48.39 42.29 6.45 2.87Ham 59.52 34.92 3.97 1.59Dist 38.36 49.32 8.22 4.11

Education Management OWB 402 Tot 38.46 45.60 12.09 3.85Ham 42.86 48.21 7.14 1.79Dist 35.83 45.83 13.33 5.00

Organisation Management OBT 401 Tot 41.64 42.75 11.90 3.72Ham 54.33 33.86 6.30 5.51Dist 31.11 49.63 17.04 2.22

Organisational Management OBT 402 Tot 30.99 49.71 16.96 2.34Ham 36.17 48.94 12.77 2.13Dist 29.41 49.58 18.49 2.52

Law of Education OWR 401 Tot 46.79 31.70 18.49 3.02Ham 57.60 30.40 11.20 0.80Dist 37.31 32.84 24.63 5.22

a Respondents were asked to indicate their feelings about the quality of teaching for all the modules that make up the FDEMprogramme. This paper only focuses on the distance education (dist) group.

the text and its design. Analysis of the various textsused in the programme indicates that references arepredominantly from the US, Canada and the UK,with a minority from South Africa. No referencescould be found from other African or any Asiancountries. The only exception to this is the fourthhandbook, Law of Education (University of Preto-ria, 2000) which is oriented around issues in edu-cation in relation to South African law.

Furthermore, there is no reference to Africantheories of organisation, such as Ubuntu (Sayedand Jansen, 2001), or post-modern theories whichmight encourage challenges to established waysof thinking.

A further problem is that, in a context where thetext is the only resource, the ability of students toengage and understand through the medium ofEnglish is crucial. This problem is highlighted inthe questionnaire data, which show a high degreeof support for using simpler English (see Table 4),indicating the difficulties that students have under-standing the text in the absence of any form ofdirect face-to-face mediation.

In a correspondence mode the disadvantages thatteachers may experience is thus crucially influ-enced by the mediatory texts that are used. In thiscontext, the views of Saleem Badat (Chief Execu-

tive Officer of the Council on Higher Education)are highly relevant: “ If the quality of distance edu-cation was poor then we are back to the problemof the disadvantaged students getting short-changed.” He concluded that residential univer-sities should hire more employees for curriculumdevelopment as well as for tutorials with distancestudents. Correspondence should be supplementedwith multimedia materials and face-to-face ses-sions (Vergnani, 2000, p. 46).

UP has noted the difficulties in producing ‘dis-tance education’ texts during the interviews andindicated that they will be working closely with theCentre for Courseware Design at the university inrevising the texts.

3.1.3. GovernanceThe governance of teacher education pro-

grammes such as the FDEM raises serious ques-tions about the policy framework. Theaccreditation of the FDEM had occurred prior tothe establishment of the policy framework dis-cussed above. However, since then there has notbeen a systematic process of monitoring and evalu-ating the quality of the programmes. A general pat-tern that can be discerned in the post-apartheidteacher education policy framework is that quality


Table 4Factors that will improve learning

Very Important(%) Not very Not important(%)important(%) important(%)

More contact teaching 71 25 3 1More help preparing for final examinations 68 23 5 4More time to prepare for examinations 68 23 6 3Making the language of the study guide more accessible 62 23 10 5by using simpler EnglishMore examples and practical exercises during the lectures 60 32 6 2More examples and practical exercises in the study guide 58 34 7 1Better references in the study guide to resources 56 30 8 6More group work activity 54 37 7 2More content during the lectures 49 41 7 3More time to study on my own 49 35 12 4More student friendly study guides 49 32 14 5More notes from Lecturers 45 34 14 7Smaller teaching groups 44 35 13 8Translated the study guides in my mother tongue 12 10 15 63

assurance seems to be tied in with accreditation.In other words, the nature of teacher education pro-grammes is subject to scrutiny at inception, whenan institution applies for accreditation. Thus pro-grammes are not, as yet, regularly monitored andinspected once approval has been secured. Thispoint is further developed in the last section ofthis paper.

3.1.4. Quality assuranceResearch into the FDEM programme raises

questions about the process of quality assuranceand the quality of teaching and learning. Interviewsconducted by the author in August 2000 with boththe franchise partner and UP staff indicate anabsence of adequate and robust quality assurancemechanisms, which is manifest in a number ofways.

A key condition for successful learner engage-ment in the programme is the quality of the assign-ments that students complete and the feedback theyreceive. The interviews with the franchise partnerand UP staff suggest that this has not happenedand that, in fact, the franchise partner has indicatedthat students should not submit assignments forfeedback, although the respondents noted that theywere bringing back this requirement. In otherwords, students could proceed to the examination

stage for each module without completing anylearning exercise/assignments for feedback. Themain reason cited for this was the cost and amountof work required to provide feedback to studentsfor each assignment/exercise.

It was also evident in the interviews that studentswere not in regular contact with UP lecturers forthe course (such contact would not be feasiblegiven the number of students enrolled)8 and had torely on routing their queries through the privatefranchise partner. This is consistent with the find-ings of Welch and Van Voore (1999) who notedthat, in general, there was a tendency to discouragelearners from contacting university staff for aca-demic and administrative queries. While restrictingadministrative queries to the franchise partner isreasonable, it is less acceptable that students cannotinteract with those responsible for providing thetext and academic rigour in a context where thefranchise partner lacks the capacity to assist stu-dents academically. Furthermore, during the inter-view it became apparent that it was only veryrecently (i.e. in August 1999) that the franchise

8 The total number of UP full-time staff involved in the pro-gramme is seven, which on a crude count would give a lectureratio of about 1: 3000 (assuming 25,000 students).


partner had established what is referred to as a ‘callcentre’ to handle student queries9.

The key quality assurance mechanisms ident-ified in the interviews were:

� Co-marking of assignments at UP. Markersinclude teachers, staff at UP and other univer-sities. Lecturers at UP pointed out during theinterviews that all assistant markers were pro-vided with support and training.

� Lecturers at UP were responsible for moderatingthe marking by the other markers.

� External examiners moderated examination pap-ers and scripts.

While these indicate that there is a system of qual-ity assurance in place, there remains the issue ofwhether this is done rigorously enough, given thenumber of students involved.

The issue of quality is thus a key concern injudging the success of the programme and its effi-cacy in terms of its objectives. The concerns out-lined above are echoed by Saleem Badat:

If you suddenly enrol 30,000 students, how doyou quality assure your courses? […] Good dis-tance education is not necessarily cheap in termsof developing curricula and materials. It’s nota matter of taking existing lecture material andturning it into a correspondence course […](Vergnani, 2000, pp. 46–47).

3.1.5. Shifting notions of professionalcompetence

The earlier discussion has indicated that one ofthe issues relating to the FDEM is that teacher edu-cation priorities in South Africa have not yet beenclearly determined.

From an educational management perspective,

9 During the interviews with one of the representatives fromthe NPC, it emerged that he was previously Director of Studiesand that he had only recently been appointed to a new post asquality assurance director, a response to the criticism from vari-ous quarters, such as the CHE, of quality assurance mechanismsand procedures in the college. In other words, at the franchisepartner level, a rigorous process of quality assurance was notin place prior to the interview.

the FDEM provides a useful approach todeveloping skills and competencies associated withthe devolution of educational control and authority.However, the case study of the programme revealsthat those enrolled see it as a route to further quali-fication (Table 3). This is linked to the desire forpromotion, which reflects the fact that, in theschool system under apartheid, the acquisition ofhigher and additional qualifications was a route toenhance career progression.

This shows how teachers in post-apartheid SouthAfrica still construct notions of professional com-petence as the acquisition of higher and additionalqualifications, which is understandable given thenumber of teachers not yet professionally qualifiedin South Africa, currently standing at about 80,000(Parker, 2001). However, the new policy frame-work assumes that, beyond a basic qualification,there is no direct association between teachingquality and higher or additional qualifications, andthe new framework no longer provides incrementalincreases for qualifications. While this is a reason-able argument, it ignores the reality that teachersalaries are racially distorted. White teachers stillearn more because, under apartheid, they wererewarded for additional and higher qualifications,which the majority of black teachers did not andstill do not have.

It is worrying that enrolments in education pro-grammes like FDEM are still perceived by manyas an access route to higher and additional degrees,which, for many, will provide a route out of theteaching profession. The one unintended conse-quence of not rewarding teachers with incrementalsalary increases is that teachers now use furtherstudy in education as an exit route to other careeropportunities. While it is beyond the remit ofhigher education institutions to deal with this prob-lem, it does suggest that a crucial element in theemerging policy framework should be appropriateand relevant professional development opport-unities for teachers so that they remain within theschool sector.

4. Concluding remarks: from policy topractice

This paper reflects the complex and dynamicinterplay between the current teacher education


policy framework in South Africa and practices atthe provider level, with specific reference to theFDEM at UP. It compares and contrasts insti-tutional practices with the teacher education policyframework which has emerged in post-apartheidSouth Africa. A number of key themes have beenexamined with regard to the gap between policyintention and policy effect and outcome (Sayed andJansen, 2001). In concluding the paper, six keythemes are explored, reflecting on the difficultiesof translating teacher education policy into prac-tice.

First, the development of the teacher educationpolicy framework has centred on establishing aregulatory governance framework. As such, muchenergy and effort has been expended on developingthe relevant and appropriate statutory structuresand committees such as SAQA and CHE. This isan important first step in creating a regulatoryframework within which priorities can be determ-ined and quality assurance achieved. Part of thisprocess, as Parker (2001) notes, involved consider-ation about the role and locations of the collegesof education.

The status of the colleges of education has hada chequered policy history since most reports, asParker (2001) notes, avoided making clear anddecisive choices, with the main decision only beingmade by ‘policy default’ in 1999/2000. What hasemerged from this process is the effective phasingout of colleges of education due to their incorpor-ation into the university sector and, consequently,universities becoming the main providers of bothinitial primary and secondary teacher education. Asnoted above, this reflects a direct reversal of about90 years of apartheid teacher education policy.This shift has been motivated not only on groundsof comparative cost between universities and col-leges of education, but also signals a belief thatwhat is required in teacher education in SouthAfrica is a strong focus on ‘subject/learning areacontent knowledge’ and a research culture whichuniversities rather than colleges are seen to pro-vide. It can also be construed as an attempt to injectinto the university sector a longer-term commit-ment to teacher provision, rather than the conven-tional one-year diploma. Samuel’s analysis ofUDW (this volume) reflects on the process of a

higher education institution responding to this pol-icy shift by developing its BAGET (Bachelor ofEducation and Training) course, which is a 4-yearintegrated teacher education programme.

Second, the focus on a regulatory governanceframework has not directly considered what thekey priorities and needs are. These are now begin-ning to emerge, but reactions to the FDEM pro-gramme at UP can only be considered in relationto needs. As such, institutional responses have pre-dated and been quicker to pick up on key issuesthan emerging policy, which has been reactive andin a default mode.

Third, the curriculum of teacher education hasreceived very limited attention in the post-apart-heid educational policy framework. The discussionhas been largely at the macro level, focusing onissues such as expectations of an ideal educator orthe types of programmes that should be recognised.Where curriculum issues have been addressed,these have been in response to the curriculumchanges in schooling. As such, the specific contentand pedagogies of initial and continuing teachereducation have not been sufficiently discussed andproblematised (Stuart and Tatto, 2000).

Fourth, the key critique of the emerging policyframework has centred on the extent to which itprovides a viable and sound change managementstrategy. Using Johnson and Scholes’ (1993)notion of strategic management, it can be arguedthat the policy framework in South Africa hasprivileged strategic analysis and, more recently,strategy choice, and consequently not fore-grounded questions of strategy implementation. Atthe same time, what is absent in debates about theemerging teacher education policy framework is arobust critique of the underlying conceptual andphilosophical frameworks. The relevance of a con-structivist and outcomes-based epistemologyneeds, as Christie and Jansen (1998) note, to besubject to rigorous scrutiny.

Fifth, the analysis of the FDEM programmeraises questions about the process of quality assur-ance and accreditation in South African highereducation. The recognition of the FDEM pro-gramme preceded the establishment of qualityassurance and accreditation structures and pro-cesses. Yet there is an important question about the


extent to which structures such as SAQA andHEQC are able to accredit effectively all pro-grammes, given their capacity and other con-straints. A moratorium in enrolment on all distanceeducation programmes, such as the FDEM, pro-vides a short-term response to a longer-termdilemma about whether the established qualityassurance statutory structures are able effectively,efficiently, and speedily, to determine the qualityof programmes.

Finally, the analysis suggests that another keypolicy concern is the growth of the private edu-cation sector. Emerging analyses (Sayed andJansen, 2001) note that this sector is rapidly grow-ing in South Africa and that there is a need foradditional research. The growth of this sector raisesimportant questions about the system of govern-ance and quality assurance in higher educationmore generally. As indicated earlier, the increasedenrolment in teacher education programmes inSouth Africa has largely been in programmesoffered by public universities in partnership withprivate sector education companies. Approxi-mately 37% of teacher education students at thebeginning of 2000 were enrolled in programmesoffered in public–private distance education part-nerships, with about 100 private providers involvedin teacher education (Parker, 2001, p. 4). Theseinclude UP with NPC, University of Port Elizabethwith Azaliah and University of Natal at Durbanwith the South African College of Teacher Edu-cation. An issue highlighted in this article is theextent to which this growth reflects national pri-orities and needs in teacher education. While thereare serious questions about whether, for example,South Africa needs about 25,000 ‘managers’ , thereis no clear policy framework which indicates whatthe needs actually are. This is a crucial policy plan-ning issue, partly addressed by the publication ofthe new higher education plan, though that planstill tends to ignore the specificity of teacher edu-cation.

More importantly, the increased enrolment in‘distance education’ programmes in public–privatepartnerships raises doubts about quality. There isa pressing need for more rigorous efforts at moni-toring the quality of such programmes. This is tiedto the rolling out of the new quality framework,

for which the HEQC of the CHE is responsible.The paper highlights the need for a systematic andclear governance framework for regulating theoperation of private education providers. In theinterregnum following the elections of 1994, it isclear that many private sector education providershave emerged, capitalising on the policy gap inlegislation.

This paper has provided an analysis of teachereducation provision in post-apartheid South Africawith a specific focus on the FDEM, which is a part-nership programme between a public provider anda private education concern. It is evident that bothparties have benefited from such an arrangement,though the moratorium on enrolment raises doubtabout the future of the programme. In charting theresponse of the UP to the changing teacher edu-cation policy framework, this paper has highlightedhow institutions have strategically responded tochange in a context of transition. It has also drawnattention to the disjuncture between policy inten-tion and outcome. Part of the reason for this, thepaper suggests, is the focus on ‘governance’ and‘ regulation’ issues, which has not sufficiently con-sidered how policies should be implemented andsteered at the provider level (Sayed and Jansen,2001).

Acknowledgements

The case study of the FDEM at UP was carriedout in collaboration with Brigitte Smit and JanHeysteck. John Hedges assisted with the analysisof the curriculum texts used in the FDEM pro-gramme and this report draws on his work.

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Documents

Changing forms of teacher education in South Africa: a case study of policy change