The number 10 has many meanings.
Tests, movies, sex appeal and performance in sports events are often scored out of ten.
Gymnasts all aspire to repeat Nadia Comaneci’s achievement in 1976 when she became the first to score a perfect 10 in an Olympic event. Similarly, sprinters aspire to run 100m in under 10 seconds.
Searching the Internet for other ‘meanings of 10†I found this: ‘Ten implies completeness of order, nothing lacking and nothing over. It signifies that the cycle is complete and that everything is in its proper order.†These are the words of Andrew Harris.
Thus, 10 is something to aspire to, and when you reach 10, it is something to celebrate — a milestone and a sign of perseverance. When an institution has survived for ten years, it has done well. The next step is either to call it a day because it ‘has been there and done that†or to build on its success and look ahead at the next ten years.
The Teacher is 10 years old this month. Be assured, it is definitely gearing itself up for another decade of serving education and educators.
But reaching the 10-year milestone demands retrospection. We have to know where we are coming from, as the saying goes, to know where we are going — or would like to go.
During the past 10 years, the education system has changed dramatically. New national and provincial departments of education were created, new policies were drafted, new learning methodologies were introduced and new textbooks were written.
The language of education changed too: pupils or students became learners, standards became grades, goals became outcomes and teachers became educators.
In this time, many educators left their posts, but many of you stayed behind. In doing so, you became the backbone of the education system and the task of dealing with the changes, managing them and making them work was thrust upon you.
It has been up to you to introduce a sophisticated new curriculum in your classrooms, you had to find new ways of disciplining children and you had to work through reams of paper to do your assessments.
All along, you have received very little ongoing support from the education authorities to help you to make a success of the new policies.
Overall, the past decade has been a very lonely journey for you.
With the added burden of HIV/Aids, which is increasingly taking its toll on school communities, the journey is becoming an increasingly distressing one.
This is why the Teacher is supporting the Catholic network’s Care of the Teacher Year, which we report on in this edition. The Care of the Teacher Year will aim to affirm teachers in their work and improve their morale — in particular among teachers who deal with HIV/Aids every day.
‘Many learners are grieving after the loss of parents and loved ones and in many cases teachers themselves are sick and/or mourning the loss of friends and family to the disease. In addition, teachers have limited resources available to teach their learners, making their daily teaching environments very challenging,†the Catholic Institute of Education said on the announcement of the special year.
As teachers, you will have to face even bigger challenges than before in the next 10 years.
When you do so, we want the Teacher to be there like a companion who comforts you when you need to know that you are not alone and to inspire you when you are down.
The fact of the matter is the Teacher exists because of you.
Our 10th birthday is therefore as much a celebration of you as educators as it is of our achievements.
We want to salute you and thank you for your support during the past 10 years.
I only recently started at the Teacher so I cannot claim any of its successes.
All I can do — before we take a deep breath to blow out the candles — is to pay tribute to everyone who has ever contributed to the Teacher: our readers, all the previous editors, the journalists, the regular contributors, the sub-editors, the advertising representatives and advertisers.
Most of us have one thing in common: a passion for education and a belief that a rock-solid education that enables you to go places and pursue opportunities is the key to tomorrow.
Put your hands together for the Teacher!
Happy birthday!