LEAP Movement
The LEAP Movement promotes sharing of lessons, good practice and advocacy. Aimed at bringing together education stakeholders, the movement hopes to promote equal access to quality education in South Africa.
The attention to access, personal development and academic excellence is a model that should be replicated everywhere in our education system.”
– Dr Mamphela Ramphele
LEAP Schools and the LEAP Learning Community form an important part of a wider network we call the LEAP movement.
The LEAP Movement works with a range of partners to effect broader systemic change in education in South Africa. This includes
- LEAP Network of Schools -LEAP schools and their respective partner schools; the South African Extraordinary Schools Coalition, and our international school partners (KIPP, High Tech High, Hinsdale, Milfield etc.).
- The Global Teacher’s Institute – Co-ordinated by our US partner Teach with Africa, LEAP is positioning itself as a leader in teacher training. The Institute’s professional development programs integrate instructional practice with training on personal transformation and social change.
- Projects – LEAP works with a number of community and education projects and partners sharing and implementing elements of the LEAP model. In learning centres in Duncan Village and Steynsburg LEAP is providing teacher training and development to teachers working in public schools.
- Research – LEAP participates in research which furthers our understanding of the challenges and solutions in education delivery in South Africa. This includes working with the Centre for Evaluation and Assessment at the University of Pretoria and the University of Stellenbosch.
- Advocacy – LEAP aims to work with government and other stakeholders to influence policy so that more students living in low income communities can access high quality education. LEAP works with Bridge, the South African Extraordinary Schools Coalition and various funding partners to develop and communicate our advocacy messages appropriately.
LEAP recently participated in the research for the Centre for Development and Enterprise (CDE) report which looks at the suitability of the introduction of contract schools as an additional model of public schooling in South Africa. Contract schools are public schools that have full government funding but are privately managed and therefore have management independence and staffing autonomy. There are more than 20 developing and developed countries where contract schooling takes place including USA (Charter Schools), UK (Academies), Pakistan, Venezuela and Columbia (Concession Schools). The CDE report can be downloaded here
Recently published articles about contract schools include:
Business Day Live: Schools with enforceable contracts offer hope to poor
Mail & Guardian: SA needs publicly funded and privately managed schools