Catholic Institute of Education makes newspaper headlines
January 12, 2012
Bring values back to the classroom says CIE Director Mark Potterton
The state of education in South Africa is at the centre of many debates on the future growth and stability of the economy. At the forefront of this debate, the Catholic Institute of Education (CIE) provides regular insight and analysis into education issues in the country.
In December 2011, The New Age published an opinion piece by CIE Deputy Director Anne Baker on the crucial role leadership plays in the academic success of schools.
Titled Effective Leadership is Achieved Through Sharing, Baker’s article explains how school principals face tough challenges but don’t have the tools to tackle them. “There is little or no training for these school heads within the education system," says Baker. "There seems to be a sink or swim approach, with principals and teachers appointed along the lines of the Peter Principl - promoted to jobs with duties they cannot fulfill.”
She further explains that the CIE has a professional development programme in place that enables Catholic school leaders to understand the need to learn to share responsibility by building the leadership capacity of all stakeholders.
The issue of equality in education was brought into question in an opinion piece by CIE Director Mark Potterton published in The Star newspaper in December.
In his article, Put Quality Education Before Political Gain, Potterton highlights the major gap in South Africa’s public education system. “We fail to implement education policy while at the same time bidding to host the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) telescope which, we are told, promises to revolutionise science by answering some of the most fundamental questions that remain about the nature and evolution of the universe; a project of mammoth proportions that will require cutting-edge science and engineering expertise,” says Potterton.
He adds that the lack of improvement in public education is attributed to the country’s leadership, and a focus on short-term political gains. “Since 1994 the South African education budget has risen by more than 300 percent but the quality of our education, at least in the public sector, is not improving in incremental leaps,” says Potterton.
The way forward for 2012 is to bring values back into the classroom, explains Potterton. “I am not advocating the return of compulsory prayer – even though I would naturally gravitate towards such policy – but rather the return of simple values that make us decent human beings.”
Besides values, a strong support system is also needed. “We need committed teachers and parents to get involved in educating our youth,” says Potterton.
