The Civil Engineering Contractor January 2018 | Page 25

SKILLS DEVELOPMENT
Catch them early
Research shows that about 25%
of children who enter grade 1 at
government schools in South Africa
don’t make it to matric, while 80%
of learners with a government school
education fail their first year at
university. An ever-lowering standard of
education and traditional ‘old fashioned’
methods are partly to blame for this
devastating drop-off. New methods
of teaching and a higher standard of
education is required.
In SA, many children tend to struggle
with reading and mathematics in
particular, while research suggests
that children who are taught critical
thinking and problem-solving skills,
excel at reading and mathematics,
and have an edge over other children
without this exposure.
Ireland’s president, Michael D
Higgins, famously said in 2016, “The
teaching of philosophy is one of the
most powerful tools we have at our
disposal to empower children into
acting as free and responsible subjects in
an ever more complex, interconnected
and uncertain world.” 
Candess Kostopoulos, University
of the Witwatersrand, Wits School of
Education, faculty member, says that,
“genuine comprehension, deep learning,
abstract thinking, and innovation all
depend on the meta-reflective ability
to think about thought – to think about
what exactly it is that you are doing
when you use your thinking to solve a
problem. As technology expands, we
are going to need young people who
can, as President Higgins pointed out,
ask and answer questions that aren’t
Googleable,” she adds. 
Colin Northmore, head of Sacred Heart
College in Observatory, Johannesburg
states, “The South African curriculum
is very data intensive. If we continue to
educate a population using an approach
to education that is better designed for
the 1950s, we will never be able to
become competitive in the world, let
alone in Africa,” he says.
To push numbers through the
education system, South Africa’s
education standard has dropped through
the floorboards, with matriculants
now earning that once sought-after
qualification by having to earn a mere
30% pass to achieve it.
The Economist states that South Africa
is, ‘75th out of 76 [countries in a 2015
OECD ranking]…’
“If we continue to educate a
population using an approach to
education that is better designed for
the 1950s, we will never be able to
become competitive in the world, let
alone in Africa.” Colin Northmore – Sacred
Heart College, Johannesburg.
In November [2016] the latest Trends in
International Mathematics and Science
Study (TIMSS), a quadrennial test sat
by 580 000 pupils in 57 countries, had
South Africa at or near the bottom of its
various rankings …. A shocking 27% of
pupils who have attended school for six
years cannot read, compared with 4% in
Tanzania, and 19% in Zimbabwe… Only
37% of children starting school go on to
pass the matriculation exam; just 4% earn
a degree… The gap in test scores between
the top 20% of schools and the rest is
wider than in almost every other country.
Of 200 black pupils who start school just
one can expect to do well enough to study
engineering. Ten white kids can expect the
same result.”
Howell suggests to, “address the skills
shortage with better early preparation
in maths and science, with stronger
candidates in engineering courses,
with wider access for applicants from
diverse backgrounds, with more
intensive mentoring of graduates in the
workplace, and with hands-on support
body tasked with maintaining standards
and protecting civil society.”
He continues, “While a skills shortage
challenges our economy, it is no answer
at all to be undermining the standards on
which our national infrastructure is built.
It is certainly doing graduates no favours
by accrediting them for demanding
responsibilities without the necessary
experience. Rather, it is setting them up for
failure – putting them and their employer s
at grave personal, professional and
business risk.”
Graham Howell, chairman partner and
principal engineer SRK Consulting (SA).
for those employed graduates working
towards professional registration.
“We should remember that the original
meaning of ‘civil engineering’ is focused
on the needs of civil society – and was
meant to exist for the benefit of the
ordinary man and woman in the street.
The thrust here is that civil society
should not bear the consequences of
a failure by this industry to uphold
and apply the standards that protect
everyone,” he concludes.
If we are to address the skills shortage
in the country, we need to start at
grassroots such as the education system.
We must ensure a higher standard of
education that nurtures an enquiring
mind and grows engineers from when
they first show aptitude, so that 20-odd
years down the line, we have an army of
qualified, competent professionals ready
and equipped take on the best the world
has to offer.
Sources
• Building a new generation to outsmart
Google – www.fin24.com
• Skills development trends for 2017 –
www.businessessentials.co.za
• Education in South Africa –
wenr.wes.org nn
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