Comment
The classic films involving learners and teachers tend to take place against a backdrop of urban poverty, where the dominant forces are drugs and gangs rather than a more commonly accepted image of the healthy social environment.
The protagonist te...
There is no doubt that language is highly value-laden. In South Africa this is compounded by the imperative for social transformation and redress of the inequities of the past. The name changes of cities, towns, airports and roads -- many of which ha...
A few months ago, I spent time in a convent, living with nuns. True Story! Over a seven day period, I bonded with aging German nuns, who marvelled at the fact that I wore bright clothing and braided my hair in different styles almost daily. Most of t...
On 30 September 2009, the world's first mobile novel -- or m-novel -- published in both English and isiXhosa was launched. Kontax, a teen mystery story, was created for the Shuttleworth Foundation's m4Lit project, which I lead. Standing for ...
"But what," asked a friend after reading the September column, "do principals actually do?" She is not an educationalist, obviously, or she wouldn't ask that question. But is it really that obvious?
On reflection, I think it's not just the "layman/...
My entire high school history curriculum comprised of European history; the World Wars and a yearly smidgen of South African history. The beginning of South African time always neatly coincided with 1652, the year of Van Riebeeck's landing. For the l...
The internet - including the world wide web and also cellphone chat services like MXit - is truly a revolution. Never before has there been such a large and accessible resource of information; never before has it been so easy to communicate with othe...
The importance of leadership in schools is widely recognised. Research studies globally support this and also show that of even greater importance is the role of the school principal (headteacher).
At stakeholder level, anecdotal evidence from pare...
The repeat of the announcement by President Jacob Zuma that all school teachers will be able to buy laptop computers at the state's expense must rank as one of the most bizarre announcements of all time.
Although some teachers may welcome the news,...
In the past year a debate has developed in educational circles over whether teachers should be tested to ascertain their content knowledge of the subjects that they teach.
This debate has arisen partly in response to small-scale research studies th...
"Boet, are you strong enough", "do you have a strong character", "have you been running races", "which was the last race you ran?"
These are the questions I was bombarded with when people heard that I would be taking part in this year's Comrades Ma...
As if the gruelling Two Oceans Marathon wasn't enough...now I've gone and done it: I'm about to run my first Comrades Marathon. What possessed me?
In my last column I shared my experiences of taking part in the Two Oceans, one of the most popular ma...
 Join the Teacher reporter Thabo Mohlala as he prepares to run his first Comrades marathon. In the first instalment of his weekly blog, he recounts his experiences running the Two Oceans marathon
When three or so years ago I decided to join a ...
I recently attended a mass meeting convened by the South African Democratic Teachers' Union (Sadtu) Gauteng central region at Orlando Communal Hall in Soweto.
I was intrigued by its recent shenanigans where they unashamedly opted to hold meeting du...
A good deal of healthy public debate revolves around what needs to be done to improve the quality of schooling in South Africa. This is important, as few other initiatives have the potential to be as pivotal to the transformation of South African soc...
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