Our story
For more than 35 years, Brainline has been providing home education to thousands of learners in and outside South Africa’s borders.
Brainline strives to be an innovative, quality-driven e-learning distance education institution. In 2022, we continue to do what we love — enabling more and more learners to achieve their National Senior Certificate through innovative distance education solutions. This family-run business started with humble beginnings, but today, three decades later, it is one of the most prominent distance education providers in the country. Brainline offers a complete and comprehensive solution for children and parents alike. It is one of the focus areas of Brainline to ensure that they offer the best academic education to learners at an affordable and competitive price.
Valid
Reliable
Consistent
Diverse
Every child is unique and every family is unique. Home education offers them the opportunity to fulfil their individual needs as a family, while still maintaining a high level of effective academic education.
Brainline is proud to be the first online education provider recognised by the Independent Examinations Board
Brainline’s registration with the IEB assures you of quality assessment in accordance with national policy. This means that you can trust Brainline to provide you with valid qualifications, which are accepted at other schools and national and international universities.
Companies part of the Brainline Family
Brainline Cloud School
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We introduced Brainline Cloud School, the hub of teaching, in 2020. The focus is on the learner and innovation with regard to teaching and facilitation. Learners have access to online classes daily, presented by qualified teachers via video communication technologies.
Brainline Cloud Teachers present classes online in innovative ways, challenging the status quo of blackboard teaching. These online classes (also recorded and made available for later viewing) break down the invisible walls of traditional teaching by presenting the curriculum in new and exciting ways, bringing the classroom to life, invigorating the lesson material. In this way, Brainline has been revolutionising home education for today’s learner.
Cloud Teachers monitor learner performance throughout the year and intervene where learners who are at risk of failing are identified, and then place them in the strong grasp of the mentor programme. This is about contact with the parent/ guardian and learner, and personal interaction.
All parents and learners who enrol for our CAPS/IEB-Aligned products (BrainlineEXPRESS products are excluded) will be served with the Brainline Cloud School offering.
Assessment Aspects
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The assessment company focusses on quality and compliant assessment. It manages a team of subject specialists who set, mark and moderate assessment items either customised or commercial. Its vision is to broaden its market into traditional schools and distance education.
Brainline International
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The vision of Brainline International is to make quality education accessible to students across the world! We are so excited to be part of this exciting adventure with the IEB (Independent Examinations Board), bringing the International Secondary Certificate to all our students around the world.
Group
Where our name comes from
The internet being connected by ‘telephone lines’ around 35 years ago gave him the idea of ‘Brainline’, connecting parents, teachers, tutors and all those interested in the academic education of the learner. Uncertainty over technology proved to be a constant obstacle.
And so the journey begins…
Dr Johannes Cronje and his brother (David Cronje) started the information technology journey for the learner in South Africa when they moved into the computer retail market. They soon discovered that there was no software for learners at school – either as additional support or as a complete replacement for traditional school.
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Dr Cronje had the insight to realise that this concept would grow into an internet-based school – the intricacies were not yet clear, however, the concept was. The internet being connected by “telephone lines” around 30 years ago, gave him the idea of “Brainline” connecting parents, teachers tutors and all those interested in the academic education of the learner.
The year 1993 saw the company registered as an official matric exam centre, with the Department of Education (DBE) as a B-centre for part-time candidates, though its registration soon migrated to that of a private entity, the Independent Examination Board.
and beyond…
Brainline’s success lies in supporting its learners. If we support them well, the burden of the academic aspects, which lies on parents, tutors and other support people, is relieved. For that reason, it will remain our focus in all aspects, using technology and qualified staff for academic, psychological and emotional support.
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It is a continuous goal for Brainline to be at the forefront of new technologies and innovation, going where no company in the home education space has gone before, to provide our parents and learners with the most enjoyable and successful academic journey. Brainline is enabling access to education through online technologies, but also by communicating with learners via platforms that they are most accustomed to. We also look at introducing new concepts such as virtual reality.
This is not just a day job for us, this is a family legacy for the next generation. We are all entrenched in the daily operations of the company to ensure that we offer our clients the best service possible.
Meet our CEO
Coleen Cronje
Do you have a background in education?
Other than my own education (school and tertiary), I have no education background. My background starts at the time when my children’s father ”announced“ that we were to home educate our daughters. This opened the book on what would be required for us as parents, to be able to cope with these new demands.
Tell us about the growing pains of establishing this organisation?
The fear of technology is lodged deep in the psyche of parents ”of a certain age“. For that reason, all new technology (floppy discs, followed by stiffys, and then DVDs) immediately created the logistical challenge of hardware that has to be replaced at the ”drop of a hat“.
However, this ”Fourth Industrial Revolution“, which started even then, has made hardware and software easier to afford. That has been a wonderful ”growth“ factor for the industry.
The biggest challenge was the development of software with regard to knowledgeable people, suitable resources and access to the material. As one can see, this resulted in financial capacity which had to be managed very carefully.
You have grown with leaps and bounds over the years, how did you manage to stay abreast with educational trends?
That is the easy part – if one is sensitive to new technology and one has the foresight to appoint like-minded members of your staff, it is a natural way of life.