2012 WTD- Take A Stand For Teachers
WORLD TEACHERS’ DAY MESSAGE OF SUPPORT
2012 World Teacher's Day Theme- 'Take a Stand for Teachers'
“Teachers determine our collective ability to innovate, invent and to find solutions for tomorrow. Nothing will ever replace a good teacher. Nothing is more important than supporting teachers”
World Teachers’ Day is held annually on the 05th October to celebrate the essential role of teachers in providing quality education at all levels. World Teachers Day offer SACE an opportunity to celebrate the extraordinary work which teachers do and also enable the worldwide public to observe significantly the vital contribution which teachers contributed.
World Teachers’ Day is a special occasion for celebrating the vital responsibility of the teachers in offering the eminence education at all stages. Teachers are makers and transformers of society. We depend on teachers to nurture and develop our fledging democracy..... “teaching is leaving a vestige of one self in the development of another and surely a learner is a bank where you can deposit your most precious treasures”.
The South African Council for Educators would like to thank all South African teachers for the role they play in the lives of learners, as well as the excellent contribution they are making to society as a whole. Teachers deserve our gratitude because they have to go beyond just teaching for good results, in many cases. They also have to care for and counsel learners; they have to work in under-resourced conditions and they have to perform administrative work.
Teachers are the primary facilitators of their learning experience. By ensuring the security of teachers in their classrooms and in their employment, faith in the teaching profession can begin to be restored. The media too has to play a role in promoting respect for teachers. The whole profession has suffered as a result of the portrayal of teachers in a negative light.
The envisaged implementation of the Continuing Profession Teacher Development System is geared towards the improvement of classroom practice thus SACE believes that it will go a long way to influence learner performance. Collaboration between teachers, parents and the community at large should also be encouraged so that schools become learning communities rather than ‘ivory towers.’ There is a need to promote respect for quality teachers to run a quality education system, as there is enough commitment by educators to change the lives of the learners they teach. The notion that says that ‘children should enter our doors as learners and leave as leaders’ is embraced by the profession.
The former President Nelson Mandela best sums up the long road to excellence that the teaching profession and teachers in particular has trod over the years and the challenges ahead:
‘I have walked that long road of freedom. I have tried not to falter; I have made missteps along the way. But I have discovered the secret after climbing a great hill, one only finds that there are many more hills to climb’.
As the guardian of the profession, SACE values educators’ extraordinary efforts ad gentle caring they bring to the profession. SACE calls upon you to recognize the significant role that educators play and continue to play in building and shaping the future of our learners and South Africa.
SACE message on 05 October 2011 World Teacher's day.