Social Cohesion and Initial Teacher Education in South Africa

Abstract

Initial teacher education (ITE) is a key focus in current policy particularly in respect to shaping student teachers’ dispositions and capabilities to effect change within the systems they will work, and for the learners they will teach. Teachers’ pedagogic strategies also mediate inequalities and continuities within the education system, linked to the schooling system and society they operate within. In South Africa, contextually relevant pedagogical strategies that address diversity, reconciliation, and promote social cohesion are crucial to enable initial teacher education to prepare teachers in this way. This paper draws on data from a case study of an ITE programme at one higher education institution (HEI) in South Africa. This work is part of ‘Engaging teachers in peacebuilding in postconflict contexts: evaluating education interventions’ project supported by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) and the UK Department for International Development