Teacher Education for the Technical and Vocational Education and Training Sector: A Misconceived or Misplaced Priority

South African teacher education is marked by issues of race, gender, inequality, economic turmoil, technological advancement, and other issues associated with the essence of being human. These issues cannot be divorced from the country’s lingering effects of colonialism and apartheid. Although the Policy on Minimum Requirements for Teacher Education Qualifications (MRTEQ) provides for the development of teacher education qualifications at universities, the implications of these issues on teacher education remain a challenge. Also, this policy does not capture the essence of teacher education in the Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) sector, thereby exacerbating the plight of TVET teacher education. Policy imperative appears to have insidiously embraced economic interest while relegating social justice concerns to linger within arenas of political rhetoric. This contestation has positioned us to reflect on teacher education in the TVET sector within the parameters of curriculum dilemma and to ponder what teacher education is for. The extent to which teacher education in TVET is being misconceived or misplaced as a priority for economic growth and sustainability underpins our dilemma. The chapter contributes to this scholarly concern by examining the dynamics of teacher education in the South African TVET sector, wherein we seek to grapple with the discord between social justice and economic growth in education and training, and how this influences teacher education. We focus on the curriculum in teacher education and argue that notions such as vocational pedagogy, industry-based learning, and other notions linked to vocational education and training must be better incorporated into the broader conceptualisation of teacher education in this sector. We also advocate for the inclusion of teacher education TVET educators in an encompassing scholarly discourse around teacher education as we see it as a holistic endeavour to address teacher education issues in South Africa. We begin the chapter by presenting a brief historical overview of TVET in South Africa to highlight the narrow conceptualisation underpinning teacher education in TVET. We then examine policies that have influenced and shaped teacher education, after which we explore curriculum development and design in TVET and its implication for teacher education. The chapter ends with some suggestions on the way forward for teacher education in TVET as a socially responsive teacher education approach that could address what teacher education is for in TVET.