Rethinking Teachers’ Training Process: Preservice Teachers’ Experiences of Teaching in South African Rurally Located Schools

Abstract

For Africa to meet its teaching demands, especially in South Africa, there is a need to improve the quality process of recruiting teachers. If this is not improved, the quality of teachers' output is questioned and affects the teaching process in the country. This poses a question about the process of training young teachers in South African schools and the hiccup that has deterred the motive of the training. The pre-service teachers’ challenges have been noted in literature and researchers’ experience with pre-service teachers in the field of evaluations. This study aims to get into pre-service teachers’ world of challenges, find a solution to the practical problems they experience in teaching practice, and improve on them to bring a seamless programme. We used the expectancy theory to theorise the study. Individual unstructured interviews were conducted to gather data. A purposeful sampling procedure was employed as the targeted audience was the student teachers on teaching practice. A case study was also used to access two schools consisting of six student teachers from locally located schools, two evaluators, and one supervisor overseeing the affairs of the teaching practice committee in a rural university in South Africa. The data were analysed using Thematic Analysis (TA). The findings revealed that pre-service teachers in the selected rural schools in South Africa faced challenges, ranging from transportation to the schools, accommodation problems for student teachers, lack of basic amenities in schools, corruption by principals to supply school needs, dealing with truant learners, lack of teachers in rurally located schools and lack of textbook for learners and teachers. Nonetheless, providing basic social amenities in schools, books for learners and student teachers, proper account checks by Department of Basic Education (DBE) officials to sanction corrupt principals, and financial aid for rurally located students for transportation and housing will make teaching practice a memorable and blissful one.

Received: 15 February 2023 / Accepted: 2 June 2023 / Published: 5 July 2023