The young actors who’ve brought John van de Ruit’s Spud characters to life. The film version of the popular novel will hit the big screen later this year.

Extended Stories - Additional information, Winter 2010

The hatching of a cunning plan

Author Dario Broccardo has taken up the good fight. He believes music is just as important as rugby. He wants his school, Kingswood College, Grahamstown, to believe the same.

Meet the reader – Tim Barnard, St Andrew’s College, Grahamstown

If Tim Barnard was South Africa's Minister of Education, he would:

Flatten all hierarchies, pay teachers higher salaries, fire uncaring teachers, make schools switch to the International Baccalaureate qualification, rebuild farm schools, supply free tertiary education for trainee teachers or engineers, reintroduce multigrade/multi-language classrooms, and get mother-tongue tuition from grade 0 to Ph.D. sorted.

He admits he may need more than a day.

The Atmosphere and Expectancy of Learning . . .

Bridget Tinniswood describes the beauty and spiritual atmosphere of Bishop Bavin school.

Can an anti-tunnel visioned, independent South African high school use its smallness as a tunnel towards nation-building?

At Cedar House, a key outcome of our community’s work is to provide our students with an academically rigorous and socio-politically rich education that will equip them with the capacity to face their futures joyfully, carefully and successfully.

School Business Management

In our current print issue (Independent Education, Volume 13, No 2, 2010), Bob Reynolds, the Head
of Resources for Treverton Preparatory School and College, discusses how schools can devise and
utilise a sustainable rewards strategy (A rewarding approach: reviewing your total rewards strategy, page 28). Here he addresses how Bursars can understand the resources in their schools.

 

Education News

Under examination: the education revolution

Is there a federal election in the air? Judged by the Minister for Education, Julia Gillard's recent actions in announcing a review of school funding and setting up a task force to evaluate the Building the Education Revolution program, it's obvious that the ALP Government is clearing the decks for an early election.

Rotarians to Boost Survivors' Education

Kigali — Members of various Rotary Clubs operating in the country have said they will this year put more emphasis in supporting the genocide survivors through education and health.

Joburg snaps up host city status for World Maths Day 2010

Johannesburg has been awarded the prestigious title of host city for this year’s World Maths Day to be held on 3 March. The aim of the event is to use education and the internet combined to unite school students around the globe.

Profit is the key to success in ‘Swedish schools’

Anders Hultin, an architect of the Swedish government’ s voucher system and a former adviser to the Swedish government and co-founder of the Kunskapsskola chain of schools in Sweden, is pleased that Britain’s Conservative Party is putting the free school model at the heart of its education reform agenda. However, he believes, according to an article in The Spectator (3 October 2009) that for the voucher system to succeed a new breed of educational entrepreneurs is required, and their schools must be allowed to make a profit. The Spectator 3 October 2009

U.S. education secretary seeks changes to system

U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan said during a presentation Tuesday, Oct. 27, at the University of Delaware that he believes the current economic crisis is as good a time as any for leaders at the state and national levels to make long-term positive changes to America's educational system. US - UDaily

Caught in the college arms race, students and parents pay more and more

Colleges are like the cookie monster. They seek and devour every resource in sight, with few constraints and even less restraint. At least that's how Ronald Ehrenberg describes it when explaining the big question on the minds of so many parents: Why does college cost so much? US - Seattle Times

Cursive cursed. Texting and e-mail trump handwritten notes

I haven’t written a note by hand in a long time. And I hardly receive any handwritten notes any more. So is there any point in teaching children cursive? UK - Wales Online

Interactive Whiteboards improve learning

Reading the articles on education by Ann Bernstein and Eustace Davie (The Star 16 November) was like taking a step back into the last century.

School fees rise above inflation rate

Public schools that are allowed to charge fees for tuition are unable to collect 27,45% of fees owed to them, according to the Minister of Basic Education, Angie Motshekga.

Who has the oldest printed Encylopaedia Britannica in South Africa?

The Encyclopaedia Britannica was established in 1768, during the Scottish Enlightenment. To celebrate the releasing of the 2010 edition, its publishers have launched a nationwide search for the oldest complete set still in private hands in South Africa. SA

Zuma’s plan to muzzle Sadtu

With the matric exams starting today, President Jacob Zuma yesterday hinted at making education an essential service – a move that could severely curtail the right of teacher unions to strike. SA - Sowetan

Education gets the biggest slice of the budget pie

Minister Pravin Gordhan has allocated the most funds to the Education department in this year’s mini budget, which is over R140bn this year, increasing to R185bn by 2012/13. SA - Business Day

More money awarded to health and education

Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan has announced more money for the health, education and crime-fighting sectors. SA - Eyewitness News

WCED tackles violence in schools

Western Cape education authorities have taken a tough stance against violence in schools, promising to expel pupils if evidence warranted it. SA - IOL

Sadtu creates 'poisonous ethos'

The DA has called on government to break the "stranglehold" it says the SA Democratic Teachers' Union (Sadtu) has on public school education. SA - News 24

Motshekga: SA education poor

BASIC Education Minister Angie Motshekga yesterday acknowledged that the quality of South African education was below standard, and a teachers’ union warned that “impressive policies” would not get the work done. The Times

Metcalfe appointed higher education DG

Mary Metcalfe, former Gauteng education minister and, until recently, Wits University’s head of education has been appointed director general in the Department of Higher Education and Training, the presidency announced on Thursday. Mail & Guardian

Pupils ‘unprepared for higher education’

Higher education specialists say many first year university students are academically inept, raising questions about school standards and the value of the national senior certificate (NSC). Dispatch Online

Classroom attack leaves teacher traumatised

The hammer attack on a talented former Rhodes High School teacher had such a negative effect on her that she would not be able to teach or work for the Education Department again. IOL



Education News Archive: 2010 | 2009


 

Education Industry News

Capella lifts outlook as student enrollments surge

For-profit education provider Capella Education Co. on Tuesday boosted its sales and margins guidance for the year due to strong enrollment growth in the third quarter and productivity gains. US - Forbes.com

Weak Sales Push McGraw-Hill's Profit Down 14%

B McGraw-Hill Cos.' third-quarter earnings fell 14%, hurt by weak sales. There were some bright spots, however, as the company reported continued strength in its higher-education textbook division and at credit-ratings service Standard & Poor's. US - Wall Street Journal

Evolving Edge Interactive

SMART Distributor for SADC rebrands to be VastraTech. SA - Submitted Report

Do interactive whiteboards work?

Becta response to the evaluation of the Primary Schools Whiteboard Expansion project. Teacher training is key to success. Submitted Report

Yteach.co.za, exciting and engaging simulations and exercises for Mathematics and Science

Over 30,000 fantastic for Chemistry, Physics, Life Sciences and Mathematics.
Submitted Report

Fort Worth district to install new digital whiteboards

Jan Weisner knew that she and her students would have fun with the interactive whiteboard in her classroom. StarTelegram.com

College publishers get into book-rental business

College students fed up with spending hundreds of dollars to buy textbooks they only use once are getting some new rental options. AP



Education Industry News Archive: 2010 | 2009


 

Independent Education Latest Edition Articles

From the editor

It is hard to believe that 12 years have passed since Mike Carvalho and I decided to produce a quarterly magazine, Independent Education.

Change can be painful

The theme of the annual conference of Heads of Southern African independent schools, held this year in Swaziland in September, was Kinship in diversity, with a sub-theme, Linking laterally. As always, the collegiality of participants was very apparent; school leaders draw strong emotional support one from another, and find the sharing of best practice uplifting.

Education partnerships

Dr Jane Hofmeyr writes of access, quality, equity, efficiency and choice.

A tribute to on his retirement as editor of Independent Education Mark Henning

Mark Henning stands tall in education circles in South Africa and abroad. He is respected by all who have had the privilege of knowing and working with him. At the end of this year he retires as the founding editor of Independent Education. It is fitting that we pay tribute to a man who has had a positive impact on so many lives.

History lessons

Recent images of municipal workers marauding through the streets and shopping malls in our cities were as unexpected as they were disgraceful; angry mobs trashing bins, signs and lights that their fellows had erected on our behalf, with our tax money.

Understanding your retirement fund: Huge gap in retirement savings persists between men and women

Studies have shown that although women represent about half of the workforce, women account for only one-third of South African retirement savings. This is especially sobering when one considers that women outlive men by about seven years on average and thus need to save more during their working life-times.

Bend the knotted oak

Angela Stevens explains how to use music to put a school on the map.

School sustainability

The Consumer Price Index languishes around 6,5%, but worse, the Education Price Index hits 10,5%. The economic recession is now well entrenched in South Africa and people in this country are generally battling to make ends meet. Education has not escaped. Independent school fees for 2010 again look to be in excess of CPI by a not insignificant amount.

Changing the world

I grew up on the KwaZulu-Natal south coast where my sister and I spent hours on the beach collecting shells for our beauty salon. Many of our friends recall building forts and dens in their back gardens, but our garden ended on the beach so our play days were spent there. We climbed all over the rocks, which each got their own names, and the big “cave rock” served as our salon. We would line up the shells on the makeshift shelves and administer beauty treatments to our make-believe customers for hours on end.

Required procedures before debt enforcement

We have all (at one time or another) experienced difficulties with the legal firms that we hand our debtors over to. The most frequent complaint is the lack of communication on the progress of the cases.

Teamwork with a difference

One of the rights of children, according to UNICEF, is: “Teach us to read and write and grow and teach us well so we can grow up to be the best we can at whatever we wish to do.”

Born to teach

Tracy Todd, who has a Bachelor of Primary Education from the University of the Witwatersrand, taught for six years before being paralysed from the neck down in a car accident in 1998.

Education in the outdoor classroom

Mark Chaperon, Head of Treverton Preparatory School, supports the school’s fieldwork programmes.

Greek matters

2009 has been another milestone in the history of SAHETI School, with Modern Greek being written for the first time as a designated FET subject. This positive development will see 39 of the school’s 64 matrics and four learners from other schools writing the subject for the IEB 2009 National Senior Certificate.

Is your school a quality brand?

Every school has its distinct identity or brand. Imagine, for example, two schools in the same town. One school is seen by the community as being excellent, the other as being of a poor standard.

King’s College School

King’s College School is situated on the edge of Wimbledon Common, some seven miles from the heart of London, but only a couple from Southfields, which has become known as “Little South Africa”.

Laptops for all

It is seven years since Nicholas Negroponte, a professor at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, had the vision of providing a rugged, low-cost, low-power, connected laptop, to be used with content and software designed for collaborative, joyful, self-powered learning to lift the education of children. One Laptop Per Child was the title he gave it.

Pearls of wisdom

Someone (that nameless moving thing that could be a parent, a teacher, a friend or an author) once told me that knowledge on its own is worthless, but knowledge used well creates wisdom and that’s what we all want more of.

Personalised learning

How can a teacher engage with every child in a class? In a world where technology abounds, is it the equipment or is its implementation which will engage a pupil in their own learning? Each child is an individual and every child matters, but how can a teacher attend to every single child individually and continue to meet the needs of the rest of the class as well as meeting the day-to-day learning objectives?

Social networking for schools

Barbara Malllinson founded Obami, a social networking programme, at St Mary’s School for Girls, Waverley.

St Alban’s College rescues the people of Montserrat Island

On the evening of 9 September 2009, twenty St Alban’s College boys, under the leadership of Daniel Kimber, a Form 2 student, were part of an outcomes-based programme that is developed by the Challenger Learning Centre in Washington, USA. This evening formed part of the yearly Maths Week at St Alban’s College.

Statewide digital learning

When selecting products to support the e-learning project, we wanted to go with a tier-one vendor that had the skills and technology to support us. Oracle’s functional capabilities also gave it an edge over its competitors when delivering enterprise resource planning functionality such as financials.” – Bevan Doyle, Chief Information Officer, Western Australian Department of Education and Training.

Strive to be a great teacher

Don Duffield of St Alban’s College, believes that teaching with passion and purpose is the key.

Teaching Macbeth

I have a shameful confession to make. In 18 years of English teaching, I have failed Shakespeare. I have spoken for him all these years, suffered through all his tomorrows, laughed myself into stitches, died a thousand deaths and breathed life into stones, but all along I’ve been a blinking idiot.

Teaching today

I know of no precedents for the future of mankind in what some scientists believe is just one of myriad universes. I know of none for survival in the world which is evolving as our Earth is now. I teach in these circumstances. In times of such uncertainty, I (hoping to help produce year groups of innovative leaders and not just survivors) must not only teach children how to communicate effectively, socialise productively and think rationally, but also how to grow their brains emotionally. In fact, they need to be helped to be better at many things that cannot easily be quantified.

Skills development - what can schools do?

Ron Beyers of Young Engineers and Scientists of South Africa presents challenges and solutions.

Sowing seeds

Gillian Leggatt writes of Write Away, a writers’ conference at St Andrew’s School for Girls.

Focus on diversity

Joyce Broadhead Pre-Primary School, situated in the heart of the Berea in Durban, was established in 1976 and named in honour of Joyce Broadhead, a pioneer in nursery education in Natal in the 1950s. We have continued the values and ideals set by our founder in our philosophy.