Chapter 1 - Teacher Education in South Africa: Transformation from Apartheid to Democratic Intentions

Abstract

In this chapter, we examine the notion of teacher education in South Africa, exploring its roots in the highly contentious and divisive era of Apartheid and the changes that have taken place since the attainment of democracy in 1994. We argue that teacher education is central to the training and education of good teachers, who are the key custodians of quality education. We further suggest that the transformational ambitions of the post-democratic government have only been achieved to a limited extent in teacher education. Much of the transformation has been symbolic, in terms of new policy formulations aimed at expanding the access of previously disadvantaged groups of university aspirants to teacher education programs.