The 2011 National Teaching Awards (NTA) winners were announced last month at a glittering ceremony held at the prestigious Sandton Convention Centre, north of Johannesburg.
For the first time since their launch twelve years ago, the awards ceremony was beamed live during prime time to millions of SABC2 viewers, and the lifetime achievement winner received a grand prize of a brand new car, heralding the growth in stature of the awards.
According to basic education minister Angie Motshekga the venue was chosen to accommodate more guests from 300 previously to 1 000 this year.
She said the awards have a new look and feel to “broaden participation of the media, just so we can reach more of our people with whom we should motivate our teachers”. The theme of the event was “Celebrating the heroes of yesterday, recognising today’s achievements and motivating teachers for tomorrow”.
Profound quotes alongside the faces of some of the late icons of education displayed on huge banners around the auditorium complemented the theme. This year two accolades were added, bringing the total number of award categories to 10. The new awards are a special ministerial award called the Professor Kader Asmal Award and the People’s Choice Award.
Universal respect
The late Asmal pioneered the NTAs to promote excellence in the teaching profession by affording South African communities an opportunity to honour talented, dedicated and inspiring teachers. The People’s Choice Award, Motshekga said, is dedicated to a teacher who “has inspired learners to achieve excellence and also served as a role model for both learners and communities”.
Deputy-president of South Africa, Kgalema Motlanthe, was the keynote speaker of the evening.
Motshekga said the awards are “one of the essential instruments we have employed both to incentives teachers and to impress among the people, with the people, consciousness of the educators’ role in the production of skills and knowledge”.
“Tonight we celebrate, with no fear of persecution, heroic classroom excellence of teachers, under one roof, black and white, women and men, united in our diversity”, she said.
She said despite the challenges facing education “we are enthralled by exceptional prowess of teachers precisely because teachers are a vital cog in the wheel of transformation,” Motshekga said.
She said in an ideal world teachers should be “accorded universal respect” in recognition of the fundamental role they play not only as educators but also as nurturers and agents of change. Teachers we honour here tonight, she said, have discharged their duties with excellence, as servants of the people.
Motshekga also had a word of advice to those teachers who did not win on the night.
“I salute all schools and teachers, particularly recipients and finalists, for their extraordinary efforts. To those teachers who did not make it, do not despair. Teach like you have never taught before. Leave a legacy,” she said.
The adjudicators’ View
Nontsha Liwane-Mazengwe, spokesperson of the 2011 NTA panel of adjudicators, said she was happy with how the interview process went.
She said although it was a complex and demanding task, she was excited by the passion and commitment displayed by the nominees.
“Some may not have won the first prize but I think they will find the participation as enriching to them as it was to us. It really provided a valuable experience and lessons to the team,” said Liwane-Mazengwe, who is also a principal of Vaal Reef Technical High School in Orkney in the North West.
She said members of the panel were drawn from different organisations and each had considerable experience and knowledge of the education system. But, she said, despite coming from diverse structures, they worked together incredibly well because they shared the common objective of finding the best and deserving teachers.
“Our interview questions did not just focus on teaching and learning but we also looked at contextual factors. We looked at how these impact the classroom teaching and, more importantly, how teachers deal with challenges posed by these factors.”
Some of these challenges range from poverty to children-headed households, HIV/AIDS infected and affected learners, lack of school uniforms and learners with special education needs, she said.
Liwane-Mazengwe said what came out strongly during the interview sessions was the sheer passion shown by the teachers across the board.
“Not only were they passionate but they were more knowledgeable about the relevant education policies and the curriculum. The amount of work they do and the extent to which they go [—]in the name of education was moving. Listening to them recount some of their ordeals and how they [tried] to address them, even though they lacked the necessary resources, moved most of us to tears of joy and sadness.
“To me personally, this was a learning curve and rewarding experience. I feel I have grown and have actually drawn inspiration that despite the challenges that our education still faces. With the bunch of dedicated teachers we have in the system, we would turn the corner at some point,” she said.