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Presenter: Dr Muavia Gallie (PhD)
Education Moving Up Cc. [email protected]
http://muavia-gallie.blogspot.com http://supervisingwithadifference.blogspot.com http://Iwanttoturnaroundmyschool.blogspot.com
www.slideshare.net
NAPTOSA 3rd Biennial Na1onal Congress
“Education in Crisis – Save our Children’s Education”�
Tuesday, 23 October 2012 19h00
Kopanong Conference Centre, Benoni, South Africa
Content 1. My brief; 2. Do we have a crisis in education?; 3. Books and Article about it; 4. Voices from there articles and my
comments; 5. Recommendations.
www.slideshare.net Search “NAPTOSA Congress 2012”
Introduction • This presentation is not personal, but it is about
PEOPLE; • Since what is going wrong in the education system, has
very little or nothing to do with money, but it is about the PEOPLE;
• What I present is not based on opinion, but rather data (information);
• This conversation is certainly not about ‘being politically correct’, but rather the ‘uncomfortable conversations’ we tend to avoid! – Might be ‘hard hitting’!;
• Finally, I don’t defend constituencies (learners, teachers, department, etc.), but rather Education and the future of our country!
Awareness Test
Do we know what we don’t know?
Is there a Crisis? • A crisis is an event that is, or expected to lead to, an unstable and dangerous situa1on affec1ng an individual, group, community or whole society.
• Four Characteris1cs: – Unexpected; – Creates uncertainty; – Is seen as a threat to important goals; – The need for change.
Crisis Clusters 1. Vic&m – When organisa1on is vic1m of the crisis,
e.g. unforeseen disaster, false or wrong informa1on, etc. – Weak A'ribu,on;
2. Accidental – When organisa1onal ac1ons leading to crisis were uninten1onal, e.g. technical and logis1cal errors, etc. – Minimal A'ribu,on;
3. Preventable – When organisa1on knowingly placed people at risk, took inappropriate ac1ons or violated law, e.g. management misconduct, etc. – Strong A'ribu,on (Coombs, 2007, p.168)
Lead to ‘reputa1onal’ threats
1. Cogni&ve-‐func&onal: Evalua1on of competence, achievements, reaching of goals;
2. Cogni&ve-‐social: Sa1sfying ethical and moral norms, developmental and social responsibility;
3. Affec&ve-‐emo&onal: Sympathy and a\rac1veness, emo1onal evalua1on.
Interface between ‘cluster’ and ‘threats’
Functional crisis
Political/ Social crisis
Emotional crisis
Vic1m crisis Mild reputa,onal threat
Accidental crisis
Moderate reputa,onal threat
Preventable crisis
Severe reputa,onal threat
???
COSAS Na1onal Newsle\er Mar/Apr 1983
• What is wrong with our educa,on? Our educa,on is unequal because: 1. whereas the government spends R931,00 per year on
every white child, 2. it spends only R253,00 and R 139,00 per year on Coloured
and African children; 3. whereas one teacher in a white school caters for every 18
pupils, in black schools one teacher caters for 39 pupils. 4. also about half the black matriculants who wrote their
exams last year failed because of the inferior educa,on they received.
Posters -‐ 1986
Books/Ar1cles Headlines 2008 -‐ 2012 1. Book -‐ B. Fleisch (2008) – Primary educa&on in crisis: Why South African school children underachieve in reading and mathema&cs
4. Nick Taylor (JET Educa1on) 10 June 2011 – Title: Priori&es for addressing South Africa’s educa&on and training crisis – A review commissioned by the Na&onal Planning Commission
2. Book – edited by Nonikiwe (2011) -‐ Fixing the South African educa&on crisis
3. Africa Ins1tute of South Africa – Briefing no.72, (March 2012) – Heading: The failing standard of basic educa&on in South Africa (Madisaotsile B.M.)
5. Book released 13 July 2012, by the Ins1tute for the Study of English in Africa (ISEA) – South Africa’s educa&on crisis: Views from the Eastern Cape (Rhodes Educa1on Faculty, edited by Prof L. Wright)
Newspaper Ar1cles – Mar to Oct 2012
10. Moneyweb (3 October 2012) – Felicity Duncan – Headline: South Africa’s educa&on crisis
11. News24 (3 October 2012) – Headline: Jansen: Government can’t deny educa&on crisis
9. Times Live (2 October 2012) by Katharine Child – Headline: A-‐G delivers new blow to Angie
8. SABC Educa1on (2 October 2012) by Graca Machel speaking at the Archbishop Desmond Tutu Peace Lecture at UWC – Headline: Machell calls on SA to mend ‘social crises’
7. The Ci1zen (28 September 2012) by Musa Mohamed – Headline: Jansen lambastes authori&es for educa&on crisis
6. All Africa (5 September 2012) by Sue Valen1ne – Headlines: South Africa: Educa&on faces crisis despite big budget
5. City Press (24 August 2012) Headline: Motshekga is wrong. Educa&on is in crisis.
4. News24 (30 July 2012) – Headline: Educa&on crisis not Verwoerd’s fault
3. Daily Maverick (17 July 2012) – Greg Nicolson – SA’s educa&on crisis: Limpopo s&ll without books
2. Mail and Guardian (29 June 2012) – Andrew Verrijdt – Headline: There is a crisis, Minister
1. BBC News (12 March 2012) Headlines: South Africa educa&on crisis fuels state school exodus
12. Methodist Church of Southern Africa (4 October 2012) Headline: Methodist response to the educa&on crisis in South Africa
13. Times Live (8 October 2012) – by Thabile Mange – Headline: Solve the educa&on crisis
14. SABC News (10 October 2012) Headline: ‘Sugges&ons that Basic Educa&on Department is in crisis are wrong’
15. Business Day (11 October 2012) Headline: Sadtu sets sight on Soobrayan in textbooks saga
16. IOL News -‐ FW de Klerk Founda1on (11 17. October 2012) Headline: Our educa&on system is in crisis
17. The Times (11 October 2012) – Headline: Waking up to South Africa’s educa&on crisis
Issues Raised 1 • Fleisch – real dysfunc1onality in primary schools; • Taylor – need for transforma1onal (radical) change in teachers’ condi1ons of service – competency based appointments; – ban union deployment ac1vi1es; – proficiency tests, and retrenchment if not improving; – newly qualified must pass relevant subject content text, as well as HoDs, Curriculum officials in districts and provincial offices;
– principals must be trained in labour law, IR, data management, etc.]
15
20
25
30
35
40
45
Gr 3 Literacy Gr 3 Numeracy Gr 6 Languages Gr 6 Mathematics
Aver
age
Perc
enta
ge
Average % scores after re-marking
Eastern Cape
Free State
Gauteng
KwaZulu Natal
Limpopo
Mpumalanga
Norther Cape
North West
Western Cape
South Africa
Issues Raised 2 • African Ins1tute of South Africa:
– SACMEQ results from 2003 – 2007; – lack founda1onal skills in literacy and numeracy; – Minister Manual – quality of schooling is sub-‐standard, especially in the township schools
Policy recommenda1ons – pregnant learners policy; – discipline policy; – teacher recogni1on and reward policy; – be\er teachers, open colleges; – train SGBs; – drug awareness campaigns and sex educa1on; – life skills programmes to improve aotudes of young
persons
SACMEQ Countries
Botswana
Kenya Lesotho Malawi
Mauritius Mozambique
Namibia Seychelles
South Africa Swaziland Tanzania
Uganda Zambia
Zanzibar Zimbabwe
Source: SACMEQ Data, 2007
Pupil reading sco r e s
SACMEQ Results 6 2 12 15 4 7 13 1 9 5 3 10 14 11 8
6 5 13 15 3 12 9 2 10 4 1 11 14 7 8
7 2 11 13 1 4 14 3 9 6 5 8 12 10 15
6 2 12 14 1 11 13 4 8 5 3 9 15 10 7
Issues Raised 3 • BBC News:
– five thousand children switch to independent schools; – 100 new schools applied to register; – significant parents of learners are teachers in public schools;
• Mail and Guardian: – A principal sta1ng that DBE was simply not up to the task to fix educa1on and therefore schools have to do it themselves;
– Reward and value good teachers, training bad teachers or else;
– Need good teachers to shoulder more responsibility – we have no other choice.
Independent Schools Growth
Issues Raised 4 • Prof Wright:
– ‘behind the scenes management issues’ [problems of power and corrup1on];
– Teachers as Heroes – teachers to understand their full value “for the benefit of themselves, their learners and the society in which we live.”
• Daily Maverick (Nicolson): – Soobrayan: “About 99% of textbooks have been delivered … by 27 June”
– “Metcalfe’s report shows that by June 27 only 15% delivered; July 3 increased to 48% … by July 11, 22% s1ll awai1ng …”
– “Learners are not failing in educa1on. Educa1on is failing them” Heywood
Issues Raised 5 • Ramphele:
– children were be\er taught under apartheid’s gu\er educa1on;
– There is no excuse … why no one had been fired?; • City Press – Minister Motshekga:
– failure to deliver textbooks is “a problem, not a crisis”; What would cons1tute a crisis?;
– “spiong in the faces of the poor who see educa1on as a way out of poverty”
• All Africa (Valen1ne) – Eugene Daniels: – Educa1on system was distorted and needed a dras1c overhaul;
– “We have designed our en1re system to prepare students (5%) for university” – 95% leu high and dry.
1999-2010 + Ave Comparing Grades 1-12 from 1999 to 2010
450,000500,000550,000600,000650,000700,000750,000800,000850,000900,000950,0001,000,0001,050,0001,100,0001,150,0001,200,0001,250,0001,300,0001,350,000
Gra
de 1
Gra
de 2
Gra
de 3
Gra
de 4
Gra
de 5
Gra
de 6
Gra
de 7
Gra
de 8
Gra
de 9
Gra
de 1
0
Gra
de 1
1
Gra
de 1
2
199920002001200220032004200520062007200820092010Ave.
Issues Raised 6 • Jansen:
– educa1on authori1es are responsible for the increasing “rejec1on of the value of educa1on” in the poorest communi1es;
– government officials bully ci1zens, but withdraw when facing “defiant teachers’ union”;
– said government had “neither the insight nor the capacity” to deal with textbooks scandal;
– Lesufi said Jansen “was en1tled to his opinion”; • Graca Machel:
– country had not begun to understand the deep “social crises, which has been structured, craued, engineered and systema1cally implemented”;
– accusing and blaming one another; – “We are bleeding and we are harming one another because we can’t control
our pain.”; – “We need a vision of how to build a healthy society … move away from anger,
fear, and accumulated inhibi1ons.”; – families had been “torn apart for at least three decades” and that today’s
parents, who grew up in “torn and dysfunc1onal families”, were trying “to mould their children into family environments they didn’t enjoy.”
Hope vs Reality
26
Issues Raised 7 • A-‐G:
– Failure to deliver textbooks in Limpopo is only a small part of the massive crisis; – DBE missed 53% of the targets it had set itself.
• Jansen: – Demand that government declare a crisis in educa1on; – “Why should be tolerate this?”-‐ gap between privileged and poor; – Privileged schools remain stable, with no interrup1on to teaching and learning
… “schools of the poor are rou1nely disrupted or trashed by adults, by unions, ac1vists, gangsters …”
– Those send their children to best private and public schools and would remain detached from the dysfunc1on and poverty of the educa1on system;
– There was nothing wrong with the country’s children, but it was adults who were “messing them up”;
– “We allow children to pass with ridiculous results and lie to them …”; – “Where are parents when schools allow learners to leave early or when
teachers do not teach, …?” – “I’ve got bad news for you that for the next 10-‐20 years nothing is going to
change at a systemic level. We are going to need what a wonderful book calls a moral underground, an army of volunteers.”
28
Time-on-Task
Teaching 40%
Previous Year Current Academic Year 30% 20% 10% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%
Learning 50% HF
S LFS
NFS
Teaching 30%
Teaching 20%
Learning 20%
Learn- ing
10%
90%
50%
30%
4.5 days p.w.
2.5 days p.w.
1.67 days p.w.
Issues Raised 8 • Malcolm Rees:
– The matric pass rate is rising, many of these “passes” are with marks lower than 50%; 1 in 10 learners who enrol in SA’s basic educa1on system leave with the qualifica1on necessary to apply for entry into HE;
• Methodist Church of Southern Africa: – Quick wins proposed: Every teacher be on 1me every day; every teacher comes
prepared to teach no ma\er how experienced they may be …
• Thabile Mange: – Government made educa1on part of five priori1es – But is it really serious about improving the educa1on system?; – Is there a poli1cal will to solve the crisis? – There is no1ng wrong with asking for help from experts; – Something dras1c must be done;
• Soobrayan: – Sugges1ons that Department is in crisis are wrong because the quality of
educa1on is in fact improving; – “I want to submit … things are geong be\er. – Data suggests it has improved.”
Corporal punishment
Educators by REQV 2005-‐2008 & 2011
Issues Raised 9 • SADTU:
– Calling for full inves1ga1on into the Limpopo textbook saga, par1cularly the conduct of Basic Educa1on DG;
• FW de Klerk Founda1on: – “Poor educa1onlies at the root of most South Africa’s problems; – “Educa1on is a debt that the present genera1on owes to the future genera1ons.”
– South Africa ranked 133rd out of 142 countries in World Economic Forum;
– “Perhaps the most damning sta1s1c presented by the Na1onal Planning Commission is that teachers in black schools teach an average of only 3.5 hours a day, compared with 6.5 hours a day in former with schools.”
• The Times: – “The ghost of bad educa1on con1nues to haunt us,” said DBE Minister Motshekga.
* up to 11 Oct 2012
Recommenda1ons 1 • Learners:
1. Assist them with crauing a “dream” (learner expecta1on and achievement agreement);
2. “Free” all learners from the challenges “where they come from” – they are not their parents, economic situa1on, etc. – There is nothing wrong with them;
3. Their economic situa1on has nothing to do with their ability to be academically successful at school – being poor/rural, is not equal to failure;
4. No-‐one is born to be a failure! Success comes from hard work, and has very li\le to do with ‘intelligence, being clever, etc.’ What you put in, is what you will get out!;
5. No-‐one owes you more than what you owe yourself, and others who are making and has made sacrifices for you to succeed;
Recommenda1ons 2 • Teachers:
1. If you don’t care about every learner in your classroom, the way you care about your own children, then you are in the wrong job – You have to reconnect, engage, etc. – The focus of your job is to teach the learner, rather the curriculum;
2. Teaching is more about Giving and less about Taking. You will never become financially rich as a teacher, but you will get your reward in other ways. If your focus is financial rewards, then you will have to change your career!;
3. We have an 80-‐20 split in good and bad schools/teachers; You need to make a choice, since being ‘safe, hide, average, mediocre’ in such a ra1o is a choice of being part of the ‘bad’;
4. You might be the only group that can ‘save our educa1on system, and save our children’!
5. This is an opportunity, which might not come around soon, where we can claim back our dignity as teachers. We need you to put in the ‘hard yards’, just to do what is expected. [7 hours per day, 35 hours per week, 204 days a year, feedback auer any assessment and not just a %, let your children how much you care about them, show them that you are human!
Recommenda1ons 3 • Principals and SMTs:
1. If you don’t care about every learner that works through your school gate, like you will care about your own children or grandchildren, then you should get our of the job. The day you accepted the applica1on form of the learner, that day you accepted the responsibility to be part of the success and the realisa1on of the dream of every learner;
2. If you don’t plan and understand the interrela1ons between the 8 school readiness components (a\endance of teachers and learners; teacher informa1on; learner informa1on; annual planning; 1metabling; teaching, learning and assessment schedules; organogram and TLSM), then you are failing our learners;
3. Your job is about 75% instruc1onal leadership and 25% others. Don’t be caught up with your files, telephone calls, etc. Since teaching and learning is a ‘people rela1onship’ exercise, focus on building posi1ve, respeczul, trustworthy, affirma1ve rela1onships between learners, teachers and parents;
4. You have to be proud enough of your schools, so that you will have no hesita1on to enroll your own child (grandchildren) at your school;
5. Focus more on Leading than ‘being a leader’ (the posi1on). Set the tone! Be the example! Strive to be the best teacher, both academic and extra-‐curricula, in the school! You must excite and enthuse the people you lead!
Recommenda1ons 4 • Teacher Union Leaders and Representa1ves:
1. To be able to represent teachers, you have to be among the best of teachers. You will then know how to represent them;
2. We can’t just focus (go on strikes and marches) on ‘our own needs’ rather than the needs of the children we serve. Lets deliver such a splendid educa1on to our children that our communi1es go on marches for the improvement of our condi1ons of service;
3. Let us stop ‘deploying’ people into posi1ons which they are not fit, or capable of performing the du1es;
4. Let us take the lead as to focusing on ‘the interest of educa1on’ rather than the interest of our cons1tuency alone – let’s be ‘educa1onally’ correct rather than ‘poli1cally’ correct!;
5. Let us not protect, support or allow those teachers who are undermining educa1on to be ‘part of us’ – we need to draw a line!
Recommenda1ons 5 • Departmental officials:
1. We can’t employ ‘poli1cal people’ in ‘technical and professional’ posi1ons. If we con1nue with it, we tend to have too many ‘poli1cally correct educa1onal conversa1ons’ rather than ‘educa1onal conversa1ons’ – And because we don’t know the technical details, then ‘everyone’s opinion is as strong as everyone else’s opinion – opinion-‐based rather than expert-‐based decision making;
2. If you don’t soon indicate the value that you add to the educa1on sector, we might need to ask why we s1ll need these ‘in-‐between’ departmental structures, including a big na1onal department;
3. Educa1on policy is worth nothing if it can’t be implemented by those at the school and classroom level. Borrowing and ‘googling’ policies are problema1c, and this is contribu1ng to the challenges in educa1on. A quality policy is a policy that can be implemented, or at least seen to be implemented.
Pass it on!
Thank You!
