South Africa is reaffirming its commitment to digitalisation of education through the integration of open educational resources (OER), inclusive pedagogies, and digital innovation into national teacher development strategies. And recent engagements facilitated by the Commonwealth of Learning (COL) underscore the country’s leadership in aligning policy, practice, and partnerships to drive sustainable education reform across the SADC region.

In a series of high-level engagements, COL’s Education Specialist for Teacher Education, Dr Betty Ogange, met with institutional and government partners to strengthen collaboration in support of teacher development.

At the University of the Witwatersrand, Dr Ogange held strategic consultations with the School of Education, where discussions centred on the findings of a COL-supported study on OER policies and practices in African teacher education institutions and implications for future collaboration. The School is host to an OER initiative involving five schools of education in four different countries – Botswana, Nigeria, Rwanda and South Africa.

Plans are underway to scale this work towards a pan-African network of practice to co-create OER under COL’s Network for Open Teacher Education in Sub-Saharan Africa initiative, also known as the NOTES project. The discussions also explored pathways for closer alignment with national frameworks and the requirements of the Department of Higher Education and Training (DHET).

Dr Ogange later met with senior officials from DHET, including the Teacher Education, Teaching Qualifications and Policy, and Open Learning directorates. The team shared progress on systemic initiatives such as the professionalisation of college lecturers, inclusive teaching strategies, and integrated provincial planning through the Provincial Teacher Education Development Committees.

Ms Trudi van Wyk, the Chief Director for Social Inclusion and Quality at the Department of Higher Education and Training and COL’s Focal Point in South Africa, provided an update on the forthcoming national Open Learning Policy. The policy, grounded in the 2014 White Paper on Post-School Education and Training, is expected to guide the use of technology-enhanced learning and distance education and develop a national open learning platform. All materials developed with donor funding, including those supported by COL, would be designated as OER and made publicly accessible.

At the South African Council for Educators (SACE), the discussions focused on OER and the digitalisation of teacher professional development for scale and quality outcomes. SACE is a partner in Beyond Numbers, a Pan-African project currently being implemented by COL and the Africa Federation of Teaching Regulatory Authorities (AFTRA) in Botswana, Nigeria, Seychelles and South Africa.

Reflecting on the discussions, Dr Ogange noted, “It is inspiring to see such clear alignment between national policy, institutional practice, and the values we promote at COL. We will aim to work with respective partners to create opportunities for meaningful and lasting changes in teacher education.”

Image caption: Dr Betty Ogange with officials from the Department of Higher Education and Training, South Africa.