Education awards honour excellence in digital teaching

Kedibone Makgato accepting her ISPA SuperTeacher 2016 award.

Makgato, of Toronto Primary School in Limpopo, was awarded the prestigious ISPA SuperTeacher 2016 title; while Machaba (Ngwanamago Primary in Limpopo) was named ISPA ChampTeacher of the Year, and Esterhuizen (St Andrews College in the Eastern Cape) was named TechTeacher of the Year 2016.

Speaking at the awards gala dinner, which is a highlight of the annual iWeek conference and exhibition, Dr Siyabonga Cwele, Minister for the Department of Telecommunications & Postal Services (DTPS), credited South African educators with introducing digital teaching tools in classrooms.

"Learners today don't respond well to blackboards. They want digital content in the classroom and teachers who know how to use it," he said.

Acknowledging that learner performance is linked to educator ICT knowledge, Minister Cwele congratulated ISPA SuperTeacher 2016, Makgato, on being chosen as the teacher who has best imparted her newly-acquired ICT knowledge to her learners, school and community. ISPA SuperTeacher finalists must demonstrate to the annual competition's judges exactly how they have best used their new-found knowledge after participating in ICT training partly sponsored by South Africa's Internet Service Providers' Association (ISPA) and its members, and facilitated by CoZa Cares Foundation.

According to CoZa Cares Foundation CEO, Fiona Wallace, sponsorship from ISPA members has over the years equipped over 5,000 teachers with ICT confidence, skills and leadership. In the last three years alone, some 750 school leaders, educators and district officials have been supported through a variety of professional development courses.

"All credit is due to Kedibone Makgato for working hard to be named as this year's ISPA SuperTeacher who is surely set to become the latest ISPA SuperTeacher to use this prestigious competition as a springboard to even greater achievements, as so many of her peers have done," said Wallace.

Competition

The judges of the now fully online competition, designed and developed by CoZa Cares, comprised a strongly representative cross-section of the South African education and ICT sphere. They included Sarah-Jane Capazario (ISPA), Dorcas Thabane (ISPA), Jenny King (e-Schools Network), Marcus Lamola (Matthew Goniwe School of Leadership and Governance - MGSLG), Neo Mothobi (Department of Basic Education, Pretoria), Megan Rademeyer (SchoolNet SA) and Clinton Walker (Western Cape Education Department).

South African annual internet industry gathering, iWeek, marked its 15th year by returning to Johannesburg from 19 - 23 September. An annual fixture of the closing night gala dinner is the announcement of the ISPA SuperTeacher of the Year from the ten competition finalists.

Competition prizes included, among other things, a lifetime gift subscription to Mighty Pen Education Magazine for the three winners, a Mecer Executive Series tablet for each winning teacher - sponsored by Mustek, a Matific school subscription until the end of 2017, and a professional development training session on assisting learners to navigate the digital space safely, sponsored by South Africa's Wireless Application Service Providers' Association (WASPA).