The faculty of education at the University of Johannesburg (UJ), formerly known as Randse Afrikaans Universteit, in Auckland Park, Gauteng, is transforming itself into a home that promotes a humane and caring ethos that would inspire students to value teaching as a profession.
This should be sweet music to the ears of Education Minister Naledi Pandor, whose department recently launched Fundza Lushaka, a bursary scheme aimed at wooing young minds into teaching.
The dean of the faculty of education at UJ, Professor Saartjie Gravett, said adopting this new philosophy is important for the faculty because it values education highly.
She said the faculty believes that many teachers leave the profession because of a lack of adequate support and care. The majority of education training institutions focus on the academic needs of their students, while overlooking their human or ‘affective” development, said Gravett.
The education faculty at UJ aims to embrace the values of caring. This would not only motivate students, but also create a conducive and supportive learning environment, said Gravett.
To this end, at the end of March the faculty took 300 of its first-year students on an environmental learning excursion to the Golden Gate Highland National Park in the Free State to ‘unpack the National Curriculum Statement” and to ‘learn to teach in a more interdisciplinary way”. Students were divided into three groups, each of which spent five days at the park. the Teacher joined the first group to observe the new approach in action.
Dr Josef de Beer, who was instrumental in conceptualising and coordinating the programme, said the aim was to expose students to new, effective and integrative teaching practices. ‘Our education has been compartmentalised and we feel students should be able to teach across the curriculum.”
The environment is used as a vehicle for learning, said De Beer. ‘The hidden curriculum [was] to provide a programme that will motivate and inspire new students and it also provides a wonderful opportunity for staff and students to learn and to get to know one another.”
The students paid a nominal charge of R100 each and the faculty subsidised them with R800 each.
Gravett said students spend more of their time learning within a formal academic setting and the faculty wanted to give them skills and knowledge in a different learning environment, where they can interact freely with one another and with their lecturers.
‘Bringing them to this part of an environment … would help us address the affective part that you cannot do in a formal teaching environment,” said Gravett.
Practical exercises were designed to encourage participation, such as ‘egg-straordinary Earth!” and the making of a sun-cooker.
In the first activity, each group was given an egg and asked to design a gadget that would prevent it from breaking when thrown from a height of two metres. The lesson was that if people do not treat the Earth as valuable, it will be easily destroyed. So teachers must promote good environmental practice. Similarly, teachers can make or break a child. They must guide learners and help create an environment where they feel cared for so that they can perform to their potential.
The sun-cooker exercise inspired some wacky and ingenious designs. Students were given materials such as cardboard, foil, plastic wrap and a can that had been painted black. The aim was to assemble these objects to create a device that could heat water to a certain point. The group with the highest reading came first.
The exercises encouraged group work and interaction, creativity, critical thinking, listening skills and lateral thinking. Students also compiled portfolios in which they recorded their observations.
SanParks staff gave presentations about conservation and the challenges they face such as erosion, fire and alien invader plants. It also provided a guide during group walks to scenic spots such as the Cathedral Caves and Mushroom Rock.
Students were taken on a tour of the Basotho Cultural Village, where they learned more about the Basotho culture and history. They were also invited to make ‘educational pledges” about why they wanted to become teachers and this exercise culminated in a gala dinner where a winner was crowned.
Nontokozo Ndlovu (18), who comes from Nkandla in KwaZulu-Natal, was one of the youngest members of the touring students. She praised the idea of being taught outside the formal campus environment. ‘Working in groups, discussing and getting physically involved in doing things are what I enjoyed most,” said Ndlovu. Asked why she decided to study to become a teacher, she said: ‘I wanted to teach because of my love for children. Children are easy to work with as they have no issues.” Ndlovu is studying English and isiZulu.
Michelle Meeske from Krugersdorp, west of Gauteng, said: ‘Kids are not negative, they are always positive and are fun to work with.” The 18-year-old is studying maths and life-orientation and said she took teaching to help change perceptions among children that maths is difficult.
But more than anything, Meeske took a liking to teaching to prove the detractors of the profession wrong. ‘I see teaching as more of a challenge than any profession.”
Meeste praised the faculty for organising the excursion. ‘I was curious to see how one can use the environment to teach maths. I also wanted to experience how learning outside of a formal school environment would feel. I found the setting inspiring and practical. It was fun.”