ABSTRACT
While the cultural, ethnic, gender, racial and linguistic student profile has changed relatively rapidly, the profile of staff in the training institutions has not. The racial and gender make-up of teaching staff remain overwhelmingly white, and, at senior levels, male. For example, over 90 per cent of full professors in the Health Sciences Faculty at UCT in 1998 were white men (Health Sciences Faculty, Employment Equity Audit Plan, August 1999). At the University of South Africa, as at January 31, 2007, over 80 per cent of full professors were white (Employment Equity & Transformation Report, 2007). This poses challenges in terms of existing staff being able to introduce new ways of teaching, new role models and new values to support the changing learning environment, to a student body of increasing diversity in experience and background.
