THE EDVENTURE
I have a real love for education and this adventure is really an edventure.
I plan to visit as many innovative education organisations as possible throughout the journey to showcase what they are doing and how they are transforming education in Africa. Watch this space for updates on the visits. First three planned visits are below:
I plan to visit as many innovative education organisations as possible throughout the journey to showcase what they are doing and how they are transforming education in Africa. Watch this space for updates on the visits. First three planned visits are below:
1. African Leadership Academy (South Africa)
African Leadership Academy (ALA) seeks to transform Africa by developing a powerful network of over 6,000 leaders who will work together to address Africa’s greatest challenges, achieve extraordinary social impact, and accelerate the continent’s growth trajectory. |
2. Nova Pioneer Academies (South Africa)
Nova Pioneer Education Group is a Pan-African independent school network offering preschool through secondary education for students from ages 3 through 19. They prepare the next generation of leaders and innovators through world-class teaching methods with an emphasis on 21st century skills. |
These guys are really thinking differently about how to create schools which can develop innovators and leaders who can go on to shape the world for good.
Full debrief coming shortly, but check out what Chinezi Chijioke, the visionary and charismatic CEO behind Nova Pioneer, had to say when we met (14th March)!
Full debrief coming shortly, but check out what Chinezi Chijioke, the visionary and charismatic CEO behind Nova Pioneer, had to say when we met (14th March)!
3. Mount Pleasant English Middle School (Botswana)
Mount Pleasant offers high quality primary education at a relatively affordable price point ($400-600). Under Mrs Edna Swaniker's leadership, the school has achieved some phenomenal results with very limited resources. The school has recorded 100% 'A' passes in Primary School Leaving Examinations (PSLE) in 6 different years! The students have amazing facilities including a computer room, library, tennis court and swimming pool which Mrs Swaniker has been able to build at low cost through what she calls 'direct labour' by supervising the contractors herself and driving a hard bargain! Students learn agriculture in addition to regular subjects and are actively involved in growing fruits and vegetables at the school (see photo below). With the local mine recently closed in Selebi Phikwe, the school has contracted from c.400 to c.200 students. An exciting chapter is ahead as Mount Pleasant looks at potential partnerships or boarding options to increase the catchment area once again. |
4. John Mackenzie School (Botswana)
Thank you to Sharon Joubert for hosting me both at the school and at home! I came in the midst of some very impressive music and dance rehearsals (see below) and it was a privilege to speak to the students about ALA, my adventure and how they should find and follow their own adventures whatever they may be.
This is another superb Botswanan primary school and the standard of teaching is excellent. Many of the Grade 1 and 2 (5 and 6 year olds) students already knew about the Pyramids when asked what they knew about Egypt.
Thank you to Sharon Joubert for hosting me both at the school and at home! I came in the midst of some very impressive music and dance rehearsals (see below) and it was a privilege to speak to the students about ALA, my adventure and how they should find and follow their own adventures whatever they may be.
This is another superb Botswanan primary school and the standard of teaching is excellent. Many of the Grade 1 and 2 (5 and 6 year olds) students already knew about the Pyramids when asked what they knew about Egypt.
5. Ischool (Zambia)
Ischool is an elearning organisation which has developed primary school content (Grades 1-7) preloaded onto tablets. The content is primarily related to the Zambian national curriculum though they have also started a maths and science pilot in South Africa. The content on the tablet has a teacher version with highly scripted and detailed lesson plans to ensure consistency across classrooms. These classes can also be projected direct from the tablet to make the sessions more interactive. There are two student versions, one for use in class and one which has homework. The next step needs to be to automate some of the assessments so that students can receive grading without teacher input on some tasks. They have sold around 35,000 tablets since inception. With the price point at around $200 for the tablet with preloaded content and headsets, the majority of customers have been in the private sector. In order to reach their target of 100 million users across Africa, I think they are going to need to find a way to drop their costs perhaps through focusing on more unitised content delivery (e.g. Grade 1 maths, rather than selling all subjects and all grades) which is technology agnostic (i.e. can be on any tablet or smartphone rather than preloaded onto a specific tablet which they sell). |
If you have suggestions or contacts for innovative and effective organisations in Zambia, Malawi, Tanzania, Kenya, Ethiopia, Sudan or Egypt which address learning from early years to adults, particularly using technology, I would love to hear from you (contacts at the bottom of About).