Edufundi's MISSION aims to unlock the potential of our children by promoting quality education in primary schools through teacher mentorship and support. We know that education in South Africa is currently in crisis. Our very committed and experienced team is working to change this so that all of our teachers – and in turn the children they teach – can indeed achieve their full potential.
Our Transformation
When we began our journey of transformation in 2015, the destination was clear: learners who are able to fulfil their potential. We wanted to develop a professional, carefully designed programme to offer to schools, for them to become centres of meaningful teaching and learning. We also wanted a team of mentors who were highly skilled at facilitating this process. We knew the journey would take time, so we broke it up into stages:
2015 - 2018: Focus on teachers:
We developed our Teach Like a Champion programme – adapted from the work of Doug Lemov and his team – during the period 2015 to 2017. The Edufundi team researched, practised, adapted and refined a range of practical techniques for teachers
to learn and use in their classrooms. At the same time, we refined our mentoring approach and developed specific skills and resources to support our mentees effectively. Mentors received training and guidance, and were also encouraged to work closely together in a community of practice.
2018: Creating enabling conditions for teaching excellence
For excellent teaching practice to be integrated into the culture of the school, it was essential that school leaders were brought on board. We partnered with Dr Alistair Witten and spent 2018 laying the foundation for Lead Like a Champion, a programme aimed at equipping School Management Teams to become effective instructional leaders. By the end of 2018, the first part of the programme had been piloted and much had been learned. At the same time, the Edufundi mentors continued to build their knowledge and refine their skills through personal reflection, collaboration and professional development. The team grew and new members added their expertise to the pool.
2019: Equipping schools for long-term success and programme ownership
What happens when Edufundi mentors are no longer present in schools? Real success is when schools can take ownership of the skills and strategies provided to them and continue to improve once they have graduated from the programme. Beginning in 2019, Edufundi began work on the Mentor Support Programme, an initiative designed to provide more systematised training for our Edufundi mentors and to further build the school leadership teams’ abilities to mentor their own teachers for long-term sustainability. This programme will be incorporated into our Lead Like a Champion Programme as we continue to build and strengthen the other two programme elements.
2020: Reflection and resilience
Our programme continues to grow, change and evolve year after year, guided by continual reflection, strong leadership and a shared vision of success. The
evolution of Edufundi is not a finite process, but rather reflects an ever-changing set of solutions designed to meet the everchanging realities and needs of our South African teachers and the schools in which they teach.
2021: A fully accredited, sustainable offering for all our schools
2021 saw the culmination of seven years of reflection and consolidation. We completed the design and manual for the Lead Like a Champion (LLAC) pilot
programme, and these were submitted to SACE for their accreditation. Our Learning
Management System (LMS) was also piloted and is now ready to supplement and support our programme. We secured funding to hire Leadership Support Coaches for all four provinces and the programme was set up to roll out the fully accredited Edufundi Support Programme
(ESP) at all our schools across the country in 2022.
2022 - Edufundi Support Programme is rolled out to 40 new schools
We secured funding to hire Leadership Support Coaches for all four provinces. A cohort of 40 schools were selected, 10 schools in each province and the fully accredited Edufundi Support Programme (ESP) was rolled out in all our schools in 2022.
We embarked on the Impact Study through the support of external M&E experts; Brombacher & Associates. The purpose of the Impact study was to assess and track the impact of out intervention on learner achievements over a 3 year period. The Impact Study was kick started in November 2022 with a Baseline assessment targeting a sample of 320 learners across 8 Edufundi supported schools
We also had a change in leadership. Taryn Casey stepped down and we welcomed Setungoane (Stu) Letsatsi as the new CEO.
2023 - Impact study
In October and November 2023, as part of the impact study, Early Grade Mathematics Assessments (EGMAS) and reading assessments with 320 learners across 8 Edufundi schools were conducted. The results of these mid-programme assessments, when compared to our 2022 baseline assessments, will contribute towards Edufundi’s understanding of how our programme impacts learner academic outcomes.
Our cohort of 40 schools entered the 2nd year of the programme focusing on ‘shifting agency’.
