C Dugmore: Provincial Teachers' Awards Ceremony

15 September 2006

Program Director
Ron Swartz, Superintendent-General of Western Cape Education Department
(WCED)
Deputy Directors-General (DDGs), Chief Directors and Directors
Officials from the national and provincial education departments
Prof Kopano Ratele, Chairperson of the Provincial Adjudication Panel and other
members
Distinguished guests
Ladies and gentleman, and last but not least,
Those teachers who will receive awards tonight,

Let me also acknowledge the presence of some special guests in the audience
tonight all the way from the United Kingdom (UK); Raymond Moorcroft from the
Manchester Metropolitan University and Trevor Summerson from the national
College for School Leadership - they are here to help us with the development
of a Pilot certificate course in School Business Management targeted at our
administrative assistants and school secretaries.

Our school principals, there are many in the audience tonight, face a myriad
of complex challenges. Not only do they have to ensure the effective delivery
of the curriculum in the classroom, but they also have to look after the social
well-being of children and deal with day to day administrative burdens. Last
year I was able to see first hand how the School Business Management
certificate course helped transform many schools by empowering secretaries with
skills to assist in the overall management of schools.

I mention this programme because I believe that, as we celebrate our
teachers, we also need to take practical steps to lessen their burdens which
take them away from the core task of teaching our learners. The concept of the
school business manager as a dedicated individual who is able to manage human
resource, budget, infrastructure and provisioning issues at school can add
massive value to a school community, enhance learning and relieve the burden on
our principals and teachers.

So, I want thank our friends from the UK and our WCED officials who have
worked hard this week to develop a programme towards the implementation of a
pilot certificate in our province.

I think all of us are aware of the massive challenges our province and
country face in regard to fighting poverty and creating work and the centrality
of quality education and skills development in achieving the goal of a better
life for all. I believe that we are making steady progress in our attempts to
bring about quality education. Although massive challenges remain we are
building this country slowly brick by brick to borrow a phrase from our Premier
Ebrahim Rasool. This progress can largely be attributed to the outstanding
contributions and the dedication and commitment of our teachers. And tonight
therefore, is really just one way in which we want to acknowledge you, and
encourage others to follow your example.

I also want to acknowledge the fact that many of our teachers on the Cape
Flats in particular, are working under tremendous stress in an environment
affected by gangsterism, crime and violence. The incidents of violence over the
last few months impacting on our educators and learners in a number of our
schools are of great concern to the department and me.

In my view the WCED's Safe Schools programme has developed to the point
where many our schools generally offer safer environments under difficult
circumstances. Our relationship with the SAPS, Community Safety and our
community police forums has improved. But clearly it can never be the
responsibility of the school and the department alone to deal with this massive
challenge. It is also the responsibility of our parents and communities to
promote a culture of respect, tolerance and non-violence. All of us need to
embrace the slogan of "My child is your child; your child is my child". We need
to act together, government, community, parents, teachers and learners to
ensure that our schools are sacred places of learning; places where guns,
drugs, violence and intolerance have no place.

As part of paying tribute to our teachers who give of their best every day,
I also want to highlight a complaint that I received from two learners. They
complained to me that their maths teacher had been absent for 50 days and that
some teachers arrived at school under the influence of alcohol. All of us, the
department, teacher unions and school principals need to be united in our
approach to such issues. Unless we act consistently to condemn such behaviour
and take action, we contribute to the demoralisation of those educators giving
their best.

We are all aware of the challenge we face in regard to the levels of
literacy and numeracy amongst our children. When we launched our campaign to
improve literacy and numeracy, we recognised the fact that teacher development
is central to the success of this strategy. Our teachers were not trained to
teach in multi-lingual classrooms but there has been a huge migration of
learners and that is what we are faced with. We have a new curriculum with a
fundamentally different approach to teaching and learning.

Worldwide there are discrepancies between the intended curriculum and that
which is actually taught in the classrooms. This is particularly the case
during curriculum changeovers. I believe that the implementation of the
national Curriculum Statement is, however, beginning to reach completion. Our
grade 8, 9 and 11 teachers received orientation in July this year. Next year it
will be the turn of our grade 12 educators. By 2008 our grade 12s across the
country will write matric in terms of the new curriculum. With our curriculum
almost bedded down it is critical that our focus shifts firmly to content,
classroom practice and support.

Our teachers have to have "time out" so they can stock up on new skills. And
they need more than a quick workshop at the end of a long hard day. The
training that we envisage for teachers will be very carefully designed.
Predominantly we are looking at certificated courses offered through tertiary
institutions. This is an expensive option and not one to be achieved overnight.
However we know that we must undertake it. The Cape Teaching Institute (CTI)
residential courses will play a pivotal role in this regard.

Besides teacher development, I think it is important that we acknowledge
steps that have been taken to improve the conditions of service of our
teachers. By talking about these steps, I believe we can begin to show that
teaching is not only the noblest profession, but also one where efforts are
being made to retain teachers in the service. Earlier this year, parties to the
Education Labour Relations Council (ELRC) signed an agreement that provides for
improved career-pathing for qualified post level one teachers, as well as
accelerated salary progression for all teachers on certain salary levels.

This agreement makes provision for the new rank of master teacher. We can
now promote senior teachers on salary level eight to the rank of master teacher
on salary level nine, if they meet performance criteria determined by the
Integrated Quality Management System (IQMS). The agreement on accelerated pay
progression now enables teachers to progress more rapidly through a salary
level, for example, by three notches after three years of good
performance.
Teachers can also achieve three notch increases over five years, for example,
if they achieve three good performance ratings during this period. The
initiative is part of the R4,2 billion allocated to improve the remuneration of
educators nationwide.

The agreement will enable us to retain quality teachers in the classroom,
where their skills are needed, while giving them the necessary promotions and
incentives to stay in classrooms and in the profession. Whilst on the one hand
we must make sure that the conditions of service of teachers are continuously
improved, it is critical that invest in building effective leadership of our
schools, at all levels. If our schools, are effectively led and managed by
principals and senior management, great success can be achieved. I am fully
supportive of the initiative by Minister Pandor to ensure that every aspirant
principal will have to complete a Diploma in School Leadership and Management
before being able to apply for such a post. This will have a fundamental impact
on the management and leadership of our schools. Minister Naledi Pandor also
announced in her budget speech in May that the Department of Education was
about to publish an agreed framework for the professional development of
teachers. To quote Minister Pandor: "We intend as the departments to take
active steps to restore the dignity of teaching as the most important
profession in our society. We will consult teacher unions to establish what
should be done beyond remuneration and training to regain lost and waning
dignity and status.

"Beyond these actions we will also intensify our efforts at increasing the
supply of new teachers through the introduction of teacher bursaries or loans
that are tied to service contracts." Minister Pandor confirmed that we have
acted to address the improved remuneration of teachers, as shown by the recent
Education Labour Relations Council (ELRC) agreement. I am also pleased to
report that, for the third year in a row now, the Western Cape Education
Department will increase the total number of teaching posts in the province by
500 next year to 30 872 at a cost of R83,5 million.

It represents the highest increase in the number of posts over this period.
This means that teaching posts in the province have increased by 1 157 at a
total cost of R182,9 million since 2005. As the MEC I have to determine the
total number of posts based primarily on what we can afford, taking into
account the curriculum and redress needs of schools as well. The total number
of learners in the Western Cape has stabilised at between 919 000 and 920 000
over the past two years, in Grades 1 to 12. Despite this trend, the WCED has
continued to increase the total number of teaching posts to address specific
challenges, especially those requiring redress.

We continually have to balance the demands of personnel and non-personnel
expenditure and the declaration of an extra 500 posts was the best scenario
which could be managed for 2007. I will continue to raise the issue of
additional resources for education within the overall pressures faced by our
provincial budget. I am convinced that we need to improve teacher-learner
ratios, especially in the foundation phase. Our high schools also require
additional support given the demands of the new curriculum.

This year, we have used the basket of posts creatively by using the funds of
100 teacher posts to appoint 510 Teaching Assistants in poor schools to assist
foundation phase teachers in primary schools, for 2006. The appointment of the
Teaching Assistants was a direct response to our studies of learner performance
in grade three and six, which show that learners in these grades are struggling
to meet the requirements of the national curriculum, especially in poor
communities.

The duties of the Teaching Assistants include listening to learners'
reading; working with groups and individuals to improve word skills; developing
number concept skills; and assisting teachers with classroom organisation and
management. The project got off to a good start. The assistants are working
well with the teachers they are supporting, and they are keen to make a
difference in the reading, writing and maths skills of the learners in their
care. While our assessment in November will tell whether we have been
successful, initial signs are that we have every reason to be optimistic.

As you may very well know, it is a pilot project at this stage, involving
163 schools. If the project is successful, the department will consider
expanding this form of support. I am pleased to say that most teachers in the
Western Cape are committed to ongoing professional development, and the WCED is
deeply committed to supporting this process. The WCED has supported more than
21 000 training interventions during the 2005/06 financial year. These included
those provided by the department, as well as those where teachers took the
initiative to register for courses at tertiary institutions. The Cape Teaching
Institute, for example, has accommodated the training of 1 456 teachers and
principals during 2005/06, with courses lasting between six and eight
weeks.

The WCED also provided short courses for 15 040 employees, mostly teachers,
on topics ranging from information technology to Adult Basic Education and
Training, Human Resource Management, exceptional learners with special
educational needs (ELSEN), and HIV and AIDS. It addition to this training, the
WCED organised orientation workshops for about 14 000 teachers on the national
curriculum, most of which took place during the July school holiday.

Teachers, as in any profession, are required to ensure their ongoing
professional development. I am pleased to say that the teachers of the Western
Cape are demonstrating this commitment in a big way. Thanks to the Integrated
Quality Management System (IQMS), we now have our first comprehensive picture
of the developmental needs of all teachers in the province, and we will use
this database to develop our training support for our teachers further.

Meanwhile, the WCED provides a wide range of other forms of support for our
teachers, including the day-to-day work of our Education Management and
Development Centres in every district. This work includes the work of
multi-functional teams who provide support holistically, from school-based
management to special education needs and curriculum support. We recently
embarked on a joint project with Social Development to train 900 Early
Childhood Development (ECD) practitioners.

This is part of an overall integrated Western Cape strategy to support Early
Childhood Development. A key component of our joint strategy includes
accredited education and training for practitioners and caregivers involved in
ECD. We provide special support for our 50 Dinaledi schools, where we are
trying to increase the number of learners from poor communities who pass maths
and science in matric, as well as our 28 focus schools.

Our focus schools offer opportunities for learners in poor communities in
arts and culture, business, commerce and management, and engineering and
technology.
Other forms of support include our award-winning Khanya programme, which uses
Information and Communications Technology (ICT) to support teaching and
learning. By the end of the financial year, Khanya had trained or was in the
process of training 14 230 teachers on how to use technology to enhance
teaching and learning.

The WCED Client Services provides a Walk-in Centre and a Call Centre to
answer queries dealing with human resource and salary issues. Client Services
won a Premier's Award for Service Excellence in 2005, following a rigorous
assessment process. Services at the Walk-in Centre include finding temporary
posts for unemployed teachers, which has proved to be highly successful. The
centre initiated a database of unemployed teachers, which is now also available
to schools on the WCED website, to make it easier for schools to find temporary
and substitute teachers.

I've spoken about some of what the WCED is doing or is planning. That was a
bit about "our" part of the deal, as it were. But what we're here to celebrate
tonight is what our teachers are doing. Let's try to get into a teacher's shoes
a bit. In a classroom, the teacher is contending with the complex and
distractible minds of around 40 other people, when maybe only a handful of them
are actually interested in what's happening in the classroom at that moment.
Our children's lives are full of ordeals and challenges like peer-pressure,
drugs, poverty and violence.

The teacher somehow has to orchestrate everything all the different
backgrounds, the different paces and learning needs, the changing curriculum,
the demands of administration and record-keeping! In the mix also are the
learners' crucial needs to play and socialise. Then there's the urgency of
preparation for tests and examinations because out there is a "dog-eats-dog"
world with employability challenges and all the expectations of parents that
their children simply must end up with better life opportunities than they
had.

Dealing daily with young minds and fragile egos, being measured all the time
against the clock, against the curriculum, against the stream of demands coming
from all directions makes being a teacher surely one of the most exhausting
professions. I salute each one of you here today: all you outstanding role
models and achievers. I salute all those beyond this room who are also serving,
leading and inspiring our young people.

I thank you most warmly and sincerely for the remarkable way in which you
are devoting your lives to our children and clearly going out of your way to
find ways both to serve and to challenge them. Our world has much that is
vicious in it. Our children need to know how to be strong. And you are helping
to make that happen. Our children need to be critically literate. They need
what I'll just sum up as "hard skills". You are getting that right too. I'd
like to acknowledge your families too as I know that such contributions as you
are making do not come without sacrifice.

Enjoy tonight and the time in the limelight. We seldom give thanks and
praise where it is due: let's try to get that right tonight! In conclusion,
ladies and gentlemen, I want to thank all those who have worked so hard to
ensure the success of the process thus far. A very special thank you to the
adjudication panel - nobody can envy them their difficult task! Our teachers
are our most important resource. The national Teaching Awards are a special way
of expressing this appreciation.

Thank you.

Enquiries:
Gert Witbooi
Media Liaison Officer
Tel: (021) 467 2523
Fax: (021) 425 5689
Email: gwitbooi@pgwc.gov.za

Issued by: Department of Education, Western Cape Provincial Government
15 September 2006
Source: Western Cape Provincial Government (http:www.capegateway.gov.za)