Teachers Teach; Learners Learn. Some ideas on how to keep your teachers busy during the strike.

In our school, I have a personal dictum which I share constantly with my teaching staff. My dictum is simple: "If you see a child; teach it."

South African teachers have, I am sure, all read the chilling reports written by researchers such as Linda Chisholm on achieving versus underachieving schools in South Africa.

The so-called functional schools, share some common characteristics. In the functioning schools in our country, teachers do what they are paid to do: teach. These professional teachers use whatever resources they have to do the best possible job that they can. Teachers in performing schools take pride in their work and accept responsibility for the results their learners attain.

In under-performing schools, teacher absenteeism rates are high. When teachers are not present in their classrooms, teaching does not happen. When teaching does not happen, learners do not learn. When learners do not learn, they join thousands of young people who have no National Senior Certificate and very little chance of continuing their education, or even finding employment.

The National Teachers' Strike is dragging into its second and even third week, for some schools. If there are no learners in your classrooms for your teachers to teach, how can you keep your teachers occupied ?

Fortunately, professional teachers are always willing to learn and improve themselves. This time of non-teaching provides an ideal opportunity for teacher self- improvement. Start with what the teachers know best - their subjects and their learners' abilities.

Teachers can draft a strike recovery plan of their own. This needs to take the form of clear, simple and self-explanatory notes of the sections of work missed. Each note needs to be followed by exercises and assessment tasks, which will be a good measure of just how useful their notes have been.

Teachers need to keep these notes original and fresh. Teachers can take this opportunity to allow their creative juices to flow. Why not encourage your teachers to draw original pictures, or create cartoons, to capture and sustain the learners' interest ?

I believe that teachers are perfectly placed to make real money from education. I am obviously not referring to their paltry salaries. The syllabus is set to change again. When there are curriculum changes, there is a need for new textbooks and textbook content. Why not encourage your staff to start on the rough draft of their own textbooks, or at least workbooks, now ?


Teachers can start by doing a critical analysis of the textbooks currently available for their subjects and learning areas. Teachers are the best people to assess where gaps exist, and where improvements could be made to the textbooks in use.

Make sure that all staff are fully informed about copyright laws and set a challenge - a worksheet, a module or chapter a day.

If your staff are dubious about ever seeing their name in print, whet their appetites, it is simple! Make the Internet available to your staff and ask each person to start by writing a "how to" article in their area of expertise for Wikihow.

Once your teachers have seen their name on a screen, which millions of people visit each day, encourage them to start looking for other Internet writing opportunities. There are many ways to sell content on the Internet. Teachers can share their most successful lessons, notes, and even worksheets; and get paid for the work that many learners take for granted. Notes are often filed or pasted into a book and thrown away at the end of the year. Why not encourage your teachers to share their expertise with millions of people, not just a few classes of learners ?

Encourage your teachers to start copyrighting their own content, to lay claim to the intellectual rights that exist in their work. If your staff are being paid for their notes and worksheets, the quality of these will obviously improve and, in the end, your learners will benefit.