Question NW3665 to the Minister of Basic Education
27 November 2023 - NW3665
Nodada, Mr BB to ask the Minister of Basic Education
Whether, with reference to the more than 1 500 unqualified and under-qualified educators who taught in public schools in 2022, and the low levels of reading and abstract problem-solving skills of many of the under-qualified educators who were tested at a Grade 6 level, her department has held any engagements with the Department of Higher Education, Science and Innovation to improve the quality of training programmes for educators; if not, why not; if so, what are the relevant details?
Reply:
1. The Department of Basic Education (DBE) has various forums through which they can engage with institutions of Higher Learning to discuss various issues pertaining to teacher quality, support and development.
Firstly, the DBE attends meetings of the Education Deans Forum regularly, where various issues are discussed. Secondly, the DBE in collaboration with the Department of Higher Education and Training (DHET) convenes Provincial Teacher Education and Development Committees (PTEDC) every quarter in each province. These meetings provide opportunities for Provinces to engage with Institutions in that province and discuss matters that relate to the province. Thirdly, there are also ad-hoc meetings held with Public and Private Higher Education Institutions (HEIs), the Civil Society Supporting Teacher Preparation, South Africa Council of Teachers, the purpose being to communicate the challenges affecting learning outcomes, the strategies that DBE intends to improve the Learning outcomes and how the stakeholders and partners could support the DBE in improving the learning outcomes.
2. DBE also meets quarterly through the HEDCOM sub-committee on Human Resource Planning, where institutions of higher education might be invited to discuss or share information or research about issues of supply and demand of teachers.