Priorities for the Dept of Education in Western Cape as outlined by the Premiere

Posted by Ingrid Thomson | 30 May, 2009

 From the Premier of the Western Cape's State of the Province address (29 May 2009)  - the priorities for the Department of Education 

 

In terms of education, our focus must be on equipping our citizens with the skills they need so that more and more can compete in the global knowledge economy. This starts with literacy and numeracy. Reading, writing and calculating are the gateway skills for all others. Although we fare better than other provinces we have a long way to go to be international competitive.

Our key priorities in the medium to long term will therefore be, to develop and implement turn-around strategies for the 74 dysfunctional schools in this Province; to ensure quality instruction in literacy and numeracy at primary schools; to expand early childhood development so that more learners enter school with adequate cognitive and motor skills; to increase the number of learners in the disciplines of science, technology, engineering, mathematics (STEM); to emphasise vocational skills training in the curriculum; to improve school infrastructure and resources, and, to strengthen school discipline and safety.

We want to see the 5 'T's implemented in all of our schools: Time on task, dedicated and well prepared Teachers, good Textbooks for each subject, Technology for curriculum delivery, and the regular Testing of learners. And we want to develop an ethos of respect, courtesy, integrity, pride and discipline in each classroom. These are essential to learning.

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Salaries of VCs to be curbed

Posted by Ingrid Thomson | 22 May, 2009

Mail and Guardian reports that the Education Department has released a draft policy to be used by university councils when determining the salaries of VCs and other senior officials or face intervention by the Department.    

Councils have failed to follow guidelines recommended in a  2005 study conducted  by Mamphela Ramphele.   That study was commissioned by the then South African Universities' Vice-Chancellors' Association -- now Higher Education South Africa (Hesa).

 

 

 

 

 

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How kids use the net now

Posted by Ingrid Thomson | 18 May, 2009

Spotted on BoingBoing -   Researcher Danah Boyd answering parents' questions on teenage use of the net  posed to her on Twitter. 

<snip>  To all who asked questions about Twitter: average teens don't use Twitter. They may in the future, but they do not now. Those who do are early adopters and not representative of any mainstream teen practice. Because of Oprah and celebs, some teens are starting to hear about it, but they don't understand it and they aren't using it.

<snip>   Many teens have ZERO interest in interacting with teachers on social network sites, but there are also quite a few who are interested in interacting with SOME teachers there. Still, this is primarily a social space and their interactions with teachers are primarily to get more general advice and help. In some ways, its biggest asset in the classroom is the way in which its not a classroom tool and not loaded this way. Given that teens don't Friend all of their classmates, there are major issues in terms of using this for groupwork because of boundary issues.

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Our failing schools: Ministerial Panel Report

Posted by Ingrid Thomson | 18 May, 2009

Spotted on IOL.

Quoting:-

Teachers are spending less time in the classrooms, and instead are confused and swamped by paperwork and administration, a ministerial panel has found.

The culture of teaching and learning has disappeared in most rural and township schools, the panel found.

The committee, set up last year by former minister of education Naledi Pandor, was appointed to recommend methods by which schools could be evaluated and developed.

The rest of the story is here.

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Last in Line, Last in School (Save the Children/UNESCO)

Posted by Ingrid Thomson | 18 May, 2009
Spotted on the UNESCO page
The 2009 edition (3rd edition)  of Last in Line, Last in School finds that although donors have increased their focus on meeting the education needs of children living in conflict-affected fragile states (CAFS), there is still a long way to go.
Education plays a crucial role in recovery and development. Despite being home to 40 million out-of-school children, CAFS received just over a quarter – $1.2 billion – of basic education aid between 2005 and 2007. This is well below the estimated the estimated $5.2bn required annually to achieve universal primary education in these countries according to Save the Children.
The full report is here.

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100 Most Inspiring and Innovative blogs for Educators

Posted by Ingrid Thomson | 13 May, 2009

Spotted on iLibrarian.

Online University Reviews lists its top 100 Most Inspiring and Innovative blogs for Educators.

Categories include  General Teaching Blogs, Speciality Subject Blogs, Podcasts and Video Blogs for Teachers.  

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DOE says no OS for Teacher Laptop Initiative

Posted by Ingrid Thomson | 13 May, 2009

Spotted on IOL ...

Department of Education shuts out open source

Quoting:  

Despite a national open source strategy and a well-publicised set of minimum interoperability standards for government, the South African education department has launched a teacher laptop project that excludes free and open source software (FOSS).

The Teacher Laptop Initiative, which was launched by the outgoing education minister Naledi Pandor last week, will grant teachers a monthly allowance to purchase and maintain a laptop that meets minimum specifications set out by the education department.

The specifications laid out by the department, however, specify that qualifying laptop computers must run “Windows XP or higher”, include Microsoft Office as well as use Windows Live.

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Higher Education in a Web 2.0 World - report from JISC

Posted by Ingrid Thomson | 13 May, 2009

A report from the JISC, assessing how the online lifestyle of young people going into higher education would herald for higher education and policy. 

Key findings are here.     PDF of the report here. [2 MB]

From the website:

As we began our work, the online lifestyle of young people going into higher education was inescapable, and those working in it had sensed a clear change in their students’ pre-entry experience. The time was ripe for an informed, impartial assessment of this and what it might herald for higher education policy and strategy. This was our remit. Since they represent the future, we took young learners as our baseline. We have, however, been concerned with learners of all ages.

We reviewed the findings of completed and, where they were available, ongoing studies related to our remit; took oral evidence from a range of practising academics and researchers; and commissioned briefings and studies, including one substantial piece of work on current and developing international practice in the use of Web 2.0 in higher education. We met six times in full session and held one event dedicated to hearing evidence.

We structured our Inquiry into a consideration of the prior experience of higher education learners, their expectations, and international practice in the use of Web 2.0 in higher education. From our findings in these three areas, we identified a number of critical issues, the exploration of which then informed our conclusions and recommendations.

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UNICEF - Child-Friendly Schools Manual

Posted by Ingrid Thomson | 12 May, 2009

From UN Pulse

UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) issued Child-Friendly Schools Manual, (available as a free download, 500 KB). The child-friendly school (CFS) model has emerged as the organization’s signature means to advocate for and promote quality education for every girl and boy. According to the Manual, "fulfilling the education-related Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) requires not just getting all children into school, but making sure that all schools work in the best interest of the children entrusted to them. This means providing safe and protective schools that are adequately staffed with trained teachers, equipped with adequate resources and graced with appropriate conditions for learning", so that "children who are enrolled in primary school are likely to continue, complete the full cycle, achieve expected learning outcomes and successfully transition to secondary school"

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New Education Ministers speak (updated)

Posted by Ingrid Thomson | 12 May, 2009

A round-up of some of the stories in the local media.

"The contentious outcomes-based education policy could be reviewed, government student loans could be turned into a full bursary scheme and the autonomy of universities could be under threat if they resist transformation.

These are the views of newly appointed ministers, Blade Nzimande, for higher education and training, and Angie Motshekga, for basic education. "   Read more from IOL. 

"Access to higher education a priority"  according to an interview in the Times with Higher Education Minister Blade Nzimande.

Mail and Guardian reports that "the splitting of the education department made sense but the problems in basic and higher education were immense, the South African Democratic Teachers' Union (Sadtu) said on Monday."

Story as covered by allAfrica.com, reporting on mixed reactions to the appointments.

UPDATE 18 May 09:  On IOL, Graeme Bloch comments that "A good minister is not going to make problems go away, but is perhaps an indication that we can address the challenges with hope. With the new ministerial education appointments, there is the appropriate expertise and commitment at the top."

 

(Posting will be updated with links to other stories)

 

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South Africa: UCT Admissions Race Row On the Boil

Posted by Ingrid Thomson | 5 May, 2009

A report on UCT's debate on Admissions criteria on allAfrica.com. 

A long running debate over racially based undergraduate admissions criteria has recently come under the spotlight at the University of Cape Town recently, with many academics argue that race-based criteria is no longer applicable 15 years into democracy.

The report on the UCT News page. 

 

 

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