Transitions Foundation
Founded 2012. Our partner since 2013.
Transitions Foundation is a South African non-profit organization (NPO) that aims to support young South Africans in their transition from high school to university or vocational training, and to support them in this process through extracurricular educational opportunities. This includes not only the supervision of their school career, especially in the STEM subjects, but also the offer of socio-political further education in areas such as health and justice. The organization was founded in 2012 and has been running the “Young, African & Dreaming” initiative ever since.
The „Young, African & Dreaming“ initiative
The initiative “Young, African & Dreaming” supported by Go Ahead! accompanies a group of now almost 60 young South Africans aged 16 to 18 years during their last three years of high school until they graduate from school and make the transition to university or vocational training. The program is mostly aimed at highly motivated students attending Allanridge Secondary School in Midrand, near Pretoria. This is a state school with no tuition fees. The families in the township where the school is located usually cannot afford the school fees of other (private) schools.
During the three years of the “Young, African & Dreaming” program, students take part in a weekend academy in two blocks, a summer and a winter semester. They meet on ten Saturdays and Sundays to work together on different topics.
Mentor of Transitions Foundation with a pupil participating in the program, 2015
The academies address two different areas: firstly, through the “Minds-in-Transition” program, an intensive tutoring program in mathematics, science and English. The other is the “Lives-in-Transition” program, which focuses on soft skills and the personal career/future planning of the students. To support the Transition Foundation trainers, influential and well-known South African personalities are also invited to speak to the young people as role models.
Furthermore, the initiative includes regular excursions to historical sites in the vicinity of Johannesburg as well as a three-day educational camp to teach the participants leadership skills.
Background of the initiative
A game for team building during the winter school of Transitions Foundation, 2015
Although South Africa spends a great deal of government money on education, the quality of public schooling, often in comparison with other countries in the region, is poor and not comparable with international standards. Poor results are achieved particularly in mathematics and science.
Students at state schools without school fees are particularly badly affected by this. These schools are the worst equipped in South Africa, both financially and in terms of personnel, and often offer poor quality teaching. As a result, only a small percentage of school graduates attend university or complete vocational training. Often there is a lack of awareness of possible career options or the family support to qualify for them. The unemployment rate among female graduates is very high.
Previous successes of the program
By now third group of students has completed the “Young, African & Dreaming” program at Allanridge Secondary School at the end of 2020.
Many participants were shown new perspectives through the program: Most of them now have a clear vision of what they want to do after they graduate. They have gained the self-confidence to believe in themselves and pursue ambitious goals. Some have taken the opportunity to spend a day gaining insights into companies that they would find exciting as a future employer. From this year’s pupils that passed through the program all received a successful school leaving certificate. The young people who have participated in the weekend program of Transitions Foundation thus have a one hundred percent success rate in achieving school-leaving qualifications. In comparison to the school-internal rate, which is 72%, Transitions Foundation participants have a significantly higher success rate. In addition, 71% of the beneficiaries have received a university entrance qualification (so-called Bachelor’s passes) with their results and can start studying. In comparison, about 30% of the students in South Africa achieve a degree with university entrance qualification.
During Winter School 2015, Transitions Foundation conducted a book fundraising to equip the Allenridge High School library
During the course of the program, the partner organization’s own evaluation also measured a significant improvement in performance, particularly in science and mathematics. In the 2019 calendar year, 92% of students were able to meet the requirements in mathematics, while a strong rate of 78.8% was achieved in science subjects. These figures are particularly impressive when compared within South Africa and at the local level with the school’s rates, and show the strong impact that the Transitions Foundation program has had on female students. (as of November 2020).
Reports
Berichte
