Vulindlela Reading Club
19 July 2008
05:21 PM
Vulindlela & Grassy Park Reading Clubs are helping to create literate communities by fostering love for stories and books in informal, creative and nurturing ways.

Every Saturday morning, round about 9:45am, a few cars pull into St. Louis Primary School in Langa. The first car is inevitably met by groups of children playing in the street…waiting. As kids, some as young as 2 years old, accompanied by brothers, cousins, friends, pile into the school yard skipping and laughing, they form a circle, and the rhymes begin.

Vulindlela Reading Club, now almost 2 years old, is an initiative of Zisukhanyo Youth Empowerment. ZYE is committed to empowering the youth educationally, culturally and socially. In partnership with PRAESA this community literacy initiative was born. A group of volunteers that make themselves available for 2 hrs every Saturday to read with and to children in both isiXhosa and English has given rise to many significant insights and initiatives. The most obvious being the creation of a second reading club in the Grassy Park area that supports Afrikaans and English.

The main aim of the reading clubs is to begin to create communities that read for enjoyment. To provide children with access to good quality storybooks in both their mother tongues and English and to involve their communities to support this in meaningful ways.

Please visit our forum and contribute to the ongoing discussions that arise out of our weekly reading clubs.

In 2006, the Department of Education introduced a new curriculum into South African schools. 2008 marks the first time that Grade 12 learners will be writing their final examinations based on the new curriculum. As with any major transition, the implementation of the new curriculum has not been without a few teething problems. “Curriculum transformation is a tedious and lengthy process presenting many intellectual and practical challenges,” Ronald Swartz, the Superintendant-General of Education for the Western Cape Education Department, noted in his welcome letter to the inaugural South African Curriculum Advisors and Teacher Support (SACATS) conference in 2007.
It was in recognition of the support required by those who in turn provide support to others that the SACATS conference was conceptualised. There are approximately 3000 curriculum advisors in South Africa who are playing a pivotal role in the implementation of the new curriculum. Their duty is essentially to provide a bridge between schools and the Department of Education (DOE). They supply critical leadership and support to teachers whilst also acting as liaisons for the DOE, providing essential feedback on how the implementation process is being played out in the classrooms of South Africa.
The annual SACATS conference allows curriculum advisors from all the provinces to get together and to meet with other stakeholders in the education system, such as members of the DOE, publishing houses, and providers of ICT and other education materials. SACATS provides a unique forum for these professionals to engage with one another and to share strategies and experiences that encompass the various stages of development of schools in different geographical, social, and economic environments.
Research conducted by the Building on Success Programme, a consultative initiative that focused on exploring the competencies that curriculum advisors require to best fulfil their roles, revealed that the broadened role imposed by the transition to the new syllabus required curriculum advisors to develop new attitudes, behaviours and skills. At the time there was a paucity of resources to aid curriculum advisors in their advancement as mentors, coaches and collaborative teachers. SACATS aims to provide access to these resources in order to assist curriculum advisors in their vital task.
Rooken Podesta and Dylan Wray, responsible for initiating the SACATS conference, remark that “Curriculum Advisors do great work in difficult circumstances and it is crucial to focus appreciatively, celebrate and learn from whatever is working.” In 2008 SACATS welcomes as one of the key speakers Pam Christie, principal author of the Schools that Work report that was submitted to the DOE in late 2007. The report identified themes of success from a selection of schools that have produced exemplary results under the outcomes-based education model currently in use. Christie, an associate professor at the University of Queensland School of Education and Visiting Professor of the University of the Witwatersrand and of the Cape Peninsula University of Technology, will be discussing the recommendations of the report and the practicalities of applying them. Also speaking at the conference is Professor Jonathan Jansen, an internationally respected researcher in the field of education, and recently appointed scholar-in-residence at the Oprah Winfrey Leadership School for Girls.
In the furtherance of its goal to discover and recognise islands of excellence and success within the world of teacher support, SACATS will host the annual Curriculum Advisor Appreciation Awards. Nominations are made by teachers and principals across the country. In 2007 thirty curriculum advisors were honoured for their exceptional contributions.
SACATS 2008 incorporates an exhibition, and introduces an experiential ICT lab on its exhibition floor as a value-added learning resource. The White Paper on e-Education, which was published in 2004, stipulates that “Every teacher, manager and administrator in general and further education and training must have the skills, training and support they need to integrate ICT in teaching and learning.” The hands-on ICT training on offer at the SACATS ICT lab is aimed at giving this directive a boost forward.
The Publishers Association of South Africa (PASA) will also be showcasing the educational materials of its members, allowing curriculum advisors and teachers to access the latest textbooks and other educational materials available to South African schools
SACATS 2008 will be held at the Emperor’s Palace in Johannesburg from 7-9 July. Additional information can be found online at www.sacats.org.

For more details contact:
Malcolm Cumming
Spintelligent
Tel: +27 21 700 3500
Fax: +27 21 700 3501
mailto:malcolm.cumming@spintelligent.com

Welcome to the PRAESA blog!

The Project for the Study of Alternative Education in South Africa (PRAESA) is an independent research and development unit attached to the Faculty of Humanities at the University of Cape Town.

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In addition to a blog, which will carry PRAESA articles and news, we’ve also started a forum, where anyone in the field of alternative education may create topics for further discussion:

• PRAESA Forum

We look forward to interacting with you in both spaces.