UCT’s response to the Education Crisis in South Africa Jonathan Clark School of Education,...
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Transcript of UCT’s response to the Education Crisis in South Africa Jonathan Clark School of Education,...
UCT’s response to the Education Crisis
in South Africa
Jonathan ClarkSchool of Education, University of Cape Town
www.sii.uct.ac.za
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The Post-1994 Education
Report Card
ACCESS
Institutional restructuring
Resource equalisation
Curriculum reform
Building the technical core
QUALITY
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ACCESS
QUALITY
Trade off
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‘The proof of the pudding…’
South Africa in regional contextSACMEQ III2007
Proportion of Grade 6 learners functionally ILLITERATE
Proportion of Grade 6 learners functionally INNUMERATE
Expenditure on primary education per learner
Mozambique 21.5% 32.7% R616South Africa 27.3% 40.2% R9 555
South Africa in regional contextSACMEQ III2007
Proportion of Grade 6 learners functionally ILLITERATE
Proportion of Grade 6 learners functionally INNUMERATE
Expenditure on primary education per learner
Mozambique 21.5% 32.7% R616
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‘TWO SYSTEMS IN
ONE’
UCT 2013 1st Year Enrollments
UCT 21 8 80B-degrees 536 39 156
Wrote 2 737 57 15819 schools COSAT exModel C
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Physical resources are a limiting factor, but they are NOT the major issue
Improve the quality of schooling which poor children receive
Our challenge then…
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THE ‘LOW ACHIEVEMENT TRAP’
A deeply ingrained culture of inefficiency in producing learner achievement
HUMAN CAPACITY CONSTRAINTS
The poor quality of teaching coupled with
limited organisational & management
expertise
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Build the State’s organisational & logistic capacity
Invest heavily in anti-poverty programmes
Beyond the politics, what’s to be done?
Rejuvenate the teaching profession!
The SII serves as a vehicle for extending the university’s engagement in schooling with the aim of improving the quality of educational provision in South Africa
“A university’s destiny is inextricably linked with the communities it serves…”
(Harkavy & Hartley, 2009:9)
500 000 people87 educational institutions60 000 learners (Grades R-12)
KHAYELITSHA
At its core is a university-school partnership model
OBJECTIVE 1Teacher professional & school organisational development
OBJECTIVE 2Professional practice schools
University-accreditedAdvanced Certificatesin Education (ACEs) &Short Courses
School-based Projects
OBJECTIVE 3Staff engaged scholarship, student volunteerism & service learning
OBJECTIVE 3Staff engaged scholarship, student volunteerism & service learning
University social responsiveness work44 University social responsiveness work44
SHAWCO UBUNYE
CLASIMaths Competition
OBJECTIVE 4University recruitment
• Grade 10-12 programme
• Five learners from each ofthe 20 secondary schools
• Build academic & life skills inpreparation for tertiary studies
• Residential holiday camps; Saturday academic enrichmentschool programme;participation in UCT activities
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Grade R Occupational Therapy & Audiology screening and student placement
Organizational capacity building
IKWEZI: Subject-specific courses & school-based support (linked to District-wide initiative with Lead Teachers)
School of Education piloted in 2013
Ikwezi; Rotary; Equal Education; Nal’ibali
INTSHAYELELOPrimary School
IT training & network support
Westerford High: Bread Buddies
Focus on Literacy
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Looking aheadDEEPENING COLLABORATIONS
•Lever further institutional (i.e. UCT) resources
•Work ever closer with Metropole East Education District
•Strengthen ties with Civil Society organisations
•Forge links with other universities
•Persevere with building relationships with community
organisations &
…Teacher Unions!
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‘CHANGING SCHOOLS FOR GOOD’
Organisational & teacher professional development work in the six Partner schools
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The IKWEZI project (2014-2016)
•A close collaboration with District education officials
• Lead Teacher support programme built around series of university certified short courses
• Focus on mathematics & languages: 120 teachers recruited from across the District’s 100+ primary schools
• Continued support to Grade R-1 teachers in the SII partner schools and four further schools
On a positive noteBy mid-November, out of the extended group of 155 Grade 12 students in Khayelitsha involved in the 100-UP programme, 46 had received early offers of places at UCT in 2014 and a further 56 students, conditional offers
‘BRIDGING THE DIVIDE’
First 100-UP group matriculate in 2013, we need to ensure that as many as possible obtain places at UCT in 2014!
Challenges
“Change is a process, not an event”Michael Fullan, 2007
• School improvement will only be achieved through a commitment to long-term involvement
Raise funds for the Initiative’s activities!
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‘Poor children can learn and excel but the odds are against them. Reformers like to say that “demography is not destiny”, but saying so doesn’t make it true…’
Diane Ravitch, 2011
Fostering partnershipsHarnessing resources
Improving schools
www.sii.uct.ac.za