TEACHER DEVELOPMENT & EMPOWERMENT TOWARDS EXCELLENCE IN EDUCATION

The New Council, which held its Inaugural meeting in August for its four year term of office, held its first Policy Council Meeting yesterday. The main theme of the Council was to re-emphasise SACE’s focus on Teacher Development and Empowerment.

Firstly: Council emphasised SACE’s historical role and its journey towards teacher professionalism. Council stressed that Professional Development of Teachers is its main objective. All other functions of SACE must contribute to this objective. In this regard SACE proudly announce that together with the Department of Education it has completed the planning for the Continuing Professional Teacher Development System (CPTD-S). SACE will manage the CPTD-S as per the mandate of the National Policy Framework for Teacher Education and Development (NPFTED-March 2007). The CPTD-S is a regulatory mechanism for Professional Development. SACE will safeguard the relevance, convenience and acknowledgements of Professional Development Programmes and Activities. (PDPA)

SACE congratulates the 144 schools in 13 Districts across the country that have been chosen for the CPTD-S pilot in preparation for roll out in 2011. The pilot intends to identify and resolve challenges latent in the envisaged CPTD-S, so that teachers will welcome their on-going empowerment.

Secondly:  A growing number of teachers are now maintaining Professional Development Portfolios (PDP) which record their inputs into the profession. Since April, 18  workshops benefitting 1006 educators regarding PDP’s were held

Thirdly:  In a quest to advise the Minister on the well-being of learners and educators, Research is being finalized regarding:

Ø      Supply and Demand of Educators, including appropriateness of placements;

Ø       Opening of colleges;

Ø      Safety in schools;

Ø      Causes of and cures for unprofessionalism; and

Ø      Discipline in schools.

Fourthly:  Council endorsed its current register of educators. The tally of registered educators is:

Ø      Total on register            :  548 600

Ø      Public school Educators:  370 733

Ø      Provisional                      :   32 567

Ø      Foreign                             :     4 894 

The Council is embarking on a special project to register approximately 29000 educators who are still unregistered.

Fifthly:  Council fulfilled its role of safeguarding the profession by processing 73 complaints against educators since April 2009. 60 Educators were found guilty of various misdemeanors. 6 Educators were struck off the roll.

Sixthly:  in light of the above imperatives and the importance of professionalism in transformation, Council has agreed to:

1.      Intensify advocacy and outreach throughout the system to ensure that educators are developed and empowered to cope with increasing educational demands; and

2.      Accelerate its provision of national and regional facilities (offices), appropriate to the growing needs of the profession and teachers.

Seventhly:  Council is proud to announce the nomination of Cde LUCAS MAPHILA (Deputy- President: SADTU) as its unanimous choice of Chairperson of SACE for this new four year term.

Lastly:  Council believes that it’s well on its way to becoming a one-stop shop for teacher development and empowerment. SACE therefore appreciates the support and guidance it receives from the Ministry and Departments of Education, The Teacher Unions and other Educational stakeholders.

For and on behalf of Council

Rej Brijraj

(CEO-SACE)

26 November 2009

rej@sace.org.za

012 – 663 0406 (P) 012 – 663 3331 (F)