INLSA
Vice-chancellor of the University of the Free State, Jonathan Jansen
Leading educationists have thrown their weight behind the country’s teachers and the importance of instilling an education culture in SA that recognises the profession’s worth.
While October 5 was declared World Teachers’ Day by the UN, some schools have opted to observe the day this week, after returning from holiday.
“A significant step in improving education would be to value teachers, and to support them in their work,” visiting adjunct professor at the University of the Witwatersrand, Mary Metcalfe, said.
“Our teachers are our greatest asset as we strive to improve the quality of education,” she said.
Metcalfe believes that the “great majority” of teachers continue to seek to make a difference under difficult conditions.
“Our concern to improve education must translate into supportive action that helps schools move away from failure and underperformance, and recognises the central role of teachers in achieving quality education for all,” she said.
Earlier this year, while addressing the Education Management Association of SA conference, Metcalfe cited focus group research from KwaZulu-Natal, Mpumalanga and Gauteng, which revealed that “teachers felt they must deliver miracles” in the context of material shortages, pupil overcrowding and curriculum changes.
Vice-chancellor of the University of the Free State, Jonathan Jansen, said the reason governments spent the largest portion of their education budgets on teachers was that without them, effective learning would cease.
“Despite new technologies, teachers are irreplaceable when it comes to providing high quality education to all children,” Jansen continued.
It then stood to reason that if teachers failed to deliver on their mandate – to teach and care for children – there was a crisis. Jansen also highlighted the multiple roles teachers had to play in the SA context.
“In poor communities, teachers are not only providers of instruction, they are forced to be social workers, counsellors, motivators and more as they provide for the complex needs of children from broken homes and challenged communities.”
Kenneth King, Emeritus Professor in the School of Education, and the School of |Social and Political Sciences at Scotland’s University of Edinburgh, said that, when a culture existed where teachers were respected (and well remunerated), it afforded that country “a huge advantage”.
He said that having a high level of expectation from all pupils was also essential.
Schools affiliated to the Federation of Governing Bodies of SA Schools (Fedsas) will celebrate their teachers on October 12. Besides wanting pupils to realise the “determining role” teachers can play in their lives, Fedsas has also encouraged older generations to get in touch with a beloved teacher, or visit their old school.
