The teaching profession plays an important role in society, as it produces many more professionals in diverse fields.
While many young people are taking up teaching as a profession, it is reported that some of them have shared that teaching wasn’t their first choice.
Amidst this, the Reading Panel has also released the 2030 Reading Panel’s 2021 Background Report which highlights that in the next decade, 45% of publicly employed teachers will retire and need to be replaced.
Some education experts have made suggestions on how Education can counter this by producing more teachers to avoid classroom overcrowding and unqualified teachers.
In an interview, Jeremy Gibbon, Director For Programs, Jakes Gerwel Fellowship weighed in on the issue and said:
We're going to have to replace them with new graduate teachers at a rate that we've never been able to do in the past.
While this may be seen as a crisis, Gibbon also views it as an opportunity that should not go to waste. Unemployed graduates are also joining the teaching profession through the Post Graduate Certificate in Education training, offered in both public and private institutions.
The Jakes Gerwel Fellowship also offers bursaries for these individuals and those who want to pursue teaching by obtaining a Bachelor in Education qualification.
The Fellowship and its partners are excited about the role that they will play in this great opportunity to be faced by this generation.
According to the report, in 2018, universities in South Africa produced 26,000 teachers, but this will need to increase to 44,000 teachers per year by 2025 and 50,000 vacancies.
However, experienced unemployed teachers say there is no shortage of teachers, there just aren't enough teaching posts available.
