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Inside Education Correspondent
Dr Phumzile Langa, Director for the Rural Education Directorate at the DBE, recently participated in a Work Integrated Learning Conference hosted by the UNISA’s College of Education in Pretoria.
The Conference was attended by renowned education experts from various Higher Education Institutions (HEIs). The theme of the Conference was “Employing and strengthening Work Integrated Learning as a strategy to enhance academic and workplace competencies in the context of 4IR”.
On welcoming the delegates, Prof Mpine Makoe. Executive Dean of the College of Education highlighted that, “UNISA is one of the key developers of the education profession in the country, and so, through this Conference, we want to sharpen and refine the application of theory by aspiring teachers we produce through the application of Work Integrated Learning”.
In her official address, Dr Langa informed the attendees that the DBE had initiated the Integrated Strategic Planning Framework for Teacher Education and Development in SA, 2011-2025, in line with its ambition to
recruit suitable young vibrant teachers.
“Through this Framework, the DBE has committed to making concerted efforts to attract and encourage high-achieving school-leavers to strengthen the teaching profession.
“This will be achieved through effective implementation of strong teacher recruitment strategies and the sustainability of bursary programmes such as the Funza Lushaka Bursary Programme.
“Despite these efforts, attracting and retaining young, qualified teachers in rural schools has remained a serious challenge. The need for new teachers is more pronounced in certain phases of schooling and subject areas.
“One of the primary factors contributing to this challenge is the high cost of obtaining a degree, which prevents students from embarking on teacher education studies, especially for those from poor socio- economic backgrounds.
“There is a need to explore teacher recruitment and retention strategies that respond to contextual and economic needs of the country,” elaborated Dr Langa.
Dr Langa proposed a Context-Specific Work Integrated Learning Model for Initial Teacher Training.
“Through this model, HEIs would benefit from course planning and needs analysis in their teacher education programmes. It will ensure that courses offered align with the needs of schools in terms of phases of schooling and subject areas. Furthermore, the model will also contribute to enhancing the livelihoods of rural youth”.
The DBE has committed to achieve this through the contextualisation of the National Framework for Rural Education, which provides a basis for the development of context-specific, relevant and sustainable strategies
to improve teacher recruitment and retention.
It recommends youth exposure to working in rural schools through an effective and targeted Education Assistants Programme as a significant strategy. While still on the Framework, it is noteworthy to mention that
the DBE piloted and conducted a three-year action research known as the Rural Education Assistants Project (REAP).
The project targeted unemployed youth to work as Education Assistants in rural schools with the aim of enrolling them in School-Based Initial Teacher Training Programmes using various models from distance, online and block release for face-to-face sessions.
“The findings emanating from the research conducted by the DBE on REAP, demonstrated the strategy as an effective mechanism for teacher recruitment and retention in rural schools, especially by exposing the youth to experiential training in the teaching profession; the realities of rural schooling contexts; and as a way of providing ongoing school-based mentorship, all of which are crucial to the development of skills, attitudes and attributes to become a quality teacher on exiting the system.
“The proposed model therefore will solve the challenges of teacher recruitment and retention, but its implementation would require the DBE to forge a strong partnership with HEIs, including UNISA,” emphasised
Dr Langa.
INSIDE EDUCATION