My colleagues and I have been working on a particular project for more than seven years. Often, this measured long-term view was challenged by the urgency to get it done.
Someone or some incident always seemed to shout, “Do something now!” But there is a lot to be gained from learning to plan, putting together the pieces of strategy, identifying and engaging with several stakeholders and, finally, seeing it all come together.
And this was what happened early last month when the Freeport Saldanha Industrial Development Zone, Western Cape Education Department and Dinaledi Leadership for Education launched the 2022 Education Leaders Development Programme (ELDP). The seeds for our school project were planted in 2015, but bringing it to reality has involved the relentless commitment of all the stakeholders, for which we are grateful.
Heather van Ster, Director of the West Coast Education District, who has backed this project from the start, put it best when she said this was the next big step on our collective pathway. She reminded us that although we know where we must go and have mapped that pathway, the project’s success depends on our doing this together.
The keynote address was given by Professor Siona O’Connell of the University of Pretoria. She has deep experience in the mechanisms of social transformation. As she said, government schools remain a stubborn site of inequality and social injustice. To change this, we need to understand the school district’s valuable social capital. We then need to support and develop the idea that the teachers are vital, dynamic agents of social and economic change.
The four-month ELDP programme will allow our teachers to be part of an exciting leadership capacity-building programme. They will gain skills and be equipped with the aptitude and attitude for leadership in their schools and communities.
The pathway is still long, but we wish the candidates the best and are proud finally to see the seeds of our planning come to fruition.
