Education is one of the key components in the development of South Africa, due to its ability to drive both social and economic transformation. South Africa spends a larger share of its gross domestic product on education than any other country in Africa, according to Unicef. The education sector is experiencing significant challenges both at school and higher education levels, including inadequate infrastructure, insufficient access to skilled and qualified educators and frugal leadership. Furthermore, there appears to be a mismatch between the level and location of demand versus what the sector is able to provide from an infrastructure perspective.
Technology that helps to make education more flexible, portable, sustainable and scalable is likely to play a key role in the resolution of these challenges and enable growth in the sector. Technology is, however, not a panacea and cannot replace the key elements of a sound schooling environment — committed and competent teachers, safe and sufficient facilities, and strong leadership.
Technology needs to be implemented in all schools with the prime intention of improving educational outcomes. It is also prudent to build technology into schools at the conceptualisation and design phase and place its inherent potential at the core of the design. Introducing technology into the foundation of educational design will result in much needed innovations in areas such as classroom design, space optimisation and pupil-to-teacher ratios.
What is needed is a school development model that is less capital intensive, easier to maintain and that consciously employs sustainable building and energy practices. ADvTECH agrees fully with the intention of the National Development Plan in that the maintenance and utilisation of infrastructure is essential, but would argue that the best way to benefit from international and local success stories and key lessons is through a partnership between the private and public sectors — perhaps under the aegis of social compact initiatives such as the National Education Collaboration Trust.
Education is a national imperative and it is a moral imperative to use all the available resources (from both public and private sectors) to address it.
At higher education level, the lack of national capacity along with the deeply concerning graduation rates signal a real risk — modern economies are built on graduates. Several valuable national initiatives such as two new universities, Sol Plaatje University in the Northern Cape and the University of Mpumalanga, and the recapitalisation of public further education and training colleges are positive signs of a commitment to increase capacity and provide the institutional diversity we need to produce artisans, professionals and researchers. It is highly unlikely, however, that the state can provide for all the current and future demand. ADvTECH would argue that the state should not seek to do so, as a vital part of creating an integrated post schooling system, as envisaged by the White Paper, is the growth and development of the private sector.
While still small, the private sector, subject to the same quality assurance standards as the public sector, already makes a contribution and could be leveraged to do more. For instance, The Independent Institute of Education, which has a model of distributed campuses drawing on a strong central academic infrastructure, has a replicable model that is providing 3 000 graduates a year.
Technology is used to address the educational challenges of providing appropriate learning experiences for a tech-savvy market, including leveraging key scarce skills in the academic staff team and providing iterative developmental opportunities to improve student success without losing focus on the need for direct and sustained individualised student support. The outcome is the ability to rapidly deploy educational opportunities of a consistent and predictable quality standard.
Furthermore, there are several other parties in the private sector making strong contributions. Through partnerships with public providers, private sector infrastructure could be used to support the national distance learning policy without any infrastructure investment. All it will take is a willingness to do so, as the enabling legislation and capacity are already in place.
Dr Felicity Coughlan is the Director of The Independent Institute of Education, a subsidiary of ADvTECH
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