VOLUME 8 NO 1, JULY 2012

On Saturday, 17 March 2012, the Dean of the Faculty of Education, Professor Sarah Gravett and third year B Ed Foundation Phase teacher education students under the leadership of Ms Gadija Petker read stories to children visiting the Maponya Mall in Soweto on the south of Johannesburg. The aim of the programme was two-fold. First, to promote reading and an appreciation of literature through story telling in children aged 4-8 years old. Second, it provided an opportunity for staff and students of the Faculty of Education to share their storytelling skills with the surrounding community. The launch event was an initiative of the Faculty of Education in collaboration with Sanlam and Maponya Mall. Over two hundred and fifty enthusiastic children attended this launch event. In the coming months the Faculty of Education at UJ will host additional reading programmes of this nature. These reading programmes will also incorporate training sessions to assist parents with storytelling and reading strategies they can use at home to further encourage reading and an appreciation of literature. These reading programmes will take place mainly at the Funda UJabule School on the Soweto Campus of the University of Johannesburg.

The Faculty of Education at

the University of Johannesburg

launches a reading

programme in Soweto to encourage

reading and an appreciation of children’s literature in

children aged 4-8 years

The Dean of the Faculty of Education reads to the children

The Reading group at the Maponya Mall

Edubrief

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NEWSLETTER OF THE FACULTY OF ECUCATION

“Everyday children cast their dreams at our feet. We must be

careful how we walk.” Sir Ken Robinson

EdubriefEdubrief

IN MEMORIAM: PROF HUGO

VAN ROOYEN

UJ alumnus Mr Francois Naude recently won a National Teaching Award in the category “Excellence in secondary school teaching” in the National Teaching Awards held annually by the Department of Basic Education.

Mr Naude was nominated by his colleagues from Hoërskool Florida, Johannesburg, where he was teaching last year. All teachers who participated in the National Teaching Awards were required to prepare a portrait of their teaching careers. The self-portrait had to cover several categories, namely adopting learning and teaching strategies to meet the needs of individual learners effectively; creatively engaging learners with the curriculum to enhance their experience; contributing to the personal development of learners by communicating effectively with them about their performance and progress; contributing to extra-curricular activities in the school community and contributing to the morale of the school. It also had to address social cohesion issues, confronting challenges and the implementation of policies.

The best self-portraits were selected, after which Mr Naude was selected to partake in different rounds of interviews; first on district level, then provincial and then national level. He represented Gauteng province in the national round of interviews at the end of January 2012, for which he also had to prepare a portfolio and a poster to illustrate his self-portrait. The national awards ceremony, hosted by the Minister of Basic Education, Ms Angie Motshekga, was held at the Sandton Convention Centre and was broadcast live on SABC 2.

Mr Naude, who started studying at RAU in 2003, is still a student at UJ. He was awarded B.Sc. with Biochemistry and Zoology in 2005 and Honours in Zoology a year later. He then started teaching Life Science and Natural Science at Hoërskool Florida while studying towards the Post-graduate Certificate in Education, which he received in 2008. He is currently working on an M Ed and is a teacher at Maragon Private School.

The UJ Faculty of Education is proud of Mr Naude’s achievement and wish him well in his teaching career in the future.

In an interview at the occasion of his 30 years service award, Hugo reflected on his long affiliation with UJ and RAU. His association with the former RAU goes back to his years of undergraduate study in the early 1970s. He completed a BSc (Geology and Botany) and PGCE full-time, and remembered with nostalgia the days when RAU was still situated on the temporary campus behind Helpmekaar Private School in Braam-fontein. Hugo played a strong leadership role, helping to establish a student culture in the newly-founded University. He served two terms on the Student Repre-sentative Council (SRC), one of which as vice-chair-person. As part of his SRC portfolio responsibilities he initiated the establishment of the University choir. He was RAU’s cheer leader during the University’s first in-tervarsity against the University of Pretoria and, in the same year, also against the then Potchefstroom Uni-versity for CHE. He also served two successive terms as chairperson of the house committee of Afslaan men’s residence. The annual inter-residence revue competi-tion was a major occasion in the student life of those days, and the groups he coached were regular overall winners of these prestigious events.

Hugo started his teaching career in Nelspruit. In 1979 he realized that he would have to enrol for post-grad-uate studies in order to further his career in education, “...before I could fall in love too deeply with the beauti-ful Lowveld and its wonderful people…” While teach-ing at Vorentoe Hoërskool, he completed BSc (Hons), BEd Hons and MEd (cum laude). He was offered a lecturing position at RAU in 1981, and started off in the Faculty as lecturer in Biology Methodology and Teaching Studies. He soon completed his doctorate in Teaching Studies, and was promoted through the different ranks. He became senior professor in 1998.

Hugo served a record 15 years as house parent of various men’s and ladies’ residences at RAU, of which a period of five years at his alma mater, Afslaan. In recognition of his contributions in various areas of stu-dent activities, the SRC in 1995 awarded him a medal

for extraordinary service to the student community. Furthermore, his firm belief in the principle of fairness in the work place led to his involvement in labour union activities at the Institution, where he recently served a successful term as chairperson of SAPTU-UJ. Based on his experience in this position, he was ap-proached in 2011 to assist in establishing a strong UJ branch of Solidarity Labour Union.

During his time in the Faculty, Hugo served under six different Executive Deans. He completed two terms as Head of the Department Curriculum and Instruc-tion (previously Department of Curriculum Studies). His lifelong passion for the environment lead to him initiating an Environmental Education focus in the Faculty in the early 1990s. More than seventy master’s students and close to thirty doctoral students com-pleted their studies under his supervision.

Hugo was reluctant to single out particular highlights in his career of thirty years in the Faculty since every year had its professional highlights. However, he did mention that the following three events could be mentioned in the “special events” category: his inauguration as senior professor in Environmental Education at RAU; his invitation as the only speaker from Africa at the International Environmental Educa-tion Conference in Härnösand in Sweden; and one of his first doctoral students in Environmental Education being awarded the prestigious international Prince Phillip Award for research in Environmental Education in 1996/97.

Hugo was married to Petro van Rooyen, marketing coordinator of the Faculty of Education.

Prof Hugo van Rooyen will be deeply missed by his colleagues and fondly remembered as someone who was devoted to UJ, passionate about the environ-ment, cared deeply about others, and who could always lighten up difficult situations with his mischie-vous sense of humour. We salute you!Prof Hugo van Rooyen, a well-known and well-loved character in the

Faculty of Education, passed away unexpectedly on 7 March 2012, at the age of 59 years. He was one of only a few people in the institution who

had been in the service of the University of Johannesburg and previ-ously Rand Afrikaans University (RAU) for more than 30 years.

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UJALUMNUS

WINSNATIONAL TEACHING

AWARDEXCELLENCE

IN SECONDARY TEACHING

AWARD FOR UJ ALUMNUS

Edubrief Edubrief

EducationMiracle

in Finland?“No,” says Prof Hannele Niemi, from

the University of Helsinki, and editor of a recent book on the success of

education in Finland, “there was just persistent hard work to get education

to everyone at every level and to live the values of a caring state.” In

a recent visit to the University of Helsinki Prof Saartjie Gravett, Prof Elbie Henning, and Dr Nadine Petersen saw

that the effect of education reform over nearly three decades were

visible everywhere. Most notable was the education of teachers and the status of the profession. It is more

sought after than the professions of law and medicine. Only five percent

of applicants for primary school teaching are accepted. Teachers

qualify by a five year master’s degree. Entry salary is around 3600 euros per

month. It is regarded as a middle income.

The Dean of the Faculty of Behavioural Sciences at the university,

Prof Patrik Scheinin, noted that trust and the value of traditions in

education are two of the principles of Finnish education. He also noted that,

unlike other Nordic countries with similar demographics and where the

ranking of educational performance is considerably lower, Finland does not

follow the Anglo-Saxon/US model of competitive performance of learners and also do not adhere to the labour

intensive school programme

A weekly assembly at a senior secondary school

The music pupils perform a concert

The International Society for Cultural and Activity Research (ISCAR) is a scien-tific association that aims at develop-ing multidisciplinary theoretical and empirical research on societal, cultural and historical dimensions of human practices promoting mutual scientific communication and research coopera-tion among its members. At the 2011 ISCAR Conference in Rome, Italy leading scholar and theorist Prof Anna Stet-senko was invited by Prof Alan Amory, Dr Geoffrey Lautenbach and Dr Josef de Beer from the Department of Science and Technology Education to share her vast experience with the faculty.

Anna Stetsenko is a Full Professor at the Graduate Center, City University of New York, with joint appointments in the

Developmental Psychology department and the Urban Education department. Before CUNY she has worked and taught in Universities and research centers in Switzerland, Germany, Aus-tria, and Russia. Prof Stetsenko earned her PhD from Moscow State University and was then a postdoctoral scientist at the Max Planck Institute for Human De-velopment and Education in Germany. She is now widely regarded for her research in developmental psychology. Her work cuts across multicultural and multi-theoretical lines, and she is fluent in English, Russian, German, and French. She is today acknowledged as an out-standing representative of Vygotskian activity theory. Her articles on activity theory, including the topics of learning and development, the self, and history

of psychology have expanded into new theoretical and empirical areas.

In her interactions with the Faculty of Education, Prof Stetsenko elaborated on her model of “activist scholarship” focusing on developing research tools to study and promote development and learning. In 3 workshops and a public lecture, Prof Stetsenko explained her “Transformative Activist Stance” at the intersection of activity theory, criti-cal pedagogy and feminist studies and highlighted the need to rediscover the novelty of relevant theory in the 21st century. Though transforming practice we hold the key to transforming the World. Prof Stetsenko, we look forward to future collaborative ventures.

Dr G Lautenbach

Professor Anna Stetsenko from City University of New York visits the Faculty

of Education Department of Science and Technology

Dr Geoffrey Lautenbach, Professor Anna Stetsenko, Professor Alan Amory

policies of countries such as South Korea and Singapore. In fact, they were at first very surprised when Finland was ranked top in the PISA (OECD countries’ schools) assessments

Dr Petersen will visit the University of Helsinki in her sabbatical in 2013 and pay specific attention to the role of the university’s two teaching schools, where the teachers are employed for extra hours to assist with teacher training.

Short videos with information on education in Finland are available at http://you-tube/DTg29LGp9fE

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EdubriefEdubrief

As part of the Faculty of Education’s integrated community engagement strategy we actively advocate the integration of service learning (SL) in our undergraduate teacher education programmes. It is part of the faculty’s ethos that service learning informs, enriches and transforms our collaboration with communities as well as research and education practice in the faculty.

Service learning, as a form of experiential education, is both a philosophy and a teaching and learning strategy, which promotes student learning and development through active participation in service experiences that meet actual community needs and that are co-ordinated in collaboration with the school, university and community. The service activities draw on the theoretical (academic) curriculum offered in the Faculty and provide students with structured time to think about, discuss and write about their actions, feelings and learning during the service activity and how these relate to the academic curriculum. Involvement in SL is also meant to foster civic awareness and a sense of

social justice and care for others. It is part of the faculty’s efforts to develop students’ passion and idealism for making a difference in the lives of those they interact with as students, teachers, counselors, educational psychologists and educational managers. It is also meant to assist students in their professional development as teachers. Students also learn academically, cognitively, experientially and reflexively how to establish caring relationships with learners and practising teachers in the course of their service placements so that learning moves beyond being merely a theoretical enterprise

Faculty staff argues that this form of SL recognizes that through reflection students can transform their service experiences into usable knowledge. The process of reflection is vital as this is where the learning from experience occurs. Students are guided to reflect on their service experiences in class discussions, informal journaling, in response to guided reflection questions and in group presentation tasks. The learning is also ‘translated’ into practical activities undertaken by students.

Examples of SL activities in pre-service teacher education In the B Ed Senior Phase and Further Education and Training programmes service learning takes the form of students offering between 3–5 hours of educational service per week in one of a number of partner schools. The service can comprise tutoring, homework and learning support, teacher support and reading pairs mainly in schools where this type of support is sorely needed. For example English methodology students are expected to plan and execute a structured reading programme with individual and/or groups of learners to improve their reading skills. Other students also assist with the development of teaching and learning materials (educational artefacts) such as worksheets, charts and models for use in the school classrooms in which they offer their service.

Students also draw on their curriculum work in advocacy and cyber bullying and plan and execute small-scale group advocacy campaigns applicable for the service sites at which they work (schools). In this way, students are

Service Learning in Education:Integrating teaching, learning and service

in teacher education

guided towards making theoretical knowledge practical while responding to real needs (around cyber bullying and responding appropriately to this issue) in community sites. For instance students have indicated the following in this regard: “Implementing my advocacy campaign during service learning helped make the learners aware of the effects of bullying and helped me to understand how to plan and execute a campaign in a school context for learners, something I will be able to use one day as a teacher”.

In this way pre-service teachers are exposed to the practicalities and practices associated with the profession while they are still in training. At B Ed (Hons) level the school counselors assess and counsel learners and provide teacher, learner, parent and community support. In this way, students through their weekly service in the school contexts are also introduced to the full scope of practice of the school teacher.

In the B Ed Foundation Phase teacher education programme students offer service in both the faculty’s training/research school (The Funda UJabule School) and the surrounding Soweto community. In this respect as a

teaching and learning tool, service learning enables students to learn to integrate both the theoretical and practical aspects they will be expected to perform as foundation phase (FP) teachers. For example FP pre-service students learn about project management and then have to plan and execute (and be assessed on) at least one school event (such as a sports day, parents meeting or graduation ceremony) at the Funda UJabule School. One group said: “We had to learn practically how to approach sponsors and write letters to get funding for our project; I would not have learned how to do it without this experience”. Another student said: “Through this experience I have learned that teaching in the foundation phase mostly involves learning how to make learning fun for young children … we had to learn how to think out of the box to design activities for the children”.

SL as teaching and learning strategy in the foundation phase is also extended into the broader community of Soweto. In the English language component of the programme, students’ will be expected to form books clubs, identify relevant and age appropriate children’s literature from the UJ library and to host

story reading programmes for grade 1-3 learners (to which parents will also be invited). The purpose of this form of service is to encourage reading and an appreciation of literature in foundation phase learners, as well as assist parents with story reading and telling strategies they can use at home. This activity will be credit bearing, and students will be assessed on their reading skills, how they plan, design, and execute the reading activities as set out in their various book clubs.

In March of 2012, the first reading programme will take place at the Maponya Mall in Soweto. This reading programme is an initiative of the Faculty of Education, in collaboration with Maponya Mall and Sanlam. The FP students of the Faculty of Education will host additional reading programmes every month hereafter at various sites in and around the Soweto area.

In initiatives such as these the Faculty of Education utilizes SL to teach students that education practitioners have a crucial role to play in building a caring and just society and that they can work collaboratively with community members to achieve this goal.

Nadine Petersen: Senior Lecturer, Department of Education Studies , Gadija Petker: Lecturer, Department of Childhood Education

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Edubrief

On the 11th of April 2012 the University of Johannesburg (UJ) and the Kagiso Trust (KT) launched their series of Education Conversations at the University’s council chambers. The initiative’s primary aim is to stimulate productive dialogue and debate around various issues in the country’s system of education. The conversations, rather characteristically, suspend the prevalent need to pathologize what is wrong with education in South Africa by offering solutions that are realistic and sustainable instead. The initiative aims to facilitate various debates on important topics, plans and ideas.

The inaugural conversation interrogated the National Planning Commission’s Plan for Education, and focused specifically on the plan’s implications for schooling. Three panellists were invited to offer comments and to discuss the plan for education. Prof Ihron Rensburg, who spoke in his capacity as chief commissioner in the NPC’s plan for

education, discussed the commission’s approach to improving the country’s system of education. He highlighted various features of the plan that were key to meeting developmental goals as set out in the NPC’s draft plan.

Dr Linda Chisholm, who spoke on behalf of the Minister of Basic Education Angie Motshekga, indicated that the Department of Basic Education endorsed the NPC’s plan for education on the whole. There were, however, a number of concerns raised with the plan’s proposal to incentivise teaching, to use technical expertise in the private sector to intervene in poor performing schools, to ensure political co-operation across the sector, and so on.

The General Secretary of SADTU Mugwena Maluleka was invited and confirmed that he would participate, only to inform the organisers that he was committed elsewhere. Members of NAPTOSA including its president did attend the conversation and provided

the sorely needed union perspective on the plan for education.

The proposal to incentivise the teaching profession stood out as the most prominent issue to have emerged from the inaugural conversation. Members of the audience questioned whether it was, in the first instance, possible to incentivise the profession. Some argued that it would benefit teachers in better performing schools, while members of the planning commission, in attendance, suggested that if it were done correctly it could benefit teachers in poorer performing schools just as readily. The debate on incentivising the teaching profession will be taken up again at the next conversation where it will serve as the main topic for discussion.

A submission was made to the NPC regarding its plan for education, which was based on the various issues and topics discussed at the inaugural conversation in the UJ-KT initiative.

“For inspiring students in South Africa and instilling their passion for science and technology” is the citation with which Mr Don Duffield, a UJ alumnus, has been awarded the 2011 IEEE Education Activities Board (EAB) Pre-University Educator Award. The IEEE is the largest professional engineering organization in the world. The award was established to recognize current pre-university classroom teachers who have inspired an appreciation and understanding of Mathematics, Science and Technology as well as the engineering process in students, and who have encouraged students to pursue technical careers.

Mr Duffield is currently Head of Department for Technology at St Alban’s College in Pretoria, where he also teaches Physical Science. He received the post-graduate teacher’s diploma from RAU in 1994. On why he became a teacher rather than an engineer, he quoted Professor Piet Ankiewicz, who was his lecturer in 1994: “if I become an engineer I contribute one engineer to this world. If I become a teacher I can contribute 100’s of

engineers to this world”. This is what he has been striving to do as a teacher.

Don’s core teaching philosophy is “not for school, but for life” (based on Seneca). He says he will always strive to be a passionate, relevant and significant teacher who inspires children to love learning and to love life. He believes it is imperative that your purpose should be bigger than your pay cheque and bigger than the problems you encounter on a day to day basis. A great teacher needs to be a healthy, well-balanced human being. Teachers should not allow themselves to be defined by others, the education system, the school or the headmaster. “Define yourself!” is his motto.

Great teachers, furthermore, are passionate. One cannot inspire others if you are not inspired yourself. Don believes that great teachers teach not only from their minds, but from the deepest recesses of their hearts. Being a bit crazy is good – a teacher has to be an entertainer. Don’s advice for teachers is “Never let the negativity around you cause you to stop striving to be a

great teacher. Focus on what you have influence and control over, and work from the inside out.”

Regular visits to places of scientific and technological interest, organising scientists and engineers as guest lecturers, and organising “work shadowing” for his students all form part of Don’s teaching approach. In 2008 he was awarded a grant by ISASA (Independent schools’ Association of Southern Africa) to investigate Science and Technology Education in the USA. In 2011 he organised the first South African school science and technology tour to China. He has authored several science and mathematics textbooks, has been the editor of a national technology education magazine, regularly writes articles for educational journals and has presented workshops on science and mathematics education throughout South Africa. He also currently serves on the Independent Examination Board’s physics examination panel.

INTERNATIONAL RECOGNITIONFOR INSPIRING UJ ALUMNUS

(L to R) Dr Tariq Durrani (EAB Chair & Vice President),Don Duffield, Prof Moshe

Kam (President & CEO of the IEEE), Prof SK Ramesh (Chair of IEEE EAB Awards &

Recognition Committee

Edubrief

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“Talking about the way forward”Graham Dampier

(L – R) Dr Linda Chisholm(Director in ESD to the Ministry of Basic Education), Dean Zwo Nevhutala(Chairman of Kagiso Trust), Prof Ihron Rensburg(Vice-Chansellor of the University of Johannesburg)

Edubrief

The Freedom Park CLING has been running for five years with little funding, and has been provided with training, materials and moral support by CERT for the past two years. In that time, much has been accomplished by the 30 (approx.) young volunteers who provide literacy support and education to various age groups in Freedom Park. The most exciting recent development has been the appoint-ment of eight of the CLING workers to official positions as the first Community Workers in South Africa. They will be paid a stipend, by the Department of Education, for a year to support the work they are doing. It is wonder-ful to see the hard work and skills of these young people being recognised. The hope is that at the end of the year’s contract the work they have done will encourage the Depart-ment to fund more paid positions in this and other communities. CERT is helping with monitoring and accountability and has writ-ten the Community Workers’ job descriptions to include 5 key areas:

1. Community Mapping, which was the start of the CLING work and which provided an assessment of the needs and aspira-tions of the community, will be updated as a way of moving the CLING projects forward.

2. Social Mobilisation for developing a strong-er presence in the community and gather-ing more volunteers, finding funding and additional support from others especially with regard to disabled learners, commu-nity spaces and the schools.

3. Outreach The community workers will support the other CLING groups (and any other communities who would like to start a CLING) in the work they do, particularly in the setting up of reading clubs. A booklet - “How do you Mobi-lise a Community” will contribute to this aspect of CLING

4. Reading Clubs the new Nal’ibali Reading clubs which run on Saturday mornings

5. CLING Literacy Activities form the day to day activities of the CLING from the afterschool homework clubs, visits to adult learners, edutainment and the running of the library.

These activities are mostly organised and run in the Library Container which the CLING have had for two years. This inad-equate space is supplemented by a good relationship with the two primary schools in Freedom Park, who provide space for the weekly reading club, meetings, training and com-munity education events. At the moment Breadline Africa is hoping to be able to find sponsorship for a large, fully stocked library container for the Somellilwazi Primary School which would be run by the CLING members and be open to the whole community.

Although the CLING has independently opened their library container and run children’s activities, this month marks the start of the Nal’ibali reading clubs. On the 18th and 19th May three educators from PRAESA (The Project for the Study of Alternative Education in South Africa) came to continue the training they had started in February, providing the second of four workshops which will run this year. Nadeema Jogee - Nal’ibali Training Coordinator, Ntombi Mahobe Early Literacy Trainer and Researcher, and Xolisa Guluza - Na’libali Network Co-ordinator ran a workshop for 30 community workers, from several different communities in Gauteng, as part of the initial phase of Nal’ibali. The second day workshop, for 46 people, was for interested organisations, communities and individuals to find out about and experience what a reading club might look like.

The key focus of both workshops was on making reading fun with the aim that the reading club must be distinct from the atmosphere, organisation and aims of formal education.

The idea of the reading clubs is to give the children space, resources and support to make informed choices about what they would like to read and write. Reading for pleasure and writing for purpose is the key to instilling a lifelong interest in reading and a confidence in their thinking and writing abili-ties. The other core concept of the reading clubs is bilingual learning. It was stressed how crucial it is for children to first read and write in a language they hear, speak and are read to frequently. The premise being that children will enjoy some-thing if it is in a language they understand easily. The format of the reading clubs allows for reading, storytelling and writ-ing to happen in any appropriate language with the aim of including English as a component not as the key to education or expression which is the case in schools.

The workshop for the community workers focused on solving problems which the volunteers had come across at the read-ing clubs. The PRAESA educators showed us how to remem-ber stories for telling aloud, using a barebones technique. They introduced new games and tools for extending storytell-ing into reading and writing activities; starting with the com-munity members’ ideas and experiences of activities which worked well in their reading clubs. They also reinforced the ethos of Nal’ibali and the importance of the children having a real choice of reading materials and activities.

The regional workshop was organised around the format of the reading clubs. The three educators enthralled the partici-pants by starting with songs not introductions! When formal introductions had been made and the plan for the day set we were told several wonderful stories in English and isiXhosa. We then formed a circle to play the games used in the reading clubs, like the Birthday Game which helps familiarise the chil-dren with the names and pronunciation of the months, along with the chance to dance and laugh. Later sessions looked at Reading, Writing and Storytelling - the main tools used in the reading clubs and brought in the experiences of the partici-pants in small group discussions. Much was learnt and a won-derful sense of community was felt; we were all encouraged by the chance to meet and learn from the PRAESA women, but also from the work being done by other educators.

Nal’ibali Literacy and Reading Workshop-Fun at the Grasdak

Edubrief

The Centre for Education Rights and Transformation

(CERT) has been working with Community Literacy and

Numeracy Groups (CLING) in several communities,

Eldorado Park, Sebokeng and Freedom Park (Devland)

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Honorary doctoral degree was conferred onDr Gcina MhlopeOn 13 March 2012 an honorary doctoral degree was conferred on Dr Gcina Mhlope at the Graduation Ceremony of the Faculty of Education in recognition of the remarkable contribution she has made to intellectual and public life by fighting illiteracy, and through her significant contribution to revive and promote the tradition of storytelling as a means of educating South Africans of all ages.

Dr Gcina Mhlope visited the Funda UJabula School on Soweto Campus on 14 March 2012 where she entertained the children with her unique and enthusiastic story telling.

Dr Gcina is on the left with a student in the middle and Gadija Petker on the rightThe Green Paper on Post-

School Education and Training: Implications and Possibilities for Universities The Minister of Higher Education and Training, Blade Nzimande, released the Green Paper on Post School Education and Training (PSET) in January 2012. The Green Paper provides a succinct analysis of the main pillars of the post-school system – higher education, further education and training, skills development and adult education. Based on the analysis, the Green Paper proposes the creation of a policy framework that brings about greater coherence, articulation and integration of the sub-sectors of post-schooling with emphasis placed on, amongst other: (a) addressing inequalities and the poor quality of education; (b) expanding access to education; (c) responding to high unemployment; and (d) addressing development and transformational goals. The Green Paper defines the role of universities as crucial to knowledge production through research that enhances the economic, social and cultural life of all citizens.

The staff of the Centre for Education Rights and Transformation (CERT), Faculty of Education, have a longstanding research record in post-school education and training and is currently involved in a Post School Education and Training Project. CERT’s work, which forms part of a comprehensive research project of the Education Policy Consortium (EPC), constructively engages with post-schooling through the development of academic research, policy briefs, seminars and popular education involving universities, civil society organisations, and communities. This seminar is the first of a series of CERT’s work on PSET. The event is jointly hosted by the UJ’s Transformation Office and the Post-Graduate Centre and supported by EPC partners, The Centre for Education Policy Development, the Nelson Mandela Institute and the Wits EPU. The guest speaker was John Pampallis, special advisor to the Minister of Higher Education and Training

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DRUMMING FOTO

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The Annual Education First-Year Student Excursion:An Interesting Barometer Of Student Needs

A barometer is generally defined as a “weatherglass, an indicator or a gauge”, and this is probably an accurate description of the secondary role of the annual first-year excursion in which all B.Ed students participate. The primary aim of the excursion is to introduce students to the teaching profession, and to unpack the conceptual framework for teaching and learning. The Faculty of Education’s attitude and philosophy towards its teaching/mission is summed up as follows: “…we are committed to the preparation of caring, accountable and critical-reflective educational practitioners who are able to support and nurture learning and development in diverse educational contexts.” This teaching philosophy to a great extent summarizes what the excursion to Achterbergh is all about. Students leave Achterbergh, having a better understanding of what it means to become a teacher. However, we also realized that the excursion provides us with insight into who our students are, what their needs are, and what the issues are that we need to address in the curriculum. When we started with the excursion (in Golden Gate) six years ago, the excursion made us to realize that we need to pay more attention to racial integration. Now, six years later, we find that most students embrace the cultural diversity

in our country, but other aspects of inclusivity, such as respecting peoples’ choices regarding religion or sexual orientation, need attention in our B.Ed programme. During the last two years, we experienced a few incidents of homophobic behavior during the excursion, and we realized that we need to address this aspect in our formal curriculum, since these prospective students will one day also have gay students in their classrooms.

Annually close to six hundred students attend the four day excursion. In the beautiful surroundings of the Cradle of Humankind (Achterbergh) , students engage with the school curriculum, innovative teaching methods such as De Bono’s Thinking Hats, and also make educational pledges that sum up their intended contribution to education in the future. We focus on students’ agency, and show them how they can follow “teaching-on-a-shoestring” approaches (teaching by using cheap, everyday materials, instead of expensive media). The excursion is also an opportunity to strengthen relationships, and what a better way of achieving this, than making music together?

The annual excursion has become a strong research focus in the Faculty. Researchers like Josef de Beer, Nadine Petersen, Helen Dunbar-Krige and Elizabeth Henning try to understand

aspects of this excursion through a Cultural-

Historical Activity Theory lens, focusing on Achterbergh as a different activity system as compared to the normal lecture room. Drawing on student reflections, questionnaire data, and focus group interviews, and using Veresov’s (2007) notion of ‘dramatical collisions’, they highlight and explore the unforeseen dynamics and tensions created during the various social interactions between students. The researchers focus how these interactions afford students the opportunity to live and learn together and to work cooperatively in a natural setting. Their major findings are: 1. The excursion provides a different

learning environment for personal and professional development;

2. There is a changing nature of student-lecturer relationships;

3. Students learn how to negotiate rules of interaction in a culturally diverse grouping;

4. They develop sensitivity for cultural diversity;

5. They are exposed to different semiotic tools for teaching and learning;

6. They envisage a professional trajectory.

These, the researchers claim, hold much promise for teacher education.

FROM THE EDITOR Edubrief@UJ is the biannual newsletter of the Faculty of Education, UJ. Thus far this has been a special semester, with lots happening in the Faculty of Education. The editor wishes to thank the editorial committee and the various contributors to the newsletter. The committee comprises Prof Sarah Gravett, Dr Leila Kajee, Ms Petro van Rooyen, Mr George Makubalo, Dr Dinah Magano and Dr Dirk Postma. If you would like to make any comments, or contribute to Edubrief@UJ, please contact us via email: lkajee@uj.ac.za, or petrovr@uj.ac.za. Also visit our website for more news and information: www.uj.ac.za/education