The FEM Education Foundation (FEMEF) has partnered with Symphonia South Africa (SSA) to empower 100 school principals, in some of the most underprivileged rural schools in the country, through a novel programme called Partners for Possibility (PfP). After encouraging results in the 2018/2019 period, FEMEF has committed to sponsor a further 300 principals to participate in the PfP programme over the next three years. Effectively, this means that FEMEF and SSA are working together to implement an impactful, systemically-orientated and scalable intervention in education. Their aim is to bring about culture shifts in the school which then lay the ground for other interventions.
The Partners for Possibility (PfP) programme equips principals to be agents of change
The PfP programme is a co-action, co-learning partnership between a school principal and a business leader, over a one-year period. The objective is to strengthen the leadership capacity of the principal, boost their confidence, and to equip them to address their challenging leadership tasks. This innovative intervention is made directly at the principal level because their role affords them the pivotal capacity to influence the quality of teaching and learning in the school. Further, it empowers the principal to be an agent of change not only in their school but in their community as well.
Infrastructure, staff and learner challenges
Principals in the schools enrolled in the programme carry the immense burden of complex, multi-dimensional and often demoralising challenges that come with an impoverished and under-resourced environment, which hamper both teaching and learning. One aspect they are faced with is the lack of suitable infrastructure such as classrooms, staff rooms, halls, libraries, computer and science labs, ablutions and sports facilities. When such infrastructure needs are met, the schools are plagued with break-ins and theft because of the lack of security and fencing to protect these assets.
Janine van Rooyen, business partner to Kevin Sevlall of Solomon Mahlangu Primary School in KZN North Coast, describes the inadequate infrastructure at the school as follows: âThe school is currently a temporary structure, as the Department of Education has demarcated an area for a new school to be built in a low income housing area. The temporary structure consists of pre-fabricated classrooms that are extremely hot and overcrowded. Also, there are only three 3 toilets for 960 kids â which is crazy!â
Another challenge is the shortage of teaching staff, where the high learner-teacher ratio makes it difficult for educators to address the needs of each learner effectively. Even when there is sufficient staffing, the sheer psychological weight of teaching in an environment that is not amenable, is often disheartening for educators. Of this sense of helplessness, principal Ellen Sebitloane from Seiphemo Primary in Bloemfontein says: âWhen I started with this programme I was tired and drained. I was overwhelmed with work and had nobody to talk to. I was hopeless and didn’t know whether I was going forward or backward. Having a partner to listen has brought about changes in my life and helped me develop inner strength. Now being in the PfP programme, I feel relieved and free and some of the load is goneâ.
The learners also have their fair share of obstacles, which include the inability to communicate effectively in English, poor performance, ill-discipline and absenteeism, high dropout rates and teenage pregnancies. Many also live in a home environment where there is a lack of parental support and adverse socio-economic factors which also lead to, among other things, learners coming to school on an empty stomach.
In farm schools, the challenges are even more rudimentary and apparent. âBokamoso Intermediate School is a farm school located on the Samekomst Farm near Rysmierbult, North West Province. More than 95% of the learners stay at Rysmierbult in shacks with no electricity. 30% of the learners are orphans and some even stay alone and have to look after younger relatives. This is a community poorer than others in the vicinity. Most parents in the area depend on surrounding farms for work in communities where more than 65% are unemployedâ, according to principal of Bokamoso, Annemien Holtzhausen.
The parents of many of the learners also face extreme socio-economic conditions that prevent them from playing an active and supportive role in the schooling of their children. Janine Geldenhuys, business partner to principal Patrick Lethoba of Loula Fourie Primary, near Potchefstroom, explains: âThis is a public farm school located at Viljoenskroon Road, Wilgeboom. Being children of farmworkers, many of the pupils do not have birth certificates or any form of identification. Without this, grants cannot be claimed for these children. On numerous occasions, the principal has arranged for the Department of Home Affairs and the parents to come to the school to rectify the situation. The parents donât show up as they could not be granted leave from their farm work or it is simply too far to travel. This lack of involvement by parents leaves principals and teacher with the additional responsibility to fill the gap left by parents and guardians, if at all possible.
Mabeoana Intermediate School makes some encouraging short-term gains
However, in the face of some of the challenges in these rural schools, the PfP programme gives hope to the overburdened principals and teachers. Principal Thami Mngoma and business partner Ansa Lange are a partnership at Mabeoana Intermediate, a medium-sized school of 800 learners, situated in the area of Phahameng, Bloemfontein. They are but one example of the 100 current partnerships underway in the programme, however, their journey so far is a sterling example of what the FEMEF and PfP intervention aims to achieve.
Mngoma and Lange kicked off their partnership in February 2019, and during the first months of their journey attended a series of three workshops to arm them with the tools to build a solid relationship that would enable them to navigate the programme. They began with âThe Time to Thinkâ workshop, designed to teach participants how to create a reciprocal relationship based on a âthinking partnershipâ. This tool develops quality leadership, emphasising that the ability to enhance the quality of anotherâs thinking is a vital leadership competency.
In addition, they attended âThe Flawless Consultingâ workshop, which allows participants to become conscious of how they show up and how this impacts on their ability to lead. The participants learn how to develop generative adult-to-adult relationships with colleagues, partners and other stakeholders, as well as how to deal with resistance effectively. This workshop marks a transition in the journey of the partnerships, from the phase of âbuilding trustâ and getting to know each otherâs world, to a phase of contracting for action at the school.
Finally, through the âCommunity Buildingâ workshop, they learned how to build communities that are inclusive, engaged and supportive, where all members of a group are valued for their contribution. âI really appreciated the participatory and inclusive approach, as well as the thought-provoking questions and feedback right through the sessions. The workshops are a much-needed opportunity to share our experiences and take time to reflect; they provoke our minds to think critically and to accommodate everybodyâ, reports Mngoma.
Formulating a partnership plan is a framework to address the most urgent needs
The robust coaching Mngoma and Lange received, equipped them for the second leg of the programme, which is formulating the partnership plan as a framework of the most urgent needs at the school and possible action plans. The rolling out of their plan is currently in progress, and Lange expresses optimism about realising the intended outcomes: âI feel so excited with all the possibilities and opportunities to help make a difference. By finding the right resources and people, outsourcing some initiatives and collaborating on all the projects, we may get more done than what we expect. We will negotiate the obstacles along the way, re-contract and keep going towards our goal.â Exciting progress has already been made on constructing the Mabeoana website, where Lange will update it regularly so it can be utilised as a marketing tool for funding and bursaries. Mngoma and the teachers at the school also had the benefit of a course in discipline, which empowered them to set appropriate boundaries in class.
The learners have also received some immediate benefit from the partnership by way of a leadership development workshop for the Representative Council of Learners (RCL); two of them have been awarded bursaries and more opportunities are being sourced; and the partners are working on implementing a feeding scheme that can be administered more efficiently. They are also exploring how to give targeted support to learners who have been identified as having special needs.
While it is clear that it is not possible to address all of the challenges at Mabeoana Intermediate in the span of only one year, it can be said that the PfP programme offers visible evidence of some effective measures of tackling some of the intersectional problems in their target schools. Hurdles are not only on the side of the principal and their school, also, reaching this rural demographic is particularly challenging as one of the dynamics is getting business partners to these remote areas. However, along with funding the principal to participate in the workshops, the resources and materials required for the intervention, the PfP team, coaches and facilitators; FEMEF also encourages business leaders to take on the business partner role, as an aspect of their leadership development.
Evaluation of PfP past performance motivates for FEMEFâs additional commitment
Off the back of the encouraging feedback, not only from Mabeoana Intermediate, but also from other schools sponsored by FEMEF, the foundation has made an additional commitment to sponsor 300 more principals to participate in the PfP programme. The decision was based firstly on the current results garnered by the PfP programme in the 2018/2019 period, but also on the retrospective study of PfPâs performance from 2014 to date.
In the interests of ensuring sustainable impact, FEMEF commissioned JET Education Services (JET) to do an independent evaluation of the schools that participated in the PfP programme in 2014. JET is an independent, non-profit organisation that works to improve the quality of education, and the relationship between education, skills development and the world of work. FEMEF secured their services as evaluator because responsible donors need to continually seek evidence that their investment is yielding results.
Evidence that the PfP programme enables culture changes in schools
The results of the retrospective evaluation showed strong evidence that the anticipated in-school changes did in fact take place after the PfP intervention. Principals were seen to become more participatory, meetings become more focused, and the staff become more motivated. JET found that 67% of the schools had the same principal five years later, with the remaining 33% of principals having either retired, moved to another school, or taken up another post inside of outside education. It was found that in 87% of the interviewed schools, partnerships were sustained for a period of 4 years after the end of the PfP programme, and in a further 50% of schools there was ongoing engagement with the PfP team.
In addition, systemic learner assessment results improved more in PfP primary schools than in matched schools without the intervention. The results were statistically significant in grade 6 language, in relation to comparison groups. Primarily, the PfP model is focused on enabling culture change at the school, and the study showed strong evidence that this took place. This laid fertile ground for other interventions, such as those aimed specifically at academic outcomes, to successfully operate in the school, as a result of the culture shift and partnership capability.
The collaboration of FEMEF and PfP facilitates a multi-pronged approach to the education crisis faced by its beneficiary schools. Thanks to the partnership of these organisations, the principals and business partners are able to establish synergistic relationships which have a positive impact on the teachers, learners and their families. Mngoma, like many other principals enrolled in the programme is becoming an agent of change in his community.
