Prof. Gawie du Toit completed his qualifications at the University of the Free State (UFS), including a Higher Education Diploma, an MSc degree in Mathematics, and a doctorate in Didactics. In 1987, he entered higher education as a senior researcher at the erstwhile Research Institute for Educational Planning at the same university. In 1997, he was appointed as department head of the Department of Didactics (later known as Curriculum Study) at the Faculty of Education at the UFS. He also occupied the position of programme director: Undergraduate Programmes from 2010-2013.

On 1 November 2013, he was seconded for three years to implement the BEd (Senior Phase and Further Education and Training) programme, which he developed at UFS at the newly founded Sol Plaatjie University (SPU). Since being appointed in 2016, he has held the full-time position of head of the School for Education at the SPU. From 2019-2024 he was appointed as the dean in the Faculty of Education at Akademia. During this time, he was also the acting dean of the Faculty of Economics and Financial Sciences (2020-January 2021) and also of the Faculty of Natural Sciences (May 2023-2024).

His research is focused on mathematics education and curriculum development. Since joining the Faculty of Education in 1997, he has produced nine articles and five chapters in academic books. He has also contributed various congress contributions on national and international level. Under his supervision, 22 master’s degree students and fourteen doctoral students have successfully completed their studies. Du Toit was also involved in research projects with the Catholic University of Leuven in Belgium and the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Canada. Other than that, he was also the administrator of various appraisal centres for educational leaders in the Free State.

Since 1 January 2025 Du Toit has been appointed as the head of the Paarl-campus at Akademia.