Train the Practitioner, Transform the Classroom
There is a moment Nolindo from Happy Kidz will not forget. A facilitator held up a plank, two nails, and a length of wool — and suddenly the number 8 made sense in a way it never had before. “That was out of this world,” she said. “I had never thought about it before.”
This is what quality professional development looks like: not a lecture, but a revelation. A practitioner who walks away not just with new knowledge, but with renewed confidence and a handful of ideas she can use the very next morning.
It has been a busy and energising start to the year for KET’s practitioners. Thirteen practitioner workshops are already complete, covering everything from nutrition and concentration to self-regulation and multisensory teaching. We had 71 practitioners at our most well attended workshop, while 48 practitioners have been trained in our Numba Numeracy programme and 41 in Fonix Literacy. But the numbers only tell part of the story.
What matters most is what happens in the classroom. Tracey from Lilliput described leaving her Multisensory Workshop with practical ideas she could “easily apply” the same day — and with a confidence she hadn’t had before. A practitioner from Happy Faces discovered that a simple 2-litre container could become a tool for teaching children to feel the shape of a letter, and that eight children standing in two groups of four could bring the concept of patterns to life in a way no worksheet ever could.
These moments matter because they ripple outward. A practitioner who understands why a child needs to feel, move, and explore before they can read or count becomes a more patient, more creative, more effective teacher. And the children in her care — many of whom arrive already facing developmental challenges — get something they may not find anywhere else: a classroom where learning feels like play, and where they are met with confidence and care.
This year, we also brought that same intentionality to parents. Our Blocks for Growth parent workshops are now running across all participating centres, and dedicated Grade R parent evenings are helping families understand what quality early learning looks like and how they can support it at home. Because the gains made in the classroom are strongest when they are reinforced at the kitchen table.
Strong foundations are built one practitioner, one parent, one child at a time. Thank you for making that possible.