WELCOME & COURSE OVERVIEW

  COURSE STRUCTURE

  ADMISSIONS PROCEDURE

  FEES

  STAFF

Each year graduates leave the Centre for Creative Education (CCE), their Bachelor of Education (BEd) in Foundation Phase Teaching (Grades R to 3) qualification in hand, intent on making a difference in their local community, at the primary school level. Since our beginning in 1993, our qualified teachers have gone out to bring our creative and inspiring methods into public and Waldorf primary schools throughout South Africa. 

We invite you to join them, benefitting from our low student-to-teacher ratio which allows for highly personalised attention. 

This degree combines two approaches: Waldorf Education and the National Curriculum (currently CAPS). This combination offers the development of creative and innovative methods of teaching that will deeply engage children in their learning, at any school. Student teachers learn to design and teach inspiring and effective lessons, from which children will gain critical thinking skills, social and emotional skills, as well as practical and artistic skills.

The full-time programme runs over four years. It is modular and each module is assessed. Students are required to achieve an 80 percent attendance as well as complete all assignments and attain a 50 percent pass (unless otherwise specified). The writing of a dissertation (mini-thesis) is undertaken in the 4th year. Examinations take place twice a year.

The programme for the BEd qualification is divided into four terms. A daily programme of lectures, experiential sessions and teaching practicals takes place over 33 weeks each year, February to November.

Students are expected to undertake several blocks of teaching practicals (26 weeks in total) in schools over the course of their four years.

Due to the amount of contact tuition, students need to reside in or around Cape Town for the duration of their studies.

The degree Bachelor of Education in Foundation Phase Teaching is the nationally recognised qualification for educators in schooling, accepted for employment in any South African school.

ARTS AND CRAFTS

Considerable time is given to the development of the arts, focusing on three over-arching aims:

1. To learn and improve own ability in the different media.
2. To develop the student’s creativity and imagination in teaching.
3. To facilitate the process of personal transformation in each student.

The craft modules are intended to help the student acquire practical skills:

1. To further one’s ability to work with the hands.
2. To gain a positive relationship to the world of work.
3. To lay the foundations for teaching crafts to children.

EDUCATION

Educational studies lay the foundations for understanding children and adults, modes of learning, and personal and professional development. These foundations are laid by means of:

1. Creative thinking exercises – the content of the course is learnt through creative learning processes, whereby students make their own discoveries and develop their own creative thinking abilities.
2. Deepening the student’s understanding of him/herself through biographical exercises, learning to counsel others, and through reflective/meditative exercises.

TEACHING AND LEARNING

The Learning Areas grouping of modules covers the following seven topics:

1. Curriculum design
2. Waldorf curriculum
3. National curriculum
4. Study of the different learning areas from Grade R to Grade 3
   
5. Teaching methodology based on child development
6. Practice in lesson design and lesson presentation
7. Development of creative teaching skills

PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT OF THE TEACHER

Professional Development aims to:

• Equip the student teacher with actual teaching experience in the classrooms, guided and mentored by teachers and CCE staff.
• Develop professional skills for carrying out the roles of a teacher beyond the classroom: working with colleagues and parents, supporting children with specific needs and becoming a life-long learner through ongoing research.

TEACHING PRACTICALS

As an integral part of the training, students are expected to do several blocks of teaching practice in a variety of schools, as follows:

• Practical 1 – Observing and small contributions
• Practical 2 – Teaching parts of lessons
• Practical 3 – Planning and teaching single lessons
• Practical 4 – Teaching over a length of time
• Practicals 5 to 9 – Teaching at professional level

Students do their practical teaching at Waldorf schools and at public schools.  In this way they become comfortable integrating the Waldorf and national curriculum (CAPS) approaches to teaching.

ASSESSMENTS

A broad variety of assessment strategies are used throughout the programme, including examinations, assignments, presentations and school-based performance. Progress through the programme is also subject to passing standardised tests in English and Mathematics.

Students have access to an on-line data management system where they can access their detailed assessment results, marks, timetables, messages and other CCE resources. 

For more detailed information about the modules covered each year, please see our course handbook.

ADMISSIONS PROCEDURE

FEES

The course fees are reviewed annually, and the amounts for full-time students in 2022 are:

Payment Option One:   

1 x R70 300     

R70 300: Registration fee R7 000 + balance of R63 000 to be paid in full not later than 31 January 2022.

Payment Option Two:   

2 x R33 075     

R73 500: Registration fee R7 350 + balance of R66 150 paid as R33 075 not later than 31 January 2022 and R33 075 paid not later than 30 June 2022.

Payment option Three:

9 x R7 820     

R78 200: Registration fee R7 820 + balance of R70 380 which will be due in instalments of R7 820 by 7 March 2022 until 7 November 2022 (9 monthly payments).

For new students, a non-refundable Acceptance Fee of R3 000 is payable on acceptance to the programme. This guarantees placement for the first year of study.

Limited bursaries are available and are linked to family income. An application can be submitted to the bursary committee.

Possible further expenses of R 3 000 – R 4 000 includes:

• Stationery, photocopies, prints.
• A descant recorder for the music sessions.
• Travel expenses for practicals and a few excursions.

To View and Download a PDF of all CCE Fees schedule 2022 click this link

Willem van der Velden

Willem qualified with a BA in Waldorf Education in 1988, after which he taught for five years at primary-school level. He then took on teacher training, first in The Gambia (West Africa) and since 1996 in Cape Town. In 1999 he graduated with an MA in Education through Oxford Brookes University, after which he did research comparing the Waldorf curriculum to the then newly introduced Curriculum in 2005. He was also a project manager for the first seven years of the Zenzeleni School in Khayelitsha. Since 2001 he has been the Centre for Creative Education’s Academic Head, but has remained active as a lecturer in the Primary Teacher Education programme.

Peter van Alphen

Peter co-founded the Centre for Creative Education in 1993, having been previously a Waldorf teacher for 16 years – and was director of CCE for the first seven years. Peter had helped promote the development of Waldorf Education in black communities in the Western Cape. For five years he was Chairperson of the Federation of Waldorf Schools in Southern Africa, and was often asked to act as a consultant and mediator in its schools. Peter originally trained as a church musician at the University of Pretoria, majoring in Organ, Choral Conducting and Gregorian Chant. In his late 30s he completed a four-year diploma in Eurythmy, which he uses in his training programmes. In 2008 he completed a Masters Degree in Music. As an educator of adults, Peter has many years experience in lay counselling. He started by becoming a Lifeline telephone counsellor and attended various counselling workshops. He also received informal training from a clinical psychologist in Cape Town trains adults in counselling techniques. And on top of all this, he helps run a Waldorf teacher-training programme in Kenya for teachers from around East Africa.

Joanne Peers

Joanne joined the Centre for Creative Education in 2019. Her unique position of working in Higher Education and fulfilling the role as collaborator with resourced and under resourced schools in Cape Town allows an extensive amount of practice, mentoring and relationship building for education. Joanne brings this expertise into her role as a lecturer in modules ranging from theories of education to methods and teaching practice courses. Joanne’s primary focus in the BEd Degree programme is to build a creative bridge between the National Curriculum and Public Schools Curriculums in order to equip our students to think innovatively, imaginatively and creatively in their application of theory and practice in the classroom. Being a PhD student at the University of Oulu in Finland, a methods lecturer in the PGCE Foundation Phase programme at the University of Cape Town, as well her recent role as a researcher of the Learning through Digital Play, opens more pathways in the network of education with children, teachers, families and communities. Joanne is a “water body of False Bay” and shares her connection to the ocean with her husband and boys.

Anette Bestwick

After 33 years as a Michael Oak Waldorf School teacher (where she was an active member of the College of Teachers, the Board of Trustees as well as a mentor and teacher trainer), in 2019 Anette joined the CCE. Adding to her BA and PGCE qualifications, she has completed numerous teacher-related courses, the most recent being Compassionate Integrity Training programme for educators. Anette’s passion for teaching revolves around how teachers can play a meaningful role in the developing character of primary schoolchildren. Although she is immersed fully in the Waldorf educational system, she maintains a close awareness of other educational models. Anette is a tireless researcher, her subjects ranging from classroom methodologies to the continuous improvement of classroom practice. She then imparts an awareness of this research to future teachers in their training at the CCE. Anette thrives on movement and energy, which includes taking long walks, engaging in meaningful talks, writing and playing music.

Joy Levin

Joy was born in South Africa but spent her youth in Canada, only returning to South Africa in 1994 after she completed her BA specializing in Environmental Studies. After assisting on a natural farming project in the Drakensberg, she came to Cape Town and did her Honours degree in Environment and Geography at UCT in 1996. Joy started her training to be a Waldorf teacher in 2002, the same year she had her son. When she completed her training, she opened a small playgroup in Scarborough, and then went on to teach at Imhoff Waldorf where she taught for 11 years while completing her Masters degree with CPUT on Grade 1 Literacy Environments, comparing Waldorf and brain based schooling. Joy has experienced training adults, teaching children and mentoring and her experiences have inspired her further studies namely using Vygotsky to analyze a Waldorf kindergarten and reading for her PhD at UCT on teacher mediation through storytelling and its effect on children’s play which she hopes to have completed by the end of 2023. While Joy loves working with children, she is excited and ready for the challenges of inspiring adults to take the principles they are taught in their training into their own teaching and lives. Joy lives in Fish Hoek with her husband, son and 2 dogs.

Mkululi Nompumza

Mkululi is the Academic Development Coordinator within the Pedagogical Leadership Team. Most recently, he worked as a Learning Designer for the UCT Online High School at Valenture Institute. His teaching experience includes being a Teacher at Westerford High School, as well as part-time Junior Lecturer in the Faculty of Education at Stellenbosch University. During his time at Stellenbosch University, he worked as the Recruitment and Alumni engagement Coordinator in the Faculty of Education and as an Assistant Residence Head in the Centre for Student Communities.

He obtained a BEd (Intermediate & Senior Phase) degree cum laude in 2017, followed by a BEd Honours (Education Development & Democracy) degree in 2019, both from Stellenbosch University. Mkululi is a class of 2018 Mandela Rhodes Scholar and he has done a substantial amount of research on the politics of race and knowledge in higher education. His main field of academic interest is the politics of language in South African schools. In particular, how the indigenous African languages are taught, by whom, and with what effects in the former white schools after apartheid. His goal is to play a role in policy and research on how to advance the teaching of African languages in post-apartheid South African schools.

Ashleigh Russell

Ashleigh is a Systems Coordinator within the Pedagogical Leadership Team at CCE. Ashleigh is a qualified Registered Counsellor (HPCSA PRC:0021024, since 2013) and in 2021, she completed her Master of Arts in Industrial and Organisational Psychology (Research) titled “Registered nurses’ experiences of trust in the workplace in Eastern Cape public hospitals” at the Nelson Mandela University. She has counselling, facilitation and  coordination experience working in education (Primary- Tertiary level) as well as the NGO sector. Ashleigh is passionate about student/youth empowerment and work-place well-being.

Katherine Christen

Katherine grew up in southern Africa and left to study eurythmy and Waldorf education in England and Europe. She is a eurythmy therapist specialising in early childhood development, while also a trained parental advisor for early childhood. Although now living in Europe, where Waldorf education is well established, she teaches a remedial module to the BEd students. Having spent many years working with children, including handicapped ones, she says working with the CCE is a highlight of her year.

Fiona McKay

Holding a BSc in Botany, Fiona worked in Khayelitsha for six years in a Food Gardening and Greening project, has co-ordinated events including the Botanical Gardens International Conference at Kirstenbosch and also a food sustainability conference in Khayelitsha. This combination of learning and skills enables her to operate seamlessly as Academic Administrator for the BEd Department.