Chairperson, hon members, I am sorry to transfer from that very lively and livening period that members have just witnessed to a much more mundane but fairly important measure.
One of the five programmes of Tirisano aims to, I quote, ``enhance the effectiveness of schools and to promote educator professionalism''. The legislation which I am introducing today will do both of these by giving effect to the need for a tangible expression of educator professionalism and a certain belief that schools with professional staff are more effective schools.
There are different ways and various means to promote educator professionalism. These include developmental approaches, regulatory frameworks and promotional work. In respect of developmental approaches, these include the offering of in-service teacher education programmes, which will be done in terms of the framework which is currently being prepared. We will also look at the education sector training authority under the Skills Development Levies Act as a mechanism to expand and improve training in the sector.
Regulatory frameworks include the norms and standards for educators, which were published earlier this year. These define the roles and competences of an educator and provide a useful benchmark to ensure that our programmes and teachers are of good quality. We will also be introducing legislation this year which will amend disciplinary procedures in education so that cases of misconduct can be speedily and effectively dealt with at an appropriate level. But, these are the formal aspects of professional development with training for future qualifications and ensuring disciplined behaviour by educators.
The third leg, the promotional leg, as I call it, is just as important. The purpose of this leg is to enable and assist the public to construct a new image of teachers. The status of teachers appears to have declined over the past two decades, and the very notion of educator professionalism has become contested and discredited. This is a worldwide problem, I must say. As long ago as 1966, Unesco and the International Labour Organisation tabled a recommendation concerning the status of teachers. In the foreword to the 1998 World Education Report, the former director-general of Unesco stated that the 1966 report is especially relevant today, and he asserts, I quote, that `` the teachers in particular need our encouragement and support''.
In our country, the image of teachers has been battered by many factors. These began with the deprofessionalisation of teachers, especially black teachers under apartheid, who were expected to be uncritical and low-paid functionaries. A professional was defined by the NP government as non- political and subservient, as I myself experienced as a school teacher under this regime 40 years ago. They were without any civil liberties and civil rights whatsoever. Many teachers bought into this definition. Many teachers of all races bought into this definition of nonprofessionalism to secure their own places in the system, and particularly their promotion. Others rightly rejected this understanding, but without creating a viable liberatory model of professionalism.
These situations reflected in the divisions that arose out of the repression of teachers in the 1980s and the resulting resistance. When artificial distinction was raised between the so-called professionals and workers, a new professionalism which embodied the material, political and pedagogical or teaching arena emerged in South Africa and elsewhere when teachers established unions to simultaneously pursue professional and labour-related issues. As the current Minister of Labour put it in his position as president of Sadtu a few years ago, I quote:
The conditions under which teachers teach are the same as those under which learners learn. We cannot separate the learning process and the conditions which surround it.
More recently, the rationalisation and redeployment process has also affected morale, and many teachers felt unwanted and surplus to requirements. This redeployment, which we called equity redeployment, was a necessary but painful process, and I am glad to be able to announce that we are now in a position to terminate and end this special equity-driven initiative at the end of this month. It is now time to right all these wrongs and to rebuild the professionalism of our teachers. We all recognise the need for a cadre of well-trained, reliable and professional educators who are trusted by the public they must serve. One way of doing this is by holding up as role models those very brave, underfinanced and often undertrained teachers who meet this definition of professionalism by praising and rewarding them. This is being done through the National Teacher Awards scheme which I launched two weeks ago in Johannesburg. The awards will be made on 5 October, World Teachers' Day.
The other means of enhancing the sense of teachers is through the establishment of a really credible and accountable professional council which will provide a guarantee of quality in respect of the services obtained from registered teachers. This is the aim of the legislation that is now before members. We have put before this House a Bill which will provide for the revitalisation of the professional council for educators. This council was originally established by collective agreement between trade unions and the national Department of Education.
This council, thereafter, had a temporary legislative home as a chapter of the Employment of Educators Act. We are past masters at passing a huge raft of Bills in this country. Neither of these was a satisfactory location for the council since they both related to an employer-employee relationship. This relationship has undermined the collegial nature of the council with discussions and decisions of the council often being partisan and adversarial, which is not the function of a professional body.
This council now before members is set to make a fresh start under the new legislation. The primary functions have not changed in this newly constituted council, and the council will remain responsible for registering, first of all, qualified educators; secondly, for promoting the development of the profession and thirdly, for ensuring that educators abide by a code of professional ethics. The scope of the council has been extended by the inclusion of the early childhood development sector, adult educators and teachers in independent schools. I must praise these sectors for the willingness they have shown to be part of this council which bodes well for the future, because we will now be inserting true professionalism over the whole gamut of the teaching profession.
But there is now a dynamic which will ensure that the functions of the council are pursued with greater vigour, greater unity of purpose and with the interests of education and in particular of children held uppermost. This new dynamic will come about as a result of a number of innovations and changes in the Bill, including the fact that the council will in future be made up of a much wider variety of participants, reflecting the extent and scope of the council. These participants will include the organised teaching profession, rightly comprising the majority in the council, as well as representatives nominated by school governing body associations, the early childhood education sector, the adult basic education training sector, further and higher education sectors and also of course the independent schools.
This will ensure that the council does not follow the pattern of too many other professional councils, especially that of my own profession, the legal profession, which have become self-serving, protectionist instruments, defending the profession against the interests of the public. This council will therefore repudiate Jeremy Bentham's famous dictum that all professions are a conspiracy against the public. By contrast, this council will serve the public by calling to account educators who do not provide a quality education service. Such service is defined by the code of professional ethics, which defines how an educator should relate to his or her learners, to colleagues, parents and the broader community. Any breach of this code will be investigated and, if necessary, pursued by the council with the authority it will have to take appropriate disciplinary action.
This public accountability will be improved and enhanced by two other factors. Firstly, all members of the council will be appointed by the Minister. They will therefore, although they represent different sectors, owe their allegiance to the council and the profession and not to any constituency which has made the nomination for appointment.
Secondly, the chairperson of the council will be appointed by the Minister on the recommendation of the council. This chairperson will be empowered to act with confidence in leading the council with the full authority conferred in the national interest. Where firm decisions need to be taken, these will not be influenced by the interests of one or the other constituency. I was therefore rather perturbed by a reaction from some quarters which questioned this approach of appointing the chairperson of the council.
These are the formal elements of this Bill, which alone should provide for the revitalisation of this council. But there is more. I have attempted to inject into this council a dose of commitment, a professional commitment to serving the interests of the profession and of education, on a voluntary basis - something new in South Africa.
I have reached an understanding with the chief executive officer of the council, that the council will not under ordinary circumstances convene a sitting of the council during school hours. Meetings will be held after hours, at weekends and during school holidays, to ensure that this council will not be accused of destabilising schools or interfering with the normal teaching routines.
This House should also note that apart from the chairperson, who will have a very heavy load, no member of the council will be paid for participation in the council. This is also a new departure in our country. Service to the council will be voluntary and not based on personal enrichment, but on the will and ability of the 30 persons who will be appointed to this council. These aspects are most important, since members of the council should be role models in respect of the ethos of voluntary involvement and commitment which we need so direly in our education system.
Now is the time also for ordinary people to make the contribution to education. We cannot claim that all citizens of this country have fully embraced the spirit of voluntary work upon which this country will be made great. The principle embodied in this legislation is that of public scrutiny of the teaching profession. Through this council the public will recognise and appreciate the contribution of teachers to building this nation. But there will also be an opportunity to weed out those who are not up to scratch, who do not act in accordance with the values and ethics of our new democracy.
The Bill also asserts the view that all of us, as citizens and whatever our own levels of education, know what it is that we want from our public servants, the teachers. It is also founded on the assumption that ordinary people, representatives of the citizens, will also make themselves available to serve and ensure that we receive the quality we expect. This association therefore is no abstract matter. It gives us the means to influence what happens to our children everyday at school.
We have promised, rightly, a better life for all. We are beginning to deliver on that promise. But we never said that we could do it alone. All of us must play our part, on the basis that we are beginning on a new route to establish, not a culture because a culture is an evolving matter, a habit of mind, but a commitment. We can commit ourselves to a new way of doing things. I therefore have pleasure in commending this important measure to the NCOP. [Applause.]