M&E Focus Group 4 February 2011

Check in Name, Organisation & Work Profile

Bridge Community convened by Bridge. Bridge works in the following key focus areas: School Leadership and Management; Teacher development, support, assessment & accountability; Learner support for increased performance; and Quality of materials used in teaching and learning.

Communities for effective practice Objective: link and spread successful practice Definition: – defined outcomes, which are measured and tracked – multi-stakeholder and has political and institutional buy-in – operates nationally, at a district level and provincially, with linkages established among those levels – co-created, self-sustaining and co-owned

Outcomes The contribution of the community to the whole system The maximising of resources by the community The spread of effective practice within the community and its associated stakeholders (horizontal integration) The vertical integration of policy and practice.

History of the maths and science community for effective practice Project (supported by the Zenex Foundation) with the intention of developing a community for effective practice in maths and science education. Initial meeting of community on 30 November 2010, objectives of which were to: – share research; – identify what is required to accelerate the spread of successful maths and science programme objectives; – create a collaborative process to identify critical success factors in maths and science interventions for both pre and post Grade 12; and – establish a community for effective practice in this area.

History of the maths and science community for effective practice Research carried out in preparation for first meeting. The research identified a range of themes, including: – The role of mentorship – The challenges of monitoring and evaluation – Learner selection and programme design – The role of government – Psychosocial issues – Tertiary access An agreement was reached at the meeting that the community should be broken down into smaller interest groups and teams, with a focus on: – Tertiary access – Monitoring and evaluation – Learner selection and programme design

What is our broad objective for today? To agree on – The approach we wish to follow as a group – Our role as a group – The outcome/s we envisage

Summary of Day Concluding comments Where to from here? THANK YOU