Transforming education: A risk based approach
The contribution of Public Private Partnerships in education, working alongside government to enhance performance, has had a significant impact on the lives of hundreds of thousands of children. Financial commitment, while critical to the development of key areas in education, is only a part of the solution. Private companies have specific and finely honed skills sets, including sector specific knowledge and business management processes.
Marsh, a global leader in insurance broking and risk management, helps their clients to succeed by defining, designing and delivering innovative industry-specific solutions that help them effectively manage risk. It is in line with these parameters that Marsh hopes to have an impact on identifying specific risks and finding solutions that best address different needs for different schools.
The Marsh Boost a School programme aims to improve school performance and the quality of education at disadvantaged communities in South Africa through investing in developmental interventions. For the programme, four schools have been selected from around the country: Alexander High School in Gauteng, Cloetesville High School in the Western Cape, Trenance Secondary School in KwaZulu Natal and Vukuhambe Secondary, a special needs school based in the Eastern Cape.
Partnering with the Department of Education, NGOs, education specialists and local government, the pilot programme will work alongside parents, learners, teachers, school management, principals and governing bodies to implement specific projects to uplift selected schools across the country. The specific areas of focus for the pilot are Learner Leadership, Teacher Support, Parent Empowerment and improving Technology in schools. Focusing initially on four schools, a detailed risk analysis has been done for each, revealing prominent areas of weakness that need to be immediately addressed.
Following the risk analysis, a series of collaborative workshops, hosted by Marsh, brought together these key stakeholders to pinpoint the needs of each school and finalise plans to be implemented over the next three years that would be considered most effective at each school. At Vukuhambe, the partnership will be focused on innovation that takes into consideration the children’s’ special needs and will also explore the way in which education and opportunities for the children can be enhanced through responsive design elements.
Local committees have also been established at each school to govern and manage the implementation of the programme and participate in impact assessment and planning during the life of the programme. Once of the key success criteria for the project is to create a sustainable model, the legacy of which can be managed long after the three year implementation phase is over.
According to South Africa’s National School Effectiveness Study, a programme aimed at identifying policy and practice lessons for government, principals, teachers and parents, learning outcomes for any particular child, depend firstly and most importantly on home characteristics and, secondly, on the influence of all the teachers through whose hands the child passes. A holistic approach is needed to overcome the challenges to transform education, in this case based on successfully managing risk, embracing complex and systemic thinking and operating sustainably.
