most. Teachers should be recognised and rewarded for teaching at less resourced schools where they can

make the most difference and are

needed most.

Ideally all schools would be provided with resource centers equipped with a variety of reading material in vari-ous languages. These centers should be the hub of the school for leisure reading and research for learners and teachers. This is important from primary school level where class li-braries should be a standard feature and central to every teacher’s reper-toire of practice. The more learners read, the better their performance in all subjects. From a RASA point of view, literacy practices are a concern. To what extent have 12 years of schooling developed learners’ literacies? Have learners had multiple opportunities to bring their own understandings to what they read? How have they evaluated what they have read? Have they been encouraged to recognise how people are positioned in what they read and that some voices are absent?

Have they been encouraged to

write as a form of reflection and

explore their own understandings

and not just for assessment and

marks?

Then maybe they have been edu-

cated.

Eileen Scheckle, National Chair of RASA,

Well done to the class of 2013! Whatever the standards may be, these learners have achieved significantly and all who contrib-uted to this over the 12 years of schooling need to be congratu-lated. Matric results are not achieved in one year but are built up through the years of schooling. What can be learnt from these results, or how can the results be understood? That the pass rate has increased means that more teachers and learners have mastered the exam system. They have been prepared for the kinds of questions and answers that would ensure success. Both schools and individuals are ap-plauded for doing this but it doesn’t mean that matriculants are necessarily educated. As in any country with high stakes testing, success in the exam is exactly that. If national focus and energy is directed towards passing particular exams, then any wider understanding, cri-tique or alternative thinking which does not contribute to exam success, is not encouraged or valued. Another concern is the discrepancies between schools. A glance through the columns of results reveals that in some schools distinctions are rare while in the next school students without distinctions are

rare. Clearly teachers and learn-ers at the latter have mastered the system, have substantial resources available and have worked hard. The resources don’t just include up-to-date libraries or well stocked computer labs, which are very valuable, but also cul-tural and social capital. What this means is that families – of whatever configuration – and homes, value practices and knowledge which is line with the school system. This can manifest from the earliest stages of school in terms of what kind of news is worth sharing and how these stories are told in school. It is easier to teach learners whose home practices and thinking are aligned with those of the education system. It is far more challenging for teachers to connect with learners for whom academic learning is more alien. This is compounded in South Africa by the varieties of linguis-tic backgrounds of our learners. So the best teachers are those who can achieve success with diverse learners from different backgrounds. If we are concerned with the education of all learners so that each can achieve success, then the best teachers should be at schools where they are needed

Mail & Guardian

2013 matric pass rate: Proof of good education or failing the youth?

07 JAN 2014 07:19 SAPA

RASA Comment on the 2014 Matric Results

Is Matriculation Education?

I N S I D E

T H I S I S S U E :

Prof. Emeritus

John Guthrie

2

2013 RASA

Gauteng

Conference

3

Critical

Literacy Book

3

RASA

Contacts

4

Gallery 4

R E A D I N G A S S O C I A T I O N

O F S O U T H E R N A F R I C A

RASA Newslettter

J A N U A R Y 2 0 1 4 V O L U M E 1 , I S S U E 1

S P E C I A L

P O I N T S O F

I N T E R E S T :

RASA comments

on the 2014

Matric Results

RASA 2013 Gau-

teng Conference

Professor John

Guthrie visits

South Africa.

Critical Literacy-

Hillary Janks

launches her new

book

P A G E 2

“when teachers

create conditions

that enable reading

engagement to be

extensive and

satisfying, students'

reading

comprehension and

their measurable

achievement

increase “

Pro. J. guthrie

Artwork of Shazia

Suliman of

Westville Girls’ High

School entitled

‘Interpreting Text’

Professor Guthrie visit to Durban, KZN...

Newsletter News from the Eastern Cape: Prof John Guthrie’s visit to the Eastern Cape

He then spoke at the Pieter-

maritzburg Language Centre

to the academic staff of that

facility and addressed their

concerns and suggested a

remedial approach could be

found within his methodology.

His last presentation was to a

packed St Charles Library

filled with academics of all

kinds. He gave yet another

Professor Guthrie had a won-

derful stay in Durban and gave

3 very illuminating presenta-

tions on his topic Engagement

and Motivating for reading

development and learning.

He spoke at the Embury

Teacher’s Training Centre to

prospective student teachers

and lecturers as well as prac-

ticing teachers.

outstanding presentation which was

well received and plenty of discus-

sion took place thereafter.

We hosted him and his wife, to an

ethic evening at Moyo on the Dur-

ban Beachfront and a fun and tasy

time was had by all those who at-

tended.

Prof. Guthrie addressing

interested teachers,

lecturers and librarians at

St Charles in

Pietermarizburg.

R A S A N E W S L E T T T E R

The year ended on a high with the visit of Prof John Guthrie, and his lovely wife Stacy, to the Eastern Cape. Prof Guthrie first spoke to about 150 Intermediate phase education students on his model of reading and engagement. As motivating learners to read will be a challenge for many of these students when they head out to schools, Prof Guthrie’s advice was lapped up. What students found useful was that his guidelines related to content subjects as much as to languages so that read-ing and motivation become a focus in all learning areas and are not seen as the responsibility of the language teacher. He reminded them that as well as developing the skills to read, it was as important to develop the will to read. This included providing learners with choices, making reading meaningful for them, empowering them to read a lot and encouraging talk-ing about their reading in order to make sense of it. Later that same day Prof Guthrie spoke to teachers and other members of the pub-lic concerned with literacy. The audience ranged from engineering lecturers to li-brarians and NGO administrators as well as local teachers. On the following day we travelled to Rhodes University which kindly hosted Prof Guthrie so he could speak to a mixed audience of teachers, students and academics there. Thus those who could not attend the national conference could still benefit from his extensive research in reading and motivation. We returned to PE via a virtually elephantless Addo, but saw plenty of playful wart-hogs, buck and ostriches, inspired to build motivational reading practices into our courses and classes.

RASA GAUTENG CONFERENCE 2013

P A G E 3 V O L U M E 1 , I S S U E 1

The 8th RASA conference was hosted by Gauteng branch in Johannesburg from Friday 25 to Sunday 27 October 2013. The con-ference, which was well-attended by over 200 dele-gates was held at the Prid-win Preparatory School in Melrose, Johannesburg. On Friday evening, the Headmaster of the school, Mr Selwyn Marx, and Janet Condy (RASA chairperson) welcomed delegates to the conference. This was fol-lowed by an opening speech by the Minister of Basic Education, Angie Motshegka. Her speech on the importance of literacy and the necessity of finding solutions to literacy prob-lems in the country was very inspiring and showed her passion for education and literacy development in South Africa. The pupils of Pathogen primary school delivered an exciting cultural perform-ance to welcome the Minis-ter. The panel discussion on solutions to literacy to literacy challenges in Africa was both interesting and informative. The panel members: Hilary Janks

(Wits), Kgomotso Masemola (UNISA), Brahm Fleisch (Wits), Marion Joseph (NAPTOSA),and Kate Nkwane (Pathogeng Pri-mary), presented their views on the state of liter-acy in the country, from various perspectives, and brought an exciting start to the conference delibera-tions. The next two days saw high quality presentations and workshops on literacy and possible ways of improving literacy at all levels, from various angles, which had delegates engaging in vi-brant discussions during sessions and outside the rooms. The keynote speak-ers contributed to the high level of the conference. Presentations by keynote speakers, Prof Guthrie (University of Maryland), Dr Surette Van Staden (University of Pretoria), and Loy Tumusiime (Fountain publishers) were all stimu-lating and illuminating and a lot of questions and dis-cussions. A book launch by Prof Janks and the co-authors on Sat-urday evening was followed by a social braai. An out-

standing cultural performance by the African dancers greatly li-vened and lightened the evening and brought the relaxing atmos-phere that delegates needed after a full day of serious academic deliberations. The cherry on top of a very in-teresting and informative confer-ence was the food, which was provided by Pridwin caterer ….. The exciting and mouth-watering meals were superb and delegates could not help but feast on the goodies for the three days. To all who helped to make it the great conference it was RASA Gauteng is extremely grateful.

Conference connections

Gauteng Chair, Naomi Boakye, Prof. John Guthrie & Gauteng Secretary & Bursar, Carien Wilsenach.

the relationship between language

and power and orients readers to

the social effects of texts. The

reader is draw in to the key ques-

tions critical readers need to pose

of text: Whose interests are

served, who benefits, who is dis-

advantaged; who is included and

who is excluded? The practical

Compelling and highly engaging,

this text shows teachers of all

levels how to do critical literacy in

the classroom and provides mod-

els for practice that can be

adeapted to any context. It brings

critical literacy to life as a socio-

cultural orientation to the teach-

ing of literacy that takes seriously

activities help the readers to grasp

these complex issues.

A worthwhile purchase to up

your literacy teaching.

Hillary Janks launched her new Book entitled “Doing

Critical Literacy Text & Activities for Students and Teachers” at RASA Conference

Doing Crtical Literacy

ISBN 9780415528108

Routledge Taylor & Francis

Here Eileen Sheckle

Marcelle Harran meet the Minister of Basic Education, Angie

Motshekga.

To all who helped to make it the great con-ference it was RASA Gauteng is extremely grateful. We are grate-ful to our sponsors: Zenex Foundation, American Embassy, Pridwin preparatory school staff and man-agement, International Reading Association, Molteno, Class Act, Bussiness Print, Pear-son Education, Jona-than Ball Publishers, UNISA, British Council and New Readers Pub-lishers.

National Chair

Eileen Scheckle of Eastern Cape

eileen.scheckle@nmmu.ac.za

RASA Website :

http://readingassociation.org.za/

Online Journal:

http://www.rw.org.za/index.php/rw

IRA Associates - www.reading.org

The Reading Association of South Africa aims to

bring together individuals and organisations who

are committed to the study and teaching of read-

ing and writing. RASA is affiliated to the Interna-

tional Reading Association (IRA), and is committed

to promoting IRA membership and participating in

IRA sponsored activities in Africa and elsewhere.

VISION:

Our vision is that RASA will be an internationally

recognised organisation dedicated to promoting

teaching and research in reading and writing at all

levels of South African society.

Reading Association of

South Africa

Gallery of Branch Activities

EC RASA Open Day, RASA Strategic Planning Meeting, Conference 2013, KZN Meetings

The leading literacy organisation in

South Africa promoting best practices

and research in reading & writing.

We have a journal on the web http://www.rw.org.za/index.php/rw