November 21st: Day 1 of our project

Part 1: Visiting Sapphire Road Primary School

Our project focuses on the community empowerment activities already in place in the region around this school in rural Port Elizabeth, Eastern Cape.  The city itself is beautifully located on the sea front, and enjoys a warm, but breezy climate (thus causing it to be known as The Windy City).  I had enjoyed the delightful accommodation of Brighton Lodge on the Sunday evening, and had a delicious breakfast overlooking the pool.

A thirty minute drive took us to Sapphire Road Primary School, Bethelsdorp.  The journey took us from some of the most prosperous housing in the area, through some of the least prosperous.  The school itself is a relatively large building.

 

It is better equipped than many schools, and has its own library, provided as part of the Touch Africa project.

It also however, has a House of Hope and Healing, where traumatised children can receive support and help.

A clinic provides basic medical care for the pupils, and for the  community.

There is a Tiny Tots playground:

 

There is also a much needed feeding and nutrition programme in operation.

Like many buildings, the school is protected by an armed response alarm system.

 

The outgoing Principal of the school has been extremely active in reconceptualising the school as a hub for the community, and a resource for community development.  This latest project, identified as a community need by the teachers, teaching assistants and community members themselves, will enable participants to work together over a period of six or so months in Action Learning Sets, and develop a parental support programme, so that children will be better supported during their schooling.

The next entry will focus on the activities of Day 1, and the work with the project participants.

 

 

 

 

Back to South Africa: Nov 21, 2015

And so another project starts with an overcrowded, overlong flight.

This time the focus is a participatory action research project with teaching assistants in rural Eastern Cape. I’ll try to document it here

Education beyond AIMSSEC

Despite it being a busy week, a couple of hours free one morning was just enough time for a walk in the close by Jan Marais Nature Reserve.  It’s lovely to see a bit of local flora

fauna (though unfortunately no rats or tortoises this time)

and contemporary art

The reserve is mostly bushveld vegetation, with dedicated areas for particular types of plant, such the the Aloe Garden.

However, this time I incorporated a visit to the Eco Centre on the reserve, to have a look at their education project.  Just outside the building there’s a wonderful bug hotel, and a little greenhouse made from plastic bottles

The centre itself is a colourful, welcoming place

with the inside kitted out as a classroom and exhibition space.

Local children visit to learn about nature and wildlife.  Trips are arranged to the coast also to provide education about marine life.  When I’m with AIMSSEC, I don’t get a chance to visit schools, so this was one way of seeing something of local educational provision.

 

Stringy Sticks and Platonic Solids

Providing ideas for low resource practical maths always forms a core part of the MT work.  Elizabeth’s session, using scrap paper, string and sellotape was a perfect example of how properties of a special group of solids, the platonic solids could be explored in a  fun, hands-on way.

As you will see, the number of hands that must be on, is certainly more than two, and so this is a perfect activity for group work.

First make your stringy sticks:

Now let’s start making tetrahedra:

and cubes:

The finished article looks great

The more complex the solid…

…the more hands needed.

As the session goes on, the teachers become more ambitious.

with some groups managing to make the dodecahedron and the icosahedron.

Some of the solids make cool hats!

The noise levels rise, as endeavours and celebrations are accompanied by  singing and dancing.  Only in South Africa can a group of strangers sing together spontaneously like a well rehearsed choir.

A perfect MT25 evening session!

 

 

“My Daughter, education is the husband that will never let you down”

There is usually at least one of the evening sessions at AIMSSEC given over to inspirational stories.  It’s so wonderful to celebrate the successes of previous students of AIMS, and the wonderful work that is being done by South Africans.  Rejoyce’s story was one I had previously heard.

Daphney Singo (now Daphney Boucher), recalls her mother’s advice to her during her childhood in the Venda region of northern Limpopo.  Growing up in poverty, she was urged throughout her life to find ways of getting the best education possible.  If it meant borrowing money, looking for scholarships and sponsorships, free places in colleges, then that’s what she did.  Her mother was clearly a driving force in all of this, constantly supporting Daphney in any way she could.  We have also previously celebrated Daphney’s story by watching her talk about her ongoing work to help solve the energy crisis in South Africa.

This year however, we were thrilled to have Daphne visit in person, to talk about the journey she has been on.  As usual, she dresses in traditional Venda attire, celebrating her heritage.

She’s an easy storyteller, recounting challenges and successes along the way.

 

She laughs as she shares the incredulity of the young men on her postgraduate course, when she says she wants to study for a PhD after the Masters.  “With all that education, no-one will want to marry you” they tell her.  Despite that, she urges all the teachers to encourage young women to study maths and sciences…

…and then shares her next slide:

The talk is over far too early.  Teachers at the course, and tutors alike have been impressed and inspired.  Everyone wants a photo with her.  The Limpopo teachers feel particularly proud to see the ‘local girl made good’.  A group photo is certainly in order.

 

 

 

People Maths

It wouldn’t be AIMSSEC without people maths.  This is a really important (as well as fun) element of the course.  For teachers  with huge classes (in some cases 120+), and no resources other than their learners, pupil maths is a super way of teaching lots of key concepts.  Being able to do this outdoors in the sunshine is an added bonus.

Representations of data can be difficult to explain, and the  relationship between different representations, even more difficult.

So, let’s start by a simple ordering exercise, tallest to smallest

It’s easy now to start looking for the median height, and with a little more work,  finding mean and mode.

Next, let’s sort ourselves into lines according to height.  Big paper labels can represent the intervals

and teachers (or their learners back in school) can form human bar charts.

And of course, any excuse for a little dance!

A little bit of organisation, some string, and moving out to the playground, one group at a time, allows us to start forming pie charts.

Once the pie is complete,  with each ‘slice’ delineated by radii of string, we can start marking out the angles of each segment.

Simple activities, almost zero resources – wonderful opportunities for conceptual understanding!

Professor Sinobia: Plan for Learning

The legacy of apartheid is still evident in South Africa.  There is severe poverty and lack of social and educational opportunity.  Teachers in the schools are themselves products of this system, and despite their best efforts, are often not best equipped to make meaningful improvements in schools.  They are often under-qualified (if qualified at all), and have few opportunities for meaningful professional development.  One area  where this is particularly evident is in mathematics education.

There are issues with subject pedagogical knowledge and in addition, there has been little or no general pedagogical development either. Teachers tend to teach didactically, the way they were themselves taught.  There is little in the way of practical resources in many schools, and where they do exist, huge class sizes, and lack of decent CPD for teachers mean that they are rarely, if ever used.

Further, there is a legacy of ‘doing teaching’, with little recognition of the relationship between teaching and learning.  The challenge is posed:

How can we teach if we don’t understand learning?

Because of poverty, because of poor educational backgrounds of many of the teachers, because of a whole range of social  inequalities, many teachers have never learned to plan effective lessons, or reflect on them afterwards.  This is more pronounced in rural (black0 schools.

AIMSSEC seeks to remedy this through a set of blended learning courses, one of which is its Mathematical Thinking Course.  January 2016 saw the 25th of these happening – MT25. As well as subject and subject pedagogical knowledge, there is also a focus on general pedagogy.  Sinobia (honoured by her colleagues on a later trip to Cameroon with the title “professor” to recognise the significance of her voice in African Mathematics Education) has taken a lead in helping teachers develop effective planning for learning and the use of reflective practice to enable them to think about lessons both before and after them.  

The development of Reflection is encouraged throughout the MT course through the use of a prompted reflective journal, reflecting on the classes that they have attended.

“use this as a learning opportunity, and a means for thinking about what has happened, so that you can contextualize this for your own class and situation.”

 

She reminds them of their collective responsibilities, “we are not here in individual capacities – but here to take South Africa, and the full continent of Africa, forward.”

This is big stuff.  This is powerful stuff.  This is a true reflection of the way in which AIMSSEC encourages teachers to share the benefit of their own professional learning and development.  However, this mission is also one which challenges some of the less than desirable practices which exist in places.  Sinobia reminds them of the responsibility they have to the children in their charge, and the the ethical underpinnings of the teaching profession.  She urges “if you are one of those teachers who gives kids drugs to encourage them to attend school, you should not be in the teaching profession”.

These words have stayed with me – we really have it easy here in the UK, don’t we?

 

 

 

 

 

 

The start of a week of maths education for teachers

We set off early from Muizenberg  for the first day of the course, which is held in Stellenbosch High School.  I love how Stellenbosch means “city of oaks“, which is almost identical to the meaning of my hometown name, Derry,  which is an anglicisation of the Irish name Daire or Doire meaning “oak grove”

As ever, the views from the school grounds are beautiful.  Whether in sun or rain, these mountains are stunning.

The evening light really suits them – this photo does not do justice to the colours as the sun goes down.

After registering all the students, sorting our stationery, preparing classrooms, sorting out resources, trying to get connectivity organised, greeting the teachers (and each other), we all share a meal together and spend some time as a team in our staffroom in the school hostel.

The school itself (an Afrikaans school) is one of the better equipped schools in South Africa.  Conditions in the hostel however, could generously be called ‘basic’.  That said, the beds are perfectly comfortable when you’re tired, and there’s an endless supply of hot water in the showers.  After the end of the registration day, the bed and showers feel like a spa hotel!

 

The first teaching day dawns bright and early, and hot.  We started with a plenary session this morning; as is the custom, the session started with worship.

We were led by Stephen and Zii in prayer and song, “How great thou art”.  Barrie then welcomed all to MT 25, explaining the purpose of AIMS, and the specific role of AIMSSEC.

 

By 2025, it is hoped that there will be 15 centres across Africa, expanding on current provision in:

• South Africa
• Senegal
• Cameroon
• Ghana
• Tanzania
• Rhuanda

A key message was the possibility for students on the programme to continue studies, to develop careers, and improve practice .  This is important when the present state of mathematics in South Africa causes significant concern  The teachers really want to make things better;  this is why they have given up a week of their school holiday to be at the course. I have so much respect for them.

 

 

Highs and Lows from an AIMSSEC Visit in January

I’ll start with Lows, and get that bit out of the way.

Lows

• teaching a 10 day course in 6 days
• much hotter and with greater humidity than I, or anyone else had expected

 

Highs

Well, in all honesty, basically everything else.  If I was teaching 8.30 am to 8.30 pm every day at home, and then providing feedback to a tutor group’s reflective journals so that they could collect them at 7am the next morning, I think I’d drop from exhaustion before I even got half way there.  Doing this in less than perfect conditions, and temperatures approaching 40C  – well, if I’d thought it all through coldly and rationally, it would seem a ridiculous thing to even consider.  But it wasn’t ridiculous; it wasn’t ridiculous at all.  In fact it was amazingly wonderful.

So, I’ll write about some of the wonderful experiences, and opportunities for reflection I had at the start of the new year – which prompts me to remember another ‘Low’.  My flight to Cape Town was on New Year’s Eve, and so I was quite excited to see how it would be celebrated (and indeed when).  It wasn’t!  We had a simple Happy New Year from the Captain shortly after midnight UK time, and that was about it!

So, after flying all through the night, I was being met at the airport by Deon, who does most of the taxi-ing for AIMSSEC.  A former teacher himself, he now, along with his brother, runs the taxi company his father set up.  He loves to hear about what we do at AIMSSEC, and it’s obvious that although he has no regrets about leaving the classroom to support his aging father and keep going the business that his father had worked to hard to establish, he misses teaching.

He was driving me to the AIMS building in Muizenberg, which was a bit of a surprise to me as I’d thought we were going straight to Stellenbosch.  A 30 minute drive took almost 2 hours, as we sat in traffic behind queues of South African’s heading to the beach for the traditional New Year’s Day celebrations.  It seemed like the whole township of Khayelitsha had decamped to the beaches all along the coastal route to Muizenberg.  I can’t blame them – the coast is spectacular, and one of these days I’m going to have the time to explore it properly!

A quick bit to eat on arriving at AIMS, followed by a little nap, and it was time to see first hand what New Year’s Day at the beach looked like.

First up, no matter what length the queue, you have to go to the liquor store and stock up for the party.

It can be difficult in such a busy place to then find somewhere for your party, but you take what you get

and when it all gets too much

you wrap yourself in a blanket and get some sleep.  Every pavement, traffic roundabout, set of steps is full to overflowing with people.

The beach at Muizenberg is absolutely beautiful, and it was great to see it during the summer.  My last visit had been in a very wet and windswept July.  It’s no wonder that in the summer, and on a traditional party day, it’s absolutely packed – standing room only!

 

 

Most people try to make their way to the water, 

I managed a paddle – it would have been rude not to properly visit the Indian Ocean.

The human residents of Muizenberg and Khayelitsha aren’t only the only ones to recognise a good party place.  Even despite the crowds, there were lots of birds on the beach, and the gulls quickly learned to locate picnics.

Swimmers and surfers love these waters – and so do sharks

As ever, in South Africa, the people are warm and friendly, and talk to visitors in the streets.  If they see you carrying a camera, they often ask you to take photos.  I would really love to find some way of getting these photos back to them.

After my walk, a quick shower and change, and it was time to meet some of the team for some “Dude food” at Tiger’s Milk.

 

All in all,  a different day to the one I’d envisaged, and a wonderful experience. It was also good to relax before the busy week ahead.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Exhausted, but…

A very short entry tonight.  After flying to Cape Town on New Year’s Eve, arriving at a hectically busy Muizenberg to stay for one night, before an early pick-up for onward travel to Stellenbosch, I’m a bit too tired to write a long post.  It’s been a busy day,  full of the joys of meeting old friends, and making new ones, and preparing for the onslaught that will be the AIMSSEC MT25 course.

My first thoughts on arriving in the hostel this morning were of a sense of familiarity, which was probably in part  due to the noise of the cicadas, but possibly more so due to the smell of disinfectant in the hostel – 5* it sure ain’t!  Yet somehow, it’s comforting and homely, and filled with a sense of being in the presence of fabulous people doing great things.  I live in constant fear of being exposed as a fraud here!  However, I really value the experience, and feel very privileged to be allowed to be part of it.  It’s a wonderful learning experience for me, each time I come here.

I have no photos to upload tonight, having left my camera in the taxi this morning.  Thankfully, Deon saw it, rescued it, and will will return it to me ASAP.  I’m so grateful for that.

As usual, connectivity here is a bit of a hit-and-miss thing, and even when it works, it’s slow – very slow.  However, having finally managed to get on line this afternoon, my email inbox brought me the very sad news of yet another family death.  Knowing that someone is very close to death doesn’t always prepare you for the shock of that death – even when the person has lived a long and full life.

So, tonight, as I get ready for bed, my thoughts are so mixed.  I’m excited and thrilled to be here again, but I’m sad beyond belief not to be able to be with my family at this time.