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01 October 2024 | Story Anthony Mthembu | Photo Kaleidoscope
S4F2024
The Science-for-the-Future (S4F) unit in the Faculty of Education hosted a summit on 13 September 2024. The event, which was held on the University of the Free State Bloemfontein Campus, was well attended by nearly 300 guests from across the country.

Teachers from across the country and representatives of nine other universities recently gathered at the University of the Free State (UFS) to celebrate the achievements of the S4F Teacher Professional Development programmes as well as the successful collaboration between the UFS and other universities in this regard.

The Science-for-the-Future (S4F) unit in the Faculty of Education hosted a summit in the Centenary Complex on the Bloemfontein Campus on 13 September 2024. The acting Vice-Chancellor and Principal of the UFS, Prof Anthea Rhoda, delivered the keynote address at the summit. Representatives from the South African National Roads Agency (SANRAL) – the official funder of the Science for the Future initiative – were also present, along with about 300 attendees, representing teachers, participating universities, representatives from the Department of Basic Education, and other stakeholders.

In her welcoming address, Prof Matseliso Mokhele Makgalwa, Vice-Dean of the Faculty of Education, said the event focuses, among others, on fostering collaboration and innovation across academic and professional communities. She later highlighted the fact that the project implementation period of three years makes provision for continued visits to the participating schools to sustain the continuity over time.

Dr Cobus van Breda, Programme Director of S4F and Project Manager of the Universities Collaboration initiative, elaborated on the rationale of the project as well as the collaboration with nine other universities. He stated, “We know from research that there are many factors that prevent learners, especially in rural areas in South Africa, from excelling in Mathematics and Science. These include subject content knowledge, lack of teaching resources at school and at home, language of learning and teaching that differs from home language, along with a lack of parental involvement, among others.” He said the project aims to address these rampant challenges by not only empowering teachers with the necessary teaching skills and content knowledge, but also providing classroom resources to benefit learners and adding a parental involvement component to the project. 

To scale the project benefits for the rest of the country, the UFS has partnered with nine other universities; collectively, more than one hundred thousand project participants (teachers, learners, and parents) could be impacted during 2024. The collaborating universities are Nelson Mandela University, the Walter Sisulu University, the University of Limpopo, the University of KwaZulu-Natal, the University of Mpumalanga, Sol Plaatje University, the University of Venda, Stellenbosch University, and Nort-West University.

Representatives from the Department of Basic Education and other institutions were also given the opportunity to highlight the impact of the initiative in their respective institutions. Maki Molale, Senior Education Specialist  from the Free State Department of Basic Education, reflected on the contribution of the project and said, “In the Department of Education we report on these key areas: teacher development, direct learner support, parental involvement, the utilisation of resources and partnerships … they are all addressed in this project.” She thanked the University of the Free State and the funder, SANRAL. Dr Glynnis Daries from Sol Plaatje University spoke on behalf of the collaborating universities and explained from an academic perspective to attendees how the project implementation strategy of S4F relates to Bronfenbrenner’s bioecological theory of human development and how the respective project components showcase the five levels of this theory.

During the keynote address, Prof Rhoda emphasised the importance of Mathematics skills, teaching children the capacity to solve problems and how it is extremely important to be analytical in one’s approach to resolving complexities and to work through problems in a methodical and logical manner. In the end, if one does this, no challenge is insurmountable. She commended the teachers present for fulfilling a vital task and pointed out the heavy responsibility on their shoulders. In this regard, she said, “As the UFS, and through the Science for the Future project, we are proud to support you in your work. The project is a vehicle through which we fulfil the central goals of the UFS, which are to impact the community in a positive way, and to instil a culture of excellence in a caring environment. We will continue to support you in your work and do all that we can to make your work more fulfilling and impactful – this is the promise of the UFS to our partners through this project.”

In acknowledging the contribution of the respective collaborating universities, Prof Rhoda emphasised that partnerships and collaborations are not easy to build, and most importantly, to maintain … “but what I’m hearing through these engagements today is that these partnerships are not just being maintained, they are expanded … the collaboration impacted the different institutions as well as, most importantly, the communities, close to and around them”. She alluded to the fact that universities’ roles are not just to retain and accept students, but universities have an important role in being the anchor within the society and communities in which they find themselves. According to her, the contribution of SANRAL and other project funders thus extends far beyond teachers’ professional development and community empowerment, it contributes towards assisting universities in engaged scholarship activities.

In reflecting on the parental involvement component of the programme, Themba Mhambi – Chairperson of the SANRAL Board – said that apart from being a maths and science project, and a project that is developmental, that is nation building, “… it becomes a kind of template for perhaps how our education system needs to be re-constructed … reclaiming the old times when parents and teachers worked together with the child in the centre”.  

News Archive

A tale of many cities – new dictionary of place names reveals our heritage
2015-01-28

 

‘The Dictionary of Southern African Place Names’ provides not only the answers, but also gives insight into how our places and our people were shaped. Penned by three academics from the University of the Free State (UFS), it is the fourth edition of this fascinating book.

Prof Peter Raper from the UFS Unit for Language Facilitation and Empowerment, together with his colleagues Prof Theodorus du Plessis and Dr Lucie Möller, created more than a reference book. They provide the reader with deeper understanding of events, our heroes, beliefs, values, fears and aspirations.

Jonathan Ball Publishers describes the book as “the most comprehensive glossary of Southern African towns, villages, railway stations, mountains, rivers and beaches. The 9 000 short entries incorporate data from sources dating as far back as 1486, encapsulating the linguistic and cultural heritage of all the peoples of the subcontinent, past and present.”

And what would the origin of the name Bloemfontein be?

This dictionary provides the following answer.

“Capital city of the Free State and judicial capital of South Africa. It was established in 1846 by Major HD Warden at a fountain on the farm Bloemfontein, originally owned by a Griqua, Mauritz Pretorius. It has been claimed to have been named after a person with the surname Bloem, or in honour of the Khoikhoi chief Jan Bloem, or after an ox with this name. Probably, however, it was named after flowers growing at the fountain, from Dutch bloem, ‘flower’, fonteijn, ‘spring’. The name is thought to be a translation from a Bushman name of which Mangaung is the Sotho adaptation; ma- is the Sotho plural prefix or class marker; the component ngau is comparable to the Bushman word //au, ‘flower’, and the final ng is cognate with the locative demonstrative ?, ‘that (one) there’. Bloemfontein attained municipal status in 1880.”




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