TEACHING THE TEACHERS

What a great idea - my only problem of course is that it would appear that teachers are teaching without the correct qualifications and/or skills - this is going to have a profound affect on the children who will become our future leaders - now there's a scary thought for you to digest today!

Teaching the teachers
Thabo Mohlala
16 April 2007 10:59


A programme by the University of North West’s Potchefstroom campus aimed at helping underqualified and unqualified teachers has been given the thumbs-up by two eminent professors in the United Kingdom.

The programme, called the School of Continued Training of Teachers, was started in the 1990s after scores of teachers from the area asked the university to help them upgrade their qualifications. The director of the programme, Professor Manie Spamer, said most were practising teachers who would not have time to attend classes on a full-time basis.

The university considered their request and decided to set up a tailor-made programme based on the “open learning” teaching model. In a recent evaluation of the programme, Spamer said Professors Frank Banks and Peter Knight from the Open University in the United Kingdom declared it “unparalleled in South Africa”.

Spamer said the professors gave the programme a glowing report. He said they were particularly impressed with “quality control, learning centres, tutors” and were “very happy with our pass rate of more than 70% in advanced certificate in education, the national professional diploma in education and honours”.

He said the professors also made recommendations such as “propos[ing] that we look into the possibility of replacing official examinations with portfolio” as this would ensure there is continuous assessment. “Boldness has paid off; we are impressed,” the professors said in their evaluation. “Our overall conclusion is that the NWU’s programme exceeds South African specifications and outdoes practices in many universities across the world.”

Asked why the programme was evaluated by foreigners, Spamer said this was because there was no other institution in the country that provides the same service. “We were not sure whether the programme was measuring up to international standards, so we invited two professors from the UK to do the evaluation,” he said. Spamer said the School of Continued Training of Teachers’ success can also be attributed to the “sterling performance by its 36 centres across the country, 26 full-time lecturers and 195 administrative staff members”, said Spamer.

The school also “serves approximately 18 000 teachers in both South Africa and Namibia”. Spamer said the school offers contact tuition twice a month as well as during March and October vacations. The North West’s provincial education department is also impressed with the school’s achievements and has “entered into a contract for the training of 30 000 teachers”, said Spamer. He said a similar contract has been concluded with the Mpumalanga department of education.