The power of networking

Yesterday my chess kids played a match against a school in Athlone. (Athlone is a mainly coloured area (mixed race) from a working class background, so definitely has a poorer socio-economic feel to it.) I was initially surprised to discover that it was the principal of this school who was their chess master, but then thought of our own principal who is the golfing master at our school.

Before too long, the Athlone principal and I started talking shop. He told me that he's teaching the matrics Life Orientation (a non-credit course that all kids in SA have to take throughout their school career, which teaches them a variety of things, from dealing with HIV, to life skills, to forcing them to take part in some form of Phys. Ed., to dealing with bullying, etc, etc). He's not a qualified LO teacher, but there is no-one else. He described to me how it has been an eye-opener for him, from the perspective of getting to grips with what his colleagues go through on a daily basis because of the government's efforts to improve education for all.

I told him about my experiences teaching in London, and why I was thrilled to be teaching back in SA. He asked what I thought caused the problems in the UK, and what I thought of the system here at home. I guess the ultimate problem is that, in an effort to raise the game of those who are weak/ poor/ ineffective, the government has legislated how education should take place. While I understand the thinking behind this measure, it has only really served to demotivate the good teachers. Instead of providing opportunities for mentoring and sharing best practice, the government has piled on a lot of administrative tasks that sap time, energy and creativity. Those who are good/ strong/ effective teachers are managing to keep their heads above water, but only just. Those who aren't, are getting drowned.

One solution, I think, would be to increase the teacher: pupil ratio, not by much, but by a little. This would allow teachers to have one extra free (non-contact) lesson per cycle, which could be used for the purposes of mentoring and sharing best practice - not only with teachers in their own school, but in other schools. Developing a culture of going to observe other teachers (both good and bad) and having proper time for feedback would go a lot further, I think, to helping develop teachers professionally, than having to sit behind your desk filling in reams of paperwork!

A result of this increased control and legislation is, I think, the increasingly poor regard in which teachers are held. We are becoming paper pushers, rather than true educators. You don't need a degree to be a paper pusher. You need a degree to think of creative means to educate a wide variety of children. The result of that is that, between the number of teachers dying due to AIDS and the number leaving the country to find employment in countries that value their teachers, and those who would rather DIE than take on a career which doesn't recognise or reward its members, we are fast running out of teachers in South Africa.

At our school, we are trying to tackle this poor regard that teachers are held in. One of our student leadership bodies came up with the idea of promoting teaching by interviewing our teachers about why they entered the profession and why they remain in the profession. These interviews are then typed up onto colourful posters and displayed around the school. I think it's a great idea!

I was telling the Athlone principal about this idea, and he looked at me with wonder. Firstly, I think he was impressed that we have student leadership bodies that actually contribute positively to the school. Secondly, I think he was dumb-struck by the idea, and from the look on his face, I have no doubt that he will be doing the same thing soon.

Sadly, he then told me that of his 29 teachers (with 800-odd kids at the school), only 3 would be suitable for interview - the rest are only doing the job until they can find something better to do. They are itching to get out. This picture is a common one across South African schools. Tertiary institutions have more bursaries to hand out than there are applicants, but there simply aren't the applicants. For Sciences (bio and chem/phys) there were only about a dozen applicants at my university in the year I applied, and that was in 1998. There are even fewer now, and all the dedicated teaching colleges have been closed.

Until teachers are promoted nationally by paying them a decent salary, requiring a certain level of prior education (do you know that in some countries you cannot even apply to be trained as a teacher unless you have a Masters degree???), and acknowledging that we have one of the most important jobs in the country, this picture will only continue to deteriorate.

What is even sadder is that South Africa spends more of its annual budget (percentage-wise) on education than most other countries around the world. I don't think it's that the government doesn't WANT to pay us more, but it's that there simply isn't the money to - we are already stretched to capacity as it is. HIV/ AIDS will only make things worse.

All round, it is a very bleak future for education in SA. Yet, I left that chess match feeling oddly buoyed. What struck me is that despite everything, I can make a difference. Not only am I making a difference to the lives of the kids I teach, but every time I network with other teachers through the extra-mural stuff I do, through meetings and courses I attend, I have the power to pass on something I have learnt, or to learn something from someone else. Every time that happens, the teaching profession is strengthened.

So I left the chess match with hope - hope that things at that Athlone school will change - albeit very slightly. Maybe the other teachers will read those 3 interviews and begin to think about their own experiences, and maybe one will change his/ her mind about leaving. Maybe a few children will read those 3 interviews and decide to become teachers. Maybe a parent will read those interviews, and talk about it to a friend at church or mosque, and maybe the grapevine will begin to spread the good news about teaching.

Someone once told me that only one tiny candle is needed to stop the darkness. Only one. That's the power of networking!