Leadership and Learning are Indispensable to Each Other
February 14, 2024
Edufundi celebrates 25 years and releases its 2023 Annual Report
June 26, 2024
Joe Slovo Primary School: A Pillar of Education in Gqeberha
Joe Slovo Primary School, located in the Joe Slovo township in Gqeberha, is one of the 10 schools from the Eastern Cape that joined the Edufundi Support Programme in 2022. The school serves as a central pillar in the community, with over 1200 learners enrolled from grade R - 7 and 32 educators. Despite facing challenges such as high unemployment and limited community services and resources, Joe Slovo Primary remains dedicated to providing quality education to its learners.
Mr. Dyeshana, a Departmental Head, and teacher in Social Sciences at Joe Slovo, joined the Edufundi Support Programme in 2022. As he forms part of the School Management Team, Mr. Dyeshana was part of both the Edufundi Support Programmes , Teach Like A Champion and Lead Like a Champion. His passion for professional development and competence as a teacher were evident from the start of his engagement with our team.
Transforming Teaching Practices: Teach Like A Champion
In year one, Edufundi mentors some of the School Management Team (SMT) members in Teach Like a Champion to harness their teaching practice. This is so that they can support and mentor other teachers in the school with the same techniques, even beyond Edufundi’s involvement.
Discipline was a key issue at Joe Slovo before Edufundi's support. Unathi Vimbani, one of Edufundi’s Intermediate Phase mentors, notes the positive impact of Mr. Dyeshana's consistency in practicing Teach Like A Champion Techniques. "The learners were willingly cooperating, and there was a positive learning environment. Time and resources were well managed. His consistency in practicing Teach Like A Champion Techniques was unmatched," explains Unathi. This consistency quickly addressed the key issue of discipline as well as other challenges that he faced in the classroom. As early as Term 2 in 2022, learners were well-behaved and engaged in 100% of the lessons observed by Unathi.
Throughout 2022, Unathi observed 27 of his lessons. “Mr. Dyeshana always had a positive mindset towards support” highlights Unathi “and he always took on board feedback and suggestions given to him. We addressed challenges and weaknesses together, finding solutions during our feedback sessions.”
Empowering Leadership: Lead Like a Champion
Additionally, Mr. Dyeshana worked with his Leadership Coach, Simphiwe Xalipi, through the Lead Like a Champion programme. Lead Like a Champion works with the leadership team to support and develop strong, effective, and functional SMTs who lead their schools to support teaching for learning. The programme focuses on instructional leadership, trust and teamwork, planning for success, curriculum management, performance management, and leadership and culture. To date, Mr. Dyeshana has received 30 one-on-one coaching sessions with Simphiwe. These sessions aim to support SMTs with embedding the practices learnt in workshops into their daily leadership activities as well as contextualizing the content to their specific needs as an individual and as a school.
"Planning was a challenge for me before. I didn’t even have a term plan for myself and my department," says Mr. Dyeshana. Through the support of his coach, he learned how to develop a term plan and manage and monitor it. ‘It made my work much easier’, he reports. He also improved his communication skills, learning the importance of effective communication and not just listening to respond. “My weakness was that I used to interrupt someone when speaking, thinking that I understood what the other person was trying to say.”
Simphiwe notes that these were areas they worked on together, “He now listens to understand, even in our one-on-one sessions he doesn’t interrupt anymore. He will also check with me to make sure that he has interpreted what is said correctly.” says Simphiwe. “His planning has also improved; he delegates more to his grade and subject heads. Now that he is sharing his workload he finds it easier to get everything done and not get overwhelmed.”
“Mr Dyeshana’s growth and progress in Lead Like A Champion is one that is both encouraging and motivating. It is a pleasure and honor for me to coach a person of his caliber who is open to new learning and is willing, available and committed to new ideas and strategies that support his management and leadership practice”
Building a Collaborative Community
Collaboration has been another key aspect of Mr. Dyeshana's growth. "Collaboration enabled me to work closely with other Department Heads from the Foundation Phase. We share ideas and best practices more than before. We now plan together and that also gives me a better idea of what they are doing. This has promoted transparency, and we are able to support each other," he explains. This collaborative approach has strengthened relationships within the management team and promoted a culture of transparency and support in the school.
Simphiwe also praises Mr Dyashana on incorporating feedback into his process “Before, when Mr Dyeshana did observations he would just write his findings on paper and file it away. Now he arranges one-on-ones with the teachers and has feedback conversations with them.”
He continues to apply the techniques he has learnt through LLAC and his coach? in phase, subject, and grade meetings. Additionally, Mr Dyeshana has also been instrumental in embedding the TLAC techniques into the school culture. “The Department Heads, Foundation Phase (Ms Mfeketho) and Intermediate Phase (Mr Dyeshana), co - presented and facilitated TLAC workshops on their own. This indicates the strength and capacity the school has in the embedding of the techniques to the whole school, this was evident during these workshops with the entire SMT behind them” explains leadership coach Simphiwe Xalipi.
Mr. Dyeshana's Ongoing Impact and Future Plans
Mr. Dyeshana is now in his final year in the programme, eager to absorb as much knowledge as possible. He remains dedicated to applying and sharing the techniques and tools he has acquired, even when Edufundi's involvement ends at the end of 2024. Committed to supporting fellow teachers who have not yet experienced the program, he aims to equip them with the same valuable resources. "All members of staff now will be involved, and we will make sure we train them and support them so that we become one of the schools that have the best discipline and we produce the best results," he affirms.
At the end of 2023 he was appointed by the Subject Advisors from the Department of Education to lead the Zwide cluster, in the Gqeberha area. His role is to support a group of Department Heads with moderation and supervision of curriculum activities, learners’ books and teacher files.
Reflecting on his growth, Mr. Dyeshana acknowledges his growth in confidence and expresses gratitude to his Coach and Edufundi for the opportunity to develop professionally, saying,
"I’ve gained more confidence to call myself a leader. I will forever be thankful for the chance to be part of this program and grow in my field."
Written by
Unathi Vimbani - Eastern Cape intermediate Phase mentor
Simphiwe Xalipi - Eastern Cape Leadership Coach
