Teacher education and the borderlands of coloniality: reflections from a case in the Global South

Drawing on experiences of university protests calling for decolonised education in South Africa in 2015–17, this paper reflects on the challenges and possibilities for teacher education from a Global South perspective. It outlines theories of de/coloniality which highlight epistemic and ontological asymmetries as well as economic, and it explores "borderlands" as uncomfortable, conflicted, and ambivalent spaces which nonetheless offer possibilities for action. The paper develops two main themes: the significance of the colonial encounter for teacher education in the Global South; and the importance of working within "border conditions" to develop possibilities for change – in support of an educational concept of teaching.