Practical Learning for Teaching: Moving Beyond a College-University Debate

• In Event: Roots and Routes: Revisiting Dilemmas in The Purpose of Education

Abstract

Teacher education for primary school teachers in South Africa has moved in the last twenty years from a predominantly college-based education to one that is wholly located in universities. The call to ‘re-open the colleges’, however, remains strong in public discourse, usually under the argument that colleges provided a more ‘practical’ (and, by implication, ‘better’) preparation than that of universities. By means of historical and theoretical documentary analysis, this paper problematizes the notion of being ‘practical’ in teacher education, thereby challenging a stereotyped view of colleges and universities. It concludes by suggesting some principles of practice that draw on an integrated conception of theory and practice in order to provide quality teacher education that is relevant to our context.

Authors

• Maureen Robinson, Stellenbosch University

• Linda Chisholm, University Of Johannesburg