The aim of initial teacher training in South Africa is to achieve a community of competent teachers dedicated to providing education of high quality, with high levels of performance as well as ethical and professional standards of conduct. 18
In 1995, following the first full democratic elections in South Africa, the Ministry of Education commissioned the first ‘National Teacher Education Audit’. The audit report highlighted the fragmented provision of teacher education, a mismatch between teacher supply and demand, and high numbers of unqualified and/or under qualified teachers. Notwithstanding an improved qualification profile of the teaching workforce, most reports on South African education indicate that the majority of teachers have not yet been sufficiently equipped to meet the education needs of a growing democracy in the 21st Century global environment. The President’s ‘Education Initiative’ research project of 1999 concluded that the most critical challenge for teacher training in South Africa was the limited conceptual knowledge of many teachers. 18
Despite having one of the most developed economies in Africa, South Africa also has huge social inequality. Some of the most profound and enduring effects of apartheid inequalities are found in education, including poor infrastructure and structures for poor people, a lack of proper amenities, and inadequate training for teachers. Schools have a role in responding to such inequality by helping prepare each succeeding generation with the appropriate knowledge, skills and values to not only enable them to understand such challenges and to begin to overcome them, but to also enable them to fulfil their potential and aspirations. Teacher training, including continuing professional development, has the vital role of equipping teachers to undertake such tasks. Rural schools are facing specific challenges; a distinct shortage of qualified and competent teachers, problems of teaching multi-grade and large classes, under-resourced school facilities and limited access to professional development programmes for teachers. 18
It is intended that a new policy framework for teacher education will respond to some of the issues arising from the observations/research above, not only with regard to rural schools, but also in terms of the entire system.18
Initial teacher training in South Africa should be seen against the background of the following quote, taken from the document setting out the framework for teacher training, states that 'Most currently serving teachers received their professional education and entered teaching when education was an integral part of the apartheid project and organised in racially and ethnically divided sub-systems. The current generation of teachers is the first to experience the new non-racial, democratic transformation of the education system.' 31 18