“This week marks the beginning of the four-year Rhodes - Sishen Iron Ore Community Development Trust (SIOC-cdt) partnership and initiative. The teacher development project is multi-pronged, and will be undertaken through teaching sessions at Rhodes and through district-level workshops and in-service training in the Northern Cape,” said Rhodes University Vice-Chancellor, Dr Saleem Badat, in his welcoming speech last night (27 March 2012), in honour of the inaugural class.
The teachers are either registered for the Bachelor of Education in Mathematics, or English language and Teaching or Foundation Phase.
Two key considerations inform all three courses - firstly the focus to build and deepen teachers' content knowledge in each of the different fields and secondly to develop teachers as reflective practitioners, with the ability to critically reflect on their lessons - the planning, structure, sequencing and content of lessons; the nature of the activities and tasks that shape learners' engagement with the content and finally, teachers' engagement with learners and the content through their questions, instructions and explanations.
The benefits of the programme are many. Once the degree is completed, teachers will have acquired a specialised skill and increased knowledge in their chosen specialisation. The degree syllabi will be tailored keeping in mind the environment from which the teachers come and the practical conditions under which they practice.
Addressing 108 teachers from the Northern Cape and Rhodes staff members, Dr Badat said, the teachers have the wonderful opportunity of studying at a very special and distinctive university, one which commands an enviable academic reputation.
“It is an incontrovertible fact that our schools have various shortcoming and problems and many challenges. We know what these are and don’t need to depress ourselves by rehearsing them this evening,” he said.
“Let us simply acknowledge that we continue to be plagued by stubborn and persistent realities that thwart the achievement of constitutionally and legally enshrined educational imperatives and goals and deny high quality schooling to most of the children and youth of our country.”
“For this reason, Rhodes University and Sishen Community Development Trust have formed a partnership to work together and with you - 108 teachers from the John Taolo Gaetsewe, Frances Baard and Siyanda districts.”
“It is vital that we openly and honestly identify our weaknesses and shortcomings. Capabilities are not fixed but can be built and developed; we can and need to devise creative strategies for effectively building the necessary capabilities,” he said.
According to Dr Badat, “sometimes the issue is not lack of knowledge and skills – educators are actually well-qualified, but they sorely lack appropriate values and attitudes and a professional commitment to educating.”
He acknowledged that “there is a limit to which you can teach values and attitudes. Ultimately, it needs of all of us who are accorded the great responsibility of educating to look into our hearts and decide what our commitments are to our children and youth and our society.”
"The ultimate goals are to make you more effective and confident educators, make us more accomplished academics and scholars, and our schools better and inspiring places," concluded Dr Badat.
Rhodes University has entered into a partnership with the SIOC-cdt to help educational practitioners to improve their skills and add value to their teaching. Emphasis will be placed on collaboration between the Provincial Department of Education and Rhodes University, thereby ensuring that the material covered remains relevant to conditions on the ground.
The teacher development project was officially launched in September last year, in Kathu, in the Northern Cape.