Elaine Browne.pdf - Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University

that is just one small section of traditional dancing, but mostly it is movements and the kids
must experience something ‐ maybe imagine you’re a leaf in the wind or something like that”.
Theme 2: Teacher (in)competence
It was evident that the respondent felt ill‐equipped to teach this learning area. This awareness
gave rise to feelings of guilt: “Jy kan nie onderrig gee in iets wat jy jouself nie seker is oor nie 10 ”.
It was also clear that the teachers did not regard themselves as competent arts educators. One
respondent confessed: “I think learners can enjoy this Arts and Culture but what is lacking is
that we don’t have that knowledge of Arts and Culture”.
During their responses, the teachers also reflected on their own education:
Sub‐theme 2.1 Pre‐service and in‐service training
Many respondents blamed the Department of Education for expecting them to teach a learning
area for which they were not properly trained. In this regard, they referred to their pre‐service
training as generalists, as well as continuing professional training initiatives by the Department
of Education. They regarded the DoE’s local workshops as a waste of time and completely
inadequate. One responded experiences this training as “a two week crash course”. Another
teacher complained that “drama and dance were just dumped upon us and I don’t think there
are any teachers who are equipped, really equipped to do those”. One teacher expressed
himself by saying, “I have never been taught how to dance or to do art but now all of a sudden I
must be doing all those disciplines in Arts and Culture”. Another teacher from the same school
10 You cannot teach something that you are not sure about.
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