The Education Faculty is in an exciting phase of expansion and growth. Established in 1913, the Rhodes University Education Department, offered an initial teacher education qualification for students wishing to teach in secondary schools. One hundred and two years later, the academic endeavour has expanded and diversified, with the Education Department forming the core of an Education Faculty which offers a range of qualifications within and across four broad education sectors, namely higher education, formal schooling, early childhood education and education and training development. The Education Faculty consists of:
the Education Department (the core of the Faculty) in which the Environmental Learning and Research Centre (ELRC) and Murray and Roberts Chair of Environmental Education, the Professional Development Centre (PDC), the SA Numeracy Chair, and the DHET/EU Foundation Phase Research Project are located. the Centre for Higher Education Research, Teaching and Learning (CHERTL)
the Rhodes University Mathematics Education Project(RUMEP)
the Institute for the Study of English in Africa (ISEA)
the Centre for Social Development (CSD)
Distinguishing features of the Rhodes Education Faculty
The Faculty of Education is the smallest in South Africa (2015 enrolment: 990)
It offers a range of qualifications (from Level 5 up in the National Qualifications Framework [NQF]) within and across four broad education sectors: higher education, formal schooling and early childhood development (ECD) and Education, Development and Training (EDTP). The faculty has a vibrant PhD programme which includes three structured PhD research teaching weeks per year. The Faculty is research-led and has a good research trajectory. There has been an upward trend in the Faculty’s research outputs for the past five years. Education students are diverse (in terms of race, language, age, culture, social class and geographic origin) and representative of South African society (the 2015 faculty stats are: 776 African (78 %); 153 White (15,4%); 45 Coloured (4,5%), and 17 Indian (1,7%). The Faculty has a large proportion of post-graduate scholars. In 2015, 38% of the Faculty’s students are enrolled in Honours, Master’s and Doctoral degree programmes. 18% are enrolled in initial teacher education programmes and 44% in various in-service teacher professional development programmes (Bachelor of Education degrees). The majority of Education students (60%) are mother-tongue African language speakers. It is the only faculty in South Africa that has created and which offers a qualifications-based career path for ECD practitioners to move from FET certificate (Level 1) to diploma or degree. The Faculty is recognised for its quality teacher education programmes. It has an outstanding graduation rate for its initial teacher education programmes (in 2011, the RU PGCE graduation rate was 99%; the average in the E Cape was 60%) (Source: DHET, Trends in Teacher Education, 2011). The faculty is in a growth and expansion phase in initial teacher education. Student enrolment in the Post Graduate Certificate in Education (PGCE) has increased in the past five years. The faculty further expanded initial teacher education by re-introducing a four-year under graduate Bachelor of Education degree for Foundation Phase teachers in 2015. The Faculty is dynamic and innovative to the need for more mother tongue African languages teachers in the Foundation Phase of schooling. This is evident in the bilingual isiXhosa/English curriculum it has developed and is implementing in the new BEd(FP) degree and the numerous curriculum transformation conversations taking place in the faculty. The faculty is responding to needs for teacher professional development and upgrading of teaching qualifications with a specific focus on English Language Teaching, Mathematics Education, Life Orientation, Science Education, ECD and ICT in Education. The faculty is focused on providing access and addressing issues of quality in teaching in the field of higher education through the expanding PGDHE programme offered by CHERTL. With the exception of CHERTL’s PGDHE programme, which has a blended mode of delivery, the mode of delivery for programmes in the faculty is contact. This includes the Education Department’s post-graduate programmes in Namibia.
