The University of the Free State's Faculty of Education educates teachers in several disciplines. Our one role is to prepare pre-service teachers for their work in schools, ensuring that they have a strong disciplinary base for their professional work

A second major role is the teaching of in-service teachers. This work is informed by and closely related to our research and community outreach. We bring to our work a keen interest in the local context, as the opportunity for exploring issues that are universal in education. We work closely with schools and other sites of education and attempt to keep theory and practice in dialogue with each other.

The faculty offers a wide range of undergraduate degrees and diplomas as well as postgraduate certificates, honours, master’s and doctoral programmes. We place a high value on students as central to our work.

Students in our undergraduate Bachelor of Education degree (offered in pre-school/foundation, intermediate, and FET phases) are preparing to be teachers in primary and secondary schools. The key teaching and learning tenet of the programme is reflection, with an emphasis on instructing prospective teachers about teaching as opposed to teaching them only how to teach.

In the postgraduate area, we offer honours and master's degrees, and a doctoral programme. The faculty produces large numbers of honours and master's graduates in critical areas such Curriculum Studies, Higher Education, Psychology of Education, Philosophy and Policy Studies in Education, and Comparative Education and Educational Management.



Within the continuing education sector, we offer the following:

• Advanced Certificate in Education (ACE)
• National Professional Diploma in Education (NPDE)
• numerous short courses

Addressing the changing needs of the teaching profession, these courses are developed per tender and focus primarily on the upgrading of the knowledge and methodology of science, mathematics, and technology teachers in all the school phases.

Research in the faculty includes work that is focused on issues of teaching and learning in specific disciplines, as well as research that focuses on more general matters – educational contexts, social issues and curriculum more generally.

We embark on creative teaching and learning practices, illuminating broader citizen and professional values. Our students are taught to value scholarship, professional competence, and ethical practice.

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