Establishing a centre of excellence at a Khayelitsha School

The Science Education Resource Initiative’s (SERI) vision is to address the dire shortage of suitably skilled and qualified engineers, scientists and IT specialists in South Africa.

OVERVIEW

The overall aim of the project is to develop a well-administered junior high school in the Presidential Poverty Node of Khayelitsha, Qingqa Mntwana, into a centre of excellence in Mathematics, English, Science and Computer skills. This school will then serve as a feeder school for COSAT, which is undoubtedly the best science and technology school in Khayalitsha.

This will be achieved in a number of ways: setting up and managing a library, assisting the subject teachers at the school; providing quality learning materials; offering Saturday classes in Mathematics, English, Science and Computer Programming to 50 learners each from Grade 8 and 9 who demonstrate an aptitude in these subjects; and establishing a robotics club at the school, which will give top learners the opportunity to apply their English, Maths, Science and Computer skills in a fun, competitive environment.

WHAT WE LIKE ABOUT THIS PROJECT

• SERI is successfully managing two identical projects at similar schools in Khayelitsha.
• Children that benefit from this intervention are likely to go on to attend the best science and technology school in the area. The intervention will thus have a long term, sustainable positive impact on the lives of the beneficiaries.
• The project will provide additional infrastructure and resources to an under-resourced school located in a Presidential Poverty Node.
• Robotics is a fun and stimulating way for the learners to apply their knowledge, and international studies have demonstrated the benefit of participating in robotics.
• SERI has the buy-in of the target school, which has a good track record of managing partnerships with other organisations.

EXPECTED LIFE CHANGE

This project will has beneficiaries on a number of different levels:

• 100 learners (50 each from Grade 8 and 9) will participate in the Fun’ulwazi Staurday Enrichment programme.
• 20 learners will participate in the school’s robotics club.
• 1,023 learners will benefit from the addition of a new school library.
• Three teachers will benefit from additional skills training and an additional source of income.

The estimated cost of direct life-change is R 646.54.

NEED

South Africa needs educated, skilled and literate citizens to help it grow and thrive. Investing in education will provide people with the resources they need – from properly-trained teachers and up-to-date books, to modern classrooms and recreation facilities – to reach their full potential and become productive, stable members of society. Investing in education is an investment in South Africa’s future.

Khayalitsha is a deeply impoverished area, where the crime rate is high, unemployment is widespread and a quarter of the adult population is infected with HIV/AIDS. A third of all children in Khayalitsha do not attend school at all, and there is a critical shortage of good quality matriculants in Maths, Science and IT emanating from Khayalitsha schools.

STRATEGY

SERI believes that to make an impact on the educational problems facing South Africa it is necessary to “push from the bottom” by providing a good basic education to young learners, and to “pull from the top” by giving opportunities to the best and brightest students to achieve to their full potential. The organisation argues that while much is presently being done to “push from the bottom”, with a proliferation of well-supported preschools and the introduction of Grade R classes into many township primary schools, the “pulling from the top” is being mishandled, with a great many very expensive but ultimately unproductive interventions being attempted.

By establishing Qingqa Mntwana as a centre of excellence, and by offering support in the form of training and materials, SERI hopes to more effectively “pull from the top”. Students who prove themselves at Grade 9 level will be given an opportunity to attend COSAT, where the majority of learners go on to pursue tertiary education.

ACTION PLAN

Preparation

Library:

• 4000 books will be purchased, processed, and covered in strong plastic.
• A library administrator will be appointed and teachers at the school will be trained to co-manage the library.
• A laptop will be purchased for used in the library and to monitor the borrowing of books.
• A library space will be fitted with suitable shelving and furniture.

Saturday Enrichment Programme:

• 50 learners each from grade 8 and 9 will be selected based on their maths and English aptitudes.
• Teachers will be selected and trained to give the Saturday classes. Where possible, teachers from the school will be used, but where this is not suitable, SERI will appoint an appropriate teacher.

Robotics Club:

• Train the teacher responsible for robotics
• Identify and invite suitable learners to join the robotics club (based on academic performance).
• Purchase Lego robotics kits.

Implementation

Library:

• Each class will be given an allocated time to use the library, during which the library administrator or a trained teacher will teach the children how to make use of the library and care for the books.
• The library will be available to learners and teachers to borrow books during break times and after school.

Saturday Enrichment Programme:

• Classes will be delivered on Saturday mornings by teachers trained in using the SERI materials. These materials will also be made available to the teachers to share with their departments and use in their classrooms during normal lessons.
• Learners will be taken on regular outings and site visits to complement their learning.

Robotics Club:

• Members will meet once a week for two hour training sessions. These sessions will include robotics lessons, internet research, presentation skills, developing thinking skills and report writing skills.
• The club will compete in the annual Lego League Competition.

Monitoring and Evaluation

Library:

• Borrowing of books will be monitored by the administrator and captured on the library computer.
• SERI will monitor the management of the library and have regular meetings with the administrator and teachers responsible for managing the library.
• The marks of Grade 9 learners will be compared to learners from schools without functioning libraries, and pre- and post-intervention tests will be conducted to assess the difference the library has made to reading ability and language skills.

Saturday Enrichment Programme:

• Attendance registers will be kept.
• Regular testing will be conducted to guage learner progress.
• Learner results will be monitored and their progress will be compared to learners not enrolled on the programme

Robotics Club:

• Attendance registers will be kept.
• Performance at regional and national competitions will give an indication of the success of the club.
• The academic performance of the robotics club members will be monitored.

ORGANISATION ASSESSMENT

SERI strives to provide quality maths, science and IT education to disadvantaged learners with an aptitude for those particular subjects. Apart from the individual students, SERI also tries to develop the quality of teaching in disadvantaged schools.

SERI is still quite small, and most of its programmes are operated on an ad hoc basis as the finding becomes available, rather than being based on a single overarching strategy. The organisation has thus far made only limited use of monitoring and evaluation tools, but has committed to undertaking more extensive monitoring for this project.

SERI is a relatively new organisation, and has grown very quickly in the last three years. It is driven by experienced and dedicated education professionals, but relies on one or two key individuals. Through its association with COSAT, SERI has demonstrated a good track record in Khayelitsha of producing learners who achieve high-quality results in Maths, Science, English and IT.

Planning at the organisation generally happens on a project-by-project basis, and funds are raised to cover the costs of each project as the need arises.

RISK PROFILE -

Key Strengths

• Concept: The approach of establishing a centre of excellence to ‘pull from the top’ is aligned with the national priorities for improving the state of education in South Africa.

• Design: The project uses materials that are different from what the learners would normally experience in the classroom and are designed to be stimulating and enjoyable. SERI is successfully running two identical projects in similar schools.

• Capability: SERI is run by people with many years of experience in education, and as an organisation has a good track record working in Khayelitsha.

• Control: The project is closely overseen by the SERI’s manager and reporting structures are in place.

• Sustainability: Children who perform well at Grade 8 and 9 level will be accepted into COSAT, which has had a 100% matric pass rate and over 80% university exemption rate since it was founded. This intervention could thus significantly improve the beneficiaries future prospects.

Key Risks - Medium

• Concept: The idea of a ‘pull from the top’ intervention means that some children who do not display an aptitude in maths and science may be left aside.

• Design: There is no strategy to ensure that knowledge is transferred from Saturday programme tutors to other teachers in the school.

• Control: The successful running of this project does largely depend on the target school, which will ultimately be responsible for many aspects of its implementation. Qingqa Mntwana does, however, have a good track record of partnerships with other organisations.

• External: The project relies heavily on the support and buy-in of the target school. While the school has been selected based on how well it is managed at the moment, any change to this in the future could severely affect the effectiveness of the project.