NATIONAL COUNCIL OF PROVINCES
FOR WRITTEN REPLY
QUESTION 372
DATE OF PUBLICATION OF INTERNAL QUESTIN PAPER: 09/09/2011
(INTERNAL QUESTION PAPER: 28/2011)
Mr M J R de Villiers (DA-WC) to ask the Minister of Basic Education:
1) Whether schools which performed below 20% in the 2009 National Senior
Certificate (NSC) examinations performed better in 2010; if not, why
not; if so, (a) which schools and (b) what were the results;
2) whether there are any schools that have shown no improvement in the
2010 NSC examination results; if not, what is the position in this
regard; if so, (a) what are the reasons for non improvement and (b)
what are the further relevant details;
(3) whether any (a) programmes and (b) measures have been used in 2010 to
assist schools in order to improve on their NSC examination results;
if not, why not; if so, what are the details of such programmes and
measures? CW471E
RESPONSES
1) (a)(b) The list of the schools that performed below 20% in the
NSC examinations in 2009 and 2010 is attached. In 2009 the
Department had 459 schools performing below 20% and in 2010 they
were reduced to 172. Some of the schools that performed below
20% in 2009 improved their results and moved out of this
bracket; however some remained while some new schools performed
below 20%.
2) Yes, there are schools that have shown no improvement in the 2010 NSC
examination results.
a) The performance of the system in the 2009 NSC examinations declined by
2% compared to 2008. In January 2010, I announced the Rapid Assessment
and Remediation Initiative programme as an intervention to deal with
the underperformance. The purpose of the programme was to identify
schools that had underperformed in the 2009 NSC examinations with a
view to introducing remediation action to improve performance. The
progamme was intended to target schools that had achieved 20% and
below in the 2009 NSC examinations. The programme was motivated by the
fact that there are schools in the system that continued to return
very poor results. These schools that catered for African learners are
the majority in the category of underperforming schools.
b) After analysis of provincial reports, the following factors were
identified to have contributed to the reported underperformance of the
schools.
i) The lack of leadership by principals at schools demonstrated by
the lack of management competences and the lack of supervision
of the work of teachers and learners.
(ii) School management teams which do not understand their roles and
responsibilities and are unable to monitor curriculum delivery
in schools.
iii) Vacant and unfilled teacher posts which hamper curriculum
delivery.
iv) The prevalence of teacher absenteeism, limited teaching and
contact time and late coming, all of which compromise curriculum
delivery.
v) Learnersâ problems associated with absenteeism and truancy, drug
and alcohol abuse, ill discipline, and teenage pregnancy.
vi) Curriculum planning at the level of the school which results in
inappropriate subject offerings and combinations, as well as
effective time tabling.
vii) Teachers subject knowledge gaps.
viii) Lack of textbooks and relevant learning and teaching support
materials.
ix) Lack of support to schools from the School Governing Bodies and
parents.
3. The Department shared the identified factors with provinces. Provinces
developed interventions to deal with each of the challenges.
a) The Department of Basic Education (DBE) instituted the
Grade 12 Improvement Plan, a programme to improve the Grade 12
results. This programme was initiated after the announcement of the
2009 NSC results and the analysis thereof.
b) The following measures were used in 2010 to assist schools
in order to improve the NSC results:
i) Provision of Learning and Teaching Support Materials
From the analysis of the 2009 NSC examinations results and
question papers, content and concept gaps were identified in all
subjects and the following Learning and Teaching Support
Materials were provided to provincial and district offices and
secondary schools:
Self study guides were developed in nine (9) subjects. These
were printed and distributed to provincial offices, district
offices and all secondary schools and each school received three
(3) copies per subject. All other DBE resources including
examinations guidelines and question papers are offered on the
Thutong and the DBE websites and are available for downloading
and printing. The following table provides the amounts printed
and distributed per subject:
The number of self study guides printed and distributed per
subject
a) Accounting-9010
b) Mathematics Book 1-7935
c) Mathematics Book 2-7695
d) History98000
e) Geography-12036
f) Computer Applications Technology-2000
g) Life Sciences-13 450
h) Physical Sciences-7114
i) Chemistry Experiments-7114
j) 11 Official Languages-56 458
(ii) The Sunday Times has produced a set of Exemplar papers and
memoranda, in high enrolment subjects, which were set by
teachers and moderated by the DBE subject specialists. The
copies appeared in the Sunday Times and Sowetan at the end of
the second term and learners were encouraged to work through
these exemplar papers during the five week winter holidays. The
papers were also put on the DBE and Thutong websites in English
and Afrikaans. The Department purchased 1000 copies and these
were distributed to winter schools that were visited by
Departmental officials.
(iii) Development of Practical Assessment Tasks (PATs)
The DBE subject specialists developed the PATs for 16
subjects in the NCS, which have a practical component and were
moderated by the Examination panels of the specific subject.
These were distributed to provinces and administered by all
schools offering these subjects. The DBE had developed these
tasks to ensure that the quality and standard are consistent
across the system
(iv) A sample of winter schools and learning centres were monitored
The DBE subject specialists visited province to monitor a sample
of schools in five provinces, namely, Gauteng, KwaZulu Natal,
Limpopo, Mpumalanga and North West. A total of 98 centres were
visited, 353 schools involved, 34 615 learners participated in
the winter schools and 887 teachers taught lessons at various
centres. In the main, the subjects that were targeted were
English FAL, Geography, Life Sciences, Mathematics, Mathematical
Literacy and Physical Sciences by all provinces. The winter
schools and learning centres were intended to provide support
for improved learner achievement in the NSC examinations
(v) Dinaledi Adopt a School Project
The Adopt a School Project provided the opportunity for
cooperation between private and donors, the DBE, Provincial
Education Departments and adopted Dinaledi schools to strengthen
the objectives of the Maths, Science and technology Strategy. In
2010, 330 schools were adopted by 15 private donors. The
following donors have adopted schools:
|DINALEDI SCHOOL PROJECT |
| PARTNER |NUMBER OF SCHOOLS |
|ABSA |10 |
|ANGLO AMERICAN |17 |
|IDC |30 |
|NOKIA/SIEMENS |3 |
|NORTH WEST |5 |
|OLD MUTUAL |4 |
|EPOCH |45 |
|STANDARD BANK |114 |
|TRANSNET |11 |
|UCT/MSEPT |5 |
|UNIVERSITY OF PRETORIA|10 |
|WITS |28 |
|WBHO |2 |
|WOOLWORTHS |10 |
|ZENEX FOUNDATION |36 |
|TOTAL |330 |
(vi) Learner Participation in Mathematics Olympiads
One of the interventions to nurture talent in Mathematics and
Science included participation of learners in Olympiads. In
2010, 11 112 learners entered for the Mathematics Olympiads. The
Mathematics Olympiads is an important platform for learners as
it affords them the opportunity to expand their knowledge and
exposes them to more cognitively demanding Mathematical
concepts. Participation in the Maths Olympiad, will contribute
to improving the performance at the upper levels in Mathematics.