4. Teacher training, knowledge and confidence

Every person we interviewed noted that many South African teachers feel overwhelmed by the crisis in education and by a sense of hopelessness.

Sam Christie, director of South African Innovative Learning Intervention (SAILI), an organisation that links academically talented students with well-functioning, low-fee state schools, claimed that the most critical problem in local education is the entrenched expectation of failure among educators and learners alike; the sense our education system is “broken” beyond repair.

Similarly, in a stinging statement on the state of education in our schools in 2012, Jonathan Jansen, the rector and vice chancellor of the University of the Free State reported that “University lecturers will tell you that, in their experience, students over the years have gotten weaker even as the matriculation results on the outside get stronger”.

Just a few weeks later, Mamphela Ramphele was quoted in the Cape Argus as saying that South African “schooling today [is] worse off than the ‘gutter education’ the youth of 1976 gave their lives to overthrow”. But it’s not only the learners who are behind. Dr Martin Prew, director of the Centre for Education Policy Development, asserts that the “appalling performance of learners is more understandable when compared with research… into teacher knowledge tests”.

Dr Prew refers to tests undertaken by the Integrated Education Programme and published by JET Education Services in 2007. Of 154 teachers assessed on grade-six level Maths tasks, 96% failed to get the 50% pass mark, and the mean across all 154 teachers was a mere 26%. Similarly, JET’s 2011 National School Effectiveness Study (NSES) report shows that teachers are ill-equipped to teach Maths, even at primary school level.

When five simple grade-six Maths tasks were given to the Maths teachersin the sample, the results (though not conclusive) pointed to a worryingly poor level: two thirds of teachers could only answer three of the questions; only 12% could answer all five.

Since teachers were themselves unable to cope with the more difficult tasks, it’s unsurprising that “the overwhelming majority of South African teachers of Mathematics avoid topics which are in any way challenging,” says the report, thus broadening gaps in learner knowledge. Insecurity also limits the ways in which teachers teach. Those without a strong content understanding are less likely to welcome challenging questions from learners that risk exposing their own ignorance. Such teachers are more likely to favour unquestioning rote-learning and traditional, non-interactive “chalk and talk” techniques.

Clearly there is a need for better training and subject knowledge. But there is also a need for more teachers. The National Development Plan (NDP) states that one of the main objectives is to reduce class sizes, which impact learner performance. “Small classes allow teachers to give more attention to individual learners,” says the Plan. “In South Africa, for every teacher there are 33 learners, compared to Botswana where the ratio is 1:22, one of the lowest in the world.”

That said, it’s not enough to simply train more teachers or for existing teachers to gain higher qualifications. According to the NDP, teachers certified as qualified have gone from 54% in 1990 to 94%, but outcomes are still poor. Therefore, “South Africa needs to improve the quality of teacher training, and recruit higher calibre candidates”.

5. Parental and community engagement

Parental engagement is a related educational problem that needs attention. It’s a big intervention gap because parents aren’t getting involved in appraising, commenting on and therefore transforming their children’s school experiences.

This is probably because many parents in South Africa don’t see themselves as customers of a service provided by the government and the Department of Basic Education.

Perhaps it’s still the apartheid legacy and a perceived power imbalance, but they won’t go into schools and complain. Many of these parents don’t have much education themselves and so don’t know how to evaluate what or how their children are taught.

“Performance generally improves where parents are involved and accountable in the schools,” says the NDP, but also adds that, “[m]any school governing bodies are hampered by parents’ lack of expertise and social status relative to school staff.”

So schools should be accountable to parents, and parents should be accountable for the behaviour, attitude, attendance and work ethic of their children. But there are social issues that get in the way – single parenting, community unrest, lack of transport, or lack of money for transport to get to the school and engage. These and other psychosocial problems affect parents and learners alike, leading to low self-esteem and little hope for the future.

“It is difficult to get students to believe in themselves when they haven’t had the opportunity to do so before,” Phadiela Cooper, principal of the Centre of Science and Technology school in Khayelitsha told Molly Blank, who wrote for the Mail & Guardian. “A lack of self-confidence is not surprising if you are raised in a place where there is little hope and opportunity, which is also why it takes extraordinary men and women, such as the principals and teachers I met, to support young people.”

One such example is Nelson Ma’Afrika, who leaves his school, Masiphumelele High, open all weekend and until 8pm on weekdays, “so that the pupils, who live in this congested Cape Town township have a safe, quiet place to study.” The engagement spreads even further with community members providing security and watching over the school, says Blank.

The result? The school’s matric results have increased from 28% to 85% in seven years. It makes sense that the NDP recommends “[developing] a strong sense of community ownership, encouraging community to assist in school nutrition, vegetable gardens and preventing theft and vandalism.”

6. The importance of writing in class

The 2012 NEEDU report by the independent National Education Evaluation and Development Unit stresses the educational importance of writing, and states that “in language and the content subjects, learners should write at least four times a week.”

This would add up to around two pages per week for Grade 1 learners, increasing to four or so pages a week in Grade 3. But perhaps due to overworked teachers and the ease of multiple-choice testing – these page counts are not being met.

Although the average number of pages written per week in Grade 1 is around two or more in 11 of the 15 districts visited, there is inadequate progression as learners move through the Grades. In only two districts did the average quantities of writing approach the norms described above for all three grades.”

This is concerning, because sufficient writing is necessary to develop higher cognitive functions, such as inference, analysis and interpretation. That’s why it is needed systematically from the earliest years of school. Without this, how could learners ever be able to catch up and progress academically in later years?

Go here for ← Destination Education (Part 1)