Teacher Learning in a Community of Practice: A Case Study of ...

egulation at the expense ofother social goals. The challenge, then, was to address the
tensions between equity and redress and economic growth and development (ibid.), a
tension that has not been adequately managed (Sayed 2004).
In 1995, the Department ofEducation released a White paper for Education (DoE, 1995),
which outlined the broad guidelines for educational change. Numerous educational policy
initiatives followed. The intention was to set up an education system that would launch
South Africa into the globalised world, while simultaneously redressing the inequalities
of the past. In the period 1994 -1999, there was much ambiguity about the roles and the
powers ofboth the national education ministry and the provinces. The inability ofthe
provinces to function effectively resulted in the national ministry intervening more
strongly in the functioning ofthe provinces. With regard to teacher education in
particular, the responsibility for teacher education policy implementation fell under the
ambit ofthe DoE, the ELRC, SAQA, the Higher Education Quality Committee (HEQC)
and SACE, and it was only during the course of2000 that these structures became
operational. However, coordination amongst these fledgling bodies presented a serious
challenge. Parker warns that "(t)he development ofa high quality teacher education
system in South Africa depends on the ability ofthese various bodies to act in concert"
(Parker 2002:4). Thus far, such co-ordination remains elusive in South African
education.
By 2000, the then Minister ofEducation, declared his intention to locate teacher
education in higher education. Twenty-five contact colleges ofeducation were to be
incorporated as sub-divisions ofvarious universities and technikons. Distance teacher
education colleges were to become subdivisions ofthe University of South Africa. Sayed
(2004:252) notes that this was "arguably one ofthe most significant policy changes in
post apartheid South Africa", and was to significantly affect both governance and quality
assurance in teacher education. He argues that this structural reconfiguration ofteacher
education in South Africa was in direct contrast to progressive international trends that
advocated more school-based teacher education programmes. While the incorporation of
teacher education colleges into universities could be viewed as the blatant neglect of
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