Mokgalane, Mapula Ella2024-09-302024-09-302021Mokgalane, Mapula Ella. (2021). The role of the South African council for educators in regulating the teaching profession [Master’s dissertation, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg]. WireDSpace.https://hdl.handle.net/10539/41207https://hdl.handle.net/10539/41207A research report submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Masters of Management in Public Policy to the Faculty of Commerce, Law and Management, Wits Business School, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2021As a professional self-regulatory body, the South African Council for Educators (SACE) has a responsibility to set, protect and maintain ethical standards in the teaching profession. In doing so, it ought to safeguard the interests, rights and welfare of the public and children alike. Nevertheless, numerous studies, the public, media and parliament’s Portfolio Committee on Basic Education criticised SACE for its dependency, as well as incoherent, overlapping and multiple systems and processes in its endeavour to regulate the teaching profession through the enforcement of the code of professional ethics in Gauteng. Equally, past and recent studies have failed to understand the dynamics and complexities in professional regulation discipline when enforcing the code of professional ethics in the teaching profession. To investigate SACE’s enforcement regulatory role in Gauteng, a qualitative approach has been followed to collect data through semi-structured interviews with 15 participants representing SACE and Gauteng stakeholders in the basic education sector, and the teaching profession. The study findings revealed complexities and a paradox in SACE’s regulation of the teaching profession in Gauteng, based on identified regulatory enforcement enablers, as well as internal and external barriers. Some of the enablers identified included SACE’s legal regulatory framework, its establishment as professional self-regulatory body, compliance monitoring processes, and existence of the legislated administrative and punitive sanctions. On the other hand, the identified internal barriers were: limited enforcement scope and jurisdiction; ineffective sanctioning; insufficient financial and human resources; and contraventions to principles of good governance, good regulation and enforcement. Additionally, external barriers identified were: weak institutional arrangements and network in enforcing the code; and multiple regulatory processes and overlapsen© 2021 University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg. All rights reserved. The copyright in this work vests in the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg.SACEProfessional RegulationProfessional Self-RegulationCode of Professional EthicsRegulatory EnforcementTeacher BehaviourTeaching ProfessionUCTDSDG-4: Quality educationDissertationUniversity of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg