Name: Debbie Schäfer
Title: Provincial Minister of Education, Western Cape
Organization: Western Cape Government

Message from the Western Cape Education Minister

In the spirit of Innovation, which is one of the values of the Western Cape Government, the WCED is hosting the first “Future Focused Education Conference” of its kind in South Africa. This conference is an opportunity for the Western Cape education community as well as for education stakeholders across the country to network with leaders, strategic thinkers and entrepreneurs from Africa and across the globe in our own province.

But what do we mean by “Future Focused Education”?

Future Focused Education is designed to ensure that we constantly focus on what is changing in the world and in education, and constantly applying our minds to how we can ensure that we are adequately preparing our learners to be productive citizens in a fast-changing world.

A crucial part of this is how we incorporate technology.  Digital technologies are changing the way that learners learn, the way teachers teach, and where and when learning takes place.

This means that Future Focused Education must focus on 3 things:

1. Future Focused Learning
2. Future Focused Teaching; and
3. Future Focused Classrooms

We also need to ensure that our learners are equipped with “21^st Century Skills”, and skills that are needed in our economy.  Many of these skills are technical and vocational in nature, but we also need to ensure that our young people are learning critical thinking and problem-solving skills, among others.

The Western Cape Education Department, together with its strategic partners, is pioneering new approaches to education, combining technology with teaching as a way to involve the province’s schools in preparing their learners for the future.  Many of these will be discussed at this exciting two-day conference.

I have no doubt that this convention will contribute to charting the way forward for innovation in school and education leadership in the 21^st century, at a time of unbelievable change in global education.

I am very proud that this conference is happening in Cape Town on the WCED’s initiative, and certainly look forward to the learnings from the many deliberations and the meaningful impact I believe they will have on education here in the Western Cape and in South Africa.