UKZN’s Discipline of Education Leadership, Management and Policy (ELMP) has been honoured for collaborating with the South African Democratic Teachers Union (SADTU) in developing school leaders and managers in KwaZulu-Natal.

The discipline was awarded a shield and certificate of appreciation in recognition of its excellent contribution by the Provincial Secretary of SADTU in KwaZulu-Natal, Ms Nomarashiya Caluza.

The presentations were made during the union’s 6th Annual Excellence Awards at the Station Urban Event Space in Durban. The function honoured educators in the province who have significantly contributed to the excellent performance of learners and schools in the National Senior Certificate Examination in 2022.

Professor Inba Naicker attended the function on behalf of the ELMP discipline and more than 400 educators were present, including the MEC for Education in KZN, Ms Mbali Frazer; the Director General of Basic Education, Mr Hubert M Mweli; school leaders, and district and provincial education officials.

In presenting the award, the Provincial Secretary of SADTU, Ms Nomarashiya Caluza, thanked the Discipline for its sustained efforts since 2018 in assisting with school leadership and management development. She expressed a desire to grow the partnership with ELMP so that more school leaders and managers in the province would benefit.

Accepting the award, Naicker indicated that ‘as a Discipline, we are humbled by SADTU’s kind gesture. We believe that the quality of an education system cannot exceed the quality of its teaching and its school leaders. Hence, our partnership with SADTU which is aimed at raising the bar regarding school leadership practice, especially leadership in teaching and learning.’

The Discipline is formalizing a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with SADTU KZN for the rollout of school leadership development programmes for early career school principals and women in school leadership.