BACKGROUND INFORMATION ON
SOUTH AFRICA
People and Society
South Africa is part of Sub-Saharan Africa. The nationality is South African. There are approximately 53.5 million people in South Africa as of now. There are many official languages in South Africa, with some being IsiZulu, IsiXhosa, Afrikaans and English.
South Africa is sometimes deemed the ‘Rainbow Nation’, a term seen fitting given the multicultural diversity in the country.The 'natives', black South Africans, account for approximately 80% of the population, and are part of a large variety of ethnic groups. (Our Africa, n.d.)
Because of its colonial past, South Africa has a great number of Afrikaans- (descended from Dutch settlers) and English speakers (due to British colonisation of the region in the 1800s).
French Huguenots, Germans and Portuguese arrived in the region since the 1600s and brought many slaves from India and modern-day Indonesia with them. Hence, Islam and Hindu traditions and culture are common and apparent in South Africa.
Among native black South Africans, there are many different ethnic groups and nine officially-recognised local languages. The two most common and largest groups in South Africa are the Zulu and Xhosa speakers, who make up for around 40% of the population, with Pedi, Sotho, Tswana, Tsonga, Swati/Swazi, Venda and Ndebele speakers accounting for the rest. (Our Africa, n.d.)
The various tribal cultures have rich oral traditions. Stories, poems and epics are a prominent feature of the tribal cultures, and it is tradition for the tribes to learn them by heart and recite them out loud.
Poverty
South Africa is a middle-income, emerging market with a huge supply of natural resources, such as well-developed financial, energy, transport, communication, legal sectors, as well as a stock exchange that is the largest in Africa, and in the top 20 worldwide. However, their poverty rate is one of the highest worldwide (The World Factbook, n.d.). In South Africa, poverty levels at 2011 is 20.2% for extreme poverty and 45.5% for moderate poverty. Approximately 10.2-million South Africans live in extreme poverty, which is defined as below the food line. (SouthAfrica.info, n.d.). Despite the high rates, South Africa is still considered to be successful in alleviating poverty. This is due to an expanding social safety net, above inflation wage increases, expansion of credit, income growth,decelerating inflationary pressure on households as well as the growth in formal housing. (Poverty trends in South Africa, 2014)
Environment Sustainability
In 2002, South Africa consumes approximately 1.1% of the primary energy in the world which accounted for approximately 35.6% of the whole of Africa’s consumption during the same period. At the same time, South Africa emitted 306.3 million tons of carbon dioxide from coal consumption, which tallies to 3.4% of the world’s as well as 90.6% of Africa’s energy-related carbon emissions. From 2002 onwards, millions of additional households in South Africa have access to electricity. (Sonnenberg,N. C., 2011, 2012; Erasmus, A. C., 2011, 2012; Donoghue, S., 2011,2012).
Academic Programmes
In South Africa, students start school with Grade 0 at the age of four. The compulsory Grades that are classified as the General Education and Training (GET) are Grades 1 to 9. Further Education and Training (FET) which takes place in grades 11 to 12, are not compulsory but such qualification at this level with a matriculation certificate is necessary to be admitted into tertiary education. Children of ages four to seven attend pre-school which is usually separated into two grades, Grade R and Grade 1. Grade R is known as Grade 0, for children of age four and turn five before 30th June, while Grade 1 is for children who turn six before 30th June. Education from Grade 1 onwards is compulsory (AngloInfo, n.d.).
Primary school is up to Grade 6. In the first three years of Primary School, commonly known as the Junior Years, students are taught about subjects such as reading and writing, mathematics and a second language (AngloInfo, n.d.). In the next three years, or the Senior Years in Primary School, student take up more subjects such as history, geography, life skills, science, written and speaking skills in their second language, above those subjects they take in their Junior Years.
Secondary education is also split into junior and senior phases. The senior phase of secondary school provides the opportunity for students to gain more knowledge in various academic subjects in order to further their studies or prepare themselves for their career choices in the future. (International qualifications, 2006).
Students have to take up at least four subjects from the following areas, consisting of General Studies, Commercial Studies, Natural Sciences, Technical Studies, the Arts, Agriculture and Domestic Science.(International qualifications, 2006).
Grades 10 to 12 can also comprise career oriented education and training in other Further Education and Training institutions such as technical and community colleges. This shows that vocational training is offered so as to allow students to develop their skills in a particular specialised area they would like to seek improvement on (International qualifications, 2006).
Education is compulsory up to the end of grade 9. Certificates are awarded upon completion of grade 10 and 11, but the National Senior Certificate, or NSC, is awarded upon completion of grade 12. The NSC is the equivalent of a high school leaving certificate and is also known as the matriculation or matric certificate (International qualifications, 2006).
To receive the NSC, students must study a minimum of six subjects. Compulsory subjects consist of two languages (including home language), Mathematics and Life Orientation. (International qualifications, 2006).
Teacher Pedagogy
In South Africa, efforts to improve the quality of teachers and their teaching have been undergoing for several years. These efforts include familiarising teachers with the new curriculum, such as the revised National Curriculum Statements (Deacon; 2010), through short courses and workshops. Other efforts are increasing the qualifications of under-qualified teachers through programmes such as the National Professional Diploma in Education (Deacon; 2010), developing teachers’ ability of the subject through various Advanced Certificates in Education (Deacon; 2010), identifying opportunities for teacher development through the Integrated Quality Management System (Deacon; 2010), Quality teaching and Learning Campaign (Deacon; 2010). Professional development programmes and providing support for teachers are also executed to improve teacher quality.
However, the national and provincial governments of South Africa, who are obliged to share responsibility of non-tertiary education matters, are not working well together and have poor coordination (Deacon; 2010). New well-qualified teachers are not being employed by the system immediately and existing qualified teachers are not being utilised effectively in schools. Most teacher in South Africa do not have ready access to professional development or initial teacher education facilities. Funding education resources, such as computers and books are not carried out. Teachers incorporate education resources poorly into lessons and resources are poorly monitored.
Furthermore, South Africans view the teaching profession as a cumbersome one and this affects the recruitment and retainment of teachers. This also results in the low morale of teachers. Many teachers are under-qualified (Deacon; 2010), many more are not prepared and do not receive the support they need to teach the grades to which they are assigned.
Recruitment of teachers in South Africa has also seen a decreasing trend. Most individuals who join the teaching force are young individuals who are less-educated. However, young teachers also bring about a severe high leaving rate due to the other job opportunities available. Hence, younger teachers who are highly-educated have a high leaving rate from the teaching force. (Berg, Burger; n.d.). Reasons for the declining number in employment of teachers include poor working conditions, low job satisfaction, such as limited career advancement and insufficient recognition, the overcrowding of schools and classrooms, uneven parental participation and power. Other private sector occupations have a greater status and income as compared to the job of a teacher (Deacon; 2010).
In light of the new education system in South Africa, continuous training of teachers, even a decade after the system was introduced, has taken up a huge amount of time of teachers. Continuous assessment of teachers and the Integrated Quality Management System have interrupted the teachers’ time greatly.
With a lack of quality programmes for teachers, teachers in South Africa are unable to improve their ability of teaching, as well as their level of understanding of the subject they are assigned to. This prevents the students from receiving good quality education because the teachers are not well-trained enough to teach the students in depth. A shortage of teachers would also result in a greater teacher-student ratio, which is around 38:1 For Primary School and around 19:1 For Secondary School (Leyendecker, 2008; Ramon, 2008; Wout Ottevanger, 2008; Akker, 2008; J. J. H. Van Den, 2008). Teachers are unable to pay more attention to individual students resulting in teachers being unable to focus on the weaker areas of each students. Lack of resources and inefficient use of resources refrain students from furthering their education. All these will in turn result in a lower standard of education of South African students.
Employers are generally satisfied with the disciplinary knowledge the students have. Unfortunately, they are dissatisfied with the skills they think youths ought to have but they lack, such as ICT skills as well as transferable skills like teamwork and problem-solving skills. A lower standard of education will therefore result in poorer skills of South Africans. With a lack of skills, South Africans are then unable to meet the requirements and needs of employers, resulting in a high unemployment rate.
South Africa is part of Sub-Saharan Africa. The nationality is South African. There are approximately 53.5 million people in South Africa as of now. There are many official languages in South Africa, with some being IsiZulu, IsiXhosa, Afrikaans and English.
South Africa is sometimes deemed the ‘Rainbow Nation’, a term seen fitting given the multicultural diversity in the country.The 'natives', black South Africans, account for approximately 80% of the population, and are part of a large variety of ethnic groups. (Our Africa, n.d.)
Because of its colonial past, South Africa has a great number of Afrikaans- (descended from Dutch settlers) and English speakers (due to British colonisation of the region in the 1800s).
French Huguenots, Germans and Portuguese arrived in the region since the 1600s and brought many slaves from India and modern-day Indonesia with them. Hence, Islam and Hindu traditions and culture are common and apparent in South Africa.
Among native black South Africans, there are many different ethnic groups and nine officially-recognised local languages. The two most common and largest groups in South Africa are the Zulu and Xhosa speakers, who make up for around 40% of the population, with Pedi, Sotho, Tswana, Tsonga, Swati/Swazi, Venda and Ndebele speakers accounting for the rest. (Our Africa, n.d.)
The various tribal cultures have rich oral traditions. Stories, poems and epics are a prominent feature of the tribal cultures, and it is tradition for the tribes to learn them by heart and recite them out loud.
Poverty
South Africa is a middle-income, emerging market with a huge supply of natural resources, such as well-developed financial, energy, transport, communication, legal sectors, as well as a stock exchange that is the largest in Africa, and in the top 20 worldwide. However, their poverty rate is one of the highest worldwide (The World Factbook, n.d.). In South Africa, poverty levels at 2011 is 20.2% for extreme poverty and 45.5% for moderate poverty. Approximately 10.2-million South Africans live in extreme poverty, which is defined as below the food line. (SouthAfrica.info, n.d.). Despite the high rates, South Africa is still considered to be successful in alleviating poverty. This is due to an expanding social safety net, above inflation wage increases, expansion of credit, income growth,decelerating inflationary pressure on households as well as the growth in formal housing. (Poverty trends in South Africa, 2014)
Environment Sustainability
In 2002, South Africa consumes approximately 1.1% of the primary energy in the world which accounted for approximately 35.6% of the whole of Africa’s consumption during the same period. At the same time, South Africa emitted 306.3 million tons of carbon dioxide from coal consumption, which tallies to 3.4% of the world’s as well as 90.6% of Africa’s energy-related carbon emissions. From 2002 onwards, millions of additional households in South Africa have access to electricity. (Sonnenberg,N. C., 2011, 2012; Erasmus, A. C., 2011, 2012; Donoghue, S., 2011,2012).
Academic Programmes
In South Africa, students start school with Grade 0 at the age of four. The compulsory Grades that are classified as the General Education and Training (GET) are Grades 1 to 9. Further Education and Training (FET) which takes place in grades 11 to 12, are not compulsory but such qualification at this level with a matriculation certificate is necessary to be admitted into tertiary education. Children of ages four to seven attend pre-school which is usually separated into two grades, Grade R and Grade 1. Grade R is known as Grade 0, for children of age four and turn five before 30th June, while Grade 1 is for children who turn six before 30th June. Education from Grade 1 onwards is compulsory (AngloInfo, n.d.).
Primary school is up to Grade 6. In the first three years of Primary School, commonly known as the Junior Years, students are taught about subjects such as reading and writing, mathematics and a second language (AngloInfo, n.d.). In the next three years, or the Senior Years in Primary School, student take up more subjects such as history, geography, life skills, science, written and speaking skills in their second language, above those subjects they take in their Junior Years.
Secondary education is also split into junior and senior phases. The senior phase of secondary school provides the opportunity for students to gain more knowledge in various academic subjects in order to further their studies or prepare themselves for their career choices in the future. (International qualifications, 2006).
Students have to take up at least four subjects from the following areas, consisting of General Studies, Commercial Studies, Natural Sciences, Technical Studies, the Arts, Agriculture and Domestic Science.(International qualifications, 2006).
Grades 10 to 12 can also comprise career oriented education and training in other Further Education and Training institutions such as technical and community colleges. This shows that vocational training is offered so as to allow students to develop their skills in a particular specialised area they would like to seek improvement on (International qualifications, 2006).
Education is compulsory up to the end of grade 9. Certificates are awarded upon completion of grade 10 and 11, but the National Senior Certificate, or NSC, is awarded upon completion of grade 12. The NSC is the equivalent of a high school leaving certificate and is also known as the matriculation or matric certificate (International qualifications, 2006).
To receive the NSC, students must study a minimum of six subjects. Compulsory subjects consist of two languages (including home language), Mathematics and Life Orientation. (International qualifications, 2006).
Teacher Pedagogy
In South Africa, efforts to improve the quality of teachers and their teaching have been undergoing for several years. These efforts include familiarising teachers with the new curriculum, such as the revised National Curriculum Statements (Deacon; 2010), through short courses and workshops. Other efforts are increasing the qualifications of under-qualified teachers through programmes such as the National Professional Diploma in Education (Deacon; 2010), developing teachers’ ability of the subject through various Advanced Certificates in Education (Deacon; 2010), identifying opportunities for teacher development through the Integrated Quality Management System (Deacon; 2010), Quality teaching and Learning Campaign (Deacon; 2010). Professional development programmes and providing support for teachers are also executed to improve teacher quality.
However, the national and provincial governments of South Africa, who are obliged to share responsibility of non-tertiary education matters, are not working well together and have poor coordination (Deacon; 2010). New well-qualified teachers are not being employed by the system immediately and existing qualified teachers are not being utilised effectively in schools. Most teacher in South Africa do not have ready access to professional development or initial teacher education facilities. Funding education resources, such as computers and books are not carried out. Teachers incorporate education resources poorly into lessons and resources are poorly monitored.
Furthermore, South Africans view the teaching profession as a cumbersome one and this affects the recruitment and retainment of teachers. This also results in the low morale of teachers. Many teachers are under-qualified (Deacon; 2010), many more are not prepared and do not receive the support they need to teach the grades to which they are assigned.
Recruitment of teachers in South Africa has also seen a decreasing trend. Most individuals who join the teaching force are young individuals who are less-educated. However, young teachers also bring about a severe high leaving rate due to the other job opportunities available. Hence, younger teachers who are highly-educated have a high leaving rate from the teaching force. (Berg, Burger; n.d.). Reasons for the declining number in employment of teachers include poor working conditions, low job satisfaction, such as limited career advancement and insufficient recognition, the overcrowding of schools and classrooms, uneven parental participation and power. Other private sector occupations have a greater status and income as compared to the job of a teacher (Deacon; 2010).
In light of the new education system in South Africa, continuous training of teachers, even a decade after the system was introduced, has taken up a huge amount of time of teachers. Continuous assessment of teachers and the Integrated Quality Management System have interrupted the teachers’ time greatly.
With a lack of quality programmes for teachers, teachers in South Africa are unable to improve their ability of teaching, as well as their level of understanding of the subject they are assigned to. This prevents the students from receiving good quality education because the teachers are not well-trained enough to teach the students in depth. A shortage of teachers would also result in a greater teacher-student ratio, which is around 38:1 For Primary School and around 19:1 For Secondary School (Leyendecker, 2008; Ramon, 2008; Wout Ottevanger, 2008; Akker, 2008; J. J. H. Van Den, 2008). Teachers are unable to pay more attention to individual students resulting in teachers being unable to focus on the weaker areas of each students. Lack of resources and inefficient use of resources refrain students from furthering their education. All these will in turn result in a lower standard of education of South African students.
Employers are generally satisfied with the disciplinary knowledge the students have. Unfortunately, they are dissatisfied with the skills they think youths ought to have but they lack, such as ICT skills as well as transferable skills like teamwork and problem-solving skills. A lower standard of education will therefore result in poorer skills of South Africans. With a lack of skills, South Africans are then unable to meet the requirements and needs of employers, resulting in a high unemployment rate.