Prof Veronica McKay speaking about the successes and challenges of CEDU in context

The College of Education (CEDU) has been in existence for just over a year now. In a meeting called with the Staff of CEDUin the Senate Hall on 7 May 2013, the Principal and Vice Chancellor of Unisa, Prof MS Makhanya, said the successes are being noticed. The meeting began with a word of welcome by Prof Veronica McKay who began with a presentation entitled“The successes and challenges of CEDU in context”. Her presentation began with a reference to some of the systemic needs for teacher development as identified in the “Integrated Strategic Planning Framework for Teacher Education and Development”by the Departments of Higher and Basic Education. She mentioned that the College of Education would need to work towards,in particular, strengthening foundation phase teaching including Grade R, teachers with specialisations in Mathematics and Science, the African languages and English as a second language amongst others.

She referred to the 2013 enrolment statistics of the College stating that a large proportion of the CEDU’s students are from Kwa-Zulu Natal and Gauteng and the majority of CEDU’s students are 20 – 29 years old. She also pointed out that Data from the SACMEQ tests (and a range of other local and international assessments) show that teachers require more training in the content of their subjects. In this context it is evident that the University needs to take cognisance of that reality and needs to provide opportunities to bridge the gap for teachers who wish to improve their skills. The Programme Qualification Mix (PQM) renewal process within the College of Education is linked to this endeavour.

Prof McKay also shared that many development initiatives are taking place within the College of Education. Twenty two staff members are being groomed for their NRF rating applications and 37 staff members are participating in the Brown Bag Series to assist them with Doctoral degrees. An ODL research group has been established and various regional workshops have been presented to give guidance to the Master’s and Doctoral students enrolled in the college.  However she pointed out that college is struggling with a shortage of supervisors.

She referred to the 27-funded community engagement projects as being “engaged research” projects that will impact on schools and communities and which will also feed into curricular formulation and result in a number of publications. In particular, she mentioned the Teacher Centre project funded by the Department of Higher Education aimed to give CEDU and other practicing teachers access to ICT facilities and communities of practice. The college is implementing this project with the DBE and will be functioning in 45 of the DBE’s 112 teachers’ centres in Africa which gives the university access to 65 teacher centres now accessible to CEDU. These centres will enable CEDU to assist and engage with our students. While large numbers of staff were involved in funded community engagement projects she pointed out that staff needed to take advantage of the external grants available for research.

Prof MS Makhanya, Principal & Vice Chancellor of Unisa addresses the colleagues at the College of Education

In his address to CEDU, Prof MS Makhanya said there are no shortcuts and that Unisa students need to meet the requirements before they can graduate hence there is a need to pay attention to issues of quality. He also stressed that the university have committed to a digital future as the number of students applying with the university have increased which leaves the university no other option but to do things differently. Appropriate investments are being made by the university to build the infrastructure of the university so that they are able to deliver optimally but that quality relied on everyone in the university to work harder and smarter to be able to give the students the kind of teaching that they require. It cannot be achieved by only a few hardworking people. As a university we are creating our own future.  We need to justify our funding from government. We can only be funded to the level of what we are delivering.  He pointed out that the College needs to impart the values of teaching and learning both through what we teach and by how we teach. We have to create teachers who are able to help and teach our young children.

Our students need a system which provides clear guidance as to what they need to study to become a certain kind of teacher, be that mathematics, science or geography teachers. A simplified PQM will assist CEDU with this.  With regard to research, Prof Makhanya pointed out that NRF ratings will also be rewarded with more privileges for NRF rated researchers as it confirms the academic’s scholarship. The university aims to attract NRF Chairs and this is linked directly to our areas of excellence.  He commended the new on-line placement for students needing to do teaching practice and stressed that this “work integrated practice” should also lead to teachers coming out of their training who are well equipped to excel in the classroom.

Prof RM Phakeng, Vice Principal: Academic & Research shares her thoughts on the potential residing within the CEDU staff

In her turn Prof MC Maré, Vice-Principal: Academic & Research stressed that high throughput must be matched by high quality. She outlined the importance of the new PQM serving the graduateness of teachers so that the College is able to supply the system with teachers of high quality.  Prof RM Phakeng, Vice-Principal: Research & Innovation also complimented the College on the achievements of the staff and emphasised the potential which CEDU has. She referred to the pockets of excellence and the “young bright sparks” who are emerging as talented researchers. The university will continue to grow and nurture the staff and it is only a matter of time and then the results will begin to show.

CEDU staff members listen attentively

CEDU management team together with Professor Barney Erasmus and Ms Lynette Naidoo from the Human Resources Department of Unisa

The Unisa Human Resources department engaged with COD’s and the management team of CEDU on 14 February 2013. Professor Barney Erasmus and Lynette Naidoo each spoke to the group wherein Professor Erasmus invited the the CEDU management team to have a frank and open discussion with him about HR related matters. One of the comments addressed the fact that the university places too much emphasis on research tasks, which is sometimes at the expense of teaching tasks. A further key point that was raised was that more space was needed to accommodate the CEDU staff members. Additionally, the issue of which modules have been assigned to which individuals was raised. It is the responsibility of the school director to sign off and ensure that all modules have been allocated and distributed fairly to employees.

Ms Lynette Naidoo spoke about talent management and gave insight into the talent management plans of the university to assist in retaining their talented staff members. She provided information regarding the four pillars of talent management, namely, Attraction, Development, Deployment and Retention which are critical in the ‘People Management’ processes at Unisa. She placed emphasis on COD’s becoming aufait with all their staff members so that they would be aware of the various talents which staff members have  and how employees’ strengths could be used to benefit the  various departments. It is important to utilise the passions and strengths of a person and not just to focus on their qualifications. It is easier to know which kinds of talents we need to attract when advertising for people when you know what is already in the group. It is also important to recognise and reward people in order to retain them and not to only focus on maximising people’s performance. The departmental workforce analysis is currently underway and a capacitation workshop will be scheduled in April.  These interventions are meant to empower each COD, as they are the custodians of the talent management process within each department.

The talent management process also incorporates succession management which is a critical intervention to ensure a smooth transition from one COD to the next. This would entail grooming a pool of employees towards leadership.  What this translates into is that the talent pool will be identified through a rigorous talent management process. This includes various psychometric and behavioural assessments. Thereafter, the employees’ gaps will be bridged by way of developmental interventions in order for employees to use their potential optimally. A phased approach in being adopted, namely, Initiate, Implement and Manage. Further correspondence in the form of a Manager’s Guide, amongst others, will be forwarded to each COD.

Each COD will be required to compile a 12 month departmental talent management plan which will be consolidated into a College plan and is meant to incorporate the four pillars of talent management. This plan will incorporate various interventions and initiatives to address Attraction, Development, Deployment and Retention within each department.

Prof P Dzvimbo, Executive Dean of CEDU, Mrs Jerminah Khobo, M-Student of Mathematics Education, Dr K Laghate, Director of Jamnalal Bajaj Institute of Management Studies, University of Mumbai, Dr R Tabane Department of Psychology of Education and Mrs Precious Sipuka

Colleagues from CEDU and other departments within Unisa recently returned from a visit to the University of Mumbai. The Ghandi inspired student exchange programme was aimed at building collaboration relationships on commonly agreed areas between both universities. Moreover, they aim to continue the cultural exchange programme and wish to facilitate collaboration on student governance and leadership. The Unisa team were in Mumbai from 3 -8 February 2013 and each member of the delegation was required to give at least one presentation on their research area or interest.

The discussions also were meant to find areas where they could collaborate, to talk about how their collaboration will work and to discuss an envisaged outcome of their collaboration. The student team members were tasked to investigate models of student governance and leadership. All the delegates had to submit a report by 22 February on how they will be collaborating, with whom, about which area of collaboration and how the relationship will be encouraged to mature. On the Education front the emphasis was on Management and Leadership, on Psychology of Education, on managing teaching practice, on integration of ICT in education and teacher education, and on Mathematics, Science and Technology education.

Unisa Delegation leaders: Ms S Magubane, Prof Dzvimbo and Prof G Moche

The Delegation visited the renowned centre of Science teaching, the Homi Bhabha Centre for Science Education where possible collaboration projects including attending and hosting of conferences was discussed. The Department of Education of the University of Mumbai attended the presentation by the CEDU delegates and discussed how research projects on similar areas of interests will be forged. It was a great experience and opportunity as one of the Masters students in Mathematics from CEDU, Jerminah Khobo (see above) engaged and presented her research interest to the University of Mumbai audience.

Dr R Tabane, Dr Kavita Laghate and Prof Dzvimbo	Prof P Dzvimbo, Dr R Tabane, Dr Indu Garg, Head: Department of Education, University of Mumbai, Dr G Moche, Dr Sudha Pingle, Dr Sunita Magare and a colleague, all of Department of Education, University of Mumbai
Prof P Dzvimbo and Dr R Tabane at the Welingkar School library, University of Mumbai	The Curator at the Dinesh Mody Numismatic Institute and Museum received the New South African Notes from Unisa delegation
UNISA delegates with the Vice Chancellor of University of Mumbai, Dr Rajan M. Welukar on the left of Prof KP Dzvimbo and with Prof G Moche, Executive Dean, Department of Science, Engineering and Technology and Ms S Magubane, Director: Unisa International Relations on the far left	Unisa delegation and the Indian cultural dancers at the dinner hosted by and at Vice Chancellor, Dr Rajan M Welukar’s offical house at the University of Mumbai

Prof Phakeng gives tips on to write your motivation to apply for a NRF rating

CEDU academics attended an interesting, forthright information session on 21 January 2013 where Professor RM Phakeng, Vice-Principal: Research and Innovation, shared her expertise on how to be more effective when completing an application for NRF rating. According to Professor Phakeng, who serves as an assessor in the NRF rating system, “Completing the applicant form is just as important as doing high quality research because that is what introduces you to reviewers who may not know you and have never read any of your published research.”

Prof Phakeng emphasised that the greatest challenge for all applicants is to provide evidence of a sustained record of research activity that shows that the applicant can independently undertake high quality and rigorous research that is coherent and makes an impact. The assessment for NRF rating focuses specifically on the research that the applicant has done in the previous eight years and the rating is valid for six years.

She provided context when she shared in brief what the different ratings mean: The Y rating is for promising young researchers who are 40 years or younger and who show potential to be established in five years. The P rating is awarded to young researchers who are 35 years old or younger and have demonstrated the potential of becoming future international leaders in five years. C1, C2 and C3 are for established researchers where the C1 also has some international standing. Ratings B1, B2 and B3 indicate that the researcher has considerable international recognition and A1 and A2 ratings are for leading international researchers.She ended the workshop by emphasising that having any NRF rating is a great achievement which indicates that one’s peers recognise the quality of the work that one is doing.

Prof Phakeng explained the different sections of the application form, focusing on what needs to be emphasised and foregrounded. She pointed out the following:

• NRF rating is about research and so the application must focus on research achievements
• If an applicant lists achievements in teaching and community engagement then they must indicate how those are linked to their research.
• Applicants must work with personal librarians in their colleges to get data that indicates their citations as well as their h-index. This data is important as it gives some indication of the impact that the applicant’s research has had.
• The selection of reviewers is not a trivial process – it needs to be thought through carefully. Make sure you do not include colleagues from Unisa and also exclude anyone who will be an obvious choice because the specialist committee will select them anyway.
  

  Prof Phakeng together with CEDU colleagues who all came to listen to her NRF application advice

To assist the CEDU academics, Prof Phakeng provided two examples of NRF rating applications of people who were awarded a C2 and a B2 rating so that they can see an example of such a successful application. To end off Prof Phakeng advised: “Mention your five-year research plan, explain what the core problem is that you are exploring and mention whom you are collaborating with. In the selection of your reviewers select only people who usually quote your work positively.”

Executive Dean of CEDU, Prof KP Dzvimbo

As 2012 draws to a close, I would like to wish you a festive season filled with love, goodwill and peace. May you and your family experience a well deserved rest and travel safely. Looking back on 2012, the College of Education (CEDU) has achieved a great deal. The first highlight was the birth and consolidation of the new College.  The second was the restructuring and allocation of staff to ten new departments. A discipline based approach was followed to structure the way the College operates. The efforts at reforming the curriculum, otherwise called the Professional Qualifications Mix (PQM), are progressing well. This change is necessary so that we can meet the needs of South African schools through the education of a professional teacher who has been exposed to their subject content, pedagogical content and has knowledge of our classroom contexts in South Africa.

Excellent efforts have been made by everyone in the College to improve the research output and productivity so that we can make the curriculum reform and teaching relevant. Another highlight was the establishment of the Office of Research and Graduate Studies which has succeeded in streamlining the way in which we manage the education and supervision of our M&D students. Our community engagement project, with a focus on five hundred schools in five provinces, is a response to the clarion call from our government to assist with underperforming schools. Our academic citizenship activities are many, with involvement not only at Unisa, but also geared to assist our sister institutions in the region and in eastern and western parts of Africa.

An increased number of academics have attended local and international conferences where they have presented various papers based on applied and basic research in line with the multi-, intra- and trans-disciplinary approaches to the study of Education. Finally, we are progressing well with the realisation of our vision to re-imagine the teaching, learning, study and research of education as a discipline so that we can continue to contribute to the education of a professional teacher, policy maker and educational practitioner in general in South Africa, on the continent and beyond.

Lastly, I wish to thank all staff members of the College of Education and our colleagues in the greater Unisa, who each, in their own way, have worked hard towards achieving the highlights of 2012.  May God bless all of you.
The Executive Dean of CEDU, Prof KP Dzvimbo

Prof KP Dzvimbo

On regular occasions the College of Education (CEDU), Office of Graduate Studies & Research, organises radio interviews to inspire and assist Master’s and Doctoral students with their studies. This is done as CEDU staff considers research to be a journey of discovery of knowledge and they believe that students need to be guided on what drives their studies, why it drives them and how they can get where they want to on this research journey.

The broadcasts adopt a variety of genres, for instance by means of panel discussions of issues by both established and emerging supervisors from within the College. From time to time, experts from other colleges in UNISA participate. During these broadcasts students or any other community member interested, can post questions or comments on the Unisa Radio Facebook page.

Mrs M Madiope

The panel is willing to offer possible solutions to problems that the students who respond are facing. Student support with proposal writing is given in various forms using different technologies. In this case the Executive Dean Prof KP Dzvimbo used podcast technology on 4 October to welcome and introduce his guests in the studio and also indicated the importance of using podcast technology as another means of supporting the students in proposal writing.

Dr Ranko-Ramaili has presented on several topics pertaining to research proposal writing e.g. How to write an introduction and a background information section, how to do a literature review, a research design/method etc. Maria Madiope, who is a college consultant from DCLD and also a PhD student at the college, was able to ask questions during this interactive podcast session. 

Dr Ranko-Ramaili and Dr Monica Rakoma

The recorded interactive podcast is now uploaded on the project pilot site to get feedback from students. Students can give their feedback on the MPEDU91 Facebook site. This broadcast emphasised that one type of research does not necessarily produce knowledge that is more important than that which is researched in another type of research.

Prof VI McKay, Prof C Odora Hoppers, Prof LJ van Niekerk and Ms Rutendo Ngara

Professor Catherine A Odora Hoppers did a presentation to Unisa CEDU Tuition Committee on 16 August 2012 on the topic of Africanisation of the curriculum. This is a tricky subject, she said – because nobody knows exactly what this should actually be. There is a risk that Africanisation will become a “cut and paste” job without academics understanding that it is peoples’ lives at stake here. Africanisation is essentially about African people being given the space to become themselves without duress. Development has played numerous tricks on Africa. The goal of the Africanisation drive is to build a just and human-centred development for Africa based on African values.

Hope lies at the centre of that drive; it probes the future and challenges the present so that another vision becomes possible. Indigenous knowledge systems (IKS) should form an integral part of this endeavour. Furthermore, we need to interweave all the areas taught at the university such as law, economics, education and science into a holistic whole as a way to probe problems facing the African continent.

Prof Hoppers also made her audience aware that there is a second level of indigenisation. Whereas the first level focused on inclusion of blacks into the drama at the end of the colonial period, second-level indigenisation focuses on changing the rules of the game, thus offering alternative or complementary plots to the drama. In the 21st century we need to focus on the constitutive rules of the game and not only on the regulatory ones. Furthermore, we need to think beyond accepted theories to transformative interventions in knowledge production. These challenges are for all of us living in Africa as we move in a global direction.

What is the future for Africa? Africanisation should be wary of being locked in the western gaze like a cobra’s mesmerisation gaze. Africanisation should open up new ways of thinking and education should take the lead in this endeavour. It is time to root our thinking in our African traditions and challenge those traditions to help us find the right solutions to problems facing us. We live in a society which is built on ubuntu, and ubuntu signifies belonging. It is different from the western concept of life which is based on a hierarchical philosophy.

The fundamental cohesiveness of ubuntu is not found within the South African educational system. The qualities of ubuntu are missing at the very foundation of the educational practice. We need to restructure the educational system on the foundation of ubuntu values. This should be done in such a way that the many that leave the school system leave it with a sense of belonging to a greater whole, whatever intellectual level they have reached – and not with a sense of depleted dignity and powerlessness, which is the high road to a life in poverty.

Prof MS Makhanya addresses staff of the College of Education

The Principal and Vice-Chancellor of Unisa, Prof Mandla Makhanya, is service-driven and mindful of how well the institution delivers to its students. Early in August he visited the College of Education and shared his thoughts on the University Service Charter and the 11 C’s plus 1. He stressed the importance of Unisa being student-centred and caring towards students, as the University exists because of its students. According to Prof Makhanya, we all need to improve our service to and communication with our students, as they are saying that they are not receiving answers speedily enough. A student query should be responded to within 48 hours, and Unisa staff members should ensure that they go the extra mile.

The Principal pointed out that the country desperately needs maths and science expertise; he believes that it was a sad day when maths literacy was introduced. According to him, people need maths and science to be able to get ahead in life. He encouraged CEDU to strive diligently to fulfil its mission of training quality teachers in maths, science and technology. He referred to the fact that South Africa is sadly lacking in home-grown academics, and that far too many Unisa students are exiting within their first year. He believes that it would be helpful if students could be given better guidance about what to study and what different courses will equip them for.

Unisa needs to come up with innovative ways in which to meet the ever-changing needs of students. We need to take e-tutoring seriously, because it opens up opportunities to serve students better and to reach larger numbers simultaneously. As the numbers of students have grown extensively, it has become of paramount importance to move to e-tutorials and e-marking methodologies in order to speed up the process. Lecturers can provide many students with examination feedback in a single tutorial letter. The University is switching to an on-line tutoring system because the response time is faster and because it enables us to reach many students.

Universities are expected to be places of excellence. Employers are not interested in employing people who know only 50% of what they need to know or who have barely scraped through. Employers need people who can perform, which means that we need to raise the bar.

Research is another mark of excellence of the Institute. Innovative research will draw people’s interest, and they will come to expect research excellence. We need to research our own work to see what impact we are having on our students. Reflecting on what we are doing and the effect we are having on our students, on their future prospects and ultimately on the planet forms part of what good service is all about. We know that our students are future leaders and decision-makers, and therefore we need to teach them to generate knowledge and not merely to consume it.

Professors Maree and Setati also added their thoughts at the end of the session. Prof Maree stressed again that we train 50% of the country’s educators, and that thousands of lives are touched by the teachers of the country. She wished us well in our endeavour to train good teachers for South Africa. Prof Setati phrased it as follows: “Each one of the Colleges needs to put forward plans on what they wish to research and Management will allocate funds based on how good the return on investment is.” She added: “Due to the new status of the College of Education, there were insufficient funds available for research this year. However, we need to be focused and move on to what could be. By getting more students through the system, we service ourselves. This is a time for doing, not complaining!”

Prof MS Makhanya (Unisa, Principal and Vice Chancellor)

The College of Education was very honoured that Prof MS Makhanya  (Unisa, Principal and Vice Chancellor) graced the launch of the College’s Mentorship programme with his presence. In her welcoming address Mrs F Patel from Unisa Human Resources said: “Prof Dzvimbo is passionate about the good that comes out of a mentorship programme”.She also stressed that not everyone can be a good mentor but that most people find that it works well. Mentors say the experience changed their thinking. The mentees often are more successful in getting their articles published, as they are better prepared when they submit. The experience can cement a friendship where both parties feel it adds value to them. Unisa is fortunate in that top management supports such mentorship programmes in the university.

Prof MS Makhanya addressed the CEDU mentees and mentors next. He reminded them that the young faces of today are the faces of the leaders of tomorrow. Mentorship is not a new concept to humanity and its roots go back a long way and can be traced to Homer’s Odyssey where Telemarchus is developed by his mentors. Everyone has examples and can name a handful of people who had a good impact on them. A mentor is a trusted, experienced person who in a mutually agreed arrangement, agrees to guide a less experienced person to help develop them. This kind of investment of one onto another builds sustainable development for their institutions and it is a very gratifying experience. The process leads to well rounded individuals in society and mentees can become more valuable to their organisation.

Prof KP Dzvimbo (Executive Dean, College of Education) and Prof C Meier (co-ordinator of the mentorship programme)

A mentor is not just an “ATM” that you can draw from, they can assist a mentee to learn to fly independently and achieve true growth. CEDU would like to see healthy collegial academic relationship which creates independence. It is a mutually agreed relationship where a mentee can trust their mentor and the mentor must feel comfortable with sharing their wisdom. It will also be a networking experience as mentees can also tap into mentor’s large networks through this process.

Prof Corinne Meier, who co-ordinates the mentorship programme in the College of Education, presented Prof Dzvimbo with a set of guidelines saved on CD. In her speech she likened the process as mirrored in the words of Benjamin Franklin “Tell me and I forget, teach me and I remember, involve me and I learn”. Prof Eleanor Lemmer and Dr Vivien Manyike have been in a mentorship relationship for some time now. They are an excellent example of a very successful partnership and what it can achieve. Prof C Meier challenged all mentor pairs to outdo them in the next few years. Prof VI McKay next presented the various mentorship pairs and handed them each a certificate to confirm their mentoring agreements.

Dr SL Naidu, Prof FJ Pretorius and Prof MM van Wyk	Prof Eleanor Lemmer and Dr Vivian Manyike
Mr BA Segoe, Prof VI McKay and Prof JM Dreyer	Dr A Dicker and Dr A van Schalkwyk
Attendees of the CEDU mentorship programme launch	Dr M Gumbo and Prof KP Dzvimbo

Prof. Vuyisile Msila and Mrs Angie Setlhako

The title of the article is: Teaching (still) Matters: Experiences on Developing a Heutagogical Online Module at UNISA. As the authors indicate: “This article explores an innovative online module to be introduced at the University of South Africa (UNISA) in 2013. This will be a one year module meant to introduce students to basic teaching skills. The module is meant to equip students who do not have any basic formal teaching qualifications. Among the objectives of the module is to ensure that the students will gain an interest in furthering their studies in teaching and help in the transformation of education in South Africa.” It is the first research article which has been written about the new signature course which is being developed at College of Education, Unisa. “Our two colleagues have indeed set a standard which needs to be emulated by all of us” said Prof Dzvimbo.