SchoolTrade

24/10/2019

Nick Spaull reminds us that, at the end of the day, we haven't progressed much since the bad old days when separate education was legislated....same old same old...

South Africa today is the most unequal country in the world. The richest 10% of South Africans lay claim to 65% of national income and 90% of national wealth; the largest 90–10 gap in the world. Th…

31/05/2019

Local NPO Equal Education wasted no time it expressing its dismay at the re-election of the Minister of Education in South Africa. They want to be held to her performance contract. Everyone knows that for this Minister to meet her contractual obligations she is going to have oppose SADTU (the largest teachers' union) on a number of issues including, performance management for teachers. And thus far, in her her tenure, the Minister has shown that she is far more loyal to her political bosses than to real educational development in South Africa...

Equal Education media statement: Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga’s performance contract must be made public 30 May 2019 Angie Motshekga’s reappointment as Basic Education Minister, for a third term, means that she must now demonstrate the “urgency” in meeting her mandate, that Pre...

25/05/2019

``...But the NLC (National Lotteries Commission) allocated R10m to Zibsifusion to build the toilets. This works out at R138 888 per toilet seat, more than double the cost the local contractor quoted and 47% more than the Department's estimate....'

There are many reasons for the shocking state of Basic Education in underprivileged regions of South Africa. The most obvious is the poor quality of teachers. We have zero political will to thank for that. This is closely followed by South Africa's national sport, corruption. Next time you gag at the sight of the appalling toilet facilities in a township school, remind yourself that you may be gazing upon a R138 888 wonder....

The National Lotteries Commission (NLC) seems to have overpaid a little-known Gauteng-based contractor with no experience in construction, by up to twice as much to replace pit toilets at schools in Limpopo.

02/03/2019

If you want to survive the floods of despair and negativity in SA you need a survival kit. Here's an example of the kind of item for the kit: A delightful little video of a constructive response to one of our most depressing challenges. Rather late than never...

23/02/2019

Useful summary of the school- to- tertiary transition for South African young people. At the heart of the dilemma is a basic education system that is, for the most part, wholly inadequate for the task of equipping young people for further study. According to education researcher Dr Nick Spaull 78% of grade 6 teachers in government schools won't pass the grade 6 Maths exam...We need a real educational revolution like never before...

The 2018 national matric pass rate of 78% made for some great headlines, but experts contend that the standards for a Grade 12 pass have dropped, and the bur...

18/02/2019

Oh man - how we need a more inclusive education system in South Africa. Not just for those with physical barriers to learning - but we need trained and caring teachers to help those with invisible barriers as well...Nearly 60% of SA kids drop out of school before they are properly prepared for adult life...https://www.facebook.com/dailygoalcast/videos/260840514584526/

03/02/2019

https://www.facebook.com/onlythinkingart/photos/a.1381534705232967/1981376478582117/?type=3&theater

14/01/2019

Quality government schools in South Africa find themselves is a very challenging position. On the one hand they should be adhering to educational `best practice' and on the other hand they ought to, of course, be sensitive to the wider social -political environment. Recently a furore exploded around `racial' practices at King Edward School in Matatiele. The Times article is attached. Basically the school is being accused of racism because one of its Foundation Phase classes in 2018 was comprised of 13 Afrikaans speaking kids. In this case the children were all white. For the most part Afrikaans is a big language grouping in SA spoken by a racially diverse population. Herewith a few of thoughts on the matter: 1) Firstly, `mother tongue instruction' is the official policy of the DoBE. From a pedagogical standpoint there is a good reason for this. Scrapping Afrikaans as a medium of instruction is not an educational solution.It may serve narrow political interests but it is not an educational way forward. There are many examples of schools where English and Afrikaans mediums of instruction are accommodated successfully in separate classrooms. The difference being that the classes are demographically representative. 2) Any school is located in a particular social-political milieu. Furthermore social, cross cultural integration is an important outcome of the formative years. Given the unique social-political context this was an explosion waiting to happen and the school should have had measures in place to deal with the predictable accusations of `racism'.The fact that the E class is racially mixed helps but there also needs to be evidence of proactive attempts of racial integration amongst children. Unfair racial prejudice from all sides remains of our main challenges as a country and, post `94, schools remain our best opportunity to address these issues. 3) IN fairness to the school finding Afrikaans speakers `of color', able to pay the school fees, may have been difficult. On the other hand, perhaps one way for the school to have been more proactive would have been to have gone out and offer bursaries to Afrikaans speaking Grade R kids ` of color'. After-all there's plenty of space left in that A class? While there would certainly have been costs this is a school with the means to raise funds. And any expense would have been a better investment than the PR crisis it has evoked...Strength and wisdom to that school and parent community. if anything I think a lack of social awareness and planning have been the issues here - rather than a racism. We look forward to seeing the Afrikaans medium class continue with a few more Afrikaans speaking kids of color swelling the ranks....

One class has 13 pupils, all of them white. Another class in the same grade has 27 pupils, all black.

02/12/2018

I recall, a few years ago, sitting opposite a young man who had recently contracted HIV. At the time the ABC campaign was being rolled out with great enthusiasm by the government - with mixed results. `What about Abstain, Be faithful, Condomize'? I asked at an appropriate time. He shook his head and answered in two words: `Doesnt work...' A few years later South Africa has one of highest sexual assault rates in the world. School age children, mainly girls, are amoungst the most vulnerable. These days, one of the most common heard, societal, PC, anti-r**e messages is directed exclusively at men. `Don't r**e!'. I may be wrong but this approach seems flawed? As parents and educators should we not be devoting equal time to equipping young women with the knowledge and skills to navigate this complex morass of power and sexual instinct. What say you?

08/09/2018

Sat in on an inspiring `computers in education' workshop on Friday. It would be easy to have left thinking that all SA kids are being equipped with thinking skills for the 21st Century. But the reality is that 80% of SA kids will never work on a computer during their 12 years at school. Instead those kids would be lucky to have teachers who are properly trained and even more fortunate to have teachers who love their profession and who inspire kids to believe in themselves...Ja, its hard to choose - but the goverment's low view of `basic education' has possibly been the greatest insult to South Africans of the past 24 years 😪

01/08/2018

ICT offers one of the few opportunities I know to leap frog over the formidable obstacles facing quality education in SA. This little person is hard at work on an iSchoolAfrica ipad in a rural school near Bergville - I might add that the school has no connectvity - but what is does have is more important: a committed principal and HoD....C'mon we can do this thing..

11/05/2018

Further budget cuts and a shocking record of attending to the huge backlogs in school infrastructure....Things look very bleak for the future of basic education in SA. One has to ask: How much does our government really care about the future of our youth in underprivilged schools?

Equal Education media statement: 2018/19 Basic Education Budget Vote Speech compromises a public education system already under duress Yesterday Minister Angie Motshekga delivered her 2018/19 Budget Vote Speech to Parliament, announcing dramatic cuts to basic education funding, and unacceptably slow...