‘Most school governing bodies don’t work’
Associations say the vast majority of school governing bodies are dysfunctional — contradicting the state’s suggestion of only 30% not functioning.
Basic Education
Cosatu intervenes to end E Cape teachers’ go-slow
Cosatu has been mediating between teachers and the Eastern Cape education department to end the go-slow at schools over poor working conditions.
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Banking on education in Limpopo
In a small village in Limpopo, a private-public collaboration has launched a project to give under-resourced schools a fighting chance.
Thousands of public schools close shop
Despite a reported backlog of schools, provinces are closing them down in the thousands.
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KZN teachers win battle over docked salaries
The Supreme Court of Appeal has ruled in favour of teachers who objected to their salaries being docked after the public servants’ strike in 2010.
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Israel’s schools slammed for underperforming
A growing chorus of critics has warned that Israel’s educational mix will compromise the country’s ability to continue generating dazzling technology.
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Sadtu backs down from strike but goes to court
Eastern Cape matrics are safe from a teachers’ strike for now but tensions remain high as Sadtu takes the department of education to court.
Education’s political nettles
Trevor Manuel’s national development plan is clear on the problems but does it present workable solutions?
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Question the quality of your school
Schools need to test their quality and conducting a questionnaire is one good way of doing that.
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Teachers on warpath in E Cape as strike talk escalates
About 53 000 Eastern Cape teachers have moved closer to striking as their union talks tough, setting Friday as the deadline for government to respond.
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Basic education under the spotlight
‘First’ South African basic education conference to be held in Durban in 2012.
Climbing out of the box
The children of Lavender Hill are opening their eyes to new worlds and also going green.
Teaching and selling are alike
Teachers are essentially selling knowledge to learners.
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Talking them through 2+2
An initiative encourages primary school teachers to overcome their fear of maths
Refugees ‘barred’ from schooling
Ignorance of the law, antagonistic authorities and overcrowding were cited as major obstacles at an education rights for refugees workshop.
Parliament gets an F for oversight
A damning report on basic education spending queries the adequacy of the state’s watchdog committees.
A delicate balance
Is an over-emphasis on the rights of teachers damaging the rights of learners?
‘Engineered’ matric results queried
Parliament wants the department of basic education to explain the sudden spike in part-time candidates writing the final exam.
The Inspector who fails the grade
Former education director general’s new schools website encourages censure rather than dialogue.
Why I still dream of rainbows
One teacher’s contribution to the essential conversation — how to educate our children.
Sadtu does U-turn on shutdown threat
A teachers’ union now says it ‘will allow’ a court hearing of the principal accused of assault.
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Sanlam aims to free ‘economic slaves’
Financial giant Sanlam has launched a new education foundation to help equip young South Africans with the financial literacy to improve their lives.
Towards schooling that transforms
The education we offer many learners is not providing an escape from poverty.
Identify talent early
Future experts are groomed in primary school
Making chemistry magical
Puppets are helping learners to get to grips with the subject on a molecular level
‘We should affirm one another’
Veronica McKay’s legacy lies in the millions of ‘forgotten’ people
Every woman is a heroine
Being an authority on early childhood development
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It’s all in the process
Getting the right answer does not mean a child has understood how to do a sum
In a worse state than we think
SA’s focus on the matric exam results obscures the fact that pupils in earlier grades lack fundamental skills.
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Bad results, even worse questions
The surprise surely is that anyone is surprised. We report elsewhere on the appalling levels of literacy and numeracy among primary school children.
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The damage schools do to children
Is South African public schooling damaging some children’s natural potential?
Poverty damns SA’s children to ignorance
SA’s schools assessment shows how poor classroom performance is linked to poverty, and aggravated by curriculum chaos and inadequate district support.