CPUT's Centre for International Teacher Education (CITE) recently hosted a Public-Private Schooling Symposium where academics debated their views on different schooling systems as well as the benefits and concerns of collaboration schooling.

CITE Director, Prof Yusuf Sayed, said the public-private schooling debate has thus far raised more heat than light and that he hoped the symposium will add light to the debate.

Sayed argued that the answer to the provision of quality education lies with the restructuring of public education.

Dr Christiaan van der Merwe, Chief Executive Officer of Curro Holding Ltd, said great leadership and management, ethos and partnerships as well as accountability and transparency are some of the characteristics of successful schools.

Van der Merwe said that over the last 20 years education has generally improved across all schools.

"Every school should allow a child to be what they want and what they can be," he added.

Dr David Harrison, head of the DG Murray Trust, said distribution of quality education in schools has not changed in the last 20 years.

Harrison added that system-wide improvement is not enough on its own as it widens disparities between successful and underperforming schools.

He called for the strengthening of the existing capacity of public schools and district leadership in underperforming schools.

"Place underperforming public schools under new management."

He also called for the introduction of low fee private schools.

*The following universities collaborated in the organization of the symposium: CPUT, University of Cape Town, University of the Western Cape, Rhodes University and Fort Hare University.

Written by Kwanele Butana
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A new book exploring issues of quality education in South Africa was recently launched at CPUT’s Mowbray Campus.

The book, “The search for quality education in post-apartheid South Africa: Interventions to improve learning and teaching,” was authored by academics, teachers and other role players in the education sector.

The book was co-edited by CPUT’s Prof Yusuf Sayed, the Research Chair in the Faculty of Education and Social Sciences, Prof Anil Kanjee from Tshwane University of Technology and Prof Mokubung Nkomo from the University of Pretoria.

Sayed says the book, which is 448 pages long, is an attempt to map issues of quality.

“At one level the book is a catalogue of several attempts, successful and partially successful, to improve quality.”

CPUT’s Dean of the Faculty of Education and Social Sciences, Prof Thobeka Mda, says the fact that the book had no section on what constitutes quality education itself affirmed its title as an ongoing process.

She says quality education requires trained teachers, adequate learning materials and environment that will foster quality delivery of education.

Other speakers were Nkomo, Kanjee and University of Cape Town’s Deputy Vice-Chancellor, Prof Crain Soudien.

The book was published by the Human Sciences Research Council Press.

Written by Kwanele Butana
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The National Research Fund has renewed the Research Leadership Chair in Teacher Education for another five years.

Prof Yusuf Sayed, Research Leadership Chair in Teacher Education, says the renewed funding is testament to the hard work and effort of all members of the CPUT-based Centre for International Teacher Education (CITE).

“It is an affirmation of the support we have received from the university and faculty,” said Sayed. “It reflects a deepening of research at CPUT and the commitment and values of CPUT as becoming a research-intensive university.”

For the next phase the Chair and CITE will continue to deepen the work they have engaged with in the first phase which included developing new knowledge about teacher education, building research capacity and strengthening national, regional and international research partnerships.

“We will also seek to continue to actively enhance the impact of our research in the coming phase,” he added. Sayed was reacting to an NRF announcement that confirmed the continuation of funding for the Chair.

“I am pleased to communicate that the panel has recommended that funding for the Chair continue for the next five-year cycle and that this recommendation has been accepted by the NRF,” Dr Rocky Skeef, NRF Executive Director: Reviews and Evaluations, wrote to CPUT recently.

Skeef also indicated in the letter that the panel’s recommendation outcome was reached by consensus.

CITE was founded in 2014 with the understanding that teacher preparation and teacher classroom performance are at the heart of enhancing education quality and ensuring that education acts as a vehicle for achieving equity and transformation in society.

CITE acts as a national, regional and international centre of excellence for research and policy dialogue about education policy and teacher education. 

Written by Kwanele Butana
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CPUT’s Prof Yusuf Sayed, South African Research Chair in Teacher Education and Director of the Centre for International Teacher Education (CITE), has won the prestigious South African Education Research Association (SAERA) Research Honours Award. 

The award recognises his outstanding contribution to the field of education. Sayed, received the award at the SAERA annual conference which was held in Pretoria this week.

“It is, therefore, my privilege to inform you that your nomination was successful and that you will be awarded this SAERA Honours Award at the SAERA 2018 conference in Pretoria from 22 to 24 October 2018,” reads a letter from the Association’s secretary, Prof Labby Ramrathan.

Sayed is ecstatic about the award from the largest education research association in South Africa.

“It is a testament to the search for equitable and quality education in South Africa and researching the work of teachers, teacher education and teaching,” he said. “Further, it is a recognition of continued and consistent engagement with South African research and policy analysis before and after the advent of the new democracy in 1994.”

He said the achievement bears testimony to the confidence and support in the research work that has been done and will continue to be done in CITE by staffers, postgraduate students and research partners.

“It reflects the fact that CITE is a leading national, regional and global institute and the key to the research architecture of CPUT. The university needs to continue to provide the support and commitment it has shown to date to allow CITE and its members to flourish and grow.”

CITE has developed a new five-year research plan beginning in 2019 which requires the vision and foresight of all role-players in the university and in the education sector broadly, Sayed added.

“Congratulations on receiving this prestigious SAERA award that recognises your outstanding contribution to education research in South Africa,” said Prof Marshall Sheldon, Acting Deputy Vice-Chancellor: Research, Technology, Innovation and Partnerships to Sayed.

Written by Kwanele Butana
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