Mr Melvin Caroline, Director of EMDC East
Ms Nobantu Pasiya, Director of the CTI
Teachers
Dr Michael Le Cordeur: EMDC West Coast/Winelands
It gives me real pleasure to be here today. I am an admirer of the work of the NBI and its EQUIP programme. And I am very proud of the work of the Cape Teaching Institute which received a deserved bronze award as part of the Western Cape Premier's Service Excellence Awards. I have been putting pressure on the CTI to consider expansion, in fact, into becoming the "Cape Teaching and Leadership Institute" and look forward to the day when that might become a reality.
But today, the people I am proudest of are those who will be awarded certificates for completing their 8 module Leadership and Management Course for HODs. I acknowledge those of you here who are HODs already and those of you who are Post Level 1 teachers who have grasped this opportunity to enhance your skills. It takes a special person to sacrifice private time - time over weekends and holidays - to complete a demanding study programme. I salute you all.
Maybe, in the not too far distant future you will be on this stage again when you complete your "Induction programme for newly appointed Deputy Principals", and again when you earn your "Advanced Certificate in Education for Principals". Or maybe you will be here cheering on your colleagues as they complete their "School Business Leadership Course" which will soon be offered by the CTI in co-operation with NCSL (UK).
Times have not been easy in education this year. Some older teachers would complain that they have not been easy since the new curriculum was initiated. Those who have been in service for longer will talk angrily about the loss of teacher posts during the time of retrenchments. It is true that opportunities for promotion have seemed to have been limited over the last decade. Teacher cutbacks meant that there was little movement between schools. People in posts stayed in them, in fact.
Ambitious teachers like yourselves, people who really wanted to lead and to make a difference have often found themselves sidelined. And in a profession dominated by women, it must have been frustrating for women to see promotion posts going to men with such monotony.
I am happy to say that I think that we are on the threshold of a new period. The tightening up of performance appraisal with the introduction of the IQMS is a good start. We are setting performance objectives and expecting our supervisors to assume responsibility for the training or upgrading needs of their staff. Employment Equity targets are driving the filling of promotion posts. With new model of the "Senior Teacher", where a teacher will be able to advance in status and salary but not have to leave the classroom to become an administrator, I think we are making a real breakthrough.
Ladies and Gentlemen, I want to say today that I do believe that being a teacher is a vocation. And that we need it to be a vocation in fact. It's never just a job. We don't want people teaching our children if they don't want to be teachers. If they are just killing time and waiting for payday. We don't want people teaching our children who choose to close their eyes to our children's hurts, to their needs, to their hunger. We don't want people teaching our children if they don't know how to handle their classes.
We need people like yourselves. People who are full of joy about the role of the teacher. People who embrace the various roles of the teacher. People who even go so far as to study further to upskill themselves. I say again - I applaud you, today.
I wonder how many of your schools are implementing "catch up" programmes after the industrial action? This is part of the complexity of being a teacher, isn't it? On the one hand you've been out on the streets campaigning for a better wage. On the other hand you have a vocation, you care about your learners and you're doing all you can to make it up to them.
But we all know it's not enough just to have a vocation - you need an array of hard skills as well. And because the role of teacher as social worker, as counsellor, as care-giver is increasing and not lessening as time passes, the range of skills required is taking on surprising directions. I know that the EQUIP NBI course has been specially adapted to suit the needs of you, its students. I'm pleased that you have been trained as both leaders and managers.
Your school and your community are all part of a complex network of people connected by a passion to get learning right for your group of leaners. I want to challenge all of you here to pledge today to go the extra mile for your schools. You haven't just completed this course for yourselves. You now have gifts and skills to share with others. I look forward, in fact, to hearing about the impact you have made on your schools. I want to hear about school turnarounds, about community turnarounds, about learning families and learning communities all mobilised by the Class of 2007.
I thank Equip and the NBI for their work. I thank your schools for helping afford you this opportunity. I thank your families for rendering support and I thank you all for coming so far. I will watch your shadows stretch across those whom you help and look for how you light the paths for others.
For Enquiries:
Gert Witbooi
Media Liaison Officer
Office of the MEC for Education
Western Cape
Tel: 021 467 2523
Cell: 082 550 3938Fax: 021 425 5689
Email: gwitbooi@pgwc.gov.zaVisit our website: http://wced.wcape.gov.za
INtshona Koloni - iKhaya loMntu wonke
Die Wes-Kaap - 'n Tuiste vir Almal
