Focus Areas
The Zenex Foundation has three core focus areas through which it carries out work :
Khanyisa Inanda Community Project (KICP): Student-Teacher Internship Project
Introduction Aligned to the National Development Plan (NDP) goals, Zenex’s Strategy 2025 aims to improve learner performance in African languages and mathematics in the early grades. Critical to this strategy is the investment and support in the training of teachers...
Foundation Phase Curriculum Recovery
Introduction Schools in South Africa have faced intermittent disruptions since March 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic and related lockdown restrictions. These disruptions have resulted in a significant number of school days being lost in the academic calendar...
Ulwazi Lwethu (UL) African Languages Reading Materials Project
Introduction Literacy development in South Africa is severely hampered by several factors including ineffective teaching in and of African home languages, the severe shortage of African language story books and a poor reading culture. This effectively results in too...
Ulwazi Lwethu: African Language Reading Materials Project
Ulwazi Lwethu: African Language Reading Materials Project is a resource development initiative intended to develop African language reading books and teacher reading support resources targeted at teaching learners in the Foundation Phase to read in their home...
Initial Teacher Education: Maths 4 Primary Project
Introduction The Maths 4 Primary Project aims to address backlogs in the Bachelor of Education (BEd) for Foundation Phase teachers-in-training. The project is a large-scale collaboration between six universities, including the University of Fort Hare (UFH) as project...
African Languages Reading Benchmarks Project: Early Grade Literacy
Introduction Benchmarks are set expectations and norms for literacy and reading performance for each grade. They ensure teachers can assess African language learners’ literacy levels systematically and accurately. The African Languages Reading Benchmarks Project is...
Evaluation of the Programme to Improve Learning Outcomes (PILO)
Introduction Zenex focuses on supporting the development of effective models that can be implemented at a systemic level in partnership with the Department of Basic Education (DBE). Zenex also manages a range of projects to benefit the early grade education system...
Grade R Teacher Development Project (Gauteng)
Introduction Quality pre-school education and stimulation are significant predictors of later school progress. Despite near-universal Grade R access in South Africa, 65% of children have not mastered the literacy and numeracy skills required for Grade 1. Inequality...
Grade R Early Mathematics Project (Western Cape)
Grade R Early Mathematics Project (Western Cape) This project involves the training of district officials to support Grade R teachers to teach early numeracy through a well-researched conceptual and coherent approach to Mathematics. This project is implemented in...
Evaluation of the Grade R Early Mathematics Project (Western Cape)
Evaluation of the Grade R Early Mathematics Project (Western Cape) The Grade R Early Mathematics Project (R-Maths Project) intends to develop, test and evaluate a province-wide teacher training project to improve teaching and learning of Grade R Mathematics. This...