Location: Pretoria, and provinces of Free State and KwaZulu-Natal
Implementation: 2017 - 2021.
Budget: € 4,560,000
Donor(s): Belgian Federal Government (DGD)
Key themes: Primary education, Teacher Development, School Leadership, Strategic Support, Equity
Context
Weak learning outcomes and high drop-out rates in South Africa are a result of low quality of education. Patterns of inequity are already set by Grade 4 in primary education, emphasising the urgency to change teaching practices in the early years of education. For example, the learning gap between the poorest 60 per cent of learners and the wealthiest 20 per cent is already approximately three grade-levels in Grade 3, growing to four grade-levels by Grade 9.
A culture and pedagogy of inclusivity is needed to allow vulnerable children to learn. School leaders and teachers therefore need relevant district- and school-based professional development in promoting inclusive education and addressing learner diversity.
Target of the programme
School leaders and teachers in primary schools have the competences to respond to learner diversity by applying inclusive pedagogy for numeracy and literacy.
Partners
Strategic partner
- National Department of Basic Education (DBE)
Operational partners
- Directorates within DBE:
- Inclusive Education
- Initial Teacher Education
- Continuing Professional Teacher Development
- Education Management and Governance Development
- 2 provincial Departments of Education - FS and KZN
- South African Council of Educators (SACE)
- South African Principals Association (SAPA)
Approach
The LT4Diversity programme centres on strengthening school- and district-based continuous professional development (CPD) opportunities of primary education teachers and school leaders.
The programme is built around two main pillars:
- Empowering school leaders to support the inclusion of all learners in their school.
- Strengthening teachers in the application of inclusive pedagogy in their classroom.
Each pillar contributes to the effective implementation of the inclusive education policy in primary education.
By the end of the LT4Diversity programme:
DBE:
- guides and monitors CPD on inclusive education;
- coordinates and disseminates resources on CPD on inclusive education (e.g. through Open Educational Resources).
SACE:
- guides inclusive education in CPD;
- monitors and reports on individual CPD activities.
Province and district officials: lead, monitor, and evaluate CPD on the inclusion of all learners, including gender- and equity-related topics, for teachers and school leaders.
To reach its goals, VVOB South Africa develops the capacity of its partners. VVOB uses capacity development trajectories that give partners maximal responsibility in the execution and management of their own change processes. This is done through technical assistance provided by the VVOB South Africa team, which includes both local and international educational and change management experts.
