Elaine Browne.pdf - Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University

4. The teacher, as a scholar, researcher and lifelong learner, will pursue reflective
study and research in his or her specific learning area.
5. The teacher needs to fulfil a community, citizenship and pastoral role. As such, the
teacher needs to promote democratic practices in schools and society.
6. The teacher is also an assessor. This implies that the teacher will understand the
purpose, methods and effects of helpful assessment feedback to learners.
7. The teacher should also be a learning area / subject / discipline / phase specialist.
This means that the teacher will have a well‐developed understanding of the
knowledge appropriate to the particular specialism (DoE 2000, 13, 14).
From the above it is clear that the national Department of Education regards the teacher as a
central transformation agent. Apart from the traditional role in terms of facilitating teaching
and learning, the teacher needs to fulfil numerous other roles, which require competences
across a wide spectrum.
As seen by Wally Morrow (2007)
Not all educationists agree with the content and focus of the Norms and Standards document.
One of them was the late Wally Morrow, also known as ‘the wise man’ of education in South
Africa (Hugo 2010, 3). In his seminal book, Learning to Teach in South Africa, Morrow (2007,
100) asserts that the Norms and Standards fails in making a distinction between the formal and
the material elements of teaching. Morrow defines the material elements as the daily work
that teachers do. These are fully explained in the Norms and Standards. The formal elements of
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