Page 70 - Education Supplement February 2026

EDITORIAL

Rethink
Rethinking school whening school when

learning breaks down

or many families, the hardest realisation In these homes, the conversation shifts. It becomes less about pushing
is not that a child is struggling to learn, harder and more about finding a way for learning to continue without
Fbut that the environment they are in damaging a child’s well-being.
may be the problem.
At the same time, family life itself has changed. Parents juggle work,
Across South Africa, families are taking therapy appointments, medical care, and recovery alongside academic
a closer look at schooling that no longer expectations. Schedules are rarely simple. Needs change over time. Yet
seems to fit their children. Some learners schooling has largely remained fixed, still tied to the idea that learning
are neurodivergent and exhausted must happen in one place, at one pace, in one prescribed format.
by constant assessment. Others have
missed months or years of schooling As a result, alternative learning models are becoming part of
due to illness, anxiety, or trauma. Many everyday decision-making. Online learning, small learner centres, and
are capable and curious, yet steadily supported home-based education are no longer unusual. For many
disengaging from a structure that families, they are practical responses to real circumstances rather
measures success in narrow ways. than ideological choices.

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