1. BRIDGE Western Cape CoP meeting 7th October 2017
Post School Access
BRIDGE Western Cape CoP meeting
7th October 2017

2. Outline Analysis of the problem
Profile of other online post-school access tools.
Listing 21st century skills and discussing them more deeply: Problem solving, team work?
Input WCED (subject advisors) – What is being done in schools? What can be done through the school system?
What role can this group play?
What do we want to achieve next year?

3. Post school access resources
Looked at in depth:
DGMT
BRIDGE Post School Road map
Yazi
What else exists?
Educonnect
PACE Careers
Go Study Career Questionnaire
Gradesmatch

4. Analysis of the Problem
The three post-school access maps were completed and shared end of 2016/2017.
DGMT have promoted the map primarily on social media. In April and May this year they distributed School to Work Pathway-map posters to 40 different organisations inc. Apprenticeship Game Changers programme in Western Cape an various NGOs. Since Jan 2017 the site has had 3,293 views and been shared 91 times. The average view is 3 minutes.
BRIDGE have mainly relied on online distribution. As of August 2017 Google Analytics showed 4000 views with a bias towards TVETs. They are currently developing it into an App to make dissemination wider. Planning on using our school principals to disseminate the app through the 112 principals participating in our principals programme.
YAZI – general site has had 943 users in last 7 days and 59% of these have accessed from a mobile device arriving at the site through organic search. A bounce rate of 54.6%. However, users accessing the Yazi page of the site is low. Mainly go to exam papers and other academic resources. Need specific marketing of the map page to increase uptake.

5. Analysis of the Problem
Not resulted in the uptake needed to reach the millions of learners across the country that need this information.
The following limitations have hindered use:
Marketing budgets and capacity of the originating organisation – reliant on social media.
Printed versions are “too text-heavy” for publications such as newspaper
HR capacity to maintain the site and consistently update it with relevant information
Access to computers and connectivity in and out of schools
Know-how – how are the sites meant to be used? Interacted with?

6. How do 21st Century Skills fit in?
3Rs: Reading, wRiting and aRithmetic
4Cs: Communication, Collaboration, Critical thinking, Creativity
2Ms: Motivation, Meta-cognition
Curiosity/inquisitiveness
Decision-making and Reasoning
Responsible decision-making
Leadership
Listening
Problem Solving
Self-awareness
Self-regulation
Social/interpersonal - relationship skills
Team Work
Technology and Computer skills
21st century themes: various Literacies
Curious/Adventurous
Determined/Disciplined
Resourceful/Agile
Imaginative
Critical
Craftsman-like
Reflective
Collaborative
Hard is fun, trickiness is interesting, enjoy the struggle!

7. Guest speaker: Ismail Teladia
Outlined many Western Cape Gamechanger (WCG) initiatives to combat the gap
Apprenticeship Gamechanger:
Change mindsets wrt training
Bursaries and learnerships available but no-one applies
Make sure programmers are filled
Play broker role, taking location of opportunity into account
School visits to address parents
Work with career expo organisations
Distribute TVET course information to districts to communicate to schools
Promote technical maths and science subjects at technical schools
Create jobs, e.g. teaching assistants
Life Orientation:
HeadCom agreed that LO most important subject.
Starting to develop textbooks for Grades 4-12
Career awareness in the curriculum and should be taught and taught well
WCED role to teach the teachers how.
Recent 2-day event with 118 senior phase teachers at UWC, all LO subject advisors were involved
Require specialists to teach LO, who can become champions once trained and cannot be moved to other subjects
Have an annual LO appreciation day to recognize excellent teachers
Training requires a constant process because the world of work changes all the time
Learner initiatives, e.g.
Career awareness brochures that go to every learner in the province
Gr 7 Career Dress-up Day
Ismail Teladia
Senior Curriculum Planner: Life Orientation/Life Skills
Western Cape Education Department
Also: Apprenticeship Gamechanger
Mobile:
Office:  
Fax:
Additional e.mail: 

8. What role can this group play? Group discussion after speaker left
Clearly the WCG have a lot of initiatives, yet the gap persists
The WCG cannot do much more than they are doing - the challenge is to get the impact of the initiatives to scale up
The WCG are willing to engage further and to partner
The CoP can play a role to drive an action research project in one district to understand how the impact of the initiatives can be cascaded and scaled
Arrange a follow-up working meeting with Mr Teladia to plan the project
Send out invitations to NGO’s active in the area to participate
Design and arrange a training workshop with teachers in the district in partnership with WCED
Follow up after the workshop to trace the outcomes in schools; identify issues and obstacles to the information reaching the intended audience and having the desired impact
Share findings with WCED
A core group of CoP members, consisting of Zorina Dharsey, Miriam Chikwanda and Sean Wilson agreed to form the steering committee to drive the project between CoP meetings
The project could form the main activity of the CoP for 2018