About The Project
South Africa’s universities have not consistently prepared student teachers to teach early reading, writing and mathematics — or English as a First Additional Language — to the level the primary classroom demands, and the sector long lacked a shared, professionally owned standard for what a primary teacher should know and be able to do.
PrimTEd brought academics from universities across the country into collaborative communities of practice to define knowledge and practice standards and to build and validate benchmark assessments that track student-teacher knowledge from first to fourth year. Kelello Collectives leads the assessment workstream: designing and psychometrically validating the instruments (including Rasch analysis), standardising terminology through isiXhosa and Sepedi glossaries, and coordinating the communities of practice that drive uptake across institutions.
A shared, evidence-based standard for what every primary teacher should know and be able to do.
PrimTEd is a Department of Higher Education and Training initiative, coordinated nationally by JET Education Services and funded by the European Union, with the participation of universities offering primary B.Ed programmes across South Africa. Kelello Collectives leads the Assessment workstream.
