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Name of organisation: NELSON MANDELA METROPOLITAN UNIVERSITY
ADDRESS: Faculty of Education, PO Box 77000, Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University, Port Elizabeth, 6031 South Africa.
Tel: +27 (0)41 5042389
Fax: +27 (0)41 3737054
E-mail: bill.holderness@nmmu.ac.za
Website: www.nmmu.ac.za
Contact name: Prof. Bill Holderness
About the programme
Activities associated with Child-to-Child began here in the late 1980s in what is now South Africa’s North West Province (formerly, Bophuthatswana). Since moving to the Eastern Cape Province in July 1996, I have each year drawn attention to (and sung the praises of) the Child-to-Child approach and materials to large groups of pre- and in-service teachers. In most cases I have included a sample worksheet in the appendices of the Study Guides and displayed the Child-to-Child related books (Hawes etc.) and sets of Readers. I have also placed these on reserve in our main university Library at the Summerstrand (South) campus.
For seven years I was the Programme Leader for the BEd Honours programme as well as the Module Coordinator for a number of under and post-graduate modules, including those with the following names: School Improvement, Curriculum Development, Special Needs Education and Health & Education.
In the case of the BEd Honours programme in particular, very large numbers of serving teachers and principals across the Eastern Cape Province (and even beyond) were registered students and therefore studied the modules that included Child-to-Child in the appendices. In some cases, Examination Questions have mentioned by name - and thereby encouraged students to refer to - the approaches of the Child-to-Child Trust, including Health Promoting Schools. In recent years, Assignments have been set at Honours level on Health Promoting Schools.
On all occasions, special attention is drawn to the generous stance taken by Child-to-Child regarding ‘no copyright’ but ‘please advise/acknowledge’. This always inspires and impresses and I would like to believe that there has been no exploitation of this generosity.
Child-to-Child activities
The main purpose of these activities is to bring to the attention of teachers and principals the existence of such appropriate approaches and materials as developed by Child-to-Child and to inspire them to apply and implement them in their schools. Awareness about HIV/AIDS and how to cope with the pandemic in schools is presently the main focus of these activities. Most of this work is aimed at marginalised schools and communities, especially those in rural areas.
Encouraging child participation
The classroom teachers (supported by their principals and good learning materials) are the main ones to organise participation by the children. However, experience has shown me that participatory workshops with hands-on coaching followed-up with supportive classroom visits are the only/most effective way to get implementation happening – especially in remote rural schools.
Evaluation
Given the ‘lecturing’ nature of my involvement, monitoring and evaluation have had to be mostly ‘second-hand’ i.e. reliant on the principals/teachers implementing in their own schools. Periodically questionnaires have been used to ascertain needs and identify examples of implementation – but the findings have not been as fruitful as I had hoped. Informal conversations tend to be more revealing, as well as interactions in lectures – especially with my group of 50+ principals.
Delivery of Child-to-Child
As indicated above, the main groups to be introduced to the Child-to-Child activities are serving teachers and school principals registered for various qualifications with our university.
Child-to-Child Materials
Back in the late 1980s, two Readers were translated into Setswana (by Mrs Wame Motlhane) and I brought copies to the Child-to-Child Office. Since then, the materials have been displayed as they were originally written.
Date: June 2009
Source: Professor Bill Holderness
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