Vusumuzi Dube
Jobert Ngwenya
It is interesting that this past week one of the major local papers carried an article that “CALAs are not going anywhere”. To me, that is a welcome development but as indicated in my previous submissions, a lot still needs to be done to make sure the continuous assessment regime achieves its intended purpose.
As shown from the teachers’ perspectives, a lot of gaps still exist that need to be fixed before we can authoritatively implement continuous assessments. In this article, I will express my opinions on how we can transform our education through robust teacher training, workplace learning and giving the teacher the position they deserve.
As we celebrate our political independence from Britain, we seem to be forgetting the role of education and the centrality of the teacher in the national development paradigm. At independence, and the successive years, the country grappled with labour shortages in the education sector, in which on the job training was adopted, from which we celebrate or celebrated the wonderful results of those daring steps by the government.
Fast forward, in the 21st century, educational outcomes have changed, and teacher training has slightly improved but recruitment has worsened. Teaching as a profession, possibly the same problem in nursing, is now being viewed as a fallback profession for those who could not make it into other professions. The outcomes of this disaster should be glaring to an observant eye.
Worse still, I remember how at some point, most likely the case in most rural districts even today, teachers, or “people without” pedagogy, were and are “holding fort” in the education field. Nothing against that as some, at least from my blinkered observation, worked and produced far better results than the trained or teacher with pedagogy. The bigger picture of course is how teaching as a profession seems not to be having set standards on who should be trained.
I remember how sometime in 2016 or so, the then Minister of Primary and Secondary Education, Dr Lazarus Dokora tried to introduce a “professional council”, (I assume a regulatory body) and had the idea shot down at least in practice, on the unfounded fears and of course mistrust from the teachers.
In hindsight, was that not a good idea? To me gatekeeping in the noble profession remains very paramount. If lawyers, doctors, nurses, social workers, vets and engineers among other professions have bodies that regulate who should practice, what of teachers who at any given day have millions of “clients” before them and carry the future of the nation in their hands?
With teachers spending the longest time with their clients, our children than all the above professions, how much should we be wary of their expertise? Going into the curriculum review process, this should be an important point to ponder on.
One of the major sticking points on the implementation of CALAs has been the lack of standardised assessment tasks and the chances of bias in marking. To me, the so-called standardisation should start at teacher training. If teachers are rightly trained (pre-service and in-service), there won’t be any worries of substandard assessment or biased marks (of course the issue of teacher compensation also comes in handy but I will pause it for now). For now, I will submit that, as a well-trained educator, I will not even need an overzealous moderator to come and moderate my CALA work.
Fully trained, well-equipped, and rightly compensated, any teacher will execute their duty without the need for, allow me to stretch it further, “inspectors” to come and sniff at how they are doing what they were rigorously recruited, thoroughly trained for, rightly equipped and well-paid to do.
At this point, without rocking the boat, I can safely stand up and stress that, as I have said before, there is a lack of trust between the government and teachers. Building that trust may take decades as recent events such as examination paper leakages and what I have heard as “laughable” CALA marks.
Unfortunately, this lack of trust and respect for teachers is now evident even among learners, who frequently display negative attitudes towards their teachers and education in general. To address this issue, teachers must be empowered and respected as professionals and experts in their field.
The empowerment should start from avoiding the recruitment of “Jack and Jill” into the profession, robust pre and in-service training, compensating the teacher what is due their sweat, (in the spirit on independence month) with the patriotic eyes that look at how the current education will have either positive or devastating effects on the country’s development trajectory in the coming years and decades.
Commensurate with the continuous assessment regime, a more comprehensive consultation should be conducted to evaluate experiences hitherto and the prospects for the future. Important to note is that theories either from local or international universities do not always translate to actionable practice.
Generally speaking, not all policies, no matter how “glossy” they may appear on paper or how successful they may have been elsewhere, may be a success in a different national or cultural context. That said, as the ministry is working on curriculum review, a more all-inclusive consultation should be conducted.
If more time and financial resources were invested on planning with the actual implementers of the policies possibly through action research, a more relevant continuous assessment framework can be achieved.
Besides the apparent positive outcomes that participatory approaches such as ownership and buy-in from teachers, the years of experience will be more useful than some scientific research by an academic who has never been a classroom practitioner in their life.
As we celebrate 43 years of political independence from Britain, we need to reflect on how we need to rescue our much-hyped education system, reorient it to meet the current trends in education, the “future of work” and of course to meet our national aspirations in a globalised world. To this end, teachers must be empowered and respected as professionals and experts in their field.
Empowerment must begin with robust teacher training that is based on high academic achiever, rather than desperate individuals who have no other professional options. Continuous workplace learning should also be a deliberate policy to upskill teachers and ensure that they are equipped to meet the demands of the 21st century and lastly well-thought-of compensation that will attract and retain the best brains in the field.
Jobert Ngwenya is an award winning educator, Fulbright TEA Fellow, National Geographic Education Grantee, author, and academic audio content creator. He holds a Master of Arts in Development Studies (MSU) Bachelor of Arts (UZ) and Post Graduate Diploma in Education (ZOU). He can be contacted by email on [email protected]
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