As the debate rages around the issue for Grade 9 certificate I would like to add my voice on this. Listening to expert opinion on AM live and following the education news report in the past week made me interested to the machinations of the General Education and Training(GET) band. Part of what transpired this week on education is the question of whether we should certify Grade 9 or not. However my interest is beyond the issue of whether we should certify the band or not. Mine is the interest on the appraisal of the band itself. Some might ask what do I mean about the appraisal of the band. As a person who spends a lot of time with the learners in FET band there are a number of things that I see on a daily basis that make me want to question whether the GET machinery is well oiled or not. The question in your mind is what are these things I would like to mention. Ok maybe my observation is little bit one sided and unfair since my interaction is mostly with science learners than with non-science learners. Also you may say that my criticism is blanket generalisation of GET using some small observations from science learners.
When tutoring these learners it is sometimes frustrating to find that they lack basic mathematical knowledge that they are supposed to have from the band. One other thing that I note from these learners is inability to read and understand. This lack of understanding becomes a problem for learning outcome 1 and 3 of their Physical and Life Sciences. I wasn't part of the planning of the ''new curriculum'' but what I see is that learners are required to do a lot of ''research''on various topics. It is frustrating not only for me but also for librarians because these learners lack what I state above and thereby expecting that you do the reading for them. This is difficult to do because it amounts to time wasting as many kids are having the same problem. I don't want to dwell much on this as media have been reporting on these horrifying things for quite some time now. I guess your interest is now on what this appraisal is about.
Ok GET has 9 years with the learners whilst FET has 3 years. We need to look at why GET is producing the kind of learners that are unable to show even these basic qaulities .I understand the confessions that Naledi made recently. I think we need to zoom in to the problems that Sol Plaatjie House confessed to and try and address them. We need to stop ridiculous things like the Western Cape Education Department's literacy target of 35%. We need to look at things like what Max Dupreez sights on his opion piece about striving for bringing quality Education. GET should be forced ( just in a lack for a better word) to produce learners that have quality Education other than the current ''pushing through the numbers”. Contrary to the popular belief that the Department of Education(DoE) should take the stick for this I happen to believe otherwise. I believe that it should be hands on the deck for all the education stakeholders to deal with issues at the GET band.
DoE should live up to its promises for bringing quality education in South Africa. This should not be only on paper as the way things are at present. They should make sure that they hold GET accountable on proper implementation of quality education. DoE also needs to monitor this process to ensure that we get quality than just quantity. DoE must know that they need to get their house in order and understand that we are sick and tired of confessions. DoE also must know that it is the future of our kids that we entrust them with and they must stop toying around with it. Those that are teaching prospective teachers in academic institutions should make sure that they produce teachers that are able to perform competently at GET. Mass mobilisation of parents to wake-up to the realisation that education is a vital part of raising up a child should also be done. Parents need to be given a heads-up that their involvement during GET is crucial. This is what I believe the debate should be about at this stage and when we get that right only we can start looking at whether we should give certification for the band.
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hmmm... I agree. So does this mean that our IkamvaYouth for Teachers project idea for next year should target GET first?
Perhaps I am just pessimistic about the state of education currently but, I think that most people will agree that the FET band is failing miserably for both Science and Non-Science stream students. One just needs to look at any of the international numeracy or literacy tests to see this.
I also agree with your sentiments that we want to ensure that each child gets a quality education and not be obsessed with quantity. However, as much as most stakeholders are failing to achieve this I do not believe that this is driven by the fact that they do not wish to be provide a quality education. I think there is a lack of creative ideas for our problems as well as a lack of willingness to experiment with new ideas. However, before we work on encouraging the implementation of new ideas we need to have ideas to be implemented. I would love to hear more of your thoughts as to what specific things could be done to ensure the FET band is improved (which is in dire need of a shake up).
What can the DoE as well as all other relevant stakeholders do to increase the quality of the education. What characteristics embody a competent teacher? What training should the institutions be offering to ensure that new teachers are competent in the desired manner? How does one encourage the right individual to train to be a teacher? How do we ensure that good teachers be placed in places that are in the greatest need of such teachers? How would you initialize the mass mobilization of the parents – who’s responsibility is this? How can this be done effectively? While setting higher targets is important – how will setting higher targets translate into a change in the status quo? I don’t think that any of these are actually easy questions there has been a lot of research on many of these topics and much of it is relatively inconclusive. I think it is easy to criticize our system as it is fraught with failure but we need to be constructive about ideas for change.
What are your thoughts on implementable policy changes that could help build a better education system?
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