I work in a small village called Shiluvane on the outskirts of Tzaneen in the Limpopo province. I teach at Shiluvane Primary, and the buildings there date all the way back to 1876 when the missionaries built them. But it’s no problem for me working at an old school. And even though we don’t have […]
It had just gone 10am when a Grade 1 educator came to me with a learner and a letter. The learner had allegedly been raped and the letter was from the clinic, requesting the school to take the child to the police and open a case. The learner’s parents have not featured anywhere in this […]
Both boys and girls have jobs to do in the classroom that I am in charge of as class educator for the grade. Motivated by the Teacher’s articles and resources on gender, I sat down with my learners to sort out some problems we were having pertaining to jobs in the classroom. Mainly the problem […]
I work in a superbly managed state school in Johannesburg called The Hill High School. I am generally more fulfilled working in an ordinary state school than I ever was in prestigious private schools and am proud to be part of the changes that have taken place in our country in education. But a recent […]
In 1997 my son was in Grade R at Endeavour Primary School. On coming home from work one day his grandmother informed me of a picture he drew at school. I was informed that there was something wrong with my son and he needed to see a psychiatrist. On asking for the picture my son […]
I am writing this letter out of the frustration and desperation that have come from my recent dealings with my son’s school, which have left me feeling inadequate, stupid, frustrated and powerless. I am a single parent with a 13-year-old son in Grade 8 who attends high school in an upmarket area. My main problem […]
A few years ago, a five-year-old came to my class with a scar from a burn on his cheek. He said that he had accidentally burnt himself with an iron. It seemed rather unusual for an iron to have burnt him as the scar looked as if somebody had placed a hot object on his […]
According to the report in the Teacher of October 2003 with the headline ‘Shaking up rugby’s racist roots”, black youngsters are being encouraged to take up the game. Funny world, this. I saw to it that I kept my four (white) sons out of rugby altogether — for their own good. During the six years […]
I want to share with you the wonderful opportunity I had of being among all the learners and educators from all over South Africa who celebrated Heritage day this year in the mother city, Cape Town. The greatest experience was participating in the ‘All winners” competition . The theme for this was ‘Our roots are […]
This letter is in response to a review headlined ‘An evolution for educators” in the May 2003 edition. I would like to comment on the statement ‘As the new Further Education and Training (FET) curriculum is implemented it will be essential for biology and science teachers to understand the theory of evolution as a thoroughly […]