One of CPUT’s leading researchers is set to unpack rural education in South Africa.
An education and social sciences researcher, Dr Clive Kronenberg plans to gain insights into the Western Cape’s top performing rural and multigrade schools that are situated on the West Coast.
Globally rural education is the most neglected area of education and results show that the majority of these schools have low attainment rates.
However, Kronenberg hopes to uncover what is behind the success of several of the Western Cape’s best performing rural and multigrade schools. The findings will be vital in establishing a future model that can improve attainment rates at these schools.
As part of his research, Kronenberg recently spent several weeks gaining insights into rural education in Cuba, a country that has one of world’s most successful educational systems.
Cuba boasts adult literacy rates ranking a notable 99.8%, a learner teacher ratio of 12 to 1, and high attainment levels in urban and rural areas.
Kronenberg had the opportunity to interact with teachers, learners, teacher assistants as well as education officials and academics from local universities.
“My visit has facilitated an understanding of how multigrade education within a rural setting can be approached in a more meaningful and practical way,” he says.
Kronenberg says his research, titled “Novel Ideas, Good Practices and Success Stories” will explore schools’ operations, teaching methods, culture and parental involvement.
“We want to know what do they attribute their success too,” he says.
*Kronenberg is currently Africa’s foremost scholar on matters related to the Cuba education and has visited the country several times to explore its education system.
Image of the Cuban landscape by Dr Clive Kronenberg
