In this talk from RSA Animate, Sir Ken Robinson lays out the link between 3 troubling trends: rising drop-out rates, schools’ dwindling stake in the arts, and ADHD. An important, timely talk for parents and teachers.
The Teacher Development Summit, held in July 2009, was a ground-breaking event, which for the first time brought together all the stakeholders from across the teacher education and development sector in South Africa, with the primary goal of highlighting and addressing the challenges being experienced in teacher education and development, especially by teachers.
Participants in the Summit included the teacher unions, the South African Council for Educators (SACE), the Education, Training and Development Practices – Sector Education and Training Authority (ETDP-SETA), Higher Education South Africa – Education Deans’ Forum (HESA-EDF), the Education Labour Relations Council (ELRC), and the national Department of Education.
The Summit was marked by a positive collaborative spirit, and a commitment to address the issues by all who attended.
The Summit resulted in a Declaration which called for the development of a new, strengthened, integrated Plan for teacher development in South Africa.
Stakeholders represented at the Summit continued to collaborate after the Summit towards the production of the new Plan. This document represents the outcome of their work.
It is important to note that an evidence-based approach was adopted in order to come to the key recommendations that are put forward in this Plan. The evidence and the technical work which underpins the Plan are recorded in a Technical Report which should be read in conjunction with this Plan.
The Plan is aligned with policies and processes in the broader teacher education and development context, and in particular with the Department of Basic Education’s Schooling 2025 action plan and Strategic Plan 2010-2013, and the Department of Higher Education and Training’s Strategic Plan 2010-2015. Importantly, it addresses the imperatives that were highlighted in the Teacher Development Summit Declaration.
The Plan sets three broad outcomes to be achieved over time in order to strengthen teacher development in the country:
The collaboration that marked the Teacher Development Summit, and that allowed this Plan to be developed, must continue in order to ensure that the outcomes are achieved.
101019 New
The plan is available below:
We are pleased to announce that we will be assisting one of the largest self-financing, state-owned national development finance institution that provides financing to entrepreneurs and businesses engaged in competitive industries to assess its investments in the private education sector.
The Sectoral Business Unit that we will be assisting has under management a portfolio totaling ± R 2 billion.
Our mandate is to provide strategic guidance on a) whether the institution should invest in this area any further and b) what the potential value areas would be.
Read our piece on education in South Africa.
The Education department wants all South African school children to recite a pledge. The pledge goes:
We the youth of South Africa
Recognising the injustices of our past,
Honour those who suffered and sacrificed for justice and freedom.
We will respect and protect the dignity of each person,
And stand up for justice
We sincerely declare that we shall uphold the rights and values of our Constitution
And promise to act in accordance with the duties and responsibilities
that flow from these rights.
! KE E: / XARRA // KE
Nkosi Sikelel’ iAfrika
I think its about time we started seeing things like this take place in our schools; to build a common South African identity. However at 77 words long this pledge is too long and a little bit depressing. I cant imagine too many school children pledging this with much enthusiasm.
Re-write.