Mr Manganye, director for Teacher Development in KwaZulu-Natal province, opens the first workshop with the Department of Education at the Provincial Teacher Development Institute in Durban on the 30th of January. Participants include education specialists of the provincial training team and three district training teams of Ilembe, Umzinyathi and Zululand districts.
Developing that important partnership is central to the workshop. For four days, we are inspired by everyone’s drive to achieve learning for all in the province.
The training teams consist of education specialists from different sections: Inclusive Education, Curriculum, Management & Governance, Teacher Development, teachers and principals and Teachers’ Unions. In interdisciplinary teams, we engage with topics such as teaching for diversity, effective school leadership and continuing professional development. We explore good practices in teaching for diversity and leadership, using interactive methods and a multitude of video, audio and written materials and practical tools.
Our engagements culminate in the development of tools which will be used to learn about the current situation and needs in the three districts. A good understanding of the context in which schools operate and the professional strengths and needs of teachers and school leaders with regards to teaching for diversity will be key to ensure effective continuing professional development in the future.
Excellent start
The first reactions on the new partnership with VVOB were very promising:
What I’m particularly impressed with this workshop is the way it has brought together the various directorates that we work with. I’ve observed a very keen collaboration between the various directorates and I think that collaboration is there because we’re all working on something that is trending internationally, which is inclusive education […] I think the partnership with VVOB is going to be a very sustainable partnership because the trainings have included not the target group but the existing structures that are in the districts, in the sub directorates and in the department in general. You (VVOB) are working with the existing structures that will always be there, even after you have left, even when the partnership has ended.
Dr. Ram, Inclusive Education KwaZulu-Natal Department of Education
The approach they (VVOB) use to capacitate the PTT and DTTs is really pleasing […] Four years from now, we ourselves, as member of the training teams, will have grown in terms of how to actually provide quality support, needs based support. The entire system, we are confident, is going to change because our thinking as managers and of those who coordinate the support programmes for teachers is going to be radically changed.
Ms. Smith, Teacher Development KwaZulu-Natal Department of Education
More testimonials on the workshop can be found here.
