 |
|
BOOK REVIEW
Educator Supply and Demand in the South African Public Education System-Integrated Report, (K Peltzer et al), HSRC Press, 2005, 140 pages.
Educator Workload in South Africa, (L Chisholm et al), HSRC Press, 2005, 206 pages.
Reviewed by Salim Vally (Wits Education Policy Unit)
For many years speculation and anecdotal reports of teacher absenteeism, job dissatisfaction, high work loads, low morale and premature mortality generated much passion. While all observers acknowledged that these factors are crucial in influencing teacher productivity, learning outcomes and learner achievement they remained neglected areas of scientific research.
Seven years ago, the Wits Education Policy Unit (EPU), through its journal, took umbrage at statements made by some sections of the media and high profile politicians concerning the ethical and professional conduct of teachers. It questioned the generalisations which were “widely and wildly made…condemning all teachers for their ‘bad work ethic’ and ‘serial absenteeism’. At the time, through the EPU’s Quarterly Review, I counselled that such statements court sensationalism and that although “the issues are grave, a cooler, more balanced, scientific and inclusive analysis of the situation is needed instead of the easy teacher-bashing exercises we have become familiar with.” For the first time, we now have a series of empirically based reports and reliable data which hopefully will inform education planners and dare I say various talk show hosts.
The Education Labour Relations Council, a statutory body consisting primarily of teacher unions and education departments, commissioned these comprehensive studies which also include valuable recommendations. The report on factors determining educator supply and demand in public schools was compiled by a consortium consisting of the Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC), the Medical Research Council and the University of KwaZulu-Natal’s Mobile Task Team on the Impact of HIV/AIDS on Education. This multi-study project integrates a series of seven reports, all published last year: The Health of our Educators (Shisana et al), Workplace Policies in Public Education (Simbayi et al), HIV-positive Educators in South African Public Schools (Rehle et al), The Impact of Antiretroviral Treatment on Aids Mortality (Rehle and Shisana), Factors Affecting Teaching and Learning in South African Public Schools (Phurutse), Potential Attrition in Education (Hall et al) and finally Educator Attrition and Mortality in South Africa (Badcock-Walters et al).
It is deeply troubling that while the school-age population between 6-13 years increased by 6.4% between 1999 and 2003 (despite the impact of AIDS), the total number of public school educators (those paid by the state and school governing bodies) declined by 5.3% (386 735 to 366 320) in the period 1997/98 to 2002/03. The situation is worse if we consider the attrition levels of state paid teachers: 9.3% in 1997/98, 6.4% the next year, 5.5% in 2000/01 and rising again to 5.9% in 2002/03. The high attrition rates between 1997 and 1999 can be accounted for by the disastrous teacher rationalisation policy in that period and in recent years mortality, medical retirement and resignations have risen. In the financial year 2002/03 alone, 15 000 teachers were needed to meet replacement demand excluding 6000 substitute teachers.
The supply of teachers is not meeting demand. The study projects that for 2008, if the learner to educator ratio is 1:35 (currently the ratio is 1:40 and 1:35 in primary and secondary schools respectively) then we would have a shortfall of between 32 000 to 34 000 teachers. Depressingly, over half the sample of teachers studied thought of leaving their profession.
With regard to HIV prevalence rates, while the report provides average figures of 12.7% for all teachers, the age group 25-34 have the highest rates at 21.4%. Crucially, the report determined that 10 000 teachers require the immediate initiation of Antiretroviral therapy (ART) based on the conservative guidelines for CD4 cell count of less than 200.
Interestingly, HIV/AIDS is not the only significant factor of ill health in teachers. Seventy five percent of the teachers studied reported a visit to a doctor in the six months prior to the study and most of the chronic diseases were stress related. Despite the canard that most teachers are habitual alcoholics (recall the national mirth a few years back when a minister, on prime time television, accused teachers of spending more time in shebeens than in classrooms) the report found that 75% of teachers had not had alcohol in the past twelve months and a mere 5.3% could be classified as high-risk drinkers.
Some of the recommendations in the seven reports include:
-the need to attract and provide incentives to prospective students who might be willing to become educators and measures to retain educators by inter alia providing loans to students and improving the career prospects and service conditions of educators.
-the provision of effective social support structures serviced by dedicated school social workers as well as the appointment of assistant teachers to reduce the non-teaching workload of educators.
-improving the classroom environment and job satisfaction of teachers as well as salary increases linked to career advancement.
-the importance of providing a comprehensive prevention and treatment programme for all illnesses. This includes the urgent rollout of ART and the treatment of opportunistic infections.
-encouraging teaching in rural areas.
The Educator Workload Report compiled by staff from the HSRC is based on an impressive survey consisting of 3909 questionnaires and time-diaries conducted in nine hundred schools. The findings of the survey were validated by in-depth case studies in ten schools. Three out of four educators felt their workload had increased considerably since the year 2000. Some of the factors which have contributed to this situation include the burdensome requirements of outcomes based education; the onerous paperwork and administrative tasks; the paucity of resources and the shortage of teachers resulting in the fact that particularly “those schools most in need of improvement are least able to respond to new external environments” and large class sizes which result in a decline in the hours spent on teaching, preparation and planning.
A disjuncture exists between policy and practice in that teachers spend an average 41 hours on all activities per week and not 43 hours as the policy requires. The formal school day is 7 hours long and school week is 35 hours but teachers are required to spend a further 8 hours per week outside the formal school hours on work related activities. On average more than half a teacher’s working week is spent on administration and activities such as extra-mural studies. While teachers are meant to spend between 64% and 79% of the formal school week on teaching, the average time teachers actually spend on teaching is 46% of the 35 hour week or 41% of the total time- an average of 3.2 hours a day. The following breakdown shows how actual time-on-teaching gets crowded out-the total time is disaggregates as follows: 41% on teaching, 14% on planning and preparation, 14% on assessment, evaluation, reports and record-keeping, 12% on extra-curricula activities, 7% on management and supervision, 5% on professional development, 3% on pastoral care, 2% on guidance and counselling and 2% on breaks.
The study notes that ironically, “Much of the paperwork that teachers are required to do is designed to ensure that teaching an assessment occurs regularly…” yet, “…it is precisely this policy …that serves to undermine instructional time”.
Among the recommendations of the study is the need to safeguard teaching time and to stress “the role of teachers as teachers”; reduce class sizes; improve administrative support; reduce the number of learning areas in the curriculum and reduce the required assessment, recording and reporting procedures.
Although all these reports make grim reading they are an essential corrective to the ill informed (and reckless) views held about teachers and policy prescriptions pushed through without adequate data. Hopefully, they will be studied closely and built upon so that we can appreciate and support our teachers, encourage students to join the profession, develop the full potential of our students (as the preamble to our constitution insists we should) and through them our country.
The reports can be downloaded at: www.elrc.org.za and www.hsrcpress.ac.za
