Reacting, adapting and responding to change: Experiences of multicultural and anti-racism teacher education post 1994

Abstract

This article reports on a section of the results of a South African±Netherlands
Research Foundation Programme on Alternatives Development (SANPAD) project
that was undertaken at Edgewood College of Education and three primary schools
in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. The project covered a ten-year period and
investigated the response of a previously `white\' college of education to the
desegregation of its student body, both in terms of its institutional responses and the
changes in its curriculum and course offerings. It then went on to interrogate preservice
teachers\' experiences of multicultural and anti-racism education during
their teacher education at college and during their teaching practicum session at
the schools. Data was collected by examining curriculum documents and course
outlines, administering questionnaires, undertaking semi-structured interviews with
the college staff and pre-service teachers, and using observation schedules to
examine the pre-service teachers teaching of a variety of subjects at their practicum
school. The student questionnaires were analysed and common themes were
captured.

South African Journal of Higher Education Vol. 20 (5) 2006: pp. 679-690