DBE Internal Evaluation

by Mpumelelo Khumalo

13 May 2024

The Department of Basic Education (DBE), and the Global Teachers Institute (GTI), hosted  a celebratory workshop with multiple stakeholders in the room to share their knowledge and  experience within the field of Initial Teacher Education (ITE) internships. Discussions were  centered around understanding what is already being done in the various organizations, and how  they can be improved. These internship programmes combine study through a Higher Education  Institution (HEI) with continuous teaching practice by interns being embedded in a host school. 

GTI is one of the founding members of the Teacher Internship Collaboration South Africa (TICZA) – a movement that recognizes that to develop a scalable internship model requires partnership  between organizations with different specialties. The workshop was attended by representatives from

GTI & DBE INTERNAL EVALUATION LAUNCH REPORT

Many of these are members of TICZA, whose  mandate is to support the process by which ITE internships are institutionalized and systematized  in such a way that a reliably efficient and effective model can be presented to the government  as a credible alternative policy for nationwide teacher training.

Discussions stressed that for the TICZA processes to be effective, the various internships need a  common agenda, shared measurement systems, mutually reinforcing activities and continuous  communication. An example of common agenda was given in the SACE presentation(South  African Council for Educators) which stressed that any internship must develop 10 core skills:  ethical commitment , professional judgement, social justice, classroom and knowledge  management, professional development, language acquisition, teaching methodologies,  monitoring and evaluation, and coherent sequencing of learning experiences.

Two ITE internship organizations shared their experiences:

  1. The Thuto Trust which develops teachers in primary schools. Their presentation focused  on the need to give enough attention to trainee teachers’ social-emotional learning and  the cost-effectiveness of custom-built apps to ensure rigorous accountability.  
  2. GTI’s presentation highlighted its Future Leader Programme’s successes and challenges  to date in Mpumalanga. GTI’s experience has proven beyond doubt the power of Public Private partnerships to build a cost effective and context-relevant program, in which  Government is a key stakeholder, along with private funders and other implementing  NGOs. 

Other key takeaways from the seminar include: – 

More HEIs need to embrace the ITE Internship model. 

Similar discussion platforms are needed to foster a bigger community of stakeholders  committed to ITE internship implementation. 

The DBE will build a steering committee made up of NGOs and corporate institutions that  together will have the leverage to influence government policy change. 

The model is flexible enough to embrace many different socio-economic contexts and needs to be used for remote areas and not just easy-to-reach areas and schools. 

Masesi Nkwamba, a 4th year GTI intern, gave a programme motivation from the heart, testifying  to the strength of character building and the wide range of skills and social responsibility that GTI  is nurturing. She is a great example of the quality of an educator that the ITE internship model  can produce. The event clearly advanced the cause of the ITE internship model and widened the  circle of appreciation for its key components. I am grateful to all those who participated, thereby  contributing to the seminar’s success. 

A heartfelt thank you to DGMT, Zenex Foundation, the DBE, MPDBE and everyone present for  making this event possible and a huge success.