The government has introduced a number of measures to give South African teachers better support and to reduce their administrative burden. The changes have been approved by cabinet, and has won the support of major teacher's unions.

The changes, starting in 2010, are aimed at making teaching and learning simpler and more effective.  They stem from a report by a task team appointed by Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga to look at the obstacles to implementing the curriculum in South African classrooms.

Recommendations to be implemented include the discontinuation of student portfolios and reducing of the number of subjects in the intermediate phase from eight to six. In the future teachers will also be required to keep only one administrative file and English will be given priority as first language in lower grades.

"Our focus is to strengthen curriculum delivery, and thus we have identified those steps that can be taken immediately to streamline delivery, and others that will take slightly longer to implement," said Motshekga.

The Department of Education also announced a plan for all learners from grade 4-12 to receive their own textbooks for every subject.

Teachers were also promised better and more structured support. This includes "targeted" in-service training to teachers of specific subjects. Principals, heads of department and other support staff will be trained on curriculum and content and assessment requirements.

The changes were welcomed by stakeholders in education and political parties. The president of the National Professional Teachers' organisation of South Africa, Ezrah Ramasehla said that the changes were about making improvements in education without making compromises.

"They are about making the lives of teachers easier so that they have more time to do that which they are already doing better."

Ramasehla also commended the government for listening to teachers. "The findings and recommendations are based on evidence presented by teachers themselves about the kinds of problems they are experiencing, and there has been remarkable consensus about what these problems are."

An education policy analyst from the Development Bank of South Africa, Graeme Bloch said that the administrative burden was one of the major complaints from teachers, as it keeps them from their primary job of teaching.

"It also enhances unnecessary control by junior officials over experienced teachers. Rather, officials need to think how they can more effectively support teachers in the classroom."

Nomusa Cembi, spokesperson for the South African Democratic Teachers Union (SADTU), said with the discontinuation of portfolios teachers and learners would have more time to focus on more beneficial day-to-day classroom activities.

Cembi said the reduction in the number of subjects in the intermediary phase would enable teachers to focus on developing deeper conceptual understanding than was previously possible.