College of Education. Learn without limits. college of education

college of education

Learn without limits.

The College of Education (CEDU) supports Unisa’s quest for excellence in teaching, research and innovation. The CEDU team is committed to increasing the university’s reach, influence and research output in the field of teaching and learning. CEDU had 67 907 students enrolled in 2013. This large footprint means that the college is responsible for the professional education and training of close to half of all the teachers in South Africa. CEDU’s research across the many facets of education is by its very nature futuristic in that it directly impacts on the future of millions of children in our country’s schools. There is a deliberate emphasis on Mathematics Education, Science and Technology Education, Early Childhood Education, Language Education, Arts and Culture, Inclusive Education and Adult Basic Education and Youth Development. Plans are underway to establish a Centre

There are large shortages of qualified teachers in certain areas including Foundation and Intermediate phase; Mathematics; Science and Technology Education; Early Childhood Education African Languages and Inclusive Education and prospective students should consider specialising in these critical areas.

The college is structured into two schools: the School of Educational Studies and the School of Teacher Education. The Centre

for Continuous Professional Teacher and Community Education and Training,

Office of Graduate studies and the Teaching Practice

unit also forms part of the college. of Excellence in Disability Studies with funding from the

Department of Higher Education and Training. This is a first for the country.

Aligned with Unisa’s institutional goals and the Department of Higher Education’s imperatives, CEDU provides both initial professional education of teachers and continuous professional teacher development.

Strategic focus

CEDU offers a wide range of different qualifications across the different school phases (including early childhood development (ECD), Grade R, foundation, intermediate and senior phases) as can be seen in the diagram below:

Introduction

Strategic

focus

College of Education

Bachelor of Education

Any relevant

undergraduate

degree or diploma

Honours Bachelor

of Education

3-year Diploma

in Education

Advanced Certificate

in Education

Postgraduate Certificate

in Education

Master of Education

(Research/coursework)

Doctor of

Education

Innovation in teaching

To prepare current and future teachers to address the emerging dynamics of teaching in the 21st century, Unisa is offering an online signature module equipping teachers with the ability to use information and communication technologies in the classroom.

In CEDU this module, “Being a professional teacher”, is designed for students registering for the first time for an undergraduate degree in education. After registration, students receive a digi-band (a device loaded with learning materials), enabling them to work both offline and online on their personal computers. For assessment purposes, students participate in discussion forums and through written assignments. The assignments are marked online and marks are regularly fed into the grade-book in the student system. This is CEDU’s attempt to change the quality and professionalism of the new teacher.

Currently CEDU is involved in 26 community engagement projects based on research-related. The first grouping comprises of projects related to school management, governance and leadership, and the next group of projects is related to gateway subjects and teacher development. These will feed into the development of the teacher centres, another CEDU project jointly embarked on with the Department of Basic Education (DBE). The third cluster of projects is related to Inclusive Education for which a new Centre of Excellence will be established at Unisa. The fourth group includes projects related to Early Childhood Development.

At the centre of the four groups or quadrants is the 500 Schools project which covers all these aspects. By means of the 500 Schools project research information is gathered which will inform the development of better practices in the schools and how teachers are trained in schools and in teacher centres. The research is done together with the teachers who co-construct the knowledge about their situation and together they find ways of improving teaching and learning in the classrooms.

Educational research focusing on schools

More information on some of the community

engagement projects:

• The 500 Schools research project investigates the underlying

causes of under-performance in grades three and six with a view to developing an intervention approach.

• The Dynamics of Violence in Schools Project, has been

embarked on jointly by universities in the United Kingdom, Brazil, Pakistan and South Africa. The aim of the project is to facilitate international comparison of school violence through the generation of school-based indicators of violence and of security measures.

• The Vhembe Schools Project focuses on increasing learner

performance in National Senior Certificate Examinations. • The Early Childhood Development (ECD) Outreach

Intervention is aimed at developing ECD teachers who are

able to teach through the medium of the African Languages. The project will provide support for ECD teachers specifically in rural areas.

• The Growing ECD Teachers in Rural Areas project

is aimed at attracting and recruiting 100 young black females to register for a four-year Bachelor of Education degree in Foundation Education. The recruitment process will target learners in rural schools. • Ilima Lemfundo seeks to improve the teaching

of indigenous languages in poorly performing schools.

• The Science Outreach in KwaZulu-Natal

project aims to empower science teachers in rural areas through face-to-face contact sessions.

• An investigation into the teaching of science and mathematics to students in schools for the blind intends

to involve mathematics and science education for visually impaired learners.

• The Analyses of Mathematics Teacher Professional Development Programmes is a cross-continental

collaborative study will analyse teacher professional development programmes with a view to improving the quality of maths teachers.

• A community project focused on the training of facilitators for persons living with hearing loss, which

is aimed at developing a short learning programme in cooperation with the National Institute for the Deaf.

The CEDU community engagement map

School management,

governance and leadership

Gateway subjects and

teacher development

School management, governance and leadership Adopt a school project

Preventing violence in schools

Professional learning in school management

Maths teacher professional development Developing mathematics proficient teachers Strategies to improve learner performance Strengthening the teaching of indigenous languages Mathematics teaching and learning intervention Science outreach in KwaZulu-Natal South African-Zimbabwe Mathematics Strengthening the implementation of CAPS Teacher education in sub Saharan Africa (TESSA)

Early Childhood

Development

Support for African, Indian and Coloured Foundation Phase teachers Academic Skills for ECD practitioners Growing ECD in rural areas

Inclusive education

DHET infrastructure project for inclusive education Developing Maths and Science teachers for the blind Enhancing the impact of the Kha ri Gude programme Tateni: Breaking the Cycle of Poverty

HIV/AIDS project: Grandmothers raising children Special schools and prison schools

Training facilitators for persons with hearing loss

Te

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entr

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Pr

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t

500

schools

Our academics

contribute and write

books on a variety

of education themes

Facts and figures

Male 14210

|

Female 53697

Enrolments by gender

Enrolments by age group

Enrolments by level of study

Support for

master’s

and doctoral

students

The Office of Graduate studies arranges support workshops for all master’s and doctoral students registered at the college. These workshops cover a wide range of topics such as procedures, academic writing and library training, research proposal structure and problem statements, theoretical and conceptual frameworks, literature review and research methodology.

NRF-rated

academics

The college has eight academics who have been rated by the National Research Foundation (NRF). Their specialisations cover a wide range of subjects including parent involvement, female leadership, multicultural education, early childhood education, development of principals as well as general leadership and management, policy in education with special focus on issues of good governance, democratic citizenship education, democracy and social justice, economics education, cooperative learning, indigenous knowledge systems, economic justice and sustainable rural ecologies.

1-19 721 20-29 28 917 30-39 20 752 40-49 13 998 3 339 171 ₉ 50-59 60-69 70+ Postgraduate Undergraduate 51 721 8 093

Honours Master’s Doctorate

Manager: Tution and Learner

Support

Prof LJ van Niekerk

Head: Teaching Practice Unit

Prof MW Maila

Manager: Office of Graduate

Studies and Research

Prof MM Nieman

Manager: Centre for

Continuous Professional

Teacher and Community

Education and Training

Dr SJ Mohapi

Executive Dean

Prof KP Dzvimbo

Prof KP Quan-Baffour

Chair: Department of Adult

Basic Education

Dr MG Ngoepe

Chair: Department of

Mathematics Education

Prof J Seroto

Chair: Department of

Educational Foundations

Prof N Nkopodi

Chair: Department of Science

and Technology Education

Dr N Naidu

Chair: Department of

Psychology of Education

Prof PM Sebate

Chair: Language Education,

Arts and Culture

Prof NT Phasha

Chair: Department of Inclusive

Education

Prof G van den Berg

Chair: Department of

Curriculum and Instructional

Studies

Prof VS Mncube

Chair: Department of

Educational Leadership and

Management

Prof EM Lenyai

Chair: Department of Early

Childhood Education

Deputy Executive Dean

Prof VI McKay

Director: School of Teacher

Education

Prof PL Mabunda

Director: School of

Educational Studies

Prof LDM Lebeloane

College of Education

Message from the Executive Dean:

Prof Kuzvinetsa P. Dzvimbo

Re-imagining teacher

education at UNISA

As we re-imagine the teaching and learning of education as a discipline, the College of Education is proud to play a pivotal role in assisting the Department of Basic Education in the education and training of qualified and professional teachers from the Foundation to the Further Education and Training levels in this country.

We are committed to playing a critical role in improving the quality of teaching and learning in our schools and classrooms particularly in the fields of mathematics, science and technology education; early childhood education, inclusive education; and language education arts and culture. We are also determined to be engaged in trans-disciplinary research, academic citizenship and community engagement activities that help us to gain deeper insights into curriculum reform and critical pedagogy; student learning; innovative assessment practices; teacher learning and how to make our schools more effective and productive.

We will continue to be engaged in reflexive research that will enable us to improve our blended mode of teaching and learner support so that our teachers graduate with the requisite knowledge base and a philosophical orientation that will enable them to be reflective practitioners committed to the education of our children in South Africa and the continent.

As a new college, the CEDU is also committed to the development of research knowledge in education. As such, our academics are engaged in both basic and applied research to enhance our disciplines and practice in schools. Ours is a continuous quest for excellence and relevance in the South African and continental landscape. In our South African context, we are committed to work with all stakeholders

in order to achieve the key features of the schooling system as stipulated in the National Development Plan, which envisage that by 2030 we should have:

• A schooling system characterized by highly motivated learners and teachers

• Effective managers who provide administrative and curriculum leadership

• Parents involvement and support of the schooling system • Committed and professional teachers who are conversant

with the knowledge base of the subjects they teach • High speed broadband is available to support learning • Availability of basic infrastructure for all schools

Contact us

Telephone number of the student advice centre: 012 429 2645 Email: edu-enquiries@unisa.ac.za

Website: www.unisa.ac.za Mobi site: http://mobi.unisa.ac.za