School Foundations

Why are so many South African children leaving the early grades unable to read or do basic arithmetic and what does this say about how we train their teachers?

This book tackles that question head-on. It provides a thorough investigation of South Africa's Initial Teacher Education system, examining how teachers who specialise in Foundation and Intermediate Phase teaching are selected, trained, and prepared for the classroom. A central concern is equity: the book exposes the troubling gap between how literacy and numeracy are taught in schools serving poor children versus those serving middle-class children, and traces that gap back to weaknesses in teacher preparation.

Moving through student recruitment, curriculum design, and phase specialisation, the book builds toward a bold, integrated set of recommendations and a call to action for teacher educators, policymakers, regulators, and funders to work in concert toward a stronger, more equitable primary school teaching force.