Gauteng School adopts e-textbooks as teaching and learning tools

Printed textbooks in South Africa could soon be a thing of the past, if Sunward Park High School is anything to go by. The Gauteng School has made a full conversion from physical textbook into an e-learning environment, leading the revolution into an easier teaching and a more efficient schooling system. It is most befitting that is in the month that South Africa celebrates it’s Human Rights Day that those in attendance got to experience 1 200 learners, from Grade 8 to 12, using tablet computers for their learning.

The Basic Education Deputy Minister, Mr Enver Surty, launched this revolutionary initiative in Boksburg, on March 18, in partnership with Modern Information Business (MIB). The required e-textbooks were made available as PDF downloads with support from MACMILLAN and MASKEW MILLER LONGMAN, giving teachers and learners the ability to log onto a massive portal that contains all the books, on all the subjects, in all the grades; as well as access to all materials they need. 

Vivian Naidoo, with the intention of using Information Communication and Technologies (ICT) in education to empower South African communities, started MIB 16 years ago. The company provides solutions to different sectors of the market, within both the Private and Public schools. MIB has so far managed to complete more than 500 Maths, Science and Computer labs in Southern Africa and is busy with 600 more.

Mr Zakhele Sibeko, a Sunward Park teacher, said that innovation of this kind is what learners in this country need in order to be adequately prepared for further studies at Tertiary level.

“It makes life easier for us as well as the learners. All the information we need can easily be accessed from the educational portal provided” he said.

Sibeko added that as teachers, their passion is to impart skills and knowledge to learners. “Through these tablets, learners can now explore different sources download various information of the same content which has been taught in class, and can even explore more learning resource through the portal,” he said

Faith Makgoba, a Sunward Park learner, said that learners could not be happier for the load that’s been taken off their shoulders, both literally and figuratively. She said the launch of e-textbooks in the classroom has made the learning experience that much easier and enjoyable, adding that the initiative had also relieved them from the school bag loads that they used to carry to school every day.

“We can now access previous question papers, which will help us with our exam preparations as well as general learning. We also are no longer limited to the resources provided at the school, the tablets enable us to access all e-learning material from the portal,” the learner concluded.

“Teachers need to embrace technology in teaching in order to make the ICT work. The Department of Basic Education has already digitized all our learning materials and this material is accessible from the Thutong portal to all learners and teachers in schools,” said The Basic Education Deputy Minister, Mr Enver Surty.

Article source: http://www.education.gov.za/Home/eLearning/tabid/855/Default.aspx

Help learners choose right – Motshekga

17.03.2013

Johannesburg- Schools must be encouraged to guide learners to make the right subject and career choices, Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga said on Sunday.

“When we announced results for the 2012 matric exams …we tried to explain that there are many avenues and options available to learners,” Motshekga said.

Speaking in Johannesburg at the closing ceremony of Nedbank’s annual national career guidance programme, an initiative aimed at helping high school learners choose suitable careers, Motshegka said government needed private partners to address the challenges in the country’s education system.

Nedbank launched the R17.4 million career guidance programme four years ago and has to date benefitted over 130 000 learners from grade 9 to matric from underprivileged communities across the country.

Organisers say this year alone, more than 24 000 learners were exposed to over 115 career choices from across 16 industries.

Motshekga said: “For us to make things happen, it would mean working together to open for all our people, the doors of lifelong learning, education and training opportunities, especially for the historically disadvantaged who were deliberately under-developed by apartheid rulers”.

She added that the message government had been sending was that education is a societal issue.

“Improving each child’s prospects of success in life is a precondition for addressing the developmental challenges we have outlined in the new development plan for the country. Government cannot do this alone”.

One of the beneficiaries, Grade 12 learner, Bernard Mnisi, said the programme has helped him gain valuable information on different careers.

“Before I attended, I only knew that I wanted to be a medical doctor but now I know that the career I want to pursue has a number of other fields, of which now I also feel more interested in like occupational therapy and education,” said Bernard.

Another learner Sizwe Shawe from Alexandra said: “The project brought to light that education is a very important aspect of life and it came at the right time as I have benefited from it as well as all the learners from my school”.

Article source: http://www.sanews.gov.za/south-africa/help-learners-choose-right-%E2%80%93-motshekga 

Corporates step up to address skills shortage

(Image: Samantha Crous, Country Manager of the CRF Institute)

Corporates lead by example in addressing skills shortage in South Africa

As the education crisis in South Africa deepens, corporates are stepping up in increasing numbers to fill the gap and ensure an adequate supply of talent for their companies.

According to the CRF Institute’s research of Top Employers in 2012, companies who are certified as Top Employers also have comprehensive skills development strategies in place and some – like Dimension Data - are going one step further and intervening at school level.

“Within the Top Employers we are seeing significant investment in training and developing the whole person (with professional and financial services at the very top of the list); and this is encouraging: it means corporates are not content to accept a gradual dumbing down of the workforce,” says Samantha Crous, Country Manager of the CRF Institute.

It’s no secret that education is in crisis in South Africa. The country ranked 52^nd on the 2012 Global Competitive Index. Basic numeracy and literacy have decreased to a shocking level; last year, the second Annual National Assessment revealed that by Grade 6, the national average performance in languages was a scant 43% in the learner’s home language, and average performance in maths sat at 27%.

“Clearly, learners are not getting what they need in schools,” says Crous. “This has a knock-on effect at universities. The implications are also concerning for South Africa’s workforce, naturally.”

According to Crous, 68% of Top Employers experience a deficit of professional talent on the lower rungs of their organisation – while only 21% experience this problem at executive management level.

“It is the school-leaving and graduate talent that is thin on the ground,” she says. “And it is this that corporates are feeling the need to address.”

The talent gap is nothing new in South Africa, says Crous. The establishment of the SETAs post 1994 explicitly recognise this and the ANC identified career guidance as a necessary goal countrywide at its 2007 Polokwane conference. But the pace of change has not been swift enough and as the education system fails to thrive so others are filling in the gaps.

“Of course, this is not always ideal; we should be cautious of companies taking on the role of tertiary institutions. Universities and colleges do not have affiliations that can influence their teaching to the same extent that companies do – we should be vigilant both ethically and ideologically. And we certainly need to keep a close eye on what these professionals are being taught,” says Crous.

Examples of best practice include Dimension Data that gets involved from the bottom up. The Company not only facilitates tertiary education through bursaries and SETA-affiliated learnerships – as well as an entrepreneurship ‘incubation’ programme – but actually has become involved at secondary level. A total of 27,500 learners have benefited from its e-learning programmes across 53 schools and annually, Dimension Data’s Saturday School programme provides intensive support for 100 learners in reaching matric and preparing for higher education. Successes include a 100% matric pass rate, and 95% university entrance. In 2011, 50 of its learners notched up 68 distinctions.

Vodacom, as another example, has restricted itself to tertiary level. This Top Employer believes strongly in developing the country’s talent pool. It does not only develop talent within the company, but offers external bursaries in relevant fields of study as well - IT, IS, computer science, electrical or electronic engineering, and computer engineering.

“At Vodacom, we believe that the success of the business is based on nurturing the talent we have. The selection of graduates is based on the identified needs of the business,” the company explains. “It is important to ensure that we nurture the talent pipeline. We have embarked on a journey towards becoming a fully-fledged communications company and we need graduates with skill sets that are different to those required when we were a mobile player.”

Accenture, also a Top Employer, divides its education programme into required and recommended learning. Required learning, as the name suggests, focuses on the basics needed to do the job; Recommended learning focuses on developing specialist skills that will take the employee further in his/her career in the long term. Accenture invested nearly $800 million in training and professional development and provided an average of 67 hours of training per person in 2009.

“The bottom line is that the country’s best companies know that unless they up-skill the talented employees they have, and offer opportunities that will appeal to the smartest talent out there, business growth slows,” says Crous.

“If we want to grow our companies and our economy, more companies need to take a leaf out of the Top Employers’ book. While some may worry about corporates taking education into their own hands, the reality is that right now, the education on offer needs to be supplemented.

“It’s not just for the good of our employees. It’s for the good of our companies and the entire economy. Long-term.”

About Top Employers

The Certification Programme, Top Employers is an objective, internationally applicable HR policy audit through which leading national and multinational organisations are certified as Top Employers. The programme begins with each participating organisation completing the HR Benchmark survey. This is followed by a two month audit, conducted by International Audit Firm, Grant Thornton, into the scope and application of the research methodology, and quality of data under review. The programme ends with a Certification Ceremony in which the Top Employers in each country are recognised and awarded; after which each participant is provided with actionable HR insight relative to their individual, and the broader research group’s, performance. The insight is designed to assist the HR executive with the improvement of the employee experience and thus works to support their engagement and attraction goals.

The programme scores each participating organisation against an objective rating standard across the five core HR dimensions: Primary Benefits, Secondary Benefits and Working Conditions, Training and Development, Career Development and Company Culture. Learn more at www.topemployers.co.za/employers

• The 2013 Top Employer List can be viewed at http://www.topemployers.co.za/BESTEmployers/BestEmployers20122013.aspx  
• To read more about Top Employers visit http://www.topemployers.co.za/
• For participation queries visit http://www.topemployers.co.za/employers/Aboutus/Contact.aspx
• Follow us on twitter: @CRFinstitute

THE BRIGHT SIDE OF EDUCATION

By Chris Moerdyk

One has to wonder if South Africans are getting frustrated with hearing negative stories all the time? And whether they will ever realise that bad news and dwelling on what’s wrong, won’t fix the problem. Right now , every dinner party and office conversation seems to focus on “what’s wrong with the country/education and now even leaders are talking about “the crises in education”, which is showing the level of burn-out from the recession, which the World Economic Forum calls the Great Stagnation.

There has been a considerable amount of criticism of South Africa's basic education in recent years. Some has been justifiable and some ill-considered. The thing is, merely standing on a soapbox a decrying the state of education is not going to fix the problem. It is, I have to say, an unfortunate South African habit - wailing and gnashing of teeth accompanied by vociferous criticism and particularly of "addressing issues" with a paucity of solutions and lack of action.

“It is not the critic who counts: not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes up short again and again ...who spends himself in a worthy cause; who, at the best, knows, in the end, the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly”. T. Rooseveldt.

There is very little media attention given to those who are actually in the arena, perhaps because by their very nature they are far too busy doing what is right to have time for any form of adulation. Even the most superficial glance behind the scenes in this country will show a vast number of NGO's and philanthropic organisations devoted to improving the standard of basic education and the quality of teaching.

Just have a look, for example, at what Professor Jonathan Jansen is doing at the University of the Free State with its inspiring outreach programme that is hugely successful in improving the quality of teaching. Look at what Dr Ramphele Mampele has done in creating a far-reaching organisation that devotes much of its efforts to improving education.

There is now an urgent need to tell a different story – one of possibility and a future, where leaders need to take the lead in building confidence in our ability to create a better future. Traditional adspend needs to shift from bland product advertising or opportunistic criticism of the challenges that we face, towards social investment, where brands actively invest in their markets for mutual benefit. A recent global trend identified at the Youth Marketing conference (New Case Studies & Fresh Insights on Creating Better Brand Connections With Today's Youth On & Offline. 9 October 2012, London. www.marketingtoyouthconference.com) confirms that CSI and brand marketing are converging into an integrated social/brand investment approach to engage key market influencers.

In his book, Screw Business as Usual, Richard Branson writes: "We need a new way of doing business to get out of the present crisis. "Absolute greed has come close to bankrupting the world. Thanks to the crisis that certain businesses have dumped on everyone a lot of people are going to suffer on a global scale... It is all the more important that those business leaders that are left standing try to be a force for good."

Doing good is good business. A survey conducted across 10 of the world's largest countries by GDP, revealed that 93 per cent of consumers say they would buy a product because of its association with a good cause. Another survey by LEAP, a social software organisation, found that three quarters of employees wanted their companies to balance commercial success with social responsibility strategies (Telegraph, November 2011).

Organisations are starting to take the lead in recognising the power of developing innovative products to support education transformation. MasterMaths and MasterScience with their almost 150 personal tutoring franchises spread throughout the country, have for many years been turning maths and science failures into scientists, engineers and so forth. A new development is the launch of sustainable campaigns that inspire confidence in education and motivate teachers, an urgent need identified in the recent SONA address. An example of leadership collaboration is the Future Stars campaign to inspire our youth to believe in the power of education to change their worlds. This meaningful collaboration amongst market leaders such as Capitec Bank, TSB Sugar, the leading youth organisation NYDA, and leading media Metro FM, Supersport and the social entrepreneurial multi-media company, Argo, shows what can be achieved when brand leaders stop trying to “own” platforms and look beyond personal ego to engage in nation building campaigns.

The "Stars in Education" is another call to action campaign developed by Argo, to enable brand leaders to recognise the leadership role that teachers play in our communities. Teachers are recognised to be well educated in their communities and influential in their role as opinion leaders. The campaign generates inspiring entries, which are then profiled to provide authentic role models to motivate other teachers to improve and inspire learners. By profiling these role models, the campaign also encourages society to respect the role that teachers play in developing our youth and positively influencing our communities. This counteracts the negative publicity that mainstream media often share, which showcases bad examples of teachers and results in the entire profession being tarnished. It is no wonder that great teachers lose motivation and drop out of the profession, just when we so desperately need great teachers to deal with the challenges in schools.

The "A+ Schools" campaign is a project that is in final development stages and is an innovative response to the recent Annual National Assessment (ANA) results, which have raised doubts about the quality of education in South Africa. Argo believes that school leaders understand their contexts and have the solutions to improving schools. The A+ Schools campaign recognises the top 2 000 high schools that are achieving matric pass rates of 50% in the under resourced areas (quintiles 1-3). The campaign offers school leaders a Box of Stars, which is an innovative toolkit to empower the school leader in inspiring teachers and learners and offers an online leadership development programme. Argo is drawing on Ben Zander’s philosophy from the Art of Possibility, where he suggests respecting individuals and awarding them an A+ to recognise that they have the power to achieve their potential. The campaign also draws on Peter Block’s philosophy that we create our own solutions. This campaign encourages school leaders to develop school improvement plans to achieve better results in the Annual National Assessments.

"The ONE" campaign recognises that leaders need support and need to work together if they are to deliver on the “walking together” option of the Dinokeng Scenarios.

And to ensure that these campaigns are credible and relevant to Government policy and support transformation, Argo partners with leading NGO’s, Government and Union leaders and CSI and corporate communication leaders to develop well researched campaigns for nation building impact.

Richard Branson echoes Nelson Mandela’s vision that "Education is the number one driver of social development and what we need now are achievers, who are prepared to create the energy to inspire us towards action."

Leaders and achievers need to inspire confidence, so that the country can regain its energy to create growth, which brings with it employment and a reduction in poverty, crime and other social issues that undermine our confidence in our nation.

Criticising Government and looking for people to blame is important in terms of healthy oversight but that alone won’t help solve the problem. As individuals, the challenge is too big and it cannot be done by working alone or in silos. There is a need for people of action to find others who want to create a different story and build a tribe of positive leaders, focused on action, not talk.

We need to create campaigns that inspire belief in South Africa's ability to overcome daunting challenges, just as we did when the country hosted the World Cup in spite of so many saying this was impossible and proving themselves wrong?

We need to stare down the challenges and focus on what is working, and on working together.

Public-private partnerships are crucial in promoting educational development

Trevor Manuel, Minister in the Presidency and keynote speaker at Rachel’s Angels Trust Annual Lecture held towards end of last year, is also the chairperson of the National Planning Commission’s (NPC) document Vision 2030.

One of the key visions of the NPC is improving the quality of education of South Africa.The document highlights the need for educational reform and states, “a diverse set of private, workplace and community-based providers should be supported to offer targeted work-based training, as well as community and youth development programmes.”

A series of discussions between government and private sector stakeholders, at the recent Rachel’s Angels Trust Annual Lecture, focused on the need for sound, quality education from primary school to Grade 12, and beyond, in order to build sustainable economic growth.

Minister Manuel said that South Africa has the means, the goodwill, the people and the resources to eliminate poverty and reduce inequality.

At a consultative meeting on private-public partnerships for education and training late last year, Mrs Angie Motshekga, Minister of Basic Education, said the question of ‘how the private and public sector should work together to promote educational development’ is crucial.

Quoting from the 2010 Delivery Agreement for Basic Education, Mrs Motshekga said, “There must be a sufficient degree of agreement and commitment among the various stakeholders. Plans must be widely consulted and all stakeholders should be involved.”

She added that private-public partnerships will boost the department’s work in diverse areas such as school infrastructure provisioning, provision of learning and teaching support materials, teacher development, early childhood development and design of education policies.

Spurgeon-Haddon Wilson, project manager of Media24 Rachel’s Angels Trust, Media24’s largest corporate social responsibility project, said that private-public partnership has become a necessity in both improving education as well as meeting our country’s educational objectives.

There are many aspects lacking in schools, such as social and emotional skills, that our government cannot address.

This is where the private sector can play a more integral role. Rachel’s Angels was started in 2007 and ever since has played an important role in the holistic development of both schools and learners.

It provides academic, social and emotional support to learners through various interventions such as winter and spring schools and various workshops on both study skills and self-esteem. Wilson said that these interventions have made a really positive contribution to the participating schools, clearly evident in the academic, social and emotional progress of the learners.

Accountant Riaan Rudman, commenting at the fourth Annual BHP Billiton Skills development Summit in July, said that the education system has various challenges which need to be addressed. “With the lower matric pass rates, matric marks are no longer good indicators of future success as about 1/100 students graduate with a university degree.”

BHP Billiton chairperson, Dr. Xolani Mkhwananzi, further explained that sustainable economic development would only happen in South Africa if government and industry collaborate to build an improved platform for skills development and investment.

BHP Billiton is one of several private-public institutions that has seen the need to improve the quality of science and mathematics at school level.

Dr. Mkhwananzi said his company has identified projects to improve and develop mathematics, science and technology. “We have programmes such as the National Science and Technology Forum, aimed at helping scholars from previously disadvantaged backgrounds gain access to some of the best mathematics and science teachers in the country.

In addition we also have a career centre in Newtown where students can discover study and career options best suited to them.

State-owned PetroSA spends at least 30% of its community social upliftment budget on education and supports several schools in Mpumalanga, Eastern and Western Cape with educational and IT support.

In 2008, PetroSA opened a mathematics and science academy in Mossel Bay where over 300 learners from five disadvantaged high schools in the region are helped to improve their grades.

Many of the learners have subsequently received bursaries from PetroSA to attend universities and technical colleges.

Automotive manufacturer, Mercedes-Benz South Africa, believes that the correct building blocks need to be put in place to increase the economically active sector of the population.

The company focuses on education in all areas, from pre-school to tertiary and adult basic education. The company also provides skills development in the technical fields of engineering and technology thus ensuring the future viability of the automotive industry.

In the Western Cape, the Department of Economic Development and Tourism has developed and implemented a strategic framework for its Work and Skills programme after it was found that young people did not have enough social skills to find employment.

”Educational institutions are failing students, as they are not taught enough social skills to equip them to impress prospective employers,” said department head, Solly Fourie, adding that the skills programme addressed these issues by placing them in internship programmes with businesses after an initial one week job induction and job readiness programme.

This programme is funded through SETA and the students are paid a stipend during their internships. “We found that this programme is quite successful as most of the businesses taking part in the programme are taking the interns into fulltime employment.”

The World Bank says in its education manifesto that the provision of schooling is largely provided and financed by governments. However, due to unmet demands for education, coupled with shrinking government budgets, the public sector in several parts of the world is developing innovative partnerships with the private sector.

Education director, Elizabeth King said the main rationale for public-private partnership programmes is the potential role of the private sector for expanding equitable access and improving learning outcomes.

“In low income countries, excess demand for schooling results in private supply when the state cannot afford schooling for all. By providing demand-side financing and contracting private organisations to provide support services, governments can provide better choices to parents and grant them an opportunity to fully participate in their children’s schooling.”

Dr Oswald Franks, CEO of the Engineering Council of South Africa (ECSA) feels that a unified plan is needed to address the country’s education challenges. “The responsibility of education can no longer be left with government and education institutions alone, and needs the involvement of the community and private sector.”

The council has implemented a programme called Engenius to correct the imbalance of engineering professionals needed for the growing infrastructural development demands in the country.

Article source: http://www.skillsportal.co.za/page/education/1509494-Public-private-partnerships-are-crucial-in-promoting-educational-development