HIGH-IMPACT  SUPPLEMENTARY  SCHOOL (HISS)

This (inaugural) initiative was held in the first term of 2015 to assist those Matric pupils from public schools in Grahamstown, who didn’t get good enough marks for entrance into tertiary education. It constituted a partnership between the Rhodes Community Engagement Office, Rhodes Education Faculty, and GADRA Education. A total of approximately 65 pupils received tuition from high-level teachers or relevant Rhodes academics in five subjects (Life Sciences, Geography, Maths Literacy, Economics and Accounting) in preparation for the supplementary examinations written in March.

The process involved subject teaching, group study, self-study and mentoring, the latter provided by designated Rhodes student facilitators.

Overall, some 44% of the enrolled students improved their results. “The results were a little disappointing, but we learnt valuable lessons from this pilot project  for implementation in 2016,” said Di Hornby, Director of Community Engagement at Rhodes.

Dr Ashley Westaway, GADRA Education Manager, said in his Evaluation Report of the HISS that they would be looking to make certain adjustments to the model next year. These would include replacing

Accountancy with Business Studies or History, requiring students to go through a more rigorous application process, strengthening the self-study and group-study sessions, and supplementing the mentoring process.

ACCREDITATION FOR IN-SERVICE TEACHERS

The Rhodes Education Faculty has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with GADRA Education to accredit their development workshops for in-service primary school teachers with professional points for South African Council of Education requirements.

NAMIBIAN POSTGRADUATE PROGRAMME

In response to a request from the Ministry of Education in Namibia, the Rhodes Education Faculty instituted a full contact programme for postgraduate qualifications in Education. This helps to professionalise the teacher corps in that country, but also boosts the Rhodes postgraduate numbers and the diversity of students. An indication of the perception of the Rhodes brand as a quality one, comes from the fact that over 500 applications were received for the Honours course that can take 60 students. Full-time Masters students from Namibia do their degrees on site in Grahamstown.