The media and social networks have all been awash with news from Gauteng province where the 'classroom of the future' education technology pilot has kicked off with much hyperbole from the politicos, including Deputy State President, Cyril Ramaphosa and his colleagues in the provincial government. So much so that there was lots of fun to be had today playing 'buzzword bingo' as all the usual suspects such as 'paperless classroom' '21st Century Skills' and even the one the rest of the world has almost stopped using, 'eLearning' (was learning before computers called bLearning?) all regularly making their appearance in the various interviews and news reports.
And whilst any investment in education is of course, to be welcomed, I have to inject a note of caution, even at the risk of being accused of being a party-pooper. For many challenges remain to be overcome and if my years of working in education in many parts of the world have taught me one thing, it is that you never put the cart before the horse if you want to make progress. And in this case the focus has been firmly on the cartload of shiny new technology rather than the tired old horse trying desperately to push it along from behind.
So, as we've got the one 'star' out of the way, what then are my three wishes?
Well, the first would be that the government gets the infrastructure in place before any education technology roll outs. Whilst I'm sure this pilot has unlimited fast internet connectivity with a minimum download speed of at least 2mbs per concurrent user (if it hasn’t then there is trouble ahead), the thing which will make this a scalable project is a similar level of web access nationwide. Until this is so, this will always be simply a pilot. Nothing more. You cannot bring about real lasting transformation in learning and teaching without being able to use technology for reimagining what goes on in a school and fundamentally changing classroom practice. Without this, all you get is substitution, which is what we are seeing today with Gauteng's Big Switch On. if order to move on from substitution towards transformational use, then all the pieces of the jigsaw have to be ready to come into play. Simply using technology to do existing tasks in a better way is not transformational. It is just applying a sticking plaster to an ever more gaping wound. And furthermore, as the technology won't perform to its full potential, a gap of disillusionment starts to open up between expectations and the reality of under-performing and disconnected technology.
The second wish is this; do something about teacher training. One of the long-proven methods of raising achievement in education is by improving the quality of teachers. Initial teacher education is crucial, with subject knowledge and pedagogical skills being vital. Teaching must become at least an honours degree entry profession prior to a post-graduate specialist teaching qualification. Without this evidence of ability to achieve, the calibre of new entrants to the profession just won't be good enough I'm afraid. Successful education systems the world over have shown that setting the bar very high, together with continuing professional development over the career of a teacher will have a huge impact on learner performance. While South Africa continues to treat teaching as a low-entry level profession, it has little to no chance of improving education outcomes and stopping the criminal waste to society of the current drop-out and failure rate we see every year from our schools. Lord only knows how damaging to the future economy of our country this ever-growing scrap heap of discarded learners will prove to be. I am currently involved in a programme in the Eastern Cape which is focussing on training before technology, and another project at Cofimvaba schools (also in the Eastern Cape) ICT4RED also has a very strong focus on teacher professional development. Both these projects would be scalable given the right Government support.
And my final wish? Let's have some joined-up considered thinking coming into play. What we are seeing at the moment is attention-grabbing projects which are going to prove unsustainable and nigh on impossible to scale. This latest project in Gauteng is a classic case in point, I fear. Whilst it is important to look to ourselves for local solutions, this can be a somewhat myopic approach, and we must be outward looking when it comes to education improvement. Let's look at what success looks like around the world and model our intervention improvement strategy on these approaches. Expert advice and guidance, rather than relying on purely academic research-driven policy, is sorely needed by government to bring an international practice-driven perspective into play. There have been countless 'pilot projects' around the world so why are we not using the findings and evidence instead of simply replicating what's already been tried and proven to be successful. Just what is it that is stopping joined up decision-making? What are we afraid of exactly? Just look at what Andy Hargreaves, Dennis Shirley, John Hattie, Pasi Sahlberg and others are writing about teacher professional development.
Truth be told, we know what we need to do to fix education in South Africa and it is not by focussing on the technology, as those involved with the Gauteng Project (however well-meaning) appear to be doing, but on learning and teaching. Technology can help transform education, but only in well-connected schools with excellent leadership and well educated and expertly trained professional teachers. There are projects currently underway around the country which are built around such an approach. Scaling these will require the national government to develop its capacity to lead by example and join up all the dots.
Nothing less is good enough for our learners.
