How to fix South Africa’s Schools: Lessons from schools that work

Everyone knows that South Africa has an education crisis. Not everyone knows that this crisis exists despite the fact that the government spends the biggest slice of its budget on education.
 
Jonathan Jansen and Molly Blank looked at South African schools that work, in spite of adverse conditions - schools in poor communities, schools with overcrowded classrooms, schools in both rural and urban environments - and have drawn out the practical strategies that make them successful.
 
The manual 'How to fix South Africa's schools. Lessons from schools that work.' (2014) brings you:

• 9 facts about education
• 7 consequences if you fail to fix schools
• 8 mistakes we keep making
• 7 lessons from good practices in schools
• 10 key strategies from schools that work
• 19 videos of schools that work
• 5 templates to use in a transformation workshop for schools

  
‘This is not a book, it is a manual that principals, teachers, parents or other community members can use to turn around a dysfunctional or ineffective school.’ – Jonathan Jansen

Who are Jonathan Jansen and Molly Blank?

Jonathan Jansen is former Vice Chancellor of the University of the Free State, where he has earned a formidable reputation for transformation and for a deep commitment to reconciliation in communities living with the heritage of apartheid. He is an educationalist who holds an impressive collection of degrees including the Education Africa Lifetime Achievement Award. Jansen is also the (co-)author of Letters to My Children, Great South African Teachers, We Need to Talk and We Need to Act.

Molly Blank is a documentary filmmaker who began working in South Africa as the recipient of a Fulbright Scholarship for journalism in 2005. Her films include Testing Hope: Grade 12 in the New South Africa, about young people approaching their matric exams and Where Do I Stand? about youth and the xenophobic attacks in South Africa in 2008. Previously she was a teacher in Washington, DC. She holds a Masters in Journalism from the University of California, Berkeley and a Bachelor in History from Tufts University