Thinker Spot

I am privileged in the sense that I am part of the establishment of a new campus - one that will become the new University of Mpumalanga. My gaze, however, is less on the promise of a new university and the voids it will fill, but more on the first intake of students for the Foundation Phase. We don't know the students, and they don't know us. They don't know each other, either. So, apart from leaving it to themselves to come to know each other, institutions all over the world use all kinds of activities to ensure that individuals settle into their new environment. Above all, the aim of these activities is for people to learn how to start functioning as a group -- as a collective. My gaze remains fixed on the actions - the individuals who stop participating and choose to become onlookers; the energy and the rhythm of the games - traditional games that I guess many city dwellers have forgotten about. I was surely reminded of a few games I use to play when I was small. Th...

It took considerable courage for me to put down everything, block out the noise and pick up the book. It's overcast outside, the kind of weather one would expect to encounter in London NOT Johannesburg in early summer. It's Saturday and I don't need to be at work. Exhausted after a week of traveling to the school where I try my best to teach students for whom school seems an unnecessary stumbling block, staying in bed a bit longer than usual was especially welcome. I recently received five copies of Ghost Boy by Martin Pistorius. Reading Ghost Boy was not going to be easy. Martin Pistorius's life story is a moving one, since he fell ill as a child and became trapped in an unresponsive body. Yet, once he came out of his coma no-one actually knew that he was  awake  and completely aware of his surroundings. In fact, he could follow conversations. Being placed in front of a TV for long periods meant that he was "re-schooled". While other...

Following the developments of Education in South Africa Education in South Africa - Info SA I am fortunate enough to be part of a new development in tertiary education. Efforts to establish a new university in Mpumalanga has brought together a number of roleplayers and stakeholders which has resulted in the launch of the Teacher Education Campus in Marble Hall. The University of Johannesburg provides the academic program -- one that is unique in the sense that it involves a teaching school. Initially introduced at the Soweto Campus, this approach to Teacher Training proves to be successful. Similar in principal to an academic hospital for trainee doctors, the teaching school offers teachers-to-be the opportunity to observe a fully functional, real-world school. The establishment of a new university in the Mpumalanga province is an opportunity to be based in a rural part of South Africa. The aim with this multi-stakeholder initiative is to train students from rural areas in ...