Calvinia

Partner(s):

SAIE’s partner in BusinessVENTURES, the Department of Education (DoE) identifies the schools and regions in need of training. Calvinia is a town in Namakwa, one of the 5 districts of the Northern Cape province of South Africa. Calvinia is seen as the economic centre of the North West Cape and it is also one of the most important centres of wool production in South Africa.

Founded in 1851 on the Oorlogskloof River and named after religious reformer John Calvin, Calvinia lies at the foot of the Hantam Mountains. Hantam being a Khoi word meaning "where the red bulbs grow".

Coloureds formed the majority of the population and Africans a minority, and where the majority of the population are illiterate or semi-illiterate rural or farm workers.

Educators may come from beyond these boundaries for BusinessVENTURES training.

Our Involvement:

SAIE provides schools and educators with quality, innovative learning materials (BusinessVENTURES) and the requisite training in terms of content knowledge, methodology in Outcomes Based Education (OBE) and entrepreneurial development. SAIE’s Business Ventures materials conform to the Department of Education’s (DoE) curriculum structure classified under the Economic and management Sciences (EMS: Grade 2 to 9) and Business Studies (Grades 10 to 12). Learners are empowered through the quality materials and effective teaching, in order to develop entrepreneurial mindsets and business knowledge. This prepares them for either creating their own jobs or participating in the post school life in a more entrepreneurial way.

Project Progress:

This project must be read in conjunction with the Springbok project.

The initial educator training took place in May 2008, with 8 schools represented. 16 grade 5, 16 grade 6 and 10 grade 7 educators received training. Mr Milford of the DoE attended the training.

The first follow-up was conducted by Trevor Bagley and took place in October 2008. 7 schools were visited to provide support to the trained educators. Educators at 4 of the schools had been using the materials. The educators at the other 3 schools had not been using the materials. (Diepdrift Primary could not be visited due to time constraint. The Principal, via telephone, indicated that the materials had been used, though.)

The second follow-up was conducted by Trevor Bagley and took place in August 2009. Five schools were visited with 6 educators receiveng support. One educator did not attend the initial training and was provided with orientation to use the materials. The other educators are use the materials on a weekly basis, and indicate that the materials have made their planning and teaching much easier, and that learners have improved in the areas of numeracy, literacy, group discussion and critical thinking.

Funder:

Product:

BusinessVentures

Location:

Northern Cape