If one stops to think about it, everything starts with education — be it formal or informal. Without it, few people would be literate or numerate. Progress and development would be limited. It would be difficult to understand the world around us. In fact, it is difficult to conceptualise a world without education.
It is therefore fitting that, on this World Teachers’ Day, the efforts, dedication and commitment of all teachers are acknowledged. Without teachers there would be no education.
In South Africa, the value of those in the teaching profession needs to be acknowledged by learners and their parents, by education departments and by society at large. We also need to acknowledge and support one another. It needs to be recognised that the circumstances teachers find themselves in are not ideal. Many teachers are struggling to cope and morale is low.
There are several reasons for this. While many of the inequalities of the past have been eliminated, or are in the process of being eliminated, many still remain.
In some areas, there are no classrooms, no infrastructure and few resources. Although the national average for class-size may officially be between 30 and 40, there are many teachers who face classrooms filled beyond capacity, with more than 60 learners.
OBE was introduced in an unprecedented rush and teachers are struggling to make sense of a poorly designed curriculum. Training of teachers was particularly bad and served to perpetuate old misconceptions, as well as create new ones. Outcomes-based assessment was simply ignored. Recording and reporting on learner progress became an administrative nightmare. The workload of teachers increased enormously.
At the same time, there are many teachers who were — and still are — un- or underqualified.
Also, while other public servants continued to receive so-called ‘rank-and-leg promotions”, teachers have not received these annual notch increases and, since 1996, have continued to fall behind the rest of the public service.
It is little wonder that teacher morale is low and that many of those who are able to find employment elsewhere (including in other countries) are doing so.
The consequence of this is that in some areas class sizes get even bigger and the workload of the remaining teachers gets even heavier.
The number of underqualified teachers stood at 85?501 in 1999. Several dubious figures have since been reported, but it is now ‘reliably” pegged at about 57?000. Sadly, data is unreliable and the impression is that it is not known how many teachers are, indeed, unqualified, nor is it known where these teachers find themselves or what exactly their developmental needs are. Worse still is that there is no evidence regarding the cause(s) of the decrease in the number of unqualified teachers. Is it due to retirements, teachers exiting the system to find employment elsewhere, the impact of HIV/AIDS, or because teachers are becoming qualified? Clearly, each of these causes would require very different responses from the system.
Naptosa is extremely concerned that the capacity of the higher education system to produce sufficient qualified teachers has not been tested since the absorption of colleges of education into higher education. All the indications are that the system falls short of producing new graduates in the numbers needed to replace those who are leaving.
Given the insecure and difficult circumstances of our teachers, as well as the poor remuneration the majority get, the chances of attracting the top matriculants into the profession are slight. Recruitment drives may convince some school leavers, but if access to higher education is difficult for them for financial reasons, the chances of recruiting new teachers in sufficient numbers is unlikely.
So, while we celebrate World Teachers’ Day, there is little that is being done to improve both the working conditions and the conditions of service of teachers.
The majority of teachers are dedicated and committed and are doing their best in whatever circumstances they find themselves.
They are the silent majority whose professionalism is seldom recognised or acknowledged. It is time for education departments to show that they recognise teaching as a profession by utilising teachers in ways that enable them to use their qualifications and experience optimally — and to provide appropriate reskilling for those who need to be utilised differently.
Learners and parents — and society at large — need to show greater appreciation for what the teachers of South Africa are managing to accomplish — in spite of the odds — and to do so every day, not just on this day every year.
Sue Müller is the director of Naptosa (National Professional Teachers Organisation of South Africa)