“Before, I felt I was inferior. Now I have the confidence to speak out in front of my class. I know how to prepare my lessons and I know how to assess my children,” said Fozzie Hassane, a Sibuyile Primary schoolteacher in KaNamazane near Nelspruit.
Attending her fourth Sappi-sponsored Penreach teacher-training workshop, Hassane was describing the difference these workshops have made in her career as a teacher and her development as a person.
The workshops are held at the independent Penryn College just outside White River, near Nelspruit, and form one of the many outreach programmes the school has become involved in.
The teacher training workshops are, however, the largest of their kind in the country, with attendance figures reaching well over the 1 000 mark.
“At one stage we had 1 600 teachers attend. It was fantastic. We actuall became concerned we would not be able to accommodate them all, let alone feed them,” newly appointed director of Penreach Lydiah Dumisa said.
“Registration for the year — eight workshops in total — closes at the second workshop in May. If you don’t make it, it means you are still able to come and attend, but as a visitor. You won’t get your attendance certificate that everyone else gets,” she explained.
Courses offered at the workshops include music, language skills, computer skills and sports. Plans are afoot to get the courses registered and recognised by the South African Qualifications Authority.
Originally started in 1994 for teachers at the Sappi farm schools in the plantations, today the programme reaches more than 500 schools and teachers come from as far away as Komatiepoort, Hazyview and Badplaas.
“I still remember the Sappi representative then — now public affairs manager — Lourens Joubert buying the cardboard and pens for the first workshop. When the word spread, I asked if other teachers could join, he said yes and it has grown from there,” says former director Heather Stephens.
A dedicated professional, Hassane started teaching grade five, six and seven learners at Sibuyile Primary in 1989. Armed with a primary teaching diploma, she said, she felt “very nervous” when she first stood up in front of a class.
It is well known in the province of Mpumalanga and in other parts of the country that primary and pre-primary teachers receive little or no additional training once they have left tertiary institutions.
Added to this is the sub-standard qualifications offered to teachers who received training in the previous “homeland” states and those that
attended state tertiary institutions under apartheid.
Like so many of her counterparts, Hassane’s biggest challenge came when the current Department of Education decided to implement the outcomes-based education (OBE) system in 1996 in classrooms countrywide.
“Before, it was a monster, now I know it is nothing,” she said referring to the implementation of OBE.
This shift in teaching style from simple rote learning to placing the burden of responsibility on educators and learners sparked widespread criticism from all sectors.
But Hassane said her first workshop helped dispel her fears and the myths associated with OBE. The input at the workshop gave her the confidence to tackle it head-on and the basic understanding of the concept and tools with which to reach her outcomes.
Soon Hassane found herself practicing OBE with hardly a problem. In fact she did so well she was one of two teachers last year who received the Sappi Penreach Teacher of the Year award.
“After attending other teachers would come to my class to see what I was doing,” she said.
Penreach asks a nominal R10 registration fee for primary and a R5 fee for pre-primary teachers. Transport costs come out of each individual’s pocket. Part of the registration fees go towards providing participants with tea and coffee and a meal before they go home.
But like any outreach programme, finance is always stretched to the limit.
“Sappi sponsorship goes a long way but like anything else we could always do with a lot more,” said Dumisa.
So when we caught up with Hassane at the workshop we found her dressed in her sports gear learning the basics of volleyball.
“I was late for registration and so most of the courses were already full, so I decided to do sports,” she said.
Although Sibuyile Primary does not have a proper sports field at present, the community collected money to hire a bulldozer. The adjacent land is being levelled.
“On Wednesdays we have a period for sports. I will use what I learn here to teach them,” she said.
Her comments bring home the simplicity of everyday knowledge sometimes taken for granted. After all, teaching does not only have to be about maths and English. What could be more fun for a grade three pupil than to learn how to play a new sport?