OPINIONISTA: The state of education from a teacher’s perspective By Michael le Cordeur
As a child, I regularly got a hiding: From my parents and from my teachers. Like the day I broke the windscreen of Mr Ross’s car. My brother and I wanted to see who could throw a cricket ball furthest. My dad gave me a hiding to remember. In addition, I had to empty my piggy bank and pay for that windscreen repair myself.
Today, I think back to my school days with nostalgia. There was Miss Rosie September in Sub A who taught me to write. She gave me a hug every time I spelt a difficult word correctly. Miss Serena Samaai taught me sums in Sub B and regularly spoiled me with sweets. Uncle Piet, our geography teacher in matric, made the cutest hand gestures when teaching.
Today it is still the greatest reward when my wife and I sit in a restaurant and a former student approaches us to greet us. Then I see the amazement on their faces as we remember their names. My learners were someone: each one, a human being.Why do I share this? Because I steadfastly believed this is where we dropped the education ball: The day that teachers started to strike, and left the learners to their fate, was the day that teachers lost control of education.
A learner was slapped by a teacher after the learner aggressively pushed her school desk at the teacher. Another teacher had to flee her town when she was accused of racism after she innocently shared a photograph on social media. A teenage girl was raped by two co-students while her schoolmates watched and made a video of the incident on their cellphones.
When I taught the module Classroom Management to honours students at CPUT, it usually led to heated discussion. Teachers feel vulnerable and say that too little is done to protect them. The bureaucracy is quick to encourage parents to report any form of corporal punishment , but fails to give teachers the necessary support.It is here that education departments and universities can take the lead. Teachers are the heart of the education system.
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