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Media Release

1 November, 2009

New SG reports for duty

Penny Vinjevold took up her appointment as Superintendent-General of the Western Cape Education Department (WCED) and Head of Education in the province on 1 November 2009.

The Cape Argus Education Writer, Ilse Fredericks, interviewed Vinjevold to mark the occasion. She answered Fredericks' questions as follows:

1. Where are you from and where did you go to school?

I grew up in Boksburg in Gauteng and went to St Dunstan's Primary School and Boksburg High School. Both were excellent schools.I lived with my mother who was a teacher, my father who was a great believer in education and my two beautiful sisters who both became teachers.

2. Why did you decide to become a teacher?

My father encouraged me to become a teacher and I loved school. But it was only when I started teaching that I really realised that I wanted to be a teacher.

3. Where did you study teaching?

At the University of the Witwatersrand where I had wonderful and inspiring lecturers such as Professor Peter Kallaway.

4. Why have you decided to make the move to the WCED and accept the head of department position?

The position of HOD in the Western Cape provides me with a great opportunity to work with officials, principals and teachers to improve the quality of education in South Africa. My experience at the DoE was a very rich and varied one and I look forward to using some of the experience I gained there in practical application.

5. What will you be doing during your first month as head of department?

I will be meeting and consulting with the officials in the Western Cape Education Department, principals and teachers and our partners in education and putting final touches to our plans for the 2010 and 2011 academic years.

6. What will be your main short term priorities/focus areas?

To ensure that all plans for 2010 are in place; that we keep teachers, principals and parents informed of our plans so that there are no surprises in 2010.

7. What will be your main long term priorities/focus areas?

These will be to improve the reading, writing and calculating abilities of all 1 million school going children in the Western Cape, and to lead a Department that supports our principals and teachers with integrity and expert knowledge.

8. What do you consider to be the biggest problems facing education in South Africa?

Improving the reading, writing and calculating abilities of the Grades 1 6 learners and increasing the amount of time spent teaching and learning.

9. What do you like to do in your free time?

I enjoy reading, travelling and spending time with friends.

10. Brief CV details

Penny Vinjevold joined the WCED as Superintendent-General and Head of Education in the province on 1 November 2009.

She has an extensive track record in education, as a teacher, a teacher educator, an education researcher and as a senior education official in the Western Cape and in the national Department of Education (DoE).

Vinjevold taught for 16 years at schools in Johannesburg, Mafeking and Soweto. Thereafter she became the General Manager of Evaluations and Research at the Joint Education Trust.

She has experience in both quantitative and qualitative research methodology, especially in the development, administration and analysis of learner assessment instruments. She has also undertaken extensive research into the results of the Senior Certificate examinations.

She co-edited the book "Getting Learning Right" in 1999 and managed a research component of the President's Education Initiative. The book has become a key text on South African education.

Kader Asmal, then national Minister of Education, appointed Vinjevold to a seven-person Ministerial Project Committee in 2000 to oversee the development of the Revised Curriculum Statement for Grades R to 9.

She joined the WCED in 2002 as Chief Director: Planning before joining the DoE in 2005 as Deputy Director-General: Further Education and Training.

Her qualifications include a BA (1974), a Higher Diploma in Education (1975), a BEd (1991, with distinction), and an MEd (1992, with distinction), all from the University of the Witwatersrand.



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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