A South African delegation made up of the Director-General of the Department of Basic Education, Mr Mathanzima Mweli, the General Secretary and Chairperson of the Education Labour Relations Council (ELRC), as well the Manager responsible for the collaborative partnership project and the Director in the office of the DG, attended the 15th Inter-District Learning Network Conference of the New Jersey Public School Collaborative in the United States of America on 4 April 2025.

Mr Jonavon Rustin, Programme Director, Labour: Management Partnership at the ELRC, presented a progress report from the Department of Basic Education and the ELRC on scaling up collaborative partnerships.

The Conference covered the following topics: Examples/Discussion of Strategic High Impact Collaborative Initiatives; Role-alike Break-out Sessions for Superintendents and Central Offices, Union Leaders, Teachers, Principals and Supervisors; an Overview of Newark Public Schools and Teacher Unions that strengthened collaborative partnerships in all schools; the Inter-District Research Agenda; and Time for District Planning.

During the week, one of the activities included a meeting with the research team led by Prof Charles Payne at the Cornwall Centre. From there, the delegation had an extensive engagement with Chairs of Committees, led by the School Principal at Newark Vocational High School. They also attended an extensive workshop on the Management and Labour partnership of the Edison township schools and participated in the 30th anniversary of the School of Management and Labour Relations of the Rutgers University, where DG Mweli was one of the speakers during this historic event.