Teachers networking opportunity

Teachers are amongst the hardest working yet least appreciated economically active members of our communities. Boston City Campus & Business College has been dealing with the end product of 12 years of hard work by the teaching community, and realised many years ago that we need to show them some love!

Say Jerome Van Der Merwe, branch manager at Boston Orange Grove, “Approximately 15 years ago a concept was created at Boston to give the teachers a day off, a day to be pampered, rested, entertained, fed and informed.

Thus the Boston Teachers Forum was born. Invitations went out to all the school surrounding the campuses, to invite the teachers to a day when they would learn about what is trending in education, new teaching methodologies, and also be entertained and go home with gifts”. Van Der Merwe continues, saying that the forum grew exponentially over the nearly 18 years that Boston has been running it, to the point where “we went back to our roots and localised the forums, giving teachers a better chance to network and gain benefits”.

Van Der Merwe explains further, “Boston City Campus & Business College – Orange Grove recently hosted our 2017 Local Teachers’ Forum at Huddle Park.

“We had teachers and principals of our local schools attending, as well as a representative from the Department of Education who oversees the LO Educators within our district. This outstanding positive response was due to the great relationship we have with our LO Teachers’ and Principals of our schools, as well as the fact that we hosted a number of our High Schools at our branch beforehand for various events”.

Teachers Forum was a wonderful and very informative event. Receiving snacks and goodie bags to start, Van Der Merwe formally welcomed all attendees, providing a quick outline of Boston’s objectives, service and brand.

The National Boston Registrar, Mr Ruan Venter, and then spoke about existing and new qualification offerings; being Occupational and Higher Education.

Teachers’ were impressed by Venter’s outline of courses, including that Boston is also a major player in the HE sphere.

He discussed the success of students through Boston qualifications with teachers’ being a great source of information for their grade 12 students who will be entering the tertiary education sector in 2018. In order to make the event fun and interesting, Venter turned the tables on the teachers, playing a game with an overview of what was addressed. Prizes throughout the morning were offered to teachers’ who demonstrated great listening skills (now it was their turn to see how students feel during class!).

Keitumetse from Boston Media House presented details to the educators regarding the various Media House offerings and entry requirements for learners to gain admission for studies in 2018.Eddie from GED provided information of alternative pathways available to learners who were not successful in attaining their matric certificates.

“A major benefit of campus visits is for learners to participate in Career Compass – an online assessment of interests talents and skills leading to a suggested career recommendation.

And to participate in typing challenges.This is always fun and entertaining!” says Van Der Merwe.

He also said that Grade 12 learners who made the time to study the Financial Independence course were so grateful of the wealth of financial knowledge that they recommend it to their friends and families. Themba Dube, Boston consultant, discussed the importance of allowing learners to join in Career Exploration Mornings.

Dube is so committed to the best career options for learners that he makes himself available to any of the schools for Marketing and Career days, as well as offering his consulting services for to educators in assisting learners with decisions geared towards their further education and training.

The highlight of the day had to be the international guest speaker who presented the teachers’ with a real life experience of triumphing over insurmountable obstacles.

This lifted up the teachers’ spirits and they were laughing and having a good time as many of the items discussed related to our everyday lives. All teachers’ were extremely fortunate to each receive an autographed copy of his book.

Van Der Merwe, in closure, thanked all the guest speakers and teachers’ for their participation, before everyone moved on to lunch, allowing teachers to network with Boston staff and with each other. Enjoying the day so much, many stayed well over lunch eventually going on a walk through the scenic paths at the venue!

Anyone wishing to be involved in the Teachers Forum through sponsorship or attending as a school should

Call Jerome on 011 551 9000.

Students wishing to complete the Career Compass or Money School course at no charge should email themba@boston.co.za

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