Programme Director
Distinguished guests
Ladies and gentlemen
I would like to thank you very much for accepting the invitation to this occasion where the Free State Department of Education together with Vodacom launches the National Teaching Awards Awareness (NTA) Campaign.
This launch is very timely; taking place just four days after the whole world celebrated the 93rd birthday of the first democratically elected President of South Africa, Mr Nelson Mandela.
Celebrated under the theme ‘make every day a Mandela Day’ more than 12 million learners across the country sang Happy Birthday Tata Mandela.
This inspiring and unifying song was carried like the wind across the plains and valleys of our beautiful country by melodious voice of our learners and millions of South Africans at their workplaces, in their homes and cars.
What better way to explain and celebrate the meaning of Madiba, whose entire life is like a song of tenderness dedicated to Africa and the world.
Most importantly, with education as the number one government priority and matter close to Madiba’s heart, South Africans rallied around education. As part of making education a societal issue they donated life-changing books in the spirit of Mandela Day to schools to enhance the culture of reading.
As the Free State Department of Education, were are alive to the value of mutual partnerships and their crucial role in tackling, head-on, herculean challenges of improving quality of learning and teachings in our schools.
I therefore thank Vodacom for supporting National Teaching Awards and other education-related projects in the province.
We appreciate the reality that the struggle for quality education in our rural and township schools is not a struggle we can win on our own.
We have prioritised the role of society and duly committed to effectively making education a societal issue. For indeed it is.
In the Delivery Agreement I signed with Honourable Minister Motshekga last year, we said categorically, that to develop quality in education: “There must be a sufficient degree of agreement and commitment among the various stakeholders. Plans must be widely consulted and all should be involved.”
There is a need for social contract between government, teacher unions, and teacher training institutions, parents, School Governing Bodies (SGB) organisations, business and civil society organs.
Ladies and gentlemen, enhancing educational quality in the sense of improving learning outcomes stands out as our greatest challenge. There is no denialism here. We have acknowledged this in our recent strategic planning Lekgotla held at Xhariep Dam Forever Resort. It should be our rallying point.
Without substantial improvement in foundational skills of literacy and numeracy amongst our children – without improvement in the grade 12 pass rates, without quality passes in mathematics, science and accounting, the future development of the country will be seriously impaired. Providing quality education is in actual fact a precondition for delivering effectively on the goals of the country’s New Growth Plan.
It is in this spirit, as you will recall, that at the end of June this year, our department hosted the Education Summit which was graced by key education stakeholders including teacher’s unions. That interaction was intended expressly to give impetus to our constructive engagements with partners in the field of education.
Owing to the continuing decline in teacher supply, especially at the foundation phase and gateway subjects, the summit resolved to improve teacher capacity and development programmes.
Ladies and gentlemen, the most important area for quality improvement is teacher development and all intervention in education must have relevance to the single purpose of improving the work of teachers in classrooms.
To support teacher development and improve excellent teaching and learning in every classroom effective leadership of the principal and broader school management and of the leadership from the district must be strengthened.
These areas are part of the essential skeleton of an effective education system: the flesh bones of pedagogical practices that promote literacy, numeracy, critical thinking, the building of success in maths and science, the fostering of self-esteem and committed citizenship. These goals must be supported by all of us.
The role of the principal in leading success and excellence is indispensable. The quality of leadership the principal provides impacts significantly on the quality of teaching and learning in classrooms, the morale and commitment of teachers, the pastoral care of learners, the inclusiveness of the extramural programme, the dignity of the physical environment of the school, the effective management and utilisation of resources within school and effectiveness of the school governing body.
The school principal occupies a pivotal structural position straddling the relationships between district and both the teachers and the community of parents and learners.
Teachers cannot work effectively when the principal is unable to manage this interface between the complex social and pedagogical relationships of classroom and the community. This requires considerable management and leadership.
Ladies and gentlemen, we also need to focus on improving the functioning of the district that correctly understands and exists to support principals and teachers.
Our view is that the first function of the district is to provide the wisdom of broad experience and up-to-date knowledge in the support given to the leadership of the school.
The second function is to provide the wisdom – again rooted in the authority gained from experience and knowledge rather than the authority of hierarchy – in the content and methodological knowledge needed by the teacher in the classroom.
It should not be the primary function of district officials to be the delivery persons for instructions from provincial office.
In the 21st century, Information and Communications technology (ICTs) must be effectively used and district and support staff should be welcomed and supportive colleagues, not messengers.
We must long for the day when teachers look forward to the visit of their colleagues from these offices because they anticipate the helpful advice that they will bring to the problems teachers and principals have identified.
Until we reach such a position, the distrust and antagonism between schools and districts will continue contributing to teacher disillusionment.
Fixing these relationships will depend on building the confidence and competence of officials to truly support the work of teachers.
We are raising these leadership challenges because we cannot always sit in our ‘ivory towers’ at districts and provincial offices pontificating on how bad our teachers are.
True, there are bad elements within this noble profession - those who act to undermine centres of excellence, those who lack discipline, and those who send pupils to buy alcohol during school hours, those dating learners and those who sully the good name of the profession.
But I am pleading with the public not to generalise about the teachers. There are many good teachers (some of them are with us this afternoon) who are doing a sterling job. I am referring to those who truly value quality education, those who display the highest professionalism and those who give their most precious time to our children.
Mr Khothule, Ms Kome, Ms Zondi and Mr Mphuthi who made us proud in the 2010 national teaching awards epitomise the best that this province has to offer, the best that our education system has to offer and the best that our public service can show.
Teaching, ladies and gentlemen, is a difficult and complex, multifaceted and multilayered art and science. Despite the shortfalls many teachers, like our 2010 NTA winners do much good work under trying conditions.
They are expected to be policemen, sexologists, criminologists, psychologists, drug counsellors, doctors, nurses, and of course to do their primary job of teaching.
Today, we are launching the National Teaching Awards Awareness Campaign to not only stimulate interest amongst teachers to celebrate and recognise excellence in the teaching profession but also to provide the public the opportunity to recognise and honour talented, inspiring and dedicated educators.
As the department we do not view the national teaching awards as the competition but an acknowledgement that serves as an incentive for all hard-working educators, who despite unbearable challenges in their workplace, go beyond the call of duty to deliver quality teaching services.
Over the years the awards have served as an affirmation of the hard work and dedication demonstrated by teachers in various categories of their work. They have served as a platform to acknowledge and appreciate excellence in the profession.
We are therefore calling all educators in the province to take a keen interest in these awards as this will assist in debunking the myth of the teaching career as the profession in despair.
It will be nice to hear something positive about teachers. It will be nice for teachers to support the ‘Hands up for Education Campaign’ by being on time in class and prepared to teach, provide quality education every day and assist learners with additional revision work.
As you know the Minister of Education Angie Motshekga released results of Annual National Assessments (ANA), on 28 June 2011. The results posed a serious challenge for us. They depict a grim picture of our black children in particular not having a sense of numbers. Their mathematical careers are over long before they even reach intermediate and senior phase, let alone higher education training.
There are no quick fix solutions. We need to start working at the foundation phase and making impact there. The fact is, the performance at primary school level predicts grade 12 performance. If performance at lower level is poor, there is no way we can raise it at grade 12. It is too late crying at the grade 12 level. We need to look at this weakness much earlier, which is where investments have to be made.
The Annual National Assessments are diagnostic tools. Teachers should use ANA performance to analyse individual learners’ challenges in a particular area and identify appropriate remedial teaching strategies. They should exploit the opportunity that the ANA results present to improve learning for their learners. In addition teachers should use these results to inform planning for the school year. Mostly critically, teachers should ensure that the importance of reading is highlighted every day.
As we conclude, we call on all educators in the province not to shun the National Teaching Awards. These awards as indicated earlier are critical in advancing the interest of teaching career. We encourage every good teacher of our province to come out in their numbers, be counted and put their hands up for our education.
Let the outstanding work and excellence achievements of our previous years NTA nominees inspire our colleagues in the teaching fraternity to do more to help us achieve quality education and open opportunities for our children, in particular for the poorest of the poor.
Improving the quality of teaching is a precondition for realising South Africa’s human resources development goals and a better life for all.
I thank you.
Source: Free State Department of Education
