The School for Initial Teacher Education (SITE) is one of the three schools aligned under the newly constructed Faculty of Education. The SITE actively pursues the facilitation of learning and teaching that is up-to-date, is relevant to the South African educational terrain and that promotes educational transformation nationally, particularly in the Eastern Cape. To this end, the school offers various Bachelor of Education (B.Ed) and Post-Graduate Certificate (PGCE) qualifications with the East London campus focusing on the General Education and Training (GET) band and the Alice campus focusing on the Further Education and Training (FET) band. The B.Ed qualification, also, provides access to further study at NQF 7 e.g. B.Ed (Hons). The qualification accredits the development of professional competence informed by sound knowledge and understanding of the area/s of specialization and of educational theory. The area of overlap between the two campuses is at the senior phase level of specialization which is offered at both campuses.
The SITE has attracted, and intends to continue to attract qualified, experienced as well as highly competent staff members that are passionate about teacher education. The staff employed at present is committed to providing pertinent knowledge, skills, attitudes and values that will equip prospective teachers to play a key role within the educational terrain and also in improving the quality of education in Southern Africa.
Full-time staff members in the SITE teach on both the PGCE and B.Ed programmes and many also lecture and supervise within the School of Post-Graduate Studies (SPGS) as well as in the School for In-Service Programmes (SISP).
All of this is in line with the vision of the SITE which is: To be a nationally and internationally recognized school for initial teacher education, promoting learning and teaching excellence and preparing leaders in education.
Dr PM Mahlangu STD (UniZul), BA (Unisa), B Ed & M Ed (Wits), PhD (New Mexico State Univ)
Director & Head of the school.
Qualifications offered by SISP
B Ed (Foundation, Intermediate and Senior Phase) (GET Band)
B Ed (Senior Phase and FET Band)
Postgraduate Certificate in Education (PGCE) (FET Band)
Postgraduate Certificate in Education (PGCE) (Foundation, Intermediate and Senior Phase) (GET Band)
