Carole Bloch
Carole
Bloch
PRAESA and Department of Language Education, University of the Western Cape, South Africa
BIO
Carole is Executive Director of The Project for the Study of Alternative Education in South Africa (PRAESA) and Extraordinary Professor in Language Education, University of the Western Cape, Bellville.
She works in African multilingual settings on literacy teaching and reading culture development among people from birth onwards; she promotes a holistic pedagogy which focuses on the power of story and personal meaning to help ensure equitable learning opportunities for all children and the adults they interact with. She creates materials: writing and facilitating the writing and translation of children’s books and making videos about literacy learning.
In 2012 she co-initiated a literacy campaign in South Africa focused on interest and enjoyment, the Nal’ibali National Reading for Enjoyment Campaign, which she led for four years.
Under her directorship, PRAESA was awarded the IBBY Asahi Award for Reading Promotion in 2014, and the 2015 Swedish government’s Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award for 20 years of work in reading promotion and children’s literature development in South Africa
At THE NEW INSTITUTE Carole was working on themes related to "The Human Condition in the 21st Century".
PUBLICATIONS
"Why is mother tongue-based education so significant?", in: African Leader, 2012
Little Books for Little Hands: A Stories Across Africa Project, 2008
Nal’ibali and Libraries: activating reading together, 2015
Neuroscience and Literacy: An Integrative View, 2021 (with George Ellis)