Bridging the Gap

About

With Bridging the Gap, Save the Children worked in partnership across five countries (South Korea, India, Kenya, South Africa and Colombia) to raise skills-based education, including the transformative power of playful learning, up the political agenda and support a shift from commitment to implementation in education systems. This initiative advocated for education systems to equip learners with a breadth of skills to thrive in a fast changing world.

Save the Children South Africa (SCSA) in partnership with JET Education Services worked towards contributing to bridging the skills gap in education. The  project focused on building partnerships across the education sector, including government, education experts, civil society organisations, learners, teacher unions, educators, etc.  to identify key levers to equip learners with skills for the future.

JET Education Services provided advisory and research support, ensuring alignment with project objectives and outcomes.

Key activities

Key activities included:

• Conducting a scoping study to identify levers of change for a holistic skills-based education system.
• Convening stakeholders to give input on what competencies are needed to prepare learners for a fast changing world, for example, conducting broad based, national consultations to inform the Department of Basic Education’s development of a competency framework as part of curriculum strengthening.
• Conducting a research study on learners’ and teachers’ perceptions of current and future assessment practices. 
• Amplifying the voices of education stakeholders, in particular learners, to advocate for  the inclusion on holistic skills development across the DBE’s levers for learning improvement: (1) curriculum policy, (2) teacher development, (3) assessment, (4) learning and teaching support materials and (5) the learning environment. 

As part of the Bridging the Gap project, Save the Children South Africa (SCSA), working with Reos Partners, brought together stakeholders in education for an advocacy campaign aimed at the inclusion of skills for the future in the South African schooling system so learners can thrive in a fast changing world. These skills are referred to in different ways in different contexts such as 21st century skills, breadth of skills, holistic development etc. The intention is for the stakeholder group to carry on advocating for equipping learners with a breadth of skills for the future, in a sustainable way. This forms part of a long term goal of enabling the achievement of 21st century skills by every child, through strengthening the education system by intentionally advocating and leveraging the influence of others.

Objectives

The project is aligned to three global objectives:

• Global Objective 1
  Political will and commitment towards children’s holistic skills development within national education systems is enhanced
• Global Objective 2
  Increased knowledge, motivation, and demand for holistic skills within education systems amongst target audiences
• Global Objective 3
  Increased attention to and salience of the importance of holistic skills development within education among target audiences

The purpose of the Levers of Change report is to outline activities between January and August 2022 that supported these objectives. The first core activity between January and April 2022 was the development of a levers of change scoping study that culminated in a report. The report was geared toward informing advocacy intended to enhance and expand the breadth of skills in the South African education system; particularly in early childhood development and primary education. The report systematically outlined the nature and scope of what should be advocated for to enhance and expand the breadth of skills in the South African education system. The report also identified key stakeholders (including in government, private sector, NGOs) able to drive changes in the education system. In particular, the report considered teacher development as a key lever through which change might be driven to enhance and expand holistic skills development within the education system.

The second core activity throughout the reporting period entailed supporting partnership engagements with key stakeholders from government education departments, higher education institutions and Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) focused on enhancing the breadth of skills in the South African education system.

A third group of activities reported on involves the preparation of knowledge sharing events to disseminate and elicit additional input from critical stakeholders in the education ecosystem. This includes preparation for a webinar and a panel at an education conference.

The final activity occupying time during the reporting period is research support to an NGO that supports the basic education department with research capacity. The research support is directly related to examining the potential for enhancing the breadth of skills in the South African education system.

This report provides a summary of each of these activities, with lessons that emerged and recommendations emanating from them. The report will conclude by drawing together overarching insights and consolidated recommendations for activities between September 2022 and September 2023.

Read the report here

Resources