Education
Early Childhood Education & Development
International research has shown that investment in the education, health, welfare, care and development of children aged 0-6 increases the chances of children remaining and progressing in the school system in later years, reduces social and gender inequality, and enhances children’s later economic contribution to society.
It is estimated that only 16% of the approximately 7 million South African children in this age group receive formal instruction during their preschool years. Children at home or with informal caregivers often experience a lack of adult attention, little access to educational toys and equipment, and few learning experiences outside their immediate environment. Investment in ECD is thus an essential part of the pursuit of South Africa’s socio-economic development.
Many adults in poor communities have little or no knowledge the importance of stimulating children through actively engaging them in learning through play or how to provide this kind of stimulation for optimal developmental results. Where more formal childcare centres do exist in poor communities, many of the care-givers experience a lack of resources and training, and few children go through a formal Grade R or reception year programme at age 5/6 before starting Grade 1.
When children from poor communities enter the schooling system they are thus often under-prepared in terms of their physical, social, cognitive, emotional and spiritual development. Neuroscientists have shown that interventions during the early years are critical to establishing the foundation for later learning and development. Investing in early childhood development in South Africa can put in place the necessary foundations for children to make the most of their primary school education.
The Cadiz Foundation is thus committed to ensuring that early childhood development initiatives are given sufficient support in communities where they are critically needed.
Secondary Schooling
Schools are particularly important for the poor, because they hold the only hope for these children of developing the skills and attitudes required to escape poverty. The bad news in South Africa is that nearly 80% of schools provide education of such poor quality that they constitute a very significant obstacle to social and economic development, while denying the majority of poor children full citizenship. …. A tiny band of schools situated in the poorest communities provide some of the highest quality education. They are performing heroic deeds under difficult conditions, and serve as role models for the rest of the system. They should be prioritised for investment (Nic Taylor, “Schools, Skills & Citizenship”, undated).
Although the Millennium Development Goals focus on providing basic primary education to all, and whilst it is true that primary education provides a foundation, it is equally strongly argued that secondary education is where students acquire the skills needed to secure employment and deliver real benefits to national economies. According to the World Bank, only about 25% of African primary school pupils make it to high school and just 10% of secondary school students eventually graduate. This reflects a severe shortage of schools and teachers at secondary level.
Whilst secondary education may be more expensive than primary education, we believe it is in secondary school that scholars have the ability to become independent and critical thinkers. This is particularly if we want to prepare learners for the future building of our nation.
The majority of South Africa’s “best schools” are those which were reserved exclusively for white children prior to 1994, but which today hold the promise of providing excellent education to the poorest children. While the demographics of most of these schools are changing, this is a slow process. A priority for this group, therefore, is to provide incentives for them to enrol greater numbers of poor children.
The Cadiz Foundation is committed to providing good educational opportunities to South African scholars and to enhancing educational opportunities and resources within schools where learners and educators are committed to improvement of the educational process. As a Foundation, therefore, we will specifically focus on supporting those initiatives that build secondary schooling opportunities and resources to ensure that the percentage of learners attending secondary school – and benefiting from quality secondary school education – is greatly enhanced.
Professional development of educators and principals
The most profound and enduring effects of apartheid inequalities are to be found in education, including poor infrastructure and facilities for poor people, a lack of proper amenities, and inadequate training for teachers. The Report of the Ministerial Committee on Rural Education (2005) highlighted specific challenges facing teachers in rural schools including a shortage of qualified and competent teachers, problems of teaching in multi-grade and large classes, under-resourced school facilities, and limited access to professional development programmes for teachers. In addition, because of their own poor education, the knowledge resources of most South African teachers are not strongly developed.
Teachers are the largest single occupational group and profession in the country, numbering close to 390 000 in public and private schools. Their role has strategic importance for the intellectual, moral, and cultural preparation of our young people. They work in extremely complex conditions, largely due to the pervasive legacies of apartheid, but also as a result of the new policies needed to bring about change in education.
Schools are designed to prepare each succeeding generation of children with the appropriate knowledge, skills and values to understand such challenges and contribute to overcoming them, as well as to fulfil their personal potential and aspirations. Teacher education, including continuing professional development, has the vital role of equipping teachers to undertake this task.
Teachers are the essential drivers of a good quality education system. International evidence shows that the professional education and development of teachers works best when teachers themselves are integrally involved in it, reflecting on their own practice; when there is a strong school-based component; and when activities are well co-ordinated.
The Cadiz Foundation is thus committed to supporting initiatives that strive to properly equip teachers to undertake their essential and demanding tasks, to enable them to continually enhance their professional competence and performance, and to raise the esteem in which they are held by their learners and school communities. Ultimately the Foundation would like to support the development of a strong community of competent teachers dedicated to providing education of high quality, with high levels of performance as well as ethical and professional standards of conduct.
Projects in this sector
Kids Foundation
Since 2005 the Cadiz Foundation has supported 10 Kids Foundation scholars by providing long-term bursary support to enable these motivated scholars to access quality secondary schooling educational opportunities and realize their obvious potential.