Recruitment

LECTURER COMPUTER SCIENCE (TRAINER OF TRAINERS) - SWAZILAND
To train young adults to be teachers of technical subjects including computer studies as a technical subject for schools.
To review the current curriculum and to develop training materials.

 

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The Placement:

Swaziland College of Technology (SCOT) was first established in 1946 as the Mbabane Trade School.

In 1967, the school achieved the status of an institute of higher learning and it expanded the range of courses from Building and Carpentry to include Automotive, Mechanical and Electrical Engineering skills.

In 1974 the institute became a College and began to offer diploma programmes in Hotel and Catering courses as well as Commercial and Technical Teacher courses. SCOT is funded by the government of Swaziland through the Ministry of Education. It has capacity for 600 residential students.

The current strategic objectives of the organisation are:

To provide a wide range of full-time and part-time programmes which meet individual career aspirations.

To assist in the development of entrepreneurship and the creation of opportunities for self-employment.

To link and liaise with other educational and training institutions as well as industries (prospective employers) within and outside Swaziland.

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Person Specification?
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Country

Swaziland is one of the three surviving monarchies in Africa; the other two are Morocco in north Africa and Lesotho in southern Africa. The kingdom is led by King Mswati III with parliament and consultation prescribing all laws and customs.

Swaziland is fiercely proud of her strong traditions. Swaziland's monarchy is an old and revered institution. It plays and integral part in the life of the nation and is the focus of many traditional ceremonies and much of the cultural life centres around the king. Traditional tribal values have always been maintained, with distinctive national dress regularly worn by all at colourful ceremonies marking specific occasions.

Swaziland is landlocked and covers and area of 17340sq kilometres (6704sq miles) about the size of Wales. It is divided from North to South by four regions and within these regions every feature of the African continent is to be found - with the exception of desert. The highveld, middleveld and the lowfeld are almost equal in size with the fourth region Lubombo, being the smallest.

Region

The Swaziland College of Technology is located in the highveld; This region often times referred to as the Hhohho region is 5,029 square kilometres. Although mountainous, the area has a fair potential for crop agriculture. The region has two towns, Mbabane, the capital and PiggsPeak up in the north towards South Africa.

It has an average altitude of 1,300 metres, good soils with gentle slopes and good rain drainage. Temperatures range from 33.5 degrees Celsius in mid-summer and -4.5 at the climax of the winter season. Average rainfall varies from 425mm to 2,706mm. Much of the area is well suited for forestry, especially conifers and gum trees. The natural vegetation consists of grasses, which are sour because they lose their nutrients in winter. There are 25 high schools in the Hhohho region. Mbabane City has 8 high schools. There is an acute shortage of space at tertiary level to admit all the students who apply post-high school.

The Swaziland College of Technology is 3.2 km away from the city centre of Mbabane. Mbabane,the former colonial administration centre,has remained Swaziland's administrative capital and home to all government ministries and departments. The city is situated on the escarpment of the highveld at an altitude of 1,200metres above sea level.

Mbabane has seen rapid development in recent years, with multi-storey commercial buildings and ever expanding shopping facilities of a high standard. There are good paved roads, buses and taxis are readily available to and from SCOT. The residential areas have expanded and the population is currently estimated at over 50,000. Two industrial sites are located in Mbabane, from where light manufacturing and service industry operates.

Duties and Responsibilities

  • To teach students following technical, commercial and pre-vocational teacher training programmes.
  • To assist in the design and development of the computer science syllabus
  • To set and mark all continuous assignments and examinations
  • To assist in the stock maintenance and inventory keeping of the computer laboratory.
  • To implement measures to ensure the security of equipment within the laboratory
  • To organise and maintain workshop and laboratory equipment

Person Specification

Essential

  • Must have tertiary education in computer science preferably BSc level.
  • Must have teaching experience not necessarily at college level

Desirable

  • The ability to teach mathematics or any one other technical subject.

Placement Information

Accountability:
The development worker will be accountable to the head of the Faculty of Education.

Terms and Conditions:

  • 8am - 16:45pm , Monday to Friday except for public holidays
  • 25 days annual holidays, expected to be taken during college breaks

Managerial Responsibility:

  • The development worker will be responsible for checking and registering class attendance
  • Will manage and supervise student's projects

Environment:
Apart from classrooms, laboratories and workshops, general teaching aids such as OHPs, transparencies etc are available as well as an office for every lecturer.

May occasionally be asked to share an office with another lecturer in the same faculty. Some lecturers have opted to work from their places of residence, often within campus vicinity.

Other Information

SCOT is managed as a government department under the Ministry of Education.

The development worker will work within the faculty of Education, department of technical and commercial education. This department is managed by the Head of Faculty, Mrs. T. Sukati and all the heads of departments in the faculty serve as the management committee. This structure works well as it seems to be the norm of most faculties within colleges.

Members of the committee have mainly an academic background. A great deal of the current issues are around diversifying the curriculum and making it more relevant for the needs of the region. The committee makes both operational decisions and policy decisions that are forwarded to the Principal for endorsement. All decisions are forwarded to relevant bodies in writing. There are two meetings a month for which minutes are written. All departments are guided by the SCOT's students and lecturers prospectus.

There is only one college of technology in Swaziland; however, there are many others within the region. There has been previous involvement with USAID, WUSC, and DANIDA. There is an opportunity for joint funding schemes. There is no threat of competition. Socio-political changes are not likely to have any harmful impact to the work of SCOT.

There are more and more female students enrolling for courses that are traditional male dominated.

With developments in the computer industry being so rapid it may need careful handling as a course.

There is an acute shortage of staff at SCOT, mainly this is caused by the unavailability of skills and competition for salaries created by the commercial industries. Present staff are highly committed and always willing to walk the extra mile. All staff members have job descriptions that clearly states their role and responsibility within the department.

There are weekly staff meetings at which staff are given an opportunity to give their opinions and which direction the college should take for the betterment of the college. Every lecturer is accountable to his/her head of department. Whenever there is a new post it is advertised and applicants are interviewed and appointed on qualification and suitability to the job. The college is drafting terms and conditions of service to be in line with those of the University of Swaziland. There are staff appraisals once a year. There is a laid down procedure on grievance procedures, however by the nature of the job staff conflicts are not common occurrences. Staff turnover is high due to incentives posed by a government salary.

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