Tertiary Education Qualifications:
B.Sc. University of Cape Town 1982- M.Ed University of Witwatersrand 1990
Sharon Levy (Founding Trustee of TILE) is an educationist who has worked in various fields of education, including teaching, sector studies, policy formulation and analysis, research and program evaluation. She is the compiler of Projects Speak for Themselves: Science and Mathematics Education in the Transition 1993/4. Her idea of establishing a national teachers’ newspaper led to her being nominated as a fellow of Ashoka, a global association of social entrepreneurs. In this role, in conjunction with the Mail & Guardian, she worked to secure the necessary support and funding to bring this idea into being.
In 1996 Sharon was appointed to the Teacher Trust as Executive Trustee to manage The Teacher newspaper with responsibility for conceptualizing and directing the activities and teacher development programs of the Trust including Awakening Teachers’ Humanity as the Key to Curriculum Change: The Hlokwana la Tsela Project funded by the Rockefeller Brothers Fund and the Education for Democracy Project in collaboration with the Human Rights Commission funded by the Charles Steward Mott Foundation.
In 2003 Sharon established the Institute for Leadership and Education (TILE), a registered non-profit organization dedicated to providing internationally recognized innovative education and training programs to economically disadvantaged communities. Sharon was involved in the pilot research project The Teacher as Scientist in 2004 and the design and implementation of the Creative Science Investigators (CSI) Program, funded by the Upstream Training Trust in collaboration with the British Association for the Advancement of Science, UK and the Leap Science and Maths School in Langa.
Her interest and developing innovative programs and learning materials ranges from publishing teacher resources in the Teacher Newspaper, to serving as Creative Director of The World that Made Mandela, written by Luli Callinicos; writing content for Eco-Kids a series of science and environmental education easy to do experiments published in Simply Green magazine in 2009.
In 2006, Sharon founded Learning Unlimited, a tutoring business which has been built on her years of research and experience in innovative approaches to teaching and learning. The Learning Unlimited programs are concept based, rather than content driven and learners are supported in their academic and personal development through tools such as Sophrology, Jin Shin Jyutsu, Tomatis sound therapy and Career Assessments and Guidance.
The most recent projects from 2018 to 2021 include: the Sophrology pilot; Biomimicry workshop for Learning Unlimited students and the Mathematics Literacy program for Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL) Unit at the University of the Western Cape.
Memberships and Associations:
- National Education Crisis Committee (NECC) Mathematics Commission in 1991
- South African Association for Research in Science and Mathematics Education (SAARMSE) appointed to the Executive committee in 1993
- Ashoka Fellowship in 1993, awarded to those who are recognised as members of a global association of social entrepreneurs.
- International Sophrology Federation (ISF) 2017
Other qualifications:
- Jin Shin Jyutsu practitioner certified by Jin Shin Jyutsu Inc, Scottsdale, USA in 2003 and Cape Town organiser
- Krishnamurti Learning Centre of South Africa – coordinator of events
- Tomatis level 2 practitioner, certified by Tomatis Developpement S.A. (TDSA) 2016
- Sophrology practitioner, certified by Energy Center Sarl, Geneva in 2017