Sector: Education and Education Reform
Region: Sub-Saharan Africa
Funded by:
Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA)
Total Value: Canadian contribution: C$8 million
Partners and Counterparts:
In Canada: Agriteam managed this project on behalf of Alberta Education. Technical advisory support was provided by University of Calgary, University of Alberta and University of Lethbridge.
In South Africa: The national Teacher Development Directorate (TDD), Department of Education (DOE); three provincial departments of education, three school districts.
South Africa, specifically Pretoria, and the three provinces of Free State, Gauteng and Mpumalanga, Canada-South Africa Teacher Development Project (CSATDP): January 1999–January 2006
Purpose
To support the national Department of Education to coordinate in-service education and training (INSET) policies and procedures while strengthening the capacity of provincial departments of education in Free State, Gauteng, and Mpumalanga and specific districts within these provinces to plan, implement, manage and maintain high-quality INSET programming.
Challenge
The project operated during a period of rapid change in South Africa’s education system. Following the democratic elections of 1994, the South African government created a new and unified national education system. However, the 1994 Education Audit reported that 35% of the nation’s teaching force was un- or under-qualified. After the end of apartheid, many experienced teachers left the system rather than accept assignments in townships and other areas of great need. South African leaders recognized that if the new South Africa was to fulfill its promise of equal opportunity for all its citizens, the dedicated work of qualified teachers would be important.
This period was also characterized by a series of ambitious education policies focused on curriculum reform and increased accountability at the school level. Though many of the policies were progressive in their intent, they were often managed from the top down and implemented in an ad hoc manner. Consequently, policy implementation planning and in-services were not resulting in desired changes in educator practice.
It was in this context of transformation that CSATDP worked in support of South African educational leaders. Project implementation proceeded iteratively to respond to the ever-changing South African education context.
Approach
Within the post-apartheid context, it was imperative that Agriteam and Alberta’s Ministry of Education facilitate a genuine working partnership with the South African government. In the end, the Department of Education felt ownership and responsibility of the project. As well, with an understanding of effective education reform, we supported the DOE to manage teacher development from a systems perspective—by working at all levels of the system—with an emphasis on consultation, participation and collaboration.
Our focus was on building the capacity of organizations within the system—the TDD, provincial departments of education, school districts and schools themselves—to improve the system of teacher development. Based on Canadian approaches to reform, CSATDP promoted educators as professionals and lifelong learners. This two-pronged approach has led to changes that continue to be sustained long after the end of the project.
Project Description
The six-year project involved working closely with the national Teacher Development Directorate (TDD) and the provincial departments of education in Free State, Gauteng and Mpumalanga. At the national level, CSATDP supported the TDD by providing its staff with consultation, management, planning and communication skills. We also worked closely with the Ministerial Committee on Teacher Education to use a consultative process as they drafted the teacher development framework and the teacher development policy and implementation plan.
At the provincial level, CSATDP worked with DOE organizations to meet their capacity needs required to support teacher development at the district and school levels. Several models of teacher professional development were explored including using universities and consultants as service providers while training local DOE staff to provide important ongoing school-based follow up support.
Note: Design phase: 1999–2000; implementation phase: April 2000–February 2006
Results
- Developed, in collaboration with national DOE, the National Teacher Development Framework and a draft National Teacher Development Policy and Implementation Plan
- Improved the capacity of the national Teacher Development Directorate to carry out the challenging mandate of implementing teacher development initiatives nationally
- Developed, in collaboration with the provincial DOEs, teacher development policies in Gauteng and Mpumalanga
- Identified assets, gaps and capacity needs in two provincial education directorates
- Improved the capacity of three provincial DOEs to work collaboratively with key stakeholders at the district, school and community levels
- Improved the capacity of district curriculum support staff in Mpumlanga to develop and deliver teacher professional development programs on inclusive education
- Improved the capacity of 225 school-management teams to develop annual school management and development plans
- Improved the capacity of more than 1100 classroom teachers in math, science and technology
Canadian Project Manager
Sacha Innes
sinnes@agriteam.ca