Beginner Teachers in South Africa pptx

Free download from www.hsrcpress.co.za Published by HSRC Press Private Bag X9182, Cape Town, 8000, South Africa www.hsrcpress.ac.za First published 2009 ISBN soft cover 978-0-7969-2242-7 ISBN (pdf) 978-0-7969-2259-5 © 2009 Human Sciences Research Council Copy-edited by Lee Smith Typeset by Simon van Gend Cover by Fuel Design Printed by Distributed in Africa by Blue Weaver Tel: +27 (0) 21 701 4477; Fax: +27 (0) 21 701 7302 www.oneworldbooks.com Distributed in Europe and the United Kingdom by Eurospan Distribution Services (EDS) Tel: +44 (0) 20 7240 0856; Fax: +44 (0) 20 7379 0609 www.eurospanbookstore.com Distributed in North America by Independent Publishers Group (IPG) Call toll-free: (800) 888 4741; Fax: +1 (312) 337 5985 www.ipgbook.com Free download from www.hsrcpress.co.za Tables and figures vi Preface vii Acknowledgements viii Executive summary ix Acronyms and abbreviations xii 1฀ Introduction฀฀฀฀1฀ ฀ ฀ ฀ ฀ ฀ Conceptual framework 3 Literature review 5 Summary 7 2฀ Research฀methodology฀฀฀฀9 Introduction 9 Research questions 9 Research design 9 3฀ Data฀presentation฀and฀analysis฀฀฀฀17 Data from beginner teachers 17 Discussion of data from beginner teachers 19 Data from school managers 23 4฀ Conclusion฀฀฀฀41 Implications for policy-makers and school managers 42 References฀฀฀฀47  Free download from www.hsrcpress.co.za vi Tables Table 2.1 Sampled schools by phase 12 Table 2.2 Sampled schools by former education department 13 Table 2.3 Beginner teachers by province and gender 13 Figures Figure 2.1 Location of sampled schools 12 Figure 2.2 Beginner teachers by race and gender 14  Free download from www.hsrcpress.co.za vii  The Teacher Education in South Africa series is produced as part of the Teacher Education Programme (TEP), funded by the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands from 2005 to 2008. The programme took place at a critical juncture in the development of teacher education in post-apartheid South Africa. Since 2004, sustained attention has been given to the improvement of teacher education consequent on the revision of the curriculum and the restructuring of higher education. In October 2004, the Council on Higher Education initiated a review of teacher education programmes. On 26 April 2007, a National Policy Framework for Teacher Education and Development was gazetted. This provided the basis for a new system of teacher education and development for a new generation of South African teachers. The TEP emerged within this overall context of enhanced attention being given to the improvement of teacher education. Its overall goal was ‘to contribute to the knowledge and information base for policy formulation and implementation regarding the organisation and practice of teacher education, with a particular emphasis on initial teacher education (both pre-service and upgrading), as well as the professional development of school leaders and managers’ (CEA et al. 2005: 4). The work was organised under four major themes: teacher supply and demand; institutional culture and governance; the development of education management; and literacy and teacher development. The programme was designed by a consortium of agencies with considerable expertise and experience in the field: the Centre for Education Policy Development (CEPD); the Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC); the South African Institute for Distance Education (SAIDE); the Centre for Evaluation and Assessment (CEA) at the University of Pretoria; and the Education Foundation Trust (EFT). 1 The TEP was developed in consultation with stakeholders such as the national Department of Education (DoE), the Ministerial Working Group on Teacher Education, the Deans’ Forum and the Council on Higher Education/HEQC, amongst others. Briefing and consultation continued through the process of research, for the consortium as a whole and in relation to specific projects. Michael Cosser, HSRC Organisational Manager, Teacher Education Programme 1 The EFT has been disbanded and uncompleted projects have been taken over by the consortium. Free download from www.hsrcpress.co.za viii We would like to thank Matselane Tshukudu and Sharon Flemmit for their help with fieldwork administration and Thobeka Mda, Linda Chisholm and John Pampallis for their valuable suggestions to improve this report and for helping to bring it to finality. We alone remain responsible for all errors of fact and interpretation. We are also grateful to the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands for their financial support.  Free download from www.hsrcpress.co.za ix  This report focuses on the perceptions of beginner teachers about themselves, and the perceptions of school managers about beginner teachers, after the first three years of teaching in public ordinary schools. Since teachers contribute much to learners’ educational achievement and should partly be held accountable for poor learner performance, researching especially beginner teachers is necessitated by the growing realisation that a high number of them leave the profession in their early years of teaching. The government’s investment in subsidising initial teacher training translates into a waste of resources when new teachers resign from teaching or if new trainees do not take up teaching positions. This study aimed to cover a wide section of beginner teachers in a number of provinces because it was established that studies on beginner teachers in South Africa are generally small-scale and fall within the realm of postgraduate studies at universities (mainly master’s and doctoral theses). They are also restricted to one province and, within that province, to a single district and only a few schools (Koeberg 1999; Lochner 1993; Van Vuuren 1989). The study of beginner teachers included an investigation of the perceptions of principals and heads of department (HoDs) about the skills and knowledge of beginner teachers. The study also sought to evaluate efforts by individual schools and by district, regional and provincial education offices to support and assist beginner teachers in their work. The evaluation was informed by observations that found that without the necessary support (mentorship, induction programmes), many beginner teachers develop burnout symptoms in a short space of time. Research questions and design The key research questions aimed at beginner teachers were: • Whatarebeginnerteachers’perceptionsoftheirskills,knowledgeand competencies as beginner teachers? • Whatarebeginnerteachers’perceptionsoftheirworkexperienceafterthefirst, second and third year of teaching experience? • Didbeginnerteachers’highereducationpreparethemadequatelyforthe teaching profession? The key research questions aimed at principals and school managers were: • Whataretheperceptionsofprincipals,deputyprincipalsandsubjectheadsof the skills, knowledge and competencies possessed by beginner teachers? • Whatdoschoolmanagersseeaskeychallengesfacingbeginnerteachers? • Whatintheviewsofschoolmanagersshouldbedonetoenhancebeginner teachers’ skills, knowledge and competencies? • Whatshouldbedonetoretainbeginnerteacherswithintheeducationsystem? The study drew extensively from survey research. A questionnaire was developed and administered. However, given the nature of the study (focusing on beginner teachers’ skills, knowledge and competencies), the survey instrument was augmented with a qualitative component as responses about skills, knowledge and competencies of beginner teachers needed to be probed and elaborated on. The study therefore combined both qualitative and quantitative research methods. Free download from www.hsrcpress.co.za x The study covered teachers in the Free State, Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal, Mpumalanga and the Western Cape. These provinces were selected on the basis of earlier research that showed that they were hiring new teachers in higher numbers in relative terms to the other provinces (Crouch 2001). While turnover patterns have stabilised in the interim, at the time of this study these provinces still had the greatest potential to absorb beginner teachers in both urban and rural areas. Findings Analysis of the data indicates positive comments about the current sole provision of teacher education by universities. Research participants noted that some universities offer good teacher education programmes, while others do not. The data showed that many of the participants had no problem with the duration of teacher education programmes. Most were satisfied with beginner teachers’ content knowledge (theoretical knowledge of the learning area or subject they teach). For many, however, the pedagogical knowledge of beginner teachers was an area of concern and it was suggested that the final year of teacher education should be set aside for teaching practice to give teacher trainees enough practical experience of working in classrooms. Overall, beginner teachers’ quality of teaching was not considered problematic. As with beginner teachers’ content knowledge, the data showed that most of the school managers have no reservations about beginner teachers’ assessment practices. This includes their assessment strategies and whether they are able to use assessment to improve teaching and learning. Besides assessment, the research findings dealt at some length with support provided to beginner teachers, noting that most research participants were not aware of any support specifically meant for beginner teachers. Some schools, through their school governing bodies, raise funds for the induction and mentoring of new teachers, while other schools, predominantly in rural and township areas, do not have support structures and programmes for beginner teachers. It was noted that salary incentives, sufficient teaching and learning resources and well-paced educational changes would contribute to beginner teachers staying in the profession. An interesting area is the confidence beginner teachers expressed about their classroom teaching ability. Beginner teachers were confident that they were more than adequate in lesson preparation, content knowledge, making key concepts explicit to learners, relating content knowledge to everyday experiences, helping learners to engage with texts, and creating a stimulating classroom environment. This was in contrast to findings reported in similar studies, and by school managers. Possible explanations for the contradictions were explored, for example, that beginner teachers may feel pressure to be seen to be coping; the teaching experiences may be threatening beginner teachers’ sense of self, and portraying competence may be a coping strategy; teachers may perhaps not be capable of self-reflection in the early stages of their career; or the teachers may genuinely be competent when they start teaching but the schools may erode their confidence and competence, reducing them to incompetent, inexperienced teachers. Free download from www.hsrcpress.co.za xi Both beginner teachers and school managers reported the challenge of ill discipline in schools. Beginner teachers also expressed the desire to learn more in this area. Managing classrooms and the ill discipline in schools is a challenge for both beginner and experienced teachers. However, this challenge is more pronounced for beginner teachers, who have not yet developed discipline-management strategies and may still be struggling to assert their authority early on in their career. School managers, probably as a result of their experience, had concrete ideas on how young teachers could be supported to succeed in the profession. Those same school managers, however, are not necessarily providing the needed support or even facilitating beginner teachers’ access to that support when it is not within the school. The school managers also tend to point fingers at the DoE and its officials for the unfavourable teaching conditions beginner teachers are exposed to. This is because some of the school managers were also once enthusiastic young teachers but have now become disillusioned about their profession or their employer, and are therefore not in a position to motivate and mentor young teachers. The education system in South Africa does not have formal structures, policies and strategies for teacher retention. Some schools and provinces, especially those in urban areas, by virtue of their proximity to resources, easily attract teachers, as opposed to rural provinces and schools that struggle to recruit and retain qualified teachers. Implications for policy-makers and school managers The findings call for: • differentiatedinterventionprogrammesandstrategiestotackletheproblems experienced by beginner teachers; • thefleshingoutofschool-ordistrict-basedbeginnerteachersupport,withthe primary aim of ensuring that these teachers teach well and stay in teaching; • thenationalDoEtosetcleartargetsandhowthesecanbeachieved; • theDoEtoinvestsubstantiallyinthetwinrolesoftheschoolmanagers(being an instructional and an operational leader at the same time); • theDoEtocontinueitstrainingcourseforallschoolmanagerstoimprovetheir management of schools; • longerimmersioninpracticalteaching; • theDoEtocomeupwithimplementableinterventionstrategiesaswellas ensuring the monitoring of proper implementation and support; • theDoEtoputinplaceprogrammesandplansfortheperiodicassessmentof the impact of educational changes on teachers; • effortstoensurethatlearnersinpoorcontextshavecompetentteachers; • theprioritisingofissuesofequalityandequityineducation; • amulti-sectoralapproachtopoolresourceswithothergovernmentdepartments, notably the departments of social development, health, and arts, sports and culture; • ahighpremiumbeingplacedontheconstantandcontinuedinvestigationof teaching and learning, including teacher competency. Free download from www.hsrcpress.co.za xii  CEA Centre for Evaluation and Assessment CEPD Centre for Education Policy Development DoE Department of Education EFT Education Foundation Trust EMIS Education Management Information Systems HoD head of department HSRC Human Sciences Research Council IQMS Integrated Quality Management Systems PERSAL Personnel and Salary Administration System SAIDE South African Institute for Distance Education SGB school governing body TEP Teacher Education Programme Free download from www.hsrcpress.co.za [...]... resign in significant numbers in comparison to older teachers (ELRC 2005) Samuel (2002) notes that where there are available job prospects in the broader economy, beginner teachers tend to leave the teaching profession in higher numbers When new teachers resign from teaching or if trainees do not take up teaching positions, the investment by government in subsidising initial teacher training translates into... other racial groups White beginner teachers show an immense difference in the proportion of female to male teachers, reflecting the overall proportion of male to female white teachers in the profession Females make up 83.3 per cent of all white beginner teachers, and males only 16.7 per cent Indian beginner teachers show the same trend as white beginner teachers, with females making up 85.2 per cent and... areas Interviews were conducted with deputy principals, HoDs and beginner teachers, and in two cases, with principals Four schools (two primary and two secondary) were visited in the Western Cape in the following areas: Parow, Grabouw, Khayelitsha and Macassar In three of the schools, interviews were conducted with principals and in one case, with the facilitator for teacher training Six beginner teachers. .. whether beginner teachers have the necessary tools or the inclination to evaluate themselves To consider this possibility, we must recap the findings on the beginner teachers knowledge The view of beginner teachers was that within their initial teacher training curriculum, the programmes which most impacted on their current experience as full-time teachers were ‘Student teaching’, ‘Teaching methods’,... beginner teachers, location of the school, the status of the teaching profession, and perceptions of principals and other school managers about beginner teachers Not all of these factors are dealt with in this study Teacher education programmes As reported earlier, the reviewed literature covered the broad area of entry into teaching, which includes training of teachers The literature on beginner teachers. .. principal, the HoD or, worse, a district education official Professional training of beginner teachers The research participants were asked about their general perceptions of beginner teachers professional training Overall, a high number of respondents (68 per cent) rated the training beginner teachers had received as satisfactory and highly commendable Only about 8 per cent raised issues with beginner. .. analysis of the racial profile of beginner teachers in the sampled schools provides the following information: Africans make up 52 per cent of beginner teachers, followed by whites (39 per cent), Indians (6 per cent) and coloureds (3 per cent) In terms of gender (see Figure 2.2), 57.4 per cent of African beginner teachers are female and 42.6 per cent are male, giving a difference of 14.8 per cent –...Introduction Free download from www.hsrcpress.co.za This report focuses on the perceptions of beginner teachers about themselves, and the perceptions of school managers about beginner teachers, after the first three years of teaching in public ordinary schools Beginner teachers are defined as newly qualified teachers who have recently joined the profession and have less than four years of teaching... lifelong learning in beginner teachers is through a new teacher induction programme focused on teacher training, support and retention In Ruhland and Bremer’s (2002) study, beginner career and technical education teachers reported that personal support from other educational professionals in the form of a mentor or peer support group was key to staying in the teaching profession According to the National... females Male beginner teachers had higher and more positive responses than female beginner teachers regarding their preservice teacher training In all the categories, the proportion of responses of male teachers was highest in the column ‘A lot’, indicating a positive response to preservice teacher training Although the data are not analysed by gender, there seems to be a strong tendency among male teachers . entry into teaching, which includes training of teachers. The literature on beginner teachers identifies the substance and relevance of teacher training. profileoftherespondents; • beginner teachers training; • contentandpedagogicalknowledgeof beginner teachers; • beginner teachers assessmentpractices; •