Basic Education Director-General, Mr Mathanzima Mweli, has been conducting online reflection meetings to assess the impact of his recent engagements on Reading Literacy.

During the recent 27 meetings of School Principals and officials, the DBE administered a short electronic questionnaire to gauge the impact of the engagement sessions based on the following six questions, in line with the invitation for suggestions to improve future engagements: Has the meeting reaffirmed the Sector sense of direction? Has the meeting rekindled and restored the Sector efforts in getting the nation to read and lead? Has the meeting reminded the School Principals of their critical role in people management? Has the meeting placed the upkeep and maintenance of school facilities on the radar for the day to day running of every school? Have you gained anything from lessons shared on leading school basic functionality to par excellence from the front? Do you have any suggestions on what can be improved?

Overall, the engagements have been well received by all officials across provinces. They commended the organisation of the logistics and the facilitation of the meetings, as well as the quality of the presentations. Feedback was received from 8,076 principals; 1,275 district officials; 161 provincial officials; and 56 union representatives. When analysing the number of respondents per province, the Limpopo and Eastern Cape provinces had the highest number of respondents, with 2,121 and 1,961 respondents respectively.

From the sessions, it was clear that the meeting reaffirmed the sectors sense of direction; rekindled and restored the sectors efforts in getting the nation to read and lead; reminded school principals of their critical role in people management; and placed the upkeep and maintenance of school facilities on the radar for the day to day running of schools. In addition, provinces were full of praise for the presentation on Leading basic school functionality from the front by Mrs Agnes Rasesemola, former principal of Sunrise View Secondary School in the North West Province.

Provinces reported that the messages and powerful presentations will be cascaded to School Management Teams (SMTs) and principals who could not attend as they are expected to mediate key priorities. Provinces also agreed that additional resources are required to improve reading. Key takeaways will also be prioritised and included in District Support Plans and School Improvement Plans during constructive phased-in implementation, followed by continuous monitoring.

Recommendations were for the engagements to take place annually at the beginning of the year with a wider reach. All inputs have been incorporated into last push strategies. Principals indicated that they would appreciate more engagement sessions for SMTs, Departmental Heads and teachers to also be included. Unions indicated that additional support to principals will assist with dealing with demanding School Governing Bodies (SGBs), overcrowded schools and mother-tongue reading resources. It was also agreed that the role of the principal should include the financial management of the school. They agreed that the critical role of Home Language should be stressed, along with the training of Mathematics teachers across grades for increased performance and participation in the subject. The reflections are summarised as follows per category of participants:

School Principals:

• “The critical role of home language should be stressed and have its own presentation.”
• “We are so inspired, it was a fruitful meeting.”
• “Too many presenters, one after the other, without comfort breaks.”
• “How can this be presented to teachers at our school?”
• “Training of Mathematics teachers annually across the grades.”
• “Impressive and inspirational! More of these are needed.”
• “This engagement must be done early in the year to set the standards for each year.”

District Officials

• “There was just too much information in a short space of time.”
• “Capacitate officials on strengthening reading in the foundation phase; this is needed urgently.”
• “These meetings should be held at the beginning of the year.”
• “It was a valuable meeting and we need to do this more often. Well done!”
• “Wish the sessions could be longer to engage.”
• “Please include body breaks between presentations.”
• “The best Principals meeting ever.”
• “Powerful presentations.”

Provincial Officials

• “Ms Rasesemola's presentation was one of the most inspiring I have ever attended, and I have attended 100's. Please could a recording of it be made and shared with us … we need this.”
• “Comfort breaks are essential as most of the participants are from 50 and above.”
• “The role of the principal should include financial management at school.”
• “More time should be set aside for presentations.”
• “To have more workshops as they are informative.”

Union Representatives

• “More support to principal in school dealing with SGBs taking over.”
• “How do we handle overcrowded schools?”
• “Learners require reading books in school and a daily reading session.”
• “Please share all speakers power points presentations.”

For the following week and beyond, in addition to doing his administration work, DG Mweli will continue the monitoring of the Sanitation Appropriate for Education (SAFE) construction sites projects, supporting and monitoring the Spring Learner Support Programme and the last push initiatives, and proceed to wrap up the academic year with the monitoring and supporting the Marking Centres as well as lead the standardisation activities for the Class of 2023.