cmge news - stellenbosch...
TRANSCRIPT
Multigrade teachers from all over South Africa attended the first or second training session of a
short course in Multigrade Education before the schools started in January. This course is
offered by the Centre for Multigrade Eduation and Cape Peninsula University of Technology in
collaboration with the Department of Basic Education and the Provincial Departments of
Education.
The teachers are very enthusiastic and positive to learn more about Multigrade Education. They were involved
throughout in the training session and showed great gratitude for the opportunity and that special attention
are given to multigrade teachers. Their enthusiasm made everything worthwhile. The majority of teachers and
groups were very well-prepared for the training and eargerly participated. The presenters was amazed by the
friendly reception, the willingness to show and demonstrate and the eagerness of the teachers to learn.
CMGE News J A N / F E B 2 0 1 2 V O L U M E 2 I S S U E 1
I N S I D E T H I S
I S S U E :
Multigrade
Teacher
1-2
iPad and SIAB
Training
3-4
CMGE’s
eJournal
5
Let’s PLAY 6-7
GMA Report 8-9
Parent / Child
program
10
Staff News 11
Editor’s Note 11
Multigrade Teacher Training All Over SA— Start
To A Great Year!
IN THE NEXT ISSUE:
1. Recommended
Reading:
Nadene Otto
2. The Green
Teacher:
Wilco Jacobs
Multigrade teachers from the rural areas surrounding Greytown in KwaZulu Natal attended their first training
session in Greytown. They especially enjoyed the unit about Mental Mathematics. Photos: Hylton Harris
Article continues on page. 2
Read Article on
page 6—7:
CMGE Sport’s Day
P A G E 2
“Pure
mathematics
is, in its way,
the poetry of
logical ideas.”
-- - Albert
Einstein
Multigrade teachers from the Limpopo province are practicing Mental Mathematics during their first training
session in Thohoyandou, Limpopo. Photos: Hylton Harris
Multigrade teachers from Vryburg are practicing Mental Mathematics during their first training session in
Thohoyandou, Limpopo. Photos: Hylton Harris
Multigrade teachers from Springbok are practicing Mental Mathematics during their first training session in
Thohoyandou, Limpopo. Photos: Hylton Harris
Click on the link to read more about CMGE’s teacher training .
http://www.cmge.co.za/news/article/2860/Multigrade-teacher-training-
all-over-SA-to-start-a-great-year
Article by: Adrienne van As
P A G E 3
Ciaran MacCormick from the Institute of Art, Design and Technology (IADT) in Dun Loaghaire in Ireland,
presented a workshop at the Centre for Multigrade Education (CMGE) on the Wellington Campus of the
Cape Peninsula University of Technology (CPUT). This workshop focused on the use of iPads in a Multi-
grade school.
“The IADT School in a Box (SIAB) is a new FIS/ IADT initiative that addresses the global problem of inequitable access to
modern educational tools. It is an innovative first world solution to a third world problem and can transform classrooms in
rural India and sub Saharan Africa into twenty first century learning spaces.”
Photos: Ciaran MacCormick are demonstrating the solar panel that are used to charge the battery. The battery are then again used
to charge the iPad, the speakers and the data projector.
Photos: Attendees of the workshop are connecting the solar panel to all the battery.
This workshop was presented for officials from the Cape Winelands and West Coast Western Cape Education Districts who are
involve in multigrade schools in the Western cape. Staff members from CMGE and CPUT also attended this workshop.
Chris Dodd, Lulu Venter and Lise Botes from Core Group, The Southern African distributor of Apple products, as well as Alan
Bennet, the Senior Manager of EMEIA Education Markets, Apple Europe Limited, also attended this workshop. Thank you for your
support in the use of the iPad and the School in a Box.
IPAD and SIAB TRAINING: -
IPad and “School in a Box” training a first in Wellington
Article continues on pg. 4
Visit the following websites for more information:
http://www.iadtschoolinabox.com
http://www.apple.com/za/education/ipad/
“Apps for
iPad. In a
class all by
themselves
” - Apple
website [www.apple.com]
P A G E 4 V O L U M E 2 I S S U E 1
Photos from left to right: Attendees of the workshop are getting some first-hand experience of what can be done
with the iPad.
During this exercise they must recognize all the letters of the alphabet outdoors and take photos of it. Once back
inside they made a short iMovie of the photos they took.
The iPad has great possibilities for teaching and learning in a multigrade classroom. It expands learning experience
inside and outside the classroom. The teachers and the learners can create a locally driven curriculum by taking and
creating photos, videos, iBooks and linking it with the subscribed curriculum. There are thousands of Apps that can
help a learners from the most basic skills and knowledge to the most difficult skills and knowledge. The Apps cover
the different content areas of Numeracy and Literacy as well as all the other subjects. It is fun and easy to sue. Learn-
ers have the opportunity to be active and interactive.
Photos from left to right: Alan Bennet from Apple Europe and Chris Dodd from Core are supporting the workshop
Attendees with the iPad
Article by: Adrienne van As
P A G E 5
C M G E N E W S
First Publication of CMGE’s e-Journal, the SA Rural Educator Foreword
“We have to rethink the fundamental principles on which we’re educating our children. And the only way we’ll do it is
by seeing our creative capacities for the richness they are, and seeing our children for the hope they are. Our task is to
educate our whole being so they can face this future. We may not see this future, but they will. And our job is to help
them make something of it” (sir ken Robinson, TED talks, 2006)
In South Africa, there are currently 12 million children at school. Each of these children has a unique talent that must only be discovered and developed to its full potential.
It is the role of education to encourage and develop children’s natural and personal abilities, and to ensure that learners are prepared for their futures.
Unfortunately our education system is failing rural children. A South African rural child has a one in three chance of completing their primary education. Half of the children starting high school will complete secondary education and only 8% of them will have the chance of getting any form of tertiary educa-
tion.
If we are serious about turning this situation around, we need an education revolution:
We need to move away from the 19th century industrialist approach that up to the present day underpins our education system.
Education for the 21st century needs to meet the needs of the 21st century.
The world of the 21st century is constantly changing at a pace that has never been encountered before. The future is today probably more uncertain than ever before: Technology that is new today is history tomorrow. Unless education is adaptable and flexible enough to keep up with the pace of
change it will fail to prepare the child for the future.
Digital technologies, the internet and instant connectivity are the tools of the 21st century. An education system that excludes learners from these tools is failing them.
Our education system must transform to identify and develop learners’ diverse spectrum of individual talent, including the arts.
For a country with such a rich cultural diversity and creative identity, this is an imperative. Currently Mathematics, Science and language are at the top of the school hierarchy and children who do not fit the mould of the hierarchy, have no future.
In addition to the elements listed above, an education revolution for rural children in South Africa must also deal with several realities: poverty and the impact that it has on early child development and the support that the home is able to give the learner; remoteness; lack of basic services and facilities; insufficient teachers and inadequate teacher training.
Multigrade classes, or classes with more than one grade in a single classroom, are a reality of remote, rural schools, not only in developing countries, but
also in the developed world. More than 30% of classrooms worldwide, and more 50% of classrooms in Africa, are multigrade. In South Africa, more than 3 million children attend multigrade classrooms.
Unless we want to take millions of poor, rural children out of their environment to larger schools in towns, we must find the key to quality education that meets the needs and requirements of the 21st century right there in the multigrade classroom.
The Centre for Multigrade Education of the Cape Peninsula University of Technology is committed to finding this key and to unlocking quality education
for rural children in South Africa.
In Africa, there is very little research available on the educational policy, teaching and learning processes, learning material, school buildings, grouping of children, curriculum, teacher training and community participation that are needed to support multigrade education,
In March 2010, the Centre for Multigrade Education organized an international conference to ad-dress this gap in information.
120 delegates from education and civic society organizations from South Africa, Botswana, Namibia, Nigeria, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, Columbia, Iran, India, Sri Lanka, Greece and Australia met in
Paarl, South Africa, to share international best practice in multigrade education. The Wellington Declaration was unanimously adopted by the delegates on 24 March 2010.
At the conference, delegates voiced the need or a forum where researchers in rural education and,
particularly, multigrade education, are able to publish ad share their research findings.
The SA Rural Educator was established to provide such a forum. The journal aims to stimulate
research, debate and action towards providing quality education to rural learners, especially in multi-grade classrooms, in South Africa and in other countries. As such, it will be an important starting point to establish multigrade education as an academic discipline in South Africa.
We all know the challenges; in this journal we want to publish research, debate and case studies that focus on finding and implementing solutions.
We therefore invited researchers and practitioners in rural education and the international multi-
grade community to use this platform to share research findings, experiences, lesson plans, best practices and case studies.
The response to the invitation to contribute to the first edition was extremely enthusiastic and we
would like to thank all the authors. We are also highly honored to have a contribution by the Dep-
uty Minister of Education, Mr. Surty, in the first edition.
It is our dream to bring quality education for the 21st century to the multigrade classroom. Share your research and good practices in this publication and let us work together to realize this dream. View the eJournal on the website: www.cmge.co.za
Article by: Dr Jurie Joubert
CMGE Director
P A G E 6 V O L U M E 2 I S S U E 1
Wellington Sport Day, 21 January 2012 The Centre for Multigrade Education in collaboration with M-Net and the Let’s Play initiative hosted a
highly successful sport day that took place on the sport fields of Cape Peninsula University of Technol-
ogy, Wellington Campus, Meiring Residence, on the 21st of January 2012.
Many young lives were touched by this special day of sport, fun, friendship and camaraderie.
The day started at 10am, thanks to Paarl Rock Tours that brought 180 children, aged between 9 and 16 years to Wellington from
various locations in the rural countryside of the Western Cape, namely Blouvlei Primary (Wellington on), Bergrivier Primary
(Wellington), Holvlei Primary (Hopefields), St Michael’s Primary (Grabouw) and Welvaart Primary near Ceres.
For most of these children it was the first time they were involved in an organized sport event. The aim of the day was fun and
games but because of the competitive nature of these children they truly gave it their all in competing in all events. The day ended
with a prize giving ceremony, there after all the children, coordinators and principals attended the warm up match between the Vo-
dacom Stormers and the Regent Boland Cavaliers at the Boland Rugby stadium.
Well known public figures Dieter Voigt and Breyton Paulse joined in the festivities of fun and games. Voigt, one of the presenters of
Pasella and former Mr. South Africa, was the MC for the day. Paulse, a former Springbok wing, delivered a very powerful motiva-
tional speech regarding goal-settings and commitment in achieving your goals. Paulse, also a learner from a multigrade school stated
that there is no substitute for hard work and self-belief.
A motor development program was implemented in the above mentioned multigrade schools in early 2011. The aim of the program
was to develop general motor skills which include: rhythm, speed, agility, coordination and balance, laterality and other motor spe-
cific motor components and what influence does such a program has on the numeracy and literacy levels of participating children.
The sports day comprised from of a 50 meter hurdles sprint, cricket ball throw, sit-ups, push-ups, shuttle runs, long jump and 600m
stamina run.
The research data obtained from the participating schools in 2011 will be posted as a separate article and will discuss the results and
effectiveness of the program. The sports day will be televised on M-Net. Broadcasting dates and times will be posted on our web-
site.
We would like to thank the following partners for making this day possible.
M-Net, Let’s Play CMGE Staff CPUT
Paarl Rock Tours
Pacmar Boland Rugby Spur
Let’s PLAY
Boland Rugby
P A G E 7
C M G E N E W S
Photos courtesy of Nasief Manie, Senior Photographer at Media 24.
Breyton Paulse and Dieter Voigt with children from rural farm schools in the Western Cape.
Cyril Lawless and Sors Joubert, the organizers of the Sport Day, with the Sport Kit that the rural multigrade schools received in
the beginning of the project.
Dieter Voigt in lighter spirits The Sport program caters fro all needs.
Here Jaquin April from Blouvlei Primary
School outside Wellington, shows off his
upper body strength.
Learners strutting their stuff during the shuttle
race event.
Article by:
Cyril Lawless &
Sort Joubert
P A G E 8
GENERAL GMA REPORT—Post Test Finding 21 January 2012
“Fitness is a total concept. Holistic fitness has to encompass the intellectual, as well as the emotional, so-
cial , spiritual and physical aspects.” (Conradie, 2003:37)
Holistic fitness programs and/ or multi-faceted programs are imperative in addressing the needs of any South African school. Multi-
faceted programs have, because of their composition, the ability to bring stability in the lives of thousands of learners obstructed by
challenging socio economic environments. These programs not only improve the fitness of the learners, but at the same time also their
self-image.
The holistic fitness program enrolled by the CMGE investigated whether an evaluation representation as applied in this research:
1. Can give insight into how to develop a fitness program and assist to refine and improve such a program;
2. Assists, through evaluation to identify the various components of a fitness program that can be modified to optimize the out-
comes of the program.
It was found that the structure provided by the program encourage significant positive attitudes towards class attendance, academic
challenges and personal socio economic circumstances. It was concluded that the participation in a structured fitness program is confi-
dently associated with the development of more positive attitudes.
The most common physical activity that these learners do in their daily life is walking and running. Homes are usually very far from
school. Therefore, walking and running between school and their home becomes their daily exercise and is consequently their most
frequent physical activity. It is apparent that most children from this type of rural, deprived environment have a limited amount of
physical activities to select from. They also have low accessibility to sport facilities and sport resources.
The research investigated the influence of a 30 week holistic motor program on learner’s attitudes in 7 multigrade schools in the West-
ern Cape of South Africa. A sample of 239 (N = 124 males and N = 115 females), grade 4—6 multigrade learners participated in the
study. The gross motor ability improved from 35.08 percent to 48.19 percent, thus a significant improvement of 13.11 percent. Major
improvements were tested in hand eye coordination, speed, upper body strength and muscle endurance in boys and girls throughout all
ages.
13.11% General improvement
School Pre Boys Pre Girls Post Boys
Post Girls
Pre Total Post Total Improve-ment
Holvlei 30.9 35.2 44.44 49.66 33.03 47.05 14.02
Kweekkraal 34.3 32.5 53.17 45.21 33.35 49.19 15.64
St Michaels
34.3 34.1 51.62 43.42 33.55 47.52 13.97
La Plaisente 29.1 38.6 47.7 48.9 34 48.3 14.3
Blouvlei 35.2 30.6 47.55 48.9 34 48.3 14.3
Welvaart 43.8 36.7 58.67 50.23 40.35 54.45 14.1
Karookop 42.7 34.10 50.47 44.47 38.40 47.47 9.07
Pre To-tal
Post Total
35.08 48.19 13.11
The results obtained from the post test indicated that low accessibility to sport resources and facilities can be bridged by the follow-
ing model.
- Simplistic General Motor Program
- Guided material, and mobile equipment to implement such a basic motor program.
- Sustainable training and support
- Constant monitoring and evaluation of such a model
- The differentiation of intensity, skill level, ability
If learners from disadvantaged, multi-grade schools wish to survive in today’s knowledge-based society, a positive attitude towards
their schoolwork, parents and teachers, fellow classmates, society and themselves is imperative. Research on interventions that
could influence attitudes positively is therefore relevant and should be of great value to both teachers and educational planners.
“The unequal access to quality-differentiated education is one of the major inequalities affecting the rural poor. However, the rural nature of
these challenges is often overlooked” (Joubert, 2011).
P A G E 9 V O L U M E 2 I S S U E 1
C M G E N E W S
Article by: Sors Joubert
P A G E 1 0
On Thursday, February 9th, Welvaart Primary made history through involving learners to their learners to
their first parent meeting. Welvaart currently has 52 pupils, 46 of these learners and 54 parents attended.
The main purpose of the parent and child evening was to introduce parents and learners to Welvaart’s parental involvement program for this
term. The principal, Mr. Kobus Johnson, welcomed all parents and learners; he then gave Mr. Nico Venter an opportunity to briefly explain to
the parents and learners the parent involvement program. The emphasis was on the importance of partnerships between parents, school and
community. The seven strategies of the parent involvement program were explained and the importance to learning emphasized.
Parents and learners were accompanied by their respective teachers to their classes. Here the parents and their children discussed their own
children’s interests and needs. Parents had to write their children’s interests and needs, in terms of learning, down. Parents also had to com-
plete a SMS-form which will enable the school to communicate via a SMS-system with the parents regarding learning and general information.
The teachers of Welvaart Primary then used the rest of the evening to convey important information.
Welvaart Primary holds first parent and child evening
Article by: Nico Venter
P A G E 1 1
V O L U M E 1 I S S U E 5
Further reading on the articles in this issue go to the following links:
1. Article on pg 1 –2
http://www.cmge.co.za/news/article/2860/Multigrade-teacher-training-all-over-SA-to-start-a-great-year
2. Article on pg 3 –4
http://www.iadtschoolinabox.com http://www.apple.com/za/education/ipad/
3. Article on pg 5: View eJournal at www.cmge.co.za
Thank you to all who have contributed to this issue of our newsletter.
Our newsletter issues are online at:
http://www.cmge.co.za/newsletters-and-reports/
CMGE News
C M G E N E W S
IN THE NEXT ISSUE:
New CMGE staff member: Wilco Jacobs
1. The Green Teacher: Wilco Jacobs
2. Recommended Books: Nadene Otto
[2nd Year Postgrad Student in Education Student]
PS. If you would like to contribute to the newsletter, please e-mail your articles to
Rodger Adams: [email protected] or
Gaynöhl Andrews: [email protected]
Name Job Title E-mail Address
Chanelle Moses Administrator: Training/ Development [email protected]
Cyril Lawless Sport Facilitator [email protected]
Desiree Chinasamy-Dampies Office Manager [email protected]
Gaynöhl Andrews Reception [email protected]
Nadene Otto Data-capturer / Editing [email protected]
Priscilla Murugan (Dr) Researcher [email protected]
René van der Merwe Early Childhood Development [email protected]
Rodger Adams Curriculum Coordinator [email protected]
Sors Joubert Sport Facilitator [email protected]
Sharlé Matthews Arts and Craft Coordinator [email protected]
Dr. Van As Jordaan Multigrade Education/ [email protected]
Expert Consultant
Wilco Jacobs The Green Teacher [email protected]
Holyoke Building
College Street
WELLINGTON
7654
Phone: +27 (0) 21 873 7843
Fax: +27 (0) 21 873 7647
Website: http://www.cmge.co.za
http://www.cput.ac.za/cmge/
VISION
Improvement of MULTIGRADE EDUCATION to
combat poverty in the world by means of the estab-
lishment of an expert centre which will improve and
distribute the knowledge of MG.
MISSION
The establishment of an international centre for the
development of frameworks and policies for quality
instruction and learning in MG Education, based on
research and good practices and distributed and
supported through IT.
Contact person:
Dr. Jurie Joubert
E-mail: [email protected]
Cell : +27764855333
Tel : (021) 873 7843
Fax : (021) 873 7647
THE CENTRE FOR MULTIGRADE
EDUCATION
CMGE Staff