Editorial, Reform Forum Number 9

Welcome to this issue, Number 9, of the Reform Forum. This is the third last issue before the advent of the new millennium and there are a number of interesting papers for you in this edition, written by Namibian authors. First, Peter M. Mwala argues that 'motivation' to keep learners constructively busy is not a difficult concept to understand. He defines Motivation as the forces that account for the arousal, selection, direction, and continuation of behaviour. He maintains that many teachers have misconceptions about motivation, which prevent them from using this concept with maximum effectiveness. One misconception is that some learners are unmotivated and that this is not an accurate statement. As long as a learner chooses goals and expends a certain amount of effort to achieve them, such a learner is motivated. Mwala denies the general belief that one person can motivate another. To him, motivation comes from within a person.

Y. A. Alausa examines the advantages and problems of continuous assessment. He maintains that one of the expected advantages of continuous assessment is that it is guidance-oriented. Since it will involve data gathering over a long period of time, it will yield to more accurate data reaching the teachers early enough to modify instruction. This could play a vital role in diagnosing and assessing areas of learners' weaknesses if properly anchored in what occurs in classrooms. Continuous assessment is an approach that captures the full range of the learners' performance. Teachers and administrators are thus able to assess the learners' progress and have time to correct the problems. Another advantage of continuous assessment is that it places teachers at the centre of all performance assessment activities. It encourages more teacher participation in the overall assessment of his/her learners. The problems of continuous assessment that could be laid at the door of teachers include: their skills in test construction and administration, and their attitude toward the continuous assessment approach and record keeping.

Stephen Siseho of Kaliyangile Combined School in the Katima Region, describes the teaching, profession in the new Namibia. He contends that many teachers feel a great deal of time is spent on drawing up schemes of work, writing lesson preparations, and entering continuous assessment marks of learners instead of real teaching in the classroom. He looks at the importance of drawing up the scheme of work in teaching. He advises that a scheme of work should be viewed as a programme of action of a particular term. It gives the teacher the opportunity for self-evaluation, because after teaching the teacher will go back to the drawing room to reflect on his/her lesson and look at the steps of his/her programme of action to see how successful it was and what changes, if any, are necessary.

Peter Mwala, again, reviews the role of the school in his second paper entitled The role of the school. He argues that before Independence the whole policy of Apartheid was geared in schools to help people feel secure within their ethnic backgrounds. He disagrees with the idea that our schools have already become battlefields for different ideological political concerns, and that addressing this issue now is already too late. He urges us to address these differing perspectives to reduce violence and help our schools to become better equipped to prepare the next generation of leaders and thinkers. He contends that principals are responsible for everything that goes on at the school and as such they should set the standards by which the school should operate.

In Mapping the way ahead, Stuart Hope discusses the complexity of the (educational) change process. He maintains that educational reform is complex, non-linear, and frequently arbitrary. It is rife with unpredictable shifts and fragmented initiatives. The paper notes that in Namibia teachers expressed some concerns about the (educational) change process. Teachers are under pressure from the Ministry of Basic Education and Culture to upgrade themselves on the job, yet they are hesitant and troubled by the special fears generated by self-transformation. This could be, for example, the awkwardness of learning their profession in front of learners.

Miriam Katonyala deals with the issue of textbook dependency. She claims that one of the main challenges facing Namibian teachers - especially those from marginalised contexts - is dependency on textbooks. This is a legacy from our colonial past and the educational system of that time. There are still some teachers in Namibia who follow textbooks slavishly. They are unable to reject something in a textbook and find something else to replace it with in order to meet their learners' needs and interests. They lack skills to interpret the syllabus objectives and to adapt materials appropriately. There are no interventions at school level to enhance quality in education development.

Jerome Mutumba in Mass participation limited by English as sole medium looks at the Language Policy in Namibia and argues that the implementation of the language policy had been done hastily. By the time the language policy was explicated, however, the Ministry of Basic Education and Culture had already implemented it in all state schools. This introduction of the language policy in schools happened only two years after independence before all the required resources such as teachers, textbooks and other relevant materials were in place. Mutumba maintains that it is hard at present to judge the successes of the language policy and there is no report or any other documented evidence from the Ministry or its implementing agencies which can justify this. In the absence of a report or any documented proof on the application of the language policy in schools, it is difficult to determine whether there is a proper monitoring system in place. Mutumba contends that language policy that emphasises English as a sole official language like the one in Namibia and Zambia, will limit the participation and involvement of the majority of people in economic, political and social development.

In How can we encourage female student teachers to participate more in our learner-centred colleges? A Namibian perspective, Tautiko Hauuanga-Shikongo describes how prior to independence Namibia had no legislation dealing with gender equality. She maintains that as a result women suffered double discrimination: Apartheid and gender. Since independence in 1990, progressive policies on gender equality and affirmative action have been in place. She argues that, theoretically, the learner-centred approach to learning and training should be encouraging significantly greater confidence on the part of women, leading to higher achievement both professionally and personally. Tautiko's paper examines the effect of the new policies and training approaches on the level of participation of female students at Ongwediva College of Education in northern Namibia, where a large number of female black students are preparing for lower primary and junior secondary teaching. The oral and written performance of female and male students is compared and changes in confidence and performance of female students over the two years are noted. The reasons for the reluctance of females to participate fully are investigated in the context of discussions with students during college-based and school-based studies, and the status of women in Namibia as a whole. In search of a way forward, the paper investigates how teacher educators and student teachers can be sensitised to the problem, how college topics and activities can be made more gender sensitive, and how women can be helped to develop greater confidence and assertiveness through awareness-raising activities and discussions of the problems that women face with the aim of helping them to find solutions.

Seth Imasiku in Enviroteach's approach to learner-centred teaching techniques gives us an overview of what Enviroteach's approach to learner-centred teaching is. At present, Environteach is involved in teacher training, pre-service, and it is carrying out a programme operating in the four colleges of education in support of developing professional competencies of student teachers. This is done through Environmental Education (EE) workshops conducted at all four Colleges and it focuses mainly on developing skills in areas such as learner-centred approaches to teaching using EE issues in the school syllabi.

Linus S. Chata in Highlights on interpersonal communication and their implications in the learning environment attempts to sensitise readers about the far-reaching effects of face-to-face communication. He maintains that schools to which student teachers are deployed after graduation are social institutions with teachers and learners as core members. The dominant form of communication at these institutions is interpersonal communication. Given this reality, it is imperative for our future and present teachers to be equipped with the essential skill of interpersonal communication in the classroom.

In the last article Stories to teach what stories do. Narrative function through narratives in the Namibian Grade 5 Religious syllabus, Marita Kotzé, an Education Officer in the Religious Education Sub-Division, shows how difficult it is to analyse oral texts from a still living stone-age society. She points out why it is necessary for learners from technologically higher developed societies to look for the basic human values so often despised by superior cultures. She exemplifies this by an analysis of the Namibian situation by using the syllabus and three stories with some suggestions about their use in the classroom.

The Editorial Committee