With the assistance of the Teaching Practice Unit, two students were placed at an early learning centre in the Rammulotsi Township of Viljoenskroon in the Free State and two at Lebone ll, the Royal Bafokeng Institute’s school.

The Royal Bafokeng Institute was also responsible for sponsoring another two students, Nadine Govender and Emily Sullivan, who worked in the Lebone ll School. The students enjoyed the co-teaching in the Foundation Phase with the teachers, from whom they too gained valuable insight into being a teacher in rural South Africa.

The spin-off was that these experiences enriched the lives of both our students and the learners they worked with. The two partnerships thus proved to be of great value and the Department of Early Childhood Education is looking forward to maintaining a long standing relationship.

Ntataise, meaning to lead the child by the hand, is a national network of independent organisations which over the past 29 years have empowered over 10 000 women who in turn have reached approximately 500 children in South Africa’s most disadvantaged areas.
 

Dr Ina Joubert, Dr Nkidi Phatudi and Ms Annalie Botha of the Department of Early Childhood Education were approached in 2003 to audit the performance of the Early Learning Centres in Rammulotsi, Viljoenskroon. "After writing the report we were asked to become involved in their Enrichment Programme that was developed to improve the quality of teaching and learning," they said. Ntataise is based in Viljoenskroon in the Free State and offers accredited Early Development training programmes, courses, assessment and monitoring services. They have been recognised on a national level as they have received numerous awards.

The UP involvement entailed running workshops twice a year with the trainers on topics such as early literacy and early numeracy, presented at their annual National Conference, and doing follow-up audits in the centres to monitor progress in terms of teaching and learning. The trainers train the practitioners who work with the children on a daily basis in this cascade model.

The workshops are scheduled at their new training centre in Rammulotsi. Children are called from the nearby centres to visit the Ntataise base in Viljoenskroon and are facilitated in regard to assessment practices and skills development. In the 2009 Ntataise Annual Report, it is stated that 302 centres or pre-schools benefited from our involvement