Dr MM Maphutha
Deputy Director: Post-School Teacher Education
Department of Higher Education and Training
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Speaker Profiles
INDUSTRY EXPERTS
Zaheera Soomar
Global Education and Skills
Anglo American
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Peter J. WellS
Chief, Higher Education
UNESCO, Paris
Since 2016, Peter has lead UNESCO’s priority area of quality higher education with an emphasis on widening access, quality assurance and academic mobility, the latter reinforced by the Global Convention on the Recognition of Qualifications concerning Higher Education adopted in 2019. Dr. Wells’ current priority is UNESCO’s 3rd World Conference on Higher Education which will take place in Barcelona in May 2022 – a key landmark event which takes place once every 10 years and which will set the roadmap agenda for higher education for HE and the 2030 SDG Agenda. He also co-leads on the UNESCO Qualifications Passport for Refugees and Vulnerable Migrants initiative that aims to support access to learning and employment opportunities for displaced persons. Prior to taking up his current post, Peter was a Higher Education Specialist and Director of the UNESCO’s European Centre for Higher Education for ten years. He is author of strategy papers and monographs on the topic of higher education reforms, quality assurance, and inclusion in national HE systems. Originally from the UK, Peter has taught at the HE and TVET levels in the USA, Poland, the UAE and Romania. He holds a Master’s degree in International Relations and a PhD in Quality Enhancement of Higher Education Systems.
Grover Abrahams
Managing Director: Learning and Systems
Verve Digital-Learning & Systems
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Prince Louis Omolayo Adekola
Comparative & International Education Consultant
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Jerry Zitha
Chief Education Specialist
Eastern Cape Department of Basic Education
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Mauritz Kotze
CEO/Founder
SA SchoolCoding
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Anita Van Vuuren
Deputy Chief Education Specialist
Western Cape Department of Education
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Madelein Meiring
Regional Sales Director
South Africa, McGraw Hill Education
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Edumisa Mtoli
Chief Operations Officer
Izibalo NPC
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Agyei Fosu
Department of Information Technology
Walter Sisulu University
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Prof.Olivier Werner
Director of GMMDC
Nelson Mandela University
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Eugene Pelteret
Co-founder
Reflective Learning
Eugene graduated with a Masters degree in Business Administration from the Edinburgh Business School, Heriot-Watt University. He has extensive experience leading high-impact social enterprises in South Africa and most recently co-founded Reflective Learning, an online platform which helps more than 80 000 students catch up their gaps in Maths understanding. He is passionate about delivering inclusive and quality education across South Africa and beyond.
Dr. Mario Marais
Principal Researcher
CSIR
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Gaurav Sharma
Founder And CEO
EduWeb Consulting
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Dr. Ron BEYERS
Owne
Young Engineers and Scientists of Africa
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Sikhululekile Mashingaidze
Good Governance Africa
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Prof Tsoaledi Daniel Thobejane
Associate Professor-Gender and Economic Development; Education
University of Venda
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Merle Mansfield
Programme Director
Zero Dropout Campaign
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Réjane Woodroffe
Director / Founder
Bulungula Incubator
Réjane Woodroffe is the Director and a founding member of the Bulungula Incubator, a not-for-profit organisation engaged an integrated rural development programme in a remote part of Eastern Cape in the Mbhashe Municipality. The region continues to struggle from a lack of access to quality services in education and health care and opportunities for income-generation.
The Bulungula Incubator was established in 2007. It initiates and manages a number of projects in Education, Health and Nutrition, Sustainable Livelihoods and Youth Acceleration, in partnership with the local community: from cradle to career. This work is leveraged for broader impact through the active development of partnerships and networks with other non-profits, government and corporates.
In 2014, Réjane was awarded the John P. McNulty prize for her work at the Bulungula Incubator and in 2019 was the winner in the Global Social Impact award by the British Council.
Réjane is an economist and a CFA charterholder. She completed her undergraduate degree in Business Science at the University of Cape Town and her Master’s degree in Development Economics at the University of Sussex, UK. Réjane is a fellow of the seventh class of the Africa Leadership Initiative (ALI) in South Africa which is part of the Aspen Global Leadership Network (AGLN). She currently serves on the following non-profit Boards: the Bulungula Incubator, the Friends of Bulungula Inc., based in the USA, the Africa Leadership Initiative in South Africa and the Equality Collective a legal and rights advocacy organisation.
Trueman Hama Mabumbo
Founder
Dzidzo Paden Imfundwe’ndlini
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Janine Davids
General Manager
Skills Enhancement Group SA (SEGSA)
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Paul Rencken
Corporate and Business Development Manager
FEDSAS
Paul has 17 years’ experience as a chairman of a governing body and has served as FEDSAS KZN Provincial Manager for 8 years. He holds a B.Comm (honours Degree in Strategic Business Management and brings to the Education realm his 16 years of self-managed business acumen. Paul serves on the FEDSAS Exco, driving digital, online communication throughout the organization. His passion is to assist schools in developing and delivering quality education. In his available spare time Paul rides a mountain bike!
Jaco Myburgh
CEO
TTS Consulting & Design
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Dr Ayanda Deliwe
Lecturer/Researcher
Nelson Mandela University
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Andrew Moore
Educational Technology Trainer
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Angie Maloka
Senior Manager: Education & Community Programmes
MTN SA Foundation
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Dr. Geoffrey van der Voort
Circuit Inspector
Western Cape Department of Education
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Dr. Akanimo Odon
Africa Business Strategist| International Education & Research Expert
Lancaster, England, United Kingdom
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Patricia Nofumba
SES-eLearning Coordinator
Eastern Cape Department of Education
Patricia is a versatile, results-driven professional with more 20 years of comprehensive experience with 2 years exposure to the first world country education where I started my journey into the computer world. Superb project leadership abilities and personal management skills with strong expertise and passion in empowering the youths of today as next generation of leadership of our life time.
She has a proven problem solving and analytical thinking skill, fast learning curve and ability to adapt to evolving 21st Century trends.
Babalwa Puzi
Senior Education Specialist- Buffalo City Metro District
Eastern Cape Department of Education
Ms Babalwa Puzi was born in King William’s Town, Eastern Cape and she is a teacher by profession. She currently works as, a Senior Education Specialist for e-Teaching & Learning at Buffalo City Metro District and is also a Multi-Grade Coordinator and National trainer on Multi-grade teaching. Babalwa has won various awards in Education: and the include the Highly recommended Award (Education) in SA in 2004, the National Teaching Award in Excellence in Primary School Leadership in 2005, an Award winner for Water, Forestry and Sanitation in 2006 and also an Award for Environmental Education and Capacity Building in 2007.@
Noluthando Mqakelana
Partnerships Manager
Data Innovators
Noluthando is passionate with challenging status quo and changing mindsets for positive change. She’s a qualified social worker with BA degree and Masters Degree in Social Development from the University of the Witwatersrand. She presented her BA research at the Southern African Students Psychology conference and MA at South African Sociological Association Congress.
She has a strong background of working in the public sector and NPO space, with experience in training, facilitation, partnerships and relationships management, data analytics and consulting.
She has experience in the education sector working closely with education officials from all system levels capacitating them to be data-driven to drive school improvement. She is currently in the process of completing Project Management Professional course through PM-Ideas
Mpumelelo Khumalo
Managing Executive Eastern Region
Vodacom South Africa
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Lutho Siyabulela Kota-Mgwali
Director: E-Teaching and Learning
Eastern Cape Department of Education
I work for the Department of Education in the Eastern Cape Province, South Africa. Highest qualification Master of Education.
I have been tasked with the role of leading E-Teaching and Learning (E-Learning) Directorate as the Director. My Directorate is a new directorate as per 2019 organogram coming to effect as from January 2020.My aspirations- amongst others is to create life-long learning experience in the digital space for our teachers and learners. Provide meaningful support for all our schools through effective and efficient district’s E-Learning Team. Development of more interactive digital content in collaboration with Curriculum.
In the past year one of my achievement and the team was successfully running Teacher development or professional development sessions on working with ICT platforms in collaboration with Microsoft and other partners. For the 1st time we were able to broadcast own virtual lessons for our Grade 10-12 learners during the pandemic and we are continuing with such initiatives aiming to reach the entire schooling system in the Eastern Cape.
Craig Paxton
Executive Director
Axium Education
Craig is currently working on his PhD, provisionally titled, “Understanding improvement in rural South African schools”, at UCT’s School of Education, under the supervision of Professor Pam Christie and Dr Heather Jacklin. The study examines 25 schools in an area of the former Transkei, attempting to understand and explain improvement using a framework developed by Bryk et al. (2010) together with Bourdieu’s notion of habitus.
Craig’s research examines school improvement in the context of rural schools in the Eastern Cape, using a blend of quantitative and qualitative methods. Schools there face a complex mix of challenges, which make improvement a daunting task. Not only do they deal with the time, place and space issues that face rural schools worldwide, but in addition they contend with a legacy of severely deprived schooling under the apartheid system. Using the framework of the five essential supports, developed by the Consortium on Chicago School Research (Bryk et al., 2010), Craig’s research examines what improvement might mean in this deeply disadvantaged context. The five supports – instructional leadership, learning climate, family and community ties, ambitious instruction and professional capacity – are contextualised to account for both the rural setting and the peculiarities of education in South Africa’s former homeland communities. In addition, Craig argues that language of instruction, adequate facilities and class size, district support (or lack thereof) and the unique resources available to rural communities all play vital additional roles in school improvement in rural South Africa. Finally, Bourdieu’s notion of habitus is used to generate an understanding of the nature of stagnation and improvement in such a context.
Craig graduated from UCT in 1998 with a degree in Chemical Engineering. After some time working in business and industry he returned to UCT in 2002 to complete a Postgraduate Certificate in Education (PGCE). Between 2002 and 2008 he taught science and mathematics at high school level in schools in South Africa, the United Kingdom and Canada. While completing his PGCE he had a pivotal experience teaching in a rural school in northern KwaZulu-Natal, which sparked an enduring interest in rural schooling. This has taken him overseas, where he did his Masters in School Leadership as a Fulbright Scholar at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, and to his present situation in the rural Eastern Cape.
Gerald Williamson
CEO
Shaping the Learner
Gerald Williamson is a Clinical Psychologist and an educationist. He is the CEO of Shaping the Learner, an agency that has invested energies into uplifting the lives of people, especially educators and learners in South Africa, since 2001. The agency has invested heavily in screening and identifying learning support needs in early childhood, primary, secondary and higher education. Shaping the Learner has developed web-based education screening technology for the South African context. Gerald Williamson and Shaping the Learner believe that it “takes a village to raise a child”. Therefore, they extend their partnership to all interested parties in utilising their web-based screening technology to bring about change in the rural-urban education landscape in South Africa and elsewhere in the world.
Elvis Kafilongo
Digital Services Manager – Education Specialist
Digital Innovative Solutions (DIS)
Elvis Kafilongo holds master’s degree in Information Technology and Post-Graduate Diploma in Higher Education. Elvis has many years of experience in ICT, lecturing, training, instructional design, business development analysis and strategic management. Elvis has successfully helped various institutions create and implement their own strategic goals involving the successful use of technology platforms and multiple resources for online/blended teaching and learning.
Kamohelo Makwela
Project Manager
Resolute Robotics Foundation
Kamohelo Makwela is a project manager at the Resolute Robotics Foundation. In this role, Kamo coordinates Robotics and Coding initiatives designed to help underprivileged school step into a new era of education. With his passion for helping underprivileged students embrace learning through technology, Kamohelo heads up the Foundation, hosting innovation days as an entryway for schools to start a sustainable programme. He hopes to encourage schools and inspire students so that they may one day go on to make meaningful contributions to their community.
Being employable is a powerful tool. The Foundation chooses to address unemployment through Robotics and Coding because these subjects strengthen employability. They:
- Are rooted in engineering modules and lines of work
- Integrate ICT with engineering
- Develop essential, real-world skills
Kamohelo Makwela is a graduate of TUT, having studied Civil Engineering.
Micheal Goodman
Group Content Development Manager
Via Afrika
I have been working in education for over 25 years in teaching, authoring, and teacher education and publishing roles. I am passionate about the role technology can play in achieving the good education that is needed. When applied effectively, technology can transform educational practice as it currently is, and solve the many problems we face everywhere. I am the Group Content Development Manager of a leading southern African educational publishing house, Via Afrika. I believe that a good education for children affects all our lives and it is my purpose to find ways to achieve that. As a qualified NLP Coach and Trainer, I am concerned that good teaching and effective technology use are not enough though: the emotional well-being of learners is a critical element in education. To this end, I have been working to develop courses in Social Emotional Learning for older teenagers. This builds on the work I do with Via Afrika in developing the well-being and change mindset of teachers as they face change in education.
Heinrich Dirk
Group Digital and Learning Manager
Via Afrika
Heinrich Dirk is the Group Digital and Learning Manager at Via Afrika. Via Afrika is a leading publisher of educational material in South Africa, including the Via Afrika Digital Education Academy, a SACE accredited teacher development programme with an overall focus on the sustainable implementation of technology in the classroom. To Heinrich, there is no greater pleasure than witnessing an individual unlock their true potential and he firmly believes that technology allows this on a much larger scale. Furthermore, his NLP coaching training has enabled him to contribute to Via Africa’s Social Emotional Learning training.
Bio Bekithemba Dube, PhD
Senior Lecturer and Program Director
University of the Free State
Bekithemba Dube holds a PhD in curriculum studies and current a senior lecturer and program director for foundation and intermediate phase at the University of the Free State. He has published more than 80 journal articles, book chapter and edited a volume of curriculum, religion and politics in global south. He is a guest editor of the following journals, alternation, Journal of cultures and values, Journal of Curriculum Studies Research and International journal of higher education. He saves on editorial board of various journals as well. He has received various excellence awards such master’s University Book Prize. Best Academic Student, Great Zimbabwe University, 2014, Best Emerging Researcher in the Faculty of Education University of the Free State, 2018. The Extra miler Exceeding Expectations Award: In recognition and appreciation of an exceptional contribution at the Unit for Language Development, 2018.
Exceptional Contribution as a consultant at the Write Site Award, 2018. USDP Scholar Supervisor Award, 2019. Outstanding service award, community and excellence in the field of community engagement in the category engaged research from the Vice Rector, University of the Free State, 2019. Most Prolific Researcher in the faculty of education 2019 and 2020. Recognition for Research Excellence award UFS, 2020. No 3 Research output recognition for UFS, Khothatsa award for being most inspirational lecturer, 2021 and lastly being best departmental award 2021. My research interest are in African studies, decoloniality and rural education in post-colonial Africa
Mrs. Carien Vorster
Project Manager
Roger Federer Foundation
The Roger Federer Foundation’s School Readiness Initiative is implemented in six countries in southern Africa and Carien leads the programme in South Africa and Namibia. This initiative aims to better prepare children for formal schooling, and to prepare schools and teachers to appropriately receive and support these young children. The Foundation has developed several offline, computer-based resources, such as a course for teachers to build their capacity in early learning and pedagogy, an assessment app to monitor and support a child’s progress in the Pre-Primary class, and tools to help schools engage parents and communities in their children’s education. The intervention is implemented over seven years and is focused in low resource, rural communities.
Prior to this role, Carien worked as an Education Specialist for USAID, the New loveLife Trust, and JET Education Services in South Africa, and she has taught in preschool, high school and university in South Africa and the UK. She has a Master’s degree in Education Policy from Wits University, Johannesburg.
Melanie Vermaak
Content and Product Executive
Future Managers
Melanie holds a HDE (Comm) Sec from the University of Cape Town, an HDEHET from the Cape Peninsula University of Technology, and anN6 Educare Certificate from the College of Cape Town and is registered Assessor and Moderator with various SETAs. Melanie has been actively involved in the delivery of education and training for more than 29 years. Melanie has extensive experience in the TVET sector over a period of17 years. This ranges from being a lecturer within NCV and Nated Programmes across Business Studies, Hospitality and Early Childhood Development. Melanie has been a Programme Manager, Campus Head, Academic Head and Acting Deputy Principal Academics at False Bay TVET College from 2004 to 2021. In April2021, she moved to the Private Sector to Future Managers within the publishing arena. She is currently the Content and Product Executive at Future Managers. She has a passion for education and ensuring that students get the best possible learning experience in and out of the classroom.
Don Haripersad
Curriculum Development and Support
Western Cape Education Department
Currently the Director responsible for Curriculum development and support at the Western cape education Department. He has been involved in curriculum transformation and implementation in the GET and FET bands. Very passionate about supporting and improving the life chances particularly for the marginalized and poor communities. Don has been instrumental in supporting and enhancing the Telematics School Project. He has provided strategic leadership in enhancing the quality of the lessons being delivered through the Telematics project. He is a strong supporter of ICT integration in enhancing the teaching and learning outputs of the education system.
Dolan Govender
CEO/Founder
Edutech Institute
In 2005 he graduated in UKZN with a degree in BSc. Computer Science thanks to the generosity of a church member who assisted him to start this journey. He began working for some organisations post his tertiary education however he always felt the need to help our country and the next generation of students and the future leaders because of the seed that was implanted his life through a church member and this great act of kindness so he wanted to make a difference in the education sector because this is what he strongly believes that can move our generation out of poverty and bridge the gaps of all social and educational inequalities that we have in this country since he too is a product of the public schooling system and understands the challenges that students face. In 2018 he started a company called Edutech institute and partnered with the largest educational research company called Educational Initiatives to start his dream of bringing high quality education to our future generations irrespective of their social economic status so that we can improve the education system and ensure that “Children Everywhere Are Learning With Understanding” This is what keeps him going to make a better South Africa.
Mr Sipho Mtombeni
Government Affairs and Public Policy Manager
Google Southern Africa
Mr Sipho Mtombeni is Government Affairs and Public Policy Manager at Google in Southern Africa. He holds an LLB (Law) Degree from the University of Pretoria, as well as an MBA from the Gordon Institute of Business Sciences (GIBS).
Marius Heunis
Chief Technical Officer
Niflink
Past Deputy Director and Head of Education Information Management Systems for the Cape Education Department, Marius is qualified as a mechanical engineer and information technology specialist. He focuses on product design, development, prototyping and testing for Niflink systems – especially Education and Telemedicine.
Christopher de Beer
Director: Sales & Marketing
Qualibooks Holdings Pty Ltd
After 10 years in the financial sector, I joined Qualibooks in 2002 to help expand the drive to make quality library book resources available to schools and communities across the country. By continuously engaging with stakeholders across all sectors (Corporate, Education, Arts & Culture, Foundations and the Bookseller network), we have established ourselves well within the library space.
Over time, we expanded into manufacturing (mobile library units), publishing (more than 850 children’s books across all 11 languages) and more recently, developing (2020) and launching (2021) our own digital online reading platform for children, namely kibooks. online. The future of libraries, today!
We believe that to be the best at what we do, we need to remain focussed and understand our specific role in industry, by staying and growing in our lane of expertise and crucially, always being highly adaptable to the environment and circumstances, to ensure we consistently provide quality, relevant and necessary product in the marketplace.