Elaine Browne.pdf - Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University

said “ek kan niks van daai goed doen nie, maar ek moet dit maar onderrig. Ek is nie opgelei om
dans te onderrig nie 11 ”. This inadequacy also led to discipline problems, “hulle tel op wanneer jy
nie in control is nie en dan vat hulle advantage” 12 and another said, “die kinders tel op daai
onsekerheid, wat nie gebeur as jy in beheer van jou vak waar jy deskundige is nie 13 ”. One
teacher also mentioned that “the learners want to tell you what to do and then they get cocky
about it”.
Music seems to be a particular obstacle, due to its specialised nature and the teachers’
subsequent inadequate training: “I am not trained in music. I have to learn those notes. I don’t
know them. There are some sevi raps, sevi braps (sic) whatever, ja, crotchets, we do not know
them”. One teacher shared a humiliating incident when she was presenting note value posters
to the class, only to be informed by a learner (who receives private music instruction), that the
posters were upside down. Most of the respondents admitted that they do not teach music,
because they do not regard themselves as competent enough to do so: “I do have a problem for
teaching it because I am not trained in music. I told my principal that I would skip this one”.
Another stated: “Jy is nie opgelei vir die taak wat vir jou gegee word nie, byvoorbeeld soos
musiek, ek sou graag musiek wou onderrig het, maar ons is nie gereed daarvoor nie 14 ”. The
respondents felt that “music is a field, specialised field of its own” and to teach “all of them one
needs to be specialised”. At one school the teachers tried to allocate the various arts disciplines
to the better equipped teachers, yet, “when we put it on the timetable, it doesn’t work out and
11
I cannot do any of those things, but I have to do it. I am not trained to do dance education.
12
They pick up when you are not in control and take advantage.
13
They pick up your uncertainty. This will not happen if you are an expert.
14
You are not trained for the task assigned to you. For example, music, I would love to teach it, but we
are not prepared for it.
60