One could argue that South Africa is one of the more affluent countries in Africa but does this mean anything if we are failing to produce good teachers who in turn are failing to produce well educated learners who will be our future leaders?
Rural schools are faced with a myriad of problems of which under-qualified teachers are but one. How can we then expect good results from the vast majority of our learners when in actual fact poor teaching is at the root of our under performing education system. Could we be heading towards a future with no institutionalized teaching where parents will be left to educate their children at home and teachers become a distant memory...
The good teachers are mostly to be found in the ex model C schools where their skills, dedication and hard work are recognized and well compensated for. Now what does this mean for all previously disadvantaged schools? Will they be forever stuck with under qualified teachers who have lost their drive for teaching because of financial and behavioral issues? Will our learners rich and poor never receive the same level of instruction? Will the teaching profession continue to be overlooked leaving us with an even bigger shortage of skilled and passionate teachers?
What's your take?
Ideas from: www.ten-edu.co.za
ok lets all see this from my point of view right, take this as your family, u will know whats good or bad but once u have the third partner poor you its all loose, no back in to town, if am beyond right this goverment once stopped EDUCATIONAL COLLEGES sayin we have much teachers who are jobless not counting the years and times, people do grow right, so is change of syllabus*if that the right word* so taking a 50 year old teacher back to school so he/she can learn new OBE things nope neva gonna work coz they themselves cant understand the book so how can they teach em kids. if i can get personal a bit READ itself employes grown people instead of fresh blood so if thats how we try improve level of education then lets not go far start cuttin the roots, NOW MODEL C i gues we can say their wallets are fatter then others but i mean they all the same teachers which i beliave they went to same school or university for that matter, kids form model c somehow are worse the public coz they already from rich families so they get it all. so before we point fingers on teachers or learners not perfoming well look at our goverment, are they educated or bragging about serving years in jail. AFTER ALL ITS UP TO AN INDIVIDUAL TO BEST FOR HIMSELF / HERSELF
ReplyDeleteThere is no substitute for experience and experience comes with age and with doing. You are never too old to learn, it is only when you stop learning that you grow old. Therefore age (young or old) does not prevent you from being a good teacher, attitude does.
ReplyDeletetula if i may ask nje, have you seen teachers from goverment schools in rural areas, ever heard of their perfomances then talk about how the pass rate does for them, believe me its way beyond sad, yep u never to old to learn but somehow goes with the enviroment you in, fact remains its high times we consider young bloods and believe in them and what they capable of. thats the attitude we need to live with, experience somehow does nothing but talent and passion is the key to success
DeleteYou have some very interesting points. Firstly the governments idea to close teacher colleges was a good idea as the intention was to centralise everything to universities, but unfortunately the implementation of this was poor resulting in failure of the entire concept. This is the very reason why there is such a need for organisations such as READ Educational Trust so that teachers with degrees and masters level qualifications can use this and their experience to go out and educate their fellow teachers who are struggling to grasp new concepts and have lost their drive for teaching because of their lack of understanding and financial situations. Lastly, there is still a very big difference between former Model C schools and previously disadvantaged schools but this should not be a defining factor when it comes to education in this day in age. All children deserve to have the same level of education and opportunities, it should not be defined by the wealth of parents.
ReplyDelete@Thula, what would you suggest as a solution for changing the atttitudes that are preventing teachers from wanting to learn and provide our children with the very best they can?
ReplyDelete