Leadership conference in Johannesburg connects educators from across the continent to inspire, innovate and integrate

South African entrepreneurs and educators, Wandile Mthiyane, Conrad Hughes and Melanie Smuts, headlined the International Baccalaureate’s (IB) third annual African Education Festival in Johannesburg, South Africa, on 27–28 February, under the theme of Leading and Learning in the 21st Century with a special focus on ‘’Inspire, Innovate, Integrate’’.

The two-day conference, which was open to all leaders and educators in schools, IB and non-IB, also included panel discussions on topics such as preparing the future generation for the 4th industrial revolution and what higher education institutions value most in students. Festival attendees also had the opportunity to engage in a number of interactive workshops which covered topics such as future focused teaching, promoting global consciousness, and leading across cultures to build a school community of trust.

Empowering young learners

Wandile Mthiyane, a social entrepreneur and founder and CEO of Ubuntu Design Group, delivered a thought-provoking plenary session to a captivated audience, about his education experiences growing up in the shanty towns of Durban, and how they shaped his future. A Durban University of Technology (DUT) architectural graduate and graduate of Andrews University in Michigan, US, Wandile said: “There are three principles which are fundamental in the education of young people – listening to build, building to enable and enabling ubuntu, which is a quality that includes the essential human virtues; compassion and humanity. My vision for explorative, interdisciplinary and collaborative education that will shape education for the future is one that focuses on helping students realise what impact they want to make – the best impact is often related to the place they come from. The challenge for teachers is how we create an environment that draws out the most impact.”

Engaging critical thinkers

Delegates also heard from Conrad Hughes, Campus and Secondary Principal at the International School of Geneva, La Grande Boissière, where the IB started in the late 1960s, who challenged the audience to think about the importance of critical thinking in the 21st Century. Conrad said: “We need to be cautious of integrating new ideas into society and curriculum without critical thinking. There are many assumptions about new technologies and the adoption of certain skills that need to be unpacked and deconstructed carefully. However, the critical mind must not kill off the creative mind altogether, so let’s keep our critical voice engaged in a discussion with the operationalisation of ideas, and not let it take the wind out of the sails of the dream that we must hold on to, to give us hope and passion in life. Inspiration is a sacred place that must be protected, especially from dull and grumpy criticality.

“Let us be courageous as leaders, let us be logical and careful as thinkers and let us make sure that the societies we’re creating are really allowing for critical thinking to flourish.”

Standing in darkness, surrounded by light

Melanie Smuts, founder & board chair at Streetlight Schools, closed the festival delivering a passionate and emotive talk on care, magic and power and how education allows communities to hold on to hope. She said: “At Streetlight Schools, we are drawing on real concerns stemming from the country’s history, the reality of people’s lives and the negatives of the education system, and reimagining everything through best practices identified from around the world. We are re-thinking the academic approach in South Africa by reviewing students’ current learning and engaging with families in the community; through this process, we have discovered what it means to build world class education from the ground up.

“You can’t imagine what it feels like to see the look of a child who spent early childhood walking an empty park hungry and alone to seeing a soap bubble for the first time and realising that the world could be full of wonder. As we stand in the new darkness of climate change, divisive politics, fear, hatred, isolation – there’s always one light that surrounds us – our infinite light is to care for each other.”

Other featured speakers included: Estelle Baroung Hughes, the president and founder of Africa Learning International; Proserpina Dhlamini-Fisher, the founder and CEO of Educational Aspirations; and Chris Müller, an independent educational consultant focused on promoting international-mindedness and global citizenship in the context of an international education.

Celebrating Africa

Adzo Ashie, IB’s Development and Recognition Manager for Africa, said: “This week, in Johannesburg, in Madiba’s country, the rainbow nation, the land of the springboks, we hosted our third African Education Festival. We chose to call this event a festival because we want to celebrate Africa, its educators, its schools, its learners and its rich cultural diversity – which was illustrated at the festival by the attendance of over 180 delegates from 28 countries.

“Unfortunately, the reality is that too many times the African narrative is lost and the inspiring stories are not told but, over the last two days, we had an opportunity to be inspired by one another. This festival was a chance for us, as educators in Africa, to share our stories, share our practice, learn from one another and expand our horizons.”