As part of its vision of making a sector-wide long-lasting impact in education, GTI will be coordinating the planning for the 2023 Annual Axis Education Summit. To increase the reach of the Summit, especially from aspiring and in-service teachers in under-resourced communities, we will be hosting the Summit in two phases:
Axis Summit 2023 – Spark and Ignite: This will be a 2 day by invitation-only Summit for 250 delegates at the Manhattan Hotel in Pretoria from 13 to 14 July 2023. This will be attended by all GTI Future Leaders and staff, together with Teach with Africa Fellows as well as invited partners. In addition to the usual community of practice workshops, we will also have special “Train the Trainer” workshops where partners and Future Leaders will be trained to deliver a CoP workshop to aspiring and in-service teachers at schools in their community.
Axis Summit 2023 – Flame: This will be between 8 to 10 one-day events with around 100 to 120 delegates in the various regions served by GTI and its partners. These events will be organised by the partner and open to all aspiring teachers, in-service teachers and any stakeholder who has an interest in initial teacher education in the community. Events will take place on a day decided by the partner in conjunction with GTI in either July, August or September.
Both sets of events will see a convergence of students, teachers, and school leaders from throughout South Africa and around the world. The events aim to provide educators, at any stage in their careers, an opportunity to develop and collaborate across age and professional levels and work towards a new vision for education with other educational stakeholders.
Theme
The theme of the 2023 GTI Axis Education Summit is “Glowing Up Learning for All”. Educators need to glow up both mentally and physically. The ultimate goal of glowing up is all about how you feel about education and learning. Teachers, learners, school leaders and other stakeholders have been hard hit by COVID-19, electricity cuts, high cost of living and crime among many other challenges in the sector.“Glowing Up” – As our focus is basic education, we wanted to use the Gen Z phrase Glow Up to suggest the freshness of the ideas to be generated by delegates for education. While glow-up is used mainly for individuals, we wish to re-imagine what a “glowed up” school/classroom/education system would look like.“Learning For All” – Emphasise the inclusive nature of the Summit as a community of practice and not a traditional conference: All voices heard. Everyone’s an expert. People are drawn from diverse economic, racial, national, age and gender backgrounds.
Objectives of the 2023 Axis Summit
- To convene 250 people by invitation on the 13 & 14 July to attend Axis Summit Spark and Ignite sessions as well as host between 8 and 10 single-day Axis Summit Flame events of between 100 to 120 delegates each in July, Aug & Sep with our partners. Combined events will convene a total of 1000 teachers, leaders, funders and invested educational stakeholders for a deep dive into glowing up learning for all.
- To provide developmental workshops, plenaries, and dialogues for pre-service and newly qualified teachers, as well as in-service teachers, mentors, school leaders, government officials and NGO stakeholders who are active in supporting Initial Teacher Education (ITE) and Newly Qualified Teacher (NQT) programmes.
- Create an international education platform where at least 50% of the CoP workshop facilitators will be young education leaders (18-35 years).
The Summit will cover topics that speak to the needs and expectations of various players in the education space, such as how to glow up mentally as an educator, how to glow up physically as an educator, how to glow up learners physically and mentally and ways to demonstrate that you care and love the teaching profession.
Summit Format & Dates
The idea is that workshops are divided into three groups, “Spark. Ignite. Flame.”
Spark: These are sessions at which delegates get the basic content/skills for their own professional and personal development.
Ignite: These are “train the trainer” skills where delegates will learn how to teach these skills to other educators.
Flame: Delegates will host post-Summit events in their own regions where they will spread the skills to educators in their schools as well as schools in their communities.
As mentioned, these workshops will be delivered at the Axis Summit Spark & Ignite event at the Manhattan Hotel in Pretoria on the 13 and 14 July, and at 8 to 10 regional events (called Axis Summit Flame) hosted by partners in collaboration with GTI.
Host Partners will be drawn from:
- GTI Future Leader host schools (the LEAP Science & Maths Schools have already indicated that they will be hosting events in Cape Town, Gauteng and Jane Furse, Limpopo)
- Networks such as TICZA, BRIDGE CoP’s and Teach with Africa
- Non-profit organisations with active NQT and ITE programmes
