By Frederick Philander
WINDHOEK
“Though education and training in Namibia are at a turning point which are geared towards a totally revolutionary overhaul and improvement, the current education and training system is unable to rise to the call of Vision 2030.”
This pedagogical warning was sounded by the director of the Namibia Qualifications Authority, Franz Gertze, who spoke on behalf of the Minister of Education at a graduation ceremony of the Institute of Open Learning in the capital.
“The truth is that at the current level of performance in education, we, as a nation, will not be producing citizens capable of making Namibia a knowledge-based economy as is expected of us in Vision 2030. This situation pertains notwithstanding the fact that for the past 17 years the government consistently invested about 25% of the national budget in education,” Gertze revealed.
According to him, the government knows what is working and what is not.
“We now have a detailed, complex and broad-based plan of action – it is known by the abbreviation of ETSIP, which stands for Education and Training Sector Improvement Programme. ETSIP is based on a 15-year strategic plan accepted by the government in 2005. The first phase of ETSIP is to strengthen the quality, effectiveness and efficiency of the general education and training system,” he said.
At the heart of this ambitious programme is the competence and performance of the teacher.
“Teacher competencies must be strengthened, especially in subject-mastery and pedagogical skills. The first step towards improved teacher performance is not necessarily to increase the salary. On the contrary, the first step was to define the competencies required by good teachers and to develop teacher standards. This was done by the Namibia Qualifications Authority (the NQA) after it was commissioned to set the standards about two years ago,” Gertze asserted.
He added: “The professional standards for teachers in Namibia were developed by representatives of teachers, parents, learners, training-providers, the government and other lobby groups. The NQA only facilitated the process. The process was entirely based on consultation. The members of the National Standards bodies visited most of the regions in the country and inputs from all partners were sought.”
In his view, the standards are national in the truest sense of the word.
“They were developed by the nation and for the nation and are not the property of the NQA. No, they were developed to be used for purposes of accrediting teacher-education programmes, for developing performance management systems, professional development of teachers, for licensing of teachers, determining the competencies required by teachers, with the view to improving the education and training sector in the country,” he said, mentioning professional knowledge, values, practices and relationships as the cornerstone for competencies.
He intimated that the time has come for ETSIP to be pragmatically implemented with energy and for the effects to be felt on the ground in the school, colleges, universities and wherever education and training take place.
“Education systems are always difficult to change. They are so huge and involve almost every one of us personally. It is therefore important that each and every one of us goes about this historic change in education with clarity, determination and unity of purpose. It is therefore my duty to enquire and ask IOL and the University of North-West and all providers of teacher education programmes if they have considered and incorporated the Namibia Professional Standards into their programmes or when they intend to do that”,” he asked.
The government acknowledges education is increasingly becoming global, international and obviously borderless.
“But we remain local in a global world and must therefore cater for our local needs as well. For me, ETSIP represents hope. Hope for an improved education system, hope for a better Namibia, hope for a brighter future,” he said.
Specifically directing his attention to the graduates, Gertze had the following to say:
“This graduation ceremony is the culmination of years of endeavour; no doubt you have had highs and lows – moments of absolute clarity and commitment to what you are doing, and perhaps moments of confusion, frustration and faltering about the future as well. Your achievements are exceptional: in the United States of America, these ceremonies are known as Commencements – meaning that you are commencing or, better still, beginning with the most important journey of your lives,” he concluded.