Yesterday, Democratic Alliance Leader Helen Zille, delivered the following speech at the Suid Afrikaanse Onderwyser Unie “Principals Symposium” in Port Elizabeth. What most determines a child’s success in the classroom is not their background, their financial circumstances, the curriculum or the resources of the school (although these things all play a role). The crucial variable is the quality of the teaching.

In the midst of the current public servants’ strike, it is perhaps a good time to pause and reflect on whether teachers should strike – or be allowed to strike. The issue has been raised in political circles, and by President Zuma himself.

The Foundation for Professional Development’s (FPD) vision is to build a better society through education and development and the best place to start is with the foundation of society – our teachers – developing their ability to manage classrooms and inspire them with the latest international teaching methodologies. However, professional development programmes are not always feasible for teachers given their busy, demanding days in the classroom and the negative impact on learners’ performance if they take time off from school.

South Africa’s school-orientated social networking site, Obami.com, has added a new feature to its offering that promises to boost educators and students’ productivity, while providing for a more streamlined process for the setting, submission and assessment of school assignments.

There is much confusion about the actual changes to the school curriculum in 2011 and beyond. I for one am happy to be referring to “learning areas” as “subjects” again! Here is the official statement from the Department of Basic Education concerning the changes taking place to the curriculum. Share it with your colleagues who may still be in the dark.

MySchool, South Africa’s biggest community support and fundraising programme, has recently committed to a partnership with EvaluNet. Soon the GetAhead range of educational software will be made available to MySchool supporters throughout South Africa at an exclusive discount, plus it will benefit the MySchool community programme.

The ELRC and consortiums involved in the Teacher Laptop Initiative (TLI) have agreed that it is necessary to hold a roll out launch of the TLI so as to increase teachers’ awareness of the TLI. Due to the delays in rolling out the TLI many teachers have lost interest in the project. It was initially proposed that a roll-out launch would take place provincially, however, for a number reasons, that will not be possible. A national Roll Out Launch has been arranged for 15 July 2010 and will take place in Pretoria.

After 6 soccer filled weeks you may be ready for Physics, Food, Penguins and a passion for science! From the 18 – 19 July, versatile Physics Professor, Peter Barham of Bristol University UK, renowned for delivering edutaining demonstrations in restaurants, bars, lecture halls and classrooms, will visit the Sci-Bono Discovery Centre.

Question papers with memos assessing LIFE ORIENTATION in accordance with the Grade 1 curriculum are available here. They are available in both Afrikaans and English and can be used as class exercises or revision tools. They cover a broad range of topics and are filled with pictures and questions to make learning fun for kids!

Question papers with memos assessing NUMERACY in accordance with the Grade 1 curriculum are available here. They are available in both Afrikaans and English and can be used as class exercises or revision tools. They are filled with pictures and questions to make learning fun for kids!

Question papers with memos assessing LITERACY as per the Grade 2 curriculum are available here. They are available in both Afrikaans and English and can be used as class exercises or revision tools. They are filled with pictures and questions to make learning fun for kids!

The 4th annual Africa on Screen Film Festival opens at the Sci-Bono Discovery Centre on Thursday evening 24 June with the première of the soccer documentary ‘The team that never played’. A collaboration between Australia and South Africa, the film revisits the collision of race, sport and politics through the lives of three very different men and their struggle to end Apartheid. In celebration of the 2010 FIFA World Cup™, this years’ Film Festival includes a Soccer Film Festival at the Sci-Bono Discovery Centre 25 – 27 June and 2 – 4 July.

We’re very proud to announce the launch of a new online academic English magazine that we had a hand in creating. Teaching English Today is an initiative of the English Academy of Southern Africa – the only academy for the English language in the world. Teaching English Today (TET) is edited by our very own Dr Malcolm Venter, writer of the Venter Ventilates column for Teacher’s Monthly. TET is intended to be a vehicle for teachers to debate critical issues surrounding the teaching of English in South Africa.

Losing all sensation in the top lip was completely worth the fun we just had joining in with the rest of South Africa and playing our unofficial national instrument – the vuvuzela – here at the Teacher’s Monthly and EvaluNet offices!
From our top balcony facing Giel Basson Drive we joined forces with [...]

Schoolgirls who don’t fall pregnant will be rewarded – if a plan by the Western Cape government goes ahead. The proposed policy is a desperate bid to reduce high teenage pregnancy rates and ease the cost burden on the provincial Department of Social Welfare. Social Development MEC Dr Ivan Meyer announced the initiative during a media briefing yesterday but could not outline the reward policy because the plan was still being researched – including how to reward boys who did not become fathers while still at school.

The Foundation for Professional Development (FPD) and Tshwane Mayoral AIDS Council will be launching a programme called “Managing HIV in Schools”, on the 21st of May 2010 at 3pm at FPD Head Office in Lynwood Ridge. The keynote speaker of the day, Dr G Ramokgopa, Mayor of Tshwane has engaged 350 schools in Tshwane to participate.

The grade 6 and 7 learners at Glenstantia Primary School in Constantia Park did their school and country proud by being placed twice in the top 100 in the 9 to 13 age class category for the World Maths Day competition held on March 3.
The grade 7 learners were placed 13th and the grade 6 [...]

Over 80 principals from some of Cape Town’s top schools attended an exclusive function at the Crystal Towers Hotel & Spa in Century City 2 weeks ago. The function marked the official launch of the GetAhead School Project, an initiative of EvaluNet.

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 [...]

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.