LOLA JACOBS ASSIGNMENTS © 2024
TPS2601/50 2024
TPS2601
ASSIGNMENT NO: 50
PORTFOLIO
YEAR : 2024
1
, 6 INDICATE THE SUBJECT YOU OBSERVED DURING YOUR TEACHING
PRACTICE.
Subject didactics Mark box with PLEASE NOTE:
Senior Phase an X
(grades 10 - 12) IF YOU DO NOT
Economics and Management
Studies COMPLETE THIS
Mathematics PAGE
Technology
Natural Sciences CORRECTLY
Social Sciences 10% WILL BE
Creative Arts
DEDUCTED FROM
Life Orientation
Languages (specify) ✓ ENGLISH
YOUR
Technical subjects (specify) PORTFOLIO MARK.
(2)
7. TUTORIAL LETTER 103 TEMPLATE FOR THE SENIOR PHASE TEACHING
PRACTICE ACTIVITIES
7.1 INTRODUCTION
Dear Student
We are pleased to welcome you to the observation component of Teaching Practice of your
professional development. Teaching Practice is the core of our teacher education programmes. The
purpose of this exercise is to improve your understanding of teaching and learning in the Senior and
Further Education and Training Phases. We shall do our best to make your teaching practice
2
, LOLA JACOBS ASSIGNMENTS © 2024
experience interesting, rewarding and successful. You will be well on your way to success if you
start arrangements early in the year and aim to complete the assignments properly.
As a student teacher, you are an important person in the Unisa community. The lecturers and
students of this community are constantly learning and teaching to contribute to and develop
education in South Africa.
This module focuses on developing the practical skills and competences that are expected from a
teacher in South Africa to be able to fulfil her or his role as a teacher in the South African context.
Teaching practice is based on the age-old approach to apprenticeship – a way of learning from
knowledgeable and competent leaders in a community, and to practice skills under their watchful
guidance until you have mastered that skill or competence.
With this African approach to education, you observe and see what elders or senior members of a
community do. You participate in activities but are not yet an experienced member of the community.
During your “apprenticeship”, you will be learning about traditions, values and the correct or best
way to do activities. The elders and senior members will still guide you until you are competent
enough to do things on your own. If you want to master a specific skill or enter a specific career, you
will observe an experienced person who will guide and lead you. You will practice the skill until you
are proficient enough to work on your own.
In the same way, as aspiring teachers, you can go to schools and form part of the school
community. During this first practical teaching opportunity, you will observe teaching and learning
within a unique context in a specific school. In your “apprenticeship” as a teacher, you will learn a
lot from teachers and mentors in the school.
Activities in the assignment and portfolio are designed to support you in observing teaching and learning
through a specific lens that is unique to the South African context.
The following definitions are important when doing observation to contribute to your theoretical
knowledge of learning and teaching in South Africa. These definitions are constructed around
interpretation of specific aspects related to Africanisation. Make use of these definitions together
with your theoretical knowledge of current research, gained in each module. When observing,
reporting and reflecting on the portfolio activities, these concepts and principles will enable you to
reflect critically on learning and teaching in the unique context in which you are teaching.
3
, 7.2 An African philosophy of education
To improve education in South Africa, teachers need to be aware of the contextual factors that affect
life and education. The lived realities as experienced by our society or communities provide a
background to understand challenges from their unique contexts. An African philosophy of education
based on these realities – one that articulates the lived reality – is needed. This philosophy could
become a useful tool that provides a perspective from which to define and address problems. This
approach can improve education and life on different levels (Higgs, 2003).
The reality experienced by a diverse African community suggests a spirit of communality as
expressed in an indigenous African knowledge system. General unifying themes describe concepts
in African philosophy that are related to education. To complete this portfolio, it is important that you
understand these concepts.
Read the information in the following table. The concept is explained first and the principles
underlying or supporting the concept follow. To ensure that you understand the information, explain
it in your own words in one sentence in the space provided.
To complete this portfolio, it is important that you understand the concepts described below.
General themes or concepts that are important for educators in South Africa.
1. Decolonisation (Education)
An active process to change the western-dominated philosophy and approach to education
to a balanced approach where indigenous knowledge and pedagogies are acknowledged and
genuinely incorporated into the formal educational system. Multiple perspectives are included
to make education relevant and practical to address needs and challenges within specific
contexts (Owuor:2007).
4
TPS2601/50 2024
TPS2601
ASSIGNMENT NO: 50
PORTFOLIO
YEAR : 2024
1
, 6 INDICATE THE SUBJECT YOU OBSERVED DURING YOUR TEACHING
PRACTICE.
Subject didactics Mark box with PLEASE NOTE:
Senior Phase an X
(grades 10 - 12) IF YOU DO NOT
Economics and Management
Studies COMPLETE THIS
Mathematics PAGE
Technology
Natural Sciences CORRECTLY
Social Sciences 10% WILL BE
Creative Arts
DEDUCTED FROM
Life Orientation
Languages (specify) ✓ ENGLISH
YOUR
Technical subjects (specify) PORTFOLIO MARK.
(2)
7. TUTORIAL LETTER 103 TEMPLATE FOR THE SENIOR PHASE TEACHING
PRACTICE ACTIVITIES
7.1 INTRODUCTION
Dear Student
We are pleased to welcome you to the observation component of Teaching Practice of your
professional development. Teaching Practice is the core of our teacher education programmes. The
purpose of this exercise is to improve your understanding of teaching and learning in the Senior and
Further Education and Training Phases. We shall do our best to make your teaching practice
2
, LOLA JACOBS ASSIGNMENTS © 2024
experience interesting, rewarding and successful. You will be well on your way to success if you
start arrangements early in the year and aim to complete the assignments properly.
As a student teacher, you are an important person in the Unisa community. The lecturers and
students of this community are constantly learning and teaching to contribute to and develop
education in South Africa.
This module focuses on developing the practical skills and competences that are expected from a
teacher in South Africa to be able to fulfil her or his role as a teacher in the South African context.
Teaching practice is based on the age-old approach to apprenticeship – a way of learning from
knowledgeable and competent leaders in a community, and to practice skills under their watchful
guidance until you have mastered that skill or competence.
With this African approach to education, you observe and see what elders or senior members of a
community do. You participate in activities but are not yet an experienced member of the community.
During your “apprenticeship”, you will be learning about traditions, values and the correct or best
way to do activities. The elders and senior members will still guide you until you are competent
enough to do things on your own. If you want to master a specific skill or enter a specific career, you
will observe an experienced person who will guide and lead you. You will practice the skill until you
are proficient enough to work on your own.
In the same way, as aspiring teachers, you can go to schools and form part of the school
community. During this first practical teaching opportunity, you will observe teaching and learning
within a unique context in a specific school. In your “apprenticeship” as a teacher, you will learn a
lot from teachers and mentors in the school.
Activities in the assignment and portfolio are designed to support you in observing teaching and learning
through a specific lens that is unique to the South African context.
The following definitions are important when doing observation to contribute to your theoretical
knowledge of learning and teaching in South Africa. These definitions are constructed around
interpretation of specific aspects related to Africanisation. Make use of these definitions together
with your theoretical knowledge of current research, gained in each module. When observing,
reporting and reflecting on the portfolio activities, these concepts and principles will enable you to
reflect critically on learning and teaching in the unique context in which you are teaching.
3
, 7.2 An African philosophy of education
To improve education in South Africa, teachers need to be aware of the contextual factors that affect
life and education. The lived realities as experienced by our society or communities provide a
background to understand challenges from their unique contexts. An African philosophy of education
based on these realities – one that articulates the lived reality – is needed. This philosophy could
become a useful tool that provides a perspective from which to define and address problems. This
approach can improve education and life on different levels (Higgs, 2003).
The reality experienced by a diverse African community suggests a spirit of communality as
expressed in an indigenous African knowledge system. General unifying themes describe concepts
in African philosophy that are related to education. To complete this portfolio, it is important that you
understand these concepts.
Read the information in the following table. The concept is explained first and the principles
underlying or supporting the concept follow. To ensure that you understand the information, explain
it in your own words in one sentence in the space provided.
To complete this portfolio, it is important that you understand the concepts described below.
General themes or concepts that are important for educators in South Africa.
1. Decolonisation (Education)
An active process to change the western-dominated philosophy and approach to education
to a balanced approach where indigenous knowledge and pedagogies are acknowledged and
genuinely incorporated into the formal educational system. Multiple perspectives are included
to make education relevant and practical to address needs and challenges within specific
contexts (Owuor:2007).
4
