As the 2022 school year reached its conclusion, one fledgling school completed their first year of educating young minds. However, according to a three-part article published by the Daily Maverick, the University of Cape Town (UCT) Online High School is a sinking ship.
According to the article penned by Victoria O'Regan, parents and teachers have voiced their concerns about the several problems they are encountering at the institution. These points of contention include marking, resistance of internal and external scrutiny and failure to deliver on their promises.
Rob Paddock, Founder and CEO of Valenture Institute who partnered with UCT on the Online School has responded to the three part article calling it “misleading, wrong in parts and irresponsible”.
They add that the large majority of parents and guardians are happy with the progress of their learners, further stating that the opinions by disgruntled parents featured in the Daily Maverick’s article only represent only a small percentage of parents.
They also dispute the fact that they are not delivering on their promises to provide learners with a rich peer-to-peer environment for learners.
“We offer more than 20 virtual clubs and societies. We have facilitated a number of local meet-ups for learners and, rather than leaving it to parents to take this role as is alleged. We always welcome the opportunity to work with parents and guardians as part of our school community, as any good school would do” declared the school.
Paddock questioned why the experiences of teachers and learners who are happy at the school was not taken into account. They added that it is easy for individuals who “stick -their-necks-out” to be criticised when they instead should be celebrated.
The CEO says their focus is to double down on what their Online High School is offering and make the necessary improvements where it is needed.
Our enrollment data for 2023 is clear — 91% of the learners who wrote their end-of-year exams with us in 2022 will be returning next year.
The school will have Grade 12 learners participating in the Matric examinations for the first time in 2023. Paddock says the school is excited to show the world what learners they are producing using their methods.
Paddock adds that the matric examinations are the first truly objective benchmark they will have for their learners.
