TISP in Stirling, ScotlandMarch 2011

Nico BeuteCape Peninsula University of Technology

IEEE South Africa Section

The Impact of IEEE’s Teacher In-Service Program

in South Africa

Overview

Why do we have TISP in South Africa Challenges in South Africa todayHow did TISP start in SA?TISP for grades 10 to 12TISP for grades 4 to 9Implementation of the South African 2005 National Curriculum Statement

Why do we need TISP in South Africa?

We need to develop

Technological achievements during the last century

ElectricityCarsAeroplanesWater supplyElectronicsRadio and televisionAgricultureComputersNuclear Technology

TelephoneRefrigeratorsAir conditionersHighwaysSpacecraftInternetHome appliancesHealth TechnologyLaser - Fibre optics

ElectrificationElectricity is useless without electrificationGetting electricity into each home – for SA:– 1994 35% – 2010 75%– 2012 Universal ?

For Africa:– Tunisia 99%– Namibia 34%– Mozambique 6%

Conditions and Challenges in South African

Education Departments

• Young population• Not many have role models• Some teachers not sufficiently educated• Shortage of Maths & Science teachers• Poverty

Scientists and Engineers in R&D

Africa at a glance ‘96/7

Expenditure as % of world total

Europe (Incl.former

USSR)35%

Oceania1%Asia

20%Latin America

1%

North America42%

Africa1%

SA: Key indicators2009-2010 Global Competitive index

SA is in the class: Efficiency driven (in the middle)SA is 45th out of 133 – score 4.3 out of 7Financial Market sophistication: 5.4Health and primary education: 3.6Problematic factors:– Crime– Inadequately educated workforce

SA is second in Africa – Tunisia is 4.6

Policies to improve Africa

Short-term– Access to finance through market-

enabling policies.– Keeping markets open to trade. Long-term– Improve Infrastructure– Improve education and healthcare– Good governance and strong and

visionary leadership.

Number of Learners and Students in the System

50 000 000 population19 000 000 Not economically active14 000 000 grant recipients

5 000 000 tax payers

13 711 564 learners and students

– 11 744 013 (85.6%) in public schools – 294 909 (2.2%) in independent schools– 548 704 (4.0%) in ABET Centres, LSEN schools and ECD sites– 717 793 (5.2%) in public HE institutions– 406 145 (3.0%) in Public FET Institutions

How did TISP start

in South Africa?

Personal interest in Promoting Technology

1990: Developing a Technology curriculum for S Africa1992: Gateway Discovery Centre– Interactive Science and Technology exhibition

Technological Literacy Counts – IEEE workshop in Baltimore 9&10 October 1998

TISP in Chicago– 28 July 2001

Getting Region 8 of the IEEE interested– Workshop in Nice 27&28 Sept 2003

2003: School project: Energy efficient lights2006: Roll out of TISP in South Africa

TISP:The Immediate Objectives

Train IEEE volunteers to train pre-university teachers, so that the teachers can be more effective in bringing engineering and engineering design into the classroom.

Train IEEE volunteers to approach the school system in order to make the teacher training possible.

Make this activity sustainable and long-term.

How did we start TISP in South Africa?We tried to meet the needs of South African Education Departments

We listened to what educators saidWe tried to understand educational principlesWe co-operated with educators, and did not try to tell them what to doPractical examples help the school child to understand difficult conceptsDemonstrated what an engineer does

Method used at TISP Workshops

Educators and Engineers join forces

Present Selected Lesson PlansEvaluate Lesson PlansSuggest improvementsPlan Training SessionsIdentify Presenters for Training Sessions

TISP in the FET sectorGrades 10 to 12

TISP in South Africa – 2006 and 2007

– Training workshop held on 4-5 August 2006

– Approximately 90 participants 60 engineers 30 from education departments

– Excellent participation of Education Departments both during planning stage and follow up workshops

– About 400 teachers were involved in the programme during 2006

Teacher Training In-Service Programmes - 2007 IEEE / SAIEE / SAIMechE / DoE

Venue Lesson Plan Presenters

TISP Workshop

Cape Town5&6 Aug 2007

1. CAD2. Give me a Brake3. Give Binary a Try4. The Dumpy Level5. Bridge Building

1. Jaco Myburg and Willem Goodchild2. Hugh Jeffery and Benny Trollip3. Vaughn Stone and Jan Randewijk4. Andre Fourie5. Johan van Staden

Subject advisor training

Gauteng3 - 7 Sept 2007

1. CAD2. Give me a Brake3. Give Binary a Try4. The Dumpy Level5. Bridge Building

1. Jaco Myburg2. Jan Mostert and3. Rina Mostert and Suliman Loonat4. Andre Fourie5. Johan van Staden

Subject advisor training

Cape Town10 – 14 Sept 2007

1. CAD2. Give me a Brake3. Give Binary a Try4. The Dumpy Level5. Bridge Building

1. Jaco Myburg2. Hugh Jeffery and3. Vaughn Stone and Jan Randewijk4. Andre Fourie5. Johan van Staden

Teacher Training

Gauteng24 – 29 Sept 2007

1. CAD2. Give me a Brake3. Give Binary a Try4. The Dumpy Level5. Bridge Building

1. Jaco Myburg2. Jan Mostert and3. Mdu Ngema and Suliman Loonat4. Andre Fourie5. Johan van Staden

Teacher Training

KwaZulu Natal24 – 29 Sept 2007

1. CAD2. Give me a Brake3. Give Binary a Try4. The Dumpy Level5. Bridge Building

1. Jaco Myburg2. David Kyereahene-Mensah and3. Vaughn Stone and4. Johan Fourie5. Johan van Staden

What has lead to this success?

Involve Education DepartmentsIt needs a driver – – an engineer and someone in education– on national scale and on regional scale

Be a catalyst - involve others– eg SAIEEE, SAIME, ECSA, Companies & University

Get volunteers who believe in itTarget volunteersGet funding – travel & material– IEEE,SAIEE, SAIME, Companies, Universities

Get an active planning team

TISP in the GET sector

Grades 4 to 9

The beginnings

National Technology Co-ordinator attended one of the FET TISP workshops in 2007 and asked for help with projects for the Technology Learning AreaGot Technology from all 9 Provincial Education Departments involved

Achievements so far for Technology in grades 4 to 9

Arranged and held 35 teleconference meetingsArranged and held 4 National workshopsWe have now developed:– Detailed work-plan for teaching each of

the 5 learning area of Technology for each grade – from grade 4 to grade 9

– Two engineering related projects for each of the 30 units (=5*6)

Roll-out Plan

Present the material to Subject advisors during a National Conference Subject advisors together with engineers (where possible) present the material to educators– Note: there are about 27 000 schools

Date of conference is influenced by a new curriculum implementation plan

The role of TISP

in developing and implementing Curriculum

2005

Curriculum 2005approved on 29 September 1997

Post apartheidRich in IdeologyTeachers became facilitators and educatorsTeaching plans became learning programsLearning by discovery and group workInstruction was replaced by facilitationContent based replaced by outcome based

Challenges in implementing curriculum 2005

Inadequate preparationTeachers were not prepared – did not know what and how to teach the outcomes based education wayComplaints: Children’s:– Inability to read and write– Lack of Knowledge– Lack of arithmetic ability

In 2000 Curriculum was reviewed

The 2002 Revised National Curriculum Statement for GET 2005

Commitment to outcomes-basedFailed to address skills and background knowledgeIntroduced content framework and assessment standardsFailed to provide coherent, systematic content and knowledge Revision was completed in 2002 and implemented in 2004Implementation had its challenges and shortcomings

Sep 2009 Report on the implementation of the NCS 2005

Clarify the role of subject advisorsReduce teacher workloadReduce administrative burden of teachersSimplify assessment requirementsReduce learning areas in intermediary phase – combine Natural Science and TechnologyProvide textbooks and learning materialProvide subject specific teacher training

Challenges Education Departments

need to address

Provide text books and learning material on a national basisTrain educators – both in-service and pre-serviceAttract quality teachersImprove pass rate at universities

Exciting Opportunities for TISP in South Africa

Curriculum and Assessment Policy Statement (CAPS) document for the combined subject Science and Technology has been released for grades 4 to 6The CAPS document for the subject Technology for grades 7 to 9 is about to be released. We have seen an advance copyImplementation 2013:2011 prepare support document2012 take it to educators2013 implement

Conclusions

Be excited about TISP and technology, it is contagious! Technological literacy is a prerequisite for developmentTechnology Education will make the differenceWe are going to leapfrog technological change in Africa, but it will need effort