Full Organisational Profile

The Open Learning Systems Education Trust (OLSET) has since 1992, made significant contributions to supporting the education transformation policy of the Department of Education, to provide all South African children with the quality of education consistent with the tnets of the new constitution. The OLSET English in Action Radio Learning programmes, serve to provide this support to marginalized teachers and learners in the country. In partnership with national and provincial governments, schools, parents, business, civil society and international organisations, the OLSET works to improve the quality of primary education. This approach has proved extremely effective in making possible affordable quality education delivery to the poorest of schools.

OLSET contributes to redressing the urgent need in South Africa, for innovative training and classroom support of primary school teachers, particularly those assigned to the poorest, remotest and most disadvantaged schools. For over a decade, OLSET has been designing, developing and implementing audio and print distance education programmes that reach directly into the classrooms and have shown to achieve meaningful improvement in teacher practice and learner achievement.

OLSET specialises in developing, testing, evaluating and implementing a participatory method of teaching and learning second-language skills. The OLSET team consists of specialists in Curriculum Development, Teacher Development, Open and Distance Learning, radio script writing, audio production, graphic arts, print production and distribution. More recently, OLSET has embarked upon audio visual production to enhance its Inservice Teacher Development and Support strategy.

Today, OLSET works in close partnership with the Provincial Departments of Education in South Africa, primarily to :

• develop, strengthen and support learner-centred teaching skills among the country’s primary school teachers, consistent with the pedagogy of the new constructivist curriculum

• produce and deliver high-quality audio and integrated print support materials to learners and teachers, especially those in poorly resourced schools located in disadvantaged urban and remote rural communities across the country

• design, produce and broadcast Interactive Radio Instruction (IRI) programmes through the public broadcaster (SABC) effectively offering all teachers easy access to much needed daily classroom support, regardless of distance and geographical location

• deliver new curriculum content through use of appropriate Information and Communication Technologies (radio) enhancing equitable access for marginalized rural classrooms without compromise to the quality of instruction and supportive print materials

• ensure children attain the competent English Language skills necessary for understanding concepts in Science, Mathematics and other learning areas at Senior primary grades

• ultimately assist governments and development agencies to facilitate replication of this affordable high impact, learner centred methodology, especially in Africa and developing countries further afield