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TEACH Training Academy

1. TEACH Training Academy

The TEACH South Africa Training Academy currently takes place at the end of the academic year in November, for three weeks. The Academy breaks for two weeks over Christmas and New Year and resumes for one week before TEACH Ambassadors take up their placements in schools. The training programme during the academy is currently based in Gauteng prior to the holiday and in the various provinces (regional) after the holiday. This model incorporates a three week Summer School which offers TEACH Ambassadors the opportunity to gain essential teaching experience under supervision, prior to entering the classroom.

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Due to TEACH South Africa’s expansion programme, this model is currently under review.

Watch this space for updates!

2. The TEACH South Africa Training Programme

While TEACH South Africa cannot make teaching easy, we will work to help the new recruits scale the inevitable learning curves as quickly as possible.
TEACH South Africa uses six Teacher Leadership principles as well as The Seven Roles of the Educator/Teacher as the framework for the structure, design and implementation of the courses offered in the Training Academy. This framework also defines what we mean by ambassador effectiveness as the key lever to learner achievement.

The Teaching as Leadership Principles are:

  1. Set the vision
  2. Motivate learners and their families in working hard to achieve the vision
  3. Plan purposefully
  4. Execute effectively
  5. Improve continuously
  6. Work relentlessly and make success sustainable

The Seven Roles of the Teacher are:

  1. Learning mediator
  2. Interpreter and designer of learning programmes and materials
  3. Leader, administrator and manager
  4. Scholar, researcher and lifelong learner
  5. Community, citizenship and pastoral role
  6. Assessor
  7. Learning area/ subject/ discipline/phase specialist

The Training Academy Programme is divided into two major components:

  • The Professional Curriculum
  • The Specialisation Curriculum

The training includes a brief orientation which provides TEACH Ambassadors with information on the programme and logistics as well as sessions on the framework of the training programme. 

2.1 The Professional Curriculum

The Professional Curriculum is divided into two parts:

  • Core Modules
  • Professional Practice

2.1.1 Core Modules

The Core Modules comprises of 10 modules designed and facilitated by experts from the Universities of Pretoria, Johannesburg, KwaZulu Natal and South Africa. These modules are aimed at equipping the ambassadors with the professional foundation for facilitating learning.
The broad based aim of the professional curriculum is to construct a practice theory of, and for, facilitating learning to ensure the highest possible quality of facilitating learning practice. The module, Instructional Planning and Delivery, is the foundation of this part of the curriculum. All the other modules are service modules that prepare the TEACH Ambassador for Instructional Planning and Delivery in the classroom.

The Core Modules are:
Module 1 - Education Policies and Teacher Professionalism in South Africa
Module 2- Values, Ethics and Moral Intelligence
Module 3 - Multiculturalism and Diversity
Module 4 - Introduction to Milieu Deprivation
Module 5 - HIV and AIDS
Module 6 - Life Skills
Module 7 - Classroom Management and Culture
Module 8 – Inclusive Education and Multiple Intelligences
Module 9 – Integrating E-learning Into Teaching and Learning
Module 10 – Teaching ESL Learners

2.1.2 Professional Practice

For TEACH Ambassadors to be effective, professional education practitioners, the following essential courses are offered:

  • Think Write
  • TEACH Speak
  • Professional Etiquette

These courses are compulsory for all TEACH Ambassadors, irrespective of their specialisations.

Think Write

The Language of Learning and Teaching (LoLT) in the majority of South African schools is English and all teachers, irrespective of the subjects they teach need to be competent in using this language of instruction. Improving learners’ competence in using the language is not the domain of the English teacher alone. All teachers must work in concert to improve learner performance.

This course focuses on equipping TEACH Ambassadors with essential writing and reading skills in order to improve learner performance within their subjects and learning areas.

TEACH Speak

Everybody remembers a few teachers who impacted on them, often positively and sometimes negatively. Teachers who fall into the latter category are those who droned on in a monotone, oblivious to the learners who snored in accompaniment.

This course guides the ambassadors to investigate and understand their own communication style equips them with techniques to use their own style effectively on their intended audiences. With the teacher as a mediator of learning, it is vital that all TEACH Ambassadors are skilled in this area.

Professional Etiquette

This module looks at professional etiquette and from this perspective focuses on creating first impressions that have an impact, interpersonal interaction, verbal and non verbal communication, conventions of appropriate attire, telephone etiquette, etiquette of written communication, formal meetings etiquette, and personal hygiene.

2.2 The Specialisation Curriculum

In order to be effective teachers the ambassadors need to understand core knowledge related to the actual subject matter that they teach; specific methods for teaching related to the subject matter and grade level that they teach and policy-related and administrative issues that curriculum delivery demands. Essential skills and values related to their subject specialisations add to the focus of this training.

The Specialisation Curriculum Modules are:

  1. Outcomes -based Education
  2. The National Curriculum Statement
  3. Outcomes-based Assessment
  4. The Internet as a Resource Tool
  5. Materials Design
  6. Instructional Planning and Delivery
  7. Subject Specialisation Knowledge, Skills and Methodology
  8. Tracking Learner Achievement
  9. Teaching Experience

Some of the modules are treated generically while others require breakaway into specialisation groups. All training adopts an experiential, interactive methodology and approach.

TEACH Ambassadors are expected to plan, design, execute and reflect on lesson plans. Summer School affords the trainee teachers an opportunity to gain critical teaching experience under the supervision of support personnel and through the lesson debriefing and reflection process the TEACH Ambassador begins to develop professionally. 

3. Monitoring and Evaluation

The Training Academy is the final part of the selection process. TEACH Ambassadors will be monitored and evaluated throughout the training and a comprehensive report will be compiled with input from various facilitators and support staff which will supply information for areas of development as well as proof of whether the TEACH Ambassador has successfully achieved the training outcomes.

A Portfolio of Evidence will also be compiled over the four weeks of training and this will support the final decision taken by management of the suitability of the trainee to complete the programme over the two years.