The DBE, in collaboration with the South African Council for Educators (SACE), commenced the national rollout of the Online Teacher Development Platform (OTDP) training workshops. The Mpumalanga session, held from 26 to 27 January 2026 at Suikerland Secondary School in Malelane, brought together key education stakeholders to strengthen the coordination, monitoring and delivery of Continuing Professional Teacher Development (CPTD) activities across the education system.
Mr Enoch Rabotapi, Acting Deputy Director-General, Teacher Education, Human Resources and Institutional Development, outlined the objectives of the workshop and highlighted the strategic importance of the OTDP. He emphasised that the platform serves as a national mechanism to professionalise teacher development, strengthen collaboration across the sector and ensure that professional learning is systematically coordinated and monitored. “The Online Teacher Development Platform strengthens how we plan, implement and account for teacher development across the system. It enables alignment between national priorities and provincial implementation, whilst ensuring that educators are supported through structured, accessible, and credible professional development opportunities”.
The OTDP was developed as a national initiative to coordinate integrated CPTD activities and to provide course management services for approved content providers. It responds to both systemic priorities and individual professional development needs, strengthening educator capacity and supporting a sustained culture of continuous professional growth across South Africa.
Participants included e-Learning Specialists, provincial and district Teacher Development Coordinators, teacher centre representatives, and curriculum district officials. Ms Tuzana Sophete, Acting Head: Professional Development and Ethics at SACE, outlined the Council’s role within the OTDP framework. She explained that SACE assigns and manages CPTD points for activities undertaken on the platform, including microlearning modules, workshops, accredited courses, and questionnaires. Ms Sophete further noted that educators are encouraged to earn professional development points across three categories, teacher-initiated, school-initiated, and externally initiated activities, and to accumulate 150 CPTD points within each three-year cycle. She highlighted that the OTDP enables educators to track their professional development journeys and promotes professional accountability.
DBE facilitators, Mr Emmanuel Mashile and Mr Shadrack Mashaba, provided an overview of the platform, followed by practical, hands-on training sessions. Mr Mashaba explained that all teacher development activities initiated by provincial, district or circuit managers must be reported through the platform. Mr Mashile highlighted the system’s flexibility, noting that providers can define the nature, format and accessibility of events and workshops created on the OTDP.
Reflecting on the focus of the training, Mr Mashile stated that the workshops emphasised practical engagement to ensure provincial officials are confident in managing users, creating events, and capturing activities for SACE CPTD compliance. He added that the OTDP supports online, blended, and face-to-face training approaches, enabling provinces to tailor interventions to local priorities and diverse educator needs.
The first day concluded with participants being guided through the process of creating workshops and events, inviting users, and assigning access levels. The second day focused on administrative rights and system governance, outlining role-based access that allows provincial officials to view activities across districts, while district officials manage activities within their respective jurisdictions.