EDITORIAL
ALLIANCES FOR IMPROVED EDUCATION
ARTICLE BY GRAEME BLOCH, VISITING ADJUNCT PROFESSOR AT THE UNIVERSITY OF WITWATERSRAND GRADUATE SCHOOL OF PUBLIC DEVELOPMENT MANAGEMENT.
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THE FIELD BANDS FOUNDATION
The Field Bands are not simply an Arts program nor a life skills program, but a dynamic real life incubator where members learn to master an art form they have passion for, and through this, learn to innovate creatively together, develop inner discipline, resolve conflicts, work collaboratively for a common pur- pose, facilitate and empower others, develop values and an identity that respects the rights of others and enables them to more confidently advance themselves.
How do we fix our ailing failing schools? We are in the midst of an education crisis that demands responses from us all. Education is a national priority; it requires ac- tive intervention from all sectors.
Some things that need to be done are ‘internal’ to the school and must happen ‘within the school gates’ as it were. So better teaching; management, order and support established by the school principal; proper planning under the Strategic Management Team; as well as learners who are well behaved, disciplined, ready to learn and desperate to achieve.
Of course, the ‘internal’ is closely related to what happens outside the school. Learners will be restless if they arrive at school hungry or sick; discipline is likely to be under threat where gangs roam around in the community. Teachers cannot teach well who haven’t been trained well and receive only paperwork rather than support from officials in the school district.
A learning culture, and a desire to achieve, are only partly set ‘within’ the school. A society that values excellence and achievement, that has jobs and other opportuni- ties for its young, will always demand high standards from its schools.
THE DREAMFIELDS PROJECT
To link the external and internal, efforts by all are required. It is not just a cliché to say that all stakeholders in education need to be involved and to work together.
What this means is much greater attention to building coalitions and alliances. Working together requires new skills, especially in building partnerships. How to listen, to hear differences and to find solutions and how to drive change and con- sistent initiatives? Resources need to be assigned and tasks for follow up.
This is why one of the best strategies for school improvement is to link clusters of schools. By sharing experiences, personnel, facilities like libraries or labs, techniques and materials for better teaching – demands are put on all to do things better.
At the cluster level, it is possible to draw down organised help that may exist ‘out- side’. Some of this is from government provision: health screening, school nutrition funds, security.
NGOs can improve mathematics; or supply kits, build sports fields and set up regu- lar sports leagues as Dreamfields does; or music achievement as done by the Field Bands Foundation. Parental involvement improves food gardens.
” 68 CHAPTER 3 | TOWARDS IMPROVED COLLABORATION
“The Dreamfields Project is a section-21 company, who in part- nership with the Department of Education, is to put resources for playing soccer into township and rural schools across South Africa – quickly, efficiently and in a way that reaches the most remote corners of our country.
We believe soccer is a team game, and teams build better schools — so we provide DreamBags, full sets of kit, to schools across the country. We believe people love sharing, and so we stage DreamEvents to celebrate the spirit of soccer. And we believe that lasting change must transform the places where children play — and so we are helping to restore soccer fields wherever we can.
It’s inspiring to know that there are others who share our dream. Since launch we have taken the Dreamfields Project across South Africa — from Lilydale in the east on the Kruger Park border to Gopane close to Botswana; from Tshisahulu in far northern Venda, to Factreton in Cape Town. But with more than 26 000 schools across South Africa, there is still so much more work to do.
Resources don’t automatically and spontaneously drop down to school level. Priorities have to be agreed and determined by those who are impacted. Dr Mathe from Bhukulani in Soweto must travel to princi- pals in Bodibe or Colesberg to share techniques and successes.
There is the more ‘political’ point. Nowhere in the world does government deliver or state officials really do their job, unless active citizens keep them on their toes. This requires an alliance around education. We need national discussions and national priorities to focus our work. We need initiative of all (gradu- ates; citizens; business; NGOs; as well as school level stakeholders). We need the active demands of organized citizens – whether in teacher unions, as parents, or as we saw in the march of 25 000 pupils by Equal Education on Human Rights Day. Active citizens pull government into the partnership and ensure we all rise to the challenge, take initiative, and give meaning to the term empowerment.
Education will never be fixed if we wait around for someone else to do something, for someone outside to intervene; or if we try to work alone.
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