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23/09/2016

On 21 and 22 September, 27 officials from North West Department of Education (NW DOE) took part in a programme writing workshop organised by NW DOE, SACE and VVOB.  Participants came from various directorates within the department, including ELRS (labour relations) and Curriculum Development (FET and GET) as well as the districts.

The objective of the workshop was twofold: assisting participants in preparing their professional development activities for teachers and school leaders for endorsement by SACE, and critically reflecting on the quality of their programmes.  This fits in with the nature of the SACE evaluation and endorsement process which is meant to improve the quality of professional development programmes.

Under the SACE Code of Conduct, educators have the duty to engage in Professional Development (PD). To register their PD they have to sign up for the SACE CPTD system.  Under this CPTD system, teachers, HODs, deputy principals and principals collect Professional Development (PD) points when they engage in professional development. External parties such as Departments of Education, Teacher Unions, NGOs and private companies that offer professional development activities to educators need to have their activities endorsed by SACE to allow participants to claim their PD points.  Principals are currently in the third year of their first 3-year cycle, HODs in their second year and secondary and combined school teachers in their first year.  In 2017, primary school teachers will start their first cycle.  Several Departments of Education have been lagging behind in submitting their professional development activities to SACE.

SACE uses a rubric with seven main criteria in its evaluation process: relevance, learning and teaching materials (LTSM), equity, assessment, M&E, participant support and teaching methods. Participants were introduced to each of these criteria, discussed how it applied to their programmes and started preparing their submission documents. Participants appreciated the hands-on character of the workshop and the fact that many questions about the CPTD system were answered.

As a follow-up, the Department will guide participants in finalising their submission documents by October in order for them to be endorsed by the start of the next school year.  A second workshop is planned for early 2017.