TISP in Stirling, Scotland March 2011 Nico Beute Cape Peninsula University of Technology IEEE South Africa Section The Impact of IEEEs Teacher In-Service Program in South Africa

Overview Why do we have TISP in South Africa Challenges in South Africa today How did TISP start in SA? TISP for grades 10 to 12 TISP for grades 4 to 9 Implementation of the South African 2005 National Curriculum Statement

Why do we need TISP in South Africa? We need to develop

Technological achievements during the last century Electricity Cars Aeroplanes Water supply Electronics Radio and television Agriculture Computers Nuclear Technology Telephone Refrigerators Air conditioners Highways Spacecraft Internet Home appliances Health Technology Laser - Fibre optics

Electrification Electricity is useless without electrification Getting electricity into each home – for SA: – % – % –2012 Universal ? For Africa: –Tunisia 99% –Namibia 34% –Mozambique 6%

Conditions and Challenges in South African Education Departments Young population Not many have role models Some teachers not sufficiently educated Shortage of Maths & Science teachers Poverty

Scientists and Engineers in R&D Africa at a glance 96/7

SA: Key indicators Global Competitive index SA is in the class: Efficiency driven (in the middle) SA is 45 th out of 133 – score 4.3 out of 7 Financial Market sophistication: 5.4 Health and primary education: 3.6 Problematic factors: –Crime –Inadequately educated workforce SA is second in Africa – Tunisia is 4.6

Policies to improve Africa Short-term –Access to finance through market- enabling policies. –Keeping markets open to trade. Long-term –Improve Infrastructure –Improve education and healthcare –Good governance and strong and visionary leadership.

Number of Learners and Students in the System population Not economically active grant recipients tax payers learners and students – (85.6%) in public schools – (2.2%) in independent schools – (4.0%) in ABET Centres, LSEN schools and ECD sites – (5.2%) in public HE institutions – (3.0%) in Public FET Institutions

How did TISP start in South Africa?

Personal interest in Promoting Technology 1990: Developing a Technology curriculum for S Africa 1992: Gateway Discovery Centre –Interactive Science and Technology exhibition Technological Literacy Counts –IEEE workshop in Baltimore 9&10 October 1998 TISP in Chicago –28 July 2001 Getting Region 8 of the IEEE interested –Workshop in Nice 27&28 Sept : School project: Energy efficient lights 2006: Roll out of TISP in South Africa

TISP: The Immediate Objectives Train IEEE volunteers to train pre-university teachers, so that the teachers can be more effective in bringing engineering and engineering design into the classroom. Train IEEE volunteers to approach the school system in order to make the teacher training possible. Make this activity sustainable and long-term.

How did we start TISP in South Africa? We tried to meet the needs of South African Education Departments We listened to what educators said We tried to understand educational principles We co-operated with educators, and did not try to tell them what to do Practical examples help the school child to understand difficult concepts Demonstrated what an engineer does

Method used at TISP Workshops Educators and Engineers join forces Present Selected Lesson Plans Evaluate Lesson Plans Suggest improvements Plan Training Sessions Identify Presenters for Training Sessions

TISP in the FET sector Grades 10 to 12

TISP in South Africa – 2006 and 2007 –Training workshop held on 4-5 August 2006 –Approximately 90 participants 60 engineers 30 from education departments –Excellent participation of Education Departments both during planning stage and follow up workshops –About 400 teachers were involved in the programme during 2006

Teacher Training In-Service Programmes IEEE / SAIEE / SAIMechE / DoE VenueLesson PlanPresenters TISP Workshop Cape Town 5&6 Aug CAD 2.Give me a Brake 3.Give Binary a Try 4.The Dumpy Level 5.Bridge Building 1.Jaco Myburg and Willem Goodchild 2.Hugh Jeffery and Benny Trollip 3.Vaughn Stone and Jan Randewijk 4.Andre Fourie 5.Johan van Staden Subject advisor training Gauteng Sept CAD 2.Give me a Brake 3.Give Binary a Try 4.The Dumpy Level 5.Bridge Building 1.Jaco Myburg 2.Jan Mostert and 3.Rina Mostert and Suliman Loonat 4.Andre Fourie 5.Johan van Staden Subject advisor training Cape Town 10 – 14 Sept CAD 2.Give me a Brake 3.Give Binary a Try 4.The Dumpy Level 5.Bridge Building 1.Jaco Myburg 2.Hugh Jeffery and 3.Vaughn Stone and Jan Randewijk 4. Andre Fourie 5.Johan van Staden Teacher Training Gauteng 24 – 29 Sept CAD 2.Give me a Brake 3.Give Binary a Try 4.The Dumpy Level 5.Bridge Building 1. Jaco Myburg 2. Jan Mostert and 3. Mdu Ngema and Suliman Loonat 4. Andre Fourie 5. Johan van Staden Teacher Training KwaZulu Natal 24 – 29 Sept CAD 2.Give me a Brake 3.Give Binary a Try 4.The Dumpy Level 5.Bridge Building 1.Jaco Myburg 2.David Kyereahene-Mensah and 3.Vaughn Stone and 4.Johan Fourie 5.Johan van Staden

What has lead to this success? Involve Education Departments It needs a driver – –an engineer and someone in education –on national scale and on regional scale Be a catalyst - involve others –eg SAIEEE, SAIME, ECSA, Companies & University Get volunteers who believe in it Target volunteers Get funding – travel & material –IEEE,SAIEE, SAIME, Companies, Universities Get an active planning team

TISP in the GET sector Grades 4 to 9

The beginnings National Technology Co-ordinator attended one of the FET TISP workshops in 2007 and asked for help with projects for the Technology Learning Area Got Technology from all 9 Provincial Education Departments involved

Achievements so far for Technology in grades 4 to 9 Arranged and held 35 teleconference meetings Arranged and held 4 National workshops We have now developed: –Detailed work-plan for teaching each of the 5 learning area of Technology for each grade – from grade 4 to grade 9 –Two engineering related projects for each of the 30 units (=5*6)

Roll-out Plan Present the material to Subject advisors during a National Conference Subject advisors together with engineers (where possible) present the material to educators –Note: there are about schools Date of conference is influenced by a new curriculum implementation plan

The role of TISP in developing and implementing Curriculum 2005

Curriculum 2005 approved on 29 September 1997 Post apartheid Rich in Ideology Teachers became facilitators and educators Teaching plans became learning programs Learning by discovery and group work Instruction was replaced by facilitation Content based replaced by outcome based

Challenges in implementing curriculum 2005 Inadequate preparation Teachers were not prepared – did not know what and how to teach the outcomes based education way Complaints: Childrens: –Inability to read and write –Lack of Knowledge –Lack of arithmetic ability In 2000 Curriculum was reviewed

The 2002 Revised National Curriculum Statement for GET 2005 Commitment to outcomes-based Failed to address skills and background knowledge Introduced content framework and assessment standards Failed to provide coherent, systematic content and knowledge Revision was completed in 2002 and implemented in 2004 Implementation had its challenges and shortcomings

Sep 2009 Report on the implementation of the NCS 2005 Clarify the role of subject advisors Reduce teacher workload Reduce administrative burden of teachers Simplify assessment requirements Reduce learning areas in intermediary phase – combine Natural Science and Technology Provide textbooks and learning material Provide subject specific teacher training

Challenges Education Departments need to address Provide text books and learning material on a national basis Train educators – both in-service and pre-service Attract quality teachers Improve pass rate at universities

Exciting Opportunities for TISP in South Africa Curriculum and Assessment Policy Statement (CAPS) document for the combined subject Science and Technology has been released for grades 4 to 6 The CAPS document for the subject Technology for grades 7 to 9 is about to be released. We have seen an advance copy Implementation 2013: 2011 prepare support document 2012 take it to educators 2013 implement

Conclusions Be excited about TISP and technology, it is contagious! Technological literacy is a prerequisite for development Technology Education will make the difference We are going to leapfrog technological change in Africa, but it will need effort