As education systems increasingly respond to new societal, economic and digital needs, implementation of policies takes on new importance. A key element of successful implementation of policy reform is ensuring that local stakeholders have sufficient capacity to meet this challenge. In particular, they need adequate knowledge of educational policy goals and consequences, the ownership and willingness to make the change, and the tools to implement the reform as planned.

When all has been said and done, reality should sink in with the Ministry of Education and Training [MoET] that for the education system to provide solutions to the country’s glaring challenges, meaningful investment in teachers’ Continuous Professional Development [CPD] is inevitable.

I couldn’t contain my utter disappointment this week upon realising that the INSET Department at the MoET is so fragmented that there is little or no light at the end of the tunnel with regard to ameliorating teacher competencies to meet the contemporary challenges [COVID-19]. It is second-rate that at a time when the INSET Department should, at the very least, come to the party in equipping teachers with online teaching and learning as we are heading to blended learning soon, there is zero administrative will to demonstrate leadership and show direction by the responsible human resource thereat.

There is no debate that many changes have occurred in the Sector which some have put the Department into disrepute, such as the cancer of teacher casualisation. We also have the Competency Based Education [CBE] where Grade 1 teachers were thrown into the pit of confusion as the curriculum was shoved down their throats in 2019.

In her foreword to the Swaziland National Curriculum Framework [2018], former PS in the MoET Dr. Sibongile Mnsthali noted that ‘informing the curriculum reform process and thereby the development of the curriculum framework are various national and sectoral policy documents such as the National Development Strategy (1999) which articulates Vision 2022, The Swaziland Poverty Reduction Strategy and Action Plan as well as The Constitution of the Kingdom of Swaziland.

The Swaziland National Curriculum Framework for General Education outlines learning areas that are spread throughout the five [5] phases of the education system to accommodate an integrated approach to learning and emphasises the holistic nature of learning. Learner-centred methods of teaching and learning are emphasised in the curriculum framework to ensure students achieve intended competences. The lingering question is: what is the Framework for without competent educators that are not just workshopped; rather, trained through a clear Continuous Professional Development Framework [CPDF]? There is only one line in the Curriculum Framework hinting on developing teacher capacity. That there shall be school-based workshops for teachers conducted through INSET for capacity building. To be frank, this is never sufficient as not all teachers attend the technical workshops conducted by the Inspectorate in their Regions. Listening to the MoET hint that this year [2021], teachers shall be trained on the Compressed Curriculum gave me goose bumps; my mind moving in circles considering the freewheeling attitude of the INSET Department at the MoET.

For the record, one is pressed to the wall to challenge the MoET to wake up and smell the coffee that teachers are professionals. They don’t need to be sanitised or microwaved in the newly compressed curriculum that has been kept under wraps for too long now. The MoET is yet to come out in the open and state the objectives of the new curriculum, the concept note, the assessment model of same etc. According to various authors, an effective CPD should firstly be aware of and address the specific needs of teachers. Once these needs have been identified, activities need to be properly planned to support teachers in applying the knowledge and teaching methodology creatively and confidently. I fully concur.