GOVERNMENT PARTNERSHIP

The shortage of well-qualified teachers for South Africa’s schools is well documented.
PARTNERING WITH

THE GOVERNMENT

TOWARDS SOLUTIONS FOR SOUTH AFRICA

Thuto Trust has partnered with the Department of Basic Education (DBE) and the Gauteng Department of Education (GDE) in a tripartite agreement to co-fund the participation of 35 deserving young people in the Thuto Trust internship programme. The programme is hosted in five primary partner schools in District 12, Johannesburg West, which range from quintile 1 to quintile 5.

Thuto Trust plans to exponentially increase the number of Teacher Interns in our programme each year, as we strive to increase the financial support of like-minded partners.

Funds the tuition, accommodation & books of the participating teacher interns, through Funza Lushaka bursary scheme.

The GDE nominates and facilitates the participation of the partner host schools.

Thuto Trust is the lead and implementing partner, responsible for the design, execution and reporting of the programme. Thuto Trust also funds the stipends for each participating teacher intern, the leadership training, coaching and pedagogical supervision and mentoring.

THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS

teacher internship

is well structured and includes supervised requirements of:

  • Attendance
  • Lesson observation
  • Lesson presentation
  • Establishment of tutor sessions for small groups of learners (theme chosen by each intern)
THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS

teacher internship

01

Tertiary Education

Quality Tertiary Degrees. Distance learning at UJ, Unisa, Wits and NWU (B.Ed. four years and PGCE two years)

02

Teacher Internship

Innovative pedagogical instruction based on 21st-century learning, addressing learning poverty, and promoting life-long learning

03

Personal Development

Integrated and holistic support to build Personal mastery, resilience, purposeful living, and responsible and responsive citizenry

04

Leadership Development

Leadership skills, including self-leadership, team effectiveness, transformational leadership, diversity

05

Governance & Administration

Board of Trustees, Steering Committees inclusive of key partner representation. Emphasis on process and system accuracy and integrity

01

Tertiary Education

A requirement for participation in our programme is registration for part-time or distance learning study towards a Bachelor of Education (B.Ed.) degree. We work closely with various universities, including UNISA, Wits, and North West University. Our teacher interns are required to achieve a 60% average year on year, and we provide proactive support to enable this achievement and better!

02

Teacher Internship

All our teacher interns are hosted on a fulltime basis in one of our Public partner schools. These schools are all Primary Schools, and interns are placed in foundation or intermediary phases, corresponding to their chosen focus of study. Additionally, for foundation phase teacher internship, interns are placed in host schools based on language of instruction, to match their university subject focus. We are very proud of our network of partner schools, which reflect the full range of socioeconomic circumstances of our country. Our partners schools range from quintile 1 - 5 public schools, equipping interns with the exposure to the multitude of different classroom settings found in the socioeconomic environment of South Africa, as well as opportunities to share experiences and learnings from these diverse environments, with other interns on the programme.

  • Makhoarane Primary School
  • Nkone Maruping Primary School
  • Palesa Primary School
  • Princess Primary School
  • Vezokuhle Primary School
  • Mt Pleasant Primary School
02.1

STRUCTURED INTERNSHIP

Each intern follows a highly structured daily schedule which incorporates lesson observation, lesson presentation, and running tutorials with small groups of learners after school, all under the supervision of a dedicated Thuto Trust teacher mentor. Each teacher intern attends daily check-in meetings with other Thuto Trust interns in their host schools, to facilitate group learning and support. In addition, the interns attend a workshop every month with the whole cohort of interns, led by our Education Specialist. The workshops are aimed at exposing interns to innovative pedagogical strategies, based on 21st century learning, applied to the context of diverse learning needs of children in the South African context. The teacher interns are also allocated time at their host schools, to keep on top of their academic studies and seek any assistance necessary. This is also done to facilitate access to internet for study purposes. Thuto Trust fully supports the achievement of academic excellence for each teacher intern, in their university studies.

03

PERSONAL LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT

The education and school context in our country is increasingly overwhelmed with violence, sexual abuse, racial tendencies, suicide incidents, murder and dysfunctionality. Through our subsidiary Thuto Educational Development Agency (TEDA), we provide our interns the opportunity to develop solid foundations to cope effectively and self-lead in this difficult environment. The TEDA programme equips our teacher interns with:

  • Personal Leadership Development to build an integrated and holistic support to build self, influence others and respond to complexities of life.
  • Building resilience, purposeful living, discipline and focus, and a sense of nationhood and responsible and responsive citizenry.
  • Mastery of change, transformation, transition and character building
  • Stimulating a culture of conversation and dialogue to pursue breakthrough to solution through innovation and creativity supported by research, evidence based thinking and long term planning
  • Instilling a power of choice, ownership, accountability that support habits of excellence, positive life impact and building a legacy.
  • Promoting positive living, diversity and cohesion, reconciliation and emotional intelligence
04

LEADERSHIP AND MASTERY OF DIVERSITY

“Leadership is unlocking people’s potential to become better.” —Bill Bradley, a great American politician

Leadership is one of the most fundamental skills in effective teaching. One of the main challenges to effective leadership is understanding and valuing diversity. Through its subsidiary, TEDA, Thuto Trust offers its teacher interns essential training in managing and leading through transformation, diversity and inclusion. In particular teacher interns are equipped with the necessary leadership skills, whilst also developing skills in identifying the diverse learning barriers experienced by children in the classroom. Teacher interns are encouraged to embrace diversity as a positive challenge to improving the quality of learning. Through concurrent pedagogical training, teacher interns learn to create a welcoming and inclusive environment in the classroom, where every learner can thrive.

05

GOVERNANCE AND ADMINISTRATION

A vital underpin of the Thuto Internship Programme is accountability for positive outcomes. In particular, Thuto Trust aims to achieve a high return on investment in pre-service teacher training spend. Through our programme, we aim to empower teachers to be effective, motivated and well-equipped to enable children in the classroom to reach their learning potential and to become productive responsible members of their communities.