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Project Detail School Partnership Initiative Partnership Coordinator: Dr Keith Borien (CEO, BEFSA) E-mail: keithborien@befsa.org Tel and Fax: 0027 (0) 21 876 2423 Cell: 0027 (0) 82 418 5648 Partnership Support South Africa: Miss Nomfundo Sobukwe : E-mail: nomfundosobukwe@befsa.org Fort Beaufort District Education: Mrs Tumsi Maweni, Education Development Officer: Tel: 0027 (0) 82 746 9936 Partnership Support United Kingdom Mr Martin Roberts (BEFSA Trustee): Email: hmartinroberts@btinternet.com Tel: 00 44 (0) 1865 510039 Mr Richard Graydon (BEFSA Trustee) Email: richardgraydon@ukonline.co.uk Tel: 0044 (0) 1179 248402 There are currently 55 UK schools drawn from local education authorities linked with 55 schools in the Fort Beaufort and King Williams Town Districts of the Eastern Cape and from the Grabouw District in the Western Cape. In the vast majority of cases the links are two way i.e. one UK school partners one SA school. In a small number of cases a three way link has been established. In these cases there are historical, educational and practical reasons for the establishment of these three way links. For a DETAILED LIST of all United Kingdom and South African schools participating in this initiative and for the CONTACT DETAILS of each partnership school please click here. To view a map of the Fort Beaufort district, please click here. To give the partnerships a sense of formality (NB not legality) a MEMORANDUM OF UNDERSTANDING has been drafted for use by each school partnership. These can be amended by each partnership of schools to suit their individual arrangements. To see a copy of the draft Memorandum of Understanding please click here. For details about the HISTORICAL AND EDUCATIONAL CONTEXT in which the Fort Beaufort schools are located please click here. The 32 schools in this initiative from the Fort Beaufort District are the only schools in the Fort Beaufort District which have a computer. Of these only three have an internet link. In most cases it is a single computer, located in the school principal’s office. One of BEFSA’s targets is to arrange for the provision of an internet connection for these schools to enable the SA & UK partner schools to talk to each other. Until that happens, communication will be by a mix of telephone and fax, email provided by internet cafés in the towns of Fort Beaufort and Alice, and by Miss Nomfundo Sobukwe. (nomfundosobukwe@befsa.org) The remaining 210 schools in the district do not have a single computer and have therefore not been included in this first initiative to partner schools across the two hemispheres. It would probably be accurate to say that these schools are characterised by even greater levels of educational impoverishment. It is not the aim of this initiative to exclude any school. Over time BEFSA expects schools with a computer and internet link to work alongside a neighbouring school without a computer until they are able to purchase/receive a computer of their own. This partnership initiative is fundamentally about taking steps to bridge and close the gap between schools in the developed and developing world. It is unashamedly about the facilitation of positive interventions to enable the former homeland schools to move forward. Schools in the UK are well placed to do this and many have indicated a willingness to do so. As partnerships are about sharing and joint working, the expectation will be for mutual support and common benefits. The partnerships will aim to share and celebrate different cultures, share intellectual ideas, assist in curriculum development e.g. Citizenship and Global Awareness, Life Skills, History/Heritage, Geography, Tourism, to share curriculum resources and learning materials, and to share expertise: e.g. assisting with the development of leadership and management training. Through this partnership initiative all UK schools will be expected to adopt an entitlement curriculum for global citizenship from age 4-19, to offer learning experiences that provide for the promotion of the global dimension, to offer programmes of learning that provides pupils with an insight into development and global issues and to help pupils understand the reasons for and the impact of poverty on people and countries in the developing world. Future Partnership Activities 1. School Development Planning A useful starting point for all UK and SA schools is the sharing of development plans. Whilst whole school development plans in the UK are detailed and sophiscated, they are rarely this advanced in South African schools. In some cases there will not be a school development plan at all or in other cases plans which reflect the impoverished nature of the educational support and guidance these schools are receiving. In anticipation of some communication around this management activity, schools in the Fort Beaufort District which are participating in this initiative have set up a task team to advise their head teacher colleagues on the importance and development of whole school planning. BEFSA will be supporting the task group and ensuring that the development plans are rooted in the guidance contained in the South African Government’s Manual of School Management and Planning. For sight of this manual please click here. 2. A distance education programme and the creation of the ‘virtual’ classroom supported by two major South African Universities. (Fort Hare and Stellenbosch). Using Interactive Telematic Education (satellite technology) developed and pioneered by the University of Stellenbosch the aim is to provide good quality distance education, particularly in science and maths, accessible to a geographically dispersed student population throughout the Fort Beaufort District. As such the distance education programme will render considerations such as time, distance and an area’s rurality irrelevant in the provision of quality teaching, and places students in the rural areas on a comparable footing with their counterparts in the cities. It is intended to support the work of classroom teachers as direct interaction between student and teacher will still be required in the pre and post satellite lesson. Within the \\\\\\\'virtual\\\\\\\' classroom, there will be opportunities for internet driven programmes, for interactive television broadcasts, and for teacher driven activities. The interactive television broadcasts are essentially a one-way image with interactive audio which is independent of landlines. Each student is able to talk to the ‘teacher’ delivering the lesson in the TV studio via a dedicated telephone. It is in this regard that the virtual classroom differs from normal classrooms. Each classroom will have a TV, a satellite decoder and a telephone handset for each pupil. This satellite room will be augmented by a satellite dish on the roof of the school. It is BEFSA’s hope that each UK school will be able to support their partner school in the development and maintenance of this initiative. |
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