Teacher training under scrutiny as book traces South Africa’s literacy crisis to classroom preparation

South Africa’s persistent literacy and numeracy crisis may have roots in how foundation-phase teachers are selected, trained and prepared for the classroom, according to a new book examining three decades of teacher education research.

Initial teacher education is crucial to improving learning outcomes and tackling inequality, but the preparation of teachers who teach children in the first years of school remains a major concern.

The 2030 Reading Panel has described South Africa’s literacy crisis as severe, with data showing that about 70% of children in grades 1 to 3 cannot read at grade level in their home language. South Africa also ranked last among 57 countries that participated in the 2023 Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (Pirls).

The book School Foundation , by education researchers Nick Taylor and Irene Pampallis, traces the roots of the country’s early-grade literacy and numeracy crisis to the way foundation and intermediate phase teachers are selected, trained and prepared for teaching.

Taylor, a former high school mathematics and science teacher and junior research fellow at JET Education Services, and Pampallis, a former high school mathematics teacher and PhD candidate whose research interests include initial teacher education, mathematics education, teacher geographical distribution and job satisfaction, draw on three decades of research, policy and regulatory work.

Pampallis said the book was deliberately written in an engaging and accessible way while providing a systematic account of the development of initial teacher education in South Africa.

“The book traces the development of teacher education over the last 30 years in terms of the relationship between past and present.