The importance of having strict teacher training
At the end of 2023, the Oppenheimer Memorial Trust Education Research Report was released, and it found that only 55% of Grade 6 teachers could read for comprehension at a Grade 4 level. The report also found that 80% of Grade 6 mathematics learners were taught by teachers with subject knowledge below the level of the grade being taught.
Solving this crisis won't be simple, nor is it a quick fix. As Professor Divya Singh, Chief Academic Officer at JSE-listed higher education provider, STADIO says, 'Quality of teaching, and understanding what is required and where intervention is needed to improve the current situation is multifaceted and complex. It will require an integrated solution from a variety of roleplayers.'
However, something must be done, and done urgently given the national crisis and shortage of skilled teachers. Among the interventions required to correct this gravely concerning issue, are two key areas on which tertiary institutions should focus; (i) investing deeply and carefully in their teacher training curricula to build a cadre of teachers who are properly capacitated and skilled to practice their profession; and (ii) providing bridging support for students who have come through the primary and secondary school systems, and wish to access higher education qualifications but do not have the admission requirements.
Why focus on standards?
Maintaining stringent training standards for teachers in South Africa is crucial for several reasons. One is that these standards help support a robust and equitable education system that meets the needs of each learner and contributes to the development of the country. Another reason is that high standards underpin professionalism and ethical conduct among teachers. Teachers are role models for learners and their behaviour influences the ethical and moral development of the young people they teach.
Both and, not either or
Singh says that STADIO has found that it is important to strike a balance between supporting students studying to become teachers to bridge gaps between their own secondary and tertiary education, while also protecting academic standards at the tertiary level.
'Support and academic standards are not an either/or concept but should be seen as complementary. To maintain academic standards, it is critical to ensure that students can progress with the required learning. Many students entering higher education from school are not ready for higher education for manifold reasons,' says Singh. Teaching has been described as a noble profession – our teachers must understand the critical role they play, and be committed to promoting the nobility of their profession.
STADIO's Academic Promise informs the academic strategy which is focused on widening access (with success). The aim is to eliminate unfair barriers to access and allow all qualifying students the opportunity to enter higher education, but critically also helping to ensure that they succeed once they get there.
Effective maths support programmes
This type of support is especially important for students who are studying to become educators themselves. STADIO has around 10 000 students enrolled in its education programmes and its maths support programmes, which are offered to all students, are particularly pertinent for this group of students.
The maths support programmes can help break the otherwise disastrous cycle of new teachers being ill-equipped with sufficient maths knowledge as they themselves join the teaching workforce.
These support programmes are integrated into the curriculum and offer students different approaches to covering the requisite maths content, building their capabilities as they pursue their student journey. The intervention gives them the space to develop the necessary skills and knowledge at a pace and with support that helps them achieve overall success. 'We are determined not to compromise on standards when it comes to mathematics competencies, but it also doesn't need to be a 'sink or swim' situation for students. The advantage of this system is that we are able to offer more direct support to our students without specifically holding them back,' says Singh.
Rather than exclude students who do not have the required maths results, Singh explains that the STADIO approach creates an opportunity for them to continue with their higher education studies but also responsibly ensures that students are equipped with the right knowledge. 'Students then don't lose out timewise and are still armed with the necessary knowledge and skills for success,' she says.
These initiatives, along with robust teaching practice and theoretical grounding in their courses, are helping to develop and equip future generations of teachers who will help to mitigate the crisis currently facing South Africa's education system.
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IOL News
2 days ago
- IOL News
The importance of having strict teacher training
At the end of 2023, the Oppenheimer Memorial Trust Education Research Report was released, and it found that only 55% of Grade 6 teachers could read for comprehension at a Grade 4 level. The report also found that 80% of Grade 6 mathematics learners were taught by teachers with subject knowledge below the level of the grade being taught. Solving this crisis won't be simple, nor is it a quick fix. As Professor Divya Singh, Chief Academic Officer at JSE-listed higher education provider, STADIO says, 'Quality of teaching, and understanding what is required and where intervention is needed to improve the current situation is multifaceted and complex. It will require an integrated solution from a variety of roleplayers.' However, something must be done, and done urgently given the national crisis and shortage of skilled teachers. Among the interventions required to correct this gravely concerning issue, are two key areas on which tertiary institutions should focus; (i) investing deeply and carefully in their teacher training curricula to build a cadre of teachers who are properly capacitated and skilled to practice their profession; and (ii) providing bridging support for students who have come through the primary and secondary school systems, and wish to access higher education qualifications but do not have the admission requirements. Why focus on standards? Maintaining stringent training standards for teachers in South Africa is crucial for several reasons. One is that these standards help support a robust and equitable education system that meets the needs of each learner and contributes to the development of the country. Another reason is that high standards underpin professionalism and ethical conduct among teachers. Teachers are role models for learners and their behaviour influences the ethical and moral development of the young people they teach. Both and, not either or Singh says that STADIO has found that it is important to strike a balance between supporting students studying to become teachers to bridge gaps between their own secondary and tertiary education, while also protecting academic standards at the tertiary level. 'Support and academic standards are not an either/or concept but should be seen as complementary. To maintain academic standards, it is critical to ensure that students can progress with the required learning. Many students entering higher education from school are not ready for higher education for manifold reasons,' says Singh. Teaching has been described as a noble profession – our teachers must understand the critical role they play, and be committed to promoting the nobility of their profession. STADIO's Academic Promise informs the academic strategy which is focused on widening access (with success). The aim is to eliminate unfair barriers to access and allow all qualifying students the opportunity to enter higher education, but critically also helping to ensure that they succeed once they get there. Effective maths support programmes This type of support is especially important for students who are studying to become educators themselves. STADIO has around 10 000 students enrolled in its education programmes and its maths support programmes, which are offered to all students, are particularly pertinent for this group of students. The maths support programmes can help break the otherwise disastrous cycle of new teachers being ill-equipped with sufficient maths knowledge as they themselves join the teaching workforce. These support programmes are integrated into the curriculum and offer students different approaches to covering the requisite maths content, building their capabilities as they pursue their student journey. The intervention gives them the space to develop the necessary skills and knowledge at a pace and with support that helps them achieve overall success. 'We are determined not to compromise on standards when it comes to mathematics competencies, but it also doesn't need to be a 'sink or swim' situation for students. The advantage of this system is that we are able to offer more direct support to our students without specifically holding them back,' says Singh. Rather than exclude students who do not have the required maths results, Singh explains that the STADIO approach creates an opportunity for them to continue with their higher education studies but also responsibly ensures that students are equipped with the right knowledge. 'Students then don't lose out timewise and are still armed with the necessary knowledge and skills for success,' she says. These initiatives, along with robust teaching practice and theoretical grounding in their courses, are helping to develop and equip future generations of teachers who will help to mitigate the crisis currently facing South Africa's education system.
IOL News
27-04-2025
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ASP Isotopes plans JSE listing to enhance local investment opportunities
The Pelindaba nuclear research facility outside of Tshwane. The Nasdaq-listed ASP Isotopes intends to reach a joint venture agreement with the state owned Nuclear Energy Corporate of SA to produce high-assay low-enriched uranium. Image: Supplied ASP Isotopes, which uses its own South Africa developed technology to enrich isotopes, plans to add to its 2022 Nasdaq listing with a listing on the Main Board of the Johannesburg Stock Exchange. The company, owned by its CEO Paul Mann and US-based institutional global investment funds, develops technologies and processes for the enrichment of isotopes that can be used in the medical, semiconductor and nuclear industries, born out of years of research and development, originally developed in South Africa. ASPI is a US incorporated company that has been listed on the Nasdaq since 2022. It has a market capitalisation in the US of $400 million, or R7.5 billion, and it plans to list on the JSE later this year, subject to regulatory approvals. 'While our investor base has been created in the US and Europe, the beating heart of our company is in South Africa, with 97% of our employees and all our operating assets being located in South Africa,' said ASPI chairman and CEO Paul Mann, who is also CEO of Quantum Leap Energy. He said in an interview with BR the intention was not necessarily to raise capital with the JSE listing, but to also give South African investors an opportunity toinvest in the company that was, at its heart, South African. 'We have to thank our South African staff, service providers and regulators for helping us achieve all we have done over the last four years, and we owe it to South Africa to make our securities available to the local community,' he said. Since its listing, ASPI has raised more than $100m to fund its growth and has constructed three isotope production facilities in Pretoria. It has successfully entered the global market and now employs over 150 people, 97% of whom are South African. Some 19% of ASPI employees hold PhDs, and 41% have advanced degrees or higher, made up of scientists, chemists, engineers, operational and finance personnel. Mann said ASPI's initial focus was on the production and commercialisation of enriched Carbon-14, Silicon-28 and Ytterbium-176 (Yb-176). These isotopes were enriched via two processes: Aerodynamic Separation Process (ASP Technology); and Quantum Enrichment (QE Technology). C-14 is used in the development of new pharmaceuticals and agrochemicals and acts as a tracer in the development stage, assisting pharma and agrochemical companies to see where in the ecosystem their products ultimately end up during trial periods. A multi-year take-or-pay contract had been signed with a Canadian customer. Si-28 is used in the development of semiconductors and quantum computing. By using Si-28 in semiconductors, the speed of information flow is believed to increase exponentially. ASP has signed two commercial contracts with a US semiconductor company and a global industrial gas company. Yb-176 is used to create radiotherapeutics that treat various forms of oncology. QE Technology is used in the enrichment process of Yb-176. Mann said other future isotope enrichment opportunities exist by using ASPI facilities and technology, such as Xinc-68 and Xenon-129/136 for use in the healthcare market, Germanium 70/72/74 for the use in the semiconductor industry and Chlorine-37 for the use in the nuclear energy end market. COO and co-founder Robert Ainscow said their goal was to use innovative technology to become an indispensable supplier of enriched isotopes to three multi-billion-dollar end markets, namely medical, semiconductors and nuclear energy. Currently, Russia dominates global isotope production, with about 85% of stable isotopes being produced there ASPI has a 51% stake in PET Labs, a radiopharmaceutical operations company focused on the production of fluorinated radioisotopes and active pharmaceutical ingredients, through which ASPI entered the downstream medical, isotope production and distribution market. Quantum Leap Energy (QLE) planned to apply quantum enrichment technology to uranium to produce the essential fuels for next-generation nuclear power plants, said Mann. 'Furthermore, by enriching Uranium-235 (U-235) (to a low level), we will be at the forefront of the nuclear fuels supply chain, which will assist various developed energy markets, currently dependent on these fuels in a time where there is a global supply drought. These fuels will also be used to power next-generation Small Modular Reactors (SMRs),' he said.
Daily Maverick
22-04-2025
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Itumeleng Molefe follows in his father's footsteps to unearth the links to humanity's deep past
Like his father before him and his cousin and his cousin's father, Itumeleng Molefe is a fossil technician at the Sterkfontein Caves, which contain one of the richest collections of hominin fossils in the world. Itumeleng Molefe has one of those jobs that you probably have never heard of, but it is at the core of understanding and unearthing — literally — who we are as humans and how we've evolved. Like his father before him, Molefe is a fossil technician at the Sterkfontein Caves, a dolomite cave system formed between 20 and 30 million years ago. Part of the Unesco-listed Cradle of Humankind, northwest of Johannesburg, the caves contain one of the richest collections of hominin fossils in the world. Fossil technicians are behind the scenes of many major palaeoanthropological discoveries, responsible for much of the careful excavation, preparation and curation of fossil material, working closely with local and international researchers. 'I would say, generally speaking, fossil preparators are the foundation on which all of our sciences are based,' said Professor Dominic Stratford, a geoarchaeology lecturer at Wits University and research permit holder at the Sterkfontein Caves. 'Without fossil preparators, there would be no fossils, no material to analyse.' Like many at the Sterkfontein Caves, Molefe comes from a line of fossil technicians. 'My cousin's father worked here; he was the first person to work here in our family,' said Molefe. 'And after that, he brought my father here.' His father, Nkwane Molefe, became a fossil technician in 1972 and worked at the Swartkrans and Sterkfontein caves for 40 years. Nkwane Molefe was part of the historic excavation of Little Foot, the most complete Australopithecus skeleton ever found. In 1994, Professor Ronald Clarke discovered hominid foot bones in the Sterkfontein caves. In 1997, he enlisted technicians Stephen Motsumi and Nkwane Molefe to help locate the rest of the skeleton in the Silberberg Grotto in the Sterkfontein Caves. And they did. 'He gave Stephen and my father a piece of bone to match,' said Molefe. 'They put it on the rock — and it matched. Then they started digging and found the most complete skeleton in the world.' About 90% of Little Foot's skeleton was preserved. The next most complete Australopithecus skeleton, 'Lucy', discovered in Ethiopia in 1974, is only 40% complete. 'It took 20 years to excavate to a point where we are now,' said Stratford. 'Initial stages isolated large blocks that could be removed and then the excavations carried on in the lab.' Molefe's cousin Abel Molepolle and another fossil technician, Andrew Phaswana, worked on Little Foot in the casting lab with Clarke for almost 15 years. Young Itumeleng spent his school holidays visiting the caves where his father worked. 'So he was always at the site as a child, always aware of what his father was doing and always exposed to what the fossil preparators were doing,' said Stratford. 'This was part of their family.' After leaving high school, Molefe got a job in ventilation control at a platinum mine. When he was 29, he joined the Sterkfontein team, just a few months before his father retired. One of Molefe's most exciting moments at Sterkfontein was when he found a hominin phalange (fingerbone) in 2015. 'We knew it was a phalange, so we took it to the casting lab, compared it to a model, only to find out it was hominin. Then we all got excited,' recalled Molefe. 'Joh, it was my happy time, that time.' In 2017, while sorting through a bucket of material from Kromdraai — a nearby fossil site in the Cradle of Humankind — he discovered a trove of hominin teeth. 'I was just sorting material, only to find we had plenty of teeth. Not one — plenty. I can't count them,' he said. 'That day we were very, very excited.' Stratford said, '[Molefe] is deeply invested and really proud of what he does, and of his dad and the contributions his family have made in Sterkfontein and to general discoveries in the Cradle. He's been incredible to work with.' How do fossil technicians excavate? Slowly Excavating fossils is a slow, delicate process. 'We try to excavate extremely slowly so we can document everything,' said Stratford. The first step is capturing 3D coordinates with a laser survey device so any fossil can be precisely relocated. In soft sediment, brushes and trowels are used to expose the fossil. Once uncovered, it's documented and bagged or wrapped for lab analysis. Most fossils in the Cradle of Humankind are found in hard breccia (a sedimentary rock). In these cases, entire blocks are removed to the lab, where technicians use air scribes — 'like a dentist's drill,' said Stratford — to chip away at the sediment, grain by grain, to reveal the fossil without damaging it. 'It's a really difficult thing to do, because the fossil is in most cases softer than the sediment around it,' said Stratford. 'So it's really easy to damage the fossil, and it takes years of experience to learn how to predict and understand where the fossil might be going.' Stratford said fossil technicians often work blind, not knowing whether a visible fragment is part of a larger bone or just a shard. 'It's all very exploratory and all very gentle,' he said. Lab preparation is preferred because of better lighting and controlled conditions. To prevent damage, fossils may be stabilised with paraloid — a reversible adhesive — or wrapped in bandages until they can be properly prepared in the lab. In complex cases like Little Foot, where hundreds of bones are interwoven, the process can take years. 'Ron Clarke once described it as like excavating a delicate pastry pie from a block of cement,' said Stratford. 'If we think we've found something particularly interesting and it's too delicate to excavate, we can CT-scan the whole block and digitally excavate it. We can even 3D-print the fossil before doing any physical work.' Learning through generations 'The really nice thing about Sterkfontein and its having such a long legacy of excavation is that most of the fossil technicians have been doing this as a family trade,' said Stratford. 'We joke that Abel was the last hominin to be born on Sterkfontein because he was actually born on the property,' added Stratford, referring to Abel Molepolle, who started working at the caves in 1999. Like his cousin Molefe and many others, Abel followed in his father's footsteps. The specialised work of technicians is passed down through a combination of hands-on experience and formal training. The technicians gain skills through practical training and extensive fieldwork, often starting with apprenticeship-style learning and formal workshops in casting and fossil preparation. 'But now, people like Abel and Andrew are so good at what they do, we often go to them and ask how we should approach something or what part of the fossil we're dealing with,' said Stratford. 'They are some of the best fossil preparators and cast-makers in the world, actually, that I've worked with.' Despite their expertise, some technicians haven't finished school. Molefe plans to begin the process of completing his matric in May. Spotlighting technicians At first, Molefe didn't realise the importance of his father's work at the caves. 'When I was coming here, there weren't many students. But after I joined under Dominic, more students were coming. I saw that my job is very important because of the Wits students, primary school students and high school students that come here, and we teach them,' he explained. Visitors often ask how he distinguishes bones from rocks. 'The more you do something every day, the more you recognise it — you can do it with your eyes closed,' he smiled. Despite the repetitive nature of the work, Molefe says it's never boring. 'Imagine you're looking for diamonds or gold — same like us. The more you excavate, the more you find bones, and the more excited you get.' Stratford highlighted the vital role of the technical team, noting that their contributions were often overlooked. To recognise their efforts, he designed the new lab with a team wall on which technicians can share their own stories and experiences. 'Which are incredible and have changed their own lives but also changed, in many ways, all our lives — in terms of our understanding and accessibility to these incredibly rich stories of human evolution,' said Stratford. With the reopening of the Sterkfontein Caves last week after a two-year closure caused by safety concerns, visitors can now also visit the laboratories at the site and see how fossils are prepared by the technicians. 'They are the lifeblood of the research,' Stratford said, stressing that more recognition and support were needed, particularly to secure funding for the technicians' salaries. 'It's easy enough to find money for a fancy piece of equipment or a student bursary, but finding funds for technical positions is really difficult. The more we can highlight them, the better.' DM
