UCT’s response to the Education Crisis in South Africa Jonathan Clark School of Education, University of Cape Town

2 ✔ ✔ ✖ ✖ ✔ ✖ The Post-1994 Education Report Card ACCESS Institutional restructuring Resource equalisation Curriculum reform Building the technical core QUALITY

3 ACCESS QUALITY Trade off

4 ‘The proof of the pudding…’ South Africa in regional context SACMEQ III 2007 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 South Africa 27.3%40.2%R9 555 South Africa in regional context SACMEQ III 2007 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

5 5 ‘TWO SYSTEMS IN ONE’

UCT st Year Enrollments UCT21880 B-degrees Wrote schoolsCOSATexModel C

77 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…

88 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

9 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)

people 87 educational institutions learners (Grades R-12) KHAYELITSHA

At its core is a university-school partnership model OBJECTIVE 1 Teacher professional & school organisational development OBJECTIVE 2 Professional practice schools

University-accredited Advanced Certificates in Education (ACEs) & Short Courses School-based Projects

OBJECTIVE 3 Staff engaged scholarship, student volunteerism & service learning

OBJECTIVE 3 Staff engaged scholarship, student volunteerism & service learning University social responsiveness work SHAWCO UBUNYE CLASI Maths Competition

OBJECTIVE 4 University recruitment Grade programme Five learners from each of the 20 secondary schools Build academic & life skills in preparation for tertiary studies Residential holiday camps; Saturday academic enrichment school programme; participation in UCT activities

19 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 INTSHAYELELO Primary School IT training & network support Westerford High: Bread Buddies Focus on Literacy

20 Looking ahead DEEPENING 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!

21 ‘CHANGING SCHOOLS FOR GOOD’ Organisational & teacher professional development work in the six Partner schools

22 The IKWEZI project ( ) 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 note By 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!

25 ‘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 partnerships Harnessing resources Improving schools