Some Issues That Influence The Supply And Demand Of Scarce And Critical Skills In The Schooling Sector In South Africa

Author(s):

Bongani Bantwini(presenting / submitting)

Conference:

ECER 2017

Network:

11. Educational Improvement and Quality Assurance

Format:

Paper

Session Information

11 SES 06, Improvement of Teaching Processes

Paper Session

Time:

2017-08-23

15:30-17:00

Room:

W2.10

Chair:

Joanna Williamson

Contribution

There is consensus that the South African schooling system performs well below its potential (Department of Basic Education, 2011; Van der Berg, et al., 2011; Bantwini & Feza, 2015) and therefore improving it is a prerequisite for the country’s long-range development goals the (Department of Basic Education [DBE], 2011). Schooling is a key priority as it possesses significant implications for the economic well-being of the country (DBE, 2011). The National Development Plan (The Presidency, 2011) asserts that the quality of the schooling system impacts significantly on further education, college, higher education and society’s ability to innovate. Nevertheless, one of the utmost and persistent challenges confronting the schooling system is the production of sufficient qualified, competent teachers, who can provide quality teaching for all school subjects and phases (Centre for Development Enterprise, 2015; Broekhuizen, 2015; Arends, 2011). Sufficient qualified teachers are key in changing the status quo of the South African schooling as they ensure that learners receive the quality basic education (Paterson and Arends, 2008; Van der Berg, et al., 2011). Several researchers (Adendorff, Mathebula & Green, 2015; Paterson & Arends, 2008) argues that the delivery of quality learning in any education system depends on sustaining the supply of quality and sufficient teachers to meet the demand. Also common from the research is that the South Africa higher education institutes are still not producing sufficient numbers of new graduates that will meet the annual demand for qualified new teachers. Thus, lack of quality teacher supply result to poor quality schooling. Spaull (2013) argues that poor quality schooling at the primary and secondary level in South Africa severely limit the youth’s capacity to exploit further training opportunities. In Spaull’s view, the existing skills deficiencies among those who are the product of an underperforming school system are likely to persist.

This study explores and discusses some of the critical issues impacting the supply and demand of educators in the scarce and critical skills areas in the schooling sector. The following questions are used to guide the study: (1) what are the scarce skills in the schooling sector? (2) How effective are the supply-side measures in addressing skills shortage in the schooling sector? (3) What are the implications of the national strategies and plan for skills development in the schooling sector? The issue of supply and demand in the schooling sector is aligned with the South African national strategies and plan for skills development in the schooling sector. The National Development Plan (The Presidency, 2011) identifies provision of scarce and critical skills and enhancement of educator skills as critical in the schooling sector and possess implications for the economy of the country in general.

Method

This qualitative study was conducted in seven provinces in South Africa. The primary data was collected through focus group and in-depth interviews with various stakeholders in the schooling sector at both provincial levels and district level. Various data sources focusing on supply and demand of scarce and critical skills in the schooling sector were consulted. The purpose of these interviews was to give a voice to various stakeholders regarding issues associated with the supply and demand of scarce and critical skills in the schooling sector. The targeted stakeholders were department of education provincial officials and school district officials. In each province and school district the focus was on the officials in the various units: Education Management Information System, Human Resource, Human Resource Development, Curriculum unit, teacher development, Special needs units or inclusive education to mention a few. The officials were identified based on their expertise in the topic under investigation. These stakeholders were interviewed using focus group and in-depth interviews. All the interviews were recorded with the permission of the interviewees. The qualitative data coding and analysis followed an iterative process as suggested by Miles and Huberman (1994:9). The process includes reading and affixing codes to the transcript notes while noting reflections or other remarks in the margins; sorting and sifting through the materials to identify similar phrases, relationships between variables, patterns, themes, distinct differences between subgroups, and common sequences; isolating these patterns… The generated themes and sub-themes are presented below.

Expected Outcomes

The findings suggest that there is a high rate of teacher shortages at every level of schooling system. The shortages are visible in Mathematics, Science, Accounting at all levels; Mathematics & Science at Senior Phase (SP); Qualified Foundation Phase (FP) teachers; languages to mention a few. Findings also suggests that the current supply of educators in the scarce and critical areas hardly meet the demand. The few educators entering the schooling system are said to be struggling in terms of content and pedagogical knowledge, classroom management and administrative skills, professionalism and lack dedication to the profession.The new graduates were said to be unwilling to take teaching positions in the rural schools. This tendency was also evident from new graduates who originally were from the rural areas. There was high attrition rate of teachers in the department of education attributed to: financial reasons, un-conducive employment and working conditions, lack of support from schools, parents and districts, lack of motivation, health related issues (stress) and death, just to mention a few. Furthermore, the implementation of some of the education policies (post provisioning norms; School Governing Bodies’ policy and policy on learner progression) is said to be problematic. I argue and conclude that the insufficient supply of educators has implications for the higher institutions of learning’s production of teachers, which need to be more focused on the problematic areas but without completely neglecting the other areas as this may later create other problems. School districts need to speed up the process of establishing induction programme that will ease the new graduates into the schooling system. The findings have some implications for the government’s support and recruitment of students to teacher education programmes to ensure adequate supply to meet the demand.

References

Arends, F. (2011).Teacher shortages? The need for more reliable information at school level. Review of Education, Skills Development and Innovation, November 2011. Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC). pages 1-4. Bantwini, B.D. & Feza, N.N. (2016). Left Behind in a Democratic Society: A Case of some Farm Primary School Natural Science Teachers in South Africa. (International Journal of leadership in Education). http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13603124.2015.1124927 Centre for Development and Enterprise (2015). Technical report: Teacher supply and demand in South Africa: 2013-2025. Available online: http://www.cde.org.za/publications/education-skills-and-markets Department of Basic Education. (2011). Action Plan to 2014: Towards the realization of Schooling 2025. Pretoria, South Africa. National Education Evaluation and Development Unit (2013). National Report 2013: Teaching and Learning in Rural Primary Schools. Pretoria, South Africa. Paterson, A and Arends, F. (2008) Who are we missing? Teacher graduate production in South Africa, 1995-2006. Southern African Review of Education, 14(1-2): 95-118. Peltzer, K; Shisana, O, Udjo, E; D Wilson, Rehle, T; Connolly, C, Zuma, Z; Letlape, T, Louw, J; Simbayi, L, Zungu-Dirwayi, N; Ramlagan, S, Magome, K; Hall, E, Phurutse, M. (2005). Educator Supply and Demand in the South African Public Education System Integrated report. HSRC Press. Cape Town. Spaull, N. (2013). South Africa’s education crisis: The quality of education in South Africa 1994-2011. Report Commissioned by the Centre for Development and Enterprise. The Presidency. (2011). National development plan: Vision for 2030. National Planning Commission. Pretoria, Republic of South Africa. Van der Berg, S., Burger, R., de Vos, M., du Rand, G., Gustafsson, M., … & von Fintel, D. (2011). Low quality education as a poverty trap. Stellenbosch: Stellenbosch University.

Author Information

Bongani Bantwini (presenting / submitting)

North West University

Natural Sciences and Technology Education

Potchefstroom

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