By Charmaine Ndlela
Basic education minister Siviwe Gwarube and higher education minister Buti Manamela will on 23 October officially launch the latest Teaching and Learning International Survey (TALIS) results.
TALIS is a large-scale international survey led by the Organisation for Economic Co‑operation and Development (OECD). It gathers detailed self-reported data from teachers and school leaders on their working conditions, teaching practices, and learning environments, which can be used in formulating policy.
The latest results were released earlier this month. Among the findings were that in South Africa, 63 % of lower-secondary teachers “agree” or “strongly agree” that the teaching profession is valued in society, compared with an OECD-average of 22 %. South African teachers also reported a heavy administrative burden, with the most common sources of stress including excessive marking (72 %), being held responsible for student achievement (70 %) and too much administrative work (66 %).
South Africa participated in the TALIS survey for the first time in 2018, and was the only African country to submit information on its schooling system at that time. Morocco joined in submitting data for the 2024 survey.
For the latest survey in South Africa, data was collected from 2 046 teachers at 169 schools across all provinces.
TALIS sampled about 280 000 teachers from 17 000 schools across 55 education systems worldwide.
The launch of the survey will be the culmination of the fourth G20 Education Working Group (EdWG) meeting that will take place on 20 and 21 October.
According to both departments, the EdWG will “bring together global education leaders to advance collaboration on key priorities shaping the future of learning”.
The Department of Basic Education said that discussions will centre on “quality foundation learning through strengthening Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) to improve learning outcome; mutual recognition of qualifications to promote global mobility, and alignment of skills and education professional development to empower teachers and leaders to adapt to the evolving world of work and innovation”.
UNESCO’s 2024 Global Report on Teachers found there was a critical shortage of teachers, with 44 million needed by 2030 in order for universal primary and secondary education to be advanced.
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