A study of the supply and demand for teachers in the Western Cape has found that while 95% of the province’s educators are qualified according to current requirements many of them have reduced capacity to teach newer or ‘specialized’ subjects.
The 2008 survey by the Cape Higher Education Consortium (CHEC) found that the majority of teachers in the province meet the current requirements of a three-year, post-matric qualification and that 84% of the sample teachers were teaching, at least partially, within their field of expertise or field of study.
However, it also emerged that teachers have “reduced capacity” to teach “newer” or more integrated subjects in the intermediate or senior phases such as economic and management sciences and arts and culture. There is also evidence to suggest that some educators, particularly in the intermediate phase, are teaching subjects such as mathematics and natural sciences at grade levels beyond their levels of subject expertise.
The sample included 4545 teachers at 151 schools in the Western Cape education department’s Metro East and Eden Karoo education districts. The researchers also sent out questionnaires to all public and special schools in the province. A total of 641 schools, representing 42% of schools in the Western Cape, responded to the survey, and data on the number of residents in the province who had studied, or previously worked in the education sector was also included.
The existence of unemployed teachers seems to suggest that there is an oversupply of educators in the province, but there are also shortages of teachers with specialized skills. These include learning areas such as mathematics and grade R teachers who have isiXhosa or other African languages as their home language.
The study recommended that groups of good quality new entrants or experienced effective teachers of core subjects be strategically recruited or placed in selected schools, particularly poorer schools.
“While teachers in the Western Cape are generally well qualified, the report has highlighted the complexities involved in making sure that we deploy these resources as effectively and efficiently as possible,” said Sindi Lingela, acting head of education in the province.
“The report will inform our ongoing strategic planning, and we will be looking at how schools are using the expertise of each and every teacher to improve learning.