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05/06/2013

Strategy to strengthen teacher education at NMMU (George Campus)

NMMU will be implementing measures to strengthen and focus its education offerings in the Southern Cape. The interventions include building capacity by introducing more full-time lecturing posts with highly qualified teacher educators from 2014, linked to long term appointments thereafter. It has also been decided to offer a new qualification, the Post Graduate Certificate in Education (PGCE), at the George Campus from 2014, as a means of providing an additional avenue for graduates to prepare themselves for a career in education.

The B.Ed (Further Education and Training) degree, which NMMU offers at the George Campus is currently being recurriculated, as are initial teacher education programmes nationwide. Our re-curriculation during this time will ensure that we meet new minimum government requirements related to the Higher Education Qualifications Framework (HEQF) for teacher education, which applies to tertiary education institutions across the board. 

The Education Faculty has confirmed that as part of the “teaching out” of old curricula (as advised by the Department of Higher Education and Training / HEQF, no new intake of first year B.Ed (FET) students at this site of delivery (George) will occur in 2014 and 2015. Current B.Ed (FET) students registered at NMMU in George will be able to complete the programme, whilst the university builds better  capacity. Part of these measures include appointing more long-term senior staff at the George Campus, with the correct kind of expertise required for offering the newly curriculated programme here from 2016. All the B.Ed programmes, including the PGCE, will continue seamlessly at NMMU’s South Campus in Port Elizabeth in 2014, presenting an alternative choice to prospective students who would like to study at the university. Taken together, these positive interventions will ensure that the NMMU (George Campus) can fulfil its mission of offering humanising education to all in the Southern Cape and beyond.

Prof Denise Zinn and Prof Quinton Johnson with student leaders

Prof Denise Zinn, Executive Dean of NMMU’s Faculty of Education and Principal of the George Campus, Prof Quinton Johnson, with student leaders during a recent education sector event held at Saasveld.

Contact information
Ms Alet van Tonder
Manager: Marketing & Corporate Relations
Tel: 27 44 801 5098
alet.vantonder@mandela.ac.za