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Legalities & Accreditation

Preamble

As already mentioned, there are currently 3 official Government recognized school education channels - public (state & model C) schools, private (independent) schools, and homeschools (kids taught in their own homes). Government is fully responsible for public education, regulates private schooling by requiring and vetoing their registration (as outlined in s46 of SA Schools Act), and tolerates homeschooling (as outlined in s51 of SA Schools Act).

The process associated with the registration of a traditional private school, is arduous to say the least. In fact, Eduship considers it overtly prohibitive. For example, in spite of SA's education crisis, the opening of a new school is governed by 10 separate education related Acts, all of which must be understood and complied with. Not only that, but the concept of running an independent school on a small scale is almost entirely ruled out, given not only the very intensive and expensive qualifying criteria, but also the duration and bureaucracy involved in the application process itself.

The Real Problem

Perhaps you have heard of the phrase 'Horses for Courses'? The phrase essentially upholds the truism that things should be evaluated based on their design, capability and purpose. Unfortunately, the government has made no provision at all for an education service provider, or model, that does not meet the traditional school requirements - which have essentially not changed for the past 20 years. To make our point, within an Eduship context, please consider the table below. The blocks highlighted in red are non-negotiable traditional independent school qualifying criteria (i.e. if you don't have these, don't bother applying), of which Eduship does not meet all 3 of these.

An Objective Framework

In 2012 the South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) developed the Charter of Children’s Basic Education Rights in South Africa. Katarina Tomaševski, the former UN Special Rapporteur on the right to education, constructed what is known as the 4A framework. This framework maps out the scope and nature of the obligations on the State to fulfil the right to education as guaranteed by international laws (Tomaševski, 2002). The 4A Framework adopted by the charter stipulates that to meet the prescribed legal standards, State action must ensure that education is:

Available: This requires that the State provide:
1. a government-funded education system;
2. adequate infrastructure; and,
3. trained teachers able to provide an education.
Accessible: This requires that the State ensure that:
1. education is not discriminatory;
2. education is made accessible to all by addressing economic and physical barriers; and,
3. positive steps are taken to include the most marginalised communities and children.
Acceptable: This requires that:
1. the content of education is non-discriminatory;
2. the content is culturally appropriate;
3. education is of a sufficiently high quality; and,
4. the school environment is safe.
Adaptable: This requires that education is:
1. flexible and able to respond to the different needs of children; and,
2. able to respond to the changing needs of society (Tomaševski K. , 2001) (UN CESCR. General Comment No. 13, 8 December 1999) (Right to Education Project, 2010).

A State Failure

In Eduship's opinion, the current government recognized independent school network fails to adhere to point 2.3 above;

2. Accessible: This requires that the State ensure that:

3. positive steps are taken to include the most marginalised communities and children.

And government public schooling itself, has failed to adhere to points 3.3, 4.1 & 4.2.

3. Acceptable: This requires that:

3. education is of a sufficiently high quality

4. Adaptable: This requires that education is:

1. flexible and able to respond to the different needs of children; and,

2. able to respond to the changing needs of society (Tomaševski K. , 2001) (UN CESCR. General Comment No. 13, 8 December 1999) (Right to Education Project, 2010).

A Constitutional Response

Accordingly, in light of the SAHRC's 4A educational framework, and our government's repeatedly failed attempt (over the past 20 years) to suitably address South Africa's educational needs (as highlighted above), Eduship rejects the need for government approval and / or registration of its future school network. Instead, Eduship future schools will conduct their business as privately owned and franchised education service providers, designed and geared toward meeting the market demand for an excellent, digitally based, holistic, local, affordable, trustworthy, independent, flexible, accountable, values based, and missional (Christian) education.

An American Solution (ACE Learning)

A school's own claim to excellence, however well justified, will always be open to question in the absence of an objective verification of quality. Accreditation by the New England Association of Schools and Colleges (NEASC) indicates that a school meets high standards of institutional quality through an ongoing, independent, objective process of peer review. The accreditation process provides an opportunity for the school to reflect in depth and critically on its programs, review its Guiding Statements, and asses its alignment with researched-based Standards of best educational practice. Specifically, ACE Learning represents the three domains that create an interdependent and inter-related ‘Learning Eco-System’ sustained by ACE’s ten Learning Principles...

ACE is formative by design, focused on school transformation in all areas, but primarily in a learning community’s core business: Learning. The ACE process is designed to support schools on the journey from ‘foundational functionality’ (i.e. safe, secure, sustainable services) to a learning community that routinely achieves 'transformational impact' on its learners.

Learning Observation

Our concept of ‘learning’ – what ‘it looks like’, how it is nurtured or hindered, where and how it occurs, and what it means to be a learning-focused organization – has significantly changed. Yet, despite many efforts at reforming and reinventing the place we call ‘school’, education has made little progress in liberating itself from a 19th century factory model designed to produce mass literacy – and a compliant work force. For the most part ‘school’ continues to be a place where learning is equated with academic outcomes, content mastery, and uniformity of process and practice. ‘Learning’ remains largely de-personalized, is often confused with high stakes test results, and does not equip our children for the global dilemmas and challenges of our times.

Learning Impacts

While documentation (curriculum, policies, plans, procedures) is needed on a foundational level, ACE prioritizes observation of learning (and teaching) over voluminous documentation that may or may not reflect what actually happens in practice. With ACE the learning community’s energy is concentrated on defining, understanding, reflecting on, and embedding ‘learning’ as its central purpose and goal. ACE’s conceptual shift moves accreditation from an input/output-oriented model to creating a learning eco-system, which looks for Impact of learning on the learner. Impact is not synonymous with results or examination scores.

Adaptive Evaluation

ACE accreditation reviews mirror what we know about effective learner assessment. One size does not fit all. With ACE identical accreditation cycles with identical requirements at identical “checkpoints” are a thing of the past. ACE Accreditation Reviews adapt to and take into account the specific needs of specific Learning Communities. A closer, more supportive relationship between the accrediting body and the Learning Community, based on synchronous as well as asynchronous interactions, is forged.

Eduship is currently in the process of finalizing its application for candidacy as an international school with NEASC (New England Association of Schools and Colleges)

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