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THE VULA MATHEMATICS PROJECT

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2012 REPORT

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The Vula Mathematics project began in January 2007. It was fully funded by the Jackson Foundation. Funding would be provided every two years and was contingent upon the Project satisfying the following conditions:

It should have an independent and positive evaluation It should show growth It should get co-funding

We met all of these conditions.

In addition we had to provide trustees with a six-monthly report.

This is the twelfth such report. In these reports, we have provided facts and figures and commented on finances. Also, in an attempt to communicate the spirit of the project, we have includedpersonal stories, pictures and copies ofdocuments and letters. There has inevitably been some repetition.

This report consists of1. Some facts and figures and explanation2. A description of the Project in Bergville3. Plans for 2013

SOME FACTS, FIGURES, GRAPHS AND EXPLANATIONS

We work directly with teachers during term-time 25 in Bergville 25 in Pholela 25 from Vulindlela 20 from Umlazi

We work with teachers during the holidays 40 to 60 at our first four-day workshop at Hilton College Another 40 to 60 at the second four-day workshop at Hilton College

We work with large groups of pupils 150 at Saturday workshops in Pholela 120 Grade 11s in Bergville 120 Grade 10s in Bergville 120 x 3 = 360 Grade 12s in Vulindlela

Extrapolating these figures, we directly affect 2400 pupils through their teachers

120 teachers x 200 pupils each = 2400 pupils 1350 pupils in large groups

We work with the Subject Advisors at Hilton College 24 FET Advisors twice a year for three days 32 GET Advisors four times a year for three days

Through the Subject Advisors we affect every single Mathematics teacher in the province. We thereforeindirectly affect every pupil in the province.

1656 schools entered candidates for the 2012 matriculation examination in 2012.63168 pupils wrote the 2012 matriculation examination. Extrapolating these figures we have worked out that there are at least

5000 mathematics teachers in the province 3 million pupils taking Mathematics

And we affect them all. Wow!The graph below is from Dr Grussendorff’s final report. It deals with thePholela Group. She usesdata that she collected from our workshop attendance records and

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from the official KZN Department of Education 2011 Mathematics results.Her comments follow in italics.

0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 400

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40

60

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100

Pholela School Pass Rate vs No of Vula Workshops per Teacher(Correlation = 0.626)

Pass rate for schoolLinear (Pass rate for school)

Number of Vula workshops per teacher

Scho

ol P

ass R

ate

(%)

The graph has a correlation index of 0.626 which is a strong positive linear relationship between the two factors. This graph hence shows that there is a clear correlation between consistency of attendance at Vula workshops and the mathematics pass rate of the school. This implies that the Vula workshops are having a significant impact on the pass rates of schools, but it also shows the importance of teachers attending the workshops consistently in order for the teachers and the learners to benefit from the workshops in a sustained way. The fact that there is a fairly low percentage of teachers who attend Vula workshops on a consistent, long-term basis does indicate that thought may be given to ways of improving attendance, within the challenge of teachers being moved from school to school on a regular basis.

This is another extract from the same report.

1.1. Impact of Direct Learner SupportImpact of Direct Learner SupportThe Vula Mathematics Project runs monthly workshops with selected Grade 12 learners in the Pholela region. It is expected that the teachers also attend so that these workshops become a learning experience not only for the students but also for the teachers. The matric results of the group of learners who attended these workshops was analysed to develop a sense of the impact of these workshops. The analysis revealed the following:

Two learners obtained more than 70% for mathematics An additional ten learners obtained more than 60%

Hence 12 of the 62 learners (19%) obtained good quality passes, which is a high percentage for schools in this sector. This shows that these workshops have been effective in their immediate impact of improving the quality of passes of the learners involved.

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We have printed three graphs below. They show the percentage passes per school for the three main areas in which we work. Behind each school’s results hangs a tale.

For example

Nottingham Road, which had a 100% pass in 2011, has dropped to 84%. They have a very small class and had one failure this year.

Skofill had a 93% pass in 2011 and a 2% pass in 2012. Every school is monitored by a Departmental official during the matriculation examination. In 2012, puzzled by the miraculous results in 2011, the monitor stayed in the examination venue for the full three hours. Enough said?

Ukhali’s improvement is spectacular. Their policy was to insist that weak pupils drop Mathematics so their numbers were drastically reduced.

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ZAMAZU

LU S

NOTTINGHAM ROAD COMBINED

MCONJWANA H

GOBINDLOVU COMPREH

ENSIV

E H

INJOLO

BA S

NYONITH

WELE S

UMTHOMBO S

FUNDOKUHLE

S

NGCEDOMHLO

PHE H

KWAMNCANE H

SIKHULU

LIWE S

BONGUDUNGA S

MPOPHOMENI S

BHEKUXIM

BA H

LANGSYD

E

KHULEKONKE S

ASIBEM

UNYE H

GEORGETO

WN S0

20406080

100120

Vulindlela %age passes per school

Series1Series22011201220112012

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DLANGANI H

CENTO

COW H

NTABEN

DE S

NDABAKAZIBUZW

A S

DUMABEZWE H

ENHLA

NHLENI C

OMBINED

GINYANE H

MAHLAHLA

S

NTWASA

HLOBO S

ZAKHEZU

LU H

QULASH

E COMBINED

MADULINI S

BATLOKOA S

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

Pholela %age passes per school

Series1Series22011

2012

AMAPHISI H

TSHANIBEZ

WE H

UKHALI H

MHLWAZIN

I S

NQOBILE COMBINED

MAVUMBUKA H

SOKES

IMBONE H

NOBOMI S

BANGANI H

THOLIT

HEMBA H

BAMBAZI H

KWANTA

TSHANA PUBLIC

S

QHOZO H

MEADOW

SWEET

COMBINED

AMANGWANE H

NTATH

AKUSA S

TABHANE S

MTHEN

DE H

MAFU H

MQEDANDABA H

UBULINGA S

POTSHINI H

NGCONGCOSI H

EKWALU

SENI H

HOYE S

THOKOZA

H

MAQOQA S0

20

40

60

80

100

120

Bergville %age passes per school

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THE BERGVILLE PROJECT

Because the trustees will be visiting Bergville during their February visit, we thought it appropriate that we describe our activities in that area.

Our first holiday course at Hilton College in April 2007 was for Bergville teachers, It was organised by Pam Robertson. Pam had been working with Science teachers in the area and, since there was no support for Mathematics, she asked us if we would get involved. We were delighted to do this as it meant that we could use an existing network of teachers and schools.

Therewas a well-resourced1 Teachers Centre in Bergville at which we could hold our workshops. Funds for this building had been donated to the KZN Education Department by the Flemish government2.

Bergville schools are rural – deeply rural. They are all ‘No fee’ schools3 which means that they draw from impoverished areas. They are given a fixed amount of money for their running costs. These funds are inadequate. They pay for equipment and all maintenance. This is one of the reasons why they never have text books. The first five teachers to arrive at a Vula workshop get a present. This present often takes the form of a text book – a donation from a friend of Vula or a second hand book from the Hilton Bookroom.

When we first started, we only had workshops – everytwo weeks from 12.30 until 2pm. Teachers would officially miss school from midday onwards. In reality, though, most teachers had to leave their far-flung schools before eight to get to the Centre by midday. We, at the request of the Department, changed the times to 8.30 until 3pm and reduced the number of workshops per term to two. This means that teachers only miss two days of teaching. We use the travelling money that we saved to give each teacher R50 (about four pounds) as a contribution to his/her transport costs. We also provide food for the teachers. We have an arrangement with the local Spar whereby they deliver 25pies, 25 buns, 25 apples and 25 cokes at 11am. Quite a few teachers take their food home.

We doserious Mathematics at these workshops. The workshops are also fun and teachers look forward to them. The work is designed to be hands-on, practical and different. Teachers always leave with the materials and worksheets that they have actually used. We never just provide ‘handouts.’Each workshop is structured around a PowerPoint presentation most of which can be used in a classroom. At the end of the workshop this presentation, with any worksheet files, is saved on a disk and distributedto teachers who have laptops.

1Although well-resourced, with clean rooms for us to work in, the Centre has the odd problem. Sometimes it is without electricity because the Department has failed to pay the bill. We have a portable generator. Sometimes the Department fails to pay the water bill. After four days the manager will close the Centre – for health reasons.2The Flemish government, through an organisation called the Culture of Learning, co-funded the Bergville Project. After an election at which the ruling party changed, this funding ceased. Since then the Bergville Project has been co-funded by Board of Executors.3‘No fee’ schools are those in areas where families are unable so afford any fees. This also means that the schools have no funds over and above those allocated by the Department. Schools such as these never have enough text books and cannot afford basics like photocopying.

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In 2008 Mr SiceloMajola from Tshanibeswe High School asked us if we would be prepared to ‘Do an Olympiad for Grade 11s’. We were delighted with the idea – especially as it had come from one of our teachers – and accepted the challenge.The first Olympiad was held on Saturday May 14 2008. The event is now a permanent feature on the Bergville calendar. We will hold the 6th Bergville Grade 11 Olympiad in May of this year.

The Olympiad is organised by a committee of teachers with one representative from each ward. Mrs Southwood has remained a member of the committee but now takes a back seat: she provides a check list and oversees the day. Her primary responsibility is to ensure the credibility of the examination. Pupils use the certificates as part of their CVs and we have to be able to justify the credibility of the examination and its marking.

We have three main sponsors:

1. CASIOThey have donated a floating trophy for the winning school team which is engraved every year. They also provide the first eleven prizes – a graphing calculator, ten watches and ten scientific calculators.

2. The Answer Seriesare educational publishers. They publish excellent support materials. They give each pupil a text book which covers their two last years of school. They also give each team’s manager a set of their Mathematics publications.

3. Vula The Vula Mathematics Project sets the paper and prints it. It provides all stationary and certificates and a meal for the pupils. (Pupils are required to be at the Centre by 8.30am and many have not eaten before they come.)

Other sponsors are

4. The Bergville Municipality which provides gilt medals on ribbons5. World Vision which gives about 20 Maths Sets6. A local school outfitters which gives gift tokens for their shop.

About twenty-six schools send teams of five to the Olympiad.

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CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFTThe markers and checkersThe prizes

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After the initial Olympiad we decided that, instead of exposing pupils to an unusual type of examination ‘cold’, we should provide them with some sort of training in problem-solving. Since 2009 we have held a training day for the Olympiad teams on a Saturday at least two weeks before the actual Olympiad. At this we provide pupils with extra materials and past papers. They also get food and a R20 contribution to their transport costs.

Our next initiative with the Bergville group was to start a problem-solving camp for Grade 10s. We invited the top five pupils from each school to come, with their teacher, to a Maths camp at Hilton College. The rationale behind this was three-fold:

The more ‘alternative’ work we did with pupils, the more their teachers would be challenged to think and teach differently

The group of bright Grade 10 learners would be next year’s Olympiad candidates so would be exposed to problem-solving fortwo years in a row

Children from rural areas such as Bergville never have holidays away from home

The first camp was for four days at Hilton College in 2008. In 2009 the College was unable to accommodate us for all four days so we housed the pupils at a Christian Camp near Howick and bused them in every day. Since then we have used E’mseni at Spionkop near Winterton. E’mseni is a Christian Camp/Conference Centre and is close to Bergville – which reduces transport costs. It is on the banks of the Tugela river and very basic but has all the facilities that we need. The camp is now run by Kevin Robertson and his wife. Kevin was the chaplain at Hilton College. In 2012 we accepted his offer to run a small leadership course in the evenings. It was VERY successful and we have asked him to do the same with the 2013 group.

The Answer Series also sponsor these Grade 10s. They give them text books. We made a ‘thing’ with the pupils this year and talked about how fortunate they were to be clever and chosen to come to the camp, that they should go back to their school and work with their friends, etc, etc. At our next workshop at the Teachers Centre in Bergville, one of the teachers told Mrs Southwood that her five Grade 10s were now giving lessens to their peers – for an hour before school every morning – and using the Answer series books.

☺☺☺☺☺☺☺☺☺☺☺☺☺☺☺Miss Ann McLoughlin assists Mrs Southwood at these camps. They both really enjoy their working holiday . . .

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CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFTPolyhedra with toothpicks and jelly tots

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PLANS FOR 2013

In January A three-day workshop for FET4 Subject Advisors School visits

In February and March A three-day workshop for GET5 subject Advisors Fortnightly workshops Classroom visits A two-day Laptop Project workshop Two Grade 12 Saturday workshops at Pholela

In the April holiday A four-day holiday workshop for Bergville Grade 11s at E’mseni

In April and May and the beginning of June A three-day workshop for GET subject advisors at Hilton College The fortnightly workshops A two-day Laptop Project workshop at Hilton College Two Grade 12 Saturday workshops at Pholela Two Olympiad Saturdays at Bergville

In the July holiday The week-long AMESA Congress in Capetown A four-day holiday workshop for teachers at Hilton College

In the second part of July, in August and in September A three-day workshop for GET subject advisors at Hilton College The fortnightly workshops A two-day Laptop Project workshop at Hilton College Two Grade 12 Saturday workshops at Pholela

In the September holiday A four-day GET workshopat Hilton College

In the fourth term Threethree-day revision sessions for Grade 12s – at each of Langsyde,

Georgetown and Mpophomeni The fortnightly workshops The final two-day Laptop Project workshop at Hilton College Two Grade 12 Saturday workshops at Pholela A four-day workshop for Umlazi teachers at Hilton College

New in 2013 A GET group based in the Vulindlela Teachers’ Centre

4FETFurther Education and Training i.e. years 10, 11 and 125GET General Education and Training i.e. years 7, 8 and 9

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MONEY

A draft of our 2012 accounts follows. We will post the final accounts to the Administrator of the Jackson Foundation when they have been audited. It should be noted that

1. We never allow it to be used for anything but the Vula Mathematics Project2. Hilton College does not profit in any way from Vula Mathematics Project

money

These were requirements that were specifically requested by the Trustees at the beginning of the Project.

We will be able to discuss money matters with the trustees during their February visit.

L Smuts SM SouthwoodDirector CoordinatorVula Programme Vula Mathematics Project

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