New tools for educators [2010]
- Date : (2010-05-26)
- Author : Sasol
"Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day; teach him to feed and you fish him for life"
Sasol Secunda Corporate Social Investment recently announced its partnership with the South African Institute for Entrepreneurship in a bid to teach both educators and learners 'to fish'.
The partnership offers the Business Ventures Educator Development Programme to 10 primary schools in Govan Mbeki Municipality, and is geared towards enabling Grade 2-7 educators to go beyond the 'confines' of prescribed curricular subjects. But rather to approach their role as teachers in an unconventional manner. To think and act as entrepreneurs. And in turn, develop the same skill, same attitude and approach to life in their learners too.
Sasol Corporate Social Investment project leader Gregory April says: "This must be one of our most rewarding educational CSI projects we've ever been involved in. I am a firm believer in giving people tools to fish, the skills to provide for themselves instead of 'fish for a day'."
"I'm confident that this programme will motivate learners to become self-driven, to be life-long seekers of knowledge, and to respond to challenges with the enthusiasm of great entrepreneurs".
The Ventures materials empower the educator to create this scaffold-like environment through instructional support. Once the programme has been completed, both the educator and the learner retain the essential skills learned from the materials.
These skills include creative thinking strategies, critical thinking strategies, questioning skills and entrepreneurial thinking skills.
Gregory continues: "These tools empower the educator to reach all the learners in the class by offering different types of learners different types of tasks, activities and content which satisfy their particular learning styles".
Endorsed by the Mpumalanga Department of Education, the content, logistics and OBE methodology are provided within the programme, and supports the curriculum of the Economic & Management Sciences Programme.
The programme which was piloted in 2009 has already received a positive response from the participated educators who noted a visible improvement in their learners' grades.
Educators from Buyani Primary School receiving their certificate of participation for Business Ventures from Gregory April
