Homeless Shelter Children Ask For More Homework Please

67 Minutes of volunteering by some of the second to fourth year Emeris Pretoria IIE Bachelor of Education students at a homeless family shelter located in the Gezina area of Pretoria highlighted the students’ ongoing commitment through their ConnectEd Tutor project.

In 2025, San-Marié Weyers (Education Lecturer Emeris Pretoria) piloted a tutor project as part of a research study in partnership with the shelter. Today, more than 66 student tutors are involved in the ConnectEd Tutor project and are contributing to a socially responsive teacher identity and children’s enthusiasm for schoolwork. The project forms part of IIE Bachelor of Education student’s service learning within their Work Integrated Learning (WIL) module.

“I hoped to identify ways in which teacher education programmes may better prepare preservice teachers (PSTs) to work with this marginalised population. The 2025 pilot tutor project involved 20 final year preservice teachers in the Intermediate Phase (IP)”, said Weyers.

The aim of the 2025 tutor project was to explore how the meaning perspectives and self-efficacy of a group of final year PSTs are shaped by their engagement with service learning at an identified homeless shelter.

The findings of the research study indicated that the programme not only enhanced students' self-efficacy and transformed their perspectives but also fostered a stronger sense of professional responsibility to support vulnerable children, thereby contributing to a socially responsive teacher identity.

In addition to how valuable this pilot project has been to the IIE Bachelor of Education students, students reported being surprised by the shelter and care facility’s children’s enthusiasm for schoolwork.

Weyers emphasised that: “With every visit, the children would ask when the tutors would come again and to the PSTs surprise, would ask for more homework on each visit”.

Weyers is very invested in this study and realised one shortcoming: “We notice that the Foundation Phase (FP) students kept interrupting the tutor sessions and asking for work, too. We knew we had to include the FP students in 2026”.

It was decided that the ConnectEd Tutor project could not stop. It just played too big a role in the shelter children’s lives.

Weyers continued the ConnectEd Tutor project beyond the conclusion of the study: “We continued in 2026, inviting all second to fourth year IIE Bachelor of Education in IP and FP students to get involved. They could log their hours for their service learning component in their WIL module or simply volunteer out of goodwill”.

To make sure the homeless family shelter has tutors throughout the year, Weyers and her IIE Bachelor of Education students work in phases, with new student tutors joining every two months.

Student tutors are encouraged to introduce extracurricular activities, such as group chess and music lessons. “I am proud to say that our student tutors visit the shelter almost every weekday and on Saturdays”, highlighted Weyers.

Megan Gouws, Gizelle Groesbeek and Ledile Mokwala (all final year IIE Bachelor of Education in Intermediate Phase Teaching students Emeris Pretoria) are the ConnectEd Tutor project leaders (entirely on a voluntary basis) who work with the social worker at the shelter to ensure every week’s bookings are communicated, address challenges, communicate children’s special needs and assist with administrative tasks.

This tutor project study was presented as a virtual presentation on 24 July at The 10th World Conference on Teaching and Education (WORLDCTE) which took place in Copenhagen, Denmark, bringing together international researchers, scholars and students to discuss modern educational trends.