Julia Grey

There’s been a lot for me to reflect on in the last while. It’s not just that it’s the beginning of another year and so a time for new resolutions and all that. It’s also because I am moving on from <i>the Teacher</i>.

Voices of opposition are mounting to some of the changes to education laws proposed by the Department of Education (DoE). The Education Laws Amendment Bill, which was presented to Parliament’s education portfolio committee earlier this month, seeks to amend certain aspects of the South African Schools Act (Sasa) and the Employment of Educators Act.

<i>The teacher</i> spoke to the new Director General of Education, Duncan Hindle, about his life in education so far. Hindle started teaching in 1979 at Maritzburg College, where he was also a student. He has also served as president of the South African Teacher’s Union for a year in 1995.

The next best thing to travelling to other countries is meeting foreigners in your own. So, even before the International Confederation of Principals (ICP) convention began earlier this month, I was relishing the prospect of gathering with more than 2 000 principals from 33 countries as diverse as Ghana, Canada and Singapore.

‘Half-naaitjies [little bastards].” This is one of the stinging labels that children of farm labourers in South Africa have endured for generations. Children like these have, for centuries, been denied any value beyond the cheap muscle-power they provide to farm owners.

Heated words are flying between the Department of Education and teacher unions as they blame each other for the faltering process of teacher appraisals. The snail’s pace at which the Integrated Quality Management System has unfolded is the crux of the trouble, as time frames agreed to in 2003 have not been met.

Why is it that the public gets so silly and hysterical when the issue of language in education is raised? Suddenly there’s an unholy tizz played out in the media, shrieks of incoherent distress that you’d expect only when the cockroaches finally take over the world.

If you asked someone to list 10 words they associate with South Africa, "crime" would almost certainly be among them. With 35 000 young people under the age of 21 currently awaiting trial or sentenced and imprisoned, it would seem that lawlessness is going to be a defining feature of South Africa for a long time to come.

I have a question for all teachers and principals: do you feel free to speak to the media? Or do you find yourselves "censored" — either because your district manager tells you that you can’t be interviewed by a journalist without going through the official "channels" or because the Voice of the Department speaks on your behalf?

One woman could no longer stand by and watch the children suffering. Julia Grey went to see what her efforts produced It all started because Theresa Mkhwanazi couldn’t carry on just witnessing the daily abuse that children face in the miserable squalor of Cato Manor, an informal settlement packed on the hillslopes of Durban. Mkhwanazi […]

Educators due to teach in the new reception-year classes have been promised a pittance by the department. Julia Grey reports Picture this: an educator at a public primary school gets down to the business of teaching grade ones, while in the classroom next door, the grade R teacher guides the five- and six-year-olds through their […]

The past is far from over as an online database revisits South Africa’s past. Julia Grey reports History’s a funny business: the politics of capturing the past can lead to so many interpretations of one event that you would be forgiven for wondering if any of it really happened at all. Omar Badsha, director of […]

Julia Grey found uncertainty on the ground about what it means to be a dedicated maths and science school Letsibogo Girls Secondary school in Meadowlands, Soweto, is one of the 102 schools identified nationally to specialise in maths, science and technology education. In many ways, the school is an obvious candidate for the role, according […]

Teacher warned to stop hugging or touching girls, writes Julia Grey A private school in the Northern Province has been rocked by allegations of misconduct, including a claim that bursaries are being granted in exchange for sex. Teaching staff at St Marks College made the allegations against deputy principal Frank Lebotsa and acting head Simon […]

The boys compete and make new friends, while the organisers battle efforts to stop the tournament. Julia Grey reports Opportunities for youngsters mad about soccer may be cut down because of a political wrangle between rival organisers. At stake is the future of a 30-year-old football tournament, the Bill Stewart Invitation Tournament. This interprovincial tournament […]

The Eastern Cape finally seems to have come up with measures to improve education delivery. Julia Grey reports The steep learning curve that the Eastern Cape Department of Education has been struggling along may at last be leading to some stability, as weaknesses in the system are tackled in earnest. Efforts to weed out corruption […]

Julia Grey visited a school for the severely mentally handicapped that is special in more ways than one: it not only caters for learners with special education needs, but does so with flying colours On the second floor of the school building, a vision fit to dazzle stands out with the swirls of colour and […]

Catering for school-going criminals is one of the many challenges facing special-needs education, writes Julia Grey Running a school where the only admission requirements are that learners are convicted criminals and of school-going age has it’s own special demands. Ethokomala in Mpumalanga is one of only two reform schools in the country that caters for […]

The most vulnerable in society are set to benefit from new plans to include disabled learners in mainstream education, writes Julia Grey The principle of inclusion has long been promoted by the Department of Education as the fairest approach to special-needs learners, who’ve been marginalised for decades in separate schools. But sceptics have warned of […]

Several schools in Gauteng have fallen prey to a computer company whose promises have left them offline and in debt, writes Julia Grey Debt amounting to millions has been added to the burdens of at least four Gauteng schools which found out too late that their trust in a computer firm was misplaced. On the […]

Julia Grey finds that when cultures clash, tempers run high Hoerskool Delmas in Mpumalanga displays its cultural heritage most dramatically: an authentic ox wagon, reminiscent of those used by the Voortrekkers, is mounted proudly in front of the school buildings. Principal Jurie de Jongh doesn’t believe this symbol of Boer history shows a bias in […]

The University of Fort Hare is helping teachers to embrace change in the new curriculum, writes Julia Grey When the University of Fort Hare started its distance education project (UFHDEP) in 1997, a staggering 40% of 60 000 teachers in the Eastern Cape were not adequately qualified. Mark Evans of the UFHDEP believes the project […]

In Balfour, Mpumalanga, there are black learners who believe they are better off now that they no longer attend school with white learners. ‘I took the decision in my life to hate each and every white I came across – not only the elders, but also the kids.” Grade 11 learner Sizwe Shabalala made this […]

Scores of absent educators in KwaZulu-Natal have been getting their salaries although some have not been in a classroom since the beginning of the year. The missing teachers claim they have been intimidated by members of the community and do not feel safe at the school. According to a 1997 departmental agreement known as HRM […]

Julia Grey takes the mystery out of the structures and acronyms of the emerging education system The seeming complexity of its structures is probably one of the biggest hurdles to the South African Qualifications Authority (Saqa) selling itself to the public it serves. Add to this the reams of acronyms that go with it – […]

G e t t i n g F E T Your guide to further education and training for teachers South Africa’s oldest university is going all out to give today’s teachers what they need, writes Julia Grey Old and established institutions are well known for sticking to tried-and-tested ways of doing things and resisting change. […]

The attraction of free-roaming game draws thousands from afar to the Kruger National Park. But for learners at school inside the park, living with the animals is a way of life, writes Julia Grey In the heart of big five territory, Skukuza Primary School makes a mockery of what you’d expect from a school buried […]

Julia Grey visited a desolate school that is barely limping along Setting up in the morning for a day’s work can be a mission even for those with all the creature comforts of modern life – not least access to some kind of transport. So just imagine that simply getting to work involves walking for […]