African Education Week to Focus on "Bridging the Skills Gap" as Macmillan Trains Thousands of South African Teachers

Johannesburg, South Africa, May 07, 2011 --(PR.com)-- More than 8000 teachers in the South African provinces of Gauteng and North West are currently receiving free training from the Macmillan Teacher Campus, a teacher training provider, to assist them in teaching English as a First Additional Language.

“As English First Additional Language is to be introduced in Grade 1 in 2012 as part of the new Curriculum and Assessment Policy Statement (CAPS), we realised that teachers urgently need to be trained in this regard,” says Caren Maree, National Manager of Macmillan Teacher Campus. “Although there are similarities between the teaching of an additional language and teaching a home language there are many important differences that need to be taken into account. Most Foundation Phase teachers (grade 1, 2 and 3) in general do not have the required knowledge and skills as they have always taught in their home languages and not in English.”

Interactive workshops at no cost to the department:
Caren Maree continues: “Macmillan Teacher Campus decided to, as part of our commitment to the Quality Learning and Teaching Campaign, train Foundation Phase teachers in the North West and Gauteng provinces in the teaching of First Additional Language at no cost to these departments.” The Quality Learning and Teaching Campaign was launched in 2008 by the then Department of Education and calls on organisations to assume responsibility by giving support for the improvement of the quality of education in South Africa.

Each primary school in these two provinces can send three teachers (one from each grade in the foundation phase) to attend the workshops which will continue until July. Some 4400 teachers from Gauteng and an estimated 3700 teachers from North West will attend the workshops which are very interactive and hands-on with 40 the maximum number of teachers in a group.

Macmillan plays a critical role in education:
“The Macmillan Teacher Campus workshops are a perfect, inspiring example of how the private sector and the government can work together to improve the quality of education,” says Claire O’Connell, director of African Education Week. She continues: “Macmillan Teacher Campus plays a critical role in education in Southern Africa and the company believes in giving back. With their vast experience in teacher training, their workshops contain all the elements to empower teachers in many facets of teaching.”

The fifth African Education Week is taking place from 6-8 July in Johannesburg and Macmillan has been involved in what is the largest education convention and expo on the continent, right from the start. During the event, Macmillan Teacher Campus will:

-- Host a workshop on “Using Assessment of and for learning toward creating positive learning environments”
-- Lead a conference session on “Inclusion education - catering for diversity,” and
-- Sponsor the annual Teacher Appreciation Awards which will be given to the most inspiring teachers in South Africa.

African Education Week:
“Bridging the skills gap through quality education for all” is the theme for this year’s African Education Week which will provide a forum for over 1400 attendees from across Africa to discuss the critical issues affecting schools, FET colleges and universities and exchange ideas and solutions. African Education Week is for anyone who is involved in Education: teachers, principals, curriculum planners, advisors, FET college and university faculty heads, deans, lectures, campus heads and ICT managers, along with suppliers of educational products.

Event dates and location:
Conference and exhibition: 7-8 July 2011
Pre-conference workshops: 6 July 2011
Sandton Convention Centre, Johannesburg

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