GARDEN ROUTE NEWS - Life could have turned out so very differently for Hazel Human from Haarlem in the Langkloof, if it were not for her teachers. 

It was because of the wonderful deep influences of her teachers that Hazel became a teacher herself.

And she made her mother so proud this past weekend when she walked away with a provincial teaching award for Excellence in Special Needs Teaching at a gala event in Cape Town.

The young, dedicated and passionate teacher started her teaching career as a learning support teacher at Haarlem Secondary School in 2011. Her responsibilities were to support teachers with the identification, screening and placement of learners within a normal school setting. "But I felt I needed to know more," she says. 

Apart from having a BEd (Intermediate Phase) qualification, she also completed an honours degree in learner support and is currently studying for a BA in psychological counselling. With her newly found passion for the special needs child and armed with new knowledge and mainstream experience of special needs, 

Hazel was appointed at the Olympia School of Skills in 2018 where she still teaches. 

"This is really not about me. It should be about the teachers who saw the potential in me, my strict mother who never gave up and the special learners who have stolen my heart. I can do this because of them," she says.

"As a young girl growing up in a platehokkie [tin shack] on a farm with a single mother, I never believed in myself, I never thought I would one day live my dream," she says. "This is what I teach my learners: to look beyond what people think and expect of them to the possibilities out there."

Even though it is through her own hard work that she was nominated and won this award, she remains humble about her dedication and willpower. In its motivation for selecting her for the award, the WCED said that through her initiatives, challenged learners with severe barriers to performing and adapting have been turned into positive individuals with new hope for the future. 

"She believes that the attitudes and actions of a dedicated special needs teacher can determine the future of a special needs learner in a very positive way."

The other recipients of provincial teaching awards are Ian le Roux, a Georgian who teaches at Emil Weder Secondary School in Genadendal and Edna Loxton of Hillcrest Secondary School in Mossel Bay. Loxton received a Lifetime Achievement Award.

In a press release, the WCED said, "Ian is a passionate, vibrant and dedicated young teacher who does his best to encourage and motivate his learners to achieve the goals set for their future. He goes beyond the call of duty to cater for not only curricular and extra-curricular needs, but also for the social needs of his learners. 

He teaches from the heart and not just on pen and paper. As a teacher of business studies and life orientation subject teacher, he interacts with the majority of learners and manages to accommodate them all. Ian identifies strengths and weaknesses through regular assessment (formal and informal) by using projects as tasks and practical studies to test learners' hand skills, collaboration, team building and critical thinking. 

He also prepares learners for the Fourth Industrial Revolution by incorporating technology (computers, the Internet and interactive white boards), complex problem solving, critical thinking, people management and coordinating with others - skills that would actively prepare learners to become global citizens.

Ian employs various learner-centred techniques to cater for the different learning styles of his learners. He uses subject frameworks and examination guidelines to develop workbooks, and he breaks down the work into content that is easier for his learners to understand. He also uses YouTube videos and other information technology communication applications to capture the attention of his learners throughout his lessons.

Ian le Roux from Genadendal received an award for Excellence in Secondary School Teaching.As the subject head for business studies and life orientation, he works with a number of teachers and manages to monitor and apply policies as prescribed. He assists teachers with interpretation and implementation of policies and ensures that quality teaching and learning is taking place in business studies, life orientation and economic and management sciences. He sets high standards for each project he undertakes and therefore delivers excellent results. He obtained a 100% pass in 2018 for Grade 12 Business Studies and is a worthy nominee for this award.

Edna Loxton started her teaching career in 1984 and is in her 36th year of teaching. She has dedicated her life to improving the lives of the marginalised and disadvantaged learners of her community. She has been on the governing body of her school for more than 25 years. 

This has provided her with extensive knowledge and experience of school governance and led to her becoming an expert in the field. Consequently, she became a trainer and coach to schools in the Mossel Bay area. The district office has also made use of her expertise to provide training in this regard. Edna Loxton from Mossel Bay received a Lifetime Achievement Award.Loxton has also been the coordinator for sports, cultural awards, spelling bees and job shadowing at her school, as well as trauma counsellor and peace builder, values in education champion and cultural activist. She is leaving a large footprint at her school. She is well loved and respected, and learners from all walks of life pay tribute to the impact she made on their lives: educationists, doctors, engineers and the ordinary man in the street.

This educator has made a lasting impact on her colleagues, the learners and the community by being a role model and a mentor. She is someone who gives life to the words of Paulo Frere: 'Education does not change the world. Education changes people. 

People change the world.' Loxton is a principled leader who is worthy of being nominated to receive this coveted Lifetime Achievement Award."

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