With the 2023 academic year underway, UCT Online High School is planning a number of enhancements, includinga new guardian app, to support learning in an online environment.
This is according to Banele Lukhele, executive head and chief academic officer at the school.
This comes after reports of some operational challenges at the school during its first year, with some parents raising concerns over their children’s academic performance and technical glitches with the learning platform, among other issues.
Some of the parents reportedly also claimed lack of support and transparency from the school.
However, UCT Online High School stated it provides the necessary support structures to its learners, teachers as well as guardians and parents.
Forging ahead
Lukhele says like all schools, the school has happy and unhappy parents.
According to her, they have listened to parents over the year, resulting in the school introducing enhancements that will continue this year.
“The large majority of parents and guardians are happy with the progress of their learners and are fully committed to their participation in the work and mission of our school.
“All our learners receive comprehensive support and communication from our team. By way of example, our support coaches and teachers alone have engaged with 329 546 personal WhatsApp and e-mails with guardians and learners over the last 11 months.”
In addition, the school’s guardian portal offers every parent and guardian easily available information, she states, adding that this is far more than is provided by conventional schools.
“We will be making further enhancements to our Guardian Portal, and introducing a new Guardian Mobile App early in the new school year, to enhance the ability of parents and guardians to access relevant information from the convenience of their phone,” Lukhele reveals.
“UCT Online High School’s learning model is based on the concept of self-paced learning. This approach allows learners to acquire essential competencies as they move through the year as a whole. Some learners have coped very well with this approach, and they worked through the nine modules of each of their subjects within the same timeframe as they would have in a traditional school.
“But some learners started to fall behind and so we decided to add more structure to the school year by dividing it into four segments, which will also give guardians a better sense of how their learner is progressing through the curriculum.
“We are phasing in this modified approach. Where learners have fallen behind, we provide additional opportunities to complete the term’s work. We also provide additional support in the form of daily check-ins with support coaches, live sessions with teachers, work plans and dedicated sessions to assist learners who were behind to catch up.”
Officially opened in January last year, UCT Online High School is an initiative of the University of Cape Town, in partnership with edtech start-up Valenture Institute.
With over 4 400 learners currently enrolled, the school offers the National Curriculum and Assessment Policy Statement-aligned (CAPS) curriculum, as well as the Cambridge International curriculum and Adult Matric Programme commencing this year.
The virtual high school will this year also welcome its first intake of grade 12 learners.
Lukhele states that the way that UCT Online High School structures the school year differs from the arrangement in a traditional school.
“We are proud to have enrolled learners from a wide spectrum of households, with considerable variation in their previous educational opportunities and from across South Africa as a whole. Our structured-flexibility learning model gives learners the opportunity to steadily level the playing field as they move through the curriculum for each grade.”
As part of UCT Online High School’s new leadership team, Lukhele says her goals over the next few years will be set around two things, namely data and awareness.
Lukhele heads up the school together with Sipho Mpisane, head of school for the CAPS curriculum, and Tessa Venter as head of school for International curricula.
Commenting on what the three will do differently compared to the previous management, she states: “Tessa, Sipho and I have been working in, or closely, with UCT Online High School’s management throughout 2022 and so it’s not so much about doing things differently as it is about building on the foundations that have been laid.
“Every (new) school, regardless of whether they are brick-and-mortar or online, experiences problems; the hardest of which are usually in the first years of existence. This is what it is to open a new school and to actively advocate for change in education. We remain committed to continuous improvement and our 2023 enhancements are an indication of that.
“With our school community growing, we are really excited to connect with our learners and guardians more. For us, school is community and should be an inclusive place of belonging. We are eager to connect with our learners, our guardians and our UCT Online High School team. We want to drive connection, collaboration and conversation.”
She adds: “In line with the goals that I outlined – Sipho, Tessa and I will work closely to demystify ‘online schooling’, specifically in an African context. Online schools cannot be virtual replicas of brick-and-mortar but they are a valid, viable and valuable alternative for thousands of learners and guardians. We want to spend time showing people what online school is and how we can contribute to the education ecosystem at large.”
Lukhele concludes by saying that the school’s focus will always be on what is in the best interest of its learners.
“Our guardian ecosystem consists of over 8 000 guardians and while it is important to acknowledge the complaints of some, we must not detract from the greater success that we have had.
“In 2023, we will continue to be transparent about our model, processes and our challenges and we will continue to be committed to developing a viable, quality alternative to traditional schooling.”
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