story by: Toyota South Africa 28 July 2010 28 July 2010
 
TOYOTA TEACH PRIMARY SCHOOL PROJECT GATHERS MOMENTUM
 
Toyota South Africa Motors (TSAM) will increase its focus on the better education of primary school children in rural KwaZulu-Natal, says Jenny Maré, General Manager: Corporate Affairs at TSAM.
 
Speaking during an exploratory visit to a number of schools supported by TSAM, or so-called Toyota Teach Schools, Maré highlighted the company’s focus on education as a cornerstone of economic and political stability. The exploratory visit was dubbed the Hilux Gives Back-initiative, which seeks to acknowledge the important role of employees in rural KwaZulu-Natal in the success of Toyota in South Africa. The Hilux, who recently celebrated 40 years of success in South Africa, remains South Africa’s most popular vehicle and is manufactured at Toyota’s Prospecton Plant in KwaZulu-Natal.
 
“It was the late Dr. Albert Wessels, the founder and CEO of Toyota South Africa that first identified education as a key focal point of our social development agenda. This has remained over the years and although we have various projects that focus on the primary, secondary and tertiary education sectors, we believe that our Toyota Teach Primary School Project or TTPSP remains the flagship of our corporate social responsibility programmes.”
 
The TTPSP started in 1992 and focussed on uplifting the standard of basic education for primary school learners in rural KwaZulu-Natal. The programme was designed to focus on basic skills such as literacy, numeracy and life skills, including education on HIV/Aids and ethics. This project was born out of the belief that the added focus on these skills better equip rural school children to advance their education through the secondary and hopefully even the tertiary phase. Since inception more than 45 000 students have been impacted directly by the Toyota Teach programme for Primary Schools. More than 100 schools have been, or are, so-called Toyota Teach Schools.
 
A second phase, which focused on the further education of primary school teachers, was born from the realisation that many teachers felt ill equipped to train learners according to the Toyota Teach programme. There are several reasons for this need, including the fact that many of these teachers acknowledge that they themselves did not receive quality education. Secondly, many schools were very poorly resourced and supported and, to add to that, were unprepared for the rapid changes in education policy. Lastly, it became clear that HIV and Aids had a profound impact on learners and teachers in rural KZN.
 
In reaction to these needs Toyota South Africa joined forces with the University of KwaZulu-Natal to develop and support an Advanced Certificate in Education (ACE) for teachers. This programme offers ten modules, which include Maths, Science, English, Environmental Education, Classroom Management and Cognitive Development. Teachers can also opt for electives in more senior Maths and Science.
 
The Advanced Certificate takes two years to complete and teachers are trained through a combination of distance learning, classroom support and face-to-face training, while the courses are structured to encourage and nourish support and shared learning between teachers at the various Toyota Teach schools.
 
Toyota further supported the certificate programme through financial support in the form of rebates on course expenses, while it has invested significantly in service providers in many of these courses. As an example the Non-Governmental Organisation Technology for All trains teachers and learners on Technology, which is included as a part of the national curriculum for primary school learners. Toyota South Africa still partner with well known service providers in the current phase of their Toyota Teach programme, which include the Centre for Science and Maths (CASME) and the Wildlife and Environment Society of South Africa (WESSA).
 
After the introduction of the advanced programme the programme administrators have seen a marked increase in the average scores of learners at Toyota Teach schools. The same applies to the ACE teacher graduates. As an example 5 graduate teachers have become principals, while 3 have advanced to the position of deputy principal and 11 became heads of departments. Several teachers have also continued their studies at one of various tertiary institutions involved in this project, notably to obtain their honours degrees in education. More than 1 100 teachers have received further education and training as part of this programme.
 
The third and current part of our TTPSP programme is referred to as Whole School Development. As part of this programme, Toyota Teach Schools are supported through direct school management and training in school management, notably in financial and curriculum management. School governing bodies also receive training, while specific needs are addressed and administered by Toyota Teach support staff in conjunction with the community. This programme acknowledges the fact that a more holistic approach to school development is key to the advancement of young learners.
 
Toyota has to date spent more than R20 million on the Toyota Teach Primary Schools Project and it currently employs many full time facilitators and trainers.
 
ENDS