Discussion Paper 31. Face-to-face Initial Teacher Education Degree Programme at the University of Durban- Westville, South Africa

Abstract

The paper provides a case study of the pre-service degree programmes at the University of Durban-Westville (UDW), describing first the Bachelor of Paedagogics and then how the design of an innovative 'Bachelor of Education' emerged in response to political and social change in South Africa. Data was collected by survey, documents, and interviews, but also drew on the authors' insider knowledge of how the changes took place. The study portrays the tensions around curriculum design, development and implementation in the climate of post-apartheid South Africa. It also analyses how the intersecting and competing forces of financial considerations, curriculum imperatives, managerial and staffing issues, and other social and political considerations, have pushed and pulled the teacher education provider in opposite and complementary directions