Post Graduate Diploma Education (Pre-Service)

This pre-service Postgraduate DipEd programme reflects the belief that avenues for access to education must be provided for all persons. It also reflects the belief that all students should have experiences of formal schooling that will promote their holistic development and academic success. Therefore, all students must be exposed to curricula which they perceive to be relevant, which combine formal knowledge with community knowledge, and which draw on their real-world experiences. The programme thus grounds the formal educational theory to which students will be introduced in participants’ knowledge of their subject areas; the knowledge of schools and classrooms that they have constructed from their experiences at different stages of their development; and their social and cultural contexts. The programme’s field-based orientation reflects the belief that learners construct professional knowledge and develop a professional identity most effectively when they must deal with challenges that arise within authentic contexts of practice. Finally, this programme conceptualises educators as persons who are expected to make a contribution to the development of the societies in which they practise their profession. Courses within the programme are therefore designed to help participants understand the role and nature of the school in a dynamic society.