About Us
Who is Edustudio
Edustudio was born out of the pandemic. In 2020 Marlene’s twins and Tersia’s youngest son were in Grade 8 in a local high school, when schools closed down at the end of the first term.
Within weeks Tersia, an experienced educator, realised that her son was not getting the education she knew he needed to succeed. In July she began teaching her son at home. When schools reopened on a temporary basis, and there was still great uncertainty about the health risks of Covid, Marlene asked if her boys could join the “pod”.
Very soon other friends of the children began to join the learning pod. When there were nine children, from grades 5 to 8, Tersia’s father, a retired Maths teacher and school principal, joined the team to teach Maths.
In 2021 the families decided that the situation concerning possible school closures, and the resulting loss of learning time, was too risky, and continued with home schooling. When schooling returned to normal in 2022, some of the “pandemic homeschoolers” decided that they preferred to return to the traditional school system. Those that remained were enrolled on online platforms, the boys choosing to do the Cambridge International Curriculum, and the other remaining homeschooler, CAPS, in Afrikaans.
For those parents who chose to stick with home schooling, the benefits became more apparent daily.
Tersia and Marlene cemented their friendship in the two years that their boys homeschooled together. They experienced first hand the benefits in terms of their children’s academic and personal development. The boys grew into independent learners who engaged with their academic material in a manner that doesn’t often happen in the traditional school system. They acquired responsibility and maturity, while growing as individuals.Both Tersia and Marlene have
a passion for education. At the end of 2022 they decided to take the first steps towards helping parents, and learners, create an educational experience fit for the 21st century, to turn the teenager of today into the citizen of to tomorrow.
Director of Teaching
Tersia du Plessis was born and bred in KwaZulu-Natal and became a Worcesterite in her 40s.
She grew up in a home of teachers, and tried, without success, not to pursue a career in teaching. But, if education is in your blood, you cannot fight against it.
After obtaining an honours degree in English Literature with distinction in 1995, Tersia began her career as an educator in 1996 at Richards Bay Primary School. She resigned from full-time teaching with the birth of her first child, and from 2001 to 2011 she was a part-time lecturer at Richards Bay FET College and the University of Zululand.
With her family’s move to Worcester in 2011, her career reached a peak when in 2014 she was appointed facilitator in critical thinking skills at Stellenbosch University’s bridging program. The two years she worked here caused a radical change in how Tersia sees the task of educators.
But it would take an international disaster to put Tersia back on track to her passion. From 2016 to 2020, she worked with her husband as financial officer in their trailer factory, when the Covid pandemic forced her to enter the field of home education. She started teaching her youngest child, then in Grade 8, herself. At the height of the pandemic, Tersia taught nine learners, in four grades.
It was a unique opportunity to experience first-hand the positive and negative aspects of two systems of education – homeschooling and the traditional school system – and develop a hybrid model that integrates the best aspects of both systems.
Tersia is currently enrolled in the Department of Education at Stellenbosch University for a Master’s Degree in Curriculum Studies.
In her free time, you’ll find her with a crochet hook in hand, a cat or three at her feet, and a podcast (mostly on an educational topic) in her ears. She likes to read, and occasionally tries her hand at a paintbrush.
Edustudio is the culmination of a dream to create a dynamic, safe learning environment within which every child can develop into a curious, thinking individual who can thrive independently and responsibly in an increasingly complex world.
Why Edustudio?
Value For Money
Edustudio offers value for your educational bucks. Edustudio offers packages (online platform fee included) that are cheaper than the monthly expenses at a traditional school if you take into account extra costs such as school uniforms, workbooks and stationery, book covers, school functions, as well as the ever present fundraisers, entrepreneur days, teachers’ birthdays, concerts and the like.
Save Education Time
A major concern for parents is that children often sit idly in class because teachers have other duties such as sports and cultural arrangements, and other admin due to an overload of work. Very little effective learning takes place in the traditional school day. Academic time in the traditional school system is often wasted by the changing of classes, ‘singalongs’, meetings of sports teams and the like. These are often activities in which only a small percentage of learners participate in.
Future Proof
Matric results are not an indicator of how prepared learners are for tertiary study. Learners who learn in online programs and in small groups take responsibility for their own academic progress from a young age. This makes them more capable than the average school leaver to enter the workforce, or cope with the demands of tertiary study. In the long run, this can be of great financial benefit to the learner and his parents.
Dedicated Attention
The learner receives individual attention from a qualified educator with more than 20 years’ of experience. Research has proven that one of the best predictors of academic success is whether a learner has a personal relationship with the adult who facilitates their education. At Edustudio, the learner builds a learning relationship with the facilitator and with his fellow learners. At Edustudio, It is our main objective to establish a love for learning and knowledge in the learner. Each child competes only with himself with the main aim of constant improvement.
Learners who excel in areas other than academics or sports get the opportunity to play just as important a role in their educational environment.
Small Groups
Learning happens in a small and effective group. The groups in which learners work at Edustudio reflects the group dynamics that they will later experience in their work environment or at tertiary level.
The learner can learn at his own pace, be that faster or slower than in the traditional school system.
In a creative and learning-oriented environment like that of Edustudio, it is easier for a learner to express their individuality without fear of prejudice, which often happens in the traditional school system. Edustudio offers an inclusive, neutral and learning-oriented environment in line with the Constitution of South Africa. With us, learners and parents of any religious belief, race, gender, sexual orientation and worldview are very welcome.
Critical Thinking
At Edustudio, the learner has the opportunity to ask questions and think critically. These skills are not encouraged in the traditional school system, where uniform thinking is encouraged.
International Cercification
If the learner chooses to follow the Cambridge Curriculum, they have an internationally recognised qualification.
BULLYING
In small groups, bullying behaviour is less likely and is quickly noticed and addressed.
VARIETY
At Edustudio, the learner has other opportunities to experience – a greater variety of extra-curricular activities, such as theatre, outdoor life, museums etc.
INPUT FROM PARENTS
At Edustudio, parents have the opportunity to provide input about what their children learn. Parents are invited to indicate which life skills and extracurricular activities they would learners to experience, and we create opportunities for parents to share their own knowledge and skills.
Frequently Asked Questions
There is no evidence that children’s social development is favored in a traditional school. There is evidence that being in a traditional school can harm a child’s social development. In a traditional school, a child only learns how to communicate with his peer group and then often only a smaller group of the peer group – the clique. It takes a greater degree of social skill to be able to work together in smaller, diverse groups than working with your friends.
At Edustudio, learners are in constant contact with each other, and the facilitators. Any learner who feels that work needs to be explained in person will receive personal attention. Edustudio will also facilitate additional tutors if needed.
Most schools welcome participants to their sports teams, even if they are not enrolled learners. There are numerous opportunities outside of school to participate in individual and team sports.
With our approach to education, field trips are an integral part of the learning process. Your child will likely go on more field trips than at a traditional school.
Learning through a computer, tablet or phone is not the same as playing or scrolling through Instagram. Learners who learn online actively interact with learning materials. Screens are the new textbooks.
The Pestalozzi Trust is a non-governmental organisation that has been fighting for the rights of homeschoolers, their parents, pod schools and educational learning centers for more than two decades. By registering with them you have legal help and general services available around the issue of homeschooling. They also regularly host information sessions and are a voice for home schoolers at ministerial level.
There is currently no clear policy or legislation regarding learning centers such as Edustudio. The government is currently working on policies (not yet legislation) and hopes to be finished in early December and Edustudio welcomes this. In the meantime, make sure that the learning center you choose uses approved curricula and service providers so that you can be sure that you are within the framework of current legislation. Edustudio prefers that parents themselves register with the Pestalozzi Trust.
The biggest issue that influences your choice of curriculum is your and your child’s language preference and/or proficiency. CAPS is available from most service providers in English and Afrikaans. The Cambridge Curriculum is only available in English, with Afrikaans as a second language. CAPS is not recognised internationally, the Cambridge Curriculum is.
Yes. Do keep in mind that Cambridge is considered “more difficult”. If you wish to switch from CAPS to Cambridge, do so before Grade 10. We recommend that the final choice regarding any switch is made when the learner completes Grade 9.
No. You do not need a transfer certificate to enrol your child in a learning centre.