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Date : 22/10/2004
Title: Pandor: National Teaching Awards


ADDRESS BY THE MINISTER OF EDUCATION, NALEDI PANDOR, MP, AT THE NATIONAL TEACHING AWARDS 2004, Presidential Guest House, Pretoria Minister Trevor Manuel
Director of Ceremonies
Distinguished Guests
Awards Recipients
Members of the Teaching Profession
Ladies and Gentlemen

It gives me great pleasure to address you this evening at this fifth National Teaching Awards Ceremony.

Tonight we recognise the outstanding contribution teachers make towards the development of our country. It is because of the dedicated and committed efforts of our teachers that we have been able to achieve many of our national goals.

I believe in the power of education to transform our society. Kofi A Annan, Secretary-General of the United Nations, captures this best when he says:

“Education is the single most vital element in combating poverty, empowering women, protecting children from hazardous and exploitative labour and sexual exploitation, promoting human rights and democracy, protecting the environment and influencing population growth. Education is a path towards international peace and security.”

The theme for this year’s National Teaching Awards is “Recognising Excellence in Education”.

The theme allows us to focus on quality education for all.

The main message I want to set out today is that we will support teachers in meeting our basic expectation of expanding access to skills and knowledge and we will strengthen our evaluation resources to allow for the development of interventions that enhance the skills of teachers.

Let me describe the journey of change that we have undertaken in the National Teaching Awards.

In 2000 my predecessor, Professor Kader Asmal, established the National Teaching Awards initiative, an initiative that aims to highlight and reward the talent, inspiration, and dedication of a profession that works hard to lay the foundations for all our futures.

The Teaching Awards were devised as one of a number of solutions to the crisis in teacher confidence and morale that we encountered after 1994. They are not the solution to all our problems, but I sincerely believe that they have played a significant and growing role in re-evaluating and celebrating the vital role that teachers play in our country.

They also give publicity to those who have dedicated themselves to the nurturing and development of the young, and for the outstanding work carried out by all those involved in the everyday activities in every type of school across the country.

We are building on the decisive tradition of recognising and rewarding excellence in education. The initiative has been refined, sharpened, and broadened in terms of its frame and categories. The number of teachers participating has also increased enormously.

This fifth National Teaching Awards ceremony is of particular importance, since it is taking place in the context of our Ten Years of Freedom celebrations. Our ten years of democracy and transformation fall within a period in which the international community has committed itself not only to expanding participation rates in education, but also to ensuring that outcomes are measurable and of a high quality.

We are strengthening our efforts towards teacher education and development. We have put in place several programmes that will ensure that teachers acquire enhanced professional knowledge and skills. Programmes such as the National Professional Diploma in Education, the Advanced Certificate in Mathematics, Science and Technology and the training for the Revised National Curriculum Statement are examples of the efforts of my Ministry and Department to improve the quality of teachers in our schools.

What qualities in teachers do we celebrate with these awards?

First, we celebrate the ability to communicate with children. This is a remarkable skill. It requires enthusiasm. It requires the ability to entertain your class and to enthuse them with the wonder of your knowledge. A teacher without enthusiasm and with poor communicative skills is dead in the water. The skill can be taught, but it comes best when it comes from within.

All the teachers that I remember with love had this wonderful ability to enthuse about their subject.

Second, teachers are important role models for our children. They teach not only through the curriculum but also through their behaviour. They set an example to children of what they should aspire to be and of what they can become. Teachers today play a central role in developing the attitudes and values of our children. In some cases they are more important than parents.

The third, and last, quality is the most difficult to learn and the simplest to understand: empathy. A good teacher knows how to empathise with her pupils. Not sympathise. Most of us can share the feelings or emotions of others. Of course, pupils need your sympathy, but teachers are not social workers. Empathy is the ability to project yourself into the minds of your children. It is a selfless activity and it demands a lot from our teachers, but the teachers that I value the most in my life, the teachers who have taught me what it means to be human and caring and loving, have all had the power of empathy.

We learn best through love and we learn best from those teachers who are best able to empathise with their pupils.

Let me conclude by congratulating the seventy-two teachers who are receiving awards this evening in the various categories. The nation rejoices with you for the excellent contribution that you have made to the teaching profession and to our national development goals. The whole nation is proud of you. Keep up the excellent work.

I thank you.

Issued by: Ministry of Education
22 October 2004
Source: Department of Education (http://education.pwv.gov.za)

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