We commend the new Department of Basic Education Minister Siviwe Gwarube and the team behind the development of a new and more relevant educational curriculum. Speaking at the 40th Annual Association for Education Assessment in Africa (AEAA) themed Reimagining Educational Assessment in the Age of Multiple Dimensions of Learning in a Global Society the Minister said, “Our curriculum has been dominated by knowledge acquisition with little focus on skills and competencies, attitudes, values and character development.” She emphasised the importance of the holistic development of learners as ethical citizens, creative thinkers, and problem solvers. She also spoke of the need to develop digital literacy.
Yet even as we think about the content and focus of this curriculum, and how to assess learning, there is a need to think innovatively on how else to ensure that learners leave school better able to navigate the world and be active contributors.
Columba Leadership, is a not-for-profit organization that has worked in government high schools since 2009 developing dynamic learner leaders and enabling schools to leverage this capacity for school change. Our emphasis on awakening the leader within has shown us the enormous appetite South African youth have, to play a part in improving schools and tackling issues they feel holds them back from achieving their potential. The Columba programme uses experiential learning to really connect with some core leadership values namely Awareness, Focus, Creativity, Integrity, Perseverance and Service. Youth, working in partnership with adults, are invited to identify social issues of concern and challenged to work in teams to address these challenges.
We believe that all learners have a key role to play in schools and being a learner-leader should not be restricted to those selected into formal leadership roles.
Learners are not passive consumers of teaching and curriculum. Rather they should have a shared responsibility in shaping their school environment. Schools need to be capacitated on how to create an environment that enables this. School leaders need to become adept at listening to and harvesting the ideas learners have and be receptive to understanding issues from their perspective.
In our experience when teachers are also allowed to reconnect with the deeper calling of teaching and become the champions of youth potential, partnering with youth leaders as agents of change, youth benefit and so too does the teacher with increases in motivation. Inspired learners can in turn inspire the adults in the school.
Government high schools serving under-resourced communities are challenged in many ways. Social ills from communities seep into the school and impact on mindsets, attitudes, sense of self, norms, and values.
If we think creatively, these challenges can serve as a powerful mechanism to develop youth leadership, active citizenship, and recast learners as social contributors and positive change agents to create the school environments that are needed. As the Minister eloquently states, the future of education lies in our ability to cultivate environments where learners can thrive emotionally, socially, and intellectually. We see this transformation happening every day in our leadership programme, where learners rediscover their purpose, build resilience, learn to work in teams, develop their creativity, problem-solving, and communication skills, and address issues like bullying, vandalism, substance abuse, to name a few, and take ownership of their futures.
The merits of engaging learners through values-based leadership with regards to reducing learner drop-outs has been proven by our own evaluation with at least 93% of the learners we work with, staying in school till matric, and 95% of these passing (85% of these with a tertiary level pass). DG Murray Trust vouches for this approach noting as they do on the Zero Dropout Campaign website that school culture matters and that Columba has supported schools to usher in values-based activism that can build an internal locus of control and nurture relationships of mutual respect between teachers and learners. When they leave school, learners with an internal locus of control, who can connect to their own values and principles, and are adept at working in teams are better equipped to succeed.
Given the budget cuts and loss of educator posts, schools are going to be under increasing pressure with it becoming critical that learners are challenged to step up to take responsibility for their learning and the support of peers.
In addition, having high expectations of learners to work in partnership with adults to tackle some of the social ills that detract from learning and undermine potential can be transformative if learners are adequately developed as leaders, and schools are capacitated to effectively engage the learner population.
