South Africa’s critical shortage of skilled secondary school teachers particularly in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) has prompted the Regenesys School of Education to launch its CHE-accredited Bachelor of Education in Senior Phase and Further Education and Training Teaching (B. Ed SP & FET).
The new school will offer a four-year course in further education, with a curriculum that focuses solely on STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) subjects, alongside selected management and business modules.
South Africa has a national quota for learners in these fields, but public education is falling well short. Many teachers struggle with their own subject knowledge and methods, while the average STEM teacher is now 43 years old. Over the next decade, retirements will sharply reduce the teaching pool.
According to the 2024 UNESCO Global Report, South Africa needs to produce 25 000 new teachers annually to meet demand, yet currently produces only about 15 000.
The structured four-year undergraduate degree, offered in both contact and online formats, allows students to specialise in STEM or Business and Management. It has been deliberately designed to address a series of pressing challenges facing the country’s education system, including a graduation rate for teachers that falls far short of national needs, pupil performance in core subjects that lags behind global benchmarks, outdated teaching methods in a rapidly changing world, and an ageing teaching workforce, with the average teacher now 43 years old and a significant number set to retire within the next decade.
According to Kamala Pather, head of the Regenesys School of Education, the launch is about more than meeting numbers: “This is a bold and brave step to tackle the country’s most pressing education challenges head-on. We are deliberately targeting not only the shortage of STEM and business teachers, but also the systemic injustice that keeps talented young people from marginalised communities out of the profession. Every module in this programme is built on a policy of inclusion, ensuring our graduates can, in turn, create classrooms that are equitable, innovative and transformative.”
The B. Ed is designed to equip teachers with deep subject knowledge in high-demand areas, while also integrating advanced teaching approaches such as epistemic and social justice pedagogies, universal design and transformative education principles. This combination will ensure that graduates are not only experts in their chosen disciplines but are also adaptive thinkers who can meet the academic and psycho-social needs of diverse and evolving classrooms.
Dr Sibongiseni Kumalo, academic dean of Regenesys Education, says the programme represents an investment in the nation’s future: “We are developing a new generation of educators who will lead South Africa into the future. They will be innovators, mentors and nation-builders. This qualification is our blueprint for lifting the quality of teaching to meet and exceed global standards, while inspiring learners to take their place in science, technology, and enterprise on the world stage.”
Applications for the 2026 academic year are now open.