Mr Price Foundation’s EduRise education programme recently celebrated the culmination of a remarkable journey with 18 schools from Mitchells Plain in the Western Cape, with an awards event in Stellenbosch.
For the past four years, Mr Price Foundation has supported 98 schools across South Africa in its EduRise programme – in Mitchell’s Plain, Soweto, QwaQwa, Hammarsdale and Tongaat – helping to identify their needs and overcome some of the challenges they face. This year, schools have been working towards taking 100% ownership of the interventions, with EduRise mentors and facilitators observing and offering guidance as needed.
We thank all EduRise-supported schools in Mitchells Plain for lending their hearts and minds to the programme and for their dedication to their learners. We also extend our heartfelt thanks to our Western Cape implementation partners: JET Education Services, Sportstec, and the Western Cape Education Department, in particular the Metro South Education District.
“Mr Price Foundation, our implementation partners and schools have collectively defined the past four years. The next phase will be defined by the schools themselves as they sustain the interventions and employ the skills acquired to successfully deliver on quality education,” said Pain Mashingaidze, head of EduRise.
Guest speakers at the well-wishing event in Stellenbosch, from left: JET Education Services facilitators Ivor Nober and Emily Solomon, Jamaica Way Primary School principal Mathilda Marsh, Craig Gibbs and Pheziwe Sogoni from JET Education Services, Warren Pedro from Sporstec, head of EduRise Pain Mashingaidze, and JET Education Services mentor Jimmy Slingers.
Craig Gibbs from JET Education Services said Mitchells Plain educators are showing great commitment to their professional development, especially in the E-Learning programme. This is a blended training approach that seeks to capacitate educators in English, maths and natural sciences through a series of online assessments and tutorials.
“For 80% of the time, EduRise educators in the Western Cape clocked more hours on our E-Learning platform than those from other EduRise school clusters. Teacher scores on E-Learning have improved over the past three years,” Craig said.
“Teachers supported by EduRise are more confident, with better content knowledge and are starting to use ICT as a form of knowledge gathering and informing them how to teach,” Craig added.
EduRise-supported schools have also shown a steady improvement in the Western Cape systemic assessment results. “This is due to a number of factors, including the EduRise programme, the dedication of school leadership, management and educators, and other programmes which have all combined to help in some way to move the dial and help schools give a sound education to learners,” Craig said.
Education practitioners from Jamaica Way Primary School in Mitchells Plain strive to make their school a happy place for everyone.
Mrs Marsh, principal of Jamaica Way Primary School in Mitchells Plain, said schools and educators would continue to use the networks and communication platforms opened by EduRise to share best practice, knowledge and expertise.
“EduRise did not only give us a platform to share information. It also gave us a platform to come together and share good practices and stress factors. We can relate to one another,” said Mrs Marsh.
The EduRise programme has assisted Mrs Marsh in her school’s efforts to make Jamaica Way a happy place for everyone.
“The programme gives us the tools to enhance the curriculum and equip our educators for the road ahead. The workshops and training really assisted us educators with content knowledge and preparing learners from grades 1 to 7. We thank Mr Price Foundation as well as Sportstec for the equipment for physical education that was delivered for our foundation phase. It made a remarkable difference and assists us with our goal to get happiness for each child,” said Mrs Marsh.
Even though the EduRise schools are transitioning into the sustainability phase, we will continue to check in on them. Studies still show that South African teachers need support with content knowledge, especially in maths. They also need pedagogical support with delivering the content to learners. This makes continued access to online learning portals important.
“Educators will still have access to the E-Learning platform so they can continue to improve their curriculum and content knowledge. The schools will always remain part of our alumni and in our hearts forever. Once a Mr Price Foundation school, always a Mr Price Foundation school,” said Pain.
