The National Education Collaboration Trust (NECT) and the Department of Basic Education (DBE) are hosting a three-day Capacity Building Programme in pursuance of the objectives of the National Development Plan (NDP) 2030, in particular, that of building the capacity of the state. This fourth Winter School, scheduled from July 2nd to 4th aims to enhance the expertise of district officials to support the system in delivering national priorities in areas such as, Reading, Mathematics, Learner and Teacher Welfare.
- “We need districts with practical implementation capabilities to effectively translate policies and national programmes into activities that benefit teachers and learners,” says Dr Godwin Khosa, the Chief Executive Officer of the NECT.
- The Programme will be attended by representatives from six provinces, spanning 17 districts, which collectively represent approximately 23% of the 75 districts.
“Effective, meaningful, equitable and sustainable delivery of education by schools will be achieved if districts are centrally involved in the support and monitoring of all aspects of school level education processes including the instructional elements.”
Khosa, G. 2024: 1
The Winter School Focuses on:
- Literacy and Mathematics improvement planning and school support.
- Strengthening the mainstreaming and institutionalisation of learner welfare into the broader pedagogy.
- Engendering ‘Implementation Science’ in the education sector.
The programme covers pertinent cross-cutting education development themes including deliberate efforts to engender ‘Implementation Science’ into the district operations, strengthening implementation monitoring and performance monitoring and tracking. The programme includes inputs from the University of Toronto presenters who will share the latest insights on the ‘education middle-tier’, a growing discipline across the world.
The programme serves as a platform for enhancing critical district-level technical competencies and leadership and for promoting cross-district learning.
The goal of the District Winter School Programme is to build and institutionalise district capacity for driving learning outcomes at scale.
1Khosa, G. 2024: Why are Districts (Mistakenly) left out of the Education Improvement Discourse, Education Implementation Issues No1. https://www.nect.org.za/edu-issues/