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Date : 23/03/2006
Source: Ministry of Education
Title: Pandor: Aggrey Klaaste maths, science and technology Educator of the Year award


  Address by the Minister of Education, Ms Naledi Pandor, MP, at the Aggrey Klaaste maths, science and technology Educator of the Year award, Midrand

“Winning teachers”,
Distinguished guests,

It is always a welcome occasion when we celebrate success and achievement and I thank you for inviting me to be part of this celebration. Tonight we recognise and honour outstanding performance, excellence among peers, and best practice. It is through ceremonies such as this one that we can show-off our dedicated teachers.

Aggrey Klaaste would have been proud of you, committed as he was to nation building in South Africa. He would also, I am sure, visionary thinker that he was have supported the Accelerated and Shared Growth Initiative for South Africa (AsgiSA) that aims to promote a growing economy that benefits all.

Education and skills development and more broadly, the inadequate level of human resources development in South Africa represent a critical constraint to achieving and sustaining a six percent economic growth rate. While long term improvement in human resources development (HRD) will take time there is an urgent need to address priority skills areas now if the efforts by government and its social partners to grow the economy and improve labour absorption are to be successful.

I addressed this event last year. At that time mathematical literacy was a subject for the future to be introduced this year. It was a new subject to pupils and parents. I spent some time outlining what it was and how it was going to be taught. I am happy to say that it has been introduced in grade 10 this year and reports from the provinces are encouraging. Grade 10 pupils have in many instances taken to the subject like ducks to water.

Last year I spent most of my time talking to maths teachers. I did not spend much time talking to science and technology teachers. Some complained that I had forgotten about them. They complained that maths teachers were the stars. They complained that they received all the attention. So let me put matters straight this evening. Technology is a new field and there are many schools that do not have technology teachers. We need technology teachers and we are encouraging teachers to train in the fields of science and technology.

The challenge we face is this. Technology is a new subject with very few teachers employed to teach it. It is a learning area that has the potential to excite learners because it encourages doing rather than listening and learning. But technology is clearly closely linked to science. Teachers need to have basic scientific knowledge in order to stimulate their children about new technologies.

Over the past four years we have spent R30 million on bursaries to over 4 000 mathematics, science and technology teachers to take an Advanced Certificate in Education (ACE). To date, three quarters of those teachers have graduated. And we will be encouraging science and technology teachers to remain in harness through scarce skills incentives.

Why do we place so much emphasis on the need to improve our children’s numeracy skills in our country?

Our economy is in an unprecedented growth phase that requires an appropriate skills base if it is to be sustained. Mathematics is an enabling discipline for many of the scientific and technological skills on which our economy depends to sustain its current growth trajectory.

Our President has consistently called for greater emphasis and investment in the teaching of mathematics and science as a means of responding to the acute skills shortages in critical sectors of the economy.

We have reacted with urgency to this call. We have increased the number of specialist Dinaledi schools in mathematics and science from the 102 to nearly 500. We have redesigned the curriculum for grades 10 to 12 and required all learners to study mathematics or mathematical literacy.

But we have not as yet ensured that every school has a qualified maths, science or technology teacher.

This places a huge responsibility on our higher education institutions to take proactive steps in bridging the competency divide between school and university mathematics. We applaud those universities that have already implemented proactive enrichment mathematics programmes for educators as part of their contribution in helping the Department meet this challenge.

We will appeal to our institutions of higher learning to continue the support they are currently providing in helping us meet our objective of increasing the pool of adequately qualified mathematic teachers and to help build a strong research and development programme in mathematics to find out more about effective teaching practices.

Dedicated mathematics teachers are the role models that inspire our learners to take up careers in mathematics and science. I want to single out the woman mathematics teacher as probably the most important role models. Our special schools strategy, started in 2001, was designed to mobilise our limited and scarce resources. It was the right strategy then and it is the right strategy now. This year the strategy is being expanded to over 500 schools. We are expanding the 102 schools to over 500 schools with increased provincial participation and support, increased management capacity at various levels, targeted teacher development and increased resource allocation. These schools will receive additional teachers, resources and support but at the same time be monitored closely. The expectations from these schools are high and provinces, through their MECs and HODs are driving this initiative at provincial level.

  To repeat, in order to address the legacy of the past and to promote our success in the future, we have focussed on three key thrusts namely, to raise participation and performance by all pupils in maths and science; to improve on the number and quality of teachers of mathematics, science and technology and to provide high quality mathematics, science and technology education from grade one to grade 12.

In closing, a special word of thanks to the Sowetan newspaper and Telkom for the efforts they are making through this initiative to improve our ability to offer a better maths and science education to our children. I thank you and salute you and your partners for investing so much.

Finally, my warmest congratulations one again goes to the winners.

I thank you.

Issued by: Ministry of Education
23 March 2006
   

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