Women at Sol Plaatje University (SPU), including staff, students and alumni, have established themselves as pioneers, progressive leaders and change agents within the University and the community of Kimberley.
From having the first female Deputy Vice-Chancellor, first female Chief Financial Officer, first female Head of School and the first female SRC president, gender and transformation in SPU has made remarkable strands.
To commemorate National Women’s Month, we feature a collection of narratives to provide insight into the remarkable undertakings of some of the women who were the first in their respective positions and how they became champions of transformation using their education, expertise and voices.
Today we celebrate Prof Audrey Msimanga, Head of School in the School of Education, as she takes us on her remarkable journey. This is her story.
1. Tell us about your work
I am currently the Head of School of Education at SPU. My job is to provide leadership in teacher education and to manage all initial teacher education, postgraduate and CPD programmes.
I have worked in teacher educator for almost two decades. I hold a PhD in Science Education and a Postgraduate Certificate in Education (PGCE) following an MSc in Zoology and a BSc in Biological Sciences. So, the bulk of my teaching and research has been in the field of science education.
While I have some experience in management in the private sector I am new to higher education management. I joined SPU in February 2019 to head the School of Education. Previously I managed postgraduate affairs at Wits School of Education from 2014 to 2018 while also working as Senior Lecturer in Science Education.
I participate in various communities of practice in my profession in some of which I hold leadership positions. I am currently the Chair of SAARMSTE RCBC (the Research Capacity Building Committee of the Southern African Association for Research in Mathematics, Science and Technology Education). This is a community of academics doing education research in the sciences in the SADC region.
I am also the Associate Editor of JRST, the Journal of Research in Science Teaching. This is a journal of the North American equivalent of SAARMSTE.
2. Why or how did you become interested in this specific area of work?
I have had a somewhat chequered journey starting out in education as a high school science teacher, moving to biodiversity research and later joining higher education as a Biology lecturer and then coming full circle to education as a teacher educator.
When I completed my Bachelor of Science degree I got a job as a Biology teacher at a local school. A year later the Physical Sciences teacher left, the school could not find an immediate replacement and because I had done A Level Physics and Chemistry I was asked to hold fort. I ended up teaching both Biology and Physical sciences for six years in two high schools and I loved it.
However, being young and adventurous, when an opportunity came up to join a research institution as a trainee Ornithologist I took it. After a five-year interruption during which I worked in Biological Sciences at the University of Botswana I went back to Ornithology for another eight years during which I also obtained my MSc in Zoology.
I loved biodiversity work but it seems that my calling was always in education. I received an invitation to join Solusi University to help with research and little did I know that this was to take me right back to education.
Part of my duties at Solusi were research supervision for BSc Honours students as well as teaching Biology courses to four groups of undergraduate students: the BSc Environmental Science; BSc Environmental Health; BSc Agribusiness and BEd Biology students. I really enjoyed the teaching, but I was battling to understand how to assist such a diverse group of students to understand Biology. I did not know then that what I was struggling with was called pedagogy.
So, I decided go back to study to learn how to teach. I did the PGCE and it transformed my teaching experience. I have never looked back. I became much more confident as a lecturer working with the BSc groups but even more so with the BEd Biology group. I now had the tools, the right language to describe what I was doing and to understand whether and how they were learning to teach Biology. I had transitioned from a Biologist and researcher to a Biology lecturer and a teacher educator. I knew what I was doing.
Getting the PhD in Science Education later fortified my skills and matured me for leadership in teacher education.
3. Why do you think this is such an important area of work for South African women?
Education is in crisis, not just in South Africa, but the world over for a variety of reasons. As Vanderlinde (2016) puts it “Educational quality is at the center of debates worldwide. In all these debates, teachers are considered as the critical actor determining to a large extent the quality of our educational systems. At the same time, doubts are expressed related to teachers’ quality as well as to the education or training of teachers”. Education and particularly teacher education is in the spotlight.
I believe that addressing the education issues in the country is the joint responsibility of men and women. However, I do believe the saying that if you educate a man, you educate an individual. But if you educate a woman, you educate a nation. As cliché as it may sound I believe it is true and relevant to teacher education. South Africa has done well in getting girls into school, but their access to and success in higher education remains a concern.
Education is often referred to as the great equaliser. A good education can open doors – providing the skills and competencies for employment or entrepreneurship, meeting the needs of families and communities. I am excited to be a part of the work of creating opportunities for young women and men to prepare to become teachers and teacher educators who can make a difference in the education system in general and in the individual lives of their students and learners.
4. What would you consider the greatest impact of your work on women in the country?
I believe that the biggest impact of my work stems from how I have myself been impacted by other women.
First, I grew up in a community where very few women had an education at all and most of those who did never went beyond primary school. So, having a nurse or a female teacher in our community was big.
I think back now and realise what a heavy responsibility those women carried because they were not only the role model but the standard of achievement to which the community held us girls. We aspired to be them when we grew up.
They represented possibilities, hope for a different and better life. I still follow the lives of the three nurses who attended my church, they were my inspiration. I hope I can be that kind of inspiration for young women.
Secondly, I was surrounded by people who saw potential in me and developed it. Not only did they shape my character and my thinking but some of them went out of their way to help me find the resources to realise my potential. My parents would not have been able to take me beyond primary school. Someone realised my potential, offered me a four-year bursary towards my O Levels and later someone else picked me up with a two-year bursary for my A Levels. They saw potential, believed in me and gave me a chance.
Throughout my university education and particularly as an emerging academic and researcher, I have been supported and mentored by great women who gave selflessly of their knowledge and expertise. For that I am eternally grateful and I am determined to do the same for other women, to look out for their potential and help them realise it.
5. What would your message be for the next generation of women educators?
I always find it fascinating when the flight attendant reminds passengers to secure their own oxygen mask before assisting others. My take from this statement is that while it is possible to fasten the other person’s mask first before you fasten your own it is safer, more effective, probably faster if you secure yours first.
I was raised by a mother who had only three years of education, but was so passionate about education she did all she could to give all eleven (11) of us an education. I wonder how things would have turned out if she had a Matric certificate or better still a Bachelor degree. I believe that my life today is very different from what it would have been without the education that she gave me. That is the reason I give back to education.
Collaborate and build strong networks, volunteer to do things. These are key to supporting your own career progression and as a channel for you to give back and support other women.
Never stop learning, continue to empower yourself to be able to empower others.
