Critical Opinion Piece

In a speech promoting literacy, the Minister of Education described education as a “national emergency” and called on teachers, parents, the private sector, unions and learners to participate in providing solutions which cannot be provided solely by the State.

The facts are disturbing. A Grade 3 departmental systemic evaluation revealed literacy scores of 54 percent and listening and comprehension scores of 68 percent. Reading and writing scored 39 percent and numeracy, 30 percent.

South Africa spends more on education than many other countries but this does not translate to a higher return on investment. Rich countries spend 5.2 percent of their GDP on education compared to sub-Saharan Africa’s spend of 3.3 percent¹. South Africa’s education spend comprises 5.5 percent of the GDP. Finance Minister, Trevor Manual, commented that, “If we compare South Africa with countries like India, Turkey and Chile, the value per rand invested in education is less than the equivalent value obtained in these other countries”.

Before we criticise the education department it is important to acknowledge the context which resonates now. Today’s teachers were the students of 1976. Having endured a period of social unrest and poor classroom practices, they have little experience of good teaching.

While many teachers do their best and produce results, models of best practice to enrich their experience are rare. Subsequently, confidence and motivation levels are low. Teachers have also had to cope with two curriculum changes.

Quality Teaching of Reading and Writing

Teachers and learners need to experience success to remain motivated. We need to focus on the basics of education – reading and writing – in order to provide the foundation on which success can be built. 

It is impossible for learners to progress without being able to read, write and access information independently.

The first rule of back to basics education is the explicit teaching of reading and writing.  Indeed, “Literacy is a critical tool for the mastery of other subjects and one of the best predictors of longer term learning achievement. Reading must be considered a priority to improve the quality of basic education, particularly for disadvantaged learners.”² 

It follows that teachers need to be able to teach reading and writing effectively if learners are to acquire these skills. This is not happening.

A presentation made to the Council of Ministers³  found that forty percent of the time, there was no reading at all done in classrooms. Forty-seven percent of the time, teaching was teacher-lead, i.e. the teacher wrote sentences on the board then read these to the learners who then followed in chorus.

South Africa’s challenge is not only that reading is not being taught, but that many teachers are inadequately trained for this purpose. The Minister said, “There are teachers in front of our children and our children are unable to read. We need to assist our teachers to teach reading effectively”.⁴

Support and Training for the Educator

READ’s experience in urban and rural schools and local and international research provide guidelines for consideration. In the Business Trust project (1999-2004), during which 13 164 teachers in 896 schools were trained impacting 850 000 learners, evaluations revealed an increase in the percentage of learners performing below grade level from 61 percent in 1999 to 76 percent by 2004.

Firstly, sporadic isolated teacher training projects are rarely successful. Training needs to be followed by school-based support provided by knowledgeable mentors able to work through teachers’ application problems in a collegial spirit. Team training of all the schools’ teachers is more successful than working with one teacher who then has to train her colleagues without support.

The final Business Trust evaluation report found that: “There was clear evidence that the INSET and monitoring provided by the project succeeded in achieving a consistent impact on the classroom behaviour of teachers across the sample”.⁵ 

Too often teacher training is either too theoretical or too general to assist teachers in the practical day-today application of new methodologies. Educationalist Dr. C. E Beeby identified four stages of growth in the school system in developing countries. The same stages prevail in South Africa with rural schools lagging behind due to their isolation, poor facilities, lower teacher qualifications and fewer resources. Curriculum implementation needs to be relevant to teachers’ experience and needs to start from teachers’ level of experience.

Secondly, materials need to be provided in tandem with teacher training and support. Too often materials are provided without training teachers on how to use them. This is usually a waste since most teachers with limited experience of using books will lack the confidence to do so. Even the best training will not generate results if the materials to enable implementation are not provided.

Training and materials need to make the explicit teaching of skills possible. Experienced teachers may be able to cope alone but most teachers need high-quality materials to teach effectively.

Evaluations of READ’s home language materials by Professor Murray revealed that project schools which were trained directly and which received classroom support and appropriate resources demonstrated greater progress than schools in which some of these elements were missing. After only 8 months, project learners showed a 10 percent improvement in language ability.

JET Education Services evaluated teachers’ use of these materials in the classroom and found that project schools performed better than control schools which had respectively received normal reading and language instruction, and which had received cascade training in the absence of resources. 

Thus when classrooms have relevant materials and teachers receive quality training and support, results are considerable.

Thirdly, experience indicates that the role of the school manager and the school management team (SMT) is critical in all teaching, including literacy. The SMT need the requisite knowledge and skills to guide, assess and motivate teachers. Training teachers without ensuring they have the support of an informed management team can mean that a teacher returns to a hostile environment and the attempt to implement new learnings fails. Once again, a wasted investment.

The development of standards of achievement for all grades, as a team initiative, in line with the curriculum, is a useful way of ensuring coherence in the teaching of skills.

Achieving Realistic Goals

Systematic assessment practices for teachers to implement across all grades, supported by visiting district officials, assists teachers to assess their and their learners’ progress and to set goals. Achieving realistic goals based on agreed standards leads to successful results and to increased motivation. For this purpose, teachers need relevant and user-friendly instruments to measure progress which, as a standard practice, are shared with colleagues as part of a cooperative learning environment which builds success, increases confidence and boosts morale.

In summary, once-off teacher training courses in the absence of school-based support generally do not produce results. The provision of quality, relevant resources in tandem with training is essential. Experience indicates that training without resources or resource provision without training in their use does not generate returns on investment. Team training and school-based follow-up, setting realistic and achievable standards, cooperative goal setting and assessment coupled with support and assistance from the SMT and district officials has the optimum chance of producing motivated, confident and efficient teachers who are able to respond to the educational requirements of their learners.

– Cynthia Hugo, National Director, READ Educational Trust.

End Notes:
[1] EFA Global Monitoring Report Summary, pg. 19: Financing: How committed are governments? (2005)
[2] EFA Global Monitoring Report (2005)
[3] What Is Quality Schooling and How Do We Get It? JET Education Services CEO, Nick Taylor (September 2005)
[4] Speech at the Readathon Awards Ceremony, READ Head Office (April 2007)
[5] Eric Schollar & Associates CC (2005)