GRADE R TARGETS AND ROLL-OUT ACHIEVEMENTS
EDITORIAL
TABLE 18: Percentage of 5-year-olds attending educational institutions: 2002 – 2009. PROVINCE
2002
EC FS
GP
KZN LP
MP NC
NW WC
49.6 33.3 45.9 33.4 43.1 28.9 21.5 36.6 41.2
2003
52.7 54.7 59.2 35.0 55.7 37.9 34.2 42.8 53.7
grade R as it receives less funding than oth- er grades.
OECD REPORT SUGGESTIONS:
n Re-address ECD financial policy as cur- rent ECD budget does not allow for full coverage. Community involvement is the fall-back plan, one which the OECD
2004
60.8 56.3 51.3 38.7 68.4 60.1 25.9 48.2 49.6
2005
69.0 55.6 60.0 50.1 73.2 55.5 55.2 47.4 60.3
IMPROVED IMPLIMENTATION FOR GRADE R 2006
70.9 59.2 60.9 54.3 76.6 57.0 46.7 50.5 65.7
cautions against as current policy aims to introduce Gr R at schools.
n Re-prioritise ECD in the light of inter- national experience of its vital impor- tance.
n Adapt policy to the needs of most dis- advantaged sites instead of basing policy on best practice of advanced sites.
2007
69.3 61.3 64.3 51.5 71.8 63.6 59.1 45.7 52.2
2008
80.3 60.4 61.3 57.5 74.3 65.1 50.0 53.2 53.5
2009
85.4 86.0 73.3 70.1 92.7 83.2 80.1 66.8 79.1
n ECD Teachers Training should be an urgent focus.
“
n Re-think the model’s learner to teach- er ratios of 30:1. Research holds that the early years require the most inten- sive teacher to child ratio.
RECOMMENDATIONS FOR GRADE R SUPPORT
Recommendations have to take account of three types of teachers in the system:
a. Teachers who are qualified teachers but who are not quali- fied to teach Grade R.
b. Teachers who have Level 4 or Level 5 ECD training who want to continue their studies to a B Ed.
c. Teachers who have Level 4 or Level 5 ECD training who do not want to go on to a B Ed but who will need to have some form of upgrading to stay in the system.2
All of the following recommendations require collaborative work, across the NGO, FET, HEI and government sectors, and in most instances will supplement and build on existing plans and work that has begun or been done.
RECOMMENDATION 1
Review and refine quality criteria for Grade R, in collabora- tion with provinces, NGOs, FET colleges, HEIs etc., to be pre- sented to the DoBE for consideration. While we understand that the determination of qualifications and standard setting is the mandate of the Department of Education and the Coun- cil for Higher Education, we hope that this will contribute to the collaborative development of national standards for a pos- sible new Level 6 ECD qualification, incorporating Grade R. In addition the consolidation of these quality criteria will enable providers to review their existing programmes and adjust them accordingly. The development of the CPTD programmes and quality support materials will be based on these quality criteria.
RECOMMENDATION 2
Develop a program outline for a Level 6 ECD qualification, making sure that it aligns with Level 4/5 qualifications and the B.Ed. This would have to include critically analysing the exist- ing B.Eds that offer ECD in the light of the Higher Education Qualifications Framework (HEQF) and the emerging revised Norms and Standards for Educators. The target group for this
programme is the second category of teachers outlined above, namely teachers who have a Level 4/5 ECD and who want to access the B Ed.
RECOMMENDATION 3
Develop national standard quality CPTD programmes and ma- terials on identified gap areas:
n methodologies to support teaching and learning through play
n the NCS and early childhood development
n home language emergent literacy instruction, including multi-lingual teaching and learning
n first additional language emergent literacy instruction n emergent numeracy instruction
n teachers’ language, to support professional development and for meaningful participation in the professional teaching community
n fundamentals
It would be ideal to develop programmes and materials on all of these areas, but this would be dependent on available time and funds. We would therefore like to suggest that pro- gramme outlines are developed for all of the above, and that programme outlines and materials be developed for those that we believe are at the heart of quality teaching, namely:
n methodologies to support teaching and learning through play
n home language emergent literacy (and possibly numeracy) instruction, including multi-lingual teaching and learning
n teachers’ language, to support professional development and for meaningful participation in the professional teaching community
The target group for the CPTD programmes is the first and third category of teachers outlined above, namely those who are qualified but not experienced in Grade R teaching, and
2 It is worth noting that the third category of teacher will have to be accommodated differently in the system if it is decided that the minimum qualification for a Grade R teacher is a BEd. These are teachers who are teaching already and who we don’t necessarily want to lose. It is possible that they would study until Level 6, and then, for example, either be allowed to teach only Grade R and not the whole Foundation Phase, they could be employed as teaching assistants, or another option.
www.ed.org.za
CHAPTER 9 | EARLY CHILDHOOD DEVELOPMENT AND ADULT BASIC EDUCATION AND TRAINING
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