I have been looking at these reported 'noble and committed' teachers and learners who sacrifice their Saturdays and sometimes holidays to attend extra classes. Some MECs for Education in certain provinces even plan their 'holiday classes' in advance, as early as January of a particular year. Why are we doing it, and why do we find this act to be part of the norm?
Well, maybe I need to give some background as to why I am asking this question. Most countries in the world have an average of 200 school days in a year. Some have a longer day than others, but 200 days are somehow the accepted norm as to the time needed to teach, facilitate learning, and assess learning during a particular year period. The understanding is that these days are enough, if utilised effectively and efficiently, for the average learner to master whatever is needed. Obviously, if you have 'slow learners' or those who are 'challenged', then teacher will extend their available time to ensure the success of these learners. So, why is it that South Africans find it an heroic act when our learners need more days, compared to other countries?
Maybe we can look at this from two angles. Firstly, some learners who are serious about a high level of success during examination time, might need these 'extra' time to cement their learning. But this is not why the MECs and others want them to attend these classes - it is often earmarked for those learners who are not successful. And in South Africa, it will be the majority of our learners, since only 42% of our learners who started grade 1 in 1999, ended up writing the matric examination in 2010.
So, the second reason is to give those who have not mastered their learning content, or have been failing during the year, or who are seeming to struggle with the mastering of the learning content, another opportunity of support. Well, the reality is that dysfunctional schools, and to a lesser degree, underperforming schools are only utilising between 65 to 70 days of the available 175 days for teaching and learning per year. More than 100 days are wasted in most of our schools (about 80%). So, if our learners need more time for teaching and learning because the school is not organising, managing and providing the maximum amount of time for them to learn, then the solution is not to get more Saturdays and holidays to provide them time for teaching and learning, but to fix up the non-utilisation of the 100 days. I spoke to my second year teacher training students about this issue, and it looks like most schools see this as 'normal' - that you waste 100 teaching and learning days during the year, and then try to make it up with these Saturdays and holidays - sad!
In any basic 'organisational development' thinking, if you need to have 'extra' days, then it is an indication that your planning is not done well. Therefore the need for extra days is an indication that things are not 'going or done well' somewhere in the system, and adding additional days is not fixing up the 'cause' of the problem. Because we don't see high functioning schools needing these days - and it is not that their learners are better than our learners in dysfunctional and underperforming schools. It is that they are the recipients of bad planning, bad leadership and management, and a system that cares less about them as learners.
And let me tell you that what I am sharing with you is 'no rocket science', but we need people with commitment and will to change this behaviour - don't blame the teachers because they are only doing what they are allowed to do, even if it is negative to education system as a whole.
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