Edufunda - Cape Peninsula University of Technology Faculty Newsletter - November 2010 3 Centre for Multigrade Education (CMGE) addresses serious teaching issues Dr Jurie Joubert, Director

Faculty committed to providing quality education in South Africa

The Faculty of Education and Social Sciences at the Cape Peninsula University of Technology (CPUT) has a deep concern for the quality of teacher education in South Africa and has a commitment to ensure that it provides the best education for all communities in South Africa.

Prof Maureen Robinson, Dean of the Faculty, made it clear that the way to provide quality education is to look towards an integration of different facets of teacher education through teaching, curriculum development, research, partnerships and community links. “This enables us to understand what the real challenges are and to address these from both the scholarly and strategic point of view,” she said.

“Our staff members actively engage with our students’ needs and with the concerns of our schools – particularly those associated with us for teaching practice, as well as with many other organisations and associations in education.”

“The most important challenge for the Faculty is to be responsive to the many demands of education in this country. Student numbers in the Faculty should be increased to address certain niche areas in the market, for example, early childhood education. At the moment, the Faculty simply does not have the space and it does place constraints on addressing this problem," she said.

One of the unique aspects of the Faculty is that it is situated on three sites – each with its own history. This enables the Faculty to share many ideas from different experiences and people and so to reach a richer understanding of education and the needs of particular communities in the Western Cape.

Although the multi-site arrangement has strengths, it also creates logistical and management difficulties and makes it challenging on occasion to ensure coherence throughout the academic programmes. For this reason, the Bellville Education Department will be moving over to the Mowbray Campus over the next few years, starting with the new first-year students in 2011.

The Faculty of Education and Social Sciences has 2 855 undergraduate students and 451 postgraduate students, as well as 744 students enrolled for further professional qualifications.

Faculty of Education and Social Sciences Newsletter

EdufundaVolume 1 ▪ No 1 ▪ December 2010

Cape Peninsula University of Technology - Faculty of Education2

People who meet the Faculty of Education at CPUT for the first time, are sometimes surprised at the large number of staff members and the range of programmes we offer. They are also interested in the profile of the Faculty which spans so many areas.

Besides being the biggest provider of teachers in the Western Cape, and one of the biggest in the country, we are also, as a staff member recently said, “one of the most diverse Faculties of Education that it is possible to get”. And indeed this is so! We are on three campuses in different parts of the Western Cape: we offer tuition in two languages: we teach subjects across a range of academic disciplines: we run programmes across all the phases of schooling as well as at postgraduate level: we are well-balanced from both a gender and a racial point of view: we have people interested in teaching, in research and in both: staff members come from different heritage institutions with different histories. How much more diverse can we be?

Message from the DeanWhile this diversity could be viewed as a challenge to be managed, it is preferable to see it as a resource. Pooling all our historical and intellectual resources allows us to think from different perspectives and encourages creativity and breadth. Of course none of this comes without hard work.

The Faculty is proud of the way we encourage staff members to work closely with students, to engage actively with teaching, to read, to research, to attend conferences, to talk to teachers, and to network with others, in an ongoing quest to improve our own understanding and practice as teacher educators.

Despite being in existence for less than ten years, and having undergone three mergers during this period, we believe our graduates are playing a prominent role in advancing educational quality in the region.

Prof Maureen Robinson, Dean of the Faculty of Education and Social Sciences

Annalize Brynard, Editor: Edufunda

Edufunda is the official Newsletter of the Faculty of Education and Social Sciences at the Cape Peninsula University of Technology.

For additional copies send an e-mail to Lynette Fortuin at [email protected].

Student awarded Dean’s medal Melissa Bowers, a FET (Economics and Management Sciences) student was awarded the Dean’s Medal for outstanding achievement during the recent graduation ceremony. Melissa obtained distinctions in 37 of her 41 subjects and maintained an aggregate of 84 per cent over the four academic years. She is currently lecturing on a full-time basis at Northlink College’s Protea Campus in Bellville.

Melissa obtained her Senior Certificate at Atlantis Senior Secondary in 2002. Between January 2003 and June 2004, she successfully completed a short course in Financial Management at Northlink College’s Protea Campus in Bellville, where she was employed between July 2004 and December 2005.

In 2006 she enrolled at the Mowbray Campus for the BEd: FET: Economics and Management Sciences programme. Hers is a truly remarkable achievement.

Melissa Bowers seen with Dr Lungi Sosibo

Edufunda: Faculty Newsletter - November 2010 3

Centre for Multigrade Education (CMGE) addresses serious teaching issues

Dr Jurie Joubert, Director of the Centre for Multigrade Education

Rodger Adams demonstrating how learners can utilise the learning box

Students look at the possibilities of using the learning box in teaching.

The Centre received a number of counting frames to utilize in schools in the Western Cape. The counting frames is a Netherlands initiative to improve learner’s mathematical skills. A large abacus was donated to the Centre as a symbol of the work being done in schools.

Netherlands Abacus counting frames great help to learners

Desiré Chinasamy-Dampies, Office Manager of CMGE with a replica of the Abacus frame.

The Centre for Multigrade Education (CMGE) was established in 2009 through a grant of R22million from the Royal Netherlands Government. This was to enhance the development of multigrade education solutions and to develop the capacity to make a significant difference in the chance of success for rural primary school children. The CMGE was approved as a self-governing and funded entity by CPUT.

The fate of rural schools, battling to produce positive results, is set to change as CPUT expands its multigrade teacher education training programme. In 2009, the CPUT’s Wellington Campus launched the Centre for Multigrade Education, headed by Dr Jurie Joubert. The Centre is the only one of its kind in Africa dedicated to the provision of accredited multigrade education.

The unfortunate reality is that the rural schools comprise the most neglected part of the education system in South Africa. They are often located in isolated, low-income areas, and are staffed by untrained teachers. National curricula, teaching and learning materials, and activities taught at schools are frequently geared to monograde classes.

Multigrade teaching is seen as a strategy for improving equitable access to primary education and quality teaching and learning in the classroom. Quality teaching implies providing teachers with skills and strategies that will promote pupils’ active learning.

There are more than 7 000 multigrade schools countrywide, and possibly three million children who attend these schools. In the Western Cape alone, there are 315 such rural schools, where 900 teachers are educating approximately 25 700 children.

All evidence suggests that teachers teaching in multigrade schools should receive specialised training; however, until very recently, no such training was available in South Africa. The CMGE plays an integral role in establishing such training.

During the past year, the Centre introduced self-directed learning into the multigrade schools. The Centre was approached to support a team of authors in taking the first steps into the process of creating this type of material for Mathematics.

Dr Jurie Joubert, Director of the Centre, invited two curriculum developers from the Netherlands to share their thoughts with the centre on the development of a Mathematics curriculum, the writing of a textbook and to present two workshops on Mathematics Education to teachers.

In the two workshops, over 80 teachers of both foundation and intermediate grades met. Two main themes that were addressed during the workshops were classroom management and effective Mathematics activities.


Prof Maureen Robinson was appointed in 2002 to the then new position of Dean of Education after the incorporation of the Cape Town and Boland Colleges of Education into the then Cape Technikon.

She is responsible for the overall leadership and management of the Faculty, which includes strategic, academic and operational functions. She also represents the Faculty at institutional level, and she

Faculty Executive Team

Maureen Robinson

Willie Smith was appointed in 1980 as a lecturer at the Cape Technikon in the School of Management.

In 1981, he was appointed as Senior Lecturer in the School of Teacher Education at the Cape Technikon and was promoted to HOD in 1985. Since 2002, he has been the Assistant Dean of the Faculty at Mowbray Campus.

His main responsibilities include academic

Willie Smith

Prof Johan Anker is sedert 2004 Assistent-dekaan vir die Fakulteit Onderwys en Sosiale Wetenskappe op die Wellington-kampus van die Kaapse Technikon wat later die geamalgameerde CPUT geword het.

Hy het opleiding ontvang by die Universiteit van Stellenbosch, 'n MA by Unisa en PhD by UK verwerf. Hy het opgetree as HOD by die eertydse Onderwyskollege Paarl (OKP)

Johan Anker

planning, assessment, quality assurance: FET, the consolidation of FET programmes of the Bellville Campus to the Mowbray Campus, infrastructure on the Mowbray Campus, controlling the Funza Lushaka bursary scheme and teaching Business Management.

With his experience of 30 years at CPUT in the Further Education and Training (FET) in addition to teaching experience of five years at secondary school, his interests are the development of qualifications in Teacher Education and also other specific FET related issues. “We have built up good relationships with the Western Cape Education Department (WCED) and the FET Colleges in the Western Cape and have developed specific in-service courses for teachers/lecturers,” he said.

en Onderwyskollege Boland (OKB), was sedert 1999 viserektor van die OKB in Wellington.

Hy is sedert 1995 lid van die Taalkommissie van die Akademie vir Wetenskap en Kuns en medeskrywer van die AWS. Hy het reeds twee Akademietoekennings vir dié werk ontvang.

Sy belangstelling is veral die Afrikaanse Letterkunde en hy het reeds verskeie publikasies gelewer oor veral die prosa, die uitbeelding van trauma in die prosa en magiese realisme in die Afrikaanse letterkunde. Hy stel ook belang en is betrokke by navorsing oor leesbegrip-onderrig en jeuglektuur.

Johan is betrokke by die onderrig van Afrikaans op voorgraadse en nagraadse vlak en beskou steeds die interaksie met studente as die aangenaamste deel van sy werk.

Faiz MarlieFaiz Marlie is Head of Department (HOD) for the Further Education and Training (FET) Phase on the Bellville Campus of the Faculty of Education.

His main responsibilities are to ensure that the Department stays informed of the latest curriculum developments; to analyse and implement these developments into the programme; to ensure that the staff work as a team towards common goals; to

be aware of our space and role within the Higher Education Quality Committee (HEQC) and the institutional plan; to run an economically viable Department and to strive towards quality education for the students at the Bellville Campus.

Faiz says that lecturing Mathematics and Mathematical Literacy and being involved with student assessment during Teaching Practice are also ways of staying in touch with students.

He encourages student initiatives such as educational outings, marketing days, the sports day, the Edu Fun newsletter, the chess club and the final year farewell function. “I believe investing in student development is a crucial ingredient in developing quality teachers,” he said.

serves on a variety of external bodies. Her main research focal area is Teacher Education: Policy and Practice.

She was elected to serve on the Executive Committee of the Higher Education South Africa (HESA) Education Deans’ Forum for 2011.

This position of Prof Robinson, together with her position as Chairperson of the Kenton Education Association, puts the Faculty in a good position to be up to date with national developments in policy and research. “I will do my best to ensure a good flow of communication between ourselves and national structures,” Prof Robinson said.


Dr Beatrice Thuynsma was initially appointed as a lecturer in the Skiereilandse Kollege vir Gevorderde Tegniese Onderwys where she taught business studies.

She is currently Head of the GET Department at the Wellington Campus of CPUT. Her engagement with Faculty and

In April, Dr Janet Condy took over the leadership of the Department as Acting HOD of Research, while Prof Rajendra Chetty was on sabbatical. “This was a great challenge for me and I have loved every minute of it, I would really like to see support structures whereby we can improve our publication output,” she declared.

She has been a lecturer in the GET Department for many years. Her areas of

students in the GET phase on the Wellington Campus has brought a new dimension to her sense of being an educator.

Dr Thuynsma pointed out that as teacher educators, we have a huge responsibility to those who have been denied access to education in the past, and we must respond to that challenge in a positive way.

Placement for teaching practice and internships, as well as Work Integrated Learning (WIL) and mentoring are high on her agenda. “I enjoy seeing students in action and observing how they blossom as their teaching skills improve and their confidence increases,” she said.

interest are Inclusive Education and Literacy. Consequently, researching these two areas has become of particular interest to her.

Dr Condy has also been actively involved with the Reading Association of South Africa (RASA). “It has been very interesting to see how this organisation has grown its support base with our launching of three branches within South Africa,” she said.

As part of RASA, a gap has been identified in research in the reading and writing field. Because of her interest, Dr Condy has recently been invited to be the International Quality Control Monitor for the PIRLS test, which is an international research project on literacy involving 45 countries.

Ivan November

Dr Ivan November is the Head of General Education and Training (GET) at the Mowbray Campus.

Dr November gained a PhD degree at Stellenbosch University in the Department of Philosophy and Policy studies. The title of his thesis was ‘Outcomes-based education as a social practice: transformative or not’.

He was a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Philosophy in Policy Studies at the University of the Free State, first at a satellite campus and thereafter at the main campus in Bloemfontein.

His main focus of research is in Democracy and Education, and Social Justice.

Beatrice Thuynsma

Janet CondyDr Lungi Sosibo was appointed as Senior Lecturer in the FET Department in January 2006. She also coordinated the ACE programme during 2006 and 2007 and is currently acting HOD: FET.

She teaches Sociopedagogics and Multicultural Education and General Subject Didactics to FET students at 4th year level; coordinates FET4 Teaching Practice; teaches Theory of Education

to BEd Honours students and supervises MEd students. Dr Sosibo's areas of research interest are Evaluation and Assessment, Teacher Education, and Diversity. She holds the position of Chairperson of the Mowbray Diversity Task Team and is a member of the Institutional Diversity Forum.

Her vision for the Faculty of Education is to be a leader in diversity where students and staff members feel empowered in a safe and healthy environment, where diversity is embraced and where all are equal. “I also envision a future in which other faculties benchmark their Diversity programmes against that of our Faculty,” she said.

Lungi Sosibo



In 1981 Vincent Landey was appointed as a lecturer in the School for Business Information at the Cape Technikon. He was later promoted to Head of Department in 1994.

His 29 year career in education began as a teacher at the Hoërskool Gelofte in Pinetown after which he taught at a school for children with behavioural problems in Paarl.

He has delivered several papers on Productivity in Education at national and international conferences on Productivity in Education as well as Financial Management in Education.

He has also been involved in the establishment of the Educational Management Association of South Africa. In addition, he contributed to the publication ‘Teaching Commercial Subjects’ with Prof Tom Bisschoff as Editor. His academic interest is in the Financial Management of educational institutions as well as in Economics of Education, Education Law and Accountancy.

Vincent Landey Nonzuzo ZikalalaNonzuzo Zikalala was appointed as Faculty Manager in December 2009.

Her focal areas are Administration, Finances, Human Resources as well as Quality Assurance and Marketing. She graduated with a Master’s degree in Governance and Political Transformation in 2009. Before joining CPUT, she worked for

Rhodes University as Recruitment and Selection Manager. After spending 14 years in Human Resources in Higher Education the move to Student Administration was an adjustment but she is positive about what the Faculty has to offer.

Her goals are to create cohesive administrative support systems, improve internal communication channels and service delivery.

Melanie Sadeck was appointed in 1988 and has occupied various positions in the Faculties of Science and Education, and was appointed Head of the Department of Teacher Professional Development in January 2008. The Department offers the NPDE (GET and FET) and the Advanced Certificate in Education (ACE) programmes.

She is involved in a number of institutional committees for example: Cooperative

Education, Work Integrated Learning and Service Learning.

Her interests are the professional development of teachers, Science Education, Academic Development in teaching and learning, and equity issues in higher education. “Highlights in my career have been the time spent in the USA as part of the HERS – SA Women in Higher Education Leadership Programme; arranging and participating in the Great Teaching and Great Administrators’ staff development seminars in different countries in Africa, and being part of the adjudication panel for the Aggrey Klaaste National Mathematics, Science and Technology Educator of the Year awards from 2004 to 2008".

Melanie Sadeck


VisionTo be at the heart of technology education and innovation in Africa.

MissionOur mission is to develop and sustain an empowering environment where, through teaching, learning, research and scholarship our students and staff, in partnership with the community and industry, are able to create and apply knowledge that contributes to development.

Core values• Integrity • Respect• Excellence • Democracy

• Accountability • Ubuntu• Innovation • Equity


Research Colloquium first for Education Faculty For the first time in its history, the Faculty of Education and Social Sciences hosted a two-day Research Colloquium at the Mowbray and Wellington Campuses. The Colloquium took place on 15 and 16 October with the theme ‘Building a Research Community’. The purpose of the Colloquium was to promote research and to share research findings with one another. Ultimately, the idea was to encourage staff members to publish their research.

On the first day of the Colloquium, the Western Cape Education Department (WCED) presented the findings of a large research project which had been undertaken on the topic of ‘Improving learner performance in the Western Cape: Factors influencing learning in Foundation Phase classrooms’. Prof Servaas van der Berg of the University of Stellenbosch and Dr Cheryl Reeves of CPUT had been commissioned to conduct this research.

The research had been conducted in 45 local schools in the Western Cape district. Many teachers and principals from the schools involved also attended the colloquium. Minister Donald Grant, Brian Schreuder and Dr Andile Siyengo from the WCED all attended.

On Saturday 16 October, 19 lecturers from the Faculty shared their research in a quiet but intellectually stimulating environment on the Wellington Campus. The research was categorized into two research themes: research into pre-service

education and research into school teaching and systemic issues.

Welcoming staff to the event, the Dean, Prof Maureen Robinson, said: “We have decided to have a closed session to give us an opportunity as staff to talk to each other and develop a research community and share what we are doing with each other. This gives us a sense of our own identity." According to Prof Robinson, the Faculty is also supporting staff to publish their research in accredited journals.

Dr Janet Condy, Acting Head of the Department of Research, who spearheaded the event, said that the purpose of the Colloquium was to promote and share research with one another. “We meet to plan our curriculum for the year, but we have not yet met to discuss what is at the heart of much of our work – our research. This occasion was purely for this,” she explained.

One of the newest staff members at Bellville Campus, Tsediso Michael Makoelle, gave a presentation on the discourses that influence the way inclusion is understood throughout the world. His paper focused on how the discourses impact on research into Inclusive Education. When asked to share his views about the Colloquium itself, Makoelle said: “The Colloquium was a good idea and a worthwhile exercise. It brought researchers together as critical friends to look at each other’s work and comment appropriately. It was fantastic to be among colleagues.”

Prof Martin Braund, who presented the final paper, told Dr Condy: “The collection of papers you have assembled for the Colloquium is varied and of excellent quality and interest. It is good to see the range of research and scholarly activity in the Faculty. In fact, the programme is more interesting and enticing than many international conferences I have been to recently!”

Two NRF rated researchers in Faculty of EducationProf Maureen Robinson

Prof Maureen Robinson, Dean of the Faculty of Education, was awarded a C2 rating from the National Research Foundation (NRF).

Her research falls within the fields of initial and continuing teacher education.

She is especially interested in how different policies

and practices within teacher education give shape to different educational processes and outcomes. The following fields of study are part of such an investigation: educational change, teacher identity, professional development, action research and curriculum development.

In 2010 she co-published two articles, one with Dr Cheryl Reeves on the implications of the changing policies in South Africa for becoming qualified as a teacher, and the other with Dr Chiwimbiso Kwenda on models of teacher education in three African countries. She has recently established a link with the University of Chile to track aspects of the professional practice of new teachers in the profession.

Prof Rajendra Chetty

Prof Rajendra Chetty, who heads up the Research Department in the Faculty, was awarded a C3 rating from the National Research Foundation (NRF).

Prof Chetty has diverse research interests. His key research areas are teacher education, commonwealth literature and social issues in Education. Over the past decade he has published extensively in all these fields. However, for the past three years, Prof Chetty,

who holds an NRF 'focus' area grant, has focused on quality issues in teacher education in South African Universities. This research project, in collaboration with the University of the Witwatersrand and the University of KwaZulu-Natal, attempts to provide an informed understanding of the complexity of teacher education, to determine an environment for quality learning, teaching and research in higher education, and establish strengths and challenges in the current framework.

His sabbatical in 2010 was a whirlwind tour as international visiting scholar, conference presentations and two book launches - Michigan, New York, Greece, Ghana, Sweden and Zurich.

Delegates at a display of Education publications. The Research Colloquim was exceptionally well attended.


VEOP blows new life into college lecturers

The pilot project of the Vocational Education Orientation Programme (VEOP), is a short course that forms part of the National Professional Education: Further Education and Training (NPDE: FET). The purpose of the VEOP is to provide an orientation for lecturers at the FET colleges.

This is being done by providing an overview to the contextual environment as well as an introduction to curricula, administration, assessment, teaching and learning strategies, and learning needs of college students.

A group of female staff members were selected to participate on behalf of the CPUT in the 2010 HERS-SA Conference in Cape Town during September.

Dr Janet Condy, Nicoline Rousseau and Karin Dos Reis joined 83 women from thirty universities situated in Africa, the United States and Mauritius who spent a week at the University of Cape Town Graduate School of Business in focusing on key aspects of higher education.

The annual HERS-SA ACADEMY brings together women in middle management or senior positions with leadership experience and those with leadership potential to participate in a dynamic, week-long professional development programme. It attracts women from all over sub-Saharan countries. “The HERS-SA ACADEMY aims to provide women with knowledge and networks to encourage them to aspire to and apply for the most senior positions in higher education institutions,” said Dr Sabie Surtee, Director of HERS-SA. Currently women are under-represented in positions at leadership levels. HERS-SA is committed to seeking gender equity across all occupational levels within higher education institutions as this is where our leaders of tomorrow are being educated.

The HERS-SA ACADEMY is modelled on the HERS-America Summer Institute. Morning plenary sessions provide a big-picture understanding of the higher education environment and the academic and administrative challenges facing universities. During the afternoon delegates were able to choose from a wide selection of workshops focused on individual career development. Two highlights of this year’s ACADEMY were the opening address delivered by the first female Vice Chancellor and Principal from the University of Pretoria, Prof Cheryl de la Rey.

In addition to the formal sessions, informal networking enabled delegates to interact with and learn from colleagues from 16 South African universities, 12 universities from other parts of Africa and from one institution in the USA and Mauritius, respectively. Discussions were lively and stimulating.

Professional development for CPUT female managers

Research regarded as priority in Faculty Research development in the Faculty of Education and Social Sciences has always been a priority.

Many staff members have obtained higher degrees, published in a variety of journals, attended and presented at many conferences, and pursued research projects. Postgraduate students are actively involved in forums and seminars.

Staff involvement in further studies is a fundamental part of life in the Faculty. During 2010, nine staff members were registered for doctoral degrees.

Many activities have been held to promote research capacity building in the Faculty. Regular staff seminars have been held over the past two years, where staff members presented their research work and held discussions about strategic issues.

With dedicated NRF funds, staff research capacity building seminars are regularly presented on topics covering such topics as converting a thesis into a number of journal articles, grant proposal writing, and academic writing.

The qualification framework for college lecturer training and development in South Africa, is designed to properly equip those who teach in FET colleges. It is also aligned to the needs of a constantly evolving economy and society and increasingly challenging workplaces. These needs are influenced by 21st century conditions of global competitiveness and also specifically by South Africa’s aspiration to be a key participant in the global economy.

The programme aims at establishing a national standard for lecturers in FET colleges. In doing so, it responds to needs and responsibilities of lecturers in relation to the FET college context, in particular the broader South African educational system in general.

What makes the programme significant, is that it is being run in collaboration with the University of the Western Cape (UWC).

The Faculty of Education has been working with the FET colleges over a long period of time.

Programmes were offered to College staff members as opposed to other programmes at universities that focus only on schools.

The VEOP, which runs over weekends, is presented at Paarl College in Worcester to make it possible for everyone in the area to attend.

André van der Bijl, coordinator of the VEOP programme


General Education and Training (GET) curriculum workshop held

isiXhosa textbooks highly recommended

The Faculty’s most recent General Education and Training (GET) curriculum workshop was held in August during practice teaching time when the students were at the various schools. All who teach at the GET level, attended the workshop, which focused on the theme of ‘Preparing teachers for a changing world’.

Subject groups discussed the elements of an engaged curriculum (knowing, being and doing), as well as how this relates to the specific subjects.

During the first session on the Mowbray Campus, which was an interactive session, Prof Maureen Robinson, Dean, discussed ‘The International Thinking on Teacher Education: A Backdrop to the BEd’. Prof Robinson quoted Andy Hargreaves, who said: “We live in a knowledge economy, a

Sithanda isiXhosa is a series of textbooks for

primary school learners who are learning isiXhosa

as a third language for the first time. Each book is

full of fun activities and has two or more characters

that introduce learners to the language.

All three authors are lecturers in the Faculty

of Education and Social Sciences. Dr André

Steenkamp of the FET Department at the

Mowbray Campus; Sanet Cox of GET Department

at the Wellington Campus and Dr Nozuko Gxekwa

of the GET Department at the Mowbray Campus

knowledge society. Knowledge economies are stimulated and driven by creativity and ingenuity.”

Prof Robinson also stated that the major trends that are to set the environment in which schools will be shaped in the future generational issues, together with knowledge, technology, work, lifestyles, consumerism and inequality.

The Dean highlighted the important principles contained in the Delors' report of 1996: Learning to know, learning to do, learning to be and learning to live together.

National challenges are changing the national curriculum for schools, demanding new roles for teachers; involving teaching a diversity of learners; recognising poor results in literacy and numeracy

tests and vast inequalities in matriculation results; and requiring a new qualifications’ structure for higher education as well as more and better teachers.

On a second day at Wellington Campus, Marianne Bester introduced the metaphors of hedgehogs and foxes from the book: The Mind of the Fox: Scenario Planning in Action by Clem Sunter and Chantall Ilbury. By using these animals as metaphors, she indicated that we should ask ourselves the questions: “Which one of these animals is more likely to adapt in a changing world?” and “Should we as Higher Education lecturers focus on educating our students to behave as hedgehogs or foxes?”

all said that their experience of teaching isiXhosa as a third language at primary, secondary and tertiary level is brought together in this series.

The staff members who co-authored and edited the publications are very excited about the series. The books have numerous pictures of Phumla and Lester (Book 1) and Vuyo and Lara (Book 2) and the things they do and talk about. In Book 3, Bongi, Joy, Sam and Themba help learners to discover many new topics in isiXhosa. This strong visual approach helps learners to make quick progress in the language.

After 1994, 11 official languages were established

in South Africa and the Constitution advocated

the promotion of official multilingualism. IsiXhosa

is now one of the languages that can be used in

education, economics, social and political issues.

In 2000, Dr Nozuko Gxekwa began to promote

isiXhosa, motivating students in the Higher

Education to use their home language. Dr Gxekwa

made history when she was the first person to

submit her doctoral thesis in isiXhosa and she

has continuously used isiXhosa as a language in

Higher Education ever since.

Dr Nozuko Gxekwa Dr André Steenkamp Sanet Cox


Critical Thinking Group (CTG) in spotlight

Wayne Motha received the SAVUSA Scholarship to do a Master's degree in Science Organization (MSc) in the Netherlands between September 2010 and September 2011. Wayne passed the Honours degree with distinction in 2009.

The first semester of his studies comprises course work on Globalization (Economic, Sociological, and Political aspects), Identitiy and Diversity in Organizations, and Fieldwork preparation. The latter part of the academic year is spent doing Ethnography in an organization (most probably a South African university), and writing his thesis.

"Upon completion of the qualification I’ll return to the Education Faculty and be intensively involved in the training of educators, especially in the fields of Information Technology and Computer Applications Technology. I would also want to get more involved in research in the Faculty, focusing on Organizational Ethnography as a research methodology,” he said.

Wayne's current research interest is the Curriculum Standardization in Post-Merger Institutions of Higher Education.

Scholarship for Wayne Motha

Wayne Motha - awarded a scholarship to study in the Netherlands

The Critical Thinking Group (CTG) is a partnership of teachers, local and international academics and members of the Western Cape Education Department working in the field of critical thinking, with a particular emphasis on argumentation as a methodology for teaching and learning.

Adjunct Profs Fred Lubben and Martin Braund have been hard at work as is evidenced from the numerous publications this year, all under CPUT’s name. Prof Lubben has been consistently working behind the scenes editing the African Journal

of Research in Mathematics, Science and Technology Education (the only accredited Science Education journal in Africa).

Two abstracts were submitted for presentation at the Southern African Association for Research in Mathematics, Science and Technology Education (SAARMSTE) conference to be held in January 2011. The one focuses on ‘Perceptions of students and mentor teachers’ while the other one looks at ‘Student teachers as change agents’.

CTG has four confirmed publications for 2011, in addition to two books by Martin Braund. There are two journal articles in the pipeline for June 2011. Zena Scholtz has also co-authored a publication with Toliwe Chehore.

Dr Clive Kronenberg, a post doctoral fellow, is in the process of finalizing his research on a case study, which focuses on the response to curriculum changes and the role of critical thinking at a southern suburbs school in the Western Cape.

Curt Stanflict demontrates to a group of music students the different uses of the interactive board to enhance their listening skills and to apply it in a classroom.Student support and resources on

all three campuses is a priority.Students manage their time well.


Field tripsGeelbek fieldwork

Art Education field study trip

Dr Chris Hattingh and the final year BEd Intermediate/Senior Phase Biology, Geography and History students visited Geelbek, situated on the Langebaan Lagoon in the West Coast National Park, to conduct a study on the environment.

The experience was very informative and the

In September this year, twelve BEd final year teacher education students, specialising in Visual Art Education, travelled with their lecturer, Sandy Johnson, to an area called the Crags, a village 17km east of Plettenberg Bay.

The purpose of this field study was to deepen the experience of art-making in an unusual environment, to explore teacher identity, and to encourage the value of the gifts of diversity. Whilst on the trip, the students spent each day visiting new sites, making artworks, and deepening their reflective processes through discussion and activities.

Evenings were spent rehearsing for a performance at the Mowbray Campus for the Heritage Day Celebrations.

Students searching for fossils in the fossil park.

students were taught how to appreciate nature and to be inspired by the environment. Their first visit was to the West Coast Fossil Park in Langebaan. Contrary to the way the West Coast looks today, millions of years ago the area was dominated by rivers, forests and wooded savanna, and animals that today are long extinct wandered the land. Phosphate-mining operations at Langebaan during the late 1950s exposed one of the richest fossil sites in the world.

This fossil site is now a national heritage site, run by the Iziko Museums of Cape Town. Today, the heritage site is recognised, because it contains the deposits of possibly the greatest diversity of five million year old fossils. Bones of 200 different kinds of animals, some unknown to the world of science, have been recovered. The students also visited the saltpans and looked into the harvesting of salt in Velddrif. After the

winter rains the saltpans are transformed into shallow lakes, which become a breeding ground for the flamingos.

The Port of Saldanha is the only iron ore handling port in South Africa. Proper management of a synergy between Transnet National Port Authority management and Spoornet (Orex) management has ensured a reliable connection between the port and the iron ore mines at Sishen (860 km north-east of Saldanha). Within the port area are the SA Navy Base, SAS Saldanha, and a fishing harbour, which is administered by the Department of the Environment.

The excursion made those who participated once again realise that it takes a lot of work to conserve nature.

“The experience was educational, inspirational and a life-changing experience,” Dr Hattingh said.

Sandra Johnson (left of elephant’s head) with her students during the field trip to Plettenberg Bay

The students completed reflective journals during their time away, and one of them wrote: “At the elephant sanctuary was where I had a moment that I really cannot explain, which changed me as an individual completely, in the sense that there was something inside me that just opened up the solid foundation to the choice that I made to become a teacher. I realised that this is really what I am meant to be. This feeling will remain with me forever.”

The Faculty is working through a re-curriculation process, with the four underpinning pillars of the curriculum being: learning to know, learning to do, learning to live together and learning to be.

This field trip embraced all four of these pillars, whilst at the same time exploring transformational aspects of the teaching and learning experience, and the connectivity between learning areas.

A student feeding a goat in the park.

Geo Westraadt, Nici Rousseau en Christa Thornhill on Bogazici Campus in Turkey, Istanbul, where they attended the World Congress of Comparative Education Societies (WCCES) Conference earlier this year.

Academics attend conference in Istanbul


Student life @ our three campusesWellingtonBellville

The SRC of 2010 presents a cheque of R12 000 to the Andrew Murray Childrens' Home.

Carnival excitement

Rugby has always been a sports highlight at Wellington Campus.

Inter-residence athletics.

The total number of registered education students at Wellington Campus is 1 436.

Trolley race during student orientation week

Education students at Bellville Campus have access to a reading room.

Students preparing for class

The total number of registered education students at Bellville Campus is 886

Students at the serenade competition


Mowbray

Students taking a break No time to play!

Laboratory assistants help students with their practical work.

Biology students in action

The total number of registered education students at Mowbray Campus is 1 725.

Mowbray Campus has a well-equipped library.

Students have full access to computers.

Foundation Phase education students work on an assignment.

Education students are enthusiastic about their choice of career.

Students are happy and contented.

Student life @ our three campuses

Students get the opportunity to ‘teach’ in class.


Mother Teresa once said: "If you can’t feed a hundred people, then feed just one"

The newspaper is a wonderful medium to reach children in different ways. It is relevant and not as expensive as textbooks, story books and other materials that rural multigrade schools normally need.

The Centre for Multigrade Education (CMGE) has embraced the opportunity to publish a chain of articles for 'KleinB', a supplement that is published every Saturday in one of the local Afrikaans newspapers, Die Burger. It is aimed at young children, their needs and levels of learning, and 'KleinB' seeks to report interesting day-to-day news for our children.

News is published during the school semesters on the front page of 'KleinB'. Special public holidays

Reaching out . . .

Dolores Carr (right) with three of her helpful committee members.

Dolores Carr and a few students have been running a feeding scheme at the Faculty on Mowbray Campus over the past few years. They get up early in the morning to make peanut butter and jam sandwiches, to supply to students who cannot afford to buy food.

While most students have enough food and financial support to see them through, there is a group of students that arrive daily on campus, on an empty stomach. “Some of our students only eat the bread we supply through the feeding scheme every day,” she said.

A group of learners with copies of ‘KleinB’, a supplement in Die Burger.

that occur during the school holidays will also be used as themes during these periods.

In the first edition on Saturday, 17 January 2010, all the interesting and colourful characters were introduced. These characters act as the editorial staff of this part of Die Burger. They work under the guidance of K. B. Rekkel, a blue crane bird, who is the enthusiastic editor of 'KleinB'. He is not just the national bird of South Africa!

Thereafter, Silwer Trops, a penguin, took charge of six editions about the amazing human body and the important choices that people need to make every day for the wellbeing of their bodies. At the momentOmgee van Edraa, an ostrich, is writing about the environment. The other staff members include

Dehorah Snuk, a chicken, who’s in charge of the art and craft sections, and Flora Noofelet, a flamingo, who’s in charge of people and culture. Petunia Roet is the post pigeon and is also international correspondent; while Jessica F. Sinnek, an owl, is the head journalist.

The writers are a team of passionate students, teachers, a principal, lecturers and employees of CMGE, who take turns to write these articles.

Each of the four themes or subjects is a key idea taken from the National Curriculum Statements (NCS). These are sub-divided into sub-themes and into the first two phases in the primary school, the foundation phase (Grades R to 3) and the intermediate phase (Grades 4 to 6).

In each edition, a selection of difficult words is explained. These explanations are provided by an Afrikaans dictionary published by Pearson Education. The Pearson Company also provides book prizes for the weekly competitions.

Each week, before the publishing of the articles, the articles are taken to two multigrade schools just outside Wellington for evaluation. If necessary, changes can be made to develop the articles.

The next phase of this project is to embed this material as a digital resource, enhanced with other articles, information, stories, photographs, videos and activities on different levels. They also want to include the distribution of this newspaper to the rural multigrade schools and are currently looking for sponsorships from individuals and companies to be able to do this on a weekly basis.

At the beginning of February, they will introduced this project to four schools with a puppet show. A puppet show will also form part of the next phase.

Articles published in 'KleinB' encourage learners

In the past, the scheme used to get sponsorships from food chains but that is currently running dry.

Dolores’ main concern is with the students who rely on the bread from the

feeding scheme. “Some of the students cannot stand the sight of food, while not having any themselves. How can we stop this scheme if so many students have a need?” she said.


Reaching out . . . Many happy faces at the launch of the Schrijven Project

A student assists one of the learners with reading

Students wait for the learners they assist Students and learners relaxing together

Debbie Cilliers, coordinator of the project

A proud moment for all who benefitted from the project.

Thursday project has huge impact

In February, approximately 550 learners from rural schools in the Wellington area each received a space-case full of some of the necessary stationery.

The Centre for Multigrade Education, in collaboration with the St Canisius, a 'Scholengemeenschap' in the Netherlands, initiated a project where learners benefit from this helping hand – the Schrijven Project.

A group of 23 learners and three teachers of St Canisius came to South Africa for a student tour during which they raised money in South Africa for children in need in rural areas. Some of their projects included selling pancakes and talking on the national radio, which resulted in the raising of R40 000.

Three rural schools in the Wellington area were identified to benefit from the project. Two of these schools, Bergrivier Primary and Blouvlei Primary, are small multigrade schools situated between the beautiful vineyards. Wagemakersvallei Primary, the third school, is a bigger rural school situated just outside Wellington.

“It was wonderful to see the happy smiles of the learners. We hope to visit other rural schools in the

near future so that we can see many more happy faces,” said Rodger Adams, the South African coordinator of this project.

Learners are happy to have new stationery.

The final year students at the Wellington Campus have embarked on a project known as the Thursday project, where students assist many learners from schools in disadvantaged areas with reading and writing.

Ten Thursday afternoons were allocated for the learners to arrive in buses on campus. They each received sandwiches, juice and a piece of fruit and then began with the classes. Wagenmakervallei Primary School as well as Alfons Primary School have been part of the project over the past two years. Next year the learners from Windmeul Primary School will benefit.

Gift of the Givers, which is a Non Governmental Organisation (NGO), made a huge contribution towards this project when they sponsored 178

learners each with a blanket, stationery, a hat, a 'beanie', a packet of sweets and a bag. The goods were delivered on campus and distributed among the learners during the tenth session. They were also spoilt with a jumping castle and hamburgers.


Heritage Day celebrated with a flair Staff and students celebrated their diverse cultures and heritage.

The commemorative day was celebrated with a culturally rich event on Wednesday, 22 September 2010, in the Atrium of Mowbray Campus.

Now in its second year, these celebrations presented cultural groups and individuals to showcase their traditional dance, song, praise-singing and poetry. The programme’s participants were from the Afrikaans, Hindu, Sotho, isiXhosa and Zulu cultures.

The Masters of Ceremonies were two representatives from the past local Students’ Representative Council (SRC), Kerushni Kistnasamy and Sibongiseni Nqindi. The event was formally opened by the Afro-fusion band, ‘The City’, which kept the audience entertained with classical South African songs such as ‘Meadowlands’, ‘Phata phata’ and ‘Igqirha

It was a celebration with singing and dancing.

‘Teenagers for life’ is a group of students from the Faculty of Education who voluntarily act as a support group to Grades 9 to 12 teenagers from Malibu High School.

The main purpose of the group is to act as a motivational group and to encourage learners to participate in school activities. The goal of ‘Teenagers for life’ is to assist learners to grow into responsible, confident people; to teach them to cope with difficult situations in life; and to help them in facing problems and finding solutions for them

The students from the Faculty, who participated in the ‘Teenagers for life’ programme, Ricardo Bunding, Eugene van Wyk and Mario Adonis, regard their support as an important part of their lives. A motivation camp was held at Mizpah Youth Centre in Grabouw.

Teenagers for life

lendlela’ (also known as ‘The Click Song’).CPUT's Vice Chancellor, Prof Vuyisa Mazwi-Tanga, was also in attendance, and delivered a message of support and encouragement to the campus community for their efforts toward transformation and the promotion of cultural diversity.

She said: “As the saying goes, in order for you to know where you are going, you need to know where you have come from. I encourage you all to continue celebrating your heritage in order to carve a brighter future for yourself, whoever you are.”

Dr Chiwimbiso Kwenda addressed the audience on multiculturalism, tolerance of other ethnicities andencouraging diversity on the campus.

André Serfontein (Music), Nicol Senekal (Drama), Geo Westraadt (Art) and Betsie Klopper in a sparkling mood at the student art exhibition.

The BEd Art Education students held an exhibition in the Wellington Library in October. BEd Drama students presented a play on the poem ‘Mabelel’ by Eugene Marais. The Art students made the puppets that were used to perform in this play. This was a first time that an art exhibition was mounted to coincide with a drama presentation. The flute ensemble and BEd music students with André Serfontein as pianist also entertained the guests.

Student art exhibition in Wellington

The event coordinator, Head of Department: Further Education and Training and Chairperson of the Diversity and Transformation Task Team, Dr Lungi Sosibo, thanked the Transformation Committee and all the participants for their involvement in the event. “I hope that this will become an annual event where we can truly transcend cultural barriers and unite in celebration of our various origins,” she said.

The afternoon’s festivities ended with a rendition of the national anthem led by the band, and this was followed by a multicultural fashion show, where people were invited to display their traditional attire.


RITAL project shows successOne of the Research and Innovation in Teaching and Learning (RITAL) projects supported by CPUT involves demonstration lessons for use by FET EMS teaching.

The project has two parts. The first consists of demonstration lessons, presented by subject-didactics specialists and high school teachers who are experts in the EMS learning areas. It is hoped that the materials will allow the student teachers to view experts teaching in their areas of expertise.

Students can learn best practices from the experts, but they can also reflect on and critique the presentations by pointing out what could have been done. The other part of the project involves developing video-recorded micro lessons that allow the student teachers to evaluate one another (peer evaluation) and also to evaluate themselves (self-evaluation).

The latter part of the project is carried out throughout the year. The objective of this project

is to have all the videos (demo and micro lesson videos) uploaded onto a website for students to view at their leisure. The plan for next year is to video-record two Mathematics lecturers as well as high school teachers.

Another objective of the project is to bring high school learners to the University, as part of the recruitment strategy.

When learners from Khayelitsha visited the Faculty, they were taught Accounting by Karin Dos Reis, who used sophisticated technology. The students and the accompanying teacher were in awe.

After lunch they were taken to the library where they were shown the resources and services available there and to the Media Resource Centre where they were introduced to activities e.g. the binding of documents.

Before they departed, they visited the sports centre where they used the sports facilities.

Karin Dos Reis who is part of the project with some learners.

Students decorate Trauma Unit

Seen here are the students who were involved in the project.

The Art Education students of Georina Westraadt of the Wellington Campus took on a noble assignment to decorate the walls of the Trauma Unit at the Wellington Police Station.

The students decided on flowers as they symbolise life and the beautiful colours brought a breeze to the plain white walls of the Unit.

Dr Ivan November and Prof Maureen Robinson each wrote a chapter in the book, 'Becoming a teacher'.

Students have access to a variety of facilities on all three campuses.


Music students participate in international singing competition Kunsliedere

betower gehoorAndré Serfontein, van die Wellingtonkampus, het ‘n besondere eer te beurt geval vanjaar. Hy ‘n uitnodiging ontvang om aan die 2010 Woordfees, aangebied deur die Universiteit van Stellenbosch, ‘n program van nuwe en onbekende Afrikaanse kunsliedere saam met sy gereelde begeleier, Bennie van Eeden te lewer.

Omdat daar ook heelwat interessante en mooi kunsliedere deur Engelssprekende komponiste bestaan wat heeltemal onbekend aan die Suid-Afrikaanse publiek is, het André vir Johan Anker, Assistentdekaan, gevra om van die lirieke in Afrikaans te vertaal.

So is die vertaalde gedigte/lirieke deur o.a John Donne, William Blake en Aubrey Meyer vir die eerste keer tussen Afrikaanse digters soos Antjie Krog, NP van Wyk en WEG Louw gehoor. André het toe ook vir Hendrik Hofmeyr, die jong Suid-Afrikaanse komponis met ‘n beduidende Internasionale reputasie, gevra om gedigte van Uys Krige, wie se eeufeesviering dit vanjaar is, te toonset.

So is 'Ek maak ‘n hek oop in my hart', ontleen aan die finale gedig in die siklus Plaashek, gebore. Die uitvoering, getiteld 'By die kruispad van digters en komponiste- ‘n Program van nuwe Afrikaanse Kunsliedere' het plaasgevind in die Fismersaal, Stellenbosch op 4 Maart, 2010.

Direk daarna het André ‘n uitnodiging ontvang om veral die Hofmeyr siklus vir die Universiteti van Pretoria se Woordpoort 2010 te herhaal as deel van hulle Uys Krige Feesvieringe in Oktober. In November is die Hofmeyr siklus weer in Pretoria( by die Tauronemium) herhaal, gekoppel met Robert Schumann se Dichterliebe.

Dit is ook die 200-jarige viering van die komponis se geboortedatum en komplementeer die Hofmeyr siklus volkome. Daar word ook beplan dat ‘n opname van hierdie konsert gemaak sal word.

As part of their ongoing professional training, students taking Music as a major had the opportunity to participate in Music Examinations offered by International Institutions.

These students recently did the grade voice-examinations of the Trinity Guildhall (based in London). Their examiner was Emyr Evans of Australia. Despite a slight language barrier, especially in the oral examinations, they all did

André Serfontein (right), with the group of his students who sat theInternational Examination.

Menige sien lig deur Leesnetprogram Die baie sinvolle Leesnetprogram wat deur die Fakulteit onder leiding van Debbie Cilliers van die Wellingtonkampus ontwikkel is, het menige studente ‘n hupstoot gegee.

Die program wat daarop geskoei is om studente se leesbegrip, leespoed, retensie en woordeskat uit te brei en leesspoed te verbeter, is reeds van studente se eerste studiejaar af beskikbaar.

“Die ideaal is om die program deel van die kurrikulum te maak. Elke student ontvang ‘n boekie wat studievaardighede aanspreek en wat studente die strategieë van vaardigheid aanleer,” sê Debbie oor die sinvolheid van die program.

“Vandag ‘n leser, môre ‘n leier" - Margaret Fuller

‘n Student gebruik die geleentheid om te lees.

CJ Lewis het gesê: "Ons lees om te weet ons is nie alleen nie”.

extremely well considering the fact that these examinations were completed extramurally.

Voice, piano and recorder lessons are presented on the campus, and classical guitar, bass guitar, flute and violin lessons are arranged by teachers living in the Wellington area. The Frank Petersen Music School in Paarl also offers a wide range of tuition, especially orchestral instrument tuition.

♫♫♫♫♪


Staff in action

Chris Pienaar lecturing English at Wellington Campus. Vanessa van Staden lecturing Physical Science at Bellville Campus

Sharon Panayiotou and Henry Sauls of the Mowbray library

From left: Nonzulu Zikalala, Faculty Manager; Lynette Fortuin, Dean's Secretary, Shahied Daniels, Faculty Assistant and Arlene Diedericks, Secretary.

Endrika Muller - always ready to assist students in the library

A group of academic staff after a meeting in the staff room

Sharon McAuliffe and Naseema Shaik -Mathematics and Literacy lecturers

Cape Peninsula University of Technology - Faculty of Education

Our three campusesMowbray Wellington Bellville

Robert Koopman gives his third year Biology and Life Sciences students 'something to croak about' during their practical dissection periods.

Frogs, Xenopus laevis (platanna), as well as earthworms, snails and mammal hearts are dissected annually by the students who have to be able to write an evolutionary comparative summary of the said circulatory systems based on their dissections. Robert, known to be an enthusiastic Biology lecturer, is also part of the Education Department’s Critical Thinking Research group. The group promotes ongoing research at selected schools into the

Something to croak about …Edu Fun marks new era for students

Robert Koopman, an enthusiastic Biology lecturer with some of his students.

The students at the Faculty’s Bellville Campus launched their own student newsletter, Edu Fun, in May this year.

The event was attended by students and staff from the Faculty; the Department of Marketing and Communications; the International Office and other guests.

This endeavor arose when Afrikaans Communications students were assigned to do a newsletter. It created an opportunity for students to write in Afrikaans, English and isiXhosa. In the process reading and writing skills were promoted.

Emanual Cloete is Editor of the newsletter, which is published once a semester. The process of obtaining the necessary information, writing the reports, taking photos, conducting interviews, having the copy edited and the layout done, is a long one which requires an editorial team.

During the launch, Faiz Marlie, Head of Department extended a warm welcome to everybody present. Emanual Cloete gave an overview of the establishment of the Edu Fun newsletter.

The guest speaker at the event was Christo van der Rheede of the ‘Stigting vir die Bemagtiging vir Afrikaans', who discussed the topic of ‘Creating wealth through indigenous languages’.

implementation of argumentation as a method of developing critical thinking skills in the current curriculum. “After almost 37 years in education, I still have a passion for my work and then I enjoy working with the students. I do not like teaching, I love it!” he said.

He has initiated a variety of activities and he tries to vary the methods on a continuous basis, such as fieldwork and the outdoor classroom. We have developed a motto: “When you get to a school, do not ask: ‘What must I teach?" ask: ‘Where is my class? Be prepared and ready!” he urged.

Documents

Edufunda - Cape Peninsula University of Technology Faculty Newsletter - November 2010 3 Centre for Multigrade Education (CMGE) addresses serious teaching issues Dr Jurie Joubert, Director