Start with the hub: ChatGPT for South African Teachers (CAPS). This page is a meeting pack. Print it. Do not turn it into a three-hour workshop.
England’s Department for Education publishes multi-module staff materials. Most South African schools do not have that timetable. Thirty minutes in a phase or SMT slot is enough to set a shared habit: one prompt, one CAPS check, no learner data.
CAPS123 is a practical aid. It is not an official DBE publication. Official files: DBE CAPS hub.
Before the meeting (10 minutes for the chair)
- One laptop or phone with ChatGPT already open on Free, on Wi‑Fi that works in that room. If the school Wi‑Fi will fail, generate the demo at home and bring a printout of the prompt and the output. The meeting still works on paper.
- One subject CAPS PDF or printed extract and the current ATP for one grade the room actually teaches.
- Copies of the traffic-light table (or write Green / Amber / Red on the board).
- A rule on the invitation: no live learner names in the demo.
You do not need Plus. You do not need OpenAI’s US “ChatGPT for Teachers” workspace. South African staff cannot join that plan. See the eligibility page in this wave.
Agenda (30 minutes)
| Time | Item | Who |
|---|---|---|
| 0-5 min | What it is, and what it is not | Chair |
| 5-15 min | Live CAPS-first prompt | Chair + one volunteer subject |
| 15-25 min | Check the output against CAPS/ATP | Whole room |
| 25-30 min | School traffic lights and one next step | HOD / principal |
0-5 min: What it is
Say this, then stop talking:
- ChatGPT drafts text. It does not know your class, and it does not replace CAPS.
- Useful for teacher prep: lesson skeleton, worksheet draft, memo outline, FAL rewrite, parent-note starter with no names.
- Not useful as a live tutor if learners have no devices. Not useful as an official curriculum.
- OpenAI’s free “ChatGPT for Teachers” product is US K-12 staff only through June 2028. We are not waiting for it.
If someone asks about time saving: an English trial (Education Endowment Foundation, KS3 science, 259 teachers) found ChatGPT plus a guide cut planning time by 31% for those lessons, with no clear drop in resource quality on a limited sample. That is England, not proof for your staff. The useful bit is “tool plus a short guide”, which is what this meeting is.
5-15 min: One live prompt
Fill the brackets from the ATP on the table. Do not invent a topic.
Act as an experienced South African teacher.
Create a 45-minute lesson outline for Grade [X] [Subject], Term [Y], topic “[exact ATP wording]”.
Language of learning: [English HL / English FAL / other]. About [N] mixed-ability learners.
Resources: chalkboard, textbook, one printed worksheet. No tablets.
Include: plain-language aims (no CAPS codes or page numbers), intro, main teaching, learner activity, consolidation, informal check, Support + Extension on this grade’s topic.
Use South African examples. Flag anything I must verify in the CAPS document or ATP.Paste once. While it writes, tell the room: first drafts are not classroom-ready.
If there is no signal, read a printout of an output you generated with the same prompt yesterday.
15-25 min: The CAPS check (this is the meeting)
Project or pass around the output. The room must find at least three faults. Typical ones:
- Topic sits in the wrong term
- Extension is next grade’s CAPS
- US examples, dollars, snow, yards
- Invented page numbers or “CAPS outcome” codes
- A video or one-device-per-child step
- Language too hard for FAL
- Informal assessment you cannot actually do with 40 learners
Then open the real CAPS file and ATP and fix one fault together. That is the habit. Without it, the tool wastes time.
25-30 min: Lights and a next step
Agree, out loud:
- Teacher-side prep: green, no personal data, CAPS check required.
- Learner use: red until a task sheet says otherwise. Foundation Phase stays teacher-side.
- SBA, PAT, orals, exams: red (see the FET page).
- One person watches for DBE or provincial circulars.
- Each teacher tries one worksheet or lesson outline this week, then brings the saved prompt to the next phase meeting.
Hand out the staff notice on the traffic-light page. Do not add a new form.
If the room is sceptical
Let them be. Ask only: “Which weekly task do you already hate?” Worksheet, memo, parent note. Start there. Do not start with AI literacy theory or a glossary of neural networks.
If someone wants to ban the tool for staff as well, point out that bans on home use are not enforceable, and that unverified drafts already reach learners when teachers are tired. A checked green path is safer than a silent one.
Materials to print
- This agenda
- The blank prompt (above)
- Traffic-light table from the companion traffic-light page in this cluster (print it once that page is live)
- Link list (no extra slide deck):
- Hub: https://caps123.co.za/chatgpt-for-south-african-teachers-caps/
- Lesson depth: https://caps123.co.za/using-chatgpt-to-create-effective-lesson-plans/
- Ethics: https://caps123.co.za/chatgpt-and-the-caps-curriculum-2/
- DBE CAPS: https://www.education.gov.za/Curriculum/CurriculumAssessmentPolicyStatements%28CAPS%29.aspx
After the meeting
The chair sends one email: the agreed lights, the prompt, and “bring one checked draft to the next phase meeting”. No new committee.
If a later meeting is needed, spend it on one subject memo, not on another introduction.