[Music]
[Applause]
south african education is in crisis the
2016 World Economic Forum Global
Competitiveness Report rated the value
of primary school education in South
Africa as 126 out of 138 countries
scored after a brief stint at third last
in the world in maths and science
education South Africa has descended to
dead last in the world this year and the
sample of business executives surveyed
determined that an inadequately educated
workforce is the third most significant
factor preventing other businesses from
investing in and opening in South Africa
altogether the global competitiveness
report gives a strong indication that
international leaders in business do not
believe that South African students are
adequately prepared to productively
contribute to the South African
workforce or to the entire global
economy but we didn’t stumble into this
position we know that the legacy of
apartheid haunts South Africa students
and South Africa’s economy not only did
an inadequate and inequitable
distribution of resources since the
Bantu Education Act
damn our students of color in South
Africa but it has set back white South
Africans as well the American Civil
Rights experience shows us that the
oppressor is as disadvantaged as the
oppressed who is doomed when there is a
lack of racial and socio-economic
diversity in our schools
segregation in schools creates a medic
on
and academic deficiency in our students
what we need to understand is that
students who are in segregated schools
whether the results of law or
circumstance very rarely successfully
demonstrate those skills needed to
participate in today’s globalized
society now let’s not fool ourselves
about where the fault lies this is not a
crisis of human capacity this is not a
crisis of financial resource remember
this year the education sector was
allocated two hundred ninety eight
billion rand in the South African
economy let me put this into perspective
for you
in 2012 the World Bank ranked South
Africa as tenth in the world four
percentage of government expenditure on
education as a percent of total GDP and
let’s be very clear
South African educators and students are
not inherently deficient in fact they
are wildly capable and they are caught
in the crosshairs of a leadership crisis
of note South African education
institutions whether public or private
do not trust South African educators
they do not invest in sufficient
professional development or leadership
development to ensure that South African
educators can drive student achievement
and the South African National
Curriculum which is used by both public
and private schools does little to
challenge to stretch and to equip our
South African students for the
globalized society that they are
entering there is a lack of leadership
and direction in South African education
in both the government and private
sectors and it has stunted the growth of
South African students and it will stunt
the growth of South Africa as a whole
noted author Stephen Covey wrote I have
become convinced that the biggest
leadership challenge of our times is not
insufficient resources per se but rather
our inability to access the most
valuable resources at our disposal and
in this vein we must refuse to
characterize the crisis and education in
South Africa as a demand to create more
from less instead what we must do
together is to leverage the significant
resource that we have in our highly
capable of South African educators and
our highly competent South African
students we must create more from more
at spark schools a network of
independent primary schools founded in
2012 in Johannesburg our South African
children nurtured by South African
parents taught by South African
educators led by South African school
leaders are beating the odds to reach
globally competitive standards how well
I wish I could tell you that what we do
is exclusive or expensive or exceptional
in some way that prevents others from
doing the same that’s not the case at
spark we simply aim to execute the right
things in the right way in order to
build a solid foundation for student
achievement and here’s our secret we
teach core values as deliberately as we
teach algebra or reading comprehension
we believe that the values children
learn will drive them to through and
beyond school and propel them into
globally engaged citizenship as adults
we believe that strength of character is
what drives student achievement not that
character should be developed in the
weeks when time allows after assessments
are done and summers coming
now core values and social-emotional
development are rarely part of the
curriculum of the school but it’s spark
we put demonstration of core values on
report cards we speak to parents about
core values at conferences parents
evenings and enrichment events we
encourage students as young as five to
self reflect on the development of their
own core values
students at SPARC have performed
extraordinarily well that’s compared to
elite students in South Africa in fact
we were so confident in their
performance that last year we asked
Pearson South Africa to administer a
released version of the annual national
assessment for 2014 because nationwide
testing was canceled in 2015 and not
only that we asked them to administer it
for the next grade level we had our
grade 1 students take the grade 2
assessments in literacy and maths we
asked our grade 3 students to take the
grade 4 annual national assessment and
literacy and maths and when we compared
their results against the results of
students in quintile 5 government
schools the most expensive government
schools in the country we found that our
students average scores met or surpassed
the average scores of students who had
taken that same assessment in their own
grade level that means that our grade 3
students met or surpassed the average of
grade for students in quintile 5
government schools significantly more
expensive taking the assessment in their
own grade level even our grade our
students generally considered to be
early childhood development surpassed
grade 1 students in quintile 5
government schools I’m enormously proud
of what our students do academically but
I’m completely delighted that because we
emphasize core values our students are
terrific friends loving family members
and positive contributors to their
communities
core values are so integral to our
identity that they make up the acronym
SPARC and our students literally wear
them on their chests when they dress for
success every morning and put on their
school
uniform first service at our daily
community gathering our students pledge
to serve their classmates their
community and their country they
participate in meaningful service
projects most recently cleaning up a
local park collecting and distributing
water for those who are affected by the
drought and volunteering in a local
orphanage
closer to home however they do the very
important work of assisting their
struggling peers our students commit to
learning about and bettering South
African society in the future and every
year on heritage day our students come
dressed in their families cultural
attire they share food and traditions
because these young people understand
that service to country begins with the
recognition of the beauty of diversity
second persistence we buy into the value
of grit for both our staff and our
students we believe it’s the key to
achievement in our blended learning
model which is a combination of
traditional classroom teaching and
technology we have specifically chosen
programs that emphasize failing a
certain amount of times before you
succeed and we only hire staff who have
a track record of persistence through
challenge both personally and
professionally
third achievement and our daily Creed
our students promise to achieve their
best in all that they do uniquely at
SPARC
we celebrate youth day as university day
in our schools our students at all of
our campuses spend the day imagining
their path to and through tertiary
education and into a career of their
choice our students have an awesome
example in our staff members who are
chosen from thousands of applicants
every year and who work unbelievably
hard to drive student achievement forth
responsibility now this strikes me as
especially important given the state of
politics in South Africa and in my home
country and in the world can you imagine
a generation of students becoming
leaders of South Africa who every
morning of their school career have
promised to be responsible for their own
actions who hold themselves their peers
and even their teachers to account our
students are well versed in tools for
conflict resolution and they can use
their words not just to speak their mind
but to apologize fifth and finally
kindness there is nothing soft about
kindness our students are not just nice
they treat their peers with dignity and
respect and they understand inherently
that the value that a human being has
has absolutely nothing to do with the
color of their skin or their social
emotional or socio-economic background
so we are partial to our core values at
spark but what matters most about a
program of values is their
implementation and I think that brings
us to an important question which is why
don’t other schools adopt the same
approach well it’s hard an
implementation of a core values program
requires an intentional conscious effort
by an equally intentional and conscious
educator and the infusion of core values
at spark is not an accident it is the
golden thread that runs through hundreds
of hours of professional development
daily social-emotional development for
our students and most importantly the
culture of our organization at large
now I moved to South Africa in August
2012
and I naively was convinced that South
Africa would become the first country in
the world to eliminate education
inequity I am thrilled to report to you
that four years later I am not naive
anymore but still completely convinced
South Africa is a remarkable country we
cannot fall prey to the myth of
insufficiency or not enough nough sin
our education system instead with
courage and with confidence and most
importantly with gratitude all of us
must commit to the very difficult work
of ensuring that all students have an
opportunity to have an excellent
education in this country thank you
[Applause]
[Music]
[Applause]
south african education is in crisis the
2016 World Economic Forum Global
Competitiveness Report rated the value
of primary school education in South
Africa as 126 out of 138 countries
scored after a brief stint at third last
in the world in maths and science
education South Africa has descended to
dead last in the world this year and the
sample of business executives surveyed
determined that an inadequately educated
workforce is the third most significant
factor preventing other businesses from
investing in and opening in South Africa
altogether the global competitiveness
report gives a strong indication that
international leaders in business do not
believe that South African students are
adequately prepared to productively
contribute to the South African
workforce or to the entire global
economy but we didn’t stumble into this
position we know that the legacy of
apartheid haunts South Africa students
and South Africa’s economy not only did
an inadequate and inequitable
distribution of resources since the
Bantu Education Act
damn our students of color in South
Africa but it has set back white South
Africans as well the American Civil
Rights experience shows us that the
oppressor is as disadvantaged as the
oppressed who is doomed when there is a
lack of racial and socio-economic
diversity in our schools
segregation in schools creates a medic
on
and academic deficiency in our students
what we need to understand is that
students who are in segregated schools
whether the results of law or
circumstance very rarely successfully
demonstrate those skills needed to
participate in today’s globalized
society now let’s not fool ourselves
about where the fault lies this is not a
crisis of human capacity this is not a
crisis of financial resource remember
this year the education sector was
allocated two hundred ninety eight
billion rand in the South African
economy let me put this into perspective
for you
in 2012 the World Bank ranked South
Africa as tenth in the world four
percentage of government expenditure on
education as a percent of total GDP and
let’s be very clear
South African educators and students are
not inherently deficient in fact they
are wildly capable and they are caught
in the crosshairs of a leadership crisis
of note South African education
institutions whether public or private
do not trust South African educators
they do not invest in sufficient
professional development or leadership
development to ensure that South African
educators can drive student achievement
and the South African National
Curriculum which is used by both public
and private schools does little to
challenge to stretch and to equip our
South African students for the
globalized society that they are
entering there is a lack of leadership
and direction in South African education
in both the government and private
sectors and it has stunted the growth of
South African students and it will stunt
the growth of South Africa as a whole
noted author Stephen Covey wrote I have
become convinced that the biggest
leadership challenge of our times is not
insufficient resources per se but rather
our inability to access the most
valuable resources at our disposal and
in this vein we must refuse to
characterize the crisis and education in
South Africa as a demand to create more
from less instead what we must do
together is to leverage the significant
resource that we have in our highly
capable of South African educators and
our highly competent South African
students we must create more from more
at spark schools a network of
independent primary schools founded in
2012 in Johannesburg our South African
children nurtured by South African
parents taught by South African
educators led by South African school
leaders are beating the odds to reach
globally competitive standards how well
I wish I could tell you that what we do
is exclusive or expensive or exceptional
in some way that prevents others from
doing the same that’s not the case at
spark we simply aim to execute the right
things in the right way in order to
build a solid foundation for student
achievement and here’s our secret we
teach core values as deliberately as we
teach algebra or reading comprehension
we believe that the values children
learn will drive them to through and
beyond school and propel them into
globally engaged citizenship as adults
we believe that strength of character is
what drives student achievement not that
character should be developed in the
weeks when time allows after assessments
are done and summers coming
now core values and social-emotional
development are rarely part of the
curriculum of the school but it’s spark
we put demonstration of core values on
report cards we speak to parents about
core values at conferences parents
evenings and enrichment events we
encourage students as young as five to
self reflect on the development of their
own core values
students at SPARC have performed
extraordinarily well that’s compared to
elite students in South Africa in fact
we were so confident in their
performance that last year we asked
Pearson South Africa to administer a
released version of the annual national
assessment for 2014 because nationwide
testing was canceled in 2015 and not
only that we asked them to administer it
for the next grade level we had our
grade 1 students take the grade 2
assessments in literacy and maths we
asked our grade 3 students to take the
grade 4 annual national assessment and
literacy and maths and when we compared
their results against the results of
students in quintile 5 government
schools the most expensive government
schools in the country we found that our
students average scores met or surpassed
the average scores of students who had
taken that same assessment in their own
grade level that means that our grade 3
students met or surpassed the average of
grade for students in quintile 5
government schools significantly more
expensive taking the assessment in their
own grade level even our grade our
students generally considered to be
early childhood development surpassed
grade 1 students in quintile 5
government schools I’m enormously proud
of what our students do academically but
I’m completely delighted that because we
emphasize core values our students are
terrific friends loving family members
and positive contributors to their
communities
core values are so integral to our
identity that they make up the acronym
SPARC and our students literally wear
them on their chests when they dress for
success every morning and put on their
school
uniform first service at our daily
community gathering our students pledge
to serve their classmates their
community and their country they
participate in meaningful service
projects most recently cleaning up a
local park collecting and distributing
water for those who are affected by the
drought and volunteering in a local
orphanage
closer to home however they do the very
important work of assisting their
struggling peers our students commit to
learning about and bettering South
African society in the future and every
year on heritage day our students come
dressed in their families cultural
attire they share food and traditions
because these young people understand
that service to country begins with the
recognition of the beauty of diversity
second persistence we buy into the value
of grit for both our staff and our
students we believe it’s the key to
achievement in our blended learning
model which is a combination of
traditional classroom teaching and
technology we have specifically chosen
programs that emphasize failing a
certain amount of times before you
succeed and we only hire staff who have
a track record of persistence through
challenge both personally and
professionally
third achievement and our daily Creed
our students promise to achieve their
best in all that they do uniquely at
SPARC
we celebrate youth day as university day
in our schools our students at all of
our campuses spend the day imagining
their path to and through tertiary
education and into a career of their
choice our students have an awesome
example in our staff members who are
chosen from thousands of applicants
every year and who work unbelievably
hard to drive student achievement forth
responsibility now this strikes me as
especially important given the state of
politics in South Africa and in my home
country and in the world can you imagine
a generation of students becoming
leaders of South Africa who every
morning of their school career have
promised to be responsible for their own
actions who hold themselves their peers
and even their teachers to account our
students are well versed in tools for
conflict resolution and they can use
their words not just to speak their mind
but to apologize fifth and finally
kindness there is nothing soft about
kindness our students are not just nice
they treat their peers with dignity and
respect and they understand inherently
that the value that a human being has
has absolutely nothing to do with the
color of their skin or their social
emotional or socio-economic background
so we are partial to our core values at
spark but what matters most about a
program of values is their
implementation and I think that brings
us to an important question which is why
don’t other schools adopt the same
approach well it’s hard an
implementation of a core values program
requires an intentional conscious effort
by an equally intentional and conscious
educator and the infusion of core values
at spark is not an accident it is the
golden thread that runs through hundreds
of hours of professional development
daily social-emotional development for
our students and most importantly the
culture of our organization at large
now I moved to South Africa in August
2012
and I naively was convinced that South
Africa would become the first country in
the world to eliminate education
inequity I am thrilled to report to you
that four years later I am not naive
anymore but still completely convinced
South Africa is a remarkable country we
cannot fall prey to the myth of
insufficiency or not enough nough sin
our education system instead with
courage and with confidence and most
importantly with gratitude all of us
must commit to the very difficult work
of ensuring that all students have an
opportunity to have an excellent
education in this country thank you
[Applause]
[Music]
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