Teacher Development Programme

The Thuto Teacher Development Programme is strategically geared to addressing the shortage of teachers in South Africa.

A Thuto Trust bursary covers tuition fees, textbooks and stipend for students who fulfil our criteria for the duration of their university studies. The programme also include full-time internship at one of our thirteen partner schools (eight private and five public schools). 

We support highly motivated and tenacious students with a passion for teaching and a will to succeed, simply by giving them the means to do so. The students then do the rest. We make them accountable for their own destinies and the lives they are set to change through teaching.

We are addressing the education crisis head-on 

 How to get involved

We provide a full Teacher Development Bursary for: 

• A four-year Undergraduate The B.Ed Qualification or,
• A two-year The Post Graduate Certificate Education (PGCE) 

Our detailed selection process 

Thuto’s bursary participant recruitment, screening and selection process is critical. It includes:

• Determination of participant’s suitability for the teaching profession
• Determination of candidate’s leadership potential
• Assessment of emotional intelligence
• Special needs assessments and development of optimum interventions
• Design of support programme: mentorships, coaching and on-the-job training programmes

Not just teachers but leaders

Through participation in the Thuto Teacher Development Programme, all teacher interns are also provided with key enabling elements:

• Relevant psychosocial support tailored to each participant, with emphasis on self-mastery as well as life skills, leadership, workplace readiness, financial management and career guidance and management. One-on-one mentoring of students and role model presentations
• Provision of student accommodation-based activities that extend the psycho-social development aspect, in collaboration with the partner high schools, to promote intern networking
• Partnership and training with creative, best practice educationists
• Our latest addition is the "Teach Like a Superhero” teacher support programme developed by Dr. Francois Naudé, an interactive addition to the current Thuto Trust psychosocial support programme.

Advanced career support

Our Teacher Development Programme is complemented by on-the-job training (full-time internships) in partner schools. 

Thuto Trust recently concluded a five-year tripartite agreement with the Gauteng Department of Education (GDE) and the Department of Basic Education (DBE), to offer full bursaries to thirty-five eligible B.Ed. students, to participate in the Thuto Trust teacher development programme at Primary School level.  This is an exciting addition to the Thuto Trust programme and facilitates the inclusion of five public schools to Thuto’s network of partner schools in Gauteng, a fundamental component of the Thuto Trust strategy.

 The selected cohort of teacher trainees (twenty in 2021, and additional fifteen in 2022) will receive funding for tuition, books, and accommodation from the DBE through the Funza Lushaka Bursary Programme*. Thuto Trust will fund the students’ stipend, psychosocial support, and internship-mentorship programmes.

*Footnote: The Funza Lushaka Bursary Programme is a multi-year programme that promotes teaching in public schools.