End of Year Message: 2016

As another year draws to a close it is a good time to pause and reflect. This end of year message for 2016 comes to you as an expression of gratitude for the part you have played in another significant year in the life of CASME as we continue in our efforts to realise our vision of changing learners lives through quality and innovative mathematics and science education.

In 2016 CASME celebrated its 30 year commitment to this vision, which is founded on the unbending dedication to redressing educational inequality. At this milestone CASME concluded a strategic planning phase that sets out key focus areas for the next three years. Our strategic focus includes a recommitment to our core purpose of teacher professional development. Within this focus is a renewed and expanded dedication to work at the primary schooling level and a plan to deliver accredited programmes both as a SACE and ETDP SETA accredited provider.

We have also identified ICTs for Teaching and Learning and will be working towards taking our programmes online over the next few years. 

The third focus area is in the increasingly important realm of monitoring, evaluation and research. We published the first in a series of Learning Briefs with more to follow as our internal Knowledge Management Working Group sets about turning our internal monitoring and evaluation data into meaningful lessons and reflections.

And finally, acknowledging the scale and depth of the crisis in education we commit to partnerships and collaboration in order to increase our impact in education. We are proud to have partnered with the NECT on delivering a 9 day short course for high school teachers across 6 districts in 3 provinces.

As our partners in education you will be pleased to know that in 2016 our engagement, through 830 unique activities, was not insignificant.

In 2016 we made our mark internationally when we partnered with MAHLE Behr SA, the Ethekwini Municipality and UKZN in February to break the Guinness World Record for the Largest Practical Science Lesson with over 2000 Grade 9 learners taking part. And in November we took a team of Grade 7 learners from Umlazi to Lucknow India to compete in the WIZMIC 2017 contest.

In partnership with East Coast Radio and MAHLE Behr SA we took to the airwaves for an enormously successful campaign to spark the interest of learners in science. The campaign took us to high schools from Clermont to Umlazi and reached millions of listeners throughout the province.

None of these successes would be possible without your continued support and commitment to our work. We are grateful to have had generous contributions by our donor partners from the business sector and independent trusts who continue to recognise the importance of quality education for the future of all South Africans.

We encourage you to continue. Individually you can do so by clicking on the button below or contact us to talk about funding opportunities.

Our office will re-open on 4 January 2017. We look forward to connecting with you during the course of 2017 and wishing you all the best for a restful festive season with family and loved ones.

Yours in education
Henre Benson
Acting CEO: CASME