Minister of Education Naledi Pandor on Tuesday urged the Education Labour Relations Council (ELRC) to get more of South Africa’s best school children to train as teachers.
”Around 17 000 teachers leave teaching each year, and only 3 000 new ones graduate from the 25 universities,” she told the council’s 10th anniversary conference dinner in Pretoria.
She warned that pupil numbers are increasing after a three-year decline.
”We do need new teachers, and good teachers are the best advocates for the profession.”
Pandor further noted that different provinces appear to spend their education budgets differently and there is a lack of national consensus about what ingredients it takes to achieve education quality.
Extra funding has been made available for learning support materials, which appear to be used in Gauteng where teacher:pupil ratios are highest, but the quality of education is ”excellent”.
By contrast, the Eastern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal have lower ratios but appear to have poorer standards of education — other resources, such as the number of classrooms, having been enormously depleted.
She also said her ministry is impatient to implement the Integrated Quality Management System (IQMS) as a public accountability mechanism for teachers.
”For too long now this country has lagged behind in international studies, in regional studies, and even in our own local systematic evaluations.
”We may quibble about the methodologies, but the trends are unacceptable for an education system with our levels of spending and the resources available to it.
”Something is not working properly, and we need to find out what it is — in each office, in each school and in each classroom.”
She said the IQMS will provide for teachers being given small rewards for performance at satisfactory level and additional rewards for those who perform at the highest level.
”Coupled with the National Framework for Teacher Education, which will soon be released, we are providing a solid platform for the advancement and development of the teaching profession,” said Pandor.
Turning to the continent, Pandor urged the ELRC to think what approach should be taken to regional protocols on teacher migration, as the barriers to movement in the region disappear.
”What do we say to Zimbabwean teachers who want to work here, often bringing with them high-level maths and science skills?
”What do we say to Mozambique, which is looking for English-speaking teachers, as Portuguese is phased out in that country? Could we at least consider teaching in Mozambique as continuous pensionable service?” — Sapa