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Training better teachers: An implementation brief for improving practice-based initial teacher education

The evidence presented in this report and through the sector mapping study demonstrates how well-designed alternative education models can provide solutions to the challenges faced by the South African education system. It further highlights how internship implementers are at the front line of service delivery and are well placed to address some of the major bottlenecks that exist in ITE, and which could assist in improving teacher development and quality. The findings of the literature and scoping study suggest that there are four main components to ensuring top-quality ITE in South Africa: the rigorous selection of ITE candidates, strong mentorship, supervised practice with written feedback, and strong theory components.

The incremental advancement of expectations through a competency-based approach also underpins the strong delivery of quality ITE programmes. Finally, this brief suggests methods through which the various activities already taking place across government departments, the private sector and the third sector can be aligned. It introduces the Teacher Internship Collaboration South Africa (TICZA), a collective impact approach to generate new knowledge about teacher internships and alternative pathways, align sector initiatives and ultimately drive the improvement and scale of practice-based ITE, in order to support the improvement of South African educational outcomes.