A development perspective on the role and function of black colleges of education in South Africa

The training of black teachers in South Africa has greatly expanded in recent decades. The expansion resulted from a strong demand for teachers in black schools and from an even stronger and greatly unrealistic demand for places in teacher training colleges. The demand for teachers developed as a result of growing enrolment and an attempt to lower the pupil‐teacher ratios. The demand for places in teacher training colleges in turn developed only partly as a result of the demand for teachers. To a very large extent it developed also as a response to a set of social, economic and political conditions which prevailed in South Africa during the apartheid era. These conditions have influenced not only the numbers of high school graduates seeking training as teachers and the actual numbers of teachers trained, but also the quality and direction of training delivered over the years. The quality of training has been generally poor, and the choice of levels as well as teaching subjects by trainee‐teachers has not been in line with the needs of the schools. To address these three aspects of teacher training — the quantity of teachers trained, the direction in which they are trained, and the quality of their training — it will be necessary to reform the existing system.