The Global Institute for Teacher Education and Society (GITES) Symposium is more than just an annual event; it serves as a catalyst for creating sustainable scholarly networks that transcend disciplinary and institutional boundaries. The symposium was recently held at the Granger Bay Campus.

The annual GITES symposium was established in 2023 to create an inspiring platform for academics, teachers, policymakers, and community members to engage in vital discussions about the contemporary issues facing South African education and beyond. The discourse emphasises the crucial need to cultivate social justice in education, fostering a united community of practice that brings together all stakeholders in society to drive meaningful change.

This year’s symposium was themed: Can Educational Equity and Quality be advanced in both the Global South and North within the context of Artificial Intelligence? The inspiring speakers included Prof Muhammad Khalifa from Ohio State University, Dr Robyn Whittaker from Africa Voices Dialogue, and Prof Andrew Hargreaves from Boston College and the University of Ottawa.

Prof Zayd Waghid, GITES Director, said this symposium had a strong internationalisation aspect by drawing attendees from across the globe, including Africa, Europe and Asia. Waghid said this year’s speakers had made a significant contribution to the field of education. “The perspectives of the keynotes provided much food for thought and dialogical engagement that were both insightful and provocative around the need to re-imagine South African education within the context of Artificial Intelligence towards realising equity and social justice.”

Waghid, Assoc Prof in the Faculty of Education, noted that one of the major highlights of the event included the work that the Africa Voices Dialogue has made concerning establishing a network of leading African scholars in debating contemporary issues influencing Africa and how the organisation has navigated around some of the major issues towards promoting equitable and quality education in several African schools. Khalifa’s talk on the influence of colonisation on education and its link to Artificial Intelligence was both provocative and necessary in creating discomfort around “our positions as educators”.

“Hargreaves' talk was an emotional one that enabled the audience to situate themselves in the stories that he presented through a humanistic pedagogy.”

He added that the GITES symposium was a catalyst for building sustainable scholarly networks that extend beyond disciplinary and institutional silos. “As GITES continues to grow, it envisions a ‘glocal’ (global and local) approach to education that values shared commitment, cultural responsiveness, and inclusivity.”

Written by Aphiwe Boyce
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CPUT proudly opened its doors recently for the Global Institute for Teacher Education and Society (GITES) Annual Symposium of Teaching for Social Justice.

The theme of the symposium, held at the Cape Town Hotel School, Granger Bay Campus. was: Examining and envisioning education in South Africa from current inequalities to future equities – addressing social justice and inclusivity in pursuit of a ‘good society’.

Prof Zayd Waghid, Acting Director: GITES, CPUT, delivered the opening remarks and outlined the role of GITES. Waghid said the GITES Annual Symposium on Teaching for Social Justice was started in 2023. “The symposium aims to provide a platform for experts in the field of social justice education to engage in discourse around the need to transform society through pragmatic and innovative ways at the micro, meso and macro levels. The symposium aims to create an awareness of the need to disrupt comfort levels of t prevalent in various education contexts.”

He added that the symposium focuses on bringing students at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels, in-service teachers and government officials, by creating spaces for meaningful dialogue by bringing theory and rigorous research to practice and policy.

Keynote speakers included: Prof Jonathan Jansen from Stellenbosch University; Prof Thaddeus Metz, from the University of Pretoria, and Dr Savo Heleta, from Durban University of Technology.

In his presentation, Jansen gave reasons “why professors of education should not teach future teachers”. “We have not taught in schools for decades. We norm our teaching on middle-class school standards. We frontload teacher education with theory and literature, he continued.

“Because of these factors we are far removed from the routines of management and teaching in working-class schools.”

Heleta delivered his presentation on Eurocentric education under coloniality and neoliberalism: How to envision socially just and decolonised education in South Africa? He said decolonisation was not even a footnote. “Most university leaders, academia, and policymakers weren’t bothered with the coloniality of knowledge and colonial and apartheid-era curriculum that continued long after 1994. Epistemic decolonisation became a buzzword in South African higher education in 2015-2016, primarily due to student activism under the #RhodesMustFall and #FeesMustFall banners.”

Metz, a Research Professor of Philosophy, made a presentation on Being Excluded from Knowledge for Its Own Sake: An Underappreciated Injustice.

Reflecting on the event, Dr Yohana William said the topic that Jansen presented was important at the current juncture where South Africa, as many other developing countries, “is still battling with redressing the current inequalities in education for future equities and pursuit of a good society as the symposium theme suggests”.

William said the education system is not neutral. “It is a tool or an instrument that reproduces and exacerbates the existing inequalities and classes through both the existing pedagogies and political/hegemonic decisions characterising the schooling process (what is and what is not).”

Meanwhile, Dr Andrew Wambua said Jansen stated that love and connection matter more than correct teaching. And that consistency in school management is key. He said according to Metz, if qualified people cannot access higher education, then that is injustice. “Education should reach masses and should not be offered just for the sake of it.” He added that Heleta urged the attendees to decolonise “our curriculum and thinking”. “Education remains deeply segregated. Societal inequalities are often on display at and between universities. There is a need for critical pedagogy and decoloniality to resist neoliberalism, coloniality, and Eurocentric hegemony.”

In his take-ways, Dr Adedayo Theodorio said Heleta pointed out that multilayered injustices are happening across the globe and that the injustices in many ways influence higher education. “Challenges such as the absence of justice, oppression, and dissociations in South Africa’s society remain a sickening root cause of inequality in the society and higher education.”

Theodorio said the Department of Higher Education and Training should consider decolonisation fully instead of neoliberal visions. “SA universities could consider collaborating with local universities in SA instead of entirely collaborating with foreign universities.”

Written by Aphiwe Boyce
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