School so far

Week 8- Professional

I cannot believe we have now reached are half way point in our international exchange to Port Elizabeth, South Africa. Through our studies at NMMU and our school observation days we have gained a valuable insight into the South African Education system.

Within South Africa, learners have twelve years of formal schooling, from grade 1 to 12. Grade R is a pre-primary foundation year similar to the reception/nursery phases found in Northern Ireland. Primary schools span the first seven years of schooling and are separated into the foundation (grade 1-4) and intermediate phase (grade 5-7). The Senior Certificate examination takes place at the end of grade 12 and is necessary for tertiary studies at a South African university. This is similar to the A level examination students have to sit in order to gain a place at an University in the UK. 

I began the week by visiting Ebenezer Academy.  This is a private school funded by the Ebenezer Centre; a community-based Christian church.  The school caters for both the foundation and intermediate phases only and has two classes of each grade containing 30 pupils.  The school uses the church building to conduct the lessons of the day and rooms alongside the main hall are used as classrooms. 

Ebenezer Academy and Church

"Meet the children."

I was placed with one of the Grade 1(primary 1) for the day and my teacher’s name was Miss Greenwood.  Throughout the day I observed the curriculum at first hand with various lessons and helped in the instruction of free play, Literacy, Numeracy, Phonics and Science lessons. In many ways there are great similarities in regards to the instruction of the various learning areas, however many of the topics covered, would not be taught to primary one in Northern Ireland as it would be regarded as barrier to the child’s holistic  development and their overall academic progression.  However, I believe that we as professionals can learn from this particular method of instruction, especially concerning their phonics and writing programme.  English for most of the children in the school is a second or third language as most of the children come from Xhosa speaking families and have spoken very little English before they enter Grade R or Grade 1.   I was so encouraged to see that all the children in the class could identify all the letters of the alphabet, through visual and oral prompts and with little or no assistance and they had only begun school in late January.   



Grade 1 hard at work



The teacher simply made the lesson, interactive, relevant and fun for the children making sure that all the children participated at a level that was comfortable for them to progress in their learning.   As the day continued I did see some minor irritations concerning the America curriculum, such as the way in which the date is written and indeed the teaching of money concerns dollars rather than South African rand which made no sense in my estimation.  It was also refreshing to see the positive classroom environment and caring demeanour observed by the classroom teacher, compared to the behaviour I witnessed by the teachers in the township schools.  As I reflect upon the professional competences outlined in my application to come to South Africa, I feel I can now fully appreciate the importance of maintaining professional relationships with all the pupils / learners entrusted to my care (GTCNI:2009) .  This can only be conducted by acknowledging each learner as a person, encouraging their growth and development as much as we can as facilitator’s of learning.  Overall I enjoyed my experience in the school and it gave me the opportunity to experience another element of the way education is facilitated within South Africa.

On Saturday we headed to Jeffery’s bay for the day to relax and unwind on the beautiful beaches found in and around the surfing town.  Paddy and Gareth had left at around 5am as they were very keen on surfing as many waves before the Saturday crowds arrived to the beaches.  I am certainly not an expert when it comes to surfing but the standard we witnessed at the Super tubes beach was incredible, but Paddy and the lads gave them a run for their money!  That afternoon we made our way to secluded place just outside J-Bay that we had heard had a zip-line and rock jumping into the river.  We made the journey through the dirt tracks and found the location we were looking for!  It was definitely at lot of fun jumping into the water from various heights, although I had a few bruises the next day.



Mr Parke Surfing..who would have thought?



Potjie time..

On Sunday after church we were invited round to Edward and Juanita’s for Sunday lunch African style.  Of course this was not your full roast dinner with all the trims but rather a good old South African ‘braai.’  The meal was great and we got the opportunity to meet some of the wider Kotze family and share some stories about our differing cultures and experiences.  That evening we had our first ‘Potjie,’ very similar to a stew as it takes several hours to make and cooked in a big cast iron pot over a fire.  I was really looking forward to this as Irish stew is one of my favourite meals from home.  The ‘Potjie’ was quite sweet and had all sorts of vegetable and meat which added lots of different flavours.  Although I thoroughly enjoyed the food, I can safely say  I will be looking forward to bowl of Irish stew served with fresh homemade wheaten bread, regardless if it is summer.

  

We both returned to Cape Recife High school on Tuesday for another day of observation.   The school itself is a public school for Learners with Special Educational needs.  The school aim is to strive to promote inclusive education by means of integrating the learners as much as possible with learners from mainstream schools.  The experience so far has been extremely interesting as we are currently studying a module concerning inclusive education at the University and it has been useful to not only observe various classes but also have the opportunity to witness the various policies and changes being made towards providing better education for those who have Special needs.    It has also provided an opportunity for me to reflect upon the previous module I studied in semester one at Stranmillis, Managing differences in the primary school.  This module looked at various issues concerning various issues of a modern day classroom, such as differentiation, behaviour issues; learning difficulties and special need provision within Northern Ireland.  With such resources, research and knowledge at our disposal this could be further shared with a developing country such as South Africa to enhance and extend the special needs provision. 

I’m definitely looking forward to putting all this experience into practice in a couple of week’s time.

On Wednesday I got a great picture of the sunset at one of the beaches just in front of our apartment! Enjoy the view!

TIA (THIS IS AFRICA)

Until next time,

“Baai” (bye)

Callum.

 It was very interesting to observe a differing curriculum to that found in Northern Ireland and indeed that of South Africa.  In contrast to Cape Recife our placement; the school uses the American curriculum as their method of instruction.  I asked the principal why this was the case and she informed me that the leadership of the school  and church, believe the current South African curriculum does not prepare children with the necessary skills to be able to grow, develop and function in the modern world.  She also highlighted the serious issue in the mainstream system concerning children's abilities and talents; where the learners are simply left to ‘sink or swim.’ Thus preventing the development and progress of these gifts as they are not being identified and nurtured effectively within state schools.

One of the many classrooms