Teacher Development and Change in South Africa: A critique of the appropriateness of transfer of northern/western practice

Abstract

This paper discusses the differential distribution of opportunities for professional development of science teachers in post-apartheid South Africa. It is argued that northern/western ideas about teacher change and development are poorly suited to modelling practices and challenges for those who were historically disadvantaged. The environment in which teachers work-physical, social and political-act to select a more limited repertoire of behaviour than those providing in-service might imagine. The paper proposes that evolutionary ideas on teacher change and development offer a more effective model of the constraints under which teachers work. These ideas have general application to educational systems in sub-Sahara n Africa. The implications for policy are a need to research current practices more thoroughly and to facilitate change through modest steps.

Factors Influencing the Transformation of New Teaching Approaches from a Programme of Professional Development to the Classroom

“…The second factor was the level of support from the school and how the teacher was able to interact with colleagues and make changes in the 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 Rather than adopting a new curriculum or pedagogic strategy, teachers often adapt the strategy in response to an interaction between the new curriculum or pedagogic strategy and the situation in which they work (Scholtz, Watson and Amosun, 2004). An evolutionary perspective helps to interpret why teachers responded in different ways to a curriculum innovation designed to change their pedagogic practice (Johnson, Monk & Hodges, 2000;Monk, Johnson, Swain, 1998). Such a perspective assumes that the range of pedagogic strategies that teachers use in their classrooms is selectively retained because they survive in particular classroom conditions:…”

Coming to knowabout teaching, its development and researcher practice through collaborative action research with adult education teachers in Sudan

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