Students at Crawford Schools benefit from a four-component approach to education that ensures holistic development
Crawford Schools have a reputation of providing their students with the tools they need to succeed out in the real world. To this end, they have started to shift from an exclusively results-focused curriculum towards a more progressive and innovative one. While still holding a results-driven ethos at its heart, the Crawford approach is both holistic and modern — and it is paying off.
“We are committed to staying on top of trends in education, and ensure that we are aligned to best practice happening in the world today,” says John Luis, Head of Academics-ADvTECH schools. “We believe in enhancing and promoting 21st century skills [and] giving our students the ability to solve real world problems through creativity and ingenuity.”
The new “maker space” developed at one of the Crawford Schools is a superb example of this ethos in action. Students are not sitting and listening to lessons: they are given genuine challenges and tasked with finding workable solutions to them.
“While it is necessary to prepare our students well for the exams, the subject teaching — done largely in silo and culminating in a high stakes time-constrained exam — does not serve our students sufficiently if the bigger purpose is to prepare the students for the real world,” says Luis.
“Everyone is aware that the current curriculum is based on single-delivery single subject and content heavy, with time constrained exams — these are not serving our students when it comes to life outside the school walls,” says Luis. “Schools have to do much more than tick these academic boxes if they are to really support their students today.”
Crawford has developed a formally designed four-component approach to education to build the ideal platform for student education. The first element is the single subject discipline teaching for the CAPS curriculum, which sees Crawford invest in top teaching talent and educational tools. The school has just completed its first year writing the IEB (Independent Examinations Board) matric exams, and has achieved excellent matric results and school engagement.
“The IEB works with smaller numbers than the DBE (department of basic education), so we have more focused attention, with development workshops and highly professional service,” says Luis. “Both organisations do excellent jobs, but the IEB provides us with a lot more data about the results, which allows for richer analysis and reflection and improved outcomes for the year ahead.”
The second component of the Crawford approach is core skills. These core skills were formalised by the Crawford Schools in 2015 and are broken down across: social skills, communication skills, thinking (critical, creative and reflective) skills, research skills and self-management skills. They form a key part of the curriculum and tie in with some of the most important qualities that the modern organisation looks for in its employees.
“The World Economic Forum released a document in 2016 that interviewed 900 companies from around the world, asking them what 10 skills they would look for in 2020,” says Luis. “The top of the list is complex problem solving, followed by critical thinking and creativity. The report underscores the value of recognising these skills in the school environment and paying attention to their development.”
The third component is digital literacy and this is further broken down into three parts — programming and coding, productivity, and creativity and collaboration in the digital space. This aspect of the Crawford Schools curriculum has been developed with the digital world in mind, giving students exactly what they need to thrive in the modern business environment.
“The fourth and final component is our adoption of the global citizen value system. This respects diversity, respects other people’s values and focuses on developing strength of character,” says Luis. “Each of these four components works with the others to deliver a holistic educational platform that inspires our students to become the best that they can be.”
Certainly, the results achieved by students from Crawford Schools are testament to that. The learners were in the top band of the IEB schools, with several children achieving results that placed them in the top 1% — one receiving 100% for maths.
“We have achieved well above the national average, with an excellent distinction rate, and we are going to do even better in 2017,” concludes Luis.