THE CIRCUIT TEAM CONCEPT
REPLICABLE DEVELOPMENTAL MODELS
Presentation to EMASA Conference
Friday 11th March 2011
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STRUCTURE OF PRESENTATION
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The GM South Africa Foundation
Current Education Crisis
The Decentralised District Office Model
The Circuit Team Concept
Practical Pilot Project
OECD – Organisation of Support Systems
Systemic Change –WC/Gauteng/Free
State
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Components of GMSA Foundation’s
‘Corporate Social Action’ concept
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Modest funding - R5.55 million for 2011.
Local (PE) pilot projects – GM employees’
communities.
Focus areas - Education system; subsidy housing.
Partnerships - From the outset.
Rigorous evaluation – Internal and external.
Comprehensive documentation – ‘Models’.
Strategic marketing - Models and components.
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Overall objective: To achieve a national
impact on SA society through
 Replication
by other agencies.
 Influencing
new official policies.
 Assisting
authorities (local, provincial,
national) with practical implementation.
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THE EDUCATION
CRISIS
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Crisis in Education
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Downward trend in Learner Performance
(National and International test scores).
Children leaving school without the essential skills
needed to survive and flourish in a modern
economy.
All agree that there is an urgent need for radical
change within the SA Education System.
“We need a fundamental shift in how we intervene
in the system” – Bobby Soobrayan Feb 2010.
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What schools can/cannot do
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All schools need to work harder at
improving their levels of functionality
Some (small %) schools can clearly operate
without the DoE
Other (85%) are not so fortunate - they
clearly need external assistance to provide
better quality education for learners
Support for schools: DoE or Private Sector?
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Improved support for schools
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DECENTRALISED DISTRICT
OFFICE MODEL
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The Decentralised District Office Model
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New District Office model conceptualised by a ECED/
Foundation Task Team in 2001.
Decentralised district offices bring service delivery into
schools and provide them with effective on-going
support
District offices change from being ‘silo’ based to a far
more developmental team based and school focussed
approach.
The Circuit Team recognised as the most critical
delivery mechanism of the District Office.
Model accepted by ECED but never implemented.
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THE CIRCUIT TEAM
CONCEPT
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DEFINING THE CIRCUIT TEAM
CONCEPT
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The Circuit Team concept allows for the most
effective direct interface with schools.
The make-up & operations of the Circuit Team
are informed by the needs of the schools in their
circuit.
A paradigm shift is required from DO staff to
move away from their current modus operandi to
a ‘school-focussed team-work approach’.
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Subject Advisor
EDO
Pilot
Circuit
Team
Pilot Circuit
(4 clusters of 6 schools
each)
A PARADIGM SHIFT
DO Staff
Circuit 1
EDO
WSDs
Admin
Circuit 2
Curr Adv
Service
Providers
Special
Needs
Circuit 3
Circuit 4
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A PRACTICAL PILOT CIRCUIT TEAM
PROJECT
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Aim to establish a demonstration pilot Circuit Team to
effectively serve a circuit of schools in PE.
DoE initiative supported by the GMSA Foundation.
Practical experiences to guide / shape / refine:
 Policies & procedures.
 Organograms.
 Roll-out of Circuit Teams to other Districts.
Twinning arrangement secured with WC pilot project
(relatively far advanced).
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THE CIRCUIT TEAM CONCEPT
Circuit Manager
Circuit 1
Cur Adv - Foundation
Inst Man & Gov Adv
Admin Dev Adv
Cur Adv - Int / Senior
Cur Adv - FET &
Subject (part-time)
Circuit 2
School Psychologist
Learning Support
Social Worker
Admin Clerk
Circuit 3
Circuit 4
THE PILOT CIRCUIT
A PE Circuit made up of 20 - 25 schools.
Willing primary, secondary and special
schools with HOR, DET & Ex Model C
backgrounds.
THE PILOT CIRCUIT TEAM
A Circuit Team dedicated to one Circuit.
A Circuit Team made up of appropriately
skilled DoE Staff and external Service
Providers.
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PE PROJECT TEAM
Memo of Understanding
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PE PROJECT TEAM
Terms of Reference
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PE CIRCUIT TEAM PROJECT
Implementation
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Support obtained from all national and local key
stakeholders.
Appointed researchers - identified needs of schools.
Report back to stakeholders on research findings.
Working group finalised TOR for pilot project.
Established Project Management Team.
PE District Officials visited Cape Town – Shadowed
WC circuit team.
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PE CIRCUIT TEAM PROJECT
Implementation
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Established pilot Circuit Team with appropriately
skilled members (PEDO & external).
Finalised the pilot schools – Agreements signed.
Team –building workshop for Circuit Team.
Finalised funding/resource arrangements.
Proceed with Circuit Team school interventions.
Some District Officials dropped off Circuit Team.
Working with willing and able officials – importing
expertise from outside to replace DoE people.
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OECD AND ORGANISATION
OF SUPPORT SYSTEMS
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Organisation of Support Systems
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What makes school systems perform?
OECD launched –PISA- Programme for
International Student Assessment.
Looked at top performing countries.
Finland, Korea, Canada, Japan, France,
Sweden, England and Netherland.
These countries recognise the importance of
strong support systems for schools.
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Strong Support Systems
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“In summary, these findings point to the
conclusion that strong basic education systems
tend to succeed by providing good quality
support for students, teachers, and schools in
the context of an integrated rather than
differentiated school structure…. To perform
these tasks successfully they need…special
training for school management tasks and
counselling and support from teams of experts
based on evaluation by external agencies”
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SYSTEMIC CHANGE:
A FEW ALTERNATIVES
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Institutionalising Circuit Teams
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Western Cape in 2008 started implementing a
slightly modified version of the GMSAF
decentralised district office model.
Operationalised the concept of the circuit team.
Eight Districts consisting of 49 circuit teams.
Highly skilled circuit team leaders lead multidisciplinary task teams to interact with schools
on a daily basis and apply appropriate
programmes and support.
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MSED CIRCUIT TEAMS
Organogram
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GMSAF’s intentions
with Circuit Team model
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Continue with PE pilot project.
Promote roll out of PE lessons into all 23 EC Districts.
Interact with all 9 Provinces via MEC’s / SG’s.
Interact closely with National DoBE: Presentations
made to senior officials and to Education Portfolio
Committee.
Interact closely with Teacher Unions: Presentation made
to SADTU Executive.
Assist GDE to re-align according to circuit teams.
Assist Free State following in principle decision to adopt
the circuit team concept.
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Thank you for arranging this
opportunity for discussion.
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