E Surty: Microsoft Innovative Teachers Forum Awards 2007

26 September 2007

His Excellency Heikki Juhani Tuunanen
The Ambassador of Finland
Ashley De Klerk, Public Sector Director, Microsoft South Africa
Representatives of Microsoft and the Department of Education
Distinguished guests
Teachers
Ladies and gentlemen

Introduction

"Just as energy is the basis of life itself and ideas the source of
innovation, so is innovation the vital spark of all human change, improvement
and progress." With the words of the late Professor Emeritus Theodore Levitt of
the Harvard Business School, I would like us today, to celebrate innovation in
education and also pay tribute to teachers who make a difference to student
learning through innovative and creative activities. It is always a great
pleasure for the Department of Education to be part of occasions such as this,
which give recognition to the creativity and ingenuity of teachers. We cannot
stress enough the fact that resourcefulness of teachers is critical to the
provision of quality education.

Shift in education

There is a shift in how education as a system is implemented today. This is
because learners need to be motivated to learn and being engaged in learning to
increase their motivation and passion for learning. This is coupled with the
demand for 21st century skills such as digital age literacy, effective
communication, good numeracy, high productivity and inventive thinking. This is
supported by reports and other research which found that the required qualities
of employability are good communication skills, problem solving skills and
information technology skills. These demands and the permeation and
proliferation of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) throughout the
economy have advanced the shift in education.

Education systems must mirror the social, economic and political practices
of society. This implies that today's education system must reflect the rapid
technological innovations that characterise the practices of modern society.
Teachers are key to this process and must therefore be adequately equipped to
cope with the demands of the 21st Century education systems.

Importance of innovation in education

Making improvements in teaching and learning by introducing new ideas is
crucial to provide relevant and quality education. However, the new ideas are
most useful if generated by teachers themselves in the context of their work.
Introducing or imposing innovative ideas on teachers may be detrimental to
education if not contextualised in the teaching and learning environment. There
are many benefits that education can derive from innovation. Firstly,
innovation is critical to responding to our education policies. A policy such
as the National Curriculum Statement (NCS) requires teachers to facilitate the
achievement of critical outcomes such as problem solving through critical and
creative thinking, information literacy, effective communication, effective use
of science and technology and group work by learners. This process requires
resourcefulness from the teachers.

The second significance is that innovation together with research and
education is a key driver in creating a knowledge-based society. This is a
society where economic, social, cultural and all other human activities are
dependent on knowledge and information. Knowledge can only be utilised by
society if it is functional, useful and accessible. This it does by converting
knowledge into information. This implies that society must have the means of
access and skills necessary to locate, evaluate, manipulate, manage and
communicate information from different sources (information literacy).

The third significance of innovation is that it creates greater access to
learning opportunities, redresses inequalities, improves the quality of
learning and teaching and delivers lifelong learning. This forms the main focus
of the White Paper on e-Education, which aims to ensure that by 2013 every
South African learner will be able to use ICTs confidently and creatively. This
will also help learners to develop the skills and knowledge they need to
achieve personal goals and to participate intelligently and actively in the
global community.

To achieve this objective, the department is investing in initiatives that
will increase access, boost the capacity of managers, teachers and learners,
and provide quality electronic resources for teaching and learning. A
transactional advisor is currently conducting a feasibility study on the
effective integration of ICT into education. The results of this study will
guide decisions and inform the way in which e-Education is implemented in
public schools and Further Education and Training (FET) colleges. The provision
of an efficient and cost-effective ICT infrastructure, which will deliver the
benefits of e-Education, will require innovation.

The fourth significance of innovation is that of promoting organisational
learning. The Department of Education needs to better manage its knowledge
capital as well as identify changes in the educational environment and adapt to
them accordingly. We need to learn from experience and incorporate the learning
as feedback into the planning processes. It is only through innovation that we
can ensure that the quality of education keeps abreast of the ever-changing
social, economic and political landscape. I agree with William Pollard, who
states "Learning and innovation go hand in hand. The arrogance of success is to
think that what you did yesterday will be sufficient for tomorrow." Through
innovation and information technology distance learning, virtual teaching and
learning and interactive digital learning are possibilities that we cannot
ignore.

Lastly, innovation is important because we need to harness the potential of
technology to improve the quality of teaching and learning. ICT is a key
enabler and equaliser and therefore holds a lot of potential for a country such
as South Africa, which has immense economic, social and cultural diversity. We
therefore need to encourage innovation by providing an enabling environment
that stimulates creativity in our teachers.

Teacher development

The occasion we are witnessing today is an initiative aimed at encouraging
teachers to become more creative, skilful and collaborative through sharing of
best practice. At the launch of Microsoft's School Technology Innovation Centre
(STIC) in April this year, the Minister of Education pointed out that 'best
practice' and 'innovation' are both important because they imply drawing on
success elsewhere and encourage teachers to adopt new ways of teaching and
learning.

Support from initiatives such as the Innovative Teachers Forum Awards (ITFA)
is important for the professional development of teachers. This is because
modern developments may have eased some teaching burdens, but they have also
created new imperatives for them. These include more demanding and complicated
educational objectives and the rapid expansion of knowledge, which require
teachers to continually update their knowledge and exposing themselves to
modern channels of information- all this in a rapidly changing world.

This has been an important consideration for the Department of Education and
we have subsequently developed policy for the initial and continuing
development of teachers. This lifelong focus on the professional preparedness
and development of teachers intends to provide initial preparation that
provides teachers with a solid foundation of knowledge, structured
opportunities for retraining, upgrading and acquiring new knowledge and skills,
as well as providing on-going support to teachers as they tackle their
day-to-day responsibilities. As far as ICT development is concerned, the
Department has finalised a framework of ICT competencies for teachers. This
framework is an important milestone in that it will attempt to adequately
address the ICT training needs of teachers in classrooms.

The essence of the framework of ICT competencies is to provide a holistic
approach to the development of teachers in the use of ICT as a key enabler. It
acknowledges that ICT skills cannot be practised independently of their context
and those ICT skills are integral to initial and continuing teacher development
programmes.

Partnership

The ingenuity in teaching and learning, which is inspired by the Innovative
Teachers Forum Awards, is a demonstration of what can be achieved through
collaborative effort. Given the magnitude of the task and additional resources
required to integrate ICTs in education, investment in ICTs cannot be the sole
responsibility of Government. Investment from the private sector is necessary
to complement Government efforts. I therefore commend Microsoft and SchoolNet
South Africa for their contribution through this initiative.

This partnership is contributing toward the vision of the department, of
providing 'quality education for all.' It is only through innovation that we
can continually improve the quality of teaching and learning. I wish to see
more private-sector involvement in developing the professional skills of
teachers. It is also very gratifying to see South African teachers participate
in this global event. The two teachers, who represented South Africa, last year
(2006) at the Global Innovative Teachers Forum Awards in Philadelphia, United
States of America (USA), demonstrated the high calibre of teachers in South
Africa.

We are indeed very proud of Abdulla Sujee from Roshnee Islamic School in
Gauteng, whose lesson that brings multimedia and 'life itself' into language
teaching was voted the most innovative lesson worldwide by his peers. This was
a great accolade. I also commend Paul van Zyl from St John's College in Gauteng
for his introduction of designing games in the Biology class. These teachers
are an inspiration to all our other teachers in South Africa. I would like to
congratulate all our finalists and winners of the 2007 Innovative Teachers
Forum Awards and hope that they will set the standards even higher in Helsinki,
Finland when they represent us in October.

I wish to emphasise that no investment in the future of our country can
equal or better an investment in education. Once again, allow me to express my
sincerest appreciation to everybody who made this event a reality. It will
indeed always be a monument to your efforts. I am particularly appreciative and
commend the efforts of all teachers who participated in this initiative.

I would like to conclude with a quote from Diane Ravitch, Former Assistant
Secretary of Education under the first Bush Administration, who asked: "So does
education really need more innovation? The answer seems obvious. Of course it
does. Any field of endeavour that rejects innovation will wither
intellectually. Any field that opposes improvement and experimentation is a
dead field. Any field that is impervious to change and evolution becomes inert.
Innovation is a necessity, not only because it allows possibilities for
improvement, but also because innovation attracts alert and inquisitive minds.
Only those who have achieved 'perfection' can afford to reject the value of
innovation."

I thank you

Issued by: Department of Education
26 September 2007
Source: Department of Education (http://www.education.gov.za)