Maths professor calls for teacher competency assessments – East Coast Radio

“South Africa is coming from an old order
that did not prioritise education for the masses, and that created a shortage
of people who were confident enough to become the teachers of this subject in
future. That is why we are sitting where we are as a province,” says the
UKZN’s Professor Sudan Hansraj.

Hansraj has been sharing his thoughts on the
findings of the 2023 Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study.

The report, which was released last week,
revealed that South Africa’s Grade 5 learners ranked last out of 59 countries
in maths and science.

Grade 9 pupils also performed below the global
average in both subjects.

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Hansraj says these results reflect on the
quality of teaching.

He believes the issue can be addressed through
competency assessments.

“We need to go for rigorous training
programmes. This can even be online but at the end of it, the teachers must
write tests to prove their competence. This will call for some cooperation with
teacher unions, so that we can all first admit the problem and then work
together in the best interest of society,” he said.

“I believe there is nothing wrong with our
curriculum. In fact, the DBE takes a lot of pride in benchmarking the
curriculum against a number of first world systems. There can be nothing wrong
with a learner. South African children are like any other child elsewhere in
the world.”  

Hansraj
also called for the re-installation of Annual National Assessments (ANA) to set
benchmarks for student performance.

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