News, Information and Useful Links for Education from
the Chancellor Oppenheimer Library
Effective literacy programmes: options for policy-makers has been issued by the International Institute for Education Planning, a centre for training and research created by UNESCO. The booklet (pdf)looks at different options available to to education policy-makers to improve the level of adult literacy in their own countries.
(Spotted on UN Pulse Alerts)
Public hearings will be held into South Africa's schools curriculum in
coming months as it remains the subject of endless complaint, Basic
Education Minister Angie Motshekga said on Tuesday.
"We will be doing both investigations and holding public hearings on
this matter in the next four months, to make sure that we identify
areas of further work and interventions and address them once and for
all within the coming months and years," she told MPs in her
department's budget vote.
Spotted on UNESCO Education
Four regional reports on adult learning and literacy have been published focusing on the Arab States, Asia and the Pacific, Latin America and the Caribbean and sub-Saharan Africa between 1997 to 2007. These regional reports will inform discussions at the Sixth International Conference on Adult Education (CONFINTEA VI) to take place end of 2009 in Brazil.
Compiled by UNESCO Member States, the
four reports include national information on the situation of adult
learning and education since the fifth International Conference on
Adult Education (CONFINTEA V) in 1997.
The Sixth International Conference on Adult Education (CONFINTEA VI)
was to be held 19-22 May 2009 but was postponed by the Brazilian
government due to health security concerns about Influenza A (H1N1).
The new dates for the conference will be confirmed shortly.
Follow this link to the pdf version of the report for sub-Saharan Africa.
Quoting from this morning's State of the Nation Address by His Excellency JG Zuma, President of the Republic of South Africa. (Full text is available on Amandla blog; also thanks to Kate Hunter at the GSB Library)
Compatriots,
Education will be a key priority for the next five years. We want our teachers, learners and parents to work with government to turn our schools into thriving centres of excellence.
The Early Childhood Development programme will be stepped up, with the aim of ensuring universal access to Grade R and doubling the number of 0-4 year old children by 2014.
We reiterate our non-negotiables. Teachers should be in school, in class, on time, teaching, with no neglect of duty and no abuse of pupils! The children should be in class, on time, learning, be respectful of their teachers and each other, and do their homework.
To improve
school management, formal training will be a pre-condition for promoting
teachers to become principals or heads of department.
I will meet school
principals to share our vision on the revival of our education system.
Fellow South Africans,
We will increase our efforts to encourage all pupils to complete their secondary education.
The target is to increase enrolment rates in secondary schools to 95 per cent by 2014. We are also looking at innovative measures to bring back into the system pupils who dropped out of school, and to provide support.
Honourable Members, we are very concerned about reports of teachers who sexually harass and abuse children, particularly girls.
We will ensure that the Guidelines on Sexual Harassment and Violence in Public Schools are widely disseminated, and that learners and teachers are familiar with and observe them.
We will take very serious, and very decisive, action against any teachers who abuse their authority and power by entering into sexual relationships with children.
To promote lifelong learning, the Adult Basic Education and Training Kha ri Gude programme will be intensified.
Compatriots, Honourable Members,
We have to ensure that training and skills development initiatives in the country respond to the requirements of the economy.
The Further Education and Training sector with its 50 colleges and 160 campuses nationally will be the primary site for skills development training.
We will improve the access to higher education of children from poor families and ensure a sustainable funding structure for universities.