Who is Teach the Nation and what do we do?
Teach The Nation is a Public Benefit Organisation established in 2020 in South Africa, where we develop instructional education leaders who improve learner outcomes in under-resourced schools. Through our two-year fellowship programme, we recruit, train, and support high-potential graduates and novice teachers to become instructional leaders who improve learner outcomes and develop leadership at a teacher and learner level. Since inception, we have impacted over 50,000 learners across 124 schools in the Western Cape, KwaZulu-Natal, Limpopo, and Gauteng, with our fellows teaching across foundation phase and STEAMAC subjects in Grades 1-12.
The Mission
We are dedicated to creating a future where learners across South Africa access quality education, comprehensive support, and boundless opportunities, enabling them to shape a brighter future for themselves and
our Nation of South Africa
Teach the Nation build deep relationships with communities committed to making long-term progress for South Africa Learners. We recruit Our nations’ diverse, promising leaders to commit at least two years to teach in marginalized communities, and support and develop them to work together with families and community members towards a shared vision for learners’ success. With this foundation, as alumni these leaders continue to work with other educators, allies, and communities to improve the quality of education for SA learners and effect the systemic changes needed to enable our nation’s children to thrive.
Through our global network of 62 countries, local partners, staff members, teachers, alumni, and schools allies, we share solutions to accelerate each other’s progress and increase our collective impact. These collective, sustained efforts are contributing to progress in communities across the nation that are working to champion our learners with the education, support, and opportunity to fulfil their potential.
South Africa faces a critical education crisis that threatens economic growth and social mobility. Despite investing approximately 6.5% of GDP in education annually, our STEAMAC learning outcomes remain among the lowest globally. This crisis grows more urgent with a projected shortage of 160,000 teachers by 2030, particularly in our most marginalized communities.
The impact on economic mobility is severe and measurable. Data from the General Household Survey 2021 reveals that only 14% of learners who begin Grade 1 in quintile 1-3 schools will enter university, compared to 40% from quintile 4-5 schools. This opportunity divide perpetuates inequality and limits our nation’s potential, particularly in critical STEAMAC subjects where qualified teachers are already in short supply.
We develop transformative education leaders who improve outcomes in under-resourced schools. Our two-year fellowship combines rigorous instructional leadership with holistic wellbeing approaches. Since 2020, we’ve reached over 50,000 learners across 124 schools, creating both immediate classroom impact and a pipeline of education leaders who are reimagining what’s possible in South African education.
"Developing Instructional Leaders for Systemic Impact"
Our approach brings together instructional leadership development with a care for the wellbeing of our teachers and learners, delivered through supportive training and coaching. Our teaching fellows graduate to become alumni who have progressed into leadership roles – many have become Heads of Department, Deputy Principals, and Principals, while others have trained over 3,000 teachers nationally as master trainers. This aim of the alumni movement is to extend our impact beyond individual classrooms to longer term impact at a system level.
We design Instructional Leadership to improve learner outcomes and leadership skills in the following way:
"What our Fellows are saying"
"What our Alumni's are saying"
"What our principals are saying"
Thank you for leading our learners to possibilities they wouldn't have explored alone – Teach The Nation
