The slogan pays tribute to the key role of teachers in promoting, day after day, in their classrooms and in the community, values of dialogue, tolerance, mutual respect and solidarity – the basic values of democratic societies,” says Hassen Lorgat of the South African Democratic Teachers’ Union (Sadtu).
However, Sadtu and other teacher organisations express concern over the poor treatment teachers often get from the government, learners and communities. Some key problems include the poor state of so many schools teachers work in and a lack of learner- and teacher- support material. Educators also face personal abuse, from learners and parents and are expected to carry out duties they are not trained for.
‘Teachers are lambasted by everyone who wants to score points – from politicians to community members,” says Muavia Gallie of the South African Council of Educators (Sace). The National Professional Teachers’ Organisation of South Africa (Naptosa) accuses the government of infringing on teachers’ rights of choice by the policies they make. Says Naptosa representative Sue Muller: ‘Take for example the compulsory state medical aid. It means teachers will not be able to choose if they want to sacrifice part of their salary for medical aid or not.” This is not the first time that the government is accused of infringing on this right.
The morale of teachers is also affected by, among other things, the long process of change in their professional life. ‘Firstly, redeployment created a lot of uncertainties and insecurities. Then there are curriculum changes, Whole School Evaluation – so many changes. It’s as if the system is trying to make things impossible for them,” says Muller.
South African teachers are not alone in having to fight for respect and acknowledgement. Education International – a 25-million-strong international teachers’ organisation – released a press release calling on government education departments to ‘give the education sector the necessary means in terms of training, school and pedagogical infrastructure, to enable teachers to provide quality education based on dialogue and respect for all children”.
On the bright side, Sace is running programmes in an attempt to develop a sense of pride within the profession. Initiatives vary from training for under- and unqualified teachers, to representing teachers’ interests at government level.
There are about 59-million teachers around the world. In South Africa over
420 000 teachers are registered with Sace, while an estimated 60 000 working teachers are not registered.