TVET teacher education in Africa

This study has three broad objectives. Firstly, it seeks to compare experiences on the education and training of Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) teachers in South Africa, Egypt, Ghana, Tanzania, and Cameroon. Secondly, it seeks to get input from inspiring practices from European Member States. Lastly, policy pointers should be proposed for further action. This study was commissioned as part of the South Africa - EU Strategic Partnership sectoral policy dialogue in education. Data was collected between December 2014 and September 2015. The study serves as input to that policy dialogue, in particular in relation to the education and training of upper secondary and higher TVET teachers working in institution-based TVET providers in the formal public education system. Teachers are the most important in-school factor influencing the quality of student learning and the training of teachers is the key issue in this report. However, able practitioners do not necessarily reach their potential without appropriate support nor without being sufficiently professionally challenged and rewarded. The quality of TVET teaching also depends on other factors, such as the teacher's persona; the TVET organisation (at school or college level) and the wider TVET system (national structures related to TVET of which TVET teacher education is an important element). The main research activities consisted of desk research; interviews; country studies; and comparative analysis and reporting. To validate the findings and ensure a practical link to further dissemination of the results, policy workshops were organised with policymakers in the participating countries. In this summary, key conclusions are discussed per topic. For each topic, policy pointers are presented.