The Gauteng department of education has embarked on a massive recruitment drive to fill more than 100 newly created senior posts that were advertised in national newspapers in the last two weeks.
The creation of the posts comes after the national department of education and the provincial departments of education reached an agreement recently to ‘strengthen’ the capacity in provinces “to provide curriculum support to educators in line with the National Curriculum Statement (NCS)”.
Inadequate support to teachers has been highlighted by education experts and teachers’ unions as one of the major reasons for difficulties in the implementation of the NCS.
The majority of the posts in the Gauteng department of education are for education specialists, in this case individuals with qualifications and extensive experience in various subjects, ranging from mathematics to economics and Nguni languages.
The posts were created after the department took stock of its operations and embarked on a restructuring process to address a skills shortage in critical areas that were found to be under-resourced.
There was also a strong focus on beefing up expertise in the areas of curriculum delivery, early childhood development and foundation phase learning, further education and training and adult education.
“There are 173 newly-created posts, but there are also several that have become vacant due to natural attrition, with factors such as retirement and promotions creating a gap as well,” says Nanagolo Leopeng, director of communications at the department.
The department decided on the restructuring process to ensure that the provincial department was in sync with the national department’s priorities.
Leopang told the Teacher that the national department of education has prioritised the proper implementation of the NSC, teacher development and the strengthening of special schools and the ‘recruitment drive is a part of this’.