High school student Vito Calli, 15, works at his computer. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)
Johannesburg - As the 2023 academic gets under way and while some parents may still be scrambling for placement for their children, Independent Newspapers spoke to three online schools about their offerings.
Online learning has been in the spotlight recently following the fallout between parents and staff at the UCT Online High School (UCTOHS) where two learners are on suicide watch following the release of their 2022 year-end results. Parents said they plan to sue the school and demand that school fees paid in 2022 be returned to them.
And while none of the schools would be drawn on what went wrong at UCTOHS, the schools provided what they think sets them apart. “We should not transpose the bricks and mortar or non-digital teaching and learning practice into a live and once off conference call.”
This is the sentiment of the CEO of the IDEA Education Group, Dr Corrin Varady, who believes South Africa needs to not just see virtual or digital schools as online schools.
“It is a semantic difference in name, but in my view an important one because the whole point of virtual schools should be to democratise education. But what has occurred out of Covid-19 has been high-priced, synchronous/live conference tools with a one-size-fits-all approach to learning,” he said.
Head of School at VHS Online Professor Percy Sepeng said online schools should not compete with excellent schools, nor with government schools.
“We should be supporting the public sector with a complimentary and accessible product that allows students who are struggling to be adequately covered in the current school programmes with a solution,” he said.
Meanwhile, Varady said this is a key space that virtual education should be supporting the government in, to help the GEC cohort to be well equipped to take on their vocational stream.
“We would still advocate for an affordable and virtual model, but one that is flexible for students from a range of backgrounds and that aligns the learning programme to the national priority of engaging learners indirectly and directly with the labour market.
The idea of online schools was a knee-jerk reaction brought on during the pandemic to create learning which was defined as a teacher on a conference call with teacher-to-student ratios and supplemental resources.
“This made sense as an urgent response programme and as the fastest way to the market for these online schools. But as it stands today, the model is not accessible to the majority of the country and therefore is not maximising the potential of technology to help historically disadvantaged students across the country. To succeed, we need a model that is scalable in its operational and technical delivery,” he said.
Varady said the key difference is that VHS is an asynchronous digital learning programme which is learner-centred, and self-paced.
“This means students are provided all topics from all their subjects in interactive and formative ways and assessed at every topic level to give the greatest amount of feedback to students. If students do not pass a topic assessment the first time around, the platform automatically picks up that the learners haven’t mastered at a granular level and they are sequenced to take that topic again and to submit their assessment again. The VHS lessons and curriculum are always available for revision,” he said.
All fees for the Senior and FET grades are R8 495 per annum payable in 10 monthly payments.
Head of Marketing and Communications at Teneo Online School Sarah Ferguson said while online schooling is a new paradigm of schooling, it is opening doors to families who prefer a full primary and secondary school academic experience from home. While home-schooling tends to be parent-led, online schooling offers a teacher-led, structured school programme that is delivered through a learning management system, and follows a mandated curriculum regulated and monitored by a South African or international examination body.
“The most effective path to success for online school is to choose a school and programme that meets your child and family’s unique education needs for live teaching, access to recorded lessons and teacher support. Consistent attendance, studying habits and assessments will keep your child on track for success. Arrive promptly at live lessons, submit the work on time, catch up on missed lessons using the recordings, and ensure that your child has the appropriate computer devices to succeed in a virtual school,” she added.
The growth of online schooling is a secular trend generally supported by the transition to online services, improved access to connectivity and better online educational and communication delivery platforms. The pandemic had a significantly positive impact on the awareness and usage of online platforms with online education being no exception. Online schools are now recognised as mainstream.
“The tertiary online education space has continually grown over the years and we expect the primary and secondary online education space to follow suit. We believe that online school works best as a partnership between parents and teachers to provide a holistic approach. Ultimately, mental health needs to be normalised and prioritised in the same way as other physical health concerns. Within our student body, we advocate for the use of the ‘It’s OK!’ smartphone app which supports emotional intelligence development in children and teens,” she said.
School tuition fees vary depending on various school options. Fees start from R2 199 per month for the Real-Time Flex school format and the school offers Grade R to Matric through three national and international examination bodies.
Shaun Swartz from Learnalot, which started in 2016, said the “traditional” school system does not suit, nor meet the needs of all students.
“Advanced students, bullying, chronic illness, struggling students, student athletes and student performers are some examples of students that benefit from online learning. We believe that it is very important to proactively monitor students and provide regular and comprehensive feedback to both parents and students. Not only do we offer tutoring services to our students, we also mentor them and believe that for a student to succeed, they need to be in constant communication with their tutor/mentor,” he said.
Learnalot.com focuses on the American GED, which is an internationally recognised alternative to Grade 12. The GED is flexible in that students can start and complete when they are ready and there are no set term dates as there are for traditional schools.
“We start a new group of students each month and their study timetable is structured according to their start date. Students usually take 10-12 months to complete the GED, but this does not mean that they have to start in January and finish in December. We focus on students who are over the age of 16 years, as in South Africa students can only complete the GED tests when they are 17 years or older, so we do not offer multiple grades of students; we focus on the GED and students preparing to write the GED.
The Learnalot.com fees for the GED online Group offering are R1100 including VAT per month.
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