Teacher-training institutions are having to go the extra mile to attract young school leavers to the profession, and to entice practising teachers to update and develop their skills.
And with the fast-changing sector they serve, it has also become imperative for them to ensure that student-teachers are given appropriate and flexible training that is adaptive and relevant to the educational objectives of the country.
A multi-pronged approach is a solution found by one Durban-based higher education provider, Train-a-Child.
One specialised area that Train-a-Child focuses on is special needs education. ‘In line with the government’s move towards inclusive education, where special needs children are incorporated into ordinary schools, we need more teachers who are able to work with these children. There is also a need for teacher assistants who are on hand to assist teachers,” says Dan Wessels, director of Train-a-Child.
The college incorporates the Embury Training and Education Centre, which offers a variety of teaching-related courses, and Embury College private school. Wessels says that the combination of the three institutions works particularly well as their foundation phase student-teachers get hands-on practical training at Embury College, which caters for infants to Grade 7 learners.
‘The practical training is very in-depth and there is a strong emphasis on early childhood development, which is particularly vital for this country’s needs,” says Wessels.
Wessels believes they’ve struck a good balance between theoretical and practical training. Because they are a smaller outfit than state universities, Wessels also believes students benefit from a greater level of personal attention and interaction with lecturers.
Train-a-Child has been in operation since 1996 and offers a full-time two-year foundation course. With this qualification, students qualify as assistant teachers. Those who opt to study further can do the four-year B Ed degree course, which is linked to the University of Port Elizabeth (UPE).
‘This kind of collaboration with UPE means better quality assurance and monitoring of the courses, and also better credibility for our college,” says Wessels.
First-year students at present pay R12 000 per year for the foundation course and it costs R13 500 for a B Ed degree . The certificate courses cost R3 000 each.
Wessels believes, ‘The negative perception of the education profession is slowly being broken down and young people entering the field are seeing positive changes being made to revive the profession, even though we do sit with a dire shortage of teachers [in the country].”
But, he adds, there needs to be far more quality teacher-training institutions in the area than the handful there are at present to aid the revival.