Educational Support Services Trust

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The Educational Support Services Trust has been engaged - for the past ten years - in righting the wrongs of decades of South African history.

Long before apartheid, there was the oppressive rule of colonialism which entrenched classism and racism as an attitude of life on the sub-continent. Oppressive Victorian educational policies were adopted and implemented by the apartheid government and cast in the cement of racial separation. The only way out of this past - now that our society has won the right to democratic rule - is to reach into the life of each and every child and change his or her experience of life.

The ESST develops and implements several educational programmes on an ongoing basis. These range from educare to adult education and reach several hundred thousand learners directly (and many more indirectly) every year. The ESST methodology is based on the principle of making learning enjoyable, amusing and enriching. All the learning material is embedded in the learners' experiential world. It focuses very strongly on the development of children's curiosity, creativity and problem solving behaviour. Instead of being made passive recipients of educational data, children are encouraged to explore and discover life around them in a way that is meaningful to them as individuals. In a world that is poor in learning stimuli and resources, children grow up mentally and spiritually emaciated. On the other hand, in a world that is rich in these resources the children are able to realise their full worth to society.

To create such a world - or, synonymously, to create a culture of learning - the ESST provides child-centred learning programmes, a comprehensive methodology programme for teachers, and a particularly exciting family learning programme for families from all walks of life and cultural backgrounds.

EDUCARE in South Africa

Educare (and Early Childhood Development in general) is bedevilled in South Africa by vast distances and the fact that a very large proportion of South Africans live in rural settings where housing, food, water and transport are minimal and often non-existent. Schools and educare centres are frequently no more than a dingy shack where children are sheltered and taught without any equipment whatsoever.

This prompted the ESST in 1995 to launch an Early Childhood Development Programme (ECDP) based on the development of innovative material for parents, care-givers and the children themselves. This material is unique in South Africa and it is presently implemented mainly in the Eastern Cape, with Umtata as the hub from which the first provincial implementation network will grow. This programme is specifically focused on the socio-economically disadvantaged communities of the country. To make it accessible to all communities the materiai will soon be available in all eleven official languages.

Of all the ESST's programmes, the Early Childhood Development programme is most critical to the development of ihe individual. First learning response patterns to new situations in the world are established in the years betore school going age - with the result that children enter elementary school burdened by unnecessary learning disadvantages even before the inadequacies of their formal schooling kick in. And yet this programme is still vastly underfunded. Until the government is in a position to channel major funding into the educare field, the ESST will be dependent on voluntary contributions to expand its educare work. Currently the cost of involving children and care-givers works out at 40 US dollars per individual per annum.

All contributions will be acknowledged and donors will be informed exactly who the recipients are and where they are located.

The English Proficiency Programme for primary schools

The EPP is a well established English-based cross-curricular learning programme aimed at the full range of elementary school children, from grade 1 to standard 5. Every participating pupil receives her or his own set of learning books and magazines during the course of the year. Each year's material is newly developed on an annual basis, which gives the programme the currency and vitality of "real life", as opposed to the stultifying, fixed content of traditional text books.

Teachers receive guidance on the implementation of the programme through workshops and printed guidelines. They are also given an opportunity to participate in the ESST Teacher Methodology Programme, which provides a comprehensive theoretical and practical strategy to turn the classroom into a vibrant learning environment - regardless of the availability of other learning materials or the level of resources available in the community.

The EPP has been in operation since 1996. Because it is a very personal programme, with personal, individual correspondence between the Trust's educational team and participating children from all over Southern Africa (including a very active counselling service to children who experience problems at home or at school) the EPP becomes a part of the young student's life. Young people stay in touch with us for years after ending their participation in the programme to share their further achievements with the ESST. The sight of children waking up to the excitement of real learning in the classroom is enough to stir the most hardened cynic, and visitors to our programme are welcome. Until the government reaches a point where it can implement an individualised methodology such as this, the EPP will remain dependent upon individual and corporate sponsorship. Development and implementation of the programme currently works out at 30 US dollars per year per student. This relatively modest amount transforms the child's school and home learning life into an experience that can ultimately give her/him access to internationally benchmarked career options. Each contribution will be individually acknowledged and funders will be informed who the beneficiaries are and where they are located.

Teacher development as key to educational reform

If South Africa's children - 75% of whom are denied even the minimum educational support considered adequate in a developed society - are the jewels in the Aladdin's cave of human wealth that can turn South Africa into a democratic leader amongst nations, teacher transformation is the key.

The ESST Teacher Methodology Programme grew out of the child-centred English Proficiency Programme. It was first funded by USAID in 1994, and on the strength of that financial support has become established as a major force of educational reform in Southern Africa.

Unfortunately the Teacher Methodology Programme is still limited to only five of the nine Provinces and only approximately three thousand members of the country's vast teaching corps.

Workshops and conferences are held regularly to bring teachers together and reveal to them the extent of their ability and insight. These meetings leave behind them a wake of excitement and renewed enthusiasm. A recent letter received from a teacher in the Northern Cape describes how she had resigned from her job in sheer frustration just before attending our June conference in Kimberley. The conference and the contact with other teachers who shared her frustration was such a revelation that she enlisted our help in having her resignation withdrawn from the educational authorities.

This experience is not unique. The ESST's Teacher Methodology programme is based on the recognition that South Africa's teachers (particularly from the black community) developed unique expertise through the dark apartheid years when they thanklessly kept the schools going without acknowledgement from the government or even liberal organisations.

We know that the key to teacher transformation is a spiritual one: make the teachers aware of their abilities, their achievements, and their value to humanity, provide them with a framework of methodological reform based on sound international researchers such as Vygotsky, Feuerstein and the many American educational researchers who have turned traditional views of learning upside down, and you will empower people to transform their professional ability from within.

The ESST Teacher Methodology Programme is hampered by slashed governmental education budgets; it still depends entirely on private or corporate funding. Costs currently are 60 US dollars per participant for an entire one-year programme price for the value the teachers take back into their community.

Please sponsor a child's education or a teacher's training today!

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