Nestled beneath the hill where it is believed Reverend Enoch Sontonga penned, in 1897, the great hymn for Africa, “Nkosi Sikele’iAfrica”, the Funda UJabule School at the Soweto Campus of the University of Johannesburg (UJ) is marked as one of the most exciting developments in South Africa’s teacher education landscape.
In what is another historic watershed in the University’s Soweto Campus development history, the new facilities at the Funda UJabule (isiZulu, meaning “learn and be joyful”) School, a pioneering teacher education and research school that bridges the divide between theory and practice in teacher education, was officially opened by the University’s Vice-Chancellor and Principal, Prof Ihron Rensburg on Thursday, 20 August 2015.
As one of UJ’s flagship initiatives, the Funda UJabule School where students learn to teach, and where they learn about children’s development in a live-site over four years of their degree programme, is the first of its kind in South Africa and is set to become a best-practice school and a model for future teaching schools in the country.
Speaking at the opening of the new facility, Prof Sarah Gravett, Executive Dean of the University’s Faculty of Education, pointed out that the teacher education and research facility for students who study towards becoming primary school teachers, is an ordinary public school, but also a practice site for student teacher development in the foundation phase and intermediate phase of schooling. “The School is also a “social laboratory” enabling research in childhood education,” she said.
In what is another historic watershed in the University’s Soweto Campus development history, the new facilities at the Funda UJabule (isiZulu, meaning “learn and be joyful”) School, a pioneering teacher education and research school that bridges the divide between theory and practice in teacher education, was officially opened by the University’s Vice-Chancellor and Principal, Prof Ihron Rensburg on Thursday, 20 August 2015.
As one of UJ’s flagship initiatives, the Funda UJabule School where students learn to teach, and where they learn about children’s development in a live-site over four years of their degree programme, is the first of its kind in South Africa and is set to become a best-practice school and a model for future teaching schools in the country.
Speaking at the opening of the new facility, Prof Sarah Gravett, Executive Dean of the University’s Faculty of Education, pointed out that the teacher education and research facility for students who study towards becoming primary school teachers, is an ordinary public school, but also a practice site for student teacher development in the foundation phase and intermediate phase of schooling. “The School is also a “social laboratory” enabling research in childhood education,” she said.
