2015/6/19

Teacher professional identity in South Africa:
effect on supply and demand for earlychildhood education in South Africa

Prof CG Hartell
Dr MG SteynIntroduction to South Africa

ProfessorCycil Hartell

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OBJECTIVES OF THIS STUDYSTRUCTURE• INTRODUCTION• OBJECTIVES• HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVES IN SOUTHAFRICA• THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK• EFFECT Of FACTORS ON TEACHERPROFESSIONAL IDENTITY AND
SUPPLY AND DEMAND• To explain the influence of educational history on ALearly childhood teachers’ professional identity• To explore which factors influence the ALT professional
identity in South Africa• To investigate the effect of the factors on teacher
professional identity and on supply and demand ofAfrican language teachers

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SOUTH AFRICAN DEMOGRAPHICS
POPULATION GROUPLANGUAGE GROUPSSTATISTICS

Black African

79.2%

Coloured

7.9%

Indian or Asian

3.5%

White (Caucasian)
Other

7.9%
1.5%

TOTAL

51,770,560

LANGUAGE

PERCENTAGE

Zulu

22.7

Xhosa

16.0

Afrikaans

13.5

English9.6

Historical perspective of education
in South Africa• Apartheid regime (1948-1994)• School segregation according to Apartheid
categories• Black learners were disadvantaged:• Per capita spending• Difference between Black and White schools.
• Characteristics of Black schools.

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The history of teacher training inSouth Africa•
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Teacher training evolved from the Apartheid system.
Racially teacher training system.
Deep racial and regional inequalities
Difference in qualification structure. 1979.
Educational opportunities for Blacks very limited.
120 Teacher colleges: poor training and low admission
requirements• “…most currently serving teachers received theirprofessional education……. part of Apartheid (DoE, 2006)• Purposeful disparities = low status to profession.

Challenge of post-Apartheid South Africa
is to reconstruct an education system inorder to create conditions for excellent
teaching and learning.

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PERIOD OF RATIONALIZATION AND
CONSOLIDATION

Current provision of teacher education• 1996 to 2000: the teacher colleges were incorporated
into 23 Universities• Only 13 of the 23 universities offer ECE initial teacher
education programmes resulting in a short supply ofBlack student teachers.
• High admission requirements of universities• High university costs• EU project.
• Bursaries• Only 25 colleges were identified for incorporation• Colleges became schools and technikons• Poor infrastructure

METHODOLOGY

Educational reform in South Africa• To provide a system of education that builds democracy,dignity, equality and social justice• To broaden participation in HE so as to reduce the highly
stratified race and class structure of the country• Data was generated from different sources fortriangulation
Researched literature
Theoretical approach
Interviews
Document analysis
Observations• Reforms failed in SA236

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DEFINING TEACHER IDENTITY• Ballantyne, Kerchner and Aróstegui (2013:212): something thatis not fixed, it is established through experience and theinterpretation of that experience.

TEACHER PROFESSIONALIDENTITY IN SOUTH AFRICA• The way that teachers, both individually and collectively, view
and understand themselves as teachers in teaching a given
subject (Mockler, 2011).
• Trent (2011:529) a “process of becoming”.
• Brock (2012:28)“…a complex changing phenomenon located in
specific socio-cultural and historical situations.”

THE IDENTITY OF THE TEACHER (cont)• Hansen (2001:1): the social identity of the teacher is formedon the basis of the broader community’s view of theprofession.
• Kamper and Steyn (2013): opinions that people have aboutteachers and the profession, have implications for theprofessional identity of the teacher.
• Indicative of how politicians and policy-makers assessteachers.

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THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK

Model of Mockler (2011) distinguishes between three
dimensions of professional identity:
A Personal experience
B Professional context
C External political environment.

External PoliticalEnvironment

Enhancement selfknowledge &capacity forreflection

Greater politicalEngagement(internal & externaltothe profession)‘Being” ateacher
Personal Experience
Professional
Learning

Professional Context

Changes to practiseBA

PERSONAL EXPERIENCE• Involve class, race and gender.
• Teachers’ own experiences of school (and as learnersthemselves).
• History of education in South Africa.
• Own experience of being a teacher• Teacher qualifications (SAIDE, 2007:11).
ALL CONTRIBUTE TO THE LOW MORALE, IDENTITY AND
STATUS OF ALTPROFESSIONAL CONTEXT• Aspects of teachers “…which are framed within an
education context….career histories, professional trainingand development experience”(Mockler, 2011: 521).
• Various school contexts and teacher training anddevelopment.
• Well resourced and previously disadvantage and underresourced schools• Functional and dysfunctional schools.
ALL IMPACT ON MORALE, IDENTITY AND STATUS OF ALT

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B

PROFESSIONAL CONTEXT (cont)• Dysfunctional schools are situated in townships and many aretypified by poor management, deconstructive parent-school
relationships, unqualified and frustrated teachers,
overcrowded classrooms, lack discipline and lack of facilities(Bergman, Bergman & Gavertt, 2011).
• Furthermore, factors like ill-discipline, hunger and HIV andAIDS impact negatively on the social functioning of schools.
ALL IMPACT ON MORALE, IDENTITY AND STATUS OF ALT

C EXTERNAL POLITICAL ENVIRONMENT• After 1994: “…provide a system of education that builds
democracy, human dignity, equality and social justice.”(Department of Education, 2001:4).
• Major crisis:• Closing of teacher colleges• Constantly changing curriculum –confusion, frustration• Teaching posts that had not been renewed• Lack of support and poor management• Teacher strikes• Learning material not reaching schools• Classrooms overcrowded.
LOW MORALE AND IDENTITYCEXTERNAL POLITICALENVIRONMENT• Discourses, attitudes and understandings surrounding
education that exist external to the profession, experienced
by teachers largely throughthe media, community
government policy which relates to their work andthe ways in which political ideology impacts upon
their work ”(Mockler, 2011: 521).

EDUCATIONAL CONSEQUENCES• Under qualified and trained teachers with Low morale• Teachers blame the government for the current situation
viz. poor salaries, overcrowding and inadequate
facilities.
• Teacher strikes are common and learners do not receive
teaching for weeks on end.
• Under performing schools

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EFFECT ON SUPPLY AND DEMAND

EFFECT ON SUPPLY AND DEMAND• HISTORY OF TEACHER EDUCATION
Qualifications, disparities, characteristics of Black schools“ECE teachers have no status at their schools”“It seems they are not qualified and their salaries arelow”• GENDER
Gender prejudice and stereotyping: female tasks anddisplaying feminine attributes, nanies, caregivers“unattractive – boring…, too much patience with poor
pay and promotional opportunities” Mashiya, 2015

• TEACHER STATUS“Well, for blacks being a teacher, it’s like, I’d say not thelowest but one of the lowest occupations, careers thatyou could choose.”• CAREER CHOICE
Not first choice, parents’ choice, finance, fall-back plan
“I applied for criminology, and then I was advised to put
education as my fall back plan, so I did.” Student, 2013

EFFECT ON SUPPLY AND DEMAND• PERSONAL EXPERIENCE
Own, school experience, prof development, frustrated• PROFESSIONAL CONTEXT
Dysfunctional schools, overcrowded classes, under
qualified teachers, lack support• EXTERNAL POLITICAL ENVIRONMENT
Political reforms, under performing schools, neweconomic opportunities

EFFECT ON SUPPLY AND DEMAND• LANGUAGE
Language as language of instruction (LOLT)
Inequalities in annual assessment results“Underperforming schools”
Low enrolment, throughput and high dropout rates atuniversity
But with most Black students it’s the language barrier because you
know when we’re doing our research, the information, the English, is ofa higher standard and the people have trouble with that. And you haveto go through an article of 50 pages and understand all the words...

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New ECE graduates as a share of the total
number of new teacher graduates
Total number ofnew teacher
graduates (NTGs)

Total number of ECEteacher graduates% share of NTGs
that are ECE
graduates

2008

5 942

1 275

21.5%

2009

6 976

1 304

18.7%

2010

7 973

1 278

16.0%

2011

10 593

1 581

14.9%

2012

13 708

2 283

16.7%

PROJECTED 2020 ECE TEACHER
SUPPLY AND DEMAND GAP (Green 2015)
DEMAND
VARIABLESCALCULATEDVALUESUPPLYVARIABLESCALCUATEDVALUE

Population
expansion
demand147 0714

Existing teacher
stock

129 228

Replacement
demand48 598New teacher
graduates

24 309Total demand

195 672

Total supply

153 537

SUPPLY AND DEMAND GAP = SUPPLY – DEMAND= 153 537 -195 672= -42 135112015/6/19

STUDENT ENROLMENT PER YEAR: JULY 2012

BEd: ECD & FP

1stYEAR

2ndYEAR

3rdYEAR

4thYEAR

TOTAL

Black students

13610534
EARLY CHILDHOODEDUCATION White Students

Total students

283220173142

EARLY CHILDHOODEDUCATION Black Students

818

Faculty Ed. AFR =1364 ENG =1998 TOTAL =3362

ECE Teacher supplyRetention and training of teachers have not kept up with the growth rateof the school-going population.

IDENTIFIED FACTORS AFFECTING TPI
External Factors

Internal factors• Currently, there are 23 higher education institutions in SA.
However, only 13 universities offer initial ECE teacher education
programmes resulting in a short supply of Black student teachers.

History of ECE teacher
training

Qualifications,lack curriculum
interpretation in practice• Only 13% (160) of ECE teachers in 2010 were Black - need toreplace 3275 Black teachers which the education system would lose
through attrition in the same year.

Professional Context:(school and community)

Own experience ofschool and schooling,
Support.

Gender prejudice andstereotyping

Political environment

Impact of politicalideology on teaching

Dysfunctional schools

Language

LOLT, assessments,Language
underperforming schools
Political environment• 2009: 4147 ECE teachers were needed annually to meet thegrowing enrolment of children, yet the expected graduates for 2009were only 1275. Of these expected graduates, only 168 were Blackteachers speaking African languages (Green, 2010)

Effect on supply anddemand
Low status
Not preferred choice12

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CHALLENGES• The low morale, status and identity of ECE teachers
need to be improved• The share of ECE graduates, when compared to 2008
has declined despite increasing number of universities• South Africa is not producing enough new ECE teachers,
demand largely exceeds supply• The biggest challenge for South Africa is to produce
adequate numbers of new African language ECEteachers

RECOMMENDATIONSAStrategies should be implemented to improve
the low morale, status and identities of ALTB
1.

Higher education institutions should:
orientate and prepare students to (a) use African
languages as LOLT and (b) to teach African
language as academic subject.
have strategies to recruit and retain African
language students
examine the financial support offered and provide
bursaries funding for greater number of African
language students

2.
3.

THE END

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