THE Gauteng Department of Education (GDE) has confirmed that over 73 000 successful Grade 1 and 8 applications were recorded on Monday 13 September 2021, on Day 1 of the Phase 2 applications.

The provincial education department says it has received over 73,000 Grade 1-8 online applications for 2022.

“As of 12 noon on Monday – four hours since going live, a total of 73,305 applications were recorded on our system,” said provincial education department spokesperson Steve Mabona.

Of that, 69,300 applications were recorded for Grade 1 and 3,981 Grade 8 applications.

Parents who were unable to register their children for Grade 7 are also now able to make online applications.

“It must be noted that, before the system opened this morning, approximately 9,000 parents were on the landing page waiting for it to open,” said Mabona.

“As such, this caused an administrative delay which needed developers to clear the said users after opening the system at 8am,” he added.

Parents and guardians must upload their documents onto the system within seven days of applying.

They can also submit the documents directly to the school they applied to.

“It is incredible that our online admissions system keeps advancing and making strides as the years progress. This year was the first time we launched our two-phased application approach and the extent of its success has been astounding,” said Mabona.

Education MEC Panyaza Lesufi said: “We are grateful to all parents and guardians who have conveyed their success in applying for their children using our system.”

The Democratic Alliance (DA)’s education MEC Khume Ramlifho has also urged all parents and guardians to secure their child’s school placement and ensure that they do not miss a day of schooling by submitting their applications through the online admission system.

“Delays in applying for online admission has had a huge negative impact on the future of our children in that many learners across the province have missed months of schooling,” said Ramulifho.

“This is the most critical level of learning as the child will be starting their first stage of academic life at a primary school and everything must be planned properly so that they enjoy the new beginnings. In most cases, failure by parents to apply timeously affects both them and their child as they will be frustrated, and will be unable to budget for school uniforms, stationery, and scholar transport, not be knowing whether their child has secured a place or not.”

Department officials will still be available for assistance during phase-two applications on all social media platforms, decentralised walk-in centres and the call centre on 0800-000-789.

* Inside Education

THE Department of International Relations and Cooperation (DIRCO) has undertaken to financially assist students left stranded in Turkey after the suspended ANC Secretary General Ace Magashule’s foundation failed to pay up.

 Magashule’s foundation sent the students to Turkey in 2017.

DIRCO said letters sent to suspended Magashule’s foundation regarding the students stranded in Turkey went unanswered, leaving embassy officials to help them out, according to departmental spokesperson, Lunga Mgqengelele.

“Letters were written to the foundation and all other stakeholders. To date, nothing has been forthcoming from the foundation,” said Ngqengelele on Sunday.

According to media reports, officials from the embassy in Ankara had to fork out money from their own pockets to put the 21 students up in two tiny two-bedroom apartments after they were evicted, leaving some sleeping in a park.

They managed to put the 21 students up in two tiny two-bedroom apartments after they were evicted, leaving some sleeping in a park.

The students, who the Sunday Times met in Istanbul this week, were sponsored to study at the private Bahcesehir University.

They are now anxious about what they will face tomorrow when the booking of the flats they have rented runs out, and they again find themselves on the streets.

Aged between 20 and 28, the students have completed three years of study and have one year left, and are desperate to complete their qualifications.

A male student who asked not to be named said after they were evicted he slept on a bench in a nearby park.

Others slept on the ground on their clothes and belongings.

“It was humiliating,” he said. “The security guard at the park showed us a place where it was warmer, between two buildings in the park. We slept there for two nights before an official at the embassy gave us some money for these two tiny apartments. But we don’t know where we are going tomorrow.”

A mission report from the embassy reportedly stated that Magashule’s promises to pay the owner of the private student housing service “were unfulfilled”, and officials were “concerned that this matter would attract media attention and put SA in a bad light”.

The report was dated 5 September 2021.

The owner of Bogazici Student Dormitories, Mehmet Kara, said Magashule owed him over R13 million (€800,000) after not paying his bill for 32 months.

The students reportedly completed three years of their studies and had one year left to be done with their qualifications.

The foundation has yet to respond to the allegations.

A four-year-old girl from Soweto has been raped, allegedly by a man living at the daycare centre she attends, the Gauteng Department of Social Development has confirmed.

The Gauteng Social Development MEC Morakane Mosupye said the department has since sent a team of investigators to establish if the Silindokuhle Day Care Centre was operating legally.

“In terms of the Children’s Act 38 of 2005, partial care facilities are places of care for children between 0-6 years which must provide a safe and secure environment for children,” said  Mosupyoe.

“Furthermore, this investigation will enable the department to take legal steps to remedy this unfortunate event and provide the family and toddler with psychosocial support,” said Mosupyoe.

Mosupye added: “Women and children are constant targets for rape and abuse in our country. If indeed any fault is found regarding the ECD in question the department must take action immediately.”

The incident comes off the back of President Cyril Ramaphosa’s address to the nation on Sunday.

He spoke about the country’s progress in fighting the Covid-19 pandemic, but he also touched on the country’s “other pandemic” – which is the violence against women and children.

“This month alone there have been a number of terrible crimes committed against women and girls,” said Ramaphosa.

University of Fort Hare law student Nosicelo Mtebeni was murdered and dismembered in East London; a Grade 1 pupil from Khensani Primary School in Soshanguve was raped in the school’s toilets; Palesa Maruping was found hanging from the ceiling of a house in Khuma location in the North West; Pheliswa Sawutana was strangled to death in Kosovo informal settlement in Cape Town.

“These are just the cases that were covered in the media; there were others that were not. These gruesome acts of violence cannot go unpunished,” said Ramaphosa.

It is unclear if police have made any arrests yet.

NHLANHLA MPOFU and MNCEDISI MAPHALALA|

IN many countries where many languages are spoken, English is often the language of teaching and learning in schools.

Learners get their knowledge of school subjects through the use of English – be it reading and writing or speaking and listening.

Learners who are comfortable using specific English language structures, phrases and terms as they are used in each school subject have greater academic success.

Some school systems therefore aim to teach language and subject content at the same time.

Organising the curriculum this way is known as Language Across the Curriculum. In South Africa – a country with 11 official languages – it’s referred to as English Across the Curriculum. This is because English is the language of learning and teaching from grade 4, where pupils tend to be 10 years old.

The English Across the Curriculum strategy is to develop English language skills across all high school subjects, not just by studying English itself. It pays attention to how English is used for developing knowledge in other subjects such as Life Sciences, Mathematics or Geography.

Realising the importance of this approach, South Africa’s Department of Basic Education published a Manual for Teaching English Across the Curriculum in 2014.

The manual provided high school teachers with subject-specific activities and lesson preparation demonstrations so they could follow the language strategy.

But in 27, the department reported that high school teachers weren’t using this approach as was expected of them. This meant some high school learners would find it difficult to acquire subject knowledge.

Subject concepts and skills can’t be understood outside the language they occur.

We decided to explore whether this problem arose from the training that teachers were getting. Our study explored how student teachers in different universities were prepared for integrating language and subject learning.

Student teachers in our study sample acknowledged the importance of developing English language in subject learning. But most of them indicated that their preparation to use the English Across the Curriculum strategy was largely incidental. Their curriculum didn’t ensure it.

Secondly, they rarely saw their own lecturers modelling the strategy.

Preparing teachers

We held several focus group discussions with 102 final year Bachelor of Education students from three universities in South Africa.

The Department of Higher Education, Science and Innovation also supports the English Across the Curriculum strategy.

It states that teachers who successfully complete an initial professional qualification should be proficient in at least one official South African language as a language of learning and teaching.

We found that at University A, there were no specific English Across the Curriculum courses or activities. A course that the student teachers mentioned as coming close was academic literacy. But this was a generic course that all first-year students took to develop academic language skills. It had little to do with English Across the Curriculum.

At University B there was a well-defined curriculum for the study of English Across the Curriculum. It allowed the students to choose between two languages of instruction, namely, Afrikaans and English.

Student teachers who selected English as the medium for teaching enrolled for a number of courses in their four years of study which modelled how to infuse language and subject learning.

The student teachers seemed confident that they would be able to do this in their future classroom. But they worried that during their teaching practice, they didn’t observe the mentor teachers using the strategy.

At University C student teachers were prepared as English Across the Curriculum practitioners using one course in their fourth year.

The aim of this course was to guide student teachers on how learners acquired language skills that would develop their thought processes in subject specific content. This course focused on how student teachers could use listening, speaking, reading and writing skills in subject learning.

Overall, we found that the student teachers weren’t confident that they could create the conditions for subject learning using English as a language of instruction. They didn’t have a thorough understanding of integrating English language skills and subject learning.

Some universities, like University B, are making efforts to prepare student teachers to follow the strategy. In others, like A and C, this preparation is largely fragmented, unintentional and left to chance. It shows a mismatch between policy and practice.

Identifying gaps

There’s no perfect teaching approach guaranteed to prepare student teachers to practise English Across the Curriculum. But there are a number of opportunities that universities can use.

Based on our research, we propose a specialised language knowledge for content teaching approach. This is different from the current strategy in teacher education, where English language is used for academic activities but not meant to enhance subject-specific proficiency.

In the approach we recommend, lecturers in different disciplines across the teacher education curriculum use language to represent content knowledge in an accessible way. This goes beyond linguistic forms such as vocabulary and grammar. It looks at how language is used for communication in a specific subject.

Learning activities such as lectures, microteaching, lesson planning, portfolio development, reflection exercises and teaching practice should all be used to develop student teachers’ specialised language knowledge for content teaching.

Going forward

Our study initiates an important discussion that various universities through their faculties of education can have. But planning for the simultaneous development of student teachers’ subject and language knowledge isn’t easy.

It requires a review of the teacher education curriculum, reworking the knowledge base for student teachers and providing professional development for lecturers who teach student teachers.

With creative thinking, universities and government departments can find practical solutions that should enhance the academic success of school children through quality language and subject learning.

* The Conversation

NATIONAL Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS), run by the education ministry, has bagged global recognition from UNESCO for its innovative approach towards education.

The recognition is for educating differently-abled people through technology-enabled inclusive learning material.

The NIOS move has a specific focus on Indian sign language-based content, the organization said on Sunday.

According to UNESCO, the shift to online learning due to the covid-19 pandemic has impacted over 320 million children in India alone.

The lack of education devices, disabled-friendly online teaching and special assistive technologies has further hampered access to education for children with disabilities.

By awarding NIOS the King Sejong Literacy Prize, the jury has recognized the value of providing for the unique educational and language needs of PwD learners by developing teaching content in sign language through digital mode.

“The award-winning programme focuses on the use of digital tools and local language to help persons with disabilities the option to access Indian Sign Language (ISL)-based content.

The programme notably developed Indian Sign language as a language subject at secondary level and videos in sign language version in seven subjects at secondary level and senior secondary level as well as an ISL dictionary, made available through the NIOS portal,” NIOS said.

To be sure, NIOS, an open learning school board, is also implementing the government’s virtual school initiative announced last month.

Every year, the UNESCO International Literacy Prizes focus on a specific theme. This year, the focus was on inclusive distance and digital literacy learning.

Along with NIOS, this year’s UNESCO International Literacy Prizes was awarded to other five outstanding literacy programs from Côte d’Ivoire, Egypt, Guatemala, Mexico, and South Africa.

Established in 1989, with the support of the Government of the Republic of Korea, the recognition is awarded to governments, governmental agencies or nongovernmental organizations displaying merit and achieving effective results in the fight for universal literacy.

Mint.com

FINALLY, the DStv Schools Netball Challenge provincial finals are upon us. Starting on 10 September, Mpumalanga, Gauteng, Eastern Cape, and Western Cape schools will battle it out for the two top spots in each province to represent the respective provinces at the highest schools netball competition in the country.

So far the Northern Cape, Limpopo, KwaZulu-Natal and the Free State already have their representatives for the national competition which will take place between 23-26 September.

Hoërskool Diamantveld and Wildeklawer represent the diamond province, Hoërskool Pietersburg, Hoërskool Ben Vorster, Hlabi Secondary School and ME Makgato Secondary School will represent Limpopo while KwaZulu Natal will have Edendale Technical High School and Ashton International College in its corner. Wilgerivier High School and Teto Secondary School from the Free State complete the determined teams for the final round.

Hoërskool Middelburg hosts the Mpumalanga provincial competition where six high schools from around the province will do battle for the honours while Hoërskool Dinamika and Edenvale High School will open the competition in the Gauteng leg at Hoërskool Dr E.G. Jansen Boksburg.

The ongoing coronavirus pandemic had stalled most of the action of the Netball Challenge owing to the lockdown restrictions.

The tournament was launched in May with local inter-school leagues which progressed to regionals and now provincials before the big one, the national competition which will be broadcast on SuperSport.

The competition will unearth future Spar Proteas and the 2023 Netball World Cup in Cape Town is a huge inspiration for the thousands of players who took to the court throughout this competition.

South African Schools Netball president, Di Woolley hopes that the ongoing pandemic will no longer be a hindrance in completing the competition.

“I am hoping this horrible thing called Covid stays out of our lives so we can continue with our programme as scheduled and planned because these children are looking forward to playing ad doing what they do best. I am just hoping and praying people stay safe, look after themselves so we can play and enjoy ourselves to the best of our abilities,” says Woolley.

“The children are not as fit as they should be or can be. So we are allowing a couple of players per team to come to the national championships so they can substitute and so on because these children are not very fit. And to get back into things will take so much effort and time. But I think our netball kids are up and running and want to do things the way it should be done,” adds Woolley.

Netball fans can catch the exciting action via streaming on the SuperSport Schools App from 9am.

* Supersport.com

IMPROVING the foundational skills of literacy and numeracy, especially ‘reading for meaning,’ is now an apex priority for the Department of Basic Education.

Addressing the UNESCO World Literacy Day, Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga said the department remains convinced that literacy and numeracy are the heartbeats of basic education.

“His Excellency Mr President Cyril Ramaphosa has given us as the basic education sector a mandate to ensure that every learner can read with comprehension across all the subjects by their tenth birthday. Thus, we have since coined eleven priorities to take the basic education sector to the next level,” Motshekga said.

The Minister added that in 2019, the department launched the National Reading Coalition (NRC) to support reading improvement across the country.

The NRC’s main tasks are establishing reading clubs, training teachers, and material development in reading, numeracy and literacy.

They are also aimed at mobilising resources and expertise to enhance quality teaching and learning in the reading, numeracy, and literacy space.

The Minister announced that South Africa has designed its first-of-its-kind online programme dubbed ‘The Comprehension Across the Curriculum’ that offers an opportunity for teachers to be upskilled in reading comprehension.

“The programme will be launched later this month and will train teachers to teach reading comprehension skills across the curriculum,” Motshekga said.

The department has also launched an Integrated National Reading Sector Plan which aligns with its policy lodestar, the National Development Plan (NDP) that seeks to achieve critical developmental milestones by 2030.

“The NDP envisions that by 2030, schools will provide all learners with quality education, especially in Literacy, Mathematics and Science.

“The National Reading Sector Plan is an overarching evidence-based strategy that will alter the country’s entire reading and literacy landscape,” the Minister said.

The Minister added that the main thrust of this plan is to ensure reading for meaning across the curriculum, in all grades, and in all schools throughout the country. Furthermore, to ensure that all learners are taught to read well and read for meaning.

According to the Minister, the plan would have been successfully implemented throughout the system by 2024, meaning that all teachers would have been trained on the latest reading pedagogies.

Rural Education Assistants’ Programme (REAP)

To address disparities in Basic Education, the department has developed the novel Rural Education Assistants’ Programme (REAP).

The REAP programme uses Education Assistants in the Foundation and Intermediate Phases (Grades 1-4) to improve the quality of education, particularly literacy and reading skills, in rural schools.

DR KIM JONAS|

PREGNANCIES among adolescent girls remain a global problem. An estimated 21 million girls aged 15–19 years in developing countries become pregnant and about 12 million of them give birth every year.

Pregnancies not only have adverse health risks for adolescent mothers and their babies – these problems can persist into the next generation.

For example, girls who become pregnant often drop out of school, limiting their future economic opportunities and perpetuating a cycle of poverty.

South Africa recorded increased rates of teenage pregnancies in some parts of the country between 2018 and 2019 and more recently during the COVID-19 pandemic. This was partly due to the difficulty of accessing contraceptives, which was greater during the COVID-19 lockdown.

An increase in the adolescent pregnancy rate strongly suggests challenges with accessing sexual and reproductive healthcare services for this vulnerable age group and is a cause for concern.

Drivers of teenage pregnancy

Even before the pandemic, in South Africa, 16% of young women aged 15-19 had begun childbearing. The figure ranges between 11% in urban areas and 19% in rural areas.

One factor that has contributed to this is violence against women and girls.

In South Africa one in three women experience gender based-violence and one in five children under the age of 18 experience sexual abuse.

Deficiencies in the health system also contribute to teenage pregnancies. It’s not always easy for adolescents to get contraceptives if services aren’t youth-friendly.

Education about contraception for adolescents is inadequate too.

In South Africa, 31% of girls aged 15 to 19 aren’t getting the contraceptives they need – a bigger proportion of this age group than other age groups.

Our research has focused on health systems factors that are associated with access and use of contraception among adolescent girls and young women.

If these factors aren’t attended to, the needs and rights of adolescents could remain neglected even after the pandemic ends.

The rate of unwanted early pregnancies could remain high, affecting the health and life choices of young women and their children.

The research

We conducted two separate studies as part of an evaluation of a South African combination HIV prevention programme for adolescent girls and young women. Our research took place from 2017 to 2018 and from 2020 until 2021.

The first survey, conducted in 2017 and 2018, included 4,425 adolescent girls and young women aged 15 to 24 years living in six districts across five provinces in South Africa. The second survey, in 2020-2021, included 515 adolescent girls and young women.

These two studies revealed a worryingly high rate of pregnancy in this age group. We also found that most (70%) of the pregnancies were not planned.

The survey found that 68.4% had ever had sex and 9% reported having had sex before the age of 15. Among the group who had ever had sex, 36.2% said their first pregnancy had occurred before they were 18.

Our findings show that adolescent girls and young women have a high unmet need for contraception and that health system barriers to contraception services persist. Only 48% of the respondents said they’d ever used a modern contraceptive.

Use of condoms the last time the respondents had sex was reported by 51%. This means half of the adolescent girls and young women were at risk of being infected with HIV or any sexually transmitted infection, or passing an infection on.

Interviews revealed that many young women, especially in the age group 15–19  years, found it difficult to get contraceptives.

We found that they didn’t have information about contraceptives.

Many didn’t know how the different methods work and affect the body. Some believed that contraceptives were not good for the body, based on myths and misinformation. Some believed contraceptives didn’t work at all.

Misinformation and barriers

Some of the respondents said contraception would ruin their wombs and, in the future, they would not be able to have children. Many lacked support to use contraceptives from parents or other caregivers.

They said that health workers asked them embarrassing questions and mistreated them:

The nurses will start asking all sorts of questions; why are you here? Young as you are! Do you have a boyfriend? And because of these questions and that you feel embarrassed you end up leaving without accessing the services …

They won’t speak to you privately in a room, instead they will loudly say why are you here for contraceptives in front of people and you can imagine how many people are at the clinic.

In the second survey, among those who reported they had sex in the year before the survey, only 28% reported using contraceptives consistently.

The reasons included disliking the side effects; running out of contraceptives; inconvenient health service opening hours; stock-outs at the health service; and the COVID-19 pandemic.

During the past year 22% of the respondents said they had been unable to get the contraceptives they needed. And 21% reported challenges getting condoms because of COVID-19 and the lockdown.

Going forward

School-based interventions could be part of the effort to prevent sexual violence and raise awareness about adolescents’ sexual and reproductive health and rights.

Health system interventions and education campaigns to address the socio-cultural beliefs and misinformation that undermine use of contraceptives are needed too.

Free contraceptives should be available not only in health facilities but in safe spaces such as school, community settings and retail pharmacies. Health workers should discuss the concerns and needs of adolescent girls and young women with them and help them find the contraceptive method that suits them.

Finally, evidence shows that provision of incentives to promote adherence to medication is a promising strategy. For example, people could get money for transport or mobile data to get health information. This might promote access and consistent use of contraceptives among adolescent girls and young women.

(Dr Kim Jonas is Specialist Scientist, Health Systems, South African Medical Research Council)

The Conversation

THE 2022 phase 2 online admissions for Grade 1 and 8 learners will commence on Monday, 13 September 2021 and end on Friday, 8 October 2021.

The Gauteng Department of Education (GDE) says phase 2 will be for parents and guardians with children going to Grade 1 or Grade 8 in the 2022 academic year, but are currently not in a public school in Gauteng.
 
“We are also glad to announce that parents and guardians, who were not able to apply on time during phase 1 for learners in Grade 7 at public schools in Gauteng, will be able to apply under phase 2,” the department said.
 
Parents and guardians applying in phase 2 are urged to prepare the necessary documentation and ensure that it is all certified and correct. The following documents are needed when applying:

1. Parent and child ID or passport
2. Refugee Permit
3. Asylum Seeker Permit
4. Permanent Residence Permit
5. Study Permit
6. Your South African Birth Certificate
7. Proof of Home Address
8. Proof of Work Address
9. Latest School Report
10. Clinic Card/Immunization Card (Grade 1 only)
 
Parents and guardians are urged to upload these documents onto the system or submit them at the school they applied to within seven days of applying.
 
The department said they recorded a total of 351 169 applications when phase 1 applications officially closed on 3 September 2021.

Gauteng Education MEC, Panyaza Lesufi, expressed his gratitude towards parents and guardians who managed to successfully apply, and the patience they displayed throughout the process. He also thanked the GDE team who helped to make phase 1 applications a success.
  
“We have outdone ourselves this year, not just as the department but as stakeholders, parents and guardians in having made the new two-phased approach a success so far. We wish every parent and guardian applying under phase 2 the very best and we assure them that our team will be there to assist them every step of the way,” Lesufi said. 

The GDE team will be available for assistance during phase 2 applications on all the department’s social media platforms, the decentralised walk-in centres and call centre on 0800 000 789.

SIOUX MCKENNA|

THE uptake of educational technology in South Africa’s higher education sector has been highly uneven and very slow. Before the pandemic, most courses offered in South African universities had some form of Learning Management System presence. Students could access course guides and readings, upload their assignments, and possibly communicate with their lecturer and peers via forums. But beyond that, many academics seemed to resist making use of the technology, even though it could allow for greater engagement and interactive learning.

And then 2020 happened and suddenly everyone found themselves thrown into the online world. The country’s higher education sector can be proud of the rapid pivot that was made as universities rushed to ensure that academics had the skills to teach online and that students had the hardware, software and data needed to learn from home. Collaborations between universities were central to the successes. Educational technologists across the sector worked tirelessly to support staff and students.

The online pivot has opened the eyes of many naysayers to the benefits of blended learning, whereby students can work at their own pace. There is much that the sector can reflect upon as universities start to return to face-to-face teaching.

But emergency remote learning shouldn’t be confused with carefully crafted online curricula. Many academics and students were struggling with the technical skills of it all and had little time to consider knowledge creation. It was often a case of getting through the syllabus rather than ensuring true epistemic access – helping students to understand how each field generates knowledge.

Education inequalities are worse online

While the pandemic experience has undoubtedly hastened the uptake of educational technology in higher education, it does not point to an entirely online future. There are at least three reasons for this.

Successes were partial. While those of us working in higher education can be proud of how we’ve maintained our educational responsibilities in the pandemic, this was not without costs. Academics have spoken of burn-out and depression, and many students have had to endure extreme mental health issues.

Most universities have done their utmost to ensure that students stay in the system and succeed in their studies. At times this has meant cutting sections of the syllabus, offering additional assessment opportunities, and adapting the examination schedule. There is no doubt that students lost out educationally in the pandemic. Certainly, it has meant fewer opportunities for vital extra-curricular learning and peer engagement.

The digital divide is real. The extreme inequalities in South Africa and globally have been laid bare. Universities and the department of higher education and training found themselves in a financial and logistical nightmare of ensuring that all students had access to hardware and data. Negotiating with service providers for reduced data costs was time consuming. Students who rely on the residence system found themselves shouldering family responsibilities, and often working in homes that were not conducive to studying. And rural students without access to signal were truly left behind.

Most accounts of the digital divide focus on physical access. What has been overlooked are the challenges of providing epistemic access online.

Epistemic access is hard in person. Online it’s even tougher.
The higher education sector is not particularly good at ensuring that students do more than get through the content. But the real role of higher education is to bring students into a transformative relationship with knowledge. This entails far more than the transmission of facts.

Academics should be role-modelling the norms and values of the field and how it is that we come to read and write in such different ways in mathematics, marketing or medicine. Teaching like this helps students understand how knowledge is made and how they can contribute to it themselves.

Teaching towards epistemic access with epistemic justice is even more complex. This means trying to understand what students bring with them and what they value and hope for. It means thinking about the ways a discipline may be excluding students.

Teaching with all this in mind is a minefield. It involves deep reflection on the often taken-for-granted norms and values of the field and how to make these explicit to students. It involves being vulnerable and open to learning from students. It involves providing opportunities for students to “try on” the practices of the field in a carefully scaffolded manner, with regular feedback.

Doing this in person is immensely tough. Doing this online is at another level.

Making sense of philosophy, physics or physiology may be possible in a carefully crafted online curriculum, but taking on the disposition of a philosopher, physicist or physiologist through online engagements is of another order. Education is about so much more than taking on facts. It is about becoming a specialist kind of knower who can contribute to their field in ways that serve the public good, and who is willing to take on the responsibilities of their educational privileges alongside the personal benefits it brings.

Wikipedia offers immediate access to knowledge on almost every issue taught in universities. YouTube videos of science experiments and medical procedures abound. It’s not access to knowledge that is the problem, it is access to education.

Education should change who we are and how we understand our role in the world.

Technology offers all manner of opportunities to enhance the educational experience, and we should reflect on our successes and sustain these. But taking universities entirely online is only ever going to be a stop-gap response to the pandemic. The sooner students are safely back in class the better. 

Sioux McKenna, Director of Centre for Postgraduate Studies, Rhodes University

The Conversation