In 1995, a National Teacher Audit noted that South Africa's
360,000 teachers are "all
in need of some form of in-service training".
The country's education
system indeed faces serious deficiences and inequalities which
affect both teacher and learner. It is estimated, for example,
that overcrowding is common in many classes with a student/teacher
ratio as high as 65:1, that management of classes is often archaic
and based on authoritarian methods, that basic equipment and learning
materials are lacking and that English is not the first language
for many teachers and this when proficiency in the language is
necessary for many subjects.
The implications of these professional deficits in terms of educational
quality, curricular changes, classroom practice and learner development
are vast. Much will be needed to bridge gaps but OLSET's
teacher development programme has carved itself a distinct role
in meeting the professional needs of teachers. Originally conceived
as a system of bringing instruction through radio to learners
in distant classrooms, OLSET has since diversified its tasks and
its learning groups. It soon realised that broadcasting radio
programmes was not enough to bring about true learning in pupils.
Successful radio instruction also depended on teacher inventiveness
and stimulation in the classroom. To make the optimum use of radio,
therefore, OLSET's managers
decided to work with teachers.
Working with teachers, however, meant requestioning their roles, aspirations and methodologies. OLSET has shown that the teacher is, in many ways, the radio's partner, ensuring that pupils learn the most they can, preparing the lesson, managing radio instruction and giving explanations which are beyond the radio's limits. These requirements place a heavy burden on the teacher's skills and abilities. This has led OLSET to establish a few key principles, which, it believes, can facilitate and create the appropriate conditions for the radio/teacher partnership to be successful. They are that :
-teachers should be treated as a community of professionals
-programmes should be able to operate in the context of a wide range of skills among teachers
-a multichannel system of teacher support should be offered (including face-to-face training and peer group meetings, audio, video and print media) as an optimal model of teacher support
-the radio programmes should, in themselves, promote new and more effective learner-centred approaches
-because regular classroom audio programmes for children also offer extensive, certain and extremely valuable contact time with teachers, this time should be used for in-service teacher development
-practice with radio-assisted teaching should act as an entry
point for other practical and inventive skills.
OLSET sees radio as a chance to suggest a broader vision of teacher
growth and seeks to transform the teacher from a traditional technical
role dispensing information, into a more active stimulator of
community and learner development. Simply producing new materials
and informing teachers about new methods is unlikely to bring
about the needed changes in classroom practice and in teachers'
attitudes. OLSET aims to empower teachers and help them solve
and overcome everyday obstacles in their work. It places a mirror
in front of teachers in their work, getting them far more engaged
in what actually happens in their classrooms.
Contact infoormation:
Gordon Naidoo, OLSET,
5th Floor, Olivetti House
15 Stiemens Street, Braamfontein
Tel: 011 339 5491 - Fax: 011 339 6818