EDITORIAL
EDITORIAL
What was achieved in each school community using the Caring Schools approach depended to a large extent on geographic location, level of poverty and the quality of leadership among role-players. For example, a school in the Cape Town metro- pole experienced better access to services and greater support from the neighbouring wealthy community than a remote rural school in the Free State.
This school is 50 km from Kimberly in the Northern Cape, but residents have to travel 180 km to access services in the pro- vincial capital of Bloemfontein. Achievements were significantly better in schools where the principals were actively involved in the project, compared to one where the principal was absent for several months.
HOW CAN POLICY AND PRACTICE SUPPORT EFFECTIVE PARTNERSHIP?
Relationships between schools and communities are not al- ways easy or productive. Partnerships depend on the relative capital that each partner brings and are seldom if ever free of power relations and dynamics. The next section of this essay discusses the potential (and limitations) of school governing bodies, school-based support teams, and community facilita- tors to build effective partnership.
SCHOOL MANAGEMENT AND SCHOOL GOVERNING BODIES
Principals who are attentive to learners and educators con- tribute significantly to building healthy school and community relationships. According to Marneweck, Bialobrzeska, Mhlanga and Mphisa (2008, Enhancing School Leadership: Meeting the challenges of HIV and AIDS. Research paper prepared by the South African Institute for Distance Education for the teacher education conference 4 – 5 September 2008) many school leaders have begun to respond intuitively to the AIDS pandem- ic by creating networks of support for learners in and around their schools and by addressing the need for basic nutrition, aftercare and counselling.
This is a promising development, because the role of school leaders is becoming increasingly complex as management has to implement a series of sophisticated education policies, often with very little support or training.
The 2000 Tirisano campaign calls for schools to become “cen- tres of community life” and, indeed, schools hold valuable po- tential as centres of learning for the whole community.
Yet many schools struggle to realise this possibility — a Free State school, for example, limited their birth certificate drive to learners and their families because they were afraid that out- siders might damage property while participating in the drive.
Fortunately, principals are not expected to carry out their func- tions in isolation. In particular the school management team (SMT) and school governing body (SGB) can assist. The SGB is a school’s primary link with the community through elected representation of parents, educators, non-teaching staff and learners (in secondary schools). According to the 1996 South African Schools Act, SGBs are required to:
n develop and adopt a constitution and mission statement for the school;
n determine the school’s admissions policy;
n administer and control the school’s property, buildings and grounds;
n recommend the appointment of teaching and nonteaching staff; and
n develop a budget for the school, which may include schools fees, for approval by the parent body.
A review undertaken by the Department of Education in 2004 suggests that SGBs in formerly disadvantaged schools often function poorly due to poverty and a lack of expertise and ex- perience, and that they find it difficult to sustain active parental participation due to low literacy levels, lack of time and indirect costs. The reverse is true for SGBs in more advantaged schools, where white middle-class men tend to dominate.
Despite these challenges, it is essential that SGBs draw com- munities into schools to address the growing challenges of pov- erty, AIDS and other risk factors. The National Policy on HIV and AIDS for Learners, Students and Educators describes the role of the SGB in developing an HIV and AIDS implementa- tion plan that reflects “the needs, ethos and values of a specific school or institution and its community”. The policy also ex- pects schools to draw on the expertise of community health workers and local clinics.
The Soul City Institute for Health and Development Com- munications identifies SGBs as key role-players in making schools “nodes of care and support” for vulnerable children. Since 2002, Soul City has worked with the government and civil society organisations to host highly successful jamborees at schools, where different government departments come to- gether to process affidavits and applications for identify docu- ments, birth certificates and social grants.
SCHOOL-BASED SUPPORT TEAMS
Education White Paper 6, which focuses on inclusive educa- tion, proposes that the Department of Education establishes district-based support teams to provide an integrated, com- munity-based service that can identify orphans, and coordinate support and care for such learners. Schools are also expected to establish school-based support teams that include health workers, social workers, police and other service providers.
These inter-sectoral teams hold great promise in addressing barriers to education. However, the policy has yet to be trans- lated into law, and be put into operation effectively. Currently the need for social workers outstrips the available capacity but it is clear that there are many social work functions that could be undertaken by para-professionals working under the super- vision of more senior personnel.
The notion of schools as the centre of community life places high demands on teachers working with big classes in extreme- ly difficult circumstances. The Norms and Standards for Edu- cators describe a “community, citizenship and pastoral role” for teachers beyond the limits of the classroom and school grounds. Teachers are expected to”respond to current social and educational problems with particular emphasis on the is- sues of violence, drug abuse, poverty … HIV and AIDS … ac- cessing and working in partnership with professional services to deal with these issues”.
Rebecca Makolane is a life-orientation teacher at Makeke Pri- mary School in Sekhukhune (Limpopo) and a key player in the local child-care forum made up of volunteers (mostly women) from the local community. She explains:
“I enjoy helping people and work with learners and their fami- lies to address a range of problems. Poverty and HIV/AIDS have had a serious impact on the lives of children in the district and the school established a food garden to feed orphans and needy learners. When I heard about drop-in centres in KwaZu- lu-Natal, I pushed for this with the local Department of Social Development. Now there is a drop-in centre nearby where needy children can go for meals, get help with homework and apply for documents and grants. This includes children not at- tending our school.”
COMMUNITY FACILITATORS
Several organisations are appointing community facilitators to provide a link between schools and communities and to me- diate access to services. Nontobeko Sithole, of the Catholic
Institute of Education, describes the facilitators in the Caring Schools project in Sekhukhune:
“Community facilitators live in the community, so they know the learners in their village. Their primary role is to identify orphans and vulnerable children, interview these learners, do home visits and make sure the necessary support is provid- ed, for example, access to grants, documents, food parcels or counselling. They work with the whole family and feed back toward councillors and the school-based support team.”
Youth facilitators pioneered by Save the Children UK in the Free State play a similar role in reaching out to vulnerable chil- dren, as described in case 1.
While community and youth facilitators are an asset to schools, the primary limitation in the early stages of this initiative was the lack of training and support. Save the Children UK is de- veloping a more systematic training approach for this impor- tant cadre of child rights champions. By exploring possibilities for accreditation, the intention is to provide facilitators with opportunities to progress along a career path and get paid according to their level of experience. Currently a wide gap persists between professionals and ‘volunteers’ who generally receive a ‘stipend’ way lower than the minimum wage. This often results in facilitators leaving the community when other opportunities present themselves.
CASE 1: YOUTH FACILITATORS REACH OUT
Youth facilitators are each contracted for a maximum period of two years and assist learners in a number of ways, such as:
n having fun with children in a range of afternoon activities; n identifying extremely vulnerable children in schools;
n stimulating the school community to donate clothes and uniforms to a clothing bank;
n facilitating access to documentation like birth certificates and identity documents;
n ensuring access to health care by taking children to the local clinic and by ensuring medication is taken correctly;
n listening to children’s problems;
n following up when children are absent from school and making home visits; and
n helping the school community to establish and maintain food gardens that can contribute to the school-feeding pro-
88 CHAPTER 4 | SCHOOLS AT THE CENTRE OF THE COMMUNITY
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CHAPTER 4 | SCHOOLS AT THE CENTRE OF THE COMMUNITY
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