The Faculty of Education at Stellenbosch University (SU) will implement several new honours programmes in a blended learning mode in 2017.

The new Minimum Requirements for Teacher Education Qualifications require all teacher education programmes to be recurriculated and the Faculty utilised this opportunity to rethink and redesign all its honours programmes.

"When policy pressures require change, one should see it as an opportunity for innovation," said Prof Magda Fourie-Malherbe, coordinator of the honours recurriculation process.

The new honours programmes all include a research component of 25%, which will give students the opportunity to become involved in research projects and develop their research skills.

Besides the research component, the biggest difference between the old and new programmes will be the way in which they are presented. Previously, students who enrolled for BEd Honours programmes had to attend class on campus during the evenings, or they formed part of the telematics programme which meant they had little to no contact with other students.

According to Prof Fourie-Malherbe, the Faculty wanted to create more opportunity for interaction between students, and between students and lecturers so that they can benefit from each other's diverse experiences and opinions. This is made possible by the innovative use of cutting edge technologies.

The blended learning mode includes face-to-face contact sessions on campus, telematics broadcasts to existing satellite sites as well as electronic learning through SUNLearn (the learning management system of Stellenbosch University). SUNLearn makes it possible for students to participate in online discussion groups with fellow students and lecturers, access a variety of material like podcasts and videos, participate in e-assessment, submit assignments electronically, etc.

Students will attend two weeks of contact sessions during school holidays. This means that people from anywhere in South Africa, whether they've just graduated or are already employed in the education system, can register for these programmes.

The following new programmes will be implemented in 2017: BEd Hons (Educational Development and Democracy); BEd Hons (Educational Support); BEd Hons (Foundation Phase Education) and BEd Hons (Language Education). The Faculty is also developing a new programme in Curriculum Inquiry for implementation in 2018.

Students can enter for their programme of choice either full-time (duration 1 year) or part-time (duration 2 years).

Applications close on 30 October.

For general enquiries, contanct Melissa van der Vyver at [email protected] or 021 808 2122.

More about the new programmes:

BEd Hons (Educational Development and Democracy)

The purpose of this honours degree is to enrich and deepen undergraduate knowledge by developing students' critical understanding of the current policy context and the signifiers of change, and their research capacity. After completion of this qualification students will be able to establish and clarify conceptual links between the theoretical perspectives of the modules and the professional environment.

BEd Hons (Educational Support)

The purpose of this programme is to ensure a coherent and critical understanding of the scope and principles underlying education and educational support for learners experiencing barriers to learning. It prepares students to identify diverse and unique learning abilities and learning challenges and to accommodate these in adequate and meaningful ways.

BEd Hons (Foundation Phase Education)

The aim of the programme is to empower students with subject-specific content knowledge and pedagogical content knowledge which will develop their ability to act as leaders in an academic and professional capacity in Literacy Education and Mathematics Education in the foundation phase.

BEd Hons (Language Education)

The purpose of the honours degree in language education is to enrich and deepen undergraduate training by developing research-based language teaching practice. This honours degree emphasises the theoretical and research base of language education. In addition, the programme includes a focus on multilingual education, creative writing and lexicography.