Funding priorities
Schools Development
Advancing Quality School Teaching and Learning
Education for all children is not a priviledge but a right. Their entitlement to quality school facilities should never be compromised and yet this is the injustice that many South African children still have to face. Among impoverished communities especially, proficiency levels in numeracy and literacy are well below performance expectations. The cumulative effect of years of under-performance results in secondary school matriculation pass rates which are well below both the provincial and national averages. As a direct result of this general failure of the schooling system, unacceptably small numbers of such matriculants gain university access and those that do are wholly underprepared and struggle to succeed. There are many who believe that problems in public schooling are not for universities to fix. UCT, however, is intent on playing a bigger role in addressing the schooling crisis in South Africa, and the Western Cape in particular.
The key player involved is the University's Schools Development Unit (SDU). Established in 2000, the SDU's vision is to create dedicated, confident, and competent educators who are empowered to recreate safe and innovative schools to meet the challenge of educating young people for the 21st century. As part of the School of Education, the work of the Unit is driven by research, which contributes to national and provincial education policy and curriculum development. SDU aims to develop quality teaching and learning in the fields of mathematics, science, literacy and life skills.
Teacher professional development lies at the heart of SDU's work, and the Unit provides accredited courses in selected subjects to underqualified teachers, in order to improve their skills and abilities. Teachers participating in these Advanced Certificates in Education (ACE) courses are also provided with support in the classroom, to assist them with translating the learnings of the lecture theatre into their own classrooms.
A focus on teacher development does not preclude the unit working directly with learners who are trapped in schools that are struggling to break out of the cycle of underachievement and failure. For example, a project called 100-Up, works with 100 academically gifted Grade 10 learners from the nearby impoverished township of Khayelitsha. Five learners from each of the 20 secondary schools in the township were chosen to participate at the start of 2011. Over the course of the next three years, staff and students from across the University will work with the SDU on a comprehensive programme that aims to better prepare these learners to compete for places at UCT once they have completed their high school studies. A particular emphasis will be placed on encouraging them to pursue degree courses in the sciences, engineering, commerce and related fields. Over the years the SDU has been involved in a range of school-based projects in primary and secondary schools (from Grade R to Grade 12) across the Western Cape. While all these interventions have been underpinned by the philosophy that building teacher efficacy is the key to sustainable school intervention programmes, the need to engage in broader curriculum and whole-school development work is factored into all of the Unit's project design and implementation. The SDU works in close collaboration with the Western Cape Education Department.
Your support is an opportunity to take a stand in defending the right to education and empowerment of our children. The SDU requires your support to secure funding of R7 million per year to continue to deliver quality school education programmes. SDU Website
| The Schools Development Unit requires funding of R7 million per year to continue delivering quality school education programmes. |