A Study On Policies Of Teacher Education In Post-apartheid South Africa

Teacher education and professional development has been regarded as the core proposition for countries allover the world to promote the reform of education and improve the quality of education. Since the abolition of the apartheid system in1994, the central task of the education policy enacted by the South African government has been committed to the elimination of the apartheid era legacy which means gap and inequality in various field of the society, including teacher’s education. In terms of teacher education, the South African government focus on the improvement of policy system,and puts forward a blueprint which pursue the centralized, equality, innovation and high quality of teacher education and development.This paper contains four parts:1)analysis of the policy context of teacher education in post-apartheid South Africa,including politics, culture and education itself;2)study on the policy content of teacher education,including the norm and standard for educators,initial professional education of teachers, continuing professional teacher development,and new national strategy planning framework for teacher education and development in South Africa;3)analysis of the policy effect;4)concise out policy experience in teacher education through the comparison of China and South Africa.The teacher education policy in post-apartheid South Africa has been affected by5factors,including the abolition of the apartheid policy, the protection and inheritance of ethnic and linguistic diversity in South Africa, the important role education plays in the process of social reconstruction, the whole nation’ pursuance of education equality,and the integration strategy of educational system taken by the new government of ANC.Since abolition of the apartheid system,South Africa has made many policies related to teacher education.The Norms and Standards for Educators put forward7roles of teacher and132competence standards for teaching,which has become the guidance of teacher education in South Africa.The National Policy Framework for Teacher Education and Development in South Africa make provisions to the principles of teacher education,the system of initial professional education of teacher, the system of continuing professional teacher development,and the design of support system for teacher education. The Integrated Strategic Planning Framework for Teacher Education and Development in South Africa2011-2025,April2011, set4outputs and15activities to be led by the Department of Basic Education, the provincial education departments,and the Department of Higher Education and Training. For enabling the implementation of the Plan,a coordinated national system for teacher education and development will be established,and adequate time must be made available for teacher development activities and funding mechanisms must be strengthened and rendered more effective. Through the implementation of these policies,South Africa has established an integrated teacher education system,which promote the overall improvement of education quality. But, due to the idealism of the policy, it has failed to solve the problem of teacher shortage, and the quality of the black teachers remains to be promoted.From the teacher education policy and its implementation in post-apartheid South Africa,we can get some beneficial experience,which includes the establishment of the system for initial professional education of teacher, the construction of the system for continuing professional teacher development, the evaluation of teacher professional development, the promotion of teacher professional standards, the development of teacher education program, and the quality assurance of teacher education.