Thabo Mohlala

Is the way in which teachers dress an issue? Teachers don’t seem to think so, but parents do.

Learners and teachers at Bhukulani Secondary School in Zondi, Soweto, received a timely morale booster on the first day of their academic year, when ANC president Jacob Zuma and Gauteng education MEC Angie Motshekga paid them a visit this morning.

About 22 000 more matric candidates achieved university entrance in 2008 than in the previous year, but many cannot be absorbed into an overtaxed tertiary education system.

The hawksbill turtle was one of the hottest attractions at Hong Kong’s Asia World Expo Centre (AWE) which, last month, resembled a Sunday marketplace.

The department of education has had to act swiftly to correct a potentially costly blunder after schools were sent error-riddled question papers for this year’s grade 12 preliminary examinations as well as faulty marking guideline memoranda.

Almost 32 000 teachers in South Africa are employed on a temporary basis, according to the national department of education. Education Minister Naledi Pandor revealed this figure during the national assembly’s "internal questions session" when she responded to questions from DA member George Boinamo.

When Rosina Letsoalo started collecting pieces of metal to sell to scrapyard dealers in 1976, she did not take it seriously – it was just another way of supplementing her low-paying domestic job. Now she will not swop it for anything.

Education Minister Naledi Pandor tried this week to calm the nerves of parents, teachers and learners about the new matric exam to be written in two months’ time. Standard-grade exam papers will not be written this year. For the first time, all learners will write the same matric papers. The sharpest concerns about the new […]

A coalition of Western Cape-based mathematics teachers is appealing to the national department of education to suspend the format of the mathematics curriculum for grade 10 to 12 learners, claiming educators are not adequately equipped to teach it. The group, Concerned Maths Educators (CME), is circulating a petition to mathematics teachers countrywide.

A combination of innovative personal teaching styles and the use of multimedia technology is a good recipe for "enhancing the creative potential of young learners as they prepare for the challenges ahead".

In a last-ditch attempt to root out the scourge of "ghost teachers", the North West education department has again instructed teachers to fetch their June salaries in person from the nearest departmental office.

Arts and culture teacher Lizethe Roux does not miss the National Arts Festival, which runs this year from June 26 to July 5. She told the Teacher how educators can make the most of their visit

The new director of the National Arts Festival in Grahamstown has taken office about 20 years after he staged his first production at the annual event. Ismail Mahomed is an accomplished playwright, theatre director and arts administrator. His work has been staged in Chile, Denmark, Germany and the United States, but remains firmly rooted in South Africa’s art and culture sector.

The department of education and unions signed an occupation-specific dispensation (OSD) last month that provides for increases for teachers backdated to January. the Teacher asked Firoz Patel, Deputy Director General of systems, planning and monitoring in the national department of education, to provide more detail.

Most South African schools have enrolled a significant number of foreign learners from neighbouring countries that are experiencing political and economic instability.

The department of education and teachers unions have finally signed off the occupation-specific dispensation (OSD) after protracted negotiations.

The Early Childhood Development (ECD) sector aims to capitalise on the current political goodwill towards the learning and development of young children.

Convenient, portable, user-friendly and cost-effective.These qualities of podcasting have created true believers in an educational and technological tool poised to take e-learning to new heights.

Teto High School in Thabong near Welkom in the Free State was one of nine schools recognised by the national department of education for "demonstrating sustained improvement in learner achievement in grade 12" for three consecutive years.

Fannie Sebolela, head of Khensani Primary School in Soshanguve, Pretoria, is "always on the move". When he is not in the classroom, he is out and about calling on company executives to raise funds for his school.

The government has set aside R500-million to attract and reward qualified teachers for working in schools where few want to go: remote, poor and harsh rural and urban areas.

First it was the school pledge, then Education Minister Naledi Pandor drew fire for introducing a Bill of Responsibilities.

Two primary school girls have confirmed that digital intelligence and creativity are synonomous with the post-millenium generation.

Mpho Thibedi* has a personality that naturally qualifies her to work with young and fragile minds. This serves her well as an early childhood development (ECD) teacher at a primary school in Meadowlands Zone One.

The department of education is dragging its feet in tackling the massive backlog in the early childhood development (ECD) field which was inherited from the apartheid government, according to experts and practitioners in the sector.

The issue that is prominent in every teacher’s mind is occupation-specific dispensation (OSD). Following last year’s crippling public service strike the state was forced to review salary scales and grades of various sectors within the public service, including the teaching profession.

Do trade unions live up to their members’ expectations and are they in tune with members’ needs?

André Schlemmers project might not have earned him the coveted Microsoft Innovative Teachers Award this year, but educators can certainly learn a thing or two from him.