CEDU, Curriculum and Institutional Studies Department staff that attended the summit

Curriculum development professionals, lecturers, researchers, institutional designers, learning developers, education planners, policy makers and educational specialists gathered from the 24 -25 April 2013 at The Core, in Sunninghill, Johannesburg for the “The Curriculum Development Innovation and Reform Summit 2013”. They came to discuss what is happening in this field of specialization currently as well as what the emerging trends are in Curriculum Planning and Development in Africa and Internationally.  Curriculum Design, Diversity and Innovation, Quality Assurance and Curriculum Development; and Curriculum Innovation were their themes and perspectives which were used to address the issue of creating an Afrocentric Curriculum through Innovation, Strategies and Literacy.

“Designing the 21st century classroom and addressing the Learning Challenge” was the platform which allowed delegates to explore tools needed to successfully embed digital content into the curriculum. Also exploring how social media could be incorporated into the curriculum while recognising that there is an absence of the teacher’s voice in planning the curriculum. The reform processes taking place within the curriculum arena poses a challenge and this was highlighted during a debate and discussion. Leading experts who advised on latest strategies, challenges and developments pertaining to Curriculum Development, Innovation and Reform strategies, included Dr Azwi Tshivase, from Directorate of Curriculum and Learning Development, Unisa. He presented a paper entitled “Transforming teaching and learning in ODL environments in Africa in the context of curriculum development reform”. Curriculum development is a much debated concept where change is concerned. “The conference was a platform to unfold curriculum challenges and developments within the education sector” says Dr. G van den Berg, COD – Curriculum and Instructional Studies.

Dr Connie Haasbroek

Dr Connie Haasbroek shared her knowledge on“The importance of sleep, especially when studying” on MyUnisa radio during an interview in the Lunch Box time slot on Tuesday, 23 April. Nancy K was die presenter/producer of this radio insert.

Dr Haasbroek first used the Oxford dictionary definition which describes sleep to set the scene. It defines it as a recurring condition of the body and mind in which the nervous system is inactive, the eyes are closed, the postural muscles relaxed and consciousness is practically suspended. Sleep plays an important role in the development and functioning of the brain, it is needed for our brains to mature, to stay emotionally sound and to be in top performance physically.Very important hormones are released while people are sleeping such as the growth hormone in children. Research studies indicate that sleep loss may cause obesity because chemicals and hormones that play a key role in controlling appetite and weight gain are released during sleep. Some scientists believe that as we dream to fix experiences in our long term memory; others believe we dream about things worth forgetting to unclog our brains.

A person’s body clock works over a period of 24 hours.  When it is dark, the darkness hormone, melatonin, is released around about 22:00.  The release is caused by the drop in daylight and temperature. The daylight that emerges with the break of a new day prevents the further secretion of the darkness hormone that causes sleep.The body clock wakes us up when it releases a stress hormone called adrenocorticotropin.  Chemicals can influence the natural neural switch in the brain e.g. sleeping tablets, stimulants (caffeine, bull with wings). This may influence our natural sleep-wake cycle and the quantity and quality of the sleep we needed.

Sleep has a recurring cycle of 90-110 minutes which repeats itself. Each of these cycles is divided into two categories; namely Non Rapid Eye Movement (NREM) that has four stages and Rapid Eye Movement (REM).
NREM:

• Stage 1: Light sleep – when a person is still half wake, half asleep and/or easily awake (10 minutes).
• Stage 2: True sleep (20 minutes) – Largest part of sleep. Breathing and heart rates slow down and urine secretion is slowed down.
• Stage 3: Deep sleep – Brain produce delta waves (High amplitude and low frequency = slow brain waves). This is when breathing and heart rate are at their lowest. Urine secretion is almost stopped.This is when blood flow is directed away from the brain, towards the muscles for restoring physical energy.
• Stage 4: Deep sleep – Rhythmic breathing takes place and there is limited muscle activity. If awakened, we are disorientated. This is the time when bed wetting, sleep walking and nightmares may happen.

REM:
People move into this stage after we fall asleep. It happens 3-5 times per night and for duration of 70-90 minutes. During this stage we are actively dreaming. Breathing and heart rates, as well as blood pressure are up, our bodies are paralysed which is nature’s way of acting out our dreams.  After the REM stage the whole process starts all overall again.

In answer to the question “How much sleep is needed? She said animals and people are different in how much sleep we need as certain snakes need 18 hours, cats sleep for 12 hours, sheep for 4 hours and giraffes only sleep for 2 hours. Elephants sleep standing up during NREM, but lie down during REM sleep. Humans need between 5-11 hours; 8 hours are the average for adults, 10 hours is the average for teenagers. Records for the longest periods without sleep are between 11 and 19 days. After a few days, the individuals participating in these studies start to hallucinate, experience delusions e.g. paranoia, have blurred vision, slurred speech, as well as memory and concentration lapses.

If we do not sleep people start to function badly as the brain cannot function. Sleep is service time for our body and mind. Without sleep you will not be able to work, learn, create, and communicate.  Neglecting to sleep will result in major mental and physical breakdown. With continued lack of sleep the brain will shut down and serious affect your language, memory, planning and sense of time.  A person will not be able to respond to changing situations and will not be able to make rational judgements in real life situations.  The decrease in performance is equivalent to a blood alcohol-level of 0.05%.

Human bodies and minds prefer routine.  Healthy sleep routines will include discipline with regard to the time, routine and place.  It is wise to stay away from stimulants such as caffeine, artificial light and excitement e.g. DVDs/videos, games, before going to bed. Dr Haasbroek asked the listeners: “Do you have energy to play games/watch DVDs until early hours of the morning, but cannot get up in the mornings?” If so this can partly be ascribed to artificial light, light from computers, televisions and cell phones that inhibit the secretion of the darkness hormone, melatonin. So the technology we love, works against us if we are overexposed.

You are not getting enough sleep if you experience one or more of the following:

• Need an alarm clock to wake up
• Make use of the snooze button
• Are glued to the bed
• Feel sluggish in the afternoon
• Need to nap during the day
• Get sleepy/drowsy during the day or when studying
• You feel tired, depressed and moody most of the time
• Have impaired motor skills which leads to increased risk of accidents

So if a student does not allow time for enough sleep they run a risk of the following problems starting to occur:

• They will not be able to give attention/concentrate on their studies
• They will forget and will not be able to remember what they have learnt
• They will not be able to make sound judgements and/or use creative skills and problem solving skills during assignments and/or writing exams
• They will not be able to keep their girl/boyfriend happy; they will be grumpy and irritable most of the time
• They will get sick; their immune system will become less effective and they will experience colds, flu and other infections
• They will not be able to cope with every-day living stress, and especially exam stress
• And lastly, take note; a person can start to gain weight!

With enough sleep during study and exam time, students will be able to start and complete their day with a smile. They will be full of energy and fully alert – firing on all cylinders. They will be motivated and looking forward to the day that they put their gown on AND their dreams of successful completion of their studies will come true! And now it is time for me to wish you all good night, sleep tight and don’t let the bed bug bite or carry you away!

Learners of the Patrick Makolane school

The 500 schools project under the leadership of Dr S Mohapi, commenced in Marapyane on 15 April 2013. The Marapyane, Mpumalanga team comprising of  Prof MD Magano, Prof E Mathipa, Dr T Mapotse and Mrs S Matlabe left for Marapyane as early as 05h00 and arrived at Patrick Makolane Primary School at 08h00 while learners and teachers were still at assembly for morning devotion.Following morning devotions the team  was welcomed by the Principal. Though there was a go- slow strike by teachers who belonged to SADTU, the principal managed to organize the learners, teachers (belonging to PEU), parents and SMT members who participated in the focus groups. Interviews started with teachers, followed by learners, SMT and parents.  These interviews resulted in interesting conversations which among other things, highlighted areas that need urgent intervention.

Members of the Unisa 500 schools team together with some of the teachers

The Unisa Team identified a lack of resources such; as furniture, classrooms, library and science laboraties as urgent needs. The relationship forged with Patrick Makolane needs to be nurtured in order to improve the performance of the learners.  The College of Education at Unisa (CEDU) can intervene in supporting educators in Mathematics, Technology, Sciences, home languages and first additional language.  The Unisa team is looking forward to the second visit to ensure that CEDU leaves a huge foot print in Marapyane.

CEDU colleagues children grace the cover of the new What’s Up Teach magazine of the DBE

A new magazine WHAT’S UP – TEACH? has been created by the Department of Basic Education to inspire the 400 000 teachers of South Africa. As part of her community engagement, Prof Veronica McKay has supported the process of creating this magazine by writing some of the articles and assisting with the conceptualisation of the first edition. She says that the magazine is “jam-packed with relevant information for teachers and at the same time it’s an enjoyable read”. She also makes the point that producing the magazine does not involve any extra costs for the DBE since the articles are written in-house or are submitted by academics free of charge as part of their community engagement activities.

Teachers do not have to pay for the magazine, which is being dropped off at teacher centres and distributed to approximately 26 000 schools across the country. The first edition of WHAT’S UP – TEACH? deals with a wide variety of topics, such as:

• The National Reading Strategy
• Organisational tips for teachers
• Understanding the importance of the Annual National Assessments and what they aim to do
• Preventing the transmission of diseases in school
• Bullying and how to deal with it
• Information about the new Rainbow workbooks that have been distributed to all public schools
• An inspirational checklist to enthuse teachers and get their learners smiling
• Managing absenteeism
• Agony Aunt letters and replies

Unisa’s education students will benefit from reading the magazine as it deals with current educational issues and offers guidance and assistance to both would-be and practising teachers.

Apart from Prof McKay’s involvement, the Unisa College of Education has contributed in other ways too: our own Mapethla Machaba and children of the College of Education grace the front cover of the magazine and feature in the graphics that support various articles. Teachers and students should look out for the magazine, which will be produced quarterly.

Two learners from a Bergville school who attended the successful careersday

Dr MC Maphalala (Department of Curriculum & Instructional Studies) as part of his community engagement activities is involved with an organisation called the Bergville Community Builders (BCB) established in 2003. Bergville is a small rural town in KwaZulu-Natal where Dr Maphalala hails from.  Amongst other things this organisation organises an annual Career Day, which assists learners from 32 high schools in the area with career guidance. It also provides support to the educators from these schools.

Dr Maphalala participated in this year’s event, which was held on 9 February 2013. The event was attended by more than 1500 learners, higher education institutions, further education and training colleges (commonly known as FETs), government departments, companies and organisations, as well as schools. The career day focused on helping the Grades 11 & 12 learners prepare for their future careers and plan the track of education they will need to follow. Different organisations and professionals exposed learners to various careers through presentations and materials provided on the day. Dr Maphalala addressed learners about various careers they can pursue. He also spoke to a number of teachers who are enrolled with Unisa for various postgraduate programmes in education.

Bergville learners from 32 local schools gathered for a Careers Day organised by the Bergville Community Builders (BCB) early in February 2013

A word of thanks to the College of Education (CEDU) and Unisa’s marketing departments for providing marketing materials (brochures, pens, banners and lanyards) used on the day. The support given by Mr Achieve Ubisi (Communication and Marketing Specialist, CEDU) and Ms Mittah Makhobotloane (Marketing Secretary, Department: Corporate Communication & Marketing) is acknowledged and appreciated.

All ten UCECE teachers together with the principal

A new year always brings new changes. At UCECE many changes awaited the children when the school opened its doors for 2013. Not only is the school proud of its six new teachers and four assistants but there are also two hundred learners enrolled for this year. This is especially wonderful if we remember that the school had forty-eight learners a year and a half ago and the school is at its maximum capacity. Well done to the board and management of the school and to Mrs Naude, the principal of the school on achieving such a grand turn around.

Learning the rules of the road while playing

The children are enjoying all kinds of learning opportunities that are enjoyable and  quite challenging  as can be seen from the photo’s. Apart from all the stories, music and movement, math and art activities, the children certainly enjoy their new bicycle track. The highlight of their week is the make and bake activities which happens every Friday!

The highlight of each week, Friday is baking day

Completed puzzle joy

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Mr Gilbert Mamorobela, Unisa Public Relations, Mrs Annette le Roux, Unisa Library Services, Dr Zehava Rosenblatt,University of Haifa, Israeland Prof Johan Booyse, Unisa College of Education

Dr Zehava Rosenblatt, who is head of the Centre for Educational Administration and Evaluation in the Department of Leadership and Educational Policy at the University of Haifa, Israel, will be visiting Unisa for two weeks.  Her research focuses on human resource management in education, in particular as regards teacher accountability, work withdrawal behaviour, job design and job security. Both she and Prof Booyse have recently completed chapters for an international book which is due to be printed in the Netherlands in the course of 2013. These chapters deal with teacher and principal responsibility-taking in Israeli and South African secondary schools respectively. These two academics are currently planning a new international project on teacher accountability in which nine other countries are expected to be involved. During her stay in South Africa, Dr Rosenblatt will be visiting six different schools in Pretoria and Johannesburg with a view to furthering this envisaged research project.

Dr Rosenblatt will be presenting two papers during her visit to Unisa.
On Tuesday, 5 February 2013, at 10:00, she will speak in AJH 6-36 on the theme, Withdrawal behaviour of Israeli schoolteachers: An organizational deviance and ethics perspective. She maintains that an analysis of temporal absence trends of the entire public teacher population in Israel shows that absence may reflect deviant organizational behaviour. In addition, an examination of absence and lateness patterns show that both are related to school ethical climate and organizational justice.

The second paper which she plans to deliver on Friday, 8 February 2013, at 10:00, in AJH 5-17 (CEMS Boardroom), is entitled, Teachers’ and Administrators’ Accountability Disposition: Conceptualization, Measurement and Validation. During this session she will report on a research project which was originally directed at establishing and validating a theory-based, two-dimensional scale for measuring individual accountability disposition, and which was applied to teachers and school administrators. A series of studies confirmed the instrument’s convergent, construct and predictive validity. The scale developed in this study may be used to enhance research on educators’ predispositions regarding accountability, contributing to a better understanding of system-level accountability.

Archbishop Njongo Ndungane makes a plea for support of CEDU academics for the restoration process of historically significant schools in South Africa

Some of the oldest prestigious schools in South Africa were very badly affected by Bantu Education as it destroyed the mission schools education system in South Africa. These schools contributed richly to black education prior to the negative impact of Bantu Education. Archbishop Njongo Ndungane, the Executive Director of the Historic Schools Restoration Project (HSRP) came to address the College of Education on 22 January 2013. He came to raise awareness about the historic schools restoration project which has been endorsed by the government of South Africa and is supported by the Departments of Arts and Culture, Education, and Science and Technology.

The HSRP is striving to create sustainable schools of excellence at educational sites of historical significance. There are over 50 such schools in the country but in order to make the project viable and manageable, the initial phase of the project will only focus on 9 of these schools. They are Heraldtown Comprehensive School in Eastern Cape, Inanda Seminary in KwaZulu Natal, Inkamana High School in KwaZulu Natal, Lemana in Limpopo, Ohlange High School in Kwazulu Natal, Orlando High School in Gauteng, St Matthew’s High School in Eastern Cape, Tiger Kloof in Northern Cape and Vryheid Comprehensive School in KwaZulu Natal.

CEDU management together with Archbishop Njongo Ndungane

Many of these historic schools have been declared heritage sites, while others are eligible for this status. Most of the buildings, which in some cases date back to the 19th century, constitute a rich heritage that waits to be reclaimed. The restoration process will require a level of transformation to ensure that in each school a learning curve is established in which learners will achieve excellent academic results, instil moral and social maturation and bring about a capacity to play leadership roles in society. The Archbishop rounded of his presentation by requesting the College to look into where they could support this process to support the process of restoration of these historic al South African schools.

(From left) Prof EJ van Niekerk (Unisa), Ms N Mangqase (Unisa Foundation), Mr Greyling (principal), Mrs P Mothoa (principal), Mr Molapisi (Circuit Manager), Mr A Mathenjwa (Kumba Mine), Mr S Tenza (Kumba Mine), Mr Maswanganye (principal) and Mr F Mojapelo (Unisa Foundation)

The School Management Development project, through Ms Ntombise Mangqase of Unisa Foundation, has received funding over 3 years totalling R1100 000 from the Kumba Iron Ore LTD, Thabazimbi Mine. The project was officially launched on 6 December 2012 at the Kumba Auditorium, by Mr Kobus Muller (General Manager of Kumba).

On 19 January 2013, thirty-five registered students will start with their Certificate Course in School Management. Amongst others, the project is aimed at equipping aspiring and acting education managers firstly on school management issues and secondly on aspects of managing school teaching staff. The programme is oriented on practical execution and students therefore need to demonstrate in their portfolios that they have the ability to achieve the outcomes in the practical school situation.

Dr Maphalala hands Tessa materials pack to the Deputy Principal of Ikage School

Teacher Education in Sub Saharan Africa (TESSA) project is an initiative by the Open University in the United Kingdom to produce open educational resources (OERs) aimed at improving the quality of education and training of teachers in sub-Saharan Africa. The programme provides materials on line (including audio and other media) in a modular form.  These materials focus on classroom practice in the key areas of literacy, numeracy, natural sciences, social studies and arts and life skills. The TESSA materials which have been authored primarily by academics from across Africa are freely available via the TESSA website in a variety of formats and languages.

These resources can be used by universities to training teachers as part of their initial teacher education programmes or by teachers in schools to improve the teaching and learning process. The College of Education (CEDU) at Unisa is spearheading the campaign to promote the use of OER’s available through the TESSA project, to improve the quality of the education and training of teachers in South Africa and the rest of the African continent.

Dr Maphalala explains how Tessa materials can benefit the teachers

On 5 December 2012 the TESSA team led by Dr MC Maphalala delivered TESSA teaching and learning resources to Ikage Primary School in Alexandra to help teachers to plan for their 2013 academic programmes. The resources were uploaded for teachers on flash disks and all five TESSA modules were also made available to teachers in hard copy format.

In line with Unisa’s Strategic Plan 2015, the CEDU TESSA team, works with schools in Alexandra as part of their community engagement, focusing on teacher development and providing teachers with OERs. The CEDU TESSA team also provides ongoing support to the teachers in their partner schools with regards to:

Unisa team members and some of the Ikage School teachers and principals

• lesson planning and presentation
• classroom management (ability to maintain order and discipline in class for effective teaching and learning)
• appropriate use of learning, teaching and support materials (LTSM)
• understanding of curriculum policy documents
• curriculum planning and assessment
• the use of teaching strategies and methods

The hard -working TESSA team members are: Mrs Machaba (Early Childhood Development and Foundation Phase), Dr MC Maphalala (Department of Curriculum & Instructional Studies), Dr VA Nkonyane (Department of Curriculum & Instructional Studies), Mrs Phajane (Early Childhood Development and Foundation Phase) and Mrs MJ Sethusha (Early Childhood Development and Foundation Phase).