The Shine Centre was established by Maurita Weissenberg in 2000 while she was volunteering at Observatory Junior School in Cape Town. An experienced remedial teacher, Maurita, recognised that literacy levels could be improved dramatically by introducing a structured early intervention literacy programme, to ensure children at risk of not reading were given individual support by trained volunteers. In just four years, the Shine Centre managed to increase literacy rates of grade three children at the school from 50 percent to 82.7 percent.
The Shine Centre has a vision to create a nation of readers.
Mission: ‘Through community involvement and partnerships and using effective, innovative and measurable practices, The Shine Centre aims to inspire South Africa to achieve the vision of a nation of readers.’
Main Activities
The Shine Centre delivers literacy support to children in grades two and three in school-based Shine Centres and Chapters using Shine-trained volunteers and bespoke Shine Centre methodology and resources. Its 36 bespoke literacy games cover the foundation theory needed when learning to read and write, and were developed in consultation with language and remedial specialists. Every month the Centre holds orientation and in-depth training sessions for potential volunteers, and offers quarterly training sessions to existing volunteers and teachers who want to use The Shine Centre methods in the classroom.
The Shine Centre also delivers training workshops for parents, communities and organisations, who are then encouraged and up-skilled to support the child’s learning outside of the school environment. These workshops benefit early childhood development (ECD), foundation phase learning and help children and adults learning to read.
The Centre supports individuals and other nonprofit organisations by training them how to apply its programme and helping them establish their own literacy centres or reading clubs (The Shine Centre Social Franchise model).
Challenges and opportunities
South Africa currently spends five percent of gross domestic product (GDP) on education. While this is in line with the spending levels of developed nations, like the United States of America (USA), the United Kingdom (UK), Holland and Austria (Duncan, 2012), recent studies have shown that despite this investment, South African schools perform well below expectations (NEEDU National Report 2012).
In 2011, an estimated six million children were tested by the national Department of Basic Education to determine numeracy and literacy skills among foundation and intermediate phase children. It was found that of the grade threes of those schools sampled, only 17 percent scored more than 50 percent in their numeracy assessment and only 31 percent scored more than 50 percent in their literacy test.
In 2012, Minister of Basic Education, Angie Motshekga said that among Grade three children, the national average performance in literacy was 35 percent; and in numeracy, 28 percent (Department of Education, 2012).
A myriad of factors contribute towards these poor results, including large class sizes, inadequate and poor access to learning resources, language barriers (i.e. learning in a second-language), sub-standard teaching, disempowered parents and socio-economic factors.
Those children who struggle to secure basic literacy and numeracy skills in the foundation phase of their education may fail or under-perform in Grade 10, 11 and 12, thereby negatively influencing their future prospects (NEEDU National Report 2012).
Early intervention is therefore critical. The Shine Centre’s programme is specifically focused on early literacy intervention and in a significant way, is making a real contribution to securing the country’s future by teaching children to read, so that they can read to learn.
Impact/contribution to society
As the Centre’s Mission states, ‘through community involvement and partnerships and using effective, innovative and measurable practices, The Shine Centre aims to inspire South Africa to achieve our vision of a nation of readers.’
In November 2012, The Shine Centre was named the 2012 Africa-Middle East ‘Rising Star’ by the STARS Foundation. The organisation is also a 2010 WISE Awards nominee and a winner of the 2008 Reconciliation Award from the Institute for Justice and Reconciliation.
On-going individual assessments at certain intervals throughout the year are carried out to enable The Shine Centre to monitor the child’s progress, ensuring that the organisation can ‘catch’ those that might be termed at risk, and supporting them through the programme.
To view The Shine Centre in the Prodder NGO Directory, click here.
