From left, Karen Dudley from the Western Cape Education Department together with Dr Carine Steyn, Professor Christa Grobler (Executive Dean of Science), Flora Olivier, Nadia le Roux, Belinda Petersen, Natalie Gill, Prof Werner Olivier, Luthando Nomzaza and Patrick Mutoredzanwa, all from the GMMDC.
The conference empowered 200 in-service senior phase Maths, Science, Technology, and Art teachers from public schools across the Western Cape.
Supported by key provincial stakeholders in education, the event at the CTLI (Cape Teaching and Leadership Institute) earlier this month, fostered critical thinking, problem-solving, and digital literacy through expert-led workshops, innovative teaching showcases and networking.
The Deputy Director of General Curriculum and Assessment Management Bertram Loriston welcomed the conference participants and encouraged the teachers to strive for excellence in STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, Mathematics) teaching.
The keynote presentations highlighted STEAM’s transformative power, with Dr Sizwe Nxasana from the Future Nations Colleges, promoting lifelong learning and project-based learning environment as a vital strategic asset.
The GMMDC’s Dr Carine Steyn emphasised educator networks to creatively tackle barriers to adapting to future teaching environments.
The GMMDC also invited Prof Jean Greyling of Mandela University’s Department of Computing Science to present on the role of coding and AI in teaching and the Tangible team to host a workshop.
The keynote presenters were experts in technology, AI, Indigenous Knowledge, art and engineering, and 21 stakeholder exhibits promoted products in line with the conference’s focus areas. Interactive workshops enabled the participants to interact in smaller groups with innovative and hands-on experiences to be applied in classrooms.
Conceived as an annual professional development initiative, the conference equipped teachers with cutting-edge strategies, reshaping classroom practice to meet 21st-century demands.