5 August 2026

South Africa's teacher shortage

By Bellavista S.H.A.R.E

August 2026

Cape Town conference tackles the crisis behind South Africa's teacher shortage

Bellavista S.H.A.R.E. brings its ‘Burnout, Barriers and Brokering Hope’ conference to Claremont on 3 September, as UNESCO warns of a 44-million-teacher shortfall by 2030

South African classrooms are under strain and the people expected to hold them together are running on empty. On Thursday, 03 September 2026, Bellavista S.H.A.R.E., the professional development arm of Johannesburg's Bellavista School, brings its conference to Cape Town for the first time. Titled 'Burnout, Barriers and Brokering Hope', the one-day conference at Western Province Preparatory School in Claremont will bring together teachers, therapists, school leaders and parents to unpack why South African teachers are struggling and what schools can practically do about it.

UNESCO is predicting a global shortfall of 44 million teachers by 2030, a gap that will land hardest on already-stretched systems like South Africa’s. Locally, schools are grappling with administrative overload, expanding expectations, digital distraction, fractured school-home partnerships and the pressure of inclusion without adequate support – a combination that is pushing experienced teachers toward the exit at precisely the moment the system can least afford to lose them.

“Teachers are being asked to carry more than any profession can sustain and then blamed for buckling under it. That’s the conversation we need to have honestly, not defensively. What I want every delegate to leave with isn’t sympathy for teachers, it’s a set of practical tools and the understanding that hope in a classroom doesn’t survive on goodwill alone. It needs structural support behind it,” says Alison Scott, Executive Head of Bellavista School and Bellavista S.H.A.R.E.

The programme moves through the day’s challenges systematically. Scott opens with a keynote on burnout and the systemic barriers preventing teachers from teaching. Occupational therapist, Tamara Victor, then leads a session on co-regulation and sensory strategies for educators and therapists managing their own nervous systems under pressure, before Deputy Principal and educational psychologist Karen Archer unpacks practical tools for supporting anxious learners. After lunch, Lauren Davis and Tamara Victor introduce the principles of cognitive education and the Mediated Learning Experience, and Archer returns with Scott for a session on navigating difficult conversations between home and school. The day closes with a reflection from Jessica Cassidy, a final-year foundation phase education student at Stellenbosch University, on the lasting impact a caring teacher can have on a child’s confidence and future.

The conference is aimed at parents, teachers and therapists working with students of any age, from pre-primary, primary or secondary.

Event details

What: Burnout, Barriers and Brokering Hope – Bellavista S.H.A.R.E. CT Conference

When: Thursday, 03 September 2026, 08:00 – 16:00 (SAST)

Where: Western Province Preparatory School, 49 Newlands Road, Claremont

Tickets: R1 850 pp. Group rates apply. Bookings via Quicket

More info: www.bellavista.org.za/cape-town-conference-2026