[ Home ] [ Speeches & statements ]

MECs from the various provincial education departments,
Heads of provincial education departments,
Our international guests,
Ladies and gentlemen.

I wish to welcome you to this first policy conference ever on teacher education. Your presence here, representing the various organisations and groups, reflects the importance we have placed on 'Working Together'. The result of our efforts lies in our collective effort to make things work and the enthusiasm of all our people to the vision of Tirisano.

The greatest challenge for my department since 1994 has been to improve the quality of schooling in our public schools. Policies for teacher development lie at the heart of this challenge because teachers are the most critical influence on quality teaching and learning. An investment on teacher education will enable us to shape the rest of the education system. This investment is not peculiar only to our country but has been the most widely used strategy in most education reform initiatives in developing countries all over the world.

This conference is long overdue. I have no doubt that many of you have not forgotten the disturbing trends that the National Teacher Audit of 1995 revealed. In an effort to address the weaknesses of teacher education then, we have made significant inroads into and progress for teacher development in South Africa. Our impressive legislative framework for teacher development bears testimony to progress that has been made. Among some of our frameworks, we have norms and standards for educators, Education Labour Relations Council agreements that regulate educators' duties and responsibilities, appraisal systems for educators and a South African Council for Educators.

However, in the absence of a coherent teacher development policy, we still have a highly diverse, overloaded and fragmented system of teacher development. Some teacher development providers still use unsuitable approaches to teaching and learning when training teachers. Institutions offering teacher development programmes have disparities across sectors and some initiatives are inefficient and costly.

As a result of these challenges that we have inherited from the past, the need to develop a national teacher policy is clear and critical. The development of a national policy framework for teacher supply, utilisation and development, which coordinates, regulates and enthuses the contribution of all actors, is a necessary starting point. The goal should be of a high professional ethic and commitment to teaching in pursuit of effective human resource development. Such a framework must embody a fundamental shift from ad-hoc teacher development initiatives to a process of lifelong professional development.

This conference is also located within the need to respond to the challenges facing human resources development in the country. When the Government launched the South African Human Resources Development - HRD - strategy in April this year, it was our aim to ensure that we have a national strategy to develop skills that meet the needs of our economy and our democratic order; and that there is coordination between the supply and demand for skills; and that this is linked to the underpinning supply of compulsory schooling, early childhood development and adult basic education.

Improving the foundations for human development is one of the strategic objectives of this HRD strategy. Part of governments' commitment to this HRD strategy is to upgrade the effectiveness of the teaching force through teacher development. Bringing into this discussion how the current skills development framework can serve to enhance the quality of teacher education, will impact positively on the quality of teaching and learning.

This is not the only link this conference has with the South African HRD strategy. As part of reshaping Further and Higher Education institutions, it remains important that we continue to engage these institutions responsible for the supply of skills on:

* The link between the content of teacher education, and the transformative vision we have set for schools; and
* The relation between the skills we produce at foundation and school level with key skills requirements and shortages expressed by the economy as spoken to in the country HRD strategy. For example, how will higher education institutions, as providers of teacher education, respond to the demand for quality provision in maths and science at schools- as this is key to ensuring that we have an available supply of young people who can build their careers in the key skills shortage areas: science; engineering; technology; and Information Technology.

We know that developing the skills for a productive citizenry begins at foundation and school level. Our teachers need to be equipped for this, and equipped to respond to the changing skills demands of the economy, and the new requirements of society.

A conference of this nature must assist us in understanding how we need to position pre-service and in-service training to enable our teachers to take on this challenge.

Ladies and gentlemen, we want to emerge here with a coherent policy on teacher education; that we can use as a framework that can be immediately put into action. This can be a modest beginning, on which we can all build.

For the coming two days, we are hoping that your contributions will assist us in achieving the following outputs:

* Develop a sharper understanding and appreciation of the context and complexities of teacher development in South Africa;
* Provide an opportunity to reflect on past and current experiences of teacher development in South Africa and derive lessons for the future;
* Develop a greater understanding of the roles and responsibilities various stakeholders have in regard to teacher development in South Africa;
* Start to identify the key components and issues that need to be incorporated into a five year strategy on teacher education; and
* Define a conference position paper as a first step towards developing a policy framework on Teacher Education.

We are indebted to the British Council for sponsoring some of our international guests and speakers, and Coca-Cola Southern Africa for their sponsorship of a range of other elements of the conference including the participation of some of the key stakeholders groups represented here today.

A particular acknowledgement must be made to the following people:

* Our international colleagues who are here to share their expertise and experience on teacher education with us;
* Dame Patricia Collarbone from the Institute of Education at the University of London;
* Professor John Anderson formerly principal of the College of St. Mark and St. John, Plymouth England;
* Professor Yusuf Sayed from the Institute of Development Studies at the University of Sussex;
* Elizabeth Williamson from the Scottish Teacher Exchange Programme; and
* Dr Terry Carson from the University of Alberta, Canada.

And to all present, who have assisted us thus far, I thank you.

I look forward to a robust and engaged conference. South Africa deserves your contribution.

Issued by: Ministry of Education, 19 October 2001