Bachelor of Education in Senior Phase and Further Education and Training Phase Teaching

Purpose:

The Bachelor of Education in Senior Phase and Further Education and Training Phase (B Ed SP and FET) qualification aims to develop graduates as competent, professional teachers, able and committed to the enhancement of education in diverse schools in South Africa and beyond. The qualification aims to provide teachers with the required knowledge, understanding and skills to enhance teaching and learning in three school subjects (two FET and one SP subject). The Exit Level Outcomes and the Associated Assessment Criteria are designed to enhance the teacher competencies provided by the Department of Higher Education and Training in the revised MRTEQ (2015).

The B Ed SP and FET Teaching qualification has the primary purpose of providing well-rounded teacher education that equips graduates with the required subject content knowledge base; educational theory; and methodology that will enable them to demonstrate competence and responsibility as academic and professionally qualified school teachers. The aim of the qualification is to equip teachers with the knowledge, skills and values needed to effectively mediate learning in schools in the Senior Phase and Further Education and Training, specialising in specific secondary school subjects.

Rationale:

The current challenges in education in South Africa are well documented, as is the poor performance of learners in critical learning areas. The legacy of apartheid education and history still prevails in schools, and this affects educational contexts and the people who participate in it. It is thus of paramount importance to ensure that future teachers are enabled with the requisite skills, knowledge, values and attitudes to attend fully to the needs of learners, and the overall goals of education, including to help build a better, socially just society in which its citizens can live a decent life. South Africa needs teachers who are responsible, accountable and highly motivated to teach their subjects - teachers who are empowered to not only apply theory to and in practice, but to critically reflect on the suitability and appropriateness of specific approaches, strategies and techniques within diverse learning contexts - teachers who can educate the 21st Century Learner.

The outcome of National Reviews of Teacher Education qualifications highlighted that there is a need for the re-design of all the Bachelor of Education qualifications. The various recommendations from those reviews and this report have informed the new 'Minimum Requirements for Teacher Education Qualifications' (MRTEQ) Policy (2011). These policy recommendations have been taken into account in the re-curriculation of the Bachelor of Education in Senior Phase and Further Education and Training Phase Teaching [B Ed SP & FET] qualification. The curriculated B Ed SP and FET Teaching qualification will replace the current B Ed FET on the PQM and will aim to address the increasing need for properly qualified SP and FET Phase teachers. The B Ed FET will include additional FET specialisations (languages and social sciences) currently not offered. Whereas the current qualification is restricted to the FET phase, the new qualification (B Ed SP and FET) will be more comprehensive as it will also include Senior Phase subject specialisations. This should also attract more students.

The primary employer of teachers, the Department of Basic Education, emphasises in their publication, Action Plan to 2014: Towards the Realisation of Schooling 2025 (Department of Basic Education, 2011), the need for new teachers to be nurtured at university level, to enable well qualified young teachers to enter into teaching in the school sector. As such, the B Ed SP and FET teaching qualification will play an important role to realize this imperative.