Newly Qualified Teachers and Abuse of Authority in Schools

Ms P finally completed her B Ed in Foundation Phase teaching (gr 1-3) at the end of 2018. She is a single mom, and needed to work while she studied, so it took her a bit longer than the four years that a full time student would have needed to complete the course. Nevertheless, she managed to find an intern job in a good State primary school, and taught full time alongside qualified teachers in gr 1, 2 and 3 for four years, which to my mind makes her a lot more valuable than a B Ed graduate with a mere ten weeks exposure to the real world of the classroom during their four years of study.

Ms P was delighted to be offered a full time post to teach gr 1 in an English medium State primary school not too far from home. When she went for the interview the head told her, "You will be the only English home language speaking teacher in gr 1, and I am appointing you because I want the learners to hear English spoken by a first language speaker, I think it is important." The head is right, all the research backs him up, the standard of written and spoken English in a school does improve if learners hear English spoken by a first language speaker regularly. So Ms P was delighted that she was going to be valued for her skills, and took up her post in January 2019.

She was told that she would do all her prep with the other three gr 1 teachers, and they would mentor her as a group. The HOD for Foundation Phase taught gr 3, and met with the grade head for gr 1 regularly, but never met with the other teachers or Ms P. The classroom allocated to Ms P was a long walk from the rest of the gr 1 classrooms, so if Ms P had a question she could not "pop next door" she had to carry on without the support of other more experienced teachers. The gr 1 teachers did not meet regularly to do prep together, they used what they had used the year before (and probably for a few years before that), and often Ms P found that she was not given her prep before 10.30 on the Monday (because it had to be photocopied in the office and the grade head did not get to school early enough to do that before lessons began) There was no time to discuss it with the grade head on Monday after first break - she had to take what she was given and hurry to her distant classroom to do her best with it. When the grade 1 teachers got together in the staffroom they spoke Zulu to one another, and often the grade head gave the other teachers instructions and advice in Zulu which Ms P did not understand. On one occasion she asked, "Could you translate that for me please?" but the other teachers just laughed at her.

Within a week the grade head (without speaking to the young teacher) complained to the HOD about the standard of Ms P's work. The HOD called her in. Ms P tried to put her side of the story, but HOD shrugged and said,

"You need to fit in, lovey, new teachers always find it hard at first."

By the end of her first month the HOD had received a litany of complaints and had no choice but to take them to the Principal. Since Ms P was on probation the Principal dismissed her the same day, and had a Zulu speaking teacher appointed in her place by Monday morning.

Now it is quite possible that Ms P is not a brilliant teacher. It is also quite possible that she could become a brilliant teacher with the right mentoring. But what this school did was to destroy her confidence in her own ability, and make her feel that she dare not work with teachers who do not speak English as a first language again. No one needs their confidence crucified right at the beginning of their career, but this is also a huge loss for the kids in that school, because their language will be weaker without an English first language speaking teacher.

This is not the first time I have heard this sort of story. A lovely young teacher who went to school in Soweto, came back to a Soweto school with a BA and PGCE Cum Laude from Rhodes, and was delighted to be appointed where she could "make a difference" - in a GDE Soweto school. On her third day the head called her in and said (edited),

"Forget your fancy ideas! We have a way we do things in this school and we are not going to change. You are showing older teachers up, and they don't like it. Fit in or I will dismiss you." She phoned and begged me to find her another job!

So what? Budgets are tight, youth unemployment is high, people should be grateful for their job; young teachers need to work like dogs in their first year of teaching, and learn their trade from the older teachers. Yes, all of that is true. But unfair treatment of young teachers is not right. If a new graduate's confidence in their own ability has been destroyed in a month it definitely indicates that the mentoring offered was ineffective. Threatening energetic and committed youngsters because they threaten YOU is an unfair labour practise. Any of this further undermines the quality of education offered in GDE (and any other!) schools, while the experienced teachers who are destroying the next generation of both learners and teachers continue to gobble up the education budget without ever being challenged.

It is time the GDE asked the hard questions about new graduate teachers who leave their first school in under six months. If they did, I think we would uncover some "stuff" that is far from excellent and has been flying under the radar for a while. "Just enough" is no longer enough in schools. The woeful state of the South African economy means that every cent needs to be turned over three times even as it is spent. We can do better in our schools, and young teachers can help us to do that - if we all do our bit and look after them.