Education Open Day focuses on Foundation Phase mother tongue teaching
Photograph: Learners from Thandokhulu High School practise teaching dance at Foundation Phase during an Open Day for Xhosa speakers at CPUT's Mowbray Campus. Among them are the second-year Education students who shadowed the learners.
Monday, 15 September 2008
The CPUT Education faculty is taking the lead in equipping teachers with the skills to roll out mother tongue education at primary schools.
With the country facing a shortage of Xhosa-speaking teachers, the Faculty of Education, based at the Mowbray Campus, hosted an Open Day for Xhosa-speaking learners.
The event attracted more than 200 Grade 12 learners from Thandokhulu Secondary School, Langa High and Isilimela Comprehensive School.
The training of Xhosa-speaking teachers follows the National Department of Education’s initiative to move to mother tongue education in the foundation phase of schooling.
Professor Maureen Robinson, Dean of the Faculty of Education said attracting students to the programme is vital to ensure quality education is rolled out at schools.
“It has come to our attention that most learners especially Africans are not interested in foundation level as a career,” said Prof Robinson.
According to research conducted by CPUT, most learners see the profession as a low-status job and there is a perception that teachers, especially at a foundation level, earn less money. Nobonile Ngeshe, a Foundation Phase Xhosa lecturer, said, “There are lies going around that if you teach at a foundation level, you earn less money and that is not true.”
The learners were addressed by various students who are enrolled in teaching programmes. Clara Machado, a second year foundation phase student, motivated learners by sharing her passion.
“There is nothing better than helping a child understand something. I love the feeling of being able to help. Teaching younger children is not only about telling them how to read or write, but involves a lot of nurturing and by that you are making a difference,” she said.
The Department of Education is also addressing the shortage of teachers through the “Foundations of Learning” programme that places emphasis on the roll out of quality numeracy and literacy programmes in the foundation phase.
By Andiswa Dantile, Marketing and Communication Department
Written by CPUT News
Email: news@cput.ac.za
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