Education Collaboration Framework (ECF) to support the implementation of the National Development Plan and the

Education Sector plan

Background and Update

November 2014

The collaboration model underpinning the framework

COLLABORATION MODEL

NECT Growth StagesStorming & Norming

Impact

Jul – Dec 13 Aug 14 – Jul 15

Set up phase

Inception phase

Profiling, conceptualisation

and contracting

[5 months]

Initiation, scoping and fundraising drive

Advocacy, creation of hope, demand & expectation

[6 months]

High output

Progress towards outcomes

Maintenance of confidence levels

Strategic expansion and replication

Honing in on game changing components

[36 months]

Jan -Jul 14

The set up phase has been completed successfully. Four districts completed the inception phase; two districts will complete it in October and the last two in April.

The inception phase was a highly pressured phase combining deeper understanding of district specific issues, planning and setting up of governance and implementation structures as well as some quick start up interventions

NECT project spread

The trustees are considering the breath, depth and the suite of the future NECT interventions against the many requests that reach the NECT. The key principle will be maintaining focus on a few game changers.

Scope of District Intervention Support (P1)

Profiling of 8 districts to aid in planning.

District Intervention: [P1]

8 DISTRICTS

4362 schools (18%)

Fresh Start Schools

409 – (9%)

5 Provinces

[LP, EC,KZN,NW, MP]

Learning Programmes

School Support & Monitoring

Responsive & Comprehensive

intervention

The school improvement interventions are pitched three levels as represented by the four circles. The number of FSSs have increased from 330 to 409 since the introduction of the last 2 districts. Arrangements are being made with the DBE to increase this number by another 400 which will be

taken care of by the 86 members of DBE’s national Quality Management System team that profiled the schools last year. (1st step to replication)

NECT is working with DBE (& McKinsey and co) to develop new KPIs and targets for districts.

DSCs

Highlights of start up interventions in FSS In KZN PILO has inducted 1500 school principals in the use of the toolkits

(Learning Programmes) for managing curriculum implementation.

The other provinces have not started their programmes for improving district level

efficiencies, however the circuit managers responsible for Fresh Start School in the

EC and Limpopo have been trained with the 32 change recruited for this purpose.

The change agents have made 1686 person days inputs in school to perform a

wide range of support activities in schools that have received close to no visits by the

districts

A school renovation model that costs less than R500 000 to procure the materials

and involves on average 15 interns performs critically needed infrastructure inputs

estimated at R1,5 m per school

FSS renovations are carried out in partnership with the Dept of Rural Development

which identifies interns and provide them with stipends and protective clothing

DBE has committed R16 million to refurbish 32 FSS and M&R committed to

refurbishing 4 FSS in the current financial year.

Start up interventions in FSS (cont).

Facilitation of the merging of 34 schools in the Eastern Cape

Winter schools conducted in Limpopo and the Eastern Cape. Emphasis was on

improving the quality of Winter schools, e.g. the choice of tutors, their preparation and

support.

Lead Agencies led some minor refurbishments of 50 schools in Limpopo; 3493

study guides distributed; supplied some sanitary and cleaning resources; 1234

administrative interns deployed; school renovations carried out; 105 342 school

desks and 5375 teachers’ tables repaired or supplied

A pilot of the math and science lesson streaming programme in 10 schools in the

Eastern Cape using telematic centres in collaboration with Stellenbosch

234 interns have been trained and deployed in Limpopo and Kwazulu-Natal to

provide learners with psycho-social support services

An index of psychosocial support has been developed in KZN

School renovation model- educational improvement requires a restoration of basic dignity and a creation of new aspiration

- Name School: Radzilane High school [Vhembe]

Renovated by the NECT partnership involving the Department of Basic Education and Department of Rural Department and Land Affairs Number of interns:15 (2 months) Budget: R 460,113 Sponsors for material: DBE Value of renovations: To be confirmed Description of work completed: Ceilings were renovated, new chalkboards installed and floors redone and roof painted.Name School: Ludane high school [Vhembe]Renovated by the NECT partnership involving the Department of Basic Education and Department of Rural Department and Land Affairs Number of interns:15 (2 months)Budget: R297,456.74Value of renovations: To be confirmedSponsors for material: DBE Description of work completed: Ceilings were renovated, new chalkboards installed and floors redone and roof painted.

Learning Programmes

RationalTo improve curriculum coverage by strengthening planning, instruction and management of teaching and learning. The intervention has five interdependent components and is motivated by current educational reform literature: Pacesetters; Lesson plans; Learner materials; Instructional coaching; Just in time training.

HighlightsThe planning teams have been set up in three provinces (KZN, LP and EC).Rapid resource (reading and textbook) audits were conducted EC and LP indicate that:There are insufficient readers, in most cases not enough reading material for one term.There are no readers in schools except for the Kagiso Red Pepper Big Books and the Booklets.Teachers in most schools make copies from the remaining old stock copies and books supplied by publishers.Teachers depend on the DBE Workbooks that seem to be the main resource available to them.70% of teachers indicated that they would prefer support from their fellow teachers and HODs first, and then from curriculum advisors.

Development of the Three-year plans– status and lessons

• The process was designed to go through iterative steps of describing a theory of change and developing it into a programme

• The KZN and Limpopo plans were accepted, the EC is expected end of October after it went through a revision.

• Change Theories:– KZN: Learner performance can be greatly improved through improved management,

coverage and teaching of the curriculum. – LIMPOPO: Significant improvement in learner outcomes will be achieved when teachers

constantly reflect on their teaching, and improve their planning and lesson preparation– Eastern Cape: pending – Northwest & Mpumalanga: Entering inception phase

Common design parameters were adopted - see diagram on following slide

Design parameters

Systemic Intervention project (P2)

Aims at partnering with government to address a few key challenges that are holding back

the improvement of the education system or risk reversing the gains already made.

Teacher provisioning risks undermining the existing or future gains in education

Personnel cost increased by 2.91% to 86.1% between 2010/11 and 2012/13 nationally

South Africa spent 5.99% of GDP on education in 2010, compared to an average of 6.1%

in the OECD countries. The most OECD countries spend in education in 7.2%.

The NECT’s objectives are to provide technical support in scoping the challenge, propose and

advocate for early actions and support the implementation of the recommendations.

Innovation programme [P3] Projects 1: What works at the systems level of the public service remains unexplored. This is a

‘learning project’ which build a critical case about public service performance focusing on the improvement of examination system. The scoping process is underway.

Project 2: A reference group consisting of representatives from universities (Limpopo, Medunsa and Pretoria, the LP Department of Health, the DBE, NGOs (Special Olympics South Africa, Juta & Co), and Warmbaths Hospital is designing the test project targeting Belabela circuit. The fieldwork is planned for when the schools reopen in 2015. The planning will be completed during the last quarter of 2014

• Project 3: Development of a single, clear ICT vision that is accessible to all key players in the government and private sectors. The aims are to:

– Develop an achievable implementation strategy which should be adopted at cabinet level;– Develop a coherent and affordable implementation programme incorporating the use of the

cloud, TV channels, streaming, materials, teacher centres, teacher laptops etc.;– Obtain national commitment from all key public entities including the Department of

Telecommunications and Postal Services, teacher unions, ICT companies, and the Universal Service and Access Agency of South Africa (USAASA);

– Provide implementation support and monitoring and evaluation. The Department of Telecommunication and Postal services working on partnership arrangements

to drive ICT collaboration in education. Peter Gent is finalising the scoping work in the DBE.

Local projects (P4)

The aim in this project is to promote better coordination and effectiveness of social investments

in education. The NECT will focus on low-investment, high-impact projects that will contribute

towards better decision making regarding social investment and have a more strategic impact on

education policy and programmes. To date:

•The NECT has engaged Bridge to collect and review the various Maths and Science programmes

and produce a set of lessons and guidelines based on the review.

– Discussions on how this process can be dovetailed with the initiative to draw the lessons

from the math and science chairs funded by FirstRand Foundation has been initiated

with TSI

– The outcomes of this project will be feed into the math and science strategy planning

being initiated by the DBE.

Education DialogueSA [P5]The purpose of the dialogues is to create an avenue for open, honest engagement among key stakeholders such as government, teacher unions, student organisations, civil society organisations, business, academics, and Government. To date:•Two national and one provincial dialogue were organised in the past 12 months, involving over 120 delegates representing all the above mentioned sectors. •The three dialogues provided an opportunity for discussions on how to improve teacher professionalisation and school ethos.The value of the dialogues •Created an avenue for structured conversations among stakeholders with divergent backgrounds; •Contribute to minimising gaps in perception among stakeholders; •Kept over 2000 stakeholders on the NECT database informed about the teacher professionalisation programme; and •Contributed to nurturing a common education improvement agenda by, amongst others, systematically and objectively challenging widespread misinformation and negative propaganda in the education sector.Next Steps•World Teachers’ Day Campaign with all unions , DBE, ELRC and SACE•Consolidation of recommendations from the professionalisation task team•Exploration of the Schooling model of the future •One-on-one meetings with new NEC’s of all the six unions, starting with SADTU’s on 18 November

Monitoring and Evaluation [P8]

Clarification evaluation (per programme) InceptionInput and output (fidelity) monitoring MonthlyOutcome monitoring QuarterlyComprehensive programme review (internal) AnnuallyIndependent programme assessment (external) 18 monthsReview programme M&E plans/ frameworks AnnuallySpecialist reviews which span NECT themes and programmes

Annually

DIP clarification evaluation AnnuallyDIP baseline studies AnnuallyReview DIP M&E plans/ frameworks Dec 15DIP independent review June 16DIP outcomes assessment Dec 16Commission cross-cutting evaluations Dec 15 &16

Updates•Technical and Advisory committees have been set up and have been instrumental in framing the NECT’s M&E. •The Advisory: Prof. John Volmink, Prof. Sarah Howie, Dr Martin Gustafson and Emmanuel Sibanda (Umalusi) •Draft M&E framework and draft Inception phase report are being finalised