How to ACE the new curriculum

ACE… what a delightfully apt acronym for an increasingly popular option for teachers wanting to improve their skills levels.

The Advanced Certificate in Education (to spell it out in full) is offered by institutions of learning throughout South Africa. And it is becoming increasingly popular among mid-career teachers and principals. After years of making … ‘unfortunate choices’, the government is working hard to make amends by improving education standards in our country.

Teachers have not been slow to pick up on this development – and to recognise the fact that they hold the key to the success of any new interventions introduced by the state.

Certainly, as the country prepares itself for the launch of (yet another) ‘brand new’ curriculum, the big question many teachers have asked themselves (and then, almost immediately, answered it themselves) is: ‘Do I have the qualifications to play a meaningful role in this development? Where the answer has been ‘No’, the attitude has been ‘no problem’.

‘There’s ACE that I can turn to….’

Over the past few years, ACE has become a highly regarded intervention, which provides teachers with the opportunity to develop their content knowledge and teaching skills in whatever areas they specialise in.

Certainly, provincial education departments around the country are making millions of rands available for senior teachers and principals to obtain ACE qualifications.

‘There’s a general recognition of the importance of upskilling,’ said one Western Cape principal. ‘And that can only be a good thing.

ACE offers teachers four choices. It caters for leadership and management, mathematics, languages and social sciences. The choice they make when enrolling depends on the subjects they’re teaching – and their particular qualifications. Some teachers have a three-year qualification; others got theirs after four years. The surge in interest in wanting to improve qualifications is a highly significant development – a development in which everyone wins.

‘It wasn’t all that long ago that teacher training colleges were being shut, and the future of the profession was looking bleak,’ said one educator.

‘But now, teaching has again become a vocation worth considering. And many principals are pleased that at a learning institution such as the Cape Town University of Technology [CPUT], practice teaching has been reintroduced as part of its teacher training programme,’ the educator said.

However, if this sounds like a return to the good old days, well, not quite….

The days of furloughs and paid leave are gone – probably forever. Teachers wanting study leave must now cover costs out of their own pockets

But teachers are being encouraged to register for courses. And when they do, resources and materials are being put at their disposal. But this does not include funding.

Universities throughout the country are offering ACE courses – and all of them offer a small number of bursaries as well.

To qualify for a bursary, teachers must practise in an ACE area. ‘So if, for example, a teacher wants to obtain an ACE in foundation teaching, he or she must be teaching in the foundation area. A Matric Certificate and, at least, a three-year diploma, are also prerequisites.