this is a documentation of why is it effective to use technology in our schools in todays world.

1. The South African educational system has undergone many stages of transitions
and in during those years many changes occurred. One needs to also consider the
fact that apartheid regime brought many difficulties in our educational system,
therefore in this paper I hope to give some of the most important things that should
be considered in education today. Some of these key figures should clearly be
implemented in our education, whilst some are already in order and ready to be
implemented and therefore we will also look at the government’s plans towards the
implementation of these plans and most importantly we will be looking at the
following issues which will also serve as a sub – heading to the topics discussed in
this paper. The topics that will be covered include providing a brief overview of the
current educational landscape and future national strategic objectives, secondly I will
highlight the broad aims of the various national and international initiatives regarding
continuous professional development of teachers with regard to teacher competency
standards relating to ICTs and professional aptitude, thirdly I will also highlight the
various dimensions that impact on teacher training with special reference to
pedagogical dimensions, technical dimensions, and the collaborative/networking
dimension and lastly I will provide a description of how I would design the module
PFS3A10 to address or accommodate all of the requirements as articulated in the
national guidelines provided. ```
A BRIEF OVERVIEW OF THE CURRENT EDUCATIONAL LANDSCAPE AND
FUTURE NATIONAL STRATEGIC OBJECTIVES
The South African educational system was divided into two departments- The higher
educational and the training department (DoHET) which consists of universities,
Further education and training (FET) collages and the basic education department
(DBE) which deals with schools. The reason it had to be divided was because of the
apartheid regime that occurred in South Africa and therefore many challenges had to
occur in the education system. For these purposes, the Council of Higher education
(CHE) established a Size and Shape Task Team. Its members were drawn, in their
individual capacities, from labour, business, universities and technikons, the
Department of Education and the CHE itself. The Task Team began work in late
February Department of Education and the CHE itself. The Task Team began work

2. in late February 2000 and met a number of times, supported by a small secretariat.
To aid its work, a number of studies were commissioned and various unsolicited
reports and papers were also of studies were commissioned and various unsolicited
reports and papers were also examined. The Task Team also had full access to the
institutional plans of all the universities and technikons and to various reports and
databases of the Department of Education. Meaning the new South Africa had to
consist of a new educational system, a system that would very much relevant to the
needs of the country and at the same time making sure that that the learners and the
student are being well prepared for the outside world and the challenges that comes
with it, hence why the task team consisted of the people in many different but yet
related fields.
The Task Team's point of departure is the Education White Paper 3: A Programme
for the Transformation of Higher Education 1997. The goals and purposes advanced
in the White Paper - such as equity and redress, quality, development, effectiveness
and efficiency – has guided the Task Team. Meaning for the future the South African
educational system needed to not have racism by means of teaching different people
different things because of their race. In addition also the issue of equity meaning
that people needed to be taught the same education regardless of whom they are or
where they come from.
In the future one can expect the transforming higher education that it is 'responsive
to the needs of students of all ages and the intellectual challenges of the 21st
century'. The members of the Task Team share a passionate belief in the vital
importance of higher education to democracy, social justice and the economic and
social development of this country. This means the educational system will cater for
more learners and even those with any particular disability so that nobody can be left
outside and also people can benefit from this especially those with disability.
HIGHLIGHTING THE BROAD AIMS OF THE VARIOUS NATIONAL AND
INTERNATIONAL INITIATIVES REGARDING CONTINUOUS PROFESSIONAL
DEVELOPMENT OF TEACHERS WITH REGARD TO TEACHER COMPETENCY
STANDARDS RELATING TO ICTS AND PROFESSIONAL APTITUDE
In the document Guidelines for Teacher Training and Professional Development in
ICT it states that The Guidelines for Teacher Training and Professional Development

3. in ICT is one of the initiatives undertaken by the Department of Education to
implement the White Paper on e-Education. Information and communication
technology (ICT) is fundamental to the implementation of e-education and offers
greater opportunities to access learning redress inequalities and improve the quality
of teaching and learning. ICT also makes it possible for teachers to offer learners
unprecedented opportunities for development and lifelong learning (Teacher Training
and Development in ict, 2007:2), this means that it needs teachers to have more
knowledge about the latest technologies so that they can be able to implement them
in their respective classrooms and most importantly be able to integrate them for a
more efficient education for learners. I this part of the paper I will try and look at the
national and international initiatives regarding continuous development of teachers
with regards to the competency standards relating to ICTs and professional
amplitude.
National International
The teacher is computer literate and is Understanding ICT in education,
able to use computers meaning teachers have to have the
knowledge in order for them to be able to
apply into their teaching and that
application could be very meaningful.
The teacher is willing and eager curriculum and assessment, meaning
to venture into using ICT in they have to understand the curriculum in
his/her teaching and learning order for them to know exactly what they
need to teach and in that way they could
be able to use ICTs in their teaching but
it will start by understanding the
curriculum first.
The teacher is able to: Pedagogy, meaning teachers have to
• confidently use basic have different ways and methods of
functions in application teaching. This means that understanding
programs; ICTs and being able to use this in this
• apply knowledge of ICT classroom and that also helps learners to
application programs in get more familiar with technology
administration and lesson because todays worlds depends very

4. planning; much in technology and many things are
• carry out first-level done in a technological way.
troubleshooting in
programs;
• use ICT help functions
The teacher is able to: Organization and administration, this the
• operate a computer and teacher has to be at all times be able to
peripherals confidently; make sure that he is able use resources
• identify ICT hardware that are in the classroom like the charts
resources, e.g. computers, and boards to tech and they must not be
interactive whiteboards, etc.; predictable they should also consider
• carry out first-level bring something new to the learners so
troubleshooting in computer that learners can be exposed in this type
laboratories; of things.
• identify minor technical
problems and communicate
these effectively to
Support personnel.
The teacher: teacher professional learning, meaning
• has an awareness of the teachers have to from time to time go to
possible uses of the Internet workshops do short term courses for
in teaching and learning; them to able to have more knowledge
• can do simple searches on and acquire more skills. As technology
the Internet; advances teachers too need to have the
• can identify sources of knowledge about the recent technology
information and and be able to apply it in their classroom
discriminate between them; and be able to make their teaching more
• can communicate with efficient.
other teachers using e-mail;
• can send and receive
information using e-mail

5. HIGHLIGHTING THE VARIOUS DIMENSIONS THAT IMPACT ON TEACHER
TRAINING WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO PEDAGOGICAL DIMENSIONS,
TECHNICAL DIMENSIONS, AND THE COLLABORATIVE/NETWORKING
DIMENSION
Pedagogical dimensions that impact teacher training involve technological
integration, complex problem solving, and self-management. Technological integrity
will be a good impact on a teacher if it is fully exercised during the teacher training
period. This process provides the educators with the good understanding of how to
use technology in his or practice times. They will gain skills, knowledge, values and
attitudes as well as necessary support to integrate technology into learning and
teaching and support them in their various roles as they are mediators of learning.
They will also learn more about how to adapt to changes of technology to avoid
being limited in using it in education. A teacher with this specific knowledge can be
able to make practical, visual, and auditory learning in relation to their subjects to
make the sound or solid examples to their pupil. Furthermore, the success of
technology integration into learning and teaching ensures more meaningful
connection of learners with the information.
Technological integrity also promotes the development of highly cognitive skills,
problem solving and creative thinking as well as increasing the ability for learners to
learn. Pedagogy in classroom is associated with collaborative problem where the
students look at the subject deeply and bring their knowledge to focus on the
complex of issues and problems. The well trained mediator would provide learners
with direct instructions in a consciously skilled ways and to organize problem task to
guide student understanding. Teachers who are well trained are knowledgeable
about the variety of specific subject tools and applications and be able to flexibly use
these tools on the problems based situations. Learners are encouraged to work in
groups they work effectively with others as a member of a team in solving problems
as well as creating the communication among themselves. The educator develops
the strong knowledge of a content to be learned so the problems that arise are easy
to be challenged through the appropriate problem solving strategy.
The approach of self-management requires that need to be trained in the way that
they can be able to create the learning environment that can encourage the students

6. to develop knowledge and apply the relevant skills. They must be appropriately
trained about the complex of human development in order to know how, and towards
which conditions students best learn and that will make them be able to effectively
respond to the problems that learners encounter. Institutions that transform learning
into organisation that involves all the sectors in the process of learning including
quality, multicultural, and socialising network will encourage the positive impact on
their practice. They will learn how to play the leadership role when they reach the
work place, provide support to their fellow colleagues and their learners and in
creating and implementation of their school visions. Self-management can be
absorbed through the training that clarifies the importance of the teachers conduct to
be followed once you become a teacher.
The technical dimensions approach encourages the teacher training to encounter his
or her ability to select, use and support a range of Information Communications
Technologies resources as appropriate to enhance personal and professional
effectiveness, and their willingness to improve skills and knowledge in the discovery
of new developments. This can be achieved through the learning in the institutions
that engage the trainees to the computer literacy and provide good guidance as
some of them may be the ones who had never used computer before and that may
make them uncomfortable at the beginning. They must then be train how to use
different ICT in their teaching process so that they can be able to implement it during
the times of teaching the learners. Adequate training makes the educators to be able
to support everyday classroom activities at an appropriate curriculum. And this adds
to the critical understanding of new introduced value of learning network and
collaboration between the teacher and the learner and to create and participate in
organisations of practice
HOW I WOULD DESIGN THE MODULE PFS3A10 TO ADDRESS OR
ACCOMMODATE ALL OF THE REQUIREMENTS AS ARTICULATED IN THE
NATIONAL GUIDELINES PROVIDED
I would design this module in a way that I could start by providing my learners with
relevant information, in that way I am preparing them to know what exactly lies
ahead of them. I will then go back to my document of the course to look at the
learning outcome for each topic so that I know what the student need to know at the

7. end of every section of the course. Then I can expose the learners to different
resources that are out there for them as learning teachers, one of the key thing to the
course would be that they will be searching for the information themselves, what I
will be doing is simply providing them with the knowledge of how to get started. In
this way I am making sure that they find out information for themselves, they are able
to fix certain computer problems that are not very much complex because when
there are at the school teaching learners there would not be anybody who can come
and help them so they need to learn to do it for themselves.
In addition I would then ask them to design their own websites in that way I would be
able to know how much of application are they able to apply because when
designing a website they need to have some important information in them so I will
see by the tasks they do and upload them in their websites as to are they creative,
are they innovative and can they do the application of what they teach into the real
world. But the key point to the course would be them doing self-reflection in that way
I am able to see what they thought they did well and where do they still need to put
in more effort. In this way even the students themselves can then able to see where
they went wrong and be able to fix it, by this I will trying to minimise the chances of
them doing the same mistake again.

8. Bibliography
Soobrayan,B. (2011). Strategic Plan 2012-2014. Johannesburg: Department of
Basic Education.
Hindle, D (2007). Guidelines for teacher training and professional development in
ICT. Johannesburg: Department of education.
Kārkliņš, K (2011). Unesco competency frame work for teachers. Paris: The United
nations educational scientific and cultural organisation.
Manuel, T. (2011). The national development plan for 2030. Pretoria: The national
goverment.
The national development plan for . (n.d.).