Life Orientation Teachers Conference
28 July 2022
A total of 356 teachers attended a Life Orientation (LO) Teachers Conference on 29 and 30 June 2022 at the Cape Teaching and Leadership Institute (CTLI) in Kuilsriver.
On the first day, teachers participated in breakaway sessions facilitated by highly qualified and expert presenters. The sessions focused on Teaching and Learning. Margie Clarke presented on Teaching and learning Innovative Methodologies, Dr Samuel Lundi’s topic was Assessment in LO, Cantel Ross discussed Productive pedagogy, Neville Goliath dealt with Behaviour management and Nadia Anhuizen presented on Teaching in a changing environment.
After lunch the five sessions focused on Career Planning. This included presentations by five local universities, three Technical Vocational Education and Training (TVET) colleges, three private colleges (Damelin, Eduvos and the International Hotel School), Subject choices by Prof Tony Naidoo from Stellenbosch University and a discussion on Mathematics versus Mathematical Literacy by Yasin Johnson from Northlink College.
Teachers came back amped for the second day on the back of the positive experience on Day 1. Karen Dudley, Director: Curriculum (General Education and Training), ensured an energising start to Day 2. She was followed by a virtual presentation by Prof Jonathan Jansen. The big drawcard of the plenary was the keynote address by Dr Darren Green.
Ismail Teladia, Senior Curriculum Planner for Life Orientation, concluded the plenary with a presentation on becoming an inspirational Life Orientation teacher.
The five breakaway sessions that followed focused on ICT integration in LO. The presenters were Marchelle Fester (CTLI ICT programmes for teachers) and Evan Papier (eLearning Integration in LO). A team from TikTok had two sessions, one which was directed on safety issues and the second was directed at content creation on the platform. These sessions were well received by the teachers.
After lunch the focus was on Physical Education. The teachers could not have asked for better presenters than Boebie Solomons (teaching ball skills), Marti Heri (fitness development), Michelle Petersen (PE practical basic skills), Ledene Hanekom and Sharon Smith (Fundamental Movement Skills) and Colin Green (Assessment in PE).
What was significant about the last session was that teachers stayed to the very end. This speaks volumes of the quality of the presenters and their presentations. The teachers saw and felt the value of the information shared. The feedback was overwhelmingly positive.
Teladia said the outcomes of the conference were achieved. “We had initially planned for 250 teachers but had to accommodate more because of the demand for seats at the conference.” The conference was the second event organised by Teladia with the first Physical Education Conference also being a great success.
