Question NW2736 to the Minister of Higher Education, Science and Innovation
25 November 2020 - NW2736
Tarabella - Marchesi, Ms NI to ask the Minister of Higher Education, Science and Innovation
What number of educators with qualifications in African mother tongue languages graduated for the foundation phase in (a) 2013, (b) 2014, (c) 2015, (d) 2016, (e) 2017, (f) 2018, (g) 2019 and (h) 2020?
Reply:
Since 2011, the Department has had a dedicated focus on strengthening Foundation Phase teacher education in the public university system, particularly on developing capacity for the preparation of African mother tongue language teachers.
The Strengthening Foundation Phase Teacher Education Programme involved an investment of R141 million and was implemented between 2012 and 2016.
From 2017 onwards, the Department has been implementing the Primary Teacher Education Project. An investment of R32.984 million has been made focusing on strengthening the numeracy and literacy component of Foundation and Intermediate Phase teacher education programmes. This includes the use of African languages as the language of learning and teaching, and on the teaching of the African languages.
This has led to a significant expansion in the number universities that offer Foundation Phase Teacher Education programmes from 13in 2011 to 22 currently, as shown in the table below.
|
NO. |
INSTITUTION |
NAME OF QUALIFICATION |
AFRICAN LANGUAGES OFFERED |
|
1 |
Cape Peninsula University of Technology |
B ED (FP) TEACHING |
isiXhosa H/L |
|
2 |
Central University of Technology |
B ED (FP) TEACHING |
Sesotho / Setswana / isiXhosa / IsiZulu |
|
3 |
Nelson Mandela University |
B ED (FP) TEACHING |
isiXhosa H/L |
|
4 |
North West University |
B ED (FP) TEACHING |
isiXhosa H/L |
|
5 |
Rhodes University
|
B ED (FP) TEACHING |
isiXhosa H/L |
|
PGCE (FP) TEACHING |
isiXhosa H/L |
||
|
6 |
Sol Plaatje University |
B ED (FP) TEACHING |
Setswana / isiXhosa H/L |
|
7 |
Stellenbosch University |
B ED (FP) TEACHING |
isiXhosa H/L |
|
8 |
Tshwane University of Technology |
B ED (FP) TEACHING |
isiZulu / Sepedi / Setswana / Xitsonga / Tshivenda |
|
9 |
University of Cape Town |
PGCE (FP) TEACHING |
isiXhosa H/L |
|
10 |
University of Fort Hare
|
B ED (FP) TEACHING |
isiXhosa H/L |
|
PGCE (FP) TEACHING |
isiXhosa H/L |
||
|
11 |
University of the Free State |
B ED (FP) TEACHING |
isiZulu / Sesotho H/L |
|
12 |
University of Johannesburg |
B ED (FP) TEACHING |
isiZulu / Sesotho H/L |
|
13 |
University of KwaZulu-Natal |
B ED (FP) TEACHING |
isiZulu H/L |
|
14 |
University of Limpopo |
B ED (FP) TEACHING |
Sepedi / Xitsonga H/L |
|
15 |
University of Mpumalanga |
B ED (FP) TEACHING |
isNdebele / isiSwati |
|
16 |
University of Pretoria |
B ED (FP) TEACHING |
isiNdebele / isiZulu / Sepedi / Setswana |
|
|
PGCE (FP) TEACHING |
isiNdebele / isiZulu / Sepedi / Setswana |
|
|
17 |
University of South Africa
|
B ED (FP) TEACHING |
isiNdebele / isiZulu / Sepedi / isiXhosa / Sesotho / Setswana / siSwati / Tshivenda / Xitsonga |
|
PGCE (FP) TEACHING |
isiNdebele / isiZulu / Sepedi / isiXhosa / Sesotho / Setswana / siSwati / Tshivenda / Xitsonga |
||
|
18 |
University of Venda |
B ED (FP) TEACHING |
Tshivenda / Siswati / isiNdebele / xiTsonga / Sepedi |
|
19 |
University of Zululand |
B ED (FP) TEACHING |
isiZulu |
|
20 |
University of the Western Cape |
B ED (FP) TEACHING |
isiXhosa H/L |
|
21 |
University of the Witwatersrand |
B ED (FP) TEACHING |
isiZulu / Sesotho H/L |
|
22 |
Walter Sisulu University |
B ED (FP) TEACHING |
isiXhosa H/L |
Many of these programmes are new, recently accredited by the Council on Higher Education and it is anticipated that the number of graduates produced through them will increase over time.
The Department does not collect HEMIS data at the level requested. However, in order to track graduate output, the Department requests universities to annually submit information about their initial teacher education graduates on a standard template. The following data has been extracted and consolidated from individual reports that universities submitted from 2014 to 2018. Information for 2019 is currently being collected.
The Table shows the number of graduates from Bachelor of Education and Postgraduate Certificate in Education programmes that have specialised in Foundation Phase teaching and that have an African language as home language / mother tongue[1].
|
Year |
isiNdebele |
isiXhosa |
isiZulu |
Sesotho |
Sepedi |
Setswana |
Tshivenḓa |
Xitsonga |
siSwati |
Total |
|
2014 |
11 |
192 |
514 |
142 |
30 |
46 |
75 |
25 |
0 |
1 035 |
|
2015 |
20 |
75 |
660 |
41 |
98 |
26 |
82 |
49 |
0 |
1 051 |
|
2016 |
4 |
122 |
263 |
64 |
29 |
55 |
101 |
40 |
0 |
6781 |
|
2017 |
45 |
155 |
859 |
111 |
41 |
99 |
111 |
71 |
90 |
1 5822 |
|
2018 |
32 |
214 |
421 |
355 |
42 |
241 |
123 |
62 |
73 |
1 563 |
|
Total |
112 |
758 |
2 717 |
713 |
240 |
467 |
492 |
247 |
163 |
5 909 |
1 In 2016, UNISA data was not received. The institution contributes a large portion of the total Foundation Phase graduates in African languages.
2 In 2017 TUT indicated that there were 44 African Foundation Phase graduates, but a language breakdown was not provided, hence not included in the 2017 total.
It is assumed that graduates that have an African Language, as their mother tongue would have developed this as a teaching specialisation, in order to meet the language requirements of the Policy on Minimum Requirements for Teacher Education Qualifications. The specialisation would be at home language level or at first additional language level. ↑