Monday, 18 February 2013 21:29 | Written by John Thole |
Edunova has, for the past four months, been going through a restructuring process. This is never an easy exercise and all the usual fears, suspicion and uncertainty associated with this challenging process, have had to be navigated in our small business. I have been asked by a few people why it has been necessary to embark on this journey when Edunova is doing good things. It’s a good question and I therefore felt that I’d like to try and share some of the rationale for putting us all through this exercise.
Edunova is now 8 years old. The journey to this point has been filled with a range of hugely inspiring and successful times, all of which served to help develop the credibility with which we now enjoy. It will not be a surprise to learn that there have also been some difficult times and some anxious moments. However, it became abundantly clear that if we were to make the kind of impact we wished to make in the education sector then Edunova would need to develop further capacity in all areas. Redefining roles, employing new skills, re-doing employment contracts, taking on new staff, firming up the rigour of finance and administration processes all formed part of the journey undertaken by the team over the past 4 months.
What I call the ‘romantic’ period of Edunova’s development has had to be overlaid with a more structured and mature model of operations. Whilst this approach is necessary if we are to make some efficiency gains and ultimately ensure more effective use of the funds with which we have been entrusted, it remains vital that opportunities for collaborating, nurturing emerging talent and adding value, are also at the forefront of our operations.
Edunova is all about its people. Without the staff, most of whom have been very loyal and have themselves walked a long journey of development, there is only a functional business model left. “Only a functional business model,” you might say? Yes, without witnessing and ‘feeling’ the development of the Edunova team, in their own right, it would be difficult to remain motivated and find purpose in the challenging landscape within which we operate. I have, time and time again, seen the Edunova facilitators convince educators and school leaders to continue with training so that they too could experience the power of e-learning and the liberation that access to technology can have on their lives. Developing confidence in the use of technology, having access to the internet, finding and developing resources for your classroom, engaging and collaborating with people from around the globe, sharing the joy of learning, posting stories for all to read are some of the experiences that we all go through as we walk the journey of all that technology enables us to access and do. The Edunova facilitators have all walked this journey and can therefore, with authenticity, speak to and support educators, parents and young learners as they start to walk the path of becoming global citizens.
So, the need to restructure and re-organise the Edunova team, has been carried out to ensure a stable platform with new experience, new skills, stronger systems and better processes. The ability to now support the development of personal learning networks (PLNs), take these into the classrooms and to enable far more relevant learning to take place is one step closer to reality. The Edunova team is a brave one, willing to embark on a new journey, much of which is unknown but is yet unstoppable. The children we serve are young South African citizens, who all deserve access to the kind of learning presented by the power of a connected world. If Edunova cannot remain relevant in our chosen area of focus then I, for one, no longer deserve to have my current job description.
Friday, 23 November 2012 08:38 | Written by John Thole |
Using ICT to drastically Improve Outcomes
Having worked in the UK on an ‘education transformation agenda’ for just over 10 years (1994-2004), I would like to share the success experienced by the Hugh Christie Technology College. The model here is one which is possible to embrace within a South African context and could make a significant difference in a very short period of time.
The Hugh Christie Technology College is a state run school for students aged 7 – 18, located in Kent, UK. This school of approximately 1100 represents and underserved population where the students failed to meet the standards necessary for them to attend a more prestigious “Academy”. (In the UK, the top 10% of students are availed this opportunity, with the rest sent to local LEA state schools.) Prior to the direction described in this article, Hugh Christie School scored in the bottom 40% of achievement scores for similar institutions. The school was facing financial crisis with almost 86% of their operating budget going to personnel costs.
In 2001 the school was placed under new leadership. Chris Gerry, the new “principal” (referred to as head teacher in the UK) immediately began to institute cultural change. Under his leadership he began to reinvent the classroom. Larger learning spaces were created so that classes of 60 – 100 students could be conducted. Curriculum modules were created so that students had increased flexibility and improved relevance while still meeting their educational requirements. Quality teachers willing to move to this new learning environment were provided the opportunity, while others remained teaching in the status quo. During this transitional period, teachers and students in large class sizes were all placed in environments that had 1:1 access. Such access was initially provided through desk top computers and now, every year 7 and year 8 student has their own Tablet PC. Incoming grades will continue to receive this type of access.
Over the next two years, Hugh Christie became revitalized. Student achievement scores in the new learning environments rose. More and more, traditional classrooms were no longer found. Lead teachers were now supporting with teaching aides and the quality of instruction and instructor rose considerably. And most important, as recently reported in their state wide achievement report, Hughe Christie has more that 54% of students at proficiency levels. This all being accomplished while decreasing their personnel operating expenses to 68% of total budget.
Three unique social variables currently present in the education community require educational leaders to drastically rethink the teaching and learning environments we are creating, specifically in urban education.
Factor 1
Significant research supports the idea that the most significant factor in student achievement is teacher quality. While great conversations have been had with regards to individual class size as well as school population, the fact remains the greatest variable is the quality of the teacher in the classroom. This variable is not dependent on the number of students the teacher is responsible for. A gifted and talented teacher will create a successful learning environment for all students given the appropriate resources regardless of class size. A good teacher can teach 12… 20…. 50…. or even 100 students, if they have available to them the tools and resources necessary for such learning environments. Similar research has been done in areas that can be drawn on for comparison. One of the most significant preventative suicide factors is the presence of quality relationships in the individual’s life. It does not matter if the individual comes from a small family of three or a large family of ninety. It is the quality of those relationships that matter the most.
Factor 2
Many would argue there is a significant shortage of quality teachers in South Africa and abroad. Great Britain, Australia, and the US all quote similar figures. In the US alone, 50% of new teachers will leave the profession in the first 5 years. Limited teacher recruitment due to salary constraints, poor teaching environments, and few professional growth opportunities will create an economic condition where demand will easily surpass supply in the very near future. With evidence of such condition currently present in the US, local education authorities are forced to seek alternative certification routes, causing concern for the dilution of the profession. The integration of technology, added demands of accountability and limited budgets are causing many good teachers to leave for the private sector. Federal legislation in the US, requiring all local education authorities to insure that classrooms are managed by a “highly qualified” teacher is causing panic in many districts.
Factor 3
Preparing students for the 21st century requires significant investments in tools and resources that are not currently supported in local education authorities’ traditional operating expense budgets. Broadband access between home and school, 1:1 device access and technical support, and ongoing professional development for teachers and administrators, are required resources in today’s classrooms however they are unsupported by local budgets. Personnel expenditures including salary, pensions and health care represent on average over 80% of local education authorities’ budget outlays. These costs are required expenditures that must be met due to contractual obligations and create little flexibility with regard to supplemental funding of additional resources. As a result schools are forced to fund the status quo and innovation and advancement suffer. Such outcomes can be seen in the relatively few alterations made to our teaching and learning environments over the past century, especially when compared to other social industries such as health care and research.
Solution
At first glance, this proposal will yield drastic reaction. However, it is requested that serious thought and consideration be given prior to its dismissal….
By increasing class size to 60 – 90 students, local education authorities will be able to:
Hire from a quality pool of “lead teacher” candidates due to the reduction of required headcount
Redistribute personnel savings that are achieved by hiring less “lead teachers” to fund appropriate resources and tools for student and teachers, including personal computing devices, broadband access and systemic professional development.
Utilize “teacher aide” model and pre-service “student aides” to provide the necessary additional support in these larger learning spaces
Create personalized, student-driven learning environments, realized through quality integration of technology and resources, where the student becomes more responsible for their own learning and achievement
Increase the professional status of the “lead teacher” through improved peer recognition, increased salary scales and time for professional growth opportunities.
Sunday, 05 August 2012 20:25 | Written by John Thole |
Edunova Learning Centres – a partnership between schools and their resource hub
It has been so fulfilling starting the second Edunova Learning Centre! With a history of working in schools and moving between different locations to run training sessions, meet with Principals and teachers, the establishing of Learning Centres in the ‘heart’ of these school clusters has truly transformed the way in which learners and teachers can access resources, training and information.
Learning Centres are not a new creation and certainly not an idea developed entirely by Edunova. So, why is it then that so many of the Resource Centres or Learning Centres are so under-utilised and in many cases, so ineffective? The reason seems a fairly simple one in that the resource centres should be set up and positioned as belonging to the schools, for their use and their access. To put in place too many hurdles and barriers to entry, school teachers and learners tend not to take advantage of the facilities available to them.
Another reason why the Edunova learning Centres seem to work very well is that the school itself is not neglected or abandoned – school-based training, meetings and visits continue to take place. Each school has its own unique characteristics and is set within its own context and if any development work is to be sustained then the school must be fully embraced within any implementation. A Learning Centre can therefore not operate in isolation, simply publishing a variety of training programmes, it has to be designed in such a way that there is a permanent programmatic link in place between the Learning Centre and the schools it serves.
The Learning Centre in Philippi serves approximately 30 schools and the newly established one in Somerset West will also serve about 30 schools in the region. All schools lie within a 7km radius from the Learning Centre, making it easily accessible and not too time consuming to travel between the school and the Learning Centres.
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