CPUT, in collaboration with HAN University of Applied Sciences (HAN) in the Netherlands and University Colleges Leuven-Limburg (UCLL), Belgium, recently held the third annual International Student Conference on the Mowbray Campus.
The conference, under the theme “Sharing across borders: expanding the classroom”, saw a group of students from each institution presenting on how to make the classroom an exciting place using effective teaching methods such as using technology, teamwork and engaging the learners.
The UCLL group reported that it spent three months experimenting with six types of team teaching at a school in Thohoyandou, Venda. These include assisting, parallel, station, observing and complimentary. Team teaching, a trend in European schools, refers to co-ordinated teaching by a team of two or more teachers working together.
The group discussed the advantages and disadvantages of this latest trend, including why it would not work in South Africa. They cited the acute shortage of teachers as evident in the country’s high teacher to learner ratio in classrooms at public schools.
The delegates were divided into six groups and simulated the different types of team teaching.
The CPUT group presented on the pro’s and con’s using online platforms to teach in classrooms, while the HAN group presented on the importance of engaging the learners.
The latter group argued that in order for effective teaching to take place, being inquisitive is important for learners, as are creativity and spontaneity.
Four CPUT students received a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to be part of the CPUT - HAN student exchange where they taught primary school learners in the Netherlands for three weeks.
Silindokuhle Bobo, Lwando Mpike, Ryan van Niekerk and Jessica Lucas were grouped with Australian partners with whom they did their teaching practice. Each pair was assigned to a teacher in whose classroom they taught.
