Day 9 (cont’d) –Meeting with University of Fort Hare Faculty

After our two high school visits concluded, we met with some of the faculty from Fort Hare’s Education Department. Similar to the staff from NMMU that we met two days ago, these Fort Hare faculty were also responsible for a teacher-training program. Here, it was an in-service program, which conferred Bachelor of Arts degrees to those who have been teaching for a while, or to older students who have changed careers.

Conversations with faculty members Mary Ann Hood and Melanie Drake brought up issues about the state of teaching and teacher training in South Africa that we have heard – and experiences – throughout this trip. These faculty members were quick to point out the need for quality teacher training programs. With 400-500 in the Fort Hare program, Ms. Drake pointed out “we could do so much good, but we could also add to an existing problem.” She noted that there had to be a shift in focus in order to make these training programs more effective.

John Padula, Diane Moore, Susan Reynolds, Debbie Chase, University of Fort Hare Faculty Member Mary Ann Hood
(Image compliments of SA Partners)

We were privileged to sit down with eight student teachers and share their stories and experiences. One participant tried his hand at Civil Engineering, but it took only one visit to a local school for him to fall in love with the students and switch to a career in education. Another member of this program described herself as “the oldest one in my classes”. She was very happy to have taken up teaching and is looking forward to having a classroom of her own in the near future. It was great to see so many excited students eager to become part of South Africa’s teaching force.

After our long day at two high schools and the University of Fort Hare, we thanked our hosts and headed back to our rooms to think over (again) all that we had experienced.