Malcolm Venter
The 2009 Matric results have, once again, revealed the sad state of our education system, with two out of every five who wrote failing, and with a pass rate 2% lower than in 2008. The pass rates for gateway subjects such as Maths, Science and Accounting, and the failure rate for Home Language were [...]

Teaching English Today
Dear education colleagues
Teaching English Today (TET), a venture of the English Academy of Southern Africa, is due to be launched in May 2010.
TET will be a web–based, interactive journal for teachers of English in the FET phase. It will be a vehicle for teachers and teacher educators to debate critical issues, to share [...]

A Durban high school teacher has landed in hot water over remarks she made in her classroom, comparing her pupils’ behaviour to that of President Jacob Zuma. The incident, for which the Reservoir Hills Secondary School teacher has been given a written warning, happened on Tuesday last week.

Late last year Prof. George Claassen, the Chairman of Sceptics South Africa, issued ‘an ultimatum’ for schools in South Africa to stop teaching religion in the classroom. Claassen warned that Sceptics South Africa is ‘monitoring’ schools to ensure that there is no Bible reading or prayer. Claassen maintains that it is ‘unacceptable’ that some schools [...]

The majority of South Africa’s teachers are dedicated professionals who give of their best at all times and serve the needs of their pupils, acting basic education director-general Bobby Soobrayan said on Thursday.
Reacting to media reports – following a presentation to a parliamentary portfolio committee on Wednesday, at which he tabled a document stating “too [...]

Too many school teachers cannot pass the tests their pupils sit, the basic education department said on Wednesday.
There are also serious problems with teachers’ commitment to their tasks, according to a document tabled by the department’s acting director general, Bobby Soobrayan, at a briefing for members of Parliament’s basic education portfolio committee.
“Too many teachers [...]