t seems only fitting to dedicate our first edition to the very people who hold the potential of our children in their hands, several hours a day, five days a week. In the pages that follow we look at South Africa’s education system from the perspective of teachers. Suffering from an ailing reputation in a struggling system, we take a journey into some of the country’s most impoverished classrooms to see what it’s really like to be a teacher in South Africa today. We take you into the hearts and minds of those who participate in and contribute to our education system, by sharing their daily experiences and candid reflections.

We then explore how Zimbabwe has managed to retain a handle on its own education system that, year after year, storm after storm, continues to stand strong and proud; a country where teaching is once again considered the ‘noble profession’.

What we don’t do in this issue is offer a neat set of takeaways or convenient roadmaps to change – there are plenty of experts who’ve already studied our education system systematically and in much detail, providing solid recommendations for policy and system reform.  So, rather than telling you what to think, this publication aims to give you lots to think about. 

The education system is typically portrayed through highly technical terms, and in fragmented ways, so our aim has been to stitch together the daily realities of those working and learning in it, each with their own story to tell. Our hope is to cultivate a space where we can look at our teachers and the education system with less judgment and more compassion, less blame and more broad-mindedness; to draw out insight and inspiration from a wide range of people – including some who never thought they had a contribution to make.

Wherever there is a movement for change, you will find at its heart people who care. A sense of identity, purpose, belonging, possibility in life and agency – these are the levers for mobilising society, and they are embodied in people, not programmes.