A Good Week...

The week started out a bit rocky.... we learned our key client was not in the office and we had worked hard over the weekend to create drafts of our materials!  He was in Polokwane - and said he 'might' stop by when he finished the meeting later in the afternoon.  So I called one of the people we had met last week to see if he might be available.  He was - and we called out driver to arrange a pick up time for the afternoon.

Masana Lodge, where the team stays, is great - it's small - 26 rooms - and we have the run of the place (including the kitchen!).  There were no conferences scheduled for Monday so they gave us the conference room - along with an overhead projector so we could work together more easily.  We made good progress - and since it was a lovely sunny day, lunch was a picnic by the pool - and something more than crackers and cheese!  (The building where we work has no cafeteria and no nearly restaurants - but they do have an outdoor grill where they cook and sell food.. we're not that brave to try any!) 

 Mid-afternoon our driver came - and we went to the provincial offices in Polokwane - where another of the CSC teams is working - to meet Charles.  He was a principal for about 30 years, a teacher before that, and now works for the provincial education department.  He's also active in the union.   All of these experiences were important to our understanding of the landscape - since one of our deliverables is a framework for professional development for teachers. (I'm also taking pictures of some signs - on our walk to the conference room I noted a 'Disabled Toilet" and the "Department of Security and School Beautification.)

We learned that the union is strong - and if a teacher does not want the principal to observe him/her, can refuse and the union backs the teacher.  As a result, some teachers get no evaluation from the principal yet continue to hold their jobs.  Did I already tell you that Limpopo province has the lowest achievement scores in South Africa?  We also learned that some teachers attend union meetings during the school day - and there are no substitute teachers so the children play in the classroom - many come to school for the free lunch - and others come because their parents are working  - and apparently these parents may not be aware that the teacher is not there for the day - until the child says something when they get home in the afternoon.

So we need to consider the union in our recommendations for implementing the professional development framework.  The union does provide some professional development - and we understood that some of the time the focus is on union activities - as well as providing guidance to teachers to 'deal' with principals who want them to teach!

So why are we creating the professional development framework?  A new curriculum is coming at the start of the school year in January.  The teachers have had some training about what's in the new curriculum - called CAPS. The focus of the training is on the content - what to teach but not the HOW - the teaching methods.  And we are focusing on the early years - K - 3.  Some of these teachers don't have the skills to teach.  Many of the teachers colleges focus on the middle and high school students - and teachers who don't 'make it' in the high school are 'sent' to teach the early grades - typically with no age-pecific training!

So with the combination of very low test scores, many teachers without the training needed to teach, and CAPS training that focuses on content - there's a big gap here!  So in addition to the framework we need an implementation plan that addresses many different stakeholders - including the union!  A part of our deliverable is a needs assessment tool - to identify professional development gaps among the teachers.

We returned to the lodge about 4:30 and continued work, reflecting on what we had learned from Charles and how we were going to incorporate it in our work - and about 6 pm received a call from our client!  He was outside the gate (yes everything is behind high walls with barbed electric wire at the top!)  So we opened the gate - and worked for over an hour and a half.  And the great part - is that we LOVED the drafts we showed him!

Today we went to the district office to meet with Leah - a really bright and talented Curriculum Advisor.  We walked through the details of our framework, provided our vision of how it might be rolled out - and she provided great feedback - and indicated we were developing a very useful tool!  (This is the third Excel file/tool that we're developing - a major step forward in data collection - and Daniel on the team is so talented with Excel!)


Mid-afternoon we returned - to continue work on the framework - and the final report - which is due next week!  Can't believe we are more than halfway through our assignment! 

And we learned that our key client is in meetings for the rest of the week - and since he's already approved our drafts, we have the rest of the week to work on our final report - and our presentations for next week!