EDUCATION IN SOUTH AFRICA

Since 1994, after the introduction of compulsory education in South Africa, the number of children attending school has risen sharply.  However, structural problems in the education system have resulted in many poorly prepared high school graduates and high numbers of dropouts in the final grades.
In December, the South Africa government hailed the 70 percent pass rate for percent high school final exams, as a major achievement.  It has risen every year since 2008 when 62.5 percent of students passed.
These statistics, although reflecting an improvement in South Africa’s basic education system, mask some major shortcomings that concern many education specialists here.

Educational needs

 

The research reflected in this volume indicates that in South Africa there are almost three million youth between the ages of 18 and 24 who are not in education, training or employment – a situation which points not only to a grave wastage of talent, but also to the possibility of serious social disruption. The authors in this work paint a picture of the enormous reservoir of human talent which exists in the country, but is not provided with the means to develop.

The special needs of Learners in Education

what are special educational needs?

If your child has more difficulties than most children their age with schoolwork, communication or behaviour, plenty of help and advice is at hand from special educational needs specialists, teachers and voluntary organisations.

What 'special educational needs' means

The term 'special educational needs' (SEN) has a legal definition, referring to children who have learning difficulties or disabilities that make it harder for them to learn or access education than most children of the same age.
Many children will have SEN of some kind at some time during their education. Help will usually be provided in their ordinary, mainstream early education setting or school, sometimes with the help of outside specialists.
If your child has special educational needs, they may need extra help in a range of areas, for example:

• schoolwork
• reading, writing, number work or understanding information
• expressing themselves or understanding what others are saying
• making friends or relating to adults
• behaving properly in school
• organising themselves
• some kind of sensory or physical needs which may affect them in school

visit my educational web site for mathematics and physical sciences

https://sites.google.com/site/mbedu93/

In order to support and improve the quality of education in schools (Grades 10 to 12) and FET colleges, the Department provided key support in the

development of Grade 12 assessment tasks for all 16 subjects with a practical component for 2010. These were translated into Afrikaans and sent to

provinces for distribution to schools. Additional copies of preliminary examination question papers were sought from provinces and were uploaded onto

the Thutong website. 8 000 Teacher Guides for Grade 12 Life Orientation were printed and distributed to schools. The National catalogue was upgraded

to include textbooks screened in Life Sciences, technical subjects and Arts. The report on Subject Advisor training was completed and the report finalised.

NCS policy documents on the amendments of regulations were gazetted, and the audit of Technical High Schools by KPMG was completed.

What do we think leadership actually is?

At one level a leader is the person who not only influences what happens but is able to make things happen by initiating changes, organising how change happens and making all the necessary structures, decisions and activities meaningful. But, accepting this view of leadership shouldn’t mean that we manipulate colleagues and change their behaviour to fit our prearranged norm. It does mean that to be an effective leader we need to be able to give colleagues a sense of understanding of what they are actually doing in the school.

In trying to clarify leadership in simple terms – it is useful to summarise some of the common traits that characterise effective leaders.

This kind of summary can be divided into specific areas and include how leadership has to be concerned with:

• a sense of responsibility

• the need to complete tasks

• being willing and able to take risks

• having the capacity to handle stress

• being able to influence and coordinate the efforts of colleagues.

Jongisile Mbedu

Jongisile Mbedu