Other than planning her daughter’s wedding or being busy with kitchen renovations, Veldenvlei Primary’s Deputy Principal Marianne Truter has her head in her books – not her teaching books, but study material, as she continues her studies in Education Management.
Marianne recently graduated with a Master’s Degree in Education Management from the University of Pretoria which she started in 2011.
After numerous trips to Pretoria for 20 support sessions on proposal and thesis writing, data collection and eight compulsory Saturday classes, she successfully completed her thesis on ‘An inquiry into school-based teacher training in the Zululand area of KwaZulu-Natal.’
Despite Marianne’s commitment to her school and pupils, she still managed to graduate in three years.
‘My school work and duties as Deputy Principal come before my studies’, says Marianne.
She has been at Veldenvlei Primary for 19 years now, starting off as a level one teacher in 1994, moving on to Head of Department of the senior phase in 2001 and fast-tracking up to the Deputy Principal post in 2004.
She is a dedicated wife and mother of two who is passionate about the education system in our country.
Her thesis was the study on how student teacher posts could assist aspiring pupils or students who cannot afford to study.
She was inspired to base her thesis on this subject when the Principal suggested the idea of recruiting Grade 12 pupils from surrounding schools who wanted to study education, but simply could not afford it.
‘My study found that although school-based educator training as an alternative to traditional training programmes are not without challenges, this method of training could contribute to addressing educator shortages in KZN,’ says Marianne.
She is currently a mentor for 10 student teachers at Veldenvlei Primary and has written the policies and procedures in this regard.
Marianne has submitted her preliminary research for her PhD in Education Management, Law and Policy to the University of Pretoria last month, which she hopes to finish in the next three years.
Her research focuses on ‘adequate preparation of teachers for effective and sustained deployment in rural KZN’.
Marianne, who is called ‘Kid dynamite’ by her father, believes that student teacher programmes can improve education in rural areas and she hopes her research will contribute to this.
