It is expected that that pre-service teachers are adequately equipped to meet the needs of diverse students. This article discusses the choices that teacher educators must make in designing inclusive education courses. The first choice is whether inclusive education will be infused into the curriculum or presented as a stand-alone course. If the…

The National Curriculum Statement for Grades R-9 (NCS) (Department of Education, 2002) asks that Indigenous Knowledge Systems (IKS) be valued in South African schools and classrooms. Teachers are urged to use context-specific and context-relevant forms of IK to teach content; and to incorporate IK methodologies into their teaching methods. Little…

The school environment is a very dynamic sphere. Changes continually take place in educational policy, curriculum and in a school's physical and social environment. A teacher who wants to be effective in such an environment has to adapt to these changes. Continuous professional development of teachers is essential to addressing the gaps in…

As US classrooms approach a decade of response to No Child Left Behind, many questions and concerns remain around the education of those labeled as English language learners, in mainstream, English as a Second Language, and bilingual education classrooms. A national policy context where standardized tests dominate curriculum and instruction, and…

Given the emphasis on community engagement in higher education, academic departments need to become more involved in the community. This paper discusses a number of outreach activities undertaken by the chemistry department at Rhodes University, South Africa. The activities range from service learning to community engagement with teachers and…

To improve black South Africans' educational conditions, the Teacher Opportunity Programmes (TOPS), in conjunction with some University of South Carolina education professors, is providing inservice training to teachers and principals. A USC evaluation team found that learning levels do not have to be deep for change to occur and that race/gender…

A South African educator describes the outcomes of a 3-day inservice course on a school's attempts to provide enrichment for academically gifted 6-9 year olds. (CL)

Presents a comparison of environmental education in South Africa and recommendations from the 1977 Tbilisi and 1987 Moscow international environmental education conference proceedings. Lists international strategies for environmental education and training proposed at the conferences and discusses their relevance to South Africa. (24 references)…

Describes part of a program designed to enhance teaching standards among black South African teachers of English. Specific focus is on the production of training packs as a way of disseminating the knowledge and skills acquired by a group of 12 teachers on a 12-week training course in the United Kingdom. (eight references) (JL)

Examines the difficulties encountered in trying to empower teachers in a squatter community outside of Cape Town, South Africa, through the development of a critical pedagogy. Shows the sedimentation of the dominant class's ideology within the consciousness of oppressed communities. (DMM)

In the wake of the 1976 violence in Soweto, South Africa, the READ project was set up by a group of private citizens who were concerned that the government's commitment to an urgent and extensive improvement of black education would not extend to school libraries. Good libraries were seen as particularly important in black schools, because high…

This article describes a teacher development activity in two different teacher training contexts. It is argued that the two different aspects of the activity exemplify important principles in the emerging model of trainee-centred teacher development. (15 references) (JL)

Discusses how to teach overcrowded, underresourced classes using various approaches, describing a South African science teacher development project that tested the potential of using translation activities to promote teacher change. The project resulted in a significant pedagogical shifts. Researchers note that for the provision of additional…

The cascade model has been widely used to reduce costs and maximize benefits in teacher education. This article discusses one step in the cascade process, training the trainers, noting the need to integrate more social and cultural awareness into this area of training if the cascade approach is to succeed. Two South African projects that use the…

A National Policy for environmental education in South Africa was proposed in 1989. This paper examines the impact of Apartheid ideology and structure upon in-service environmental education teacher training in South Africa and identifies and explores the viability of alternative channels for such training. (Author/CW)