Abstract
D.Ed.
During the last decade of the 20th century and in the early years of the new millennium, the education dispensation in South Africa changed tremendously.
Many lecturers are not necessarily equipped to face all the challenges the changes brought about, and since it is the vision of the new Government to have a erational, seamless Higher Education system that will embrace the intellectual and professional challenges facing South Africans in the 21st centuryf (Department of Education 2003:iii), the researcher became involved and conducted this study in a Higher Education institution.
The relevant acts in the Higher Education environment served as framework to table a training model for newly appointed lecturers. Development research was used as method, and a heuristic statement formulated and tested. The instructional design components based on an Input¨ Process¨ Output matrix was applied, and a step-by-step approach followed to design the training model and simultaneously test the implementation of the programme.
An extensive literature study determined criteria to be met in the design of the training programme, and experts in the field of Higher Education continuously gave their input. Reflection on 30 lecturersf who participated by giving their perceptions regarding their ability to perform their duties before and after a year of probation, as well as the 632 studentsf perceptions of the learning facilitation skills of their lecturers, completed the cycle of analysis, design, evaluation and revision. A distinction between the results of experienced and less experienced lecturers proved to be valuable, and the information that was gained, led to recommendations to support staff developers to implement a training programme for lecturers.
It became evident that quality promotion is a necessity, and in order to enhance that, staff development initiatives should be linked to the performance appraisal system. Lecturers should take ownership of their own development and recognise the value of reflection on practice.
The proposed training programme for the holistic development of lecturers in a Higher Education institution is based on past experience, relevant in the current situation but also future orientated. It is practical, effective and applicable in the Higher Education sector, and the validity lies in the fact that it is goal orientated, based on state of the art knowledge, relevant and meaningful. The reality in which the lecturers are expected to perform is reflected and it considers their emotional and instinctive feelings. It is therefore tabled as a well researched and properly instituted model.