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The Khayelitsha Project, South Africa
by Jean McNiff
This project, which began in 2005, is located in Khayelitsha, a township thirty-five miles west of Cape Town with a million inhabitants. Life is hard in Khayelitsha. Most people live in makeshift dwellings, without basic services; all are extremely poor.
The project is about twelve teachers working with Jean McNiff, of the School of Education, to get their Masters degrees through St Mary’s University College. They study on a modular programme, and throughout the teachers investigate their practice and ask, ‘How do I improve what I am doing?’ They can already produce validated evidence to show how they have improved the quality of education for their learners, as well as having enabled them to achieve higher examination scores and better classroom behaviour.
The teachers have completed six modules, and need to complete their Academic Paper before qualifying for their degrees. They should complete their programme in summer 2008.
The project has been supported by funding from St Mary’s, as well as from covenanted donations from St Mary’s staff. This has been an extraordinarily kind gesture from the staff, to support teachers who have been discriminated against throughout their lives. All thanks are due to the staff, without whose generous support the twelve teachers would not have stood a chance to study on a Masters programme.
