Upon inauguration, AFTRA operated a couple of years before designing and adopting a constitution. The first was in Zambia in 2016, and it was amended slightly in Lesotho in 2019. A major review had taken place in Zambia in 2013 and will be ratified during the 2024 Roundtable in Zambia. The 2024 Constitution will be uploaded as soon as it is ratified.

Key features of the AFTRA Constitution is that it created two headquarters, one in South Africa (Administrative), and the other in Nigeria (Academic). There are also offices in Ghana, Zambia, Togo and Angola to reflect the linguistic variations of the continent.

There are three levels of authority in AFTRA, and these are the Roundtable (Annual General Meeting), Executive Board, and Management. AFTRA is led by the Management comprising five elected officers, namely, the President, Deputy President, Secretary General, Deputy Secretary General, and Treasurer. The Management also has two Executive Directors, one Academic and the other Administrative.

Constitutionally, only corporate entities can be members of AFTRA. This is based on the fact that AFTRA is an intergovernmental organisation. The primary owners of AFTRA (called Full Members) are the Ministries of Education in Africa together with their national agencies that regulate teaching. Others are the African Union and United Nations agencies in the area of teacher development and professionalisation. The next level of owners of AFTRA are the Associate Members which are critical stakeholders that include the teacher unions, universities and their faculties and institutes of education, colleges of education, and others.

The constitution empowers AFTRA to run various programmes and developmental activities. However, there are statutory programmes held every year, which are flagships. They are the International Teaching and Learning in Africa Conference and Roundtable. These events bring AFTRA stakeholders together from across Africa and the world. The hosting of these events is rotated among the African countries.