In-School Support

In 2011 Ms Nyameka Kangela joined our team as a PhD scholar.  Her role in the team, in collaboration with Mike Mhlolo (our post-doc student), is to co-ordinate the school support programme and provide leadership in establishing a programme that not only supports our teachers in relation to the MTEP programme, but also addresses issues of personal professional identity.  Currently we are offering classroom support in the following schools: Ntsika, Velile, TEM Mrwetyana, Mary Waters, Nompucuko and Ikamvalesizwe.

In 2010 numerous pilot visits to schools took place.  The aim of these visits was two-fold, firstly to establish a means to gather situational information about the participating schools and teachers, and secondly to provide support for the teachers in their teaching.  The pilot revealed very quickly that for school visits to be meaningful they needed to:
•    relate directly to the MTEP programme
•    happen on a regular and sustained basis

Part of the classroom support programme is our ideal classroom project which focuses specifically on (re)establishing classroom spaces that are conducive to teaching and learning mathematics.  This involves the equipping of classrooms with appropriate and exciting teaching aids such as posters, teaching tools such as rulers and protractors for the chalk boards, software where computers are available and other materials developed by the FRF Mathematics Chair.  Associated with this project was our calculator project.  Our school visits in 2010 revealed that none of our pupils had sustained access to calculators.   Our aim was thus to equip each of our classrooms with sufficient calculators for each learner to access and use.  500 calculators were sourced at cost from CASIO who also ran introductory and orientation workshops with the teachers.  Both the above projects provide for a tangible framework for classroom-based support.  Also integral to our school support programme is our Catch-Up Project.