Building on successes achieved through its Primary Literacy and Maths Strategy (GPLMS) in the past three years, the Gauteng Department of Education (GDE) is making the support system part of the teaching and learning mainstream in over 900 primary schools in the Province in 2014.
This will ensure that the strategy is no longer an “add on” reliant on outside support, but forms part of the core approach to literacy and numeracy teaching in around 982 primary schools hitherto classified as underperforming and therefore in need of specific support interventions by the department.
The primary numeracy and literacy strategy’s central pillars include:
- ensuring that participating schools are well resourced with textbooks and lesson plans
- on-going teacher development through targeted training, coaching, and support by the GDE
- training for parents so that they can support the school’s and their children’s efforts
- afternoon homework sessions to ensure that children get help and a framework for their own study as required
The GDE will, in the new year, begin the planned implementation of the strategy’s next phase. As a result, the umbrella contract with 13 external providers responsible until now for providing support to the designated schools ends at the end of this year.
Schools will increasingly take over the management and day to day implementation of all of the pillars as part of the on-going rollout of the strategy. In some cases, on-going implementation will depend primarily on teachers employed by individual schools, and in others the GDE will continue to call on external support as required from some or all of the 13 NGOs which have provided support thus far.
As increasing numbers of schools become able to implement the strategy under their own steam and with the on-going guidance and support of the GDE, the requirement for external support is expected to shrink even further. This has always been part of the strategy, has been known to all participants since inception, and allows the GDE to ensure continuity and on-going improvement within current budgetary constraints.
As planned, the reduction over time in the requirement for external support is a clear indication that the strategy is working and becoming part of the core approach to literacy and numeracy teaching in Gauteng.
For more information contact:
Phumla Sekhonyane
Gauteng Department of Education’s spokesperson
Cell: 071 860 4496
Tel: 011 355 1530
