Top teachers meet in Cape Town
Themba Gadebe
11 July 2005
Educators from over 30 African countries are gathered in Cape Town to discuss issues of common interest.
The seventh international conference of the International Convention of Principals (ICP) began on Sunday. It is being attended by school heads from South Africa, Nigeria, Kenya, Botswana, Swaziland, Namibia, Zimbabwe, Uganda, Ghana, Tanzania and Lesotho, among others.
The prestigious event brings together principals from all over the world every two years to listen to presentations and discuss issues of common interest and concern. The conference is being held at Cape Town's International Convention Centre.
Speakers include Education Minister Naledi Pandor, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Jonathen Jansen, Pieter Dirk-Uys, Pam Christie, Shirley Pendlebury, Fr Michael Lapsley and Zandile Kunene.
Overseas speakers include Michael Barber, George Oduro, Pasi Sahlberg, Louis Stoll, Andy Hargreaves, Peter Hullah, Michael Thompson, Loretta
Giorcelli, Barry McGaw, Mary Gauthier, Sonia Bahri, Thierry Chevallier and David Hopkins - all eminent in their field.
South Africa won the right to host the event against tough competition. It has been organised by the SA Principals Association, the Independent Schools Association of SA and the Department of Education.
The conference theme is Ubuntu, said department spokesperson Tommy Makhode. It will focus on related issues such as community and responsibility.
"This allows the conference to think about values in education that relate to our African background," Makhode said.
"It also allows for a discussion on the way these values affect decision making at school level and how some of our school governing bodies function.
"The conference will help us resolve some of the issues facing the department in developing a truly South African education management policy, a standard for principalship, and a national qualification for principals," Makhode
said.
The department said while there were many aspects of being a principal in South Africa that were similar to those experienced by principals in any country, there were some that were unique to Africa and, specifically, South Africa.
"In South Africa we have advanced further down the path of creating education management architecture than most other countries," Makhode said.
The event is one of the largest ICP conferences ever held, with the original projection of 1 500 participants being increased based on early registrations to over 2 000.
Most delegates are from South Africa. They include 400 principals from poor schools in nine provinces, and 52 district and provincial officials from all provinces.
Besides the formal programme of presentations and panel discussions, there is also a full programme of visits to community and education projects, and to the heritage site of Robben Island.
Similar conferences have being held in the UK, US,
South Korea, Australia, China, Japan, India, Singapore and Finland. The next one, in two years' time, will be in New Zealand.
Source: BuaNews
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