Recent studies have shown that 50% of educators will retire by 2030. Many of them will be school leaders and district officials. This will place the system under severe strain, but it also represents an opportunity to train up a new generation of leaders and educators who can lead educational improvement and change in our country. Only the Education Department has the capacity to do this and so developing the capacity of Provincial Teacher Development Directorates is emerging as a pressing priority.
The SLDF Programme was launched on 29 August 2024 with MEC for Education Mr Gade, Acting HOD Ms Maarman and other senior officials in attendance. This system wide intervention aims to develop a cohort of 36 Provincial and District officials who will have the skills, knowledge and dispositions to facilitate training programmes that will capacitate school leaders and teachers to lead functional schools, strengthen teaching and learning and contribute to improved learner academic performance. They will become part of the visiting faculty of MMELI.
This is not a typical “train the trainer” or “cascade” programme but rather a comprehensive approach to developing cohorts of facilitators who can facilitate effective adult learning programmes across the schools and districts of the province. The programme is accredited as an NQF level 7 programme with the University of Stellenbosch Business School Executive Development (SBS-ED) and comprises 5 four-day study schools, coaching, as well as academic and practical assessments. This cohort will become part of the visiting faculty of Mandla Makupula Educational Leadership Institute (MMELI).
SEED has recognised the power of collaboration to strengthen initiatives such as this and has partnered with several NPOs and institutions to ensure the success of the programme. Columba Leadership is providing expertise in the area of learner leader development, New Leaders Foundation is supporting the integration of the Data Driven Districts tool, Dinaledi is providing support to the coaching programme, The Leap Institute is providing facilitators who can be trained up to supplement the faculty who are able to facilitate this programme, the University of Stellenbosch Business School Executive Development (SBS-ED) is providing accreditation for the programme and the Teacher Development Chief Directorate of the ECDOE is driving the implementation of the project and looking at ways to set up similar initiatives in their other Teacher Development Institutes. The eLearning directorate of the ECDOE will provide the learning platform for the SLDF Programme and the programmes that are developed by the visiting faculty. The Research Unit in the Corporate Strategy Management Chief Directorate of the ECDOE are collaborating in a process to develop a research strategy for MMELI. The project is jointly sponsored by the Michael and Susan Dell Foundation and the Get It Done Foundation.
Whilst SEED has been involved in a number of collaborative initiatives in the past, this is broadest collaboration to date and also the first time that SEED is leading the initiative.
