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BUSINESS NEWS - Recognising the limitations of South Africa's formal education system, Eunoia Enhanced Education seeks to create a new platform of learner development that will give students a competitive advantage in the job market by developing key soft skills that employers routinely look for in employees.
Gerry Roozendaal, the managing director of Eunoia, says their extracurricular programme is aimed at children aged between 10 and 16 and uses enhanced receptive state and collaborative philosophical enquiry techniques.
Eunoia focuses on five key competencies that transfer readily to the classroom, into post-secondary education and beyond: critical thinking, creative thinking and innovation, communication, personal responsibility and well-being, and social responsibility.
This programme of learner development was originally developed by Professor Matthew Lipman at Columbia University and implemented through the Institute for the Advancement of Philosophy for Children (IAPC) at the Montclair State University.
"Today his concepts are applied in more than 4 000 schools in the US and in more than 60 foreign countries," says Roozendaal.
According to Roozendaal, multiple studies have shown that, on average, children on the programme gain six standard points in cognitive ability and this gain is sustained for two years after the programme concludes. During video analysis, within only six months, children's participation in discussion increases by 50%, and they support their views with reasons twice as much as before. Students also gain two months' additional progress on reading and mathematics.
Studies have shown that the programme enhances students' confidence to speak and cultivates patience when listening to others. Teachers reported improved participation across the curriculum.
And importantly, there is a reported improvement in self-esteem, well-being, happiness, and sense of judgement, which means the programme contributes strongly to the development of balanced, well-rounded children.
Eunoia serves the areas around George and Knysna. Contact Gerry Roozendaal on 074 854 7999 for more information on enrolling.
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