The practical placements of Stellenbosch University education students into schools surrounding the area is a key component of the programme’s goal in producing future educators. Although often met with stress and anxiety, the time spent teaching in front of a class of young learners enables the student teachers to grow both in confidence and qualification as they step closer to practising their profession.
The Education faculty building, or G.G. Cillie-Gebou, at Stellenbosch University, is where all of the education students learn the theoretical side to their future professions. For 2022 there are about 10 000 applications for the first year of Bachelor of Education (BEd) and about 1 500 applications for the Postgraduate Certificate in Education (PGCE), according to Professor Maureen Robinson, the acting vice-dean for teaching and learning, as well as the overseer of practical placements. The annual intake of first years at the faculty is about 250, says Robinson. PHOTO: James Cameron Heron
Understanding that the theoretical side of teaching can only take an aspiring educator so far, education students across the country get up from their lecture seats and move to the front of the class. For some it is new. For others, the intimidating gaze of young school students in a classroom might be somewhat familiar. The education faculty at Stellenbosch University, like universities across South Africa, has ensured that its students practice and learn the skills of a teacher before stepping into their future professions.
This is according to Professor Maureen Robinson, the acting vice-dean for teaching and learning, as well as the overseer of practical placements.
“It has always been a fundamental and integral part of the education programme […] It’s a golden opportunity really, that they are able to practice those skills prior to becoming qualified,” says Robinson.
Despite the challenges that the Covid-19 pandemic has presented, Professor Maureen Robinson, the acting vice-dean for teaching and learning, as well as the overseer of practical placements, explains how accommodating surrounding schools have been in accepting students for practical placements.
From an education student’s second year to their last, two years on, the third term steers away from a theoretical learning classroom to a practical teaching one. The Bachelor of Education (BEd) students are placed in 270 schools in and around the Stellenbosch area and are expected to put into practice what they learnt in their own classrooms, according to Robinson.
“They have to enact what they have learnt. The practical experience provides them with the opportunity to process what they’ve learnt at the university and to try out different approaches in practice,” explains Robinson. “It gives them the opportunity to think about their subject in relation to not only knowing it for themselves but how to transmit that to others.”
Throughout the students’ time as BEd students, they “would have spent about 24 weeks full-time in front of the classroom”, according to Robinson. Supplementing this in-classroom time are “micro-teaching activities at the university, as well as school observations”.
Terri-Leigh San is a fourth-year education student with majors in English, Social Science, and Natural Science. She currently focuses on teaching the intermediate phase, between grades 4 and 6. “My goal is to be the minister of education one day or be something close to that that can have such an impact on education. I’m not saying I have all the answers, but I want to try to help the education sphere,” says San. PHOTO: Supplied/Terri-Leigh San
An important lesson
The importance of the practical experience is felt by both professors and students, as it supplies the students with an experience that can build upon the limited curation of the teacher the students aspire to be. It can either affirm or disrupt their perspectives in pursuing a career as an educator, says Terri-Leigh San, a fourth-year education student.
“I think practical placement is extremely important. You don’t fully know what you’re getting yourself into until you go to prac. I think prac will definitely make you aware that this is not something you want to do… or the opposite. It makes you aware of the challenges that you will face,” San explains.
The BEd students immerse themselves in practical assessments three times over the period of their degree, whereas the one-year-long Postgraduate Certificate in Education (PGCE) students only perform it once, according to Robinson.
Dorian Jamie Arnoldus is a fourth-year education student with majors in Mathematics and Natural Sciences. He also focused on the intermediate phase. He tells MatieMedia that because of the practical experience, he and his classmates’ perspectives and approaches on teaching changed. “Just after prac, my whole class’s perspectives on teaching, their thinking, and the way they answer questions, and pose questions, changed completely. Because they understood what the teacher actually has to do, and what teacher work is.” PHOTO: Supplied/Terri-Leigh San
“I think the practical assessment and the whole school experience is probably the most important aspect of the PGCE,” says Kyra Mirtle, a student in Further Education and Training Phase (FET). “You cannot gain proper teaching practice and experience any other way.”
Being placed in a school to practice what you have learnt to a class of impressionable children is a daunting task, according to Dorian Jamie Arnoldus, a fourth-year education student. But being assigned a mentor-teacher proves to be an invaluable addition to the programme, both in relation to the student development in becoming a teacher, as well as aiding in the assimilation with the schools’ dynamic as quickly as possible, says Arnoldus.
“You have mentor teachers that can guide you with their experience. I can see what the teacher does, how the classroom works, and how the teacher manages their classroom. Then I can implement that into the class when I become a teacher … Without prac, I wouldn’t be able to teach the way I do now,” says Arnoldus.
Throughout the practical experience, the experienced teacher, as well as the learning university student, witness growth in the student’s confidence and teaching development, according to Lups Tuswa, a teacher at Rhenish Primary school and mentor to San.
“When they come in, they are shy and quiet because it’s such a different environment. The more time they spend with us [the teachers] and the children, their confidence grows – which means they become better teachers, or have a better idea of who they are and how they want to teach,” explains Tuswa.
As a mentor to some of the education students at Rhenish Primary, Lupus Tuswa attempts to pass on the advice that he would have appreciated when he was in the position his apprentices are in now. “Know your children. Know each individual. For me personally, and on my own teaching philosophy, nothing matters more than knowing your kids. If you know your kids, you’ll get the best out of them. And if you pretend to know them when you don’t, you’re going to lose them pretty quickly.” PHOTO: Supplied/Terri-Leigh San
Despite the practical placements occurring annually, the stress and anxiety towards it still remain, according to Virgil Scheepers. But, with the experience and skills that the student has gathered since their first practical placement, the student-teacher can focus more on teaching as a whole, instead of just the classroom side of the profession.
“On the professional side of teaching, I learnt a lot more because I already had this backing of teaching experience from previous years … I must say that this year was way less challenging as I didn’t have to focus as much on my teaching pedagogy, but was able to focus more on my professional development,” says Scheepers. “Although it’s stressful, it has really taught me a lot about myself, as a teacher, a professional, as well as an individual. I really think it is an amazing part of the programme.”
Making her teaching debut whilst being placed at Cannons Creek Independent School in Cape Town, Mirtle also felt the stress and anxiety that comes with teaching. But she understands the importance of the assessment.
“As scary as it was going into teaching prac and feeling very unprepared before, it was probably the period of time where I learnt the most about what it would actually be like to be a teacher,” says Mirtle. “I now know what to expect and I feel much more confident in my abilities as a teacher.”
Plastic chairs and tables
Impersonating their teachers on weekends with their siblings and cousins as their students, San and Arnoldus have been educators from a young age and are sure in pursuit of their passions.
“I should have realised a lot earlier that I wanted to become a teacher because I used to love playing ‘teacher-teacher’ with my cousin. I used to have a chalkboard or a whiteboard and teach them over the weekend,” reflected San.
Virgil Scheepers, an education fourth-year student with majors in Afrikaans, Maths, Natural Sciences and Technology, explains that education was never the plan in high school, but through a unique experience, he found his love for education.
“When I actually realised I wanted to be a teacher was when I got my little brother. I taught him how to write his name, and count. Our room was filled with educational posters from his birth,” said Arnoldus.
For some, the pursuit of teaching is often sparked by a calling, a draw that pulls some rather than others, explains Scheepers. It can also, through practice, be the experience of seeing the students respond to one’s lessons and classes with memorable reactions and comprehension.
“Those small things really reinforce the reason why I am here. It may sound like a cliché, but education was really something like a calling for me. It was something I tried to avoid for so long, but it got to me. So, these small things re-emphasise to me why I am in this position, and they reinvigorated my love for education,” says Scheepers.
Virgil Scheepers is an education fourth-year student with majors in Afrikaans, Maths, Natural Sciences and Technology. His focus is on the intermediate phase and believes that the practical side of the programme should be done more. “Teaching practise is a wonderful experience to put theory and practise together. I think we should do more of it.” PHOTO: Supplied/Virgil Scheepers