During a recent Portfolio Committee Meeting, the DBE provided an update on the upgrading process of Grade R practitioners. Mr Enoch Rabotapi, Acting DDG for Teachers, Human Resource and Institutional Development, provided the update on the Collective Agreement 2 of 2025, which was signed on 29 September 2025, with measures for the upgrading of the qualifications of the South African Grade R practitioners who are appointed in public schools and who do not meet the minimum qualification requirements for appointment into educator posts.

Following the signing of the Agreement, the DBE reached an agreement with UNISA to upgrade the qualifications of the identified Grade R practitioners, commencing in January 2026. A total of R66 million from the skills development fund was set aside by the Education, Training and Development Practices Sector Education and Training Authority (ETDP-SETA) for the upgrading of the qualifications for Grade R practitioners in the 2025/26 financial year.

This funding is intended to support the upgrading of qualifications for eligible Grade R practitioners across all nine provinces. After the first year of study, Provincial Education Departments (PEDs) will be required to integrate the upgrading initiatives into their Annual Performance Plans (APPs) to ensure continuity and sustainability. Thereafter, the ETDP-SETA will continue to fund these projects in subsequent years, subject to available funding.

The agreement with UNISA indicated that identified practitioners must apply for the Bachelor of Education in Foundation Phase Teaching degree (BEd FP). Those who do not qualify for the BEd FP will be directed by UNISA to do the Higher Certificate in Education (HC Edu) by 19 December 2025. This certificate will serve as a bridging course for those practitioners to then also be admitted to the BEd FP degree.

The Heads of Education Departments Committee (HEDCOM) approved that qualifying Grade R teachers who are receiving stipends should be considered for permanent appointment in terms of the Employment of Educators Act. PEDs were also requested to absorb qualified Grade R teachers into vacant funded posts on their staffing establishments or to convert temporary to permanent Grade R teachers in terms of ELRC Resolution 2 of 2024. Spreadsheets were compiled and shared with the DBE and UNISA to assist with identifying, verifying, and ringfencing the practitioners during the application process and for future reporting purposes. The Provincial Audit of unqualified Grade R practitioners early in 2025, found that there are 7,294 practitioners nationally who do not possess the minimum requirement of the National Qualifications Framework (NQF) Level 6 qualification and 2,121 practitioners were identified to undertake further studies, with PEDs monitoring the process.

This represents the first phase of a broader strategy to professionalise and standardise Grade R teaching qualifications, ensuring that all practitioners meet the minimum qualification requirements as envisaged in the Integrated Early Childhood Development (ECD) Human Resource Development Plan and the NQF standards.