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30 October 2018 | Story Rulanzen Martin | Photo Peet van Aardt
iCAN contributes to a decolonised curriculum
Some of the student writers who contributed to the anthology that tells their stories in Sesotho, isiXhosa, isiZulu, English and Afrikaans.

How do you transform the higher education curriculum? You involve the exact people the curriculum is intended for. The book, Initiative for Creative African Narratives (iCAN,) illustrates how decolonisation can be achieved through literature   for students by students.

iCAN is an initiative by the Centre for Teaching and Learning (CTL) at the University of the Free State (UFS) to mentor students in creative and narrative writing. Under the mentorship of Dr Peet van Aardt, project coordinator, and Ace Moloi, author and UFS alumnus, iCAN Volume 1 was recently launched with 47 short stories written by UFS students. 

“The project is a response from the centre for the ever-increasing need for decolonised curricula, steeped in the local cultural perspective of ubuntu,” said Dr Van Aardt.

“This book is an example for how decolonisation can be implemented,” said Prof Francois Stydrom, Senior Director of CTL. The overall aim of the iCAN project is to have the content that materialised from it to be included in the curriculum of first-year students at UFS in the near future.

Book provides multiple voices

Starting in May 2018, CTL presented a series of creative writing workshops on all three of the UFS campuses. “It’s a medium that allows a diverse range of students to express their views and develop their voices as writers,” said Prof Strydom.  

It is a form of empowerment, to pass the baton to students to improve the UFS curriculum by writing and publishing their own stories, thereby contributing to larger bodies of knowledge through their lived experiences.

“I believe we as a university need to enable students so that they move away from just being users to becoming contributors to the curriculum,” Dr van Aardt concluded. 

News Archive

Success of Schools Partnership Programme embodies essence of UFS
2016-01-04

Description: Schools Partnership programme Tags: Schools Partnership programme

The everyday function and subsequent success of the SPP have come to embody the very essence of the UFS: inspiring excellence; transforming lives.

Addressing the urgent need for quality education at school level, the University of the Free State (UFS) established the Schools Partnership Project (SPP) in 2012. The aim of the project has been to turn ineffective schools into institutions producing outstanding results, thereby increasing the number and quality of first-year students at the UFS.

Within three years, the SPP has grown to include 68 primary and secondary schools across the Free State and the Sterkspruit area in the Eastern Cape. The programme is headed by Dr Peet Venter and run from the UFS South Campus. Expert mentors assist teachers and principals at these schools on a weekly basis, helping them to excel at their core functions. The programme’s success has been phenomenal.

Learner results from the SPP schools show a marked improvement compared to previous years. Teachers report that they have gained a broader understanding of the subjects they teach. “The university is doing a great job with this programme,” says one of the teachers. “We have developed a lot. We really appreciate this partnership.” Teachers not only gain substantial expertise in areas of planning, presentation, and subject knowledge; an increasing number of them have been receiving promotions, too.

The principals experience similar positive results, and regard the SPP as a productive contribution to their schools. The project has also established closer cooperation between principals and schools. This enables them to achieve common goals, share knowledge, and deal with challenges together.

An added spin-off of the programme has been the increased involvement of parents and care-givers. “We experience much more involvement from the community,” says mentor Danie Nieuwenhuizen. Parents start to take it upon themselves to tidy school grounds, care for vegetable gardens, and prepare food at school feeding schemes. Even the Sustained Silent Reading programme – that supplies magazines to learners – is now having an impact on households and communities. Many homes have never had magazines or other reading material before the reading programme.

The everyday function and subsequent success of the SPP have come to embody the very essence of the UFS: inspiring excellence; transforming lives.

 

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