One Read, Every Month
THE EDUPLACE JOURNAL
Heritage Day's Settled. This Month's Staffroom Fight Is Bigger.
Braai broodjies won, fair and square. Now the staffroom's arguing about something with actual stakes: AI.
September always feels like the term where things start moving again — the flag comes down from Heritage Day, the wildflowers start showing up in the Cape, and the finish line for the year finally looks real instead of theoretical.
It's also, this year, the month our Staffroom vote graduated from "which meat wins" to something every one of you is actually living with: whether AI is helping your students learn, or helping them avoid it entirely. We asked real teachers. Their answers didn't all agree — which, honestly, is the most useful thing about them.
So: results from last month below, this month's real question right after it, and the usual dispatch from wherever in the world one of ours just landed.
"Here's how I actually found Eduplace," from a teacher who just got the call.
Name: Aaliyah Abid · Placement: Teaching position, UAE — secured this month
"It's actually quite funny how I found Eduplace. One evening I was searching for international teaching recruitment agencies, and I asked ChatGPT for a list of reputable agencies. Eduplace was one of the agencies it recommended, so I decided to send through my documents and give it a shot. Looking back now, I'm really glad I did because here we are!"
"The interview process was well organised, and I especially liked the Loom introduction video — it gives schools a chance to get to know candidates beyond just a CV. From start to finish, the process was professional, simple to follow, and I'd definitely recommend it to other teachers." — Aaliyah Abid
Here's what's standing between you and that countdown hitting zero.
← swipe →
Women's Month. Marches, wellness events, the "women who built this country" retrospectives.
Prophet Muhammad's Birthday — a quiet, respectful public holiday.
A whole new year, for some of you — the UAE's 2026-27 academic year begins.
Namaqualand wildflowers — one of the strongest seasons in years.
Send us a picture. Your classroom's first spring flowers, a student's drawing of one, whatever spring looks like where you are. Submit yours →
Last Month's Result
Braai broodjies won, 64% to 36%. Heritage Day's settled — for this year, anyway. Tjops supporters, we see you.
This month's question isn't a fun one, but it's the one every staffroom is actually having. Half your colleagues have already let a chatbot mark first drafts. The other half won't let their own kids near one during homework. We asked teachers directly — full piece [skeleton: link/summary once article is written].
"We Asked Teachers If AI Is Cheating. The Answer Surprised Us."
[Skeleton — full article slots in here once written up from teacher/lecturer responses.]
This Month's Question
Should AI be used in the classroom?
Every vote enters you into this month's draw for a R400 Njam Eatery voucher. Winner drawn when the ballot closes.
Yes — with limits
58%
No — keep it out
42%
Cast your vote → · we'll report back — and announce the winner — next issue
SA Phrase of the Month
"Now Now"
Now = soon-ish. Now now = sooner than "now," but still not now. Just now = five minutes ago, or in an hour. It's a whole TikTok trend for a reason.
Term 3 Countdown
57 days
Until the spring holidays. Not that anyone's counting.
This Month's Question
Load-shedding, or Riyadh traffic?
Reply and tell us which one you'd rather never deal with again.
Njam Eatery, Linden
Honest comfort breakfasts, Johannesburg
Teachers give so much and so rarely get thanked for it — Njam knows it, and this month they're doing something about it. Enter for a chance to win an R400 meal voucher, valid until 30 September 2026, on the house — every vote in this issue's Staffroom poll counts as an entry.
Njam is a Linden favourite built around fresh, seasonal ingredients delivered daily from local suppliers — brunch, small plates, and a proper deli counter in an airy, family-friendly space. Shop 7a, Linden Lanes Shopping Centre. Winner named — with Njam Eatery alongside — in next month's issue.
Visit Njam Eatery →September, Yay!!! Nooo, Allergies.
The flowers are blooming. So, unfortunately, is everything else.
By the second week of September, the Cape's staffrooms fall into two camps: the ones celebrating the wildflowers finally putting on a show, and the ones who can no longer tell whether they're admiring the view or reacting to it. Spring in South Africa arrives with a genuine cost, and that cost is pollen — climbing fast this time of year, especially through Gauteng and the Western Cape, and landing hardest on the people standing in a closed classroom for six hours a day with thirty other sets of lungs.
The tricky part isn't the sneezing itself. It's working out whether what you're dealing with is actually allergies, or something that deserves a proper sick day.
Spot the Difference
Allergies
- Itchy eyes
- Sneezing fits
- Runny nose
- Feel fine otherwise
Actually Sick
- Fever
- Body aches
- Constant fatigue
- Stay home if you can.
If it's the left-hand column, the fix isn't complicated, just easy to forget until you're three tissues deep into a staff meeting. Survival tipKeep tissues in your desk drawer, antihistamines in your bag, and don't underestimate a windy afternoon — that's usually the day it gets you.
The September Essentials
- Non-drowsy antihistamine
- Eye drops
- Refillable water bottle
- Lip balm
- Tissues (more than you think you'll need)
- Coffee, because teaching.
Pack that kit and you'll get through the month reasonably intact. If you're already ticking most of the boxes on the left of that comparison above, though, you've unofficially qualified for this year's staffroom bingo card — see how many squares you've already earned this week:
Spring Teacher Bingo
- Sneezed while taking attendance
- Learner asked if you have a cold
- Forgot where you put the antihistamines
- Left the classroom windows open
- Eyes watering for no reason
- Someone said, "It's just hay fever"
- Drank three coffees before 10 a.m.
Disclaimer: This guide was written between sneezes. Eduplace accepts no responsibility for tissue shortages in your staffroom.
"I think I need a bigger TV rather than a bungee cord for the remote."
— Submitted anonymously
[Placeholder — swap in the reader's actual photo of all five remotes]
"I have a major problem and I feel this is a safe space to express it. I have a 50" TV and I've amassed five TV remote controls. I keep 'losing' the remote, then buy a 2-pack to replace it. Then the original turns up. I need help. I think I need to buy a bigger TV rather than put a bungee cord on the remote."
We considered the bungee cord. We do not recommend it.
A misplaced object is not, on its own, a storage problem. Five of them, replaced four times over, is a pattern — and a pattern of this kind is rarely about the object itself. What you are describing is a low-grade, recurring loss of control over a small domestic system, resolved each time not by fixing the system but by adding another remote to it. The bungee cord is more of the same solution that produced five remotes in the first place: a constraint applied to the symptom, not the cause.
The bigger television removes the underlying condition rather than managing it. A single, larger unit typically consolidates function onto one remote, or onto a phone you are unlikely to lose in a couch. This is not an indulgence. It is closing the loop.
There is a further, quieter benefit here. A new television arrives with exactly one remote and no history — no accumulated pile of failed replacements, no evidence of the old pattern. That is not nothing. A single object with no baggage is far easier to actually look after than the fifth in a series you have already given up on. Use the new remote well, and you will likely find you value it in a way none of the previous five ever earned.
The Rugby World Cup begins shortly, which we mention only because a deadline of this kind is, in our experience, the most reliable way to convert a rational decision into an actual purchase. Act on that.
"What do you want to read about next month?"
Stories from teachers abroad. What nobody tells you before you get on the plane. Confessions you're too embarrassed to say out loud anywhere else. This is your newsletter too.
That's September from us. Get through this week, then the next one.
— The Eduplace Team