Program objectives:
• Training practitioners and care givers at home-based pre-primary schools and formal schools to gain an accredited national certificate in NQf level 1 and 4.
• Training and equiping ECD educators through demonstration lessons in their classrooms.
• Equiping educators with skills of facilitating numeracy, literacy and life skills.
• Supporting educators with planning and assessment skills.
• Improving the quality of classroom management in targeted schools (school-based and home-based).
The programme put in place to achieve these goals is multifaceted. All teachers start off by registering for general Saturday workshops. Once they have attended these for a year they attend specialist Saturday workshops for two years after that. During these three years they attend cluster workshops with their peers in their teaching regions and are visited by fieldworkers in their schools to reinforce all learning. Each of these is explained below:
i) General Workshops - these cover basics and include topics such as classroom management; planning programmes; creativity; perception; numeracy; movement and music and school readiness.
ii) Specialist Workshops topics are usually determined by an area in which educators feel they have insufficient competency. Having gained confidence and some competency in this area, they are then expected to enhance their skills through their own efforts. Topics include computers (Word and Excel); assessment; creativity; movement; HIV/AIDS; theme planning; story-telling; barriers to Learning; English and numeracy.
iii) Cluster Workshops are held each of three areas mentioned below. Groups of educators in these areas meet at one target school and educators from neighbouring schools are allowed to attend. Topics are chosen on recommendation from educators who are not coping with certain skills or learning area. Some of these have been managing large group sessions in which theme discussions, stories, or rhymes and movement are attempted; classroom management in which educators learn to manage their classrooms and divide them according to areas e.g. fantasy/ book corner, maths and sciences corners; general planning using the national curriculum statement - daily, weekly and annually and time management in class following a daily programme.
iv) School visits by fieldworkers are planned to complete baseline studies and demonstration lessons (eg music and stories). They also provide help where this is needed and support efforts such a team teaching to improve educator - learner ratios.
Finally educators who have never had any formal training in ECD may request to do an accredited course in this area (at NQF level 1 and 4) thereby enabling them to earn a nationally recognized qualification. This course runs on selected weeks during the term as well as holidays. An entrance fee is payable for this course.
A number of Schools have been partnered in this programme in three different areas:
a) Mganduzweni Area: Ikhanyeti Primary and Siyancoba Primary
b) Zwelisha Area: Phakani Primary, Sakhasive Day Care, Kasintjengwane Pre-school and Chakaza Primary
c) Clau-Clau Area: Mhwayi Primary, Maqamela Primary and Mattafin Pre-school (Special School)
