August 20 Elna

A Comment from a Grandmother; she has noticed a dramatic change in the quality of education from when her son went to school until now with her grand daughter. Her grand daughter is still unable to read and is ashamed by her inability. The grandmother is secretly tutoring her. She cannot understand why the child is still unable to read.

Educator from the United States, has noticed how over the last 20 years there as been a more toward more project base method of teaching. That skills and theory emerge from doing more than just thinking about doing.

A retired educator from the UK, who does volunteer literacy teaching at a school funded by Catholic charity, finds her situation chaotic. Learners are young people who have dropped out of ‘normal’ learning routes for various social and personal reasons. Most often the learners are hungry, coming to school without having had breakfast. They do receive a lunch meal. The chaos seems largely due to lack of discipline and boundaries.

She stated that there are good schools in South Africa, both private and public; schools who have maintained their tradition and reputation of sound education. She feels that schools in poorer areas are still recovering from the legacy of the previous political Bantu education order. This will still take some time to balance itself. She pointed out that there is a prevailing disrespect and lack of learning/teaching culture among the lower economic sectors. This needs to be addressed through teacher training, where a dignified culture of learning can grow.