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South African Schooling: The Enigma of Inequality pp 337–353Cite as

Taking Change to Scale: Lessons from the Jika iMfundo Campaign for Overcoming Inequalities in Schools

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Part of the book series: Policy Implications of Research in Education ((PIRE,volume 10))

Abstract

This chapter describes a large-scale system improvement intervention designed to test a change methodology that is simple enough to be implemented within existing resources but would have a significant, sustainable, and positive impact on learning across the basic education system. The intervention took place over 3 years in 1,200 public primary and secondary public schools in 2 districts. The focus of the change was the deepening of professional conversations about curriculum coverage within the school – between teachers themselves; between teachers and the school management teams (SMTs); and between the school and district officials. Differentials in curriculum coverage (understood as opportunities to learn) between well-performing and poorly performing schools mirror socio-economic inequalities that create unequal opportunities to learn. The training and coaching focused on developing the institutional routines and practices to support and strengthen curriculum coverage. This chapter also provides the rationale for intervention; the essential features of its methodology; and the key lessons that were learned. These lessons include systemic weaknesses in respect of teacher support, and the complexity of professional judgement in interacting with the policy guidance provided in respect of curriculum coverage.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Jika iMfundo has been extended to a further 4 districts from 2018. PILO is also working in the Gauteng and Free State provinces and some of the learnings reflected on in this chapter have been sharpened by experiences in those provinces.

  2. 2.

    For a detailed account of the interventions at school level (for teachers, department heads and lead teachers, principals and deputy principals) see (Metcalfe 2018). For a detailed account of the interventions with circuit managers at district level see McLennan (2018).

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Johannesburg, Soweto, South Africa

    Mary Metcalfe

  2. The Bertha Centre for Social Innovation and Entreprenuership, Graduate School of Business, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa

    Alistair Witten

Authors
  1. Mary Metcalfe
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  2. Alistair Witten
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Correspondence to Mary Metcalfe .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Economics, Stellenbosch University, Cape Town, South Africa

    Nic Spaull

  2. Faculty of Education, Stellenbosch University, Cape Town, South Africa

    Jonathan D. Jansen

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Metcalfe, M., Witten, A. (2019). Taking Change to Scale: Lessons from the Jika iMfundo Campaign for Overcoming Inequalities in Schools. In: Spaull, N., Jansen, J. (eds) South African Schooling: The Enigma of Inequality. Policy Implications of Research in Education, vol 10. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-18811-5_18

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-18811-5_18

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-030-18810-8

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-030-18811-5

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