POLOKWANE – This announcement was made during a meeting at Tom Naudé’s school hall on Tuesday, 8 by the Department of Education, the last of several meetings held across the country in each province.
Altogether 70 secondary school principals, of which only nine were from pure technical schools like Tom Naudé, attended the meeting.
“It is important to realise that with the new dispensation, the only three technical subjects will be mechanical technology, electrical technology and civil technology,” Tom Naudé Deputy Principal, Vanessa Kachelhoffer, explained.
“After the establishment of the National Association of Schools for Technology (NAST) on 16 September 2002, NAST has been negotiating with the Department of Education to set up a curriculum that will meet the needs of the country. Former Tom Naudé Principals, Ferdie Preller and Ferdie Liddle, played a pivotal role in the establishing of Nast.”
The new curriculum, known as Specialisation in Technical Subjects, was implemented in Gr 10 at technical schools in 2016 and the first Gr12’s now write the new curriculum’s final exam in 2018. This curriculum consists of three specialisation areas with three subdivisions each, as well as two new technical subjects, namely technical mathematics and technical sciences. Initially, the technical mathematics assessment model brought about problems that have now been solved.
“Now at a technical school, learners no longer take mathematical literacy; they can choose between mathematics or technical mathematics. The reason for this is because the industries where learners go to work, regard mathematical literacy as inadequate and not at a high enough standard to function in the technical field of study.”
The three specialisation areas consist of three full-fledged subjects each and are:
• Mechanical technology – divided into welding and metalworking, motor mechanics and fitting and machining.
• Civil technology – divided into woodwork, building construction and civil services (sewerage).
• Electrical technology – divided into electrical, electronic and digital.
From the meeting of 8 May, it became apparent that learners who matriculated at a technical school at the end of 2018 and passed one of the specialist fields are ready to trade and whose theory of the trades concerned then has already been completed.
“A Tom Naudé learner can then enroll at a firm for practical training but does not need to enroll at a college or tertiary institution to take the theory of the particular profession. According to the latest Gazette, the technical learners are allowed to apply for practical tests after 18 months. If they wanted to study at a college, they would start directly with N4 because the technical matric exceeded N3. The ‘Designated List’ of subjects has expired and all the technical subjects and other subjects are equivalent to giving learners access to all universities. A student from a technical school, such as Tom Naudé, can therefore enroll at any academic university. This advantage makes it possible for children from technical schools to have the following subject package: two official languages, mathematics or technical mathematics, physical sciences or technical sciences, engineering graphics and design and one of the technical subjects with life orientation.
Ferdie Liddle, former principal of Tom Naudé, has been involved with technical education since 1972. He was part of the meeting and is still employed at the Department of Basic Education and he believes this curriculum is the best SA has ever had.
One of the guests at the meeting was Zelda Mangoma of the Department of Economic Development. This department contacted NAST’s CEO because they wanted to get involved with technical schools in Limpopo. In addition, the Mining Quality Authority (MQA) is involved and was responsible for the involvement of the Department of Economic Development. The construction CETA is becoming part of the plans and the Metal Engineering Related Sectoral Education Training Authority (MerCETA) gave R50 million for technical education two years ago. This money was divided between the schools.
Tom Naudé Principal, Piet Holtzhausen, is excited about the new developments and takes note of the Department of Basic Education’s seriousness towards technical education.
“This silences the myths that technical education is subordinate to other fields of study. Parents can now make a much more informed decision about the field of study their child needs to take,” he said.
The meeting was succeeded by an open day at Tom Naudé. Parents who did not attend the open day are welcome to contact the school for more information relating to the new curriculum. They are also welcome to arrange an appointment to see the various centres at the school.
