Pressure to produce good marks
Teachers under scrutiny
EDUCATION in society has a dual, possibly contradictory, role.
Not only does education serve the purpose of reproducing society’s norms and values but, by also nurturing the critical-thinking faculties, it serves as a catalyst for progressive change.
For this reason, education will always be a terrain of struggle in present day society.
In a country like South Africa, conservative values perpetuated by the educational system have been linked to ruling class interests, and have essentially buttressed systems of exploitation, oppression and inequality.
At the same time, however, schools in particular and universities have often been sites of fierce resistance, and places where alternative, often radical, ideas, have thrived.
Thus, quite apart from such mundane functions as managing the syllabus, a core task of the educational authorities has been, quite simply, repression of those who, as they see it, undermine the status quo. The forms of repression have differed with the times.
In the apartheid era of naked baasskap, outright banning orders and dismissals were the preferred means, whereas today, under our quasi-democratic dispensation, charges of misconduct are dominant, especially in the Western Cape.
As far as can be determined Robert Greydon was the first victim of punitive action by the education authorities against a teacher.
Greydon became the editor of the SA Coloured, a local Uitenhage newspaper, in the 1890s when he was principal at Rose Lane Primary.
Later, before his punitive dismissal as principal and teacher of Edendale Teacher Training Institute in Natal, he became editor of Abantu-Batho, the first newspaper of the South African Native National Congress, later to become known as the African National Congress.
Countless numbers of teachers and students over the decades have, at great personal cost, never flinched at opposing the reactionary and blatantly regressive agendas of the authorities when it came to the education, particularly, of the poor and marginalised.
It should not be supposed that the country’s shift to a relatively enlightened era in 1994 with the transition to liberal democracy tilted the scales in favour of progressiveness.
What it did was to cause those in authority to adapt their weapons – outright banning was now a no-no.
Enter misconduct charges and disciplinary hearings.
After having worked for more than 42 years as a teacher, I am convinced that the odds in the South African education system are stacked against the children of the poor.
The politicians, and complacent and compliant education authorities use three strategies to obfuscate its impact: deceptiveness, distress and distortion of facts.
The emphasis on standardised tests may be the most damaging type of deception that our schools practise.
Why is it compulsory for pupils in Grade 1, 2 and 3 to write exams?
Progression to the next grade on the basis of standardised test scores has never been a measurement of competency in a grade, let alone in the foundation phase.
Politicians consistently pressurise teachers and, indeed principals of schools, to produce improved standardised test results.
Surely all schools and indeed all teachers have pupil, learning area, class and school improvement plans? This is just part of being a teacher. This places teachers in a dilemma. They either teach to the test to improve results or they risk negative rating.
Many teachers enter the profession because they love teaching.
They probably have no idea to what extent politics would influence their teaching practice.
They quickly learn that standardised testing is the most politically charged aspect of their job.
The practice of teaching to the test dominates their pedagogy on all levels.
Furthermore, the over-emphasis on test preparation robs children of quality instructional time, not to mention limiting any attempts at creativity by teachers.
The Eastern Cape education department is in the process of closing a thousand schools.
We’ve not publicly heard a whimper by any of the teacher unions. No campaign, no threat of downing chalk.
The only words I can think of to match this inaction is outrageously disgraceful!
The closing of what the department has labelled as non-viable schools is not an option. The ruling elite and the education authorities must comprehend that the education of our children cannot be measured in monetary terms.