Scholarship in teacher education in South Africa, 1995-2006

Abstract

This article reports on findings pertaining to scholarship in teacher education drawn from a wider study on all education research in South Africa from 1995 to 2006. The study, which defined education research as broadly pertaining to teaching and/or learning, obtained extensive data from a wide range of sources: universities, non-government organisations (NGOs), education and training authorities and electronic databases. The levels, scale, educational sectors and disciplinary areas of each entry in the resulting 10 315-strong database were identified, and on the basis of a random sample of 600 texts seven primary research themes in teacher education were identified and are detailed here: the re-conceptualisation of teachers as facilitators, the problems and possibilities of cooperative learning or group work, the use of educational support materials and resources, the idea of ‘teaching for learning’, the importance of context, the nature of continuous assessment, and debates on teacher evaluation.