A Comparison of South African and Zimbabwean Secondary School Mathematics Teacher Education Programs: Insight from Theoretical Expositions of Programmes

The purpose of the study was to compare mathematics teacher education programmes of South Africa and
Zimbabwe in an endeavour to improve the teacher training programmes. Data for the study was obtained from
the University of South Africa (UNISA) and Bindura University of Science Education (BUSE) and a
comparison was made. These two universities are the main ones offering teacher education programmes in the
respective countries. UNISA is said to produce 55% of South African teachers due to its open and distance
education programmes that enrolment numbers are not restricted by physical space and resources whilst
BUSE is the official state university in Zimbabwe responsible for the national mathematics and science
education in the country.