The document discusses the South African educational system and proposals for its improvement. It covers: 1) An overview of the current system which was divided during apartheid and the goals of reforming it to be equitable and high quality. 2) The importance of continuous teacher development and training on integrating information communication technologies (ICT) into teaching based on national and international standards. 3) How the author would design a teacher training module to address national guidelines and requirements by providing resources, learning outcomes, application activities, and self-reflection.

1. The South African educational system has undergone many stages of transitions and in during those
years many changes occurred. One needs to also consider the fact that apartheid regime brought
many difficulties in our educational system, therefore in this paper I hope to give some of the most
important things that should be considered in education today. Some of these key figures should
clearly be implemented in our education, whilst some are already in order and ready to be
implemented and therefore we will also look at the government’s plans towards the implementation
of these plans and most importantly we will be looking at the following issues which will also serve
as a sub – heading to the topics discussed in this paper. The topics that will be covered include
providing a brief overview of the current educational landscape and future national strategic
objectives, secondly I will highlight the broad aims of the various national and international
initiatives regarding continuous professional development of teachers with regard to teacher
competency standards relating to ICTs and professional aptitude, thirdly I will also highlight the
various dimensions that impact on teacher training with special reference to pedagogical
dimensions, technical dimensions, and the collaborative/networking dimension and lastly I will
provide a description of how I would design the module PFS3A10 to address or accommodate all of
the requirements as articulated in the nationalguidelines provided. ```
A BRIEF OVERVIEW OF THE CURRENT EDUCATIONAL LANDSCAPE AND FUTURE NATIONAL STRATEGIC
OBJECTIVES
The South African educational system was divided into two departments- The higher educational
and the training department (DoHET) which consists of universities, Further education and training
(FET) collages and the basic education department (DBE) which deals with schools. The reason it had
to be divided was because of the apartheid regime that occurred in South Africa and therefore many
challenges had to occur in the education system. For these purposes, the Council of Higher
education (CHE) established a Size and Shape Task Team. Its members were drawn, in their
individual capacities, from labour, business, universities and technikons, theDepartment of
Education and the CHE itself. The Task Team began work in late FebruaryDepartment of Education
and the CHE itself. The Task Team began work in late February2000 and met a number of times,
supported by a small secretariat. To aid its work, a numberof studies were commissioned and
various unsolicited reports and papers were alsoof studies were commissioned and various
unsolicited reports and papers were also examined. The Task Team also had full access to the
institutional plans of all the universitiesand technikons and to various reports and databases of the
Department of Education. Meaning the new South Africa had to consist of a new educational
system, a system that would very much relevant to the needs of the country and at the same time
making sure that that the learners and the student are being well prepared for the outside world
and the challenges that comes with it, hence why the task team consisted of the people in many
different but yet related fields.
The Task Team's point of departure is the Education White Paper 3: A Programme for the
Transformation of Higher Education 1997. The goals and purposes advanced in the WhitePaper -
such as equity and redress, quality, development, effectiveness and efficiency – has guided the Task
Team. Meaning for the future the South African educational system needed to not have racism by
means of teaching different people different things because of their race. In addition also the issue
of equity meaning that people needed to be taught the same education regardless of whom they are
or where they come from.

2. In the future one can expect the transforming higher education that it is 'responsive to the needs of
students of all ages and the intellectual challenges of the 21st century'. Themembers of the Task
Team share a passionate belief in the vital importance of higher education to democracy, social
justice and the economic and social development of this country. This means the educational system
will cater for more learners and even those with any particular disability so that nobody can be left
outside and also people can benefit from this especially those with disability.
HIGHLIGHTING THE BROAD AIMS OF THE VARIOUS NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL INITIATIVES
REGARDING CONTINUOUS PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT OF TEACHERS WITH REGARD TOTEACHER
COMPETENCY STANDARDS RELATING TO ICTS AND PROFESSIONAL APTITUDE
In the document Guidelines for Teacher Training and Professional Development in ICT it states that
The Guidelines for Teacher Training and Professional Development in ICT is one of the initiatives
undertaken by the Department of Education to implement the White Paper on e-
Education.Information and communication technology (ICT) is fundamental to the implementation
of e-education and offers greater opportunities to access learning redress inequalities and
improvethe quality of teaching and learning. ICT also makes it possible for teachers to offer
learnersunprecedented opportunities for development and lifelong learning (Teacher Training and
Development in ict, 2007:2), this means that it needs teachers to have more knowledge about the
latest technologies so that they can be able to implement them in their respective classrooms and
most importantly be able to integrate them for a more efficient education for learners. I this part of
the paper I will try and look at the national and international initiatives regarding continuous
development of teachers with regards to the competency standards relating to ICTs and professional
amplitude.
National International
The teacher is computer literate and is Understanding ICT in education, meaning
able to use computers teachers have to have the knowledge in order
for them to be able to apply into their teaching
and that application could be very meaningful.
The teacher is willing and eager curriculum and assessment, meaning they have
to venture into using ICT in to understand the curriculum in order for them
his/her teaching and learning to know exactly what they need to teach and in
that way they could be able to use ICTs in their
teaching but it will start by understanding the
curriculum first.
The teacher is able to: Pedagogy, meaning teachers have to have
• confidently use basic different ways and methods of teaching. This
functions in application means that understanding ICTs and being able to
programs; use this in this classroom and that also helps
• apply knowledge of ICT learners to get more familiar with technology
application programs in because todays worlds depends very much in
administration and lesson technology and many things are done in a
planning; technological way.
• carry out first-level
troubleshooting in
programs;
• use ICT help functions
The teacher is able to: Organization and administration, this the teacher

3. • operate a computer and has to be at all times be able to make sure that
peripherals confidently; he is able use resources that are in the classroom
• identify ICT hardware like the charts and boards to tech and they must
resources, e.g. computers, not be predictable they should also consider
interactive whiteboards, etc.; bring something new to the learners so that
• carry out first-level learners can be exposed in this type of things.
troubleshooting in computer
laboratories;
• identify minor technical
problems and communicate
these effectively to
Support personnel.
The teacher: teacher professional learning, meaning teachers
• has an awareness of the have to from time to time go to workshops do
possible uses of the Internet short term courses for them to able to have
in teaching and learning; more knowledge and acquire more skills. As
• can do simple searches on technology advances teachers too need to have
the Internet; the knowledge about the recent technology and
• can identify sources of be able to apply it in their classroom and be able
information and to make their teaching more efficient.
discriminate between them;
• can communicate with
other teachers using e-mail;
• can send and receive
information using e-mail
HOW I WOULD DESIGN THE MODULE PFS3A10 TO ADDRESS OR ACCOMMODATE ALL OF
THE REQUIREMENTS AS ARTICULATED IN THE NATIONAL GUIDELINES PROVIDED
I would design this module in a way that I could start by providing my learners with relevant
information, in that way I am preparing them to know what exactly lies ahead of them. I will
then go back to my document of the course to look at the learning outcome for each topic
so that I know what the student need to know at the end of every section of the course.
Then I can expose the learners to different resources that are out there for them as learning
teachers, one of the key thing to the course would be that they will be searching for the
information themselves, what I will be doing is simply providing them with the knowledge of
how to get started. In this way I am making sure that they find out information for
themselves, they are able to fix certain computer problems that are not very much complex
because when there are at the school teaching learners there would not be anybody who
can come and help them so they need to learn to do it for themselves.
In addition I would then ask them to design their own websites in that way I would be able
to know how much of application are they able to apply because when designing a website
they need to have some important information in them so I will see by the tasks they do and
upload them in their websites as to are they creative, are they innovative and can they do
the application of what they teach into the real world. But the key point to the course would

4. be them doing self-reflection in that way I am able to see what they thought they did well
and where do they still need to put in more effort. In this way even the students themselves
can then able to see where they went wrong and be able to fix it, by this I will trying to
minimise the chances of them doing the same mistake again.

5. Bibliography
Bobby Soobrayan, A. M. (2011). Strategic Plan 2012-2014. Johannesburg: Department of Basic
Education.
D, H. (2007). Guidelines for teacher training and professional development in ICT. Johannesburg:
Department of education.
Jānis Kārkliņš, Q. T. (2011). Unesco competency frame work for teachers. Paris: The United nations
educational scientific and cultural organisation.
Manuel, T. (2011). The national development plan for 2030. Pretoria: The national goverment.
The national development plan for . (n.d.).