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Media Release

19 August, 2008

WCED to increase teaching posts in 2009

Statement by Yousuf Gabru, MEC for Education in the Western Cape

The Western Cape Education Department (WCED) will increase the number of educator posts by 305 next year to bring the total number of educator posts in the province to 31 924, including FET colleges.

The WCED has increased the number of posts despite a slight decline in the number of learners in the province, to meet various special needs.

The department will increase the post basket for the fifth year in a row in 2009. The basket had grown by 2 321 posts over the past five years.

The post basket is determined largely by learner enrolment of the previous year and available budget. Learner enrolment has declined by 2 899 learners to 912 720 in 2008, compared to 915 619 in 2007.

In terms of the new FET Colleges Act, educators at the colleges will move onto college payrolls next year, which will mean that the official post basket for the WCED will reduce by 890 to 31 034.

The WCED has concluded consultations with school governing body associations and unions on the allocation of the posts.

The department will allocate 150 of the 305 new educator posts to primary schools, focusing mainly on reducing teacher: learner ratios in the Foundation Phase. The move forms part of the WCED's efforts to build a strong foundation in primary schools.

The WCED increased the number of Foundation Phase teachers this year by 364 and will continue to employ about 500 teaching assistants to assist Foundation Phase teaching in primary schools serving poor communities.

The WCED will add 46 posts for education for learners will special education needs (ELSEN). These will include 20 more posts for learning support teachers, 11 therapist posts and 15 posts for a new school of skills in Khayelitsha.

The WCED has decided to add 20 posts in public ordinary schools to the 50 ELSEN posts added to the post basket this year, to support continued implementation of the department's literacy and numeracy strategy.

The WCED has found that the additional ELSEN teachers are playing an important role in efforts to improve literacy and numeracy in primary schools. Literacy and numeracy improvement in primary schools is the department's number one priority.

The post basket for next year includes 11 more specialised posts for the WCED's focus schools, bringing the total to 57. The focus schools provide access to specialised subjects in poor and relatively poor communities.

The focus schools began offering FET subjects in Grade 10 in 2006 and Grade 11 this year. They need the additional teachers to roll out their programmes in Grade 12 in 2009.

Specialised teaching posts at Dinaledi schools will increase by three to 56, to accommodate the addition of three more Dinaledi schools. The aim of Dinaledi schools is to improve the quality of maths and science passes in disadvantaged areas.

The basket will continue to include 458 ad hoc posts to reduce class sizes in poor schools. The WCED will review ad hoc posts when the national Department of Education finalises a new post provisioning model for the country.

The basket includes 39 more educator posts for the WCED's eight education districts, as part of the WCED's redesign to build strong teams to support schools.

The basket will include 450 growth posts, to accommodate unexpected growth and 500 posts for substitute teachers. These allocations are the same as 2008.

The WCED will inform schools of their establishments early in September.

While we would have liked to add even more posts to the post basket, had the budget allowed it, the WCED is nonetheless pleased that the budget has enabled us to increase the post basket once again for 2009, as we continue in our efforts to build the capacity of the education system to deliver quality education.



Issued by:
Paddy Attwell
Director: Communication
Western Cape Education Department
Tel: 021 467 2531
Fax: 021 461 3694
Email: pattwell@pgwc.gov.za

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