Conference on diversity draws a big crowd
The Department of Education had its first diversity conference on Saturday 12 May at Tramonto in George.
“It was a huge success. A total of 350 teachers from the Eden and Central Karoo District attended,” said Roger Jacobs, head of Specialised Education. “We could unfortunately admit the first 350 people only. Many more teachers wanted to attend, but there was just no space for everyone.” He organised the event in cooperation with Gawie Raubenheimer, a senior psychologist.
Jacobs said schools are becoming more complex as they mirror the current socio-economic landscape driven by rapid demographic and technological changes, as well as by changing family structures and demands on families. “As a result, many schools battle to come to terms with the diversity presenting in schools and classrooms. We believe that all children are entitled to feel safe and experience a sense of unconditional acceptance at school, whether through a genuine love of learning, through building positive friendships, or through feeling a sense of belonging in the community and wider society.”
The line-up of speakers included Gavin Keller, well-known principal and international speaker from the Sun Valley Primary School, Prof Quinton Johnson from the Jeda Foundation, occupational therapist Engela Nel, Francois Mall, principal of York High
School, and Laurice Wildsman, ex-learner from Carpe Diem who has Turner Syndrome (a chromosomal condition that affects development in females).
Jacobs said Keller made headlines in 2015 for ditching homework and adopting a unique approach to teaching. “We have a tendency to be so pressurised by curriculum overload. When we do not finish the work in class, we default to this idea of, ‘finish this for homework’. When we unpacked this idea at our school, what it really meant was that our planning was not good. Our macroplanning is not sorted out and as a result we have learned to cram all this material into 200 school days.”
Some other speakers that led When we do not finish the work in class, we default to this idea of, ‘finish this for homework’. break-away discussions were Thurston Brown, principal of Manenberg High School, who spoke about gangsterism at schools. Norman Cona, principal of Thembalethu High School, spoke about understanding Xhosaspeaking learners in Afrikaans and English schools. Moleboheng Maphakisa, a learner from Sao Bras Senior Secondary, talked about her experience at school as a person who is different from other learners.
Other break-away facilitators included Dr Pam Kerr and Engela Nel who touched on the subject of ADHD (attention deficit hyperactivity disorder) and ADD (attention deficit disorder). Rodney Gallant’s topic was how gay children experience school, and Vuyokazi Qwanyacehe told the audience about her experience as someone living with HIV.