HOW does a teacher decide where the desks go in the classroom? And how does he or she determine what the class rules and expectations will be?

These decisions are all part of building relationships that will impact what happens in that room, according to Sarrah Grubb, assistant professor of education at Indiana University Kokomo. Grubb teaches a new class this semester, “Creating Classroom Culture,” to examine the research behind classroom management and how building community has a positive impact.

“As teachers, we have a lot of power in the classroom climate,” she said. “By sharing with the students and developing relationships and partnerships, we can create an environment where students feel not only included, but they are actually a part of what goes on every day.”

That feeling of being included motivates children to be positive participants in learning, she said. Building community also allows for cultural differences to be considered and appreciated.

Noting that most students in her class will student teach in the next year, Grubb said they are examining their own beliefs about what teachers should do, and considering research and case studies to determine what they want to do in their own classrooms.

“We’re looking at how we build a classroom culture with students, so we are all in it together, and all students can come as they are, and it is a safe place to learn,” she said. “We start from the idea that students are an asset, and they have strengths. The idea isn’t necessarily authoritarian, that ‘I’m the one in charge, and everyone needs to hop in line.’ It’s thinking about ‘We’re all in this together to move forward.’”

Senior Ashlyn Drake, from Lafayette,  said Grubb modeled that philosophy by having the class help create the classroom rules for the semester, and then talk about what their own rules might be — and why those are important to them. One of her personal rules is not to talk when someone else is talking.

“I want my students to feel respected when they are sharing, and I want people to listen to one another in my classroom,” said Drake, who plans to be an elementary teacher. “It’s important that their voices are heard. I want to set a positive culture so my students feels they can talk to me and to each other. I want them to feel like I respect them, and I know that trust and respect is earned and not just given. Positive relationships will build the foundation for the year.”

Mariah Misson, a future secondary English teacher, said they’ve learned to pick up on subtle signals they may be sending out with actions such as separating a child from the rest of the children, or constantly saying the child’s name.

“You think saying their name is going to get them on track, but you have to think about how deep that goes, and what it says about your classroom culture and how welcome kids may or may not feel in your classroom,” said Misson, from Marion. “There are things we can do help teach them to control themselves in the classroom, so they aren’t losing out on learning. We want to have a classroom where kids not only feel welcome, but where they are welcome.”

Students are participating in field experiences in area schools for other classes, and will talk about what they see there, what works, and what they could change. Grubb said for their final project, each student will explain his or her philosophy for classroom management, and about the ideal space they would have.

“It’s not just about ‘this is where I’m going to put the desks, and why,’” she said. “It’s knowing we are communicating at all times through our actions, our room layout, and our procedures and expectations. We’re trying to think about why we believe what we believe, and are those the best things for students in this moment, or is there something else to consider?”

WOMEN do not get into professional rugby for the money or glamour. There’s not a great deal of either.

In the men’s game if a club brings one of South Africa’s top talents into England’s top league he can expect hundreds of thousands in salary, and look forward to a retirement spent taking in the views across his estate and sipping a glass of wine produced from his own vineyard.

Zintle Mpupha arrived in Devon less than two weeks ago from South Africa’s Premier Division side DHL Western Province. She is now sharing a house with three other Exeter Chiefs.

“I’m sharing with three other girls, Olivia Jones, Kanako [Kobayashi] and Grace [Eckford] in a house in Exeter, just a walk away from Sandy Park,” says the 27-year-old who can play fly half or in either spot in the centres.

Her salary as one of the full-time players on the Exeter squad will not be anything special either, but what is special is her sporting talent. Having given up an international cricket career to sign up for South Africa sevens team, Mpupha has become a regular fixture in her nation’s 15s side, and in August she broke the try-scoring record when she touched down four times against Kenya.

Mpupha – who’s first name is pronounced ‘Zintlay’ – is also special for another reason. This weekend she’s set to become the first South African to play in the Premier 15s. 

Starting on the bench against multi-title winners Saracens, she’s fully aware of the intense rivalry between the two clubs. While Exeter’s men have lost out in three finals to Saracens – let’s not go into why that may have been here – the niggle between the women’s side may not be for the same reasons, but it’s no less intense.

“Oh yes, everyone is talking about it, especially as we get closer to the weekend. I’m getting so excited about it.”

As for being the first South African woman to play in the Premier 15s, Mpupha is hoping she will inspire many more to follow her lead. 

Mpupha says: “I am honoured that Exeter think I will fit into their style of rugby very well, but ultimately, getting an opportunity to play overseas has always been one of the dreams in my rugby career.

“I’m super excited to be the first South African to come over here and play, but I hope this is also the opening for others to come over in the future.” 

However, she admits the cold will take a little getting used to.

“I know I will be tested in different conditions, one of them being the weather.”

For Exeter’s coach Susie Appleby Mpupha not only bolsters her back line, she will bring some of that traditional South African power with her too. 

“She can play 10, 12 or 13, has a brilliant kicking game and brings immense physicality,” says Appleby, who has clearly seen enough in less than two weeks of training with the squad to throw her straight into one of the toughest games in the league. “On top of that, though, she’s also a smart player and she will really compliment what we have going on in our backline right now.”

Mpupha arrival in England will not be lost to the Springbok Women’s team, as her contract enables her to fulfill her national commitments, including the forthcoming November tour to Europe, and she will be available for selection to next year’s Rugby World Cup in New Zealand.

She is also handily located to get into South Africa’s sevens squad for next summer’s Commonwealth Games in Birmingham.

“Obviously everything depends on South Africa Women’s Rugby. Given any chance I definitely want to be part of the team that goes to the Commonwealth Games.”

There may not be riches and luxury homes, but there may be glory for Mpupha and her fellow Exeter players this season. In the past two weeks they have beaten current champions Harlequins as well as title contenders Wasps to sit fourth in the table. Despite this being only their second season in existence, she knows what the goals are.

“Looking at the previous season, they made it to the top six,” she says. “So, a short-term goal will be making it to the top four and taking it from there.

The Department of Basic Education is developing a new history curriculum for schools in South Africa, to be introduced in 2024.

This comes after a department-assigned task team recommended that history be made compulsory in grades 10-12.

Basic Education minister Angie Motshekga said that a draft curriculum is expected to be ready by the end of the year and a revised final curriculum by mid-year in 2022.

She added that the task team has been consulting historians, archaeologists, linguists, researchers, and academics to get input on the new curriculum.

“The major challenge now, which is a massive exercise, is around the rewriting of history. Even the task team said, ‘you can’t present the current history as it is,’ so it has to be rewritten,” the minister said.

Motshekga said the department will also have to find the money for new textbooks, and teachers will need to be retrained.

The Department of Basic Education is also moving forward with plans for ‘mother tongue teaching’, enabling students to study and write exams in their home languages.

Provinces are expected to continue to support and extend the use of mother tongue education, Motshekga said.

“The Eastern Cape, for example, initiated mother tongue-based bilingual education, wherein 2,024 schools are using IsiXhosa and Sesotho for learning and teaching beyond the foundation phase.

“Learners in these schools are taught mathematics, natural science and technology in their home languages of IsiXhosa and Sesotho.”

The department of education has also indicated that it will trial new subjects this year, including entrepreneurship, coding, and robotics.

Nationally, 540 schools will be monitored for implementing compulsory entrepreneurship education, with the subject expected to officially form part of the curriculum by 2024.

54 schools are also piloting and implementing a coding and robotics curriculum. These subjects would form part of the curriculum at different levels from Grade R to Grade 9.

The department said that the coding and robotics subjects are aimed at guiding and preparing learners to solve problems, think critically, work collaboratively and creatively, and function in a digital and information-driven world.

WITH South Africa bumped back down to level 1 lockdown after another “family meeting” in September, the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) has made the decision to re-open its Cape Town walk-in centre this week.

“With the country being placed on lockdown Level 1 by the President, NSFAS will open its Walk-in Centre at the Cape Town Offices on Monday 11 October 2021. The working hours are between 09H00 -16H30. Find us at House Cloete, Brodie Road, Wynberg, Cape Town,” NSFAS explained on Twitter.

For those who would like to call the offices for any reasons – such as to see if space is available to allow for social distancing – this official governmental website lists the two contact numbers at the location as 080 006 7327 and 021 763 3200.

While the country is now in level 1 lockdown and the vaccine rollout is cause for mild optimism, some may question why a physical location for NSFAS is required when the organisation can be contacted in a number of different ways remotely.

SA’s educational institutions have a poor record when it comes to responding to student questions in a timeous manner.

In a twitter feed, NSFAS said sometimes when students have a problem that is urgent or has been outstanding for a long time with no resolution through remote communication, a physical visit to something like a walk-in centre is one of the few ways to get proper help.

There’s also the issue of scammers having easier access to students online, a persistent problem that NSFAS itself has to deal with constantly with warnings.

For those who would like to visit a physical location but are not based in Cape Town, NSFAS provides a number of application centres outlined here.

The National Youth Development Agency (NYDA) works with NSFAS and its list of location is available on the website.

* Inside Education

WITH only weeks to go until the 2021 National Senior Certificate (NSC) examinations, the Department of Basic Education (DBE) is expecting more than 890 000 candidates to sit for the exams.

The November 2021 National Senior Certificate (NSC) examination will commence officially on Wednesday, 27 October 2021 and conclude on Tuesday, 7 December 2021.

Director of National Examinations, Priscilla Ogunbanjo, said that this is the largest number of candidates who will sit for the exams in terms of fulltime candidates since the inception of the NSC examinations.

Ogunbanjo said this at a media briefing on Friday hosted by the department on the state of readiness to present credible examinations for the 2021 curriculum year.

“We have 735 677 fulltime candidates that have enrolled to write the exam, this is the largest number since the inception of the NSC exam in terms of fulltime enrolment. This is an increase of 128 451 candidates than we had enrolled last year,” she said.

Ogunbanjo said that part-time enrolment has also picked up again compared to 2020, with 162 109 candidates that will sit for the exam this year. The department has also noted an increase in key subjects in terms of the number of candidates.

Minister Angie Motshekga said that the department is ready to present a credible examination for 2021. The DBE has consulted with the provinces to check on their state of readiness. In their response, the provinces have confirmed that it is all system go. 

“This is the third matric exam to happen under the COVID-19 environment; and the DBE had to make changes, to mitigate the negative impact of COVID-19 pandemic on teaching and learning,” she said.

Adding on to the readiness and monitoring, Ogunbanjo said that the department and Provincial Education Departments (PEDs) will monitor both the writing and the marking of the November 2021 NSC examinations.

She said that PED monitors will include provincial, district and circuit officials and monitoring is aligned to the risk profiles of centres.

“Resident monitors will be deployed to all high risk centres, including takeover by head office/districts. Each PED [is] to have a monitoring coverage of not less than 70%. On-line monitoring tools will also be used in certain PEDs. Additionally, a total of 95 DBE monitors will be deployed across the provinces to verify the monitoring conducted by PEDs,” Ogunbanjo said.

Marking and the release of results

Marking is scheduled to commence on 8 December and end 22 December 2021, meanwhile the provisional release of results is scheduled for 21 January 2022.

The department has appealed to the public to assist  it in stamping out the evil of examination breaches.

“The DBE and the PEDs are leaving no stone unturned in strengthening their security measures across the value chain. We need the support of parents, teachers, principals and all members of the public to alert the Department of any irregular practice that may surface on the social media or on any other platform,” Ogunbanjo said.

Learner support

In terms of learner support, the department said that the Woza Matrics Campaign is available and offers tuition support to Grade 12 learners in ten subjects. 

The campaign is a free-to-air television initiative, launched following the academic disruptions caused by COVID-19.

The Woza Matrics 2021 Catch-Up Campaign, is led through a partnership between the DBE, National Education Collaboration Trust (NECT) and the Education, Development and Training Practices (ETDP) Sector Education and Training Authority (SETA).

“We urge all our learners to take advantage of the learning and teaching support materials as well as the support availed through the Campaign. We also have hundreds of zero-rated platforms on our website,” Motshekga said.

Basic Education Employment Initiative

Since the opening of the sayouth.mobi site on 27 September 2021, the department has received more than 5.5 million applications from more than 3.9 million unique applications.

Through its Basic Education Employment Initiative, the department seeks to provide 287 000 unemployed young people employment and training opportunities in the basic education sector.

“As government, we are seeking to mitigate the devastating economic challenges brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic.  Our young people will have an opportunity to receive training on a variety of skills, that will equip them for future employment opportunities and job creation,” the Minister said.  

Motshekga has urged more people to apply before the application period ends on Sunday, 10 October 2021. 

BASIC Education Minister Angie Motshekga has encouraged teachers to make winning a habit not just for one’s individual satisfaction, but for the pursuance of excellence in teaching.

Motshekga was addressing the 21st National Teaching Awards (NTA) at Emperor’s Palace in Kempton Park on Wednesday.

The annual awards are hosted by the Department of Basic Education to recognise and celebrate outstanding educators who, often under challenging circumstances, remain committed to their noble craft and produce extraordinary outcomes.

Motshekga has applauded all teachers in the public sector and beyond for making the task of raising conscientious children possible.

“Your relentless commitment to the national cause of educating the young ones gives all of us strength and, of course, pride. I hope this glitzy NTA affair of today will spur more excellence in the sector, especially in the foundation phase teaching of literacy and numeracy,” the Minister said.

Motshekga said teaching has to be done right to avoid a generational catastrophe of adults without a future.

She said a review by the World Bank (2012) showed that teacher effectiveness is one of the most critical school-based predictors of student learning.

“Interestingly, research confirms that experience is irreplaceable. Several years of teaching by outstanding teachers can offset the learning deficits of disadvantaged students.

“A range of studies exploring what makes school systems effective has looked for common characteristics in the top-performing education systems. All found that the key is well trained and motivated teachers,” Motshekga said.

The Minister said the key strategies that researchers have identified for improving student outcomes centre on developing a quality teacher workforce.

“As a sector, through various initiatives, including the much-vaunted Funza Lushaka Bursary Scheme and our world-class research intensive universities, we do offer the best in initial teacher training. There are also many opportunities to further university studies while in employment, and I am happy to say our teachers are truly lifelong learners,” she said.

Mosthekga said during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, teachers have shown sustained resilience.

The Minister saluted and praised teachers for always going beyond the call of duty to succeed amidst social ills and socio-economic challenges.

“Most teachers tell me that they play the role of caregiver, mother, father, counsellor, friend and godparent on any typical day to many of our learners from troubled homes and communities. Your toils in the service of our nation cannot go unnoticed,” Motshekga said.

A former Eastern Cape senior educational specialist is expected to appear in the Gqeberha Magistrates’ Court for numerous allegations of fraud and money laundering.

This comes after she was summoned by the Gqeberha-based Hawks’ Serious Commercial Crime Investigation team on Tuesday.

In a statement, the Hawks said: “Between January 2009 and November 2010, the suspect, who was employed by the Eastern Cape Department of Education as a senior educational specialist and the coordinator of the Early Childhood Development Learning Programme, allegedly processed various fraudulent applications accompanied and supported by false documents, which resulted in the irregular appointment of persons and payment of salaries of Grade R practitioners by the department.”

It is alleged that she induced the officials of the department to approve the appointments of the said persons as Grade R practitioners and to further approve the payment of monthly stipends in various amounts. The practitioners are reported to have been given an instruction by the suspect to withdraw the monies and hand them over to her.

The Hawks said the department, acting on the false information given by the suspect, paid a collective amount of more than R1.2 million. 

“The summons were served after an intensive investigation since the complaint was lodged with the Hawks in December 2010. She is expected to make her first court appearance on 25 October 2021,” said the Hawks.

THE South African Democratic Teachers Union (Sadtu) has paid tribute to over 1 650 teachers who lost their lives due to COVID-19 pandemic, the teachers’ union said in a statement to celebrate the international World Teachers’ Day.

World Teacher’s Day was launched in 1996 with the motive of promoting help towards teachers and creating awareness about the importance of teachers to meet the needs of future generations. The day is celebrated today in about 100 nations around the globe.

“We are celebrating World Teachers’ Day, for the second time in a row, under a dark cloud of the devastating COVID 19 pandemic that caused untold disruptions to schooling, economy and life in general. In the first year of the pandemic alone, 1 650 teachers lost their lives and dozens more continue to die,” said Sadtu General Secretary Mugwena Maluleke.

“The theme for this year’s celebration, “Teachers at the heart of education recovery” places a heavy load on the shoulders of teachers who are still grappling with the effects of the COVID 19 pandemic.”

Maluleke said the teachers’ union was celebrating the teachers for the role they have played in ensuring that education continues under these trying times.

“They have had to adapt to new ways of teaching using online platforms to reach their learners; they have had to be counsellors to their learners who have lost their parents and teachers; they have had to be safety officers to ensure their schools comply with the health and safety guidelines in order to save their lives as well as those of learners; they have had to sacrifice their precious time with families teaching during weekends and holidays to make up for the lost time,” said Maluleke.

“They are indeed at the heart of education recovery.”

The teachers’ union said for this year’s theme (Teachers at the heart of education recovery) to become a reality, SADTU is calling for increased investment in the well-being, training, professional development and working conditions of teachers to recover the learning losses and to adapt to new ways of teaching and learning that have to contend with the pandemic.

“We need education for our economy to recover. For South Africa to be more productive, we need more educated workers, government has to invest in human resource development and teachers are crucial in producing that educated and skilled workforce,” said Maluleke.

“We celebrate this day under a heavy cloud of austerity measures that have threatened the stability of the education system until the union challenged the government in particular in the KwaZulu Natal (KZN). The union made sure that no educator or education personnel would lose their jobs in KZN.”

He added: “As we celebrate this teachers’ day, SADTU is fully aware of the task at hand to ensure that the gains we have made to safeguard the Status of Teachers as per the 1966 Recommendation are adhered to. We are therefore going to heed the call by our union federation, COSATU to take part in marches across the country on 7 October to make our voice heard against the austerity measures, rising unemployment, safety in workplaces, gender-based violence and many other ills affecting workers.”

“The country needs more teachers, more resources, more training and better working conditions for teachers. Quality education for all is the only sustainable way of recovery where the teachers are at the centre. We therefore demand that education be classified as an emergency in order to release the required financial relief required for an inclusive and sustainable recovery.”

The LEGO Foundation said the COVID-19 pandemic interrupted the education of 90% of children around the world, and teachers have been on the frontlines to face the major challenges throughout it all.

 To mark the day, the LEGO Foundation was expected to officially launch a new whitepaper that will unpick the innovative methods used by teachers to provide education to children who struggle to access learning.

Specifically focusing on refugee and host communities in East Africa, the whitepaper highlights the central role of teachers and examines the opportunities for integrating play-based learning into teacher professional development approaches.

Commenting on World Teacher’s Day, Sarah Bouchie, Chief Impact Officer at the LEGO Foundation, said:

“The pandemic has brought teachers to the forefront more than ever before, and we should celebrate their heroic efforts to ensure quality education for every child. At the LEGO Foundation, it is our belief that learning through play allows children to reach their full potential. Thanks to teachers, children, including those from vulnerable communities, have been able to continue their learning. If the last 18+ months has shown us anything, it is that we must learn to live with uncertainty and practice the art of the quick pivot. Teachers know this perhaps better than anyone. Together, we can meet SDG4 through a movement of people who are committed to be all in for all kids.”

Inside Education

GERALD K. LeTENDRE

WORLD Teachers’ Day, held on October 5 each year since 1994, is an annual event to reflect on the progress teachers have made.

But in many countries, including the United States, the professional status of teachers has declined in the last decade.

For example, studies in Britain, Japan and Hong Kong show an erosion of teacher autonomy and public confidence in teachers, which leads to teachers feeling disempowered and demoralized. Job satisfaction has also deteriorated among teachers in the U.S., where teacher education itself has become a target of policymakers who think it requires higher standards and greater state control.

As a researcher who studies teacher reform initiatives around the world, I have seen very few reforms do what they were designed to do, which is to improve the quality of teachers’ work and their professional standing.

With colleagues in the U.S., Sweden and South Korea, I researched teacher-focused policies in four Nordic countries (Finland, Norway, Sweden and Denmark) and four East Asian countries (Taiwan, Singapore, Japan and South Korea) from 1995 to 2020.

All eight countries are stable, wealthy democracies whose school systems are generally regarded as having solid – even exemplary – educational systems. In other words, one might not expect them to be that worried about their teachers. Yet over the 25-year period that we studied, these countries collectively passed 56 national policies that were specifically aimed at reforming some part of teacher career development, education or training.

Sweden was the most active with 12 reforms, while Finland passed only two.

Sometimes these reforms didn’t really help teachers. In fact, some reforms actually undermined the quality of the national teaching force.

Here is what we found is mostly likely to work when it comes to new teacher policies.

Make policies comprehensive

Comprehensive teacher policies address at least three key areas: recruitment and training, hiring and placement, and professional development. This is crucial in addressing significant problems like teacher shortages, where focusing on recruiting and training alone has not worked, at least in the U.S.

However, most of the eight countries in our study passed polices that target only one of these stages. Some nations addressed more than one, but the reforms were often uncoordinated. And, these nations were also influenced by international organizations like the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, resulting in contradictory reforms that undermined the effectiveness of national systems.

Denmark was the only nation that specifically targeted recruitment by trying to recruit teachers from the best college graduates. Sweden was the only country to pass a policy vaguely related to teacher placement. They started “fast track” programs that prepare immigrants with teacher qualifications to teach in Swedish schools. These programs were spread around the country in six universities that would encourage placing the graduates outside the Stockholm area.

Instead, countries concentrated on policies that set standards for teacher certification, improved work conditions and extended opportunities for professional development. While these are important areas, they don’t address crucial bottlenecks in recruitment and distribution. Simply setting standards does not guarantee that qualified teachers will be available where they are needed. For example, due to shortages in certain subjects, teachers are often assigned to teach courses that they are not qualified to teach – something called “out-of-field” teaching.

Despite all the teacher-focused reforms that have occurred, access to qualified teachers remains a major source of educational inequality in the world today.

Focus on teachers’ actual needs

There is international consensus that effective teacher education and development involves offering teachers multiple opportunities to practice and reflect on actual teaching practices. This means professional development should be integrated into local schools where local practitioners can identify the problems they face while working with experts to identify solutions. Yet few of the policies we analyzed indicated this as a goal.

One example that did engage teachers was the OSAAVA program in Finland, which supported projects where teachers and schools could identify what expertise they already had available, areas that needed more professional development and how to sustain this professional development over time.

In addition to being focused on actual problems, good professional development supports collaboration between teachers, universities and the communities where they work. In most industries, professional development is created by expert practitioners in the field. Teacher professional development, however, is mostly created by academics in universities. To achieve effective professional development often requires reforming the relationship between universities and schools.

Include teachers in the process

In both Nordic and East Asian countries, governments often passed reforms related to teacher professional development by setting standards, but few governments involved teachers in the process. This undermines teachers’ professional status and autonomy. It also means that the professional development is less likely to meet teachers’ needs.

In Japan, in the early 2000s, the government took what was once a teacher-led form of professional development, Lesson Study, and integrated it into required professional development. This weakened the collaboration which research had shown to be essential for effective teacher learning. In 2017, I conducted interviews with teacher educators who complained about the long-term decline in Lesson Study quality. Indeed, the Lesson Study sessions I observed in 2017 were less well attended and lacked the collaborative support that I had witnessed while researching Japanese schools in the 1980s and 1990s.

In contrast, the “Teach Less, Learn More” reform passed in Singapore in 2005 allowed schools to hire more staff so that teachers had more time to study how to better present lessons or to review and redesign the curriculum.

Why it matters

Decades of scientific research confirm that quality teachers improve student achievement. At the same time we see the rise of authoritarian regimes and anti-democratic movements across the globe. Education has a democratizing effect, particularly in poor countries. I believe that, now more than ever, every nation must support teachers as they provide the education and critical thinking skills that children will need to confront antidemocratic sentiment and resolve the significant problems of the future.

(Gerald K. LeTendre is Professor of Educational Administration, Penn State.)

The Conversation