2020 Symposium

"Education in South Africa during and post COVID19: Reflections on the readiness and 

responsiveness of the sector to the inevitable changes in the post-schooling landscape."

Preamble

In the last six months, the COVID-19 pandemic had sparked a long overdue revolution in higher education. While most traditional universities were still embracing face-to-face and blended approaches in their tuition support frameworks, COVID-19 forced the employ of new educational paradigms in bringing teaching and learning online. The adoption of online educational platforms in recent months has been unprecedented. 

With President Cyril Ramaphosa announcing a national lockdown which inevitably impacted on all sectors; this pandemic has had a huge transformative effect on the post-schooling and higher education sectors in South Africa. In response to mandatory campus closures, the minister of Higher Education responded to the lockdown by calling on post-school and educational institutions to implement an effective 

multi-modal remote approach to teaching and learning:

"Developing and implementing effective multi-modal remote learning systems (digital, analogue and physical delivery of learning materials) to provide a reasonable level of academic support to all our students at all institutions to resume academic learning and teaching support. As we are in an unprecedented emergency, we have to use all available tools to reach our students fully cognisant that it will not substitute the need for contact learning when conditions permit.  This we will do making sure that No student or institution is left behind” 

(Public Statement by Minister Blade Nzimande on 30 April 2020, obtained from www.gov.za).

Minister Nzimande, acknowledged the unprecedented challenges posed by the pandemic but reiterated the importance of saving the 2020 academic year: 

"The pandemic has presented us all with a set of unprecedented challenges, and we have been engaging with stakeholders to save the 2020 academic year whilst focusing on the transformation and expansion of opportunities in the post-school education and training system (PSET),” (Public Statement by Minister Blade Nzimande on 23 May 2020, obtained from www.News24.co.za)

In her response, the minister of Basic Education also announced strategies to save the academic year for grade 12 learners, including the provision of learning support on online platforms. The central questions now remain: How will these strategies impact on the performance of the 2020 grade 12 class, and how will the post-education sector respond to address the potential impact for the 2021 new intake of students?

In hosting its 6th annual academic development symposium, the Western Cape region of the University of South Africa aims to create an opportune space for all stakeholders within post-school education and training, including students, to reflect on the strategies employed and their experiences during this unprecedented academic year.

The theme of the 2019 symposium, “Conversations about fostering student academic resilience in the context of diverse student identities and experiences” and the preceding 2018 symposium theme "Practical considerations for teaching and learning in the dynamic landscape of higher education in South Africa" elicited two-fold feedback from participants. These two symposia seemed to, in an almost serendipitous way, have laid the foundation for the theme of the 2020 academic development symposium. 

Unpacking practical considerations for teaching and learning within the context of student academic resilience during a period of an unprecedented pandemic and national lockdown is not only relevant but also prudent.  There is also a need to create a space for staff including academic, professional and support staff to reflect and engage each other on their experiences navigating the already volatile and agile higher education landscape during this extraordinary period. Secondly, conversations and reflections should include discussions about how quality control strategies were employed to measure the success of the variety of diverse interventions initiatives implemented across institutions of higher learning in South Africa. 

The 2020 symposium therefore endeavours to bring together colleagues from across the educational landscape to engage each other, in a virtual space, about the status of education within this most challenging and uncertain times.  The COVID-19 pandemic challenged post-schooling practitioners to think differently and to interrogate the areas of strength and development on how to support our students and each other.

As President Cyril Ramaphosa stated during his address on 13 May 2020 to the nation about South Africa's response to Corona virus COVID-19 pandemic: 

“A very different South Africa and world awaits us. The greatest test will be our willingness to embrace change. Let us rise to meet this challenge”.