Dear Editor
Over the next three years, the Western Cape Education Department (WCED) plans to bring in 54 artisans to teach learners in the province. This comes after the WCED on Tuesday outlined to the Provincial Standing Committee on Education its plans to attract more young technical teachers into the schooling system, as well as the efforts to skill them to teach in schools of skills and special needs schools.
Currently, there are more than 31 000 teachers in the province. Within the next 5-10 years, the Department expects 19% of these educators to exit the system – which is equivalent to almost 6 000 individuals. To ensure that there are sufficient entrants in the future, numerous programmes have been instituted in order to increase the supply of new teachers. As such, 34.5% of new teachers are those who are between 20- and 34-years-old, meaning that the Western Cape will continue to be successful in recruiting teachers in comparison to what is seen throughout the rest of the country.
But, with respect to those in the special needs and technical schools, we see a more concerning picture over the next decade:
- For educators who teach at special needs schools, 47% of them are expected to leave the system whilst the new entrant rate is at 12%.
- For educators who teach at technical schools, 37% of them are expected to leave the system whilst the new entrant rate is at 20%.
We see that much needs to be done to ensure that our children in these sectors have enough.
It is for this reason why the WCED is also doing the following:
- Engaging with the Cape Teachers and Learning Institute (CTLI) so that teachers can be reskilled or upskilled.
- Further upskilling technical teachers, in which various programmes at the Motus Training Centre and HTS Bellville will be conducted in June 2022.
- Including School of Skills teachers in upskilling initiatives in the future.
Since the only tertiary institute training technical teachers in country is in Potchefstroom, the DA in the Western Cape applauds the WCED for seeking innovative ways to ensure that our educators are well trained and that our children continue to receive quality education in the province. We look forward to progress being made with these initiatives.
Regards
Deidré Baartman, MPP
DA Western Cape Spokesperson on Education
