Jakes Gerwel Fellowship is a full university scholarship that provides extensive mentoring and leadership development for top learners with a passion for teaching and education. At the heart of what we do is nurturing expert teachers who embrace innovation and can lead the kind of change that our educational sector so desperately requires. In short, we want to make the strongest possible case and provide the greatest possible support for our best students to become our best teachers.

Founded in 2017, Jakes Gerwel Fellowship is fully funded by Allan Gray Orbis Foundation Endowment Teaching Initiative. Our beneficiaries benefit from a world-class Fellowship programme that provides access to personal coaches, mentors and expert teachers, along with elective activities. Graduates who have completed their undergraduate degrees, qualify as high school teachers through a PGCE and then enter a 2-year induction phase. Ongoing support and development will continue to be offered through communities of practice.

The entry point into the Jakes Gerwel Fellowship is either as a student in the final year of undergraduate studies to be part of the PGCE intake, alternatively, if one is a graduate not older than the age of 35 years old, they may apply for the Fellowship.

Through an aspirational Educational Fellowship pipeline that focuses on academic, leadership and teaching excellence, JGF empowers passionate teachers with the subject matter expertise and pedagogical content knowledge to become expert teachers, while effective communities of practice amplify their educational leadership ability to mobilise broader systemic change.