Durban - For two Durban teachers, teaching is a calling in terms of which they try to prepare their pupils for a rapidly changing world.
This was according to David Madutung and Nomsa Hlongwa, ahead of the commemoration of World Teachers’ Day on Saturday.
The day has been marked every year since 1994 and commemorates the adoption of the 1966 “Recommendation Concerning the Status of Teachers” by the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (Unesco) and the International Labour Organisation, which concerns teachers’ rights and responsibilities, their teaching and learning conditions, and their recruitment and employment.
For Madutung, of Sibambenezulu High School in uMbumbulu, the role of teachers was important as they shaped the minds of the next generation as the world entered the fourth industrial revolution (4IR).
Madutung, who teaches natural sciences and life orientation among other subjects, said he wanted children to learn about how the 4IR worked and the opportunities that lay within it.
The father of five, of Adams Mission, said he had worked as an engineering technician in the mining sector for 15 years, but decided to leave the industry and pursue his passion for teaching in 2016.
Madutung said he had learned that teaching should not be teacher- focused, but focused on the pupils.
When teaching, he tries to do demonstrations and use models, as children understand better when they have visual demonstrations.
Where he did not have facilities at school, he used his own equipment, showed children YouTube videos and made pupils part of generating knowledge through activities which made it easier for them to understand.
Hlongwa, who teaches at IsiKhwelo Primary School in uMlazi, said teaching and making sure children had the right basics had become part of her
life.
Hlongwa, who has taught since 1993, said she chose to do foundation phase teaching as she realised it was important that children got the proper foundation. It was important that teaching should be a passion and that one did not go to work just for a pay cheque, she said.
“You must realise that you are dealing with humans,” Hlongwa said. She said it was not only her pupils who were learning, but she herself. She often attended workshops - she had already gone to 15 so far this year - to keep up with the latest practices.
Hlongwa said this was important as pupils were always inquisitive and she had to plan not only a day and week ahead, but a term ahead.
Establishing a good rapport with sometimes difficult parents was another part of the job. Job satisfaction came when children who had grown up thanked her for her work.