Homework and study club turning young women’s lives around
TWO young women will become the first in their families to study at the Cape Peninsula University of Technology, thanks to the inspiration and generosity of two remarkable educators from the University of the Western Cape (UWC).
Catherine Joubert from Wellington was one of countless people caught in a job that was destroying her soul.
When her Grade 1 school teacher passed her while she was working in road construction, waving her flag as she regulated the traffic, she would drop her gaze, ashamed.
But that all changed after she took up the challenge to volunteer at a homework centre in her hometown.
This year, Catherine is one of two young women, along with childhood friend Tayala Afrika, to become the first in their families to have enrolled at the Cape Peninsula University of Technology, Wellington campus, with the hope of eventually becoming teachers – and this thanks to two remarkable women who stepped in to help them further their studies, and inspired them to succeed.
It started out with a teacher well-being project in Wellington focusing on helping teachers to cope with their particular challenges.
The homework and study club was where it all began. Dr Karen Corlett, UWC researcher in the Faculty of Education, was the project facilitator, working alongside donor and retired Groenberg Primary School principal Gloria Samson.
Teachers felt demoralised by the low achievement levels of learners and the high number of learners that required additional support due to a range of language and learning barriers.
The staff identified a homework and study club as a strategy to improve pupils’ academic results and build a stronger supportive relationship between them, teachers and parents/guardians.
“Groenberg Primary School was one of the four schools we worked with,” Dr Corlett says, “but because of Mrs Samson’s passion and love for teaching, they started a homework club at the school catering for all the children in the area, aimed at improving learners’ academic results.
“The homework club focused on supporting the learners, as their parents are often unable to assist them with their homework tasks.
“Tayala Afrika was volunteering at that after-school homework centre – working with kids, helping them find solutions for themselves.
“Mrs Samson is like a mother to all the children she has taught over the years,” she says. “This journey is very exciting for the both of us because she connected us with people who want to see us succeed and break the chain of poverty in our families.
“Catherine, who is one of the recipients and a beneficiary of donor funding, says she is very passionate about teaching and education as a whole, because it has opened a lot of doors for the childhood friends. “I want to thank Mrs Samson for believing in me since day one.
After I completed my Grade 12, I went to work as a municipal worker and Mrs Samson saw me on the road while driving by and called me,” she says.
“She asked if this is what I want to do for the rest of my life – and when I said no, she asked me to volunteer at the homework club, which is where I gained more experience in teaching and how to work with children.”
She believes her homework club experience will help her with the teaching course she will be doing at the Cape Peninsula University of Technology.
Mrs Samson, a now-retired principal at Groenberg Primary school, says they are celebrating the success of the projects at the school.
“I have known these girls since they were very young: I was their Grade 1 teacher and saw them complete their high schooling career – excelling in their academics.
“Challenges such as teenage pregnancy and dropping out of school are rife in the Wellington area, as many young people leave school to work on the farms in an attempt to generate more income for their households.
“In this farming community parents are often not able to assist their children with homework tasks as they come home late in the evening or they do not speak the language used for teaching, and there are also some parents that are not able to read and write,” Samson adds.
“It was and still is very important to me to see them succeed in life, because not a lot of girls from the rural areas make it to tertiary education.
“And now Tayala and Catherine will come from their classes in the afternoons and they can come and help me with the club, so more children can get into high school and go on to further study.”
Fees, text books, accommodation and a stipend of R1 000 a month are included in the opportunity, and will be paid for by the donor towards the two girls’ expenses.
The funder has also agreed to support Dr Collett with funding to research the value of homework/study clubs in supporting pupils’ achievement and retention in schools.