Dr Ria de Villiers was the Implementation Lead of the DBE-E 3 Unit at the national Department of Basic Education in South Africa for four years. This Programme was a mandate of the HRDC to prepare learners and educators for a rapidly changing world. She is currently a free agent of change and is well-known as a “joiner of dots” in the Education space. She holds a PhD in Applied Linguistics in the space of teacher education and has been a teacher, university lecturer and entrepreneur since she started her career in 1978.

As a consultant for the ILO, she facilitated the transformation of the Vocational Curriculum in Surabaya in Indonesia from a transmission model to a more progressive experiential model aiming to develop the entrepreneurial mindset. In Tanzania, she worked with all the teacher training colleges to infuse experiential learning and the entrepreneurial mindset across all subjects in Initial Teacher Education. She has just returned from Beijing where she presented “Thinking Skills for a rapidly changing world.” As a consultant for the VVOB, she spent a year developing PLCs Professional Learning Communities) and DTDCs (District Teacher Development Centres) in all 5 districts in the Free State.

Dr de Villiers is a passionate driver of learner-centred, authentic, activity- based learning and teaching and believes in education as the lever for nation building. She also believes that at the heart of change is the teachers and SMT. She acts as an advisor on special projects in the Education for Change space. She has presented widely both locally and internationally and has facilitated corporate training for various organisations: MTN, PWC, Daimler Chrysler, Absa.

As part of a LEGO Programme she is invested in a playful approach and finding joy in the workplace.