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Article by Dr Granville Whittle
Minister Angie Motshekga appointed Professor John Volmink as the CEO of the National Education Evaluation and Development Unit (NEEDU).
NEEDU was created to strengthen accountability systems in education. It will be responsible for monitoring service delivery at all levels of the system including national, provincial and district offices, but will also be responsible for monitoring what happens in schools.
Prof Volmink assumed duty on 1 July 2010.
John Volmink was born and raised in Cape Town South Africa. He started his academic career at the University of the Western Cape, South Africa and completed a PhD in mathematics education at Cornell University, Ithaca NY in 1988.
He started his professional career as a high school teacher and later became the Head of Mathematics at the then Peninsula Technikon. He also held various other teaching positions including the University of Western Cape, University of Cape Town and Cornell University. He returned to Southern Africa in 1990 after almost a decade in the USA.
After a brief stay at the University of Botswana in Gabarone he returned to South Africa in 1991 and immediately got involved in teacher development initiatives as the Director of the Centre for the Advancement of Science and Mathematics Education in Durban, South Africa as well as other similar programmes in KwaZulu-Natal and elsewhere in South Africa. He later served as Campus Vice-Principal at the then University of Natal, Durban and later Pro-Vice Chancellor: Partnerships at the University of KwaZulu-Natal until 2004. During his term at the University of KwaZulu-Natal he was responsible for partnership programmes with business, government and the community.
He has also been centrally involved in curriculum reform in post-apartheid South Africa and has been asked by all four Ministers of Education to play a leading role in the transformation of education in the new South Africa. He was, among others, a member of the following committees and task teams:
- One of three co-ordinators of the school syllabus revision process (NATED 550) in 1994 under the auspices of the NETF (National Education and Training Forum).
- Member of the NQF (National Qualifications Framework) Reference Committee, 1995.
- Member of Review Committee for Curriculum 2005, February – May 2000.
- Member of the Ministerial Project Committee to Streamline and Strengthen C2005, December 2000 to 2002.
- Member of the Ministerial Task Team on Mathematical Literacy (FET – Further Education and Training) Dec 2004 – April 2005
- Member of the Ministerial Task Team for the Reduction of Learning Areas in the Intermediate Phase of the GET Band, September 2009 – June 2010.
For the past four years he has served as the Chairperson of Umalusi Council, the statutory body that monitors and improves the quality of general and further education and training in South Africa. In recent times he served as the Principal and Chief Executive Officer of Cornerstone Institute for five years and also Honorary Professor of Education at Cape Peninsula University of Technology.
Currently Chairperson of the International Education Business Partnership Network (IPN), Prof Volmink provided leadership on the Boards of non-governmental development organisations involved in education, health and community upliftment in different parts of the world.
The Department of Basic Education is very pleased to have attracted someone of the capacity and experience of Prof Volmink to the position of CEO of NEEDU. Prof Volmink will report directly to the Minister and his first task will be to advise the Minister on the structure and functioning of the new unit.
For enquiries, please contact:
Dr Granville Whittle: 072 148 9575
E-mail: Whittle.g@dbe.gov.za
Article Tags: CEO, National Education Evaluation and Development Unit, NEEDU
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