Hands-on Learning Issue 25

Through the newly rebranded edition of our Hands-on Learning publication developed in June 2023, we hope to play a helpful role in synthesising information from innovators and implementers in civil society, supporting them to share what they have learnt so that others are able to draw from and build on their experiences. Blended learning: When […]
Learning Brief – Blended learning: When partnerships spark innovation

This learning brief explores how partnerships between government, civil society and communities led to innovations aimed at tackling a number of challenges impacting quintile 1–3 schools in South Africa, serving some of the country’s poorest children. To read this learning brief, download a PDF here or read it magazine-style on ISSUU here. […]
Schools must allow parents’ voices to be heard to ensure quality education

In Ganyesa, a small village outside of Vryburg in the North West, Mme Mashego*, an enthusiastic mother to a grade 6 learner, takes pride in going to her son’s school a week before assessments start to encourage learners to study and try their best at school. While Mme Mashego did not finish school, she wants […]
SmileFM Interview: Western Cape High Court ruling upholding Collaboration Schools

David Harrison, CEO of the DG Murray Trust, together with Anthony Hall, Project Lead of Public School Partnerships spoke to SmileFM – elaborating on the implications of the recent Western Cape High Court ruling on the introduction of collaboration schools model to no-fee schools across the Western Cape. Read more here, and listen to the […]
INX Prime Interview: Western Cape High Court ruling upholding Collaboration Schools

Anthony Hall, Project Lead of Public School Partnerships spoke to SmileFM – elaborating on the implications of the recent Western Cape High Court ruling on the introduction of collaboration schools model to no-fee schools across the Western Cape. Read more here, and watch the interview below.
DGMT welcomes Western Cape High Court ruling to uphold Collaboration Schools

DGMT welcomes the High Court’s decision to uphold the introduction of Collaboration Schools in the Western Cape as a means of improving learner outcomes at no-fee schools. The South African Democratic Teachers Union (SADTU) and Equal Education (EE) took the Western Cape government to court in 2019 to challenge a new provincial law that made […]
Learning Brief: Strengthening Links in the Learning Chain: The Value of Accelerated Learning Programmes

In South Africa, poor reading proficiency in schools has been compounded by pandemic-era learning losses. Accelerated Learning Programmes (ALPs), in various forms, can help address this deficit because they are designed to support children who are constantly falling behind. This learning brief explores how ALPs can help fill the gaps in our schooling system.
Learners were falling behind before the pandemic, so how can we achieve fundamental catch-up?

Learning loss. We’ve heard this term a fair amount since the pandemic began. It’s commonly understood as a specific or general loss of knowledge and skills, or a reversal in academic progress because of gaps in a learner’s education. On radio, television and in newspapers, education researchers and experts used the term to describe the […]
Learning Brief: Against all odds — enabling distance learning in lower quintile schools

While public benefit organisations have long spoken out about the importance of bridging the ‘digital divide’, the COVID-19 pandemic revealed, more acutely than ever before, the impacts of unequal access to digital tools and connectivity. In this learning brief, two initiatives committed to keeping learners in school – the Zero Dropout Campaign and Public School […]
Zero Dropout Schools Initiative

Finding ways to help more learners make it through school Despite South Africa’s large investment in basic education, about 40% of Grade 1 learners will exit the South African schooling system before reaching Grade 12. Most of them will remain stuck in poverty and unemployment for life. E-learning resources to use at home Click Here […]