Teacher Education and Institutional Change in South Africa

This monograph is the sequel to Studying Ambitions: Pathways from grade 12 and the factors that shape them, which investigated the aspirations for future study and/or work of 20 659 grade 12 learners across South Africa in 2005. Ambitions Revised: Grade 12 learner destinations one year on tracks the same cohort of learners into their destinations one year later. Of particular interest to the research team was the sub-set of those who enrolled in teacher education programmes. The extremely low levels of interest in teaching first observed in a similar 2002 HSRC study are confirmed here a finding which has implications for sustainable teacher supply and for the health of an education system upon which the future of the country depends.

All countries, and South Africa is no exception, face acute dilemmas in modernising their systems of upper secondary and further education and training. Faced with pressures from the fast changing world of work, this education sector has become characterized by political slogans stressing skill development, improved access and participation, and the accountability of providers through some form of market. On the other hand, the phenomenon of academic drift reveals that students increasingly see their future as progressing to higher education. Policymakers attempt to resolve these competing demands by calling for transferable, portable outcomes and qualifications as the new currency of an increasingly market-type system.

This report provides a baseline study on psychosocial support of orphans and vulnerable children (OVC) in two villages in Botswana and forms part of a series of reports that examine the work undertaken as part of the Kellogg OVC Intervention Project from 2002 to 2005.The general aim of the project is to assist families and households to better cope with the increased burden of care for OVC. The purpose of this particular baseline psychosocial survey (PSS) was to gather data to facilitate the introduction and evaluation of the effectiveness of orphan care intervention programmes for strengthening community participation and empowerment of OVC in two villages in Botswana. This information will be used in evaluating the effectiveness of the new OVC interventions that will be implemented in the two villages in Botswana as part of the overall OVC project.

Om die volle betekenis van demografie te begryp is dit nodig om elkeen van die sleutelkonsepte daarin van nader te beskou. Daar word vandag ook dikwels van demografiese terme gebruikgemaak om sekere verskynsels by insekte- en dierebevolkings te beskryf. Demografie is egter in die eerste plek 'n dissipline wat hom besig hou met die studie van menslike bevolkings. Die beskrywings het uitsluitlik op menslike bevolkings betrekking.