It takes a village to make the grade
It’s great to see some schools getting a mention in the examination results. Politics aside, the narrative about public schools has been so negative, taking away from the hardworking teachers, parents and learners.
The educations system can only be flawed if we have poorly performing teachers, poor work ethic, lack of community and parental support, poor control by education authorities, poor support for teachers and very low levels of accountability. Yes, it takes a village indeed.
The failure rate has been attributed to the new curriculum and the hard transition from the “traditional aims-and-objectives approach to outcomes-based education”, a very hard paradigm shift. When this particular cohort of learners enters tertiary studies, it becomes apparent that they were not adequately prepared.
All in all, inadequately-trained teachers, inadequate support and the absence of teaching and learning resources directly contribute towards the failure rate.
Just the other day, I overheard a grade 12 teacher from a public school stating that the concerns about the declining quality of education include the issue of under-prepared learners resulting from internal promotion practices and the need by schools to achieve high pass rates in especially grade 12. As a result, educators at secondary level blame the educators at the preceding levels for producing learners who cannot read or write at the levels needed for tertiary study, thus making their work difficult.
Considering the high rate of unemployed youth and graduates, it is essential that especially African countries develop education systems that allow as many children as possible to go to school and seek an education of high-enough quality to enable them to enter the labour market and contribute to the economy in a manner guaranteed to attract investors.
Each school is a mirror
Yes, it takes a village, and the community has an influence on what is happening at school. Each school is a mirror of the community within which it is situated. Learners reflect these experiences and it is crucial that the focus should be on positive relationships as well as parental roles and community involvement.
Equally important is that the teaching profession should be one that people take pride in. Educators also need to show classroom management skills.
In this regard, curriculum changes and recommendations need not always be ‘big bang’ changes. Initially, the changes must be small across a wide range of areas. It will especially require changing a deeply ingrained culture of inefficiency in producing learner achievement.
**Noreen Sitali is an information officer with an interest in social issues. This article was written in a personal capacity.
The educations system can only be flawed if we have poorly performing teachers, poor work ethic, lack of community and parental support, poor control by education authorities, poor support for teachers and very low levels of accountability. Yes, it takes a village indeed.
The failure rate has been attributed to the new curriculum and the hard transition from the “traditional aims-and-objectives approach to outcomes-based education”, a very hard paradigm shift. When this particular cohort of learners enters tertiary studies, it becomes apparent that they were not adequately prepared.
All in all, inadequately-trained teachers, inadequate support and the absence of teaching and learning resources directly contribute towards the failure rate.
Just the other day, I overheard a grade 12 teacher from a public school stating that the concerns about the declining quality of education include the issue of under-prepared learners resulting from internal promotion practices and the need by schools to achieve high pass rates in especially grade 12. As a result, educators at secondary level blame the educators at the preceding levels for producing learners who cannot read or write at the levels needed for tertiary study, thus making their work difficult.
Considering the high rate of unemployed youth and graduates, it is essential that especially African countries develop education systems that allow as many children as possible to go to school and seek an education of high-enough quality to enable them to enter the labour market and contribute to the economy in a manner guaranteed to attract investors.
Each school is a mirror
Yes, it takes a village, and the community has an influence on what is happening at school. Each school is a mirror of the community within which it is situated. Learners reflect these experiences and it is crucial that the focus should be on positive relationships as well as parental roles and community involvement.
Equally important is that the teaching profession should be one that people take pride in. Educators also need to show classroom management skills.
In this regard, curriculum changes and recommendations need not always be ‘big bang’ changes. Initially, the changes must be small across a wide range of areas. It will especially require changing a deeply ingrained culture of inefficiency in producing learner achievement.
**Noreen Sitali is an information officer with an interest in social issues. This article was written in a personal capacity.
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