Teachers Plus Foundation

Teachers Plus Foundation is rated 3 out of 5 in the category higher education. Read and write reviews about Teachers Plus Foundation. The Teachers Plus Foundation is a ‘not for profit company (NPC) with the mandate of advancing young people by investing in the future excellence of education. Founded in 2018, this Polyoak initiative is managed by a dedicated team of specialists operating from the Polyoak Packaging Group’s (PPG) main site in Cape Town. PURPOSE The NPC provides scholarships for talented individuals from high-need communities to become professional and effective Mathematics and Accounting Teachers. It also caters for high school learners and their teachers to attend short, high impact workshops on mathematics, accounting and work readiness. THE SCHOOL EDUCATION CHALLENGE South Africa’s shortage of qualified teachers, particularly in key subjects such as Mathematics and Accounting, underpins our dismal numeracy ranking internationally. Despite the huge demand for teachers, who themselves fully understand what they are teaching, subject knowledge is not a focus area for many teacher training programmes. The rising demand for teachers, places pressure on schools to hire partially-qualified teachers, who rarely go on to complete their studies or to become subject experts. Many schools lack the resources to enrich school learners with additional workshops on mathematics, accounting and valuable life skills such as work readiness. TEACHERS PLUS FOUNDATION VISION The vision is to advance young people through education, by improving the professionalism and effectiveness of teaching in South Africa. STRATEGIC APPROACH APT Scholarship Programme The Techers Plus Advancing Professional Teaching (APT) Scholarship Programme has been fine-tuned over many years, to address the challenges faced by young teachers today in all the phases of the South African Education System. During the intensive five-year programme, students study towards a Bachelor of Education Degree through the University of South Africa, with additional support: - Academics and Pedagogy: Highly experienced Mathematics and Accounting Specialists are on hand, to ensure proper understanding of the work they will teach and to extend students’ subject knowledge beyond the National Curriculum. - Experiential Learning: APT Students learn through experience at schools within their community, as well as at selected top-performing academic schools, to expose them to innovative teaching models and best practices in teaching and school management. - Emotional Support: The programme focuses on psychological well-being, providing student sessions with it’s a dedicated life coach, and access to Polyoak’s social worker, if necessary. Each year the Teachers Plus Foundation funds 20 teaching scholarships, and delivers four fully qualified Mathematics and Accounting teachers. - Enrichment Programmes: The APT students attend workshops on technology in the classroom, coding, robotics, best practices in teaching and sport coaching. This helps them to bring additional value to the education systems that they will enter. Each year the Teachers Plus Foundation funds 20 teaching scholarships, and delivers four fully qualified Mathematics and Accounting teachers. Kickstart Workshops These have been developed for school learners, tertiary students and teaching graduates to derive instant benefit. The workshops address relevant educational and developmental needs such as Matric Mathematics Consolidation; Colour Accounting for Grade 10 and 11 learners and their teachers; and a Work Readiness Programme delivered in collaboration with the Polyoak Business School and PPG employees.