Restart needed to put teachers on top
ALTHOUGH South Africans are afforded the right to education, our constitution is silent on the quality of education.
And despite a claim from the SA Qualifications Authority that systemic and curriculum changes are in line with international trends, South African pupils compared with pupils from other countries, and not necessarily First World countries, are not making the grade, so to speak.
Abysmally low pass requirements allow for pupils to be pushed along a conveyor belt. The resultant complacency among pupils and teachers has encouraged a learning environment in which mediocrity rules. Extrication from a culture saturated by mediocrity and fuelled by a mind-set of anticipated handouts from government is difficult.
As teachers, we are duty bound to ensure that young minds develop critical-thinking skills and the ability to generate creative solutions. So why do we observe such abject apathy among our youth?
Most young people seemed to be fixated on increasing their number of likes on social networks. This trend, coupled with instant gratification, result in pupils sleepwalking to their own demise. Consequently, many perpetuate their grim circumstances by finding solace in high-risk behaviour.
Goal-directed parents translate into goal-directed pupils. The formative years are characterised by incidental learning. However, if parents fail to provide this nurturing environment the young pupil will be playing catch up for life.
It is at this point where society expects the teacher and the school to step in. But a teacher can only fulfil this role if he/ she is a model citizen. The standard upheld by teachers should be those that pupils aspire to.
Similarly, teachers should be vigilant in the standards they expect from pupils. One of the many caps donned by a teacher is to provide a moral compass. How many of us can commend a teacher for displaying empathy and guidance at a time when needed?
We need to start at ground zero if we want to elevate teachers to their once-revered role in society. All of us – the community, parents, teachers and the education authorities need to take ownership of our corps of teachers to honour, support and yes, praise them.
Although the Department of Education has proclaimed 2017 as the Year of the Teacher, little has been done or said to nurture our corps. So what will happen to our neglected teachers in 2018 and thereafter?
An appropriately qualified teacher is a valuable resource and asset to a school and its pupils. Hence, the quality of a teacher starts well before entering an academic institution. The selection criteria need to be interrogated and vigorous assessment of relevant academic requirements and aspects such as personality, personal life, potential addictions, as well as overall humanitarian qualities should be considered.
Since education authorities are viewed as the custodians of pupils they are obligated to provide a safe learning environment, and it starts with the basic profiling of a teacher. No doubt the teacher unions would disagree.
Presently, “trusted teachers” are found to be perpetrators of crimes such as rape and sexual abuse; an indisputable indictment on society.
Fresh initiates into the field should be exposed to a compulsory learning period in schools situated in rural or deprived areas. Energetic and young teachers would provide the necessary impetus and passion for learning. Stagnant teachers cite lack of resources as an excuse for laziness and should therefore be receiving continuous training and development.
As a society, we should hold teachers to account and demand that they keep abreast of developments in their field.
An absolute unappreciated and unacknowledged resource is our corps of retired teachers. A collaboration between retired teachers and novices would assist new entrants into the field, and technology could facilitate such a collaboration. But let us not exclude our academics. Maybe their critiques and academic postulations would differ once they come face to face with 45 bright-eyed pupils hailing from diverse backgrounds. A global understanding of the teaching milieu in the trenches has a way of levelling people.
Since teachers are tasked with preparing our children for a challenging and rapidly transforming world, rigorous efforts should be made to develop an acculturated corps of teachers who can mould pupils to operate effectively in a diverse culture. Opportunities need to be created for receptive pupils in order to expose them to different cultures on a regular basis.
Many pupils only start interacting with people from diverse cultures when they enter tertiary institutions or the workplace. By then it is far too late because stereotypes have already been entrenched. Pupils should be acutely aware of prejudices displayed by parents, teachers, fellow pupils and friends and should be taught to take a firm stand against it.
In a world of teaching which takes place via every technological means possible we seem to be so desperately focused on pushing the teacher out of the classroom. Any approach that equates the invisibility of a teacher to the quality of education is erroneous.
Nowadays, some schools frown on the use of a chalkboard. It is unfortunate that learners are zealously relegated to Google classrooms and the like. Technology is an exceptional teaching aid, but it is the teacher that has to remain the subject authority, regardless of Google and YouTube. No one would argue that the function of a teacher has been drastically altered but it remains critical for pupils to relate to a human interface.
Teachers are to be assessed regularly to ensure excellent performance. A comprehensive performance management method, the Integrated Quality Management System developed by the department has yet to prove its efficacy.
Until that happens, teacher unions should be waging a war against inferior quality education and should be toyi-toying for accelerated transformation. So let us start at the foundation by inculcating a mind-set of pure excellence. And, lest we forget, as teachers we should be reasonably proficient at pioneering solutions. If not, then our education has failed us too.