Final-Year Foundation Phase Pre-service Teachers' Preparedness for Quality Management System Implementation: A Qualitative Study Across Three South African Teacher Education Institutions
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.57125/FED.2026.09.08Keywords:
Foundation Phase Education, Teacher Education Programmes, pre-service teachers, Quality Management System (QMS), teacher preparedness, teaching practice, mentoring.Abstract
South Africa's Quality Management System (QMS) assigns newly qualified teachers substantial appraisal, accountability and professional-development responsibilities from the outset of their careers, yet research has examined QMS implementation almost exclusively among practising teachers, school managers and district officials. How pre-service teachers are prepared for these responsibilities during initial teacher education remains underexplored. Guided by Baldwin and Ford's (1988) Transfer of Training Model, this qualitative study explored how final-year Foundation Phase pre-service teachers were prepared for QMS implementation through their teacher education programmes. Situated within an interpretivist paradigm, the study employed purposive sampling and methodological triangulation across three teacher education institutions in Gauteng and North West: focus-group discussions with 59 participants, follow-up semi-structured interviews with a 14-participant subsample, and analysis of the IQMS (2003) and QMS (2020) policy agreements. Data were analysed thematically across three dimensions. The findings showed that formal QMS preparation was largely introductory and theoretical, offering superficial coursework exposure rather than developmental learning; that practical understanding developed mainly during teaching practice; and that mentor teachers and placement-school contexts strongly shaped these opportunities, producing considerable variation in preparedness among graduates of comparable programmes. The study recommends stronger integration of QMS training within teacher education curricula and closer university–school partnerships to ensure that newly qualified teachers are consistently prepared for policy implementation.
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