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Fixing the South African Education Crisis
by Nonikiwe - Editor on 13 Jul 2011 |
No other African country spends as much as 5.4% of gross domestic product on education. No-fee schools constitute 64% of all South African schools in which, theoretically, learners do not pay.
Despite this substantial investment, the evidence is consistent over a number of years that our education system is one of the least productive in the region. The most common indicators show a repeat pattern of low productivity: enrolments drop sharply from near-universal attendance up to age 15 to only 78% for 18-year-olds; grade repetition remains high, starting in the first grade and with 51.5% of pupils repeating one or more years in grades 10 to 12; more than 4% of students across grades miss a year or more of school; close to 20% of learners in the senior years of high school are above the age-grade norms for their grade; and drop-out rates are very high as learners move into high school, with 20% of 18-year-olds not in school and not completing grade 12.
The picture looks much bleaker when performance outcomes are taken into account. It must be emphasised that senior certificate (formerly matric) results are almost irrelevant as a measure of the effectiveness of the school system. Take the 2010 results: 173030 candidates who wrote the grade 12 exam failed; less than a quarter of the candidates (23.5%) qualify, on paper, to do a first degree at university; fewer pupils (by a margin of 8756) passed mathematics than in the previous year; and fewer than half the pupils who start grade 1 reach grade 12.
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East Africa Children Poorly Taught
by Nonikiwe - Editor on 12 Jul 2011 |
While three East African countries have achieved on school enrolment levels, majority of pupils continue to demonstrate incompetence in the two most important aspects of basic education.
A report dubbed “Are our children Learning” shows that children in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda perform poorly compared to the established curriculum standards. The report appears to hold a different tone than another one from Uganda’s examinations body, which points to a slightly brighter outlook.
Uganda boasts of approximately 8.3 million children in primary school, compared to 2.3 million before the programme in 1997. But as the report, prepared by Uwezo, an initiative to improve competencies in literacy and numeracy in East Africa, indicates, there is nothing to be proud of if majority of pupils, though in school, are not able to read and later on deal with numbers.
The tests were for Primary Two and administered to 145,730 children from 79,286 households in 2009/2010. The assessment was done on children between the age of six and 16. But findings indicate that investing in inputs alone has limited impact, and that fresh thinking focused on incentives for learning is needed. Further, it shows that children in the three countries perform poorly compared to established curriculum levels.
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Technology in the South African Classroom
by Nonikiwe - Editor on 06 Jun 2011 |
Teachers in a South African primary school are using Microsoft’s interactive hands-free gaming systems, Xbox Kinect, to improve English literacy among learners. Microsoft says both learners and teachers have embraced the new technology in the classroom. Victor Ngobeni, Manager of Microsoft’s Africa School Technology Innovation Centre, will present a workshop about the study, which is a world first, at the upcoming African Education Week in Johannesburg from 6-8 July.
Games used in all three learning areas
The study is taking place at the Lakeside Primary School in Vryheid, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa and six Xbox Kinect units were installed in the school’s Grade 1, 2 and 3 classrooms in March. Says Victor Ngobeni: “Teachers integrate it into formal lessons for 2 to 3 hours three times a week. The other time spent playing is purely for enjoyment. Although the games are used in all three learning areas, it appears that numeracy (maths) is being integrated more often than the other two as all the games have scores and these are being used in lessons on counting, number concept, basic operations and data collecting. Games like Kinect Sport, Kinectimals and Joyride have also been used in lessons on road safety, transport, wild animals, pets, diminutives and good sportsmanship.” -
Aussie Teachers Loving Lesotho
by Nonikiwe - Editor on 16 May 2011 |
“We came to teach and ended up learning.”
That was the comment of two Australian teachers, Lydia Mancini and Kaye Young, who travelled to the highlands of Lesotho to help with the education of local youngsters.
The directors at Maliba Lodge, Australians Nick King and Chris McEvoy, and Lesotho engineer Stephen Phakisi, have established a community trust in the area both to improve and protect the environment in the Tsehlanyane National Park and to improve the living conditions of local villagers.
Lesotho’s literacy rate of 85 percent is one of the highest in Africa but this small country has major problems, with high levels of HIV, poverty and malnutrition. It is estimated that 60 percent of the population live below the poverty line.
The Maliba community trust sponsors a work programme for the five local schools and experienced teachers are being flown in from Australia to help with tuition and to improve the skills of local teachers.
Mancini and Young, who are from Peninsular Grammar in Melbourne, have spent a month at Maliba Lodge, running workshops and helping teachers and pupils at the schools.
“We hope this programme will continue, with at least two groups of teachers travelling to Lesotho from Australia each year,” said McEvoy.
Both teachers described their experiences as “amazing”.
“We thought we were going over on this noble quest to teach all these poor people but we ended up learning so much about ourselves,” said music teacher Mancini.
“The children and teachers were very accepting and warm. The musical experience was phenomenal and really moving. They are in their element when they are singing and I am so excited that I can now sing in Sesotho.”
Young was taken with the enthusiasm of the children and their ability to work in the most demanding conditions.
“The children were so affectionate and love school and learning. Honestly, the whole experience exceeded our expectations and it has changed the way I teach.”
Young said one of the best ways to learn something was to teach it to others.
“That is one of the great things about our job. In teaching the students in Lesotho, and working with the teachers to provide them with ideas to improve their teaching methods, I found that I was also learning myself and improving my teaching skills.” Young said she had to produce creative ideas and activities for teaching students in their second language – English – and under difficult circumstances. The classes were large and there was a lack of resources and equipment.
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Cape Town Hosts the People's Summit for Quality Education
by Chelsea on 20 Apr 2011 |
The People’s Summit for Quality Education:
Equal Education’s invitation to the people of South Africa
June 25–27, 2011
Khayelitsha and the University of Cape Town
Welcome!The People’s Summit for Quality Education will be a landmark event in building a truly national movement for quality and equal education. The summit will develop delegates as education activists and empower them with practical plans to improve their own schools, sharing powerful analysis and inspiring successes.
The summit is open to all. So join us! Apply to be one of the 360 delegates we can accommodate. Equal Education invites you to a new, national meeting of citizens, education NGOs and unions in democratic South Africa. Join teachers, parents and 100 learners from poor and working class communities; join NGOs and unions; join academics and students; and join the Minister of Basic Education, Angie Motshekga, who will be speaking on the opening night.
Across South Africa, there are countless ordinary learners, parents and teachers who do extraordinary work in poor conditions every single day. We, the people of South Africa, must join together and work for quality education for all. In our unequal country, a few of us are lucky enough to know schools that achieve among the best in the world; many of us know schools that suffer with the worst. But our country is worse for all of us because of poor education – and all of us stand to benefit from quality education that frees the potential of each person.
We are gathering at the summit to take responsibility for our attitudes and actions at schools in communities around the country – and to work together for quality and equal education. The summit will focus on schools in communities: challenges to quality education that all of us can help to overcome. The summit will deal with the socio-economic context of schooling: still a fundamental determinant of the overall pattern of educational outcomes in South Africa. It will engage with parents’ and community members’ involvement in schools. It will address resource and infrastructure challenges. It will take up issues of learning, as well as the teaching and leadership needed for learning. And all this will be framed by the links between school and post-school opportunities.
Every generation has its struggle. Ours is the struggle for quality education. Studies of South African performance on international tests show educational achievement in South Africa is worse than in almost all other countries in the region. A fundamental conclusion of this research is that our schools are inefficient in turning education inputs into outputs – still a legacy of apartheid. Our struggle is simultaneously for equal education. In last year’s matric exams, at the school heralded as “the top state school” in the country, 165 matrics achieved 404 A symbols (excluding life orientation). But in Khayelitsha, just thirty kilometres away, 3228 matrics across 19 high schools achieved just 44 A symbols between them.
Join our struggle – come to The People’s Summit for Quality Education!
Together, we are already driving the largest mobilisation for quality and equal education for all since the advent of democracy. A few weeks ago, on Human Rights Day, 20 000 learners and allies marched to parliament for quality education for all. And in 2010, over 12 000 people participated in Human Rights Day marches across the country; over 5 000 fasted during the Fast for School Libraries; over 7 000 sent post-cards to political leaders calling for libraries and resources in schools; and over 60 000 signed the petition calling for 1 School 1 Library 1 Librarian.
Together, we will carry forward the campaign for quality and equal education in schools and communities across the country!
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Recipients of the 2011 Astrid-Lindgren Award to be Announced this week
by Nonikiwe - Editor on 28 Mar 2011 |
– To be awarded the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award is such a tremendous experience, says the Belgian illustrator Kitty Crowther, the 2010 recipient. On March 29th the recipient or recipients of the world’s largest prize for children’s and young adult literature 2011 will be announced.
The nomination list for the 2011 Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award is the longest ever and is made up of 175 candidates from 62 countries. Previous recipients are eligible to nominate candidates, and in the nomination process this year three previous recipients have proposed candidates; Banco del Libro (recipients of 2007), Katherine Paterson (2006) and Kitty Crowther (2010).
It has been a turbulent year for Kitty Crowther. Receiving the award led to her books being published in new editions all around the world. She has received numerous invitations to public events, and a lot of attention from international media.
– An amazing thing about the award is that when it comes to literary festivals and book fairs everyone knows who you are. I don’t have to do anything! People want to meet me anyway. Everywhere I meet people who are passionate about children’s literature.
The recipient of the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award 2011 will be announced on March 29th at 13:00 CET.
– There are so many worthy winners, Kitty Crowther says. I hope for a recipient who loves life, a true humanitarian like Astrid Lindgren was.
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Hope Through Books for Children
by Nonikiwe - Editor on 23 Mar 2011 |
While working with an international children’s organization struggling with the HIV/AIDS pandemic, I recently spent a month in Zambia, Swaziland, and South Africa. I visited homes, outreach centers, hospitals, and hospices. I heard hungry orphans laugh and saw the dying smile. I held the hands of ten-year-olds who, as heads of household, care for their younger siblings. I watched children without enough food for themselves share with each other and wait patiently in line for their bit of warm milk. I met many children, but I did not see one children’s book.
The presence of a book may seem insignificant compared to the overwhelming infection rates, the starvation, the death. In many countries, one out of four adults is infected with HIV or AIDS, and most are heterosexuals between the ages of 15 and 49. Few have access to, or money for, decent food or health care, let alone the ARV’s (antiretroviral medications). Seventy percent of all new HIV/AIDS infections and deaths in the world are now occurring in sub-Saharan Africa.
As the parents die, the children are left behind. Over 11 million children have become orphaned due to HIV/AIDS in this region, and their numbers keep growing. Stigmatized and forgotten, many are already infected. With little time left on this earth, quality of life is measured in small joys, like jumping rope, singing an ancestral song, or learning how to read.
Before my trip, I asked two of my publishers to donate a few boxes of my books to the orphans of Africa. I imagined reenacting my school and library presentation that I’ve been sharing with American kids for the past ten years. I would encourage the children in Africa as I had encouraged those in the States to read everything they could get their hands on. Write your own stories, I would tell them. Write about things that excite you, things you are passionate about. Use words to find out about the world, to explain your world to others. I didn’t realize that books were a luxury only the most affluent could afford.
Neither publisher sent books due to cost and bad timing. So when I returned home, I mailed a box of my books, along with other children’s books I was privileged to have on my shelves. The cost was incredibly reasonable using the U.S. Post Office’s media mail.
Yes, these kids need food. They need clothes. They need health care. They also need art. They need our books. A book in a child’s hands gives him/her access to the world, and perhaps, hope. If you would like to donate your books or help in other ways, please contact me at my website, sharonsharth.com. We can make a difference.
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Bridging the Education Gap in Burkina Faso
by Nonikiwe - Editor on 15 Mar 2011 |
What started as a pen pal program between students at Archer Elementary School and students at Ecole Nagueswende in Burkina Faso, Africa, has evolved into a larger community fundraising effort to help the impoverished school and its students. Led by Archer Elementary teacher Laurie Tornese, the Burkina Faso school has received money for new desks, and future plans include funds to help build a new classroom.
For Laurie Tornese and her students, it started out as a pen pal correspondence.
But before they knew it, the small school in West Africa, with its 239 children and four classes, had somehow found a way into their hearts.
Now, over a year later, Tornese and her students at Archer Elementary School have planned a Read-A-Thon to raise $2,122, the amount of money needed for owner and founder Mathias Ouedraogo to build another classroom for his students at Ecole Nagueswende, a school in Burkina Faso, Africa.
The Read-A-Thon will be held on Wednesday, March 23 from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. and will feature local celebrities such as Mike Potter from WCJB TV-20 and Storm Roberts from KTK 985 as well as other professionals in the community, who will read to the students and talk about their careers.
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Literacy Plans for South Africa Still on Track
by Nonikiwe - Editor on 09 Mar 2011 |
The South African Literacy Campaign launched by Minister Naledi Pandor, is intended to enable 4,7 million adults to become literate between the 14 April 2008 and the end of 2012. It is through this campaign that the developmental state welcomes new learners to the portals of learning.
Kha ri gude, Tshivenda for let us learn, invites those adults who missed out on their schooling and who cannot read or write, to join one of about 20 000 literacy classes that will be held all over South Africa and which will start opening their doors on the 14 April.
The Kha ri Gude literacy campaign is a response to the call for a national campaign to end illiteracy among South African adults. As a programme of government, and as one of the Apex programmes announced by President Mbeki in his 2008 State of the Nation address, the Campaign can be seen as one of the important ways in which the developmental state prioritises the needs of the poor and addresses the right of all citizens to basic education in the official language/s of their choice.
The campaign, resulted from the recommendations of the Ministerial Committee on Literacy and is intended to provide the opportunity for 4,7 million South Africans to become literate. Achieving this target would also mean that South Africa will have fulfilled its 2000 Dakar commitment — that of reducing illiteracy by 50% by 2015.
In order for a national programme of this magnitude to reach its target, the Campaign requires voluntary support from a wide range of people and organisations drawn from all sectors of society and across all provinces, who will assist in establishing learning sites around the country, help to recruit literacy volunteer educators and work with them to recruit learners
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Literacy Education Winter School Provisional Programme
by Nonikiwe - Editor on 02 Mar 2011 |
DAY 1: MONDAY 11 JULY 2011
08:00 – 08:50 Registration and Morning Tea / Coffee
09:00 – 09:50 Opening and Welcome
Prof Sarah Gravett (Executive Dean: Faculty of Education, UJ)Keynote Address
Mrs Palesa Tyobeka (DBE)
Dr Diane Parker (DHET)10:00 – 11:55 Session 1
Research and Theory in Literacy Development – Part 1
Comprehension – why we learn to read in the first place
Prof Catherine Snow, Prof Pamela Mason, and Prof Paola Uccelli
Harvard Graduate School of Education12:00 – 12:55 Lunch
13:00 – 14:25 Session 2
Title to follow
Dr Kerryn Dixon
University of the Witwatersrand14:30 – 14:40 Tea Break
14:45 – 16:15 Session 3
Classroom Practices for Literacy Development – Part 1
Comprehension instruction is content instruction
Prof Catherine Snow, Prof Pamela Mason, and Prof Paola Uccelli
Harvard Graduate School of Education16:30 – 18:00 Session 4 – Meeting
DHET/EU Foundation Phase Teacher Education ProgrammeDAY 2: TUESDAY 12 JULY 2011
08:00 – 08:25 Registration and morning tea/coffee08:30 – 09:25
Keynote Address
Prof Catherine Snow
Harvard Graduate School of Education
Title of keynote to follow09:30 – 11:40 Session 5
Research and Theory in Literacy Development – Part 2
Vocabulary and background knowledge – the essence of learning
Prof Catherine Snow, Prof Pamela Mason, and Prof Paola Uccelli
Harvard Graduate School of Education11:45 – 12:40 Lunch
12:45 – 14:10 Session 6
Emergent Biliteracy: Early Writing Development
Dr Carole Bloch, Ms Xolisa Guzula and Ms Ntombizanele
University of Cape Town14:15 – 14:25 Tea Break
14:30 – 16:15 Session 7
Classroom Practices for Literacy Development – Part 2
Teaching vocabulary to students from 4 to 14
Prof Catherine Snow, Prof Pamela Mason, and Prof Paola Uccelli
Harvard Graduate School of Education16:20 – 18:00 Session 8
(i) Working Group Report: Possible establishment of South African Early
Childhood Education Research Association
(ii) Meeting: DHET/EU Foundation Phase Teacher Education ProgrammeDAY 3: WEDNESDAY 13 JULY 2011
08:00 – 08:25 Morning tea/coffee08:30 – 10:55 Session 9
Research and Theory in Literacy Development – Part 3
Alphabetic and automaticity – tools not goals
Prof Catherine Snow, Prof Pamela Mason, and Prof Paola Uccelli
Harvard Graduate School of Education11:00 – 12:25 Session 10
Researching the Literacy Classroom
Prof Michael Samuel
University of KwaZulu – Natal
OR
Session 11
Methods and tools for initial literacy education research – Part 1
Prof Elizabeth Henning, and Dr Pinky Makoe, University of Johannesburg12:30 – 13:25 Lunch
13:30 – 14:55 Session 12
Classroom Practices for Literacy Development – Part 3
How to teach letters, sounds and their relations
Prof Catherine Snow, Prof Pamela Mason, and Prof Paola Uccelli
Harvard Graduate School of Education15:00 – 15:10 Tea Break
15:15 – 16:55 Session 13
Title to follow
Molteno Language and Literacy Project, Johannesburg
Presenter names to follow
ORSession 14
Changing literacy practices in Foundation Phase classrooms:
Why, what and how?
Exploring models of change through literacy coaching
Prof Elizabeth Pretorius, University of South Africa19:00 – Gala Dinner
-Launch of the EU Foundation Phase Teacher Education Programme
-Possible launch of the South African Early Childhood Education Research
AssociationDAY 4: THURSDAY 14 JULY 2011
08:00 – 08:25 Morning tea/coffee08:30 – 10:55 Session 15
Research and theory in literacy development – Part 4
1. Writing: from spelling to novels
2. Assessment and response to difficulties – when, why, and how
Prof Catherine Snow, Prof Pamela Mason, and Prof Paola Uccelli
Harvard Graduate School of Education11:00 – 12:25 Session 16
Title to follow
Dr Ingrid Willenberg, Macquarie University, Sydney.OR
Workshop Session 17
A systematic review of foundation phase teacher education research
Prof Cyril Julie, University of Western Cape, South Africa
12:30 – 13:25 Lunch13:30 –14:55 Workshop Session 18
Classroom practices for literacy development – Part 4
Proven practices to support writing and to use writing in supporting readingAssessment and using assessment data
Prof Catherine Snow, Prof Pamela Mason, and Prof Paola Uccelli
Harvard Graduate School of Education15:00 – 15:10 Tea Break
15:15 – 16:55 Session 19 – Workshop
Aligning foundation phase teacher education programmes with the
policy on Minimum Requirements for Teacher Education Qualifications
aligned with the Higher Education Qualifications Framework.
Dr Diane Parker and Dr Whitfield Green , Department of Higher Education and
Training – DHET17:00 – 18:30 Session 20 – Meeting
DHET/EU Foundation phase teacher education programme
DAY 5: FRIDAY 15 JULY 2011
08:00 – 08:25 Morning tea/coffee
08:30 – 09:30 South African Early Childhood Education Research Association -
Election of committee members09:30 – 11:00 Session 21
Methods and tools for initial literacy education research – Part 2
Prof Elizabeth Henning and Dr Pinky Makoe, University of Johannesburg,OR
Session 22
Title of presentation to follow
Presenter name to follow
Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University, South Africa
11:05 – 12:25 Session 23
Title of presentation to followProf Themane, University of Limpopo
OR
Literacy knowledge and practice standards for FP teacher preparation
programmes
Prof Carisma Nel (NWU)
12:30 – 13:25 Lunch13:30 – 14:55 Session 24
Title of presentation to follow
Presenter name to follow
University of Pretoria, South Africa15:00 – 15:30 Closing Session
- Events Calendar
August 2011 M T W T F S S 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 
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