Educator Development and Qualifications

Educator Roles and Competence

• The seven roles and associated competence for educators provide the exit level outcomes for educator development and are the central feature of all initial educator qualifications and learning programmes.
• The critical cross-field outcomes are integrated into the roles and their applied competence.

Freedom and Responsibility of Providers

• Providers have the freedom and responsibility to design their learning programmes in any way that leads learners to the successful achievement of the outcomes as represented in their associated assessment criteria.

Roles and Specialisations

• The seventh role, that of a learning area/subject/discipline/phase specialist, is the overarching role into which the other roles are integrated, and in which competence is ultimately assessed.
• Specialisations can be linked to phase (e.g., foundation phase), subject area (e.g., mathematics or human and social sciences), or a combination thereof.
• Qualifications must be designed around the specialist role as it encapsulates the ‘purpose’ of the qualification and ‘shapes’ the way the other six roles and their applied competence are integrated into the qualification.
• A specialisation for teaching will always include both a subject area specialisation and a phase specialisation.

Examples of Specialisations

• Foundation phase educators will specialise in the three learning areas of the foundation phase as well as an understanding of learners and learning in the first years of formal schooling.
• Other specialisations based on the other roles are possible in ‘post-basic’ qualifications, such as Educational Management, Curriculum Studies, or Materials Development.

Integrated Roles and Competence

• The list of roles and their associated competence is meant to serve as a description of what it means to be a competent educator.
• The roles and competence must be integrated in the learning programme and should inform the exit level outcomes of a qualification and their associated assessment criteria.
• The qualification should reflect an applied and integrated competence, demonstrating the ability to integrate theory and practice in teaching.

The Seven Roles of Educators

• Learning Mediator: mediates learning in a manner sensitive to the diverse needs of learners, constructs learning environments, and communicates effectively with recognition of and respect for differences.
• Interpreter and Designer of Learning Programmes and Materials: understands and interprets provided learning programmes, designs learning materials, and demonstrates sound knowledge of subject content and teaching principles, strategies, and resources.