EDUCBLOG

Design> Information has launched a new free subscription web-based publication  entitled Design> Education (Ed>). aimed at high school learners, teachers, tertiary students, lecturers and parents with an interest in design.

The report on Bizcommunity.com  goes on to say

<snip>

Highlights include a preview of the soon-to-be-released The Parlotones music video, Stars Fall Down, designed by Lung Animation. Readers can click through to see a variety of the-making-of clips. Ed> also offers a look at the conceptual design behind the blockbuster movie, District 9's inhuman and disgusting aliens and an interview with the young designers of DesignFaktorii on sustainable product design.

 ... not just another design magazine but positioned to inspire talented young minds to pursue careers in design, convince parents to support their kids in design, empower art and design teachers with relevant teaching resources and solicit greater respect for the profession amongst career guidance teachers, school principals and education administrators.

Statement by the Minister of Basic Education, Mrs Angie Motshekga, MP, on the announcement of the National Senior Certificate Grade 12 Examination results for 2009 at the Media Centre, Union Buildings, Pretoria on 07 January.
....

<snip> 

The national pass rate of the National Senior Certificate examinations for 2009 is 60.7%. This means that there is a slight decline in the pass rate from 2008 of 2% across the country.

I wish to state directly that even though this shift is marginal, I am most unhappy with the decline in the national pass rate and indeed in the overall pass rate of just over 60%. The National Senior Certificate is an important indicator of the quality of our education system, and as a country we cannot afford to allow our young people to achieve results that are in the main average or below average.

In announcing the provincial results, I would like to commend KwaZulu-Natal as that province has shown an improvement in the pass rate of 3.5%, up from 57.6% in 2008 to 61.1% in 2009. The province is to be commended on its efforts. I am also pleased to report that the results in the Eastern Cape have stabilised at around 50%. Both these provinces are essentially rural in character with high rates of poverty, but both have shown that they have managed to buck the downward trend of the past years and have begun the turn around.

I am however disappointed in the overall results within particular provinces. Those in the Free State declined by 2.4%, and the pass rates in the Western Cape and North West provinces have declined by 2.7% and 0.5% respectively. In addition, the pass rate in Limpopo declined by 5.4% and that of the Northern Cape by a staggering 11%. Gauteng's pass rate has also shown a decline of 4.6 %. Mpumalanga has registered the poorest performance with a pass rate of 47.9%, a decline of 3.9%.

 <snip> .... We recognise that the NSC results are an important indicator of the quality of our education system. While the nation rightly takes great interest in the NSC performance of our learners, we should all be reminded that we cannot only sit up and pay attention to our learners when they enter the Further Education and Training Band in grade 10 or begin to concern ourselves when they reach Grade 12. We need to remember that good teaching and learning need to take place from Grade R. My Department recognises the necessity for the development of strong foundational skills. From this year, the Department of Basic Education will extend the Foundations for Learning Programme to all primary schools to ensure the improvement of the foundational skills of literacy and numeracy.

.

 

The Basic Education Laws Amendment Draft Bill 2009 has been published for public comment. 

These can be emailed to Mr C Ledwaba.c at doe.gov.za no later than 11 February 2009.

 

 

Thanks to Parliamentary Monitoring Group

Spotted on UN Pulse 

All Children, Everywhere   (pdf, 4.31MB)  is the advocacy version of the United Nations Children's Fund's (UNICEF) education strategy through 2015. It provides an overview of UNICEF's work in basic education and gender equality outlines the organization's goals, guiding principles, main partners and key actions to deliver a quality education for all children.

 

CALL FOR PUBLIC COMMENTS

STRENGTHENING THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE NATIONAL CURRICULUM STATEMENT

 

All teachers, Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs), Higher Education experts, parents and members of the public:

This is a call for you to participate in a public comment process to refine and strengthen the implementation of the curriculum

The Department of Basic Education invites you to share your experiences on implementation challenges associated with the NCS in public schools. This process is intended to obtain first-hand information on the pressure points and to find solutions that will improve the efficiency of curriculum delivery in the classroom.

Your comments should be captured in writing and be specific to the phase of the schooling system (Foundation, Intermediate, Senior or FET Phase). You must also indicate your relationship with the NCS e.g. parent, learner, teacher, researcher, etc.

More information on the process and the format of the submissions can be obtained from the home page under What’s New? of the educational portal Thutong at www.thutong.doe.gov.za.

Submit your written submissions to the Department of Basic Education in one of the following ways:

·        By delivering it by hand to: Attention Ms N Tom, Department of Basic Education, Sol Plaatje House, 123 Schoeman Street, Pretoria, 0001

·        By posting it to: Attention Ms N Tom, Department of Basic Education, Private Bag X895, Pretoria, 0001.

·        By faxing it to: 012 3289828 Attention Ms N Tom

·        By sending an e-mail to: NCS.comments@doe.gov.za

·        Complete and submit an online questionnaire on Thutong

 

 

MAKE YOUR VOICE HEARD!!

Spotted on IOL

 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 this morning on Educblogger's Google alerts:-

Arnold Schwarzenegger, Governor of California, has written an opinion piece in which he asks why California's public school students are still learning "from instructional materials in formats made possible by Gutenberg's printing press" when they "get their information from the Internet, downloaded onto their iPods, and in Twitter feeds to their cell phones."

He was writing about the digital textbooks initiative that California has just launched, starting with high school math and science books.    He has issued a call for educators and content developers to submit digital texts for review -  the plan is that everything is ready for Fall 2009.

 <snip>

If California is to remain competitive in an increasingly global economy, this initial focus on math and science texts is critical.

And here's the story as told in the Guardian.

 

      

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.

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.

Spotted in the Guardian 

The controversial new GCSE science papers, which feature multiple choice questions, have been accused of 'dumbing down' the subject.

An example of a question:

Sunbeds give off ultraviolet rays. They are used to get a suntan. Sara says: "I know I shouldn't really use them, but I'm going on holiday soon and I don't want to be the only one on the beach without a tan." How could you explain Sara's decision?

1. She is aware of a risk but decides to go ahead
2. She believes the benefit outweighs the risk
3. She is aware of a risk and decides not to go ahead
4. She believes the risk outweighs the benefit

Rest of the questions here.

 

Finance Minister Trevor Manual was speaking at the launch of Census@School Project. 

Quoting:   Minister Manuel said it was important for learners to be involved in the project because the outcomes of the questionnaires would help government take certain decisions.

He was greeted by loud applause by learners at the school when he conceded that Mathematics was a "tough" subject to learn and teach.

However, he highlighted that it was an important proficiency to have. "So much of what we do in life needs some unit of measurement," he told learners.

The minister, responding to a question from a learner about how well he had done in Mathematics at school, said he had battled and did not have high marks until he came across a teacher who helped him.

The objective of the project, which targets learners between Grades 3 and 12, is to enhance the statistical and numerical literacy of learners as well as raise awareness of the national population census.    Here's the link to the Statistics South Africa information about the project.Read the rest of the story from BuaNews Online. 

CENTRE FOR HIGHER EDUCATION DEVELOPMENT (CHED)

STELLA  CLARK  TEACHERS’  AWARD*
 
Do you know of an excellent secondary school teacher?

 
If so read further …

 
UCT students and staff are invited to nominate a secondary school teacher, who in your opinion
deserves recognition for years of dedicated teaching to students from educationally disadvantaged backgrounds

 
v     The successful teacher will receive a monetary award of R5000, and will be
 expected to give a talk at an award ceremony

v     The school will receive R1000 towards educational resources

v     The UCT staff member or student who nominates the successful teacher will receive
an ipod or R1500 cash equivalent

Each nomination should include:

·         Your name and contact details

·         Teacher’s name and contact details

·         Name and address of school

·         The name and contact details of at least one UCT student who has been taught (whilst at school)
 by the teacher being nominated

·         a detailed motivation providing reasons why in your opinion you believe that the teacher
you are nominating has acted as a role model in encouraging students from educationally
disadvantaged backgrounds to register at UCT.

The motivation should also answer (as far as possible) the following questions:

Can you provide any information on your teacher's results, especially at grade 12 level? eg.
pass rates or distinctions achieved by students
Can you think of any specific classroom teaching method/ form of testing that really helped you
and others to understand and/or enjoy the subject?
§         Can you think of any specific efforts that your teacher made outside of school hours
that helped you and your fellow students?

Can you provide any information about how long your teacher has been teaching his/her subject and at what levels?
§         Can you recall anything that your teacher said or did that motivated you to further your studies?

CLOSING DATE: 31 MARCH 2009

Submit nominations to :

Kathy Erasmus, CHED, Hlanganani Building, kathy.erasmus@.uct.ac.za

 

* Stella Clark was a language development lecturer in the Academic Development Programme in CHED from 1996  until her death in March 2005. Her family and friends have established the Stella Clark Teachers Award to  honour her many years of dedicated service to teaching students from educationally disadvantaged schools in  the Western Cape and at UCT.

Spotted this ad in the Sunday Times (22/02/09)

"The Services Seta is in the process of creating a National Moot Court League for Grade 10's,11's and 12's. This extra-mural activity is directed at those learners wishing to pursue studies in Law and Social Sciences and it is intended to sensitise and expose them to the context and complexity of the practise of law in South Africa.

Each grade will be dealt with as a separate league and a competition will be run on a Provincial and National basis."

The competition is open to public and private schools and is to be launched in June 2009 in the provinces, with national competitions planned for September.

"The intention is to encourage learners to develop their own personal Portfolio's of Evidence (POE's) inline with the existing Paralegal Qualification in stages through the three grades."

In 2010, bursaries will be made available to schools which to participate in our Para-Legal Learnership programme offered to selected groups of learners from Grade 10 onwards, selected from their performance results in the Moot Court League."

Interested schools (principals and chairpersons of governing boards) are requested to send an email, including details of the teacher-in-charge of the Schools Debating Club to their local regional offices.   The contact person at the Cape Town regional office is Ndiphe Ntusikazi  ndiphen at serviceseta dot org dot za or phone 021 425 0417.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

WatchKnow, a non-profit, online community has set up a website to collect, create and share free educational videos for kids.   It is now available for beta-testing. 

Recent videos posted include a Wind-Generator Demonstration,  Boiling Stones Generator, a rendition of "That's Mathematics"   to Kindergarten sight words.    Worth exploring!   There were links to other useful sites and lessons plans.  

This year's matric exams are the first since the introduction of the new curriculum. 

In this Mail and Guardian article, Penny Vinjevold, deputy director general for further education and training, answers concerns about the integrity and credibility of the forthcoming exams.