Global Institute for Teacher Education and Society (GITES)
History of GITES
CITE was founded in 2014 following a Tier 1 NRF grant for a Research Chair in Teacher Education awarded under the South African Research Chair Initiative (SARChI). The Centre has succeeded and excelled in all its strategic objectives since its inception. This success cemented the Centre as a key producer of knowledge in the area of teacher education and teacher professional development globally, and this is evident in recurring requests to join local and international advisory boards that inform teacher education policy and practice for the future.
Building on this footprint, CITE would become the Global Institute for Teacher Education and Society (GITES) affiliated with a university but with reasonable autonomy. GITES established in 2023 will continue and deepen the research, teaching, scholarship, capacity development and publication of excellence in public policy, education, and teacher education policy of CITE. While South Africa will continue to be a major focus, the GITES will be connected through comparative research programmes within the African continent and will have a full global reach with countries in the Global South and the North.
Vision
To be a global hub for research on teaching, teacher education and teacher development to inform education policy and practice that address inequality and promote equity, social justice, and transformation in society at local, regional and international levels.”
Mission
To produce research-based knowledge, inform policy, best practice and processes of change, and contribute to capacity building of scholars and professionals in the field of teacher education. Its research is undertaken by in-house and visiting researchers as well as collaborators from other CPUT faculties, local and international counterpart organisations. The research has a focus on teachers, teaching, teacher education and the humanities and is empirically grounded, intent on identifying generative and causal links to better explain issues around inequality, and to inform and review proposed changes to policy and practice aimed at supporting equity, social justice and transformation in society at local, regional and international levels.
Values
GITES is equity-focused, social justice orientated and committed to transformation. Through its work, it promotes the values of democracy, inclusive citizenship, sustainable development, and social cohesion.
Key Deliverables
1. Knowledge production: GITES produces empirically grounded teacher education research in the form of outputs such as books, articles and working papers. In particular, the Institute is committed to scholarship in, from and about the Global South.
2. Knowledge dissemination and application: The basic and applied knowledge in the field of teacher education produced by the GITES, as a conduit for social justice and reform, is used to inform, influence and support processes of change aimed at improving policy and practice.
3. Capacity building: The Institute is committed to supporting the development and emergence of researchers, scholars and practitioners who can describe, analyse, understand and influence practice and policy in the field of teacher education. Being housed in the Faculty of Education at CPUT, the Institute has a special interest in helping to grow generations of young and existing scholars who can work in research and in practice.
