NATIONAL ASSEMBLY
FOR WRITTEN REPLY
QUESTION 848
DATE OF PUBLICATION OF INTERNAL QUESTION PAPERS: 03/05/2013
(INTERNAL QUESTION PAPER: 14/2013)
MrsA T Lovemore (DA) to ask the Minister of Basic Education:
(1) With reference to her reply to question 1813 on 11 September
2012, what mathematical formula is applied to calculate the
average learner to teacher ratio in each province;
(2) whether her department maintains a database of actual class
sizes in each school; if so,
(3) how many (a) separate classes, in each grade, have been
calculated to exist in each province and (b) of these classes
have in excess of (i) 40 learners, (ii) 60 learners and (iii) 80
learners;
(4) whether her department has taken or is taking action to ensure
that each province has a realistic plan in place to achieve
target ratios within a reasonable time; if so, what are the
details of such action? NW1067E
REPLY
1) With reference to her reply to question 1813 on 11 September 2012,
what mathematical formula is applied to calculate the average
learner to teacher ratio in each province;
My Department applies a policy known as Post Provisioning Norms
(PPN). It is regulated in terms of the Employment of Educators
Act, 76 of 1998. Regulations made in terms of this Act determine
that an MEC must create a pool of posts in accordance with funds
available for this purpose after which the relevant Head of
Department must distribute these posts among schools in accordance
with the Post-Provisioning Model (PPM). The model is based on the
principle that available posts are distributed among schools,
proportionally to their number of weighted learners. In order to
determine what a schoolâs relative need for posts are, in relation
to that of other schools, the PPM attaches weightings to all
learners based on their relative needs for teachers and, in doing
so, determines a weighted learner enrolment for each school.
2) Whether her department maintains a database of actual class sizes
in each school; if so,
No. My Department does not maintain a database of actual class
sizes in each school due to the fact that the post-provisioning
policy and model emphasize a holistic approach whereby the
establishment of a school is based on learner-educator ratio (LER).
3) How many (a) separate classes, in each grade, have been calculated
to exist in each province and (b) of these classes have in excess
of (i) 40 learners, (ii) 60 learners and (iii) 80 learners;
The Provincial Departments of Education utilize their staff
establishments at school to keep a record of how many posts they
have at each school. This also gives them information as to what
the teacher/learner ratio is which helps them to manage the
average class size. A class size is only determined once a
timetable is drawn up by a school for each grade. Presently,
there is no database that captures class sizes.
4) Whether her department has taken or is taking action to ensure that
each province has a realistic plan in place to achieve target
ratios within a reasonable time; if so, what are the details of
such action?
My Department has contracted a service provider through UNICEF
funding to run a project that will design and implement a research
instrument (tool) to review progress with the implementation of
Post Provisioning Norms (PPN). The project aims to assess the
impact of PPN on teacher provisioning, planning, utilisation
and deployment in response to Action Plan to 2014: Towards the
Realisation of Schooling 2025 on a provincial level.